Churches of the Day

Friday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2

Feast of the Day: Aug 7:
1. Ss Sixtus II and companions, martyrs
2. St Cajetan, priest
C/f A short look at these saints be found below today's Readings and Reflection.

FIRST READING


A reading from the book of the Prophet Nahum         2:1. 3. 3:1-3. 6-7
Woe to the city soaked in blood.

See, over the mountains the messenger hurries!
'Peace!' he proclaims. Judah, celebrate your feasts, carry out your vows,
for Belial will never pass through you again; he is utterly annihilated.
Yes, the Lord is restoring the vineyard of Jacob and the vineyard of Israel.

For the plunderers had plundered them, they had broken off their branches. Woe to the city soaked in blood, full of lies, stuffed with booty, whose plunderings know no end! The crack of the whip! The rumble of wheels! Galloping horse, jolting chariot, charging cavalry, flash of swords, gleam of spears... a mass of wounded, hosts of dead, countless corpses; they stumble over the dead.

I am going to pelt you with filth, shame you, make you a public show.
And all who look on you will turn their backs on you and say, 'Nineveh is a ruin.'
Could anyone pity her? Where can I find anyone to comfort her?

The Word of the Lord.          Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm        Deut 32:35-36. 39. 41. R/v 39
Response                             It is the Lord who deals death and life.

1. It is close, the day of their ruin; their doom comes at speed.
For the Lord will see his people righted, he will take pity on his servants.           Response

2. See now that I, I am He, and beside me there is no other god.
It is I who deal death and life: when I have struck it is I who heal.                        Response

3. When I have whetted my flashing sword I will take up the cause of Right,
I will give my foes as good again, I will repay those who hate me.                          Response

Gospel Acclamation          1 Sam 3: 9
Alleluia, alleluia!
Speak, Lord, your servant is listening: you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!

Or                                               Mt: 5: 10
Alleluia, alleluia!
Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you.          And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew         16: 24-28        Glory to you, O Lord
What has a man to offer in exchange for his life?

Jesus said to his disciples,
'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.
For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.
What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life? Or what has a man to offer in exchange for his life? '

'For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and, when he does, he will reward each one according to his behaviour. I tell you solemnly, there are some of these standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming with his kingdom.'

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

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Gospel Reflection        Friday,           18th Week in Ordinary Time          Matthew 16:24-28

Jesus asks a thought-provoking question in today’s gospel reading, ‘What will anyone gain if they win the whole world and ruin their life?’ Jesus is suggesting that we can gain a great deal of what the world has to offer and values, yet lose out at some more fundamental level of our being. We can gain the whole world and, at the same time, lose our life, lose that which makes us truly alive with the life of God. Jesus declares that the opposite is also true. People can lose a great deal of what is highly valued in the world and yet preserve their life, be fully alive with the life of God. Jesus tells his disciples and all of us in today’s gospel reading that it is in following him that we will find this fullness of life.

Following the Lord will often mean having to renounce ourselves; in that sense it will mean losing out in the eyes of many. Yet when this is done for the Lord’s sake, out of love for him, out of our desire to be faithful to his values, we will grow into our true selves, the self that is made in the image and likeness of our Creator. The call to renounce ourselves can sound very negative to modern ears, yet the Lord’s call is fundamentally a call to fullness of life. Our self-denial is in the service of that fullness of life which he desires for us all.



The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, 1966 published 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/
The Gospel Reflection is available with our thanks from Reflections on the Weekday Readings : My Words Will Not Pass Away by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications c/f www.messenger.ie/bookstore

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Feast of the Day: Aug 7:
1. Ss Sixtus II and companions, martyrs
2. St Cajetan, priest

1. Ss Sixtus II and companions, martyrs

Pope St Sixtus & Companions, martyrs. They died on 6 August 258, martyred the year after his election as bishop of Rome during the persecution of the emperor Valerian. According to his contemporary, St Cyprian, Sixtus was not so much 'killed' as 'crowned', along with four deacons, while addressing a congregation. Honoured as one of the most popular Roman martyrs.

