Thursday, May 17, 2018

Saints + Scripture: Eastertide

'Tis the festival of Saint Thethmar, Priest, O.Præm. (died 1152): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Pàscuàl Baylón, Religious, O.F.M. (1540-1592, the "Seraph of the Eucharist," Anglicized as Paschal Baylon): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, YouTube-link The True Enlightenment, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Ivan Ziatyk, Priest & Martyr, C.Ss.R. (1899-1952), martyred in the reign of the Communist dictator Joseph Stalin, one of the twenty-five Martyrs Killed under Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Martyrs-link XXV.

Scripture of This Day
Mass Readings—Easter Weekday
The Acts of the Apostles, chapter twenty-two, verse thirty & chapter twenty-three, verses six thru eleven;
Psalm Sixteen, verses one, two(a), & five; seven & eight; nine & ten; & eleven;
The Gospel according to John, chapter seventeen, verses twenty thru twenty-six.

Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):
Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus prays for our unity with him and for us to be immersed in God’s love. "I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them."

We are not simply supplicants or penitents, calling to God from without; we are sons and daughters, friends, calling to him from within. The Paschal Mystery is intelligible only in the light of the doctrine of the Trinity. God so loved the world that he sent his only Son, even to the limits of godforsakenness, even into sin and death, into the darkest corners of human experience, in order to find us.

But this acrobatic act of love is possible only if there is in the very being of God a sender and one that he can send, only if there is a Father and a Son. The language Jesus uses—"that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me"—shows us that the Father and the Son are united in love, and this love is itself the divine life. Thus there is a Spirit, coequal to the Father and the Son.
Video reflection by Fr. Roger Lopez, O.F.M. (Franciscan Media): U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.


Papal Quote o' This Day
"The Ascension of Jesus into heaven acquaints us with this deeply consoling reality on our journey: In Christ, true God & true man, our humanity was taken to God."
—Pope Francis (born 1936, reigning since 2013)
Little Flower Quote o' This Day
"I have always desired to become a saint, but in comparing myself with the saints I have always felt that I am as far removed from them as a grain of sand, trampled underfoot by the passer-by is from the mountain whose summit is lost in the clouds."
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)
Saint Quote o' This Day
"My only desire is to see Mary who saved me & who will save me from the clutches of Satan."
—Bl. Bartolo Longo (1841-1926, feast day: 5 October)

No comments: