Churches of the Day

Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle 2

Saints of the Day: 14 July;
1. St Camillas de Lellis, priest
2. St  Kateri Tekakwitha
C/f A short life of these saints can be found below todays' Readings and Reflection.

FIRST READING 

A reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah         7:1-9
If you do not stand by me, you will not stand at all.

In the reign of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Razon the king of Aram went up against Jerusalem with Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, to lay siege to it; but he was unable to capture it.

The news was brought to the House of David. 'Aram' they said 'has reached Ephraim.' Then the heart of the king and the hearts of the people shuddered as the trees of the forest shudder in front of the wind. The Lord said to Isaiah, 'Go with your son Shear-jashub, and meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the Fuller's Field road, and say to him:
"Pay attention, keep calm, have no fear, do not let your heart sink
because of these two smouldering stumps of firebrands,
or because Aram, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah have plotted to ruin you, and have said: Let us invade Judah and terrorise it and seize it for ourselves, and set up a king there, the son of Tabeel.
The Lord God says this:
It shall not come true; it shall not be.
The capital of Aram is Damascus,
the head of Damascus, Razon;
the capital of Ephraim, Samaria,
the head of Samaria, the son of Remaliah.
Six or five years more and a shattered Ephraim shall no longer be a people.
But if you do not stand by me, you will not stand at all."'

The Word of the Lord               Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm            Ps 47: 2-8. R/v 9
Response                                  God upholds his city for ever.

1. The Lord is great and worthy to be praised in the city of our God.
His holy mountain rises in beauty, the joy of all the earth.                         Response

2. Mount Zion, true pole of the earth, the Great King's city!
God, in the midst of its citadels, has shown himself its stronghold.         Response

3. For the kings assembled together, together they advanced.
They saw; at once they were astounded; dismayed, they fled in fear.      Response

4. A trembling seized them there, like the pangs of birth,
or as the east wind destroys the ships of Tarshish.                                      Response

Gospel  Acclamation         Ps 118: 34
Alleluia, alleluia!
Train me to observe your law, to keep it with all my heart.
Alleluia!

Or                                              Ps 94: 8
Alleluia, alleluia!
Harden not your hearts today, but listen to the voice of the Lord.
Alleluia

GOSPEL     

The Lord be with you.          And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to  Matthew        11:20-24        Glory to you, O Lord
It will not go as hard with the land of  Tyre and Sidon and the land  with Sodom on Judgement day as with you.

Jesus began to reproach the towns in which most of his miracles had been worked, because they refused to repent.

'Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. And still, I tell you that it will not go as hard on Judgement day with Tyre and Sidon as with you.

And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted as high as heaven? You shall be thrown down to hell. For if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have been standing yet. And still, I tell you that it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom on Judgement day as with you.'

The Gospel of the Lord.        Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Gospel Reflection           Tuesday       Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time         Matthew 11:20-24

According to today’s first reading at a time of national crisis, the Lord, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, says to the king of Judah, ‘If you do not stand by me, you will not stand at all’. Faced with a coalition of enemy nations, Ahaz was tempted to seek refuge by relying on one of the great empires of the day, Assyria. The message of Isaiah to him was that he needed to rely on the Lord, rather than on any human power, if he and the people were to remain secure. The preaching of Jesus to the towns of Galilee called on them to rely on God, present and active in the ministry of Jesus.

According to the gospel reading, the towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum failed to do so. In spite of the ways God was powerfully at work through the ministry of Jesus, they didn’t respond to him in a trusting, faithful, way. Behind Jesus’ oracle of judgement addressed to these towns lies a heart that is broken at their failure to respond to his life-giving message. In Luke’s gospel Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because of their failure to recognize the time of God’s visitation through Jesus. Today’s readings invite us to ask ourselves, ‘To whom or what do we turn and on whom or on what do we rely?’ In the words of today’s responsorial psalm, ‘God… has shown himself its stronghold’. Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us, offers himself to us as the stronghold of our lives, the rock on which we can build our lives, the one on whom we can rely when all else fails.

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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers.  http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings: The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications, c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/

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Saint of the Day: 14 July; 1 St Camillas de Lellis, priest

Summary of St Camillus: As a young soldier, Camillus was rough tempered and a gambler who when he was twenty five was converted by St Philip Neri. He became a priest and worked for the sick. He founded an order, the Servants of the Sick and a series of hospitals where many otherwise "incurable" patients could go.

The Camillians are a religious order founded by St Camillus de Lellis, who try to "bear witness in the world to Christ's ever-present love for the sick" (Constitutions). Camillians serve in Italy, Europe, America and worldwide.

Patrick Duffy tells the story of their founder.

Soldier and a Gambling Addict
Born in Chieti in the Abruzzo region of Italy, as a young man Camillus joined the army first of Venice and then of Naples. But when his company was disbanded, he became addicted to playing cards and gambling. He lost everything he had and then got a job driving two asses at a building site for the Capuchins. He applied to become a novice, but was rejected because he had a running sore on his leg that was judged incurable. At this stage he saw the foolishness of his ways, repented and began to live a life of penance.

