O Lord Jesus Christ, Who said to Your Apostles: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you,” regard not my sins but the faith of Your Church, and deign to give her peace and unity according to Your Will: Who live and reign, God, world without end. Amen.
O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, Who, by the will of the Father, with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, have by Your death given life to the world, deliver me by this Your Most Sacred Body and Blood from all my sins and …
I know many people complain that our modern society lives for attention on social media, photographing adventures or good deeds solely to post pictures on social media for others to admire their courage, thoughtfulness, beauty, etc. I have heard people say, “Pictures or it didn’t happen!” It’s as though nothing matters unless others see it.
So when I hear Jesus warning us in today’s Gospel not to pray, fast, or give alms so that others notice, I take comfort in knowing that this phenomenon has plagued human nature for centuries. Even people in Jesus’s time were doing good, holy things more for attention than for their souls. The temptation to care more about what others think than what God thinks has been there since the dawn of time, it just is in a different form in our modern times.
As we contemplate today’s readings, may God help us to remember that He is the only one who can see us clearly, and His opinion of us is the only one that matters in the long run.
J.M. Pallas has had a lifelong love of Scriptures. When she is not busy with her vocation as a wife and mother to her “1 Samuel 1” son, or her vocation as a public health educator, you may find her at her parish women’s bible study, affectionately known as “The Bible Chicks.”
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When Hortense decided to marry Laurent Cousin in Pibrac, France, it was not out of love for his infant daughter. Germaine was everything Hortense despised. Weak and ill, the girl had also been born with a right hand that was deformed and paralyzed. Hortense replaced the love that Germaine has lost when her mother died with cruelty and abuse. Laurent, who had a weak character, pretended not to notice that Germaine had been given so little food that she had learned to crawl in order to get to …
O Lord, my God,
Creator and Ruler of the universe,
it is Your Will that human beings accept the duty of work.
May the work I do bring growth in this life to me
and those I love and help to extend the Kingdom of Christ.
Give all persons work that draws them to You
and to each other in cheerful service.
I unite all my work with the Sacrifice of Jesus
in the Mass that it may be pleasing to You and give You glory.
I beg Your Blessing upon all my efforts.
With Saint …
Today we encounter one of the most difficult teachings of Jesus – to “love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.” These words, central to all of Christian teaching and thought, have troubled our broken human nature since they were uttered. Jesus then goes on to give examples of exactly how just God is with His creatures and how equal His love for all of them is. The sun shines on the good and bad, and rains fall on the just and the unjust. Being good earns you no special favors, and equally important, doing evil does not cut you out of God’s gracious consideration.
Our human sensibilities bristle at this type of world order. We expect just punishment for crimes committed. We expect those who have done evil to have evil befall them and are quick to associate unfortunate circumstances with poor decisions. And, because our egos are so massive, we would like to see God follow in our footsteps. How naïve and illogical we are! The created do not lead the Creator. It is the Creator who shapes the creature and gives it space to move in.
Jesus is truly God and truly man. This means that while He is fully God, he also fully understands human nature. Understanding, however, doesn’t mean that Jesus made accommodations for it. Instead, as St. Anselm so captivatingly put it, “The Son of God became man so that we might become God.” Jesus takes our human nature and draws us up into the divine nature. We aren’t supposed to remain on our playing field. We are called to a wholly new game, one with divine rules.
One of the most fundamental rules is what Jesus teaches us today. That all people, no matter who they are, or aren’t, to us, are worthy of our love and prayers.
Kate Taliaferro is an Air Force wife and mother. She is blessed to be able to homeschool, bake bread and fold endless piles of laundry. When not planning a school day, writing a blog post or cooking pasta, Kate can be found curled up with a book or working with some kind of fiber craft. Kate blogs at DailyGraces.net.
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Patriarch of Constantinople, modem Istanbul. He was born in Syracuse, Sicily, and builta monastery on the island of Chios. After some time in Constantinople, he was sent to Rome in 815 as the representative of Patriarch Nicephorus, who was exiled by Emperor Leo V the Armenian for refusing to yield to the imperial decrees on the destruction of icons. Methodius returned in 821 and was himself scourged and imprisoned for seven years. Finally, in 842, Empress Theodora arranged for his elevation as …
Father, once again we are reminded that any security we have as individuals
and as a nation comes only from the abiding hope and trust we have in You.
Once again, we are cut to the heart
at the loss of life and damage to peace
that we have suffered as a nation.
So, Father, today we come to You
and we seek Your peace for the families and victims of the horrible tragedy.
For those still lost in the rubble of destruction,
we ask for the safety of Your hand.
For …
In today’s Gospel we hear the famous words of Christ to “turn the other cheek” to those who are evil. The command “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” was an Old Testament law intended as part of a justice system. By Jesus’ time, however, the law was no longer being used as it was intended. It is for that reason, therefore, that Jesus elevates the Old Testament law and instead calls us to return evil with love rather than revenge.
This is not an easy thing for us to hear or an easy command for us to follow. Oftentimes we do not return “an eye for an eye” out of revenge but we do so in self defense and out of a sense of self preservation. Our intention is to look out for ourselves. I think it is easy for us to fixate on questioning why Jesus would want us to simply accept evil when we encounter it rather than combating it. He is not telling us that we should endure hateful, abusive, or uncharitable relationships. Rather, I think He is saying that evil does not go away when fought with more evil. I am reminded of the words of Martin Luther King, Jr: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that”. This is what Jesus wants us to understand. We are called to be the light that drives out darkness and the love that drives out hate in our world. Jesus came as the Light of the World and it is our mission to continue to be that light until we are united with Him in His heavenly kingdom.
Christ is the perfect example of turning the other cheek. He faced immense hate and evil in His life but He responded to everything He endured with love. The very reason He endured His Passion and Death was out of love for us. He gave His life for us who have nothing to give Him out of pure love and so that we can be fully united with Him.
Jesus’ purpose in His command is to urge us to be humble and charitable in all situations, not just those in which it is easy to practice humility and charity. If we return evil with love, we will be that much more willing and able to show charity to those who ask a service of us. We will also be more able to give more to those who have nothing.
Today, on the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua, may our prayer be that of St. Anthony: “Lord Jesus, bind me to You and to my neighbor with love. May my heart not be turned away from You. May my soul not be deceived nor my talent or mind enticed by allurements of error, so that I may never distance myself from Your love. Thus may I love my neighbor as myself, with strength, wisdom, and gentleness, with Your help, You who are blessed throughout all ages. Amen.”
Dakota lives in Denver, CO with her husband, Ralph, and their two sons, Alfie & Theophilus. She is the Dean of Enrollment Management for Bishop Machebeuf High School where her husband also teaches. You can find Dakota at the zoo or a brewery with her family or with her nose in a book at home. For more of Dakota’s writing check out https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com/
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Saint Anthony was born Fernando Martins in Lisbon, Portugal. He was born into a wealthy family and by the age of fifteen asked to be sent to the Abbey of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, the then capital of Portugal. During his time in the Abbey, he learned theology and Latin.
Following his ordination to the priesthood, he was named guestmaster and was responsible for the abbey’s hospitality. When Franciscan friars settled a small hermitage outside Coimbra dedicated to Saint Anthony of Egypt, Fernando …
Holy Saint Anthony, gentle and powerful in your help, your love for God and charity for His creatures, made you worthy, when on earth, to possess miraculous powers. Miracles waited on your word, which you were always ready to request for those in trouble or anxiety. Encouraged by this thought, I implore you to obtain for me (request). The answer to my prayer may require a miracle. Even so, you are the Saint of miracles. Gentle and loving Saint Anthony, whose heart is ever full of human …