Pope St Sixtus, (a Latinisation of the Greek Xystos, meaning "polished") was ordained bishop of Rome in 257 and was pope from August 257 to August 258 - during the time of the persecution of the Emperor Valerian (253-260). He is the Sixtus mentioned in the Roman Canon (First Eucharistic Prayer).

Paddy Duffy writes:

A Conciliatory Approach to the "Lapsed" and the Baptism of Heretics
During the pontificate of Sixtus's predecessor, Pope St Stephen I (253-257), a sharp dispute had arisen among the Christian churches about the attitude to be taken to those who had lapsed from the faith during persecution (should they be kept out or re-admitted?) and the attitude to be taken towards those who had been baptised by heretics (was that baptism valid or should they be re-baptised?). St Cyprian in Africa and the churches in Asia favoured a stricter approach while Rome in the person of Pope St Stephen I and Pope St Sixtus II favoured a more conciliatory approach which eventually won the day.

Martyred at the catacombs of St Callistus
When the Emperor ordered the persecution of Christians, Sixtus was with four deacons at the cemetery of Saint Callistus when the soldiers came to take him to his execution, on the orders of the Emperor Valerian and along with four deacons was put to death. He was buried there.

Inscription of Pope Damasus
 Pope Damasus (366-384) wrote an inscription in Sixtus's name which was placed on his tomb:

At the time when suddenly the soldiers rushed in and dragged me from the chair. The faithful offered their necks to the sword, but as soon as the Pastor saw the ones who wished to rob him of the palm (of martyrdom) he was the first to offer himself and his own head, not tolerating that the (pagan) frenzy should harm the others. Christ, who gives recompense, made manifest the Pastor's merit, preserving unharmed the flock (PL 13:383-4).

Every Pope up to this time including Sixtus II was a martyr.

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Memorable Proverbs for today

Martyrdom does not end something, it is only a beginning.

                                                                          ~ Indira Gandhi ~

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Feast of the Day: Aug 7: 2. St Cajetan of Vicenza, priest

Summary: St Cajetan is the founder of an institute for the reform of the clergy who worked in Rome, Vicenza and Naples in the 16th Century. (N.B. It is important to distinguish this Cajetan from his contemporary Thomas Cardinal Cajetan O.P. (Giacomo de Vio 1469-1534), 

Patrick Duffy profiles him.

Native of Vicenza
Cajetan dei Conti di Tiene was born in Vicenza in the republic of the Veneto. He was of noble family, the youngest of three brothers. His mother played a strong part in developing his piety. After attending college at Vicenza he studied law at Padua where he attained a doctorate in both civil and canon law. He then went to Rome where became a diplomat in the service of Pope Julius II and won over the Venetian Republic.

Ordination as Priest and Reform of the Clergy
Ordained a priest in 1516, Cajetan worked hard for the poor and the sick and founded a hospital for incurables. He had the idea of forming a community that would combine monastic spirituality with active ministry. The emphasis would be on the three functions of preaching, administering the sacraments and celebrating the liturgy. What he wanted was to restore true apostolic life among the clergy at a time of great corruption.

[caption id="attachment_48900" align="alignright" width="204"] St Cajetan, founder of the Theatines[/caption]

The Theatines
Along with John Peter Carafa, who later became Pope Paul IV, and two others, he formed an institute of clerks regular. They got the name the specific Theatines from the Latin name for Chieti (Theate), where Carafa had been bishop; he resigned and became the first superior general. The name helped to distinguish them from other reforming orders of the time, like the Jesuits, the Barnabites and the Somaschi.

From Venice to Naples
After the sack of Rome in 1527 Cajetan returned to Venice and during three years he directed the religious institute he had founded. In 1533 Carafa transferred him to Naples where he lived for the next fourteen years. He encouraged the growth of what were called monti di pietà (were they the first credit unions?) offering financial loans at a moderate interest to those in need to keep them out of the hands of usurers. His congregation also cared for incurable syphilitics. Worn out by his apostolic labours, Cajetan died in Naples at the age of sixty-seven.

Subsequent Theatine Influence
Many illustrious names of the Italian aristocracy later joined the Theatine order - among them was liturgical scholar St Joseph Mary Tomasi (1649-1713) who was canonised by Pope John Paul II in 1986. The Theatines also founded many beautiful churches, including that of Sant'Andrea della Valle on the Corso Vittorio Emmanuele in Rome. They were also the first to found papal missions in foreign lands - India, Burma, Persia and Peru. At present the order has 33 houses and 189 members, of whom 133 are priests, mostly in Italy, Spain, Latin America and the USA.

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Memorable Proverbs for today

We (the Church) must always be willing to reform
our practices to conform to God's Word because,
as many have stated, we do not just drift toward holiness.

~ Unknown Author ~

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Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A

FIRST READING

A reading from the first Book of Kings       19:9. 11-13
Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.


When Elijah reached Horeb, the mountain of God, he went into the cave and spent the night in it. Then the word of the Lord came to him saying, '
What are you doing here, Elijah?' Then he was told, 'Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.' Then the Lord himself went by.
There came a mighty wind, so strong it tore the mountains and shattered the rocks before the Lord. But The Lord was not in the wind.
After the wind came an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake came a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire there came the sound of a gentle breeze.
And when Elijah heard this, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

The Word of the Lord.              Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm           Ps 84:9-14. R/v.8
Response                               Let us see, O Lord, your mercy and give us your saving help.

1. I will hear what the Lord God has to say, a voice that speaks of peace.
His help is near for those who fear him and his glory will dwell in our land.    Response

2. Mercy and faithfulness have met; justice and peace have embraced.
Faithfulness shall spring from the earth and justice look down from heaven. Response

3. The Lord will make us prosper and our earth shall yield its fruit.
Justice shall march before him and peace shall follow his steps.                         Response

4. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
O God, be gracious and bless us and let your face shed its light upon us.          Response

SECOND READING

A reading from the first letter of St Paul to Romans        9:1-5
I would willingly be condemned and be cut off from Christ if it could help my brothers.

What I want to say now is no pretence; I say it in union with Christ - it is the truth - my conscience in union with the Holy Spirit assures me of it too. What I want to say is this: my sorrow is so great, my mental anguish so endless, I would willingly be condemned and be cut off from Christ if it could help my brothers of Israel, my own flesh and blood. They were adopted as sons, they were given the glory and the covenants; the Law and the ritual were drawn up for them, and the promises were made to them.
They are descended from the patriarchs and from their flesh and blood came Christ who is above all, God for ever blessed! Amen.

The Word of the Lord.        Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation      Lk 19: 38
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessings on the King who comes, in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens!
Alleluia!

Or                                     Ps 129: 5
Alleluia, alleluia!
My Soul is waiting on the Lord, I count on his word
Alleluia!

GOSPEL 

The Lord be with you              And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew         14:22-33
Tell me to come to you across the water.

Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side while he would send the crowds away. After sending the crowds away he went up into the hills by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, while the boat, by now far out on the lake, was battling with a heavy sea, for there was a head-wind.

In the fourth watch of the night he went towards them, walking on the lake, and when the disciples saw him walking on the lake they were terrified. 'It is a ghost' they said, and cried out in fear. But at once Jesus called out to them, saying, 'Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.'
It was Peter who answered. 'Lord,' he said 'if it is you, tell me to come to you across the water.'
'Come' said Jesus. Then Peter got out of the boat and started walking towards Jesus across the water, but as soon as he felt the force of the wind, he took fright and began to sink. 'Lord! Save me!' he cried. Jesus put out his hand at once and held him. 'Man of little faith,' he said 'why did you doubt?' And as they got into the boat the wind dropped. The men in the boat bowed down before him and said, 'Truly, you are the Son of God'.

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.