Care for the Sick
Camillus went to Rome and began to care for patients at the Hospital of St James for Incurables, where he had previously been a patient. When the administrators saw the quality of his work, they appointed him director of the hospital. He had the idea of getting people to care for the sick out of charity, and set up a house with two like-minded companions. They got financial support from some wealthy patrons and worked initially at the Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Rome. St Philip Neri (1515-95) helped Camillus spiritually. Despite all the help he got, Camillus found it difficult to put his project into effect, so he decided to study for the priesthood and was ordained a priest in 1584.

A Religious Congregation
Soon Camillus began to think of a religious congregation and a rule for a community was approved in 1586. Besides vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, they had a fourth vow, namely, to provide both physical and spiritual help to the sick, those infected with the plague, and to prisoners. The members of the order wore a black garment with a red cross on the chest and were urged to see and serve Christ in every sick person they met. Camillus opened a new house in Naples and sent members to nurse the wounded in battles in Croatia and in Hungary.

Professional Approach
Camillus insisted on professional standards of care - isolating those with infectious diseases, the provision of a good diet, always seeking a cure, as well as providing for their spiritual welfare. He also stressed that the last moments of a life are the most precious.

His Suffering and Death
Camillus himself suffered from a number of long-term illnesses, but despite this, spent most of his time in serving the sick and in prayer. He resigned from being the superior general of the order in 1607, but the order continued to expand both in the cities of Italy and in Hungary. He died in 1614 and was buried in the Church of St Mary Magdalen in Rome. Pope Benedict XIV (Lambertini) canonised him in 1746.

Co-patron of Nurses 
In 1930, Pope Pius XI named St. Camillus de Lellis, together with St. John of God, principal co-patron of nurses and of nurses' associations.

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Memorable Sayings for Today

'If you commit a sin and take pleasure in it, the pleasure passes but the sin remains. 
But if you do something virtuous even though you are tired,
the tiredness passes but the virtue remains.'

~ St. Camillus de Lellis ~

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Saint of the Day, 14 July;  2. St  Kateri Tekakwitha

Kateri  was the daughter of a Mohawk chief and Kahenta, a woman of the Alonquin tribe who had found Christ through the evangelisation done by the Jesuit priests in what is now upstate New York. She is the first native North American to be beatified.

Fr John Murray tells her story.

Kateri Tekakwitha - it's quite a mouthful, isn't it? The first time I came across this beautiful name was about twenty years ago. A little girl in a Confirmation class had chosen it. Among all the Bernadettes and Patricks, she had picked Kateri. I had to admit I had never heard of her. Initially I was a little suspicious it was the name of a film star, and not the name of a saint as I had suggested. I was soon put right by the little girl who had chosen so thoughtfully this name from a far country.

Born
In 1656 an Indian girl was born to a warrior chief and a Christian near the Mohawk river in what is today upstate New York. Her name was 'Tekakwitha', which can be translated as 'putting things right'. Her father had married Kahenta during the conquest of her Alconquin tribe. Kahenta had found Christ through the evangelization work done by the Jesuits. However she had to keep her faith quiet, and so she prayed in secret with another Christian woman. Indeed another translation of her name was 'the one who walks groping for her way'.

When she was four, Tekakwitha's entire family died of smallpox; only the little girl survived. She was taken care of by Anastasia, her mother's Christian friend. Sadly though, as a result of the disease, she herself was left with a pockmarked face, poor eyesight and weakened legs. These marks isolated her from the other Mohawk women but in a way prepared her for the joy of finding Christ whom she came to know loved her unconditionally. Some members of her tribe said that Sonkwaiatison, the Creator, had left her in darkness for her to see His light.

Early conversion

Tekakwitha was already becoming a Christian by desire during her later childhood and teenage years. A treaty between the French and the Iroquois tribe allowed some Jesuits to come to her village and preach. Her uncle did not like the 'Blackrobe' and his strange new religion but he tolerated the missionary's presence.

Kateri remembered her mother's whispered prayers and was fascinated by the stories she heard of Jesus. She wanted to learn more. The priest, Fr de Lamberville, persuaded her uncle to allow Tekakwitha to attend the religious classes, and the following Easter at the age of twenty, she was baptized.

New Name

She took the name Kateri which is Mohawk for Catherine. However this step and her newfound joy did not endear her to the other members of her tribe. She was often scorned and persecuted. For instance, her family refused her food on Sundays because she would not work on that day. Sometimes children would taunt her and throw stones.

Finally a priest arranged that she should escape to Canada to live there with other Christians. She made her way to the area around the great St. Lawrence River. She spent her time near modern-day Montreal helping the old and the sick and teaching the children. She made her first Holy Communion on Christmas Day, 1677.

Although not formally educated and unable to read or write, Kateri led a life of prayer and penance. Her favourite devotion was to make crosses out of sticks and place them throughout the woods where she lived. They reminded passers-by to spend a moment in prayer.

Kateri and the Bl. Sacrament

She herself would often spend hours before the Blessed Sacrament, kneeling in the cold chapel by herself. When the winter season took many of the villagers away on hunting expeditions she would be left to erect her own little chapel in the woods by carving a cross on a tree and spending time there in prayer.

Sometimes it can take decades for God to make a man or woman into a saint. Our fallen nature and its obstinacy is like Jacob wrestling with God. Sometimes God makes a saint very quickly just to show us how easy it is to be so. Such was the case with Kateri.

Once a priest asked the people why they gathered around her in church. They told him that they felt close to God when Kateri prayed. Her face changed when she prayed and became full of peace and beauty, as if she were looking at the face of God Himself.

Today physical beauty is so prized among girls and women, and among men too, that those less favoured by nature can have difficulty believing that they are beautiful or that anyone could love them. In spite of her own weak body and marked face, Kateri radiated a real inner beauty to everyone she met.

Many of us will remember that same beauty in the aged face of Mother Teresa when she was alive. We will recall too, the serene peace on the face of Br Roger Schutz, the founder of the Taizé community in France, who though ninety years old at his death in 2005, radiated a beauty and tranquillity beyond words.

Legends

According to legends at the time Kateri's scars vanished at the time of her death, revealing a woman of immense beauty. It was claimed too, that on the day of her funeral, many of the sick who attended were healed. The poor health which plagued her throughout her life had led to an early death at the age of twenty-four. Her last words were, 'Jesus, I love you.' Like the flower after which she was named - the lily - her life was short and beautiful.

Pope John Paul II beatified Kateri on 22 June 1980, and her feast day is 14 July. She was the first native American to be so honoured.  She was canonised by Pope Benedict XVI on 21 October 2012.

P.S Don Tribe  of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada wrote an update to CI.net, about Kateri.
'As I live in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada I would like to add that St. Katerina is also very well known in Canada not just in America.In fact we have an urban aboriginal church in our city named after her that is run by our local Jesuits and supported financially. We prayed for over ten years at each mass for her canonization. A group of our First Nations women from our city went to Rome to attend her canonization and presented a quilt they made to the Holy Father.'
Thanks to Don Tribe for this update -CI editor.



This article first appeared in The Messenger (July 2008), a publication of the Irish Jesuits. c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop

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Memorable Saying for Today

“Look at this cross.Oh, how beautiful it is!
It has been my whole happiness during my life, and I advise you also to make it yours.”

~ St Kateri Tekakwita ~

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Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A

World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly

FIRST READING

A reading from the Book of Wisdom        12:13. 16-19
After sin you will grant repentance.

There is no god, other than you, who cares for every thing, to whom you might have to prove that you never judged unjustly; Your justice has its source in strength, your sovereignty over all makes you lenient to all.

You show your strength when your sovereign power is questioned and you expose the insolence of those who know it; but, disposing of such strength, you are mild in judgement, you govern us with great lenience,
for you have only to will, and your power is there.

By acting thus you have taught a lesson to your people
how the virtuous man must be kindly to his fellow men,
and you have given your sons the good hope that after sin you will grant repentance.

The Word of the Lord.               Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm            Ps 85: 5-6. 9-10. 15-16. R/v 5
Response                                 O Lord, you are good and forgiving.

1. O Lord, you are good and forgiving, full of love to all who call.
Give heed, O Lord, to my prayer and attend to the sound of my voice.          Response

2. All the nations shall come to adore you and glorify your name, O Lord:
for you are great and do marvellous deeds, you who alone are God.               Response

3. But you, God of mercy and compassion, slow to anger, O Lord,
abounding in love and truth, turn and take pity on me.                                     Response

SECOND READING  

A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Romans            8:26-27
The Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words.

The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God.

The Word of the Lord.              Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation            Eph 1:17. 18
Alleluia, alleluia!
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our mind,
so that we can see what hope his call holds for us.
Alleluia!

Or                                              Mt 11:25
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom to mere children.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you                          And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew    13:24-43          Glory to you, O Lord
Let them both grow till the harvest.


Jesus put a parable before the crowds, 'The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off. When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well. The owner's servants went to him and said, "Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from?"

"Some enemy has done this" he answered. And the servants said, "Do you want us to go and weed it out?" But he said, "No, because when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both grow till the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn."'

He told them another parable, The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through'.

In all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would never speak to them except in parables. This was to fulfil the prophecy:  I will speak to you in parables and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world.

Then, leaving the crowds, he went to the house; and his disciples came to him and said,
'Explain the parable about the darnel in the field to us'.
He said in reply, 'The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the evil one; the enemy who sowed them, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. Well then, just as the darnel (tares) is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his Kingdom all the things that provoke offences an all who do evil, and throw them into the burning furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Listen, anyone who has ears.

The Gospel of the Lord    Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Shorter form of the Gospel

A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew Mt 13:24-30
Let them both grow till the harvest.



Jesus put a parable before the crowds,
'The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off. When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel (tares) appeared as well. The owner's servants went to him and said, "Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from?" "Some enemy has done this" he answered.
And the servants said, "Do you want us to go and weed it out?" But he said, "No, because when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both grow till the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers:
First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn."'

The Gospel of the Lord    Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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For homily resources for this Sunday's Gospel click here:  https://www.catholicireland.net/sunday-homily/




Taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published and copyright 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.