"Peter replied, 'Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.'"(John 6:68-69)Saturday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Feast of the Church:
Saints of the Day:
SAINT GODFREY
Bishop
(1066-1115)
St Godfrey was born in 1066 in the diocese of Soissons (France). At the age of 25, he was ordained priest and became the abbot of the Abbey of Nogent-sous-Coucy.He was named bishop of Amiens (France) in 1104. He was noted for his rigid austerity with himself, those around him, and in his approach to his mission as bishop.
He was an enforcer of clerical celibacy and an opponent of drunkenness and simony.
For most of his time as bishop, he wished to resign and retire as a Carthusian monk. In 1114 he moved to a monastery, but a few months later he was called back to his post by the people of Amiens, and he agreed. He also took part in the Council of Chálons.
He fell sick and took refuge in the abbey of Saint Crépin in Soissons, where he died in 1115.
Blessed John Duns Scotus
Franciscan Theologian
(c. 1266 - 1308)
Blessed John (Johannes) Duns Scotus was one of the more important theologians and philosophers of the High Middle Ages. Born at Duns in the county of Berwick, Scotland around 1266, John was descended from a wealthy farming family. John received the habit of the Friars Minor at Dumfries, where his uncle Elias Duns was superior. After novitiate he studied at Oxford and Paris and was ordained to the priesthood on 17 March 1291.He was nicknamed Doctor Subtilis (the "Subtle Doctor") for his penetrating and subtle manner of thought and he was remembered mostly for his defense of the doctrine of Immaculate Conception. During the night of Christmas, 1299 at the Oxford Convent, Bl. John, immersed in his contemplation of the adorable mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, was rapt in ecstasy. The Blessed Mother appeared to him and placed on his arms the Child Jesus who kissed and embraced him fondly.
He died in 1308 and he is buried in the Franciscan church near the famous Cologne cathedral.
Drawing on the work of John Duns Scotus, Pope Pius IX solemnly defined the Immaculate Conception of Mary in 1854. On March 20, 1993 John Duns Scotus, the "Subtle Doctor," was beatified in 1993 by Pope John Paul II at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Bl. John Duns Scotus, "The minstrel of the Word Incarnate" and "Defender of Mary's Immaculate Conception" was presented by Pope John Paul II to our age "wealthy of human, scientific and technological resources, but in which many have lost the sense of faith and lead lives distant from Christ and His Gospel," as "a Teacher of thought and life." For the Church, he is "an example of fidelity to the revealed truth, of effective, priestly, and serious dialogue in search for unity."
Saturday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Letter to the Philippians 4: Content Whatever the Circumstances
10-14 I’m glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess—happy that you’re again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. I don’t mean that your help didn’t mean a lot to me—it did. It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles.
15-17 You Philippians well know, and you can be sure I’ll never forget it, that when I first left Macedonia province, venturing out with the Message, not one church helped out in the give-and-take of this work except you. You were the only one. Even while I was in Thessalonica, you helped out—and not only once, but twice. Not that I’m looking for handouts, but I do want you to experience the blessing that issues from generosity.
18-20 And now I have it all—and keep getting more! The gifts you sent with Epaphroditus were more than enough, like a sweet-smelling sacrifice roasting on the altar, filling the air with fragrance, pleasing God no end. You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity. Yes.
Psalm 112:1-10 Hallelujah!
Blessed man, blessed woman, who fear God,
Who cherish and relish his commandments,
Their children robust on the earth,
And the homes of the upright—how blessed!
Their houses brim with wealth
And a generosity that never runs dry.
Sunrise breaks through the darkness for good people—
God’s grace and mercy and justice!
The good person is generous and lends lavishly;
No shuffling or stumbling around for this one,
But a sterling and solid and lasting reputation.
Unfazed by rumor and gossip,
Heart ready, trusting in God,
Spirit firm, unperturbed,
Ever blessed, relaxed among enemies,
They lavish gifts on the poor—
A generosity that goes on, and on, and on.
An honored life! A beautiful life!
Someone wicked takes one look and rages,
Blusters away but ends up speechless.
There’s nothing to the dreams of the wicked. Nothing.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 16:8-9 “Now here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.”
God Sees Behind Appearances
10-13 Jesus went on to make these comments:
If you’re honest in small things,
you’ll be honest in big things;
If you’re a crook in small things,
you’ll be a crook in big things.
If you’re not honest in small jobs,
who will put you in charge of the store?
No worker can serve two bosses:
He’ll either hate the first and love the second
Or adore the first and despise the second.
You can’t serve both God and the Bank.
14-18 When the Pharisees, a money-obsessed bunch, heard him say these things, they rolled their eyes, dismissing him as hopelessly out of touch. So Jesus spoke to them: “You are masters at making yourselves look good in front of others, but God knows what’s behind the appearance.
What society sees and calls monumental,
God sees through and calls monstrous.
God’s Law and the Prophets climaxed in John;
Now it’s all kingdom of God—the glad news
and compelling invitation to every man and woman.
The sky will disintegrate and the earth dissolve
before a single letter of God’s Law wears out.
Using the legalities of divorce
as a cover for lust is adultery;
Using the legalities of marriage
as a cover for lust is adultery.
Saturday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the Day:Saint Ambrose (c.340-397), Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church
On Abraham, I, 5, 32-35
"Make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth"
Abraham “sat in the entrance of his tent while the day was growing hot” (Gen 18,1), Scripture tells us. The others were resting but he kept watch for the possible arrival of guests. He was indeed worthy of God's coming to him by the oak of Mambre, he who sought so eagerly to practise hospitality...
Yes, hospitality is a good thing which has its own special reward: first of all, it attracts men's gratitude; more importantly, it also receives repayment on God's part. All of us in this land of exile are passing guests. For a little while we have a roof to shelter under but we must move out in no time. Take care! If we have been hard or negligent in welcoming strangers then, when the course of this life has passed away, the saints might well refuse to welcome us in their turn. "Make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth," says the Lord in the Gospel, "so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings."
Besides, how do you know whether it is not God you are receiving while you are thinking that you are only dealing with men? Abraham welcomed some strangers but, in reality, he received into his home God and his angels. So you, too, who welcome a stranger are receiving God. The Lord Jesus bears witness in the Gospel: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me. Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25,35.40).
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