Friday, August 25 : Saint Catherine of Siena
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together,
and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Blessed he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD, his God,
Who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them. Who keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets captives free. The LORD gives sight to the blind. The LORD raises up those who were bowed down; the LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers. The fatherless and the widow the LORD sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever; your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Once in the time of the judges there was a famine in the land; so a man from Bethlehem of Judah departed with his wife and two sons to reside on the plateau of Moab.
Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons,
who married Moabite women, one named Orpah, the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years,
both Mahlon and Chilion died also, and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband.
She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab because word reached her there that the LORD had visited his people and given them food.
Again they sobbed aloud and wept; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her. “See now!” she said, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god. Go back after your sister-in-law!”
But Ruth said, “Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! for wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
Thus it was that Naomi returned with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
“At that time Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.” Not all those who pray climb the mountain…, but those who pray well, who rise up above the goods of earth to higher goods, climb onto the summit of watchfulness and love from on high. Those who worry about worldly riches or honours do not climb the mountain; no one who covets another’s lands climbs the mountain. Those who seek God go up it and those who go up beg the Lord’s aid for their journey. All great and noble souls climb the mountain for it is not to the first comer alone that the prophet says: “Go up onto a high mountain, you who announce glad tidings to Sion. Cry out at the top of your voice, you who bring good news to Jerusalem,” (Is 40:9). Not by physical exploits but by high-minded actions will you scale this mountain. Follow Christ…; search the Gospel: you will find that only his disciples climbed up the mountain with the Lord.
Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team
And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus went out into a mountain to pray: and he passed the whole night in the prayer of God.
And when day was come, he called unto him his disciples: and he chose twelve of them (whom also he named apostles):
Simon, whom he surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,
Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon who is called Zelotes,
And Jude the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, who was the traitor.
And coming down with them, he stood in a plain place: and the company of his disciples and a very great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the sea coast, both of Tyre and Sidon,
Who were come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And they that were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.
And all the multitude sought to touch him: for virtue went out from him and healed all.
Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team
I have noticed (and this is very natural) that the most saintly Sisters are the most loved. We seek their company; we render them services without their asking… On the other hand, imperfect souls are not sought out. No doubt we remain within the limits of religious politeness in their regard, but we generally avoid them, fearing lest we say something which isn’t too amiable… This is the conclusion I draw from this: I must seek out in recreation, on free days, the company of the Sisters who are the least agreeable to me in order to carry out with regard to these wounded souls the office of the good Samaritan. A word, an amiable smile, often suffice to make a sad soul bloom; but it is not principally to attain this end that I wish to practice charity, for I know I would soon become discouraged: a word I shall say with the best intention will perhaps be interpreted wrongly. Also, not to waste my time, I want to be friendly with everybody (and especially with the least amiable Sisters) to give joy to Jesus and respond to the counsel He gives in the Gospel in almost these words: “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends, or your brethren, or your relatives, or your rich neighbors, lest perhaps they also invite you in return, and a recompense be made to you. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; and blessed shall you be, because they have nothing to repay you with, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (cf. Lk 14,12-14; Mt 6,4-5) What banquet could a Carmelite offer her Sisters except a spiritual banquet of loving and joyful charity? As far as I am concerned, I know no other and I want to imitate Saint Paul who “rejoiced with those who rejoice” (Rm 12,15). It is true he wept with the afflicted and tears must sometimes appear in the feast I wish to serve, but I shall always try to change these tears into joy (Jn 16,20), since “the Lord loves a cheerful giver” (2Cor 9,7).
maronite readings – rosary,team
He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid.
But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’
One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, ‘Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!’
maronite readings – rosary,team
La gloria de todos los apóstoles es tan indisociable, tan unida por el cemento de tantas gracias, que cuando se celebra la fiesta de uno de ellos es la grandeza común de todos los apóstoles que se quiere hacer recodar a nuestra mirada interior. En efecto, ellos se comparten la misma autoridad de jueces supremos, el mismo rango de dignidad, ellos poseen el mismo poder de atar y de absolver (Mt 19,28; 18,18). Ellos son esas perlas preciosas que san Juan nos dice haber contemplado en el Apocalipsis con las cuales las puertas de la Jerusalén celeste han sido construidas (Ap 21,14.21)… En efecto, cuando, por medio de los signos o de los milagros los apóstoles irradian la luz divina; ellos abren el acceso de la gloria celestial de Jerusalén a los pueblos que se han convertido a la fe cristiana. Es de ellos que el profeta dice también: « ¿Quiénes son éstos que vuelan como nubes?» (Is 60,8). Dios eleva el espíritu de sus predicadores a la contemplación de las verdades de arriba de manera que ellos puedan propagar abundantemente la lluvia de la palabra de Dios en nuestros corazones. Es así que ellos beben el agua de la fuente para darnos de beber después. San Bartolomé extrajo plenamente de esa fuente, cuando el Espíritu Santo descendió sobre él como sobre los demás apóstoles bajo la forma de lenguas de fuego (Hch 2,3). Pero tú escuchas hablar de fuego y talvez no ves la relación con el agua. Escucha como el Señor llama agua a este Espíritu Santo que bajó como un fuego sobre los apóstoles. «Si alguien tiene sed, ha dicho, que venga a mí y que beba», y agrega diciendo: «Del que cree en mi- la Escritura lo dice- de su corazón manarán ríos de agua viva», el evangelista explica esto diciendo: «Esto lo decía refiriéndose al Espíritu que iban a recibir los que creyeran en él» (Jn 37:39). De los que creen, el salmista dice también: «se sacian con las provisiones de tu casa en el torrente de tus delicias los abrevas, pues en ti está la fuente de la vida». (Sal 35,9-10).
Lecturas Católicas Romanas – rosary.team
Felipe encontró a Natanael y le dijo: “Hemos hallado a aquel de quien se habla en la Ley de Moisés y en los Profetas. Es Jesús, el hijo de José de Nazaret”.
Natanael le preguntó: “¿Acaso puede salir algo bueno de Nazaret?”. “Ven y verás”, le dijo Felipe.
Al ver llegar a Natanael, Jesús dijo: “Este es un verdadero israelita, un hombre sin doblez”. “¿De dónde me conoces?”, le preguntó Natanael. Jesús le respondió: “Yo te vi antes que Felipe te llamara, cuando estabas debajo de la higuera”.
Natanael le respondió: “Maestro, tú eres el Hijo de Dios, tú eres el Rey de Israel”.
Jesús continuó: “Porque te dije: ‘Te vi debajo de la higuera’, crees . Verás cosas más grandes todavía”.
Y agregó: “Les aseguro que verán el cielo abierto, y a los ángeles de Dios subir y bajar sobre el Hijo del hombre.”
Lecturas Católicas Romanas – rosary.team