Monday, May 22, 2017

Project BLACK MAMBA: Eastertide

'Tis the Optional Memorial of Saint Rita of Cascia, Religious, O.S.A. (1381-1457): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duae, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

This is the second consecutive week without any hagiographical material in the Holy Redeemer bulletin. Space is the bulletin has been devoted to the parish festival, which is both a major fundraiser & a means by which we love our neighbors, & only happens once a year; there is also "end-of-the-year" thanks from the music ministry/worship coordinator to all those who helped make 2016-2017 a successful year. O.K., these are legitimate squeezes on the limited space available, but I will be forced to register my displeasure if the hagiographies do not return after the parish festival.


'Tis also the festival of Blessed Dulce Pontes, Religious, S.M.I.C. (1914-1992, A.K.A. Maria Rita Lópes Pontes de Souza Brito), foundress of the Charitable Works Foundation of Sister Dulce, the Obras Sociais Irmã Dulce in Portuguese: Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link O.S.I.D.

Commentary: Bl. Dulce was beatified on this date in 2011.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Easter Weekday
The acts of the Apostles, chapter sixteen, verses eleven thru fifteen;
Psalm One Hundred Forty-nine, verses one(b) & two; three & four; five, six(a), & nine(b);
The Gospel according to John, chapter fifteen, verse twenty-six thru chapter sixteen, verse four(a);

Commentary: Easter Gospel reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):
Friends, today’s Gospel focuses on the Holy Spirit’s role as witness to Jesus. “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.”

All Christian preaching is ultimately about the Paschal Mystery, the dying and rising of Jesus and the sending of the Holy Spirit. But this last element is especially important for today, because it signals the way that we are able to participate in the life that Jesus opens up to us. One of the chief marks of the Holy Spirit is the prompting to bold speech. From the apostles through the great evangelists and theologians, up to Billy Graham and John Paul II, the Spirit prompts people to confess the Lordship of Jesus. Remember that Paul told us, “No one can call Jesus Lord except in the Holy Spirit.”

Who is the Holy Spirit? He is the third person of the Holy Trinity, more precisely the love shared by the Father and the Son. As the love between Father and Son, the Spirit comes most fully to historical expression during the great events of the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery.

Mass Readings—Optional Memorial of St. Rita
The Letter to the Philippians, chapter four, verses four thru nine;
Psalm Forty, verse five(a);
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter six, verses twenty-seven thru thirty-eight.

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