JULY 20 Sixth Sunday after
Pentecost
Apollo 11
Matthew, Chapter 25,
verse 24-25
24 Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; 25so out of FEAR I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’
Christ is always trying to draw us away from fear to having a relationship of love and peace with the Trinity. For if we live our faith in fear, we will be like the person who buried his only talent. We must if filled with the love and joy of Christ go forth bravely to build Christ’s Kingdom in our own spheres of influence and in our way of being.
Ask our Lord how he wants you to spend your
time assisting our priests today.
Matthew 25 offers profound lessons on fear
from a Catholic perspective, especially through the Parable of the Talents
(verses 14–30). This parable is not merely about money or ability—it’s a
spiritual allegory about how we respond to God’s grace, and fear plays a
pivotal role in that response.
🔍 The Two Types of Fear in Matthew 25
1. Holy Fear (Fear of the Lord)
·
The
first two servants act immediately and faithfully with what they
are given.
·
Their
fear is not paralyzing but reverent—a healthy awe of the Master that
leads to action.
·
This is
the “fear of the Lord” praised in Scripture (cf. Isaiah 11:2–3), which leads to
wisdom and joyful service.
2. Self-Centered Fear
·
The
third servant says, “I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the
ground” (Mt 25:25).
·
His
fear is rooted in self-protection, not reverence. He sees the Master as
harsh and responds with inaction.
·
This
fear leads to spiritual paralysis, a refusal to trust in God’s
providence and grace.
✝️
Catholic Lessons on Fear from the Parable
|
Lesson |
Explanation |
|
Fear can distort our image of God |
The third servant views the Master as a
tyrant, not a generous giver. Fear clouds his perception of divine mercy. |
|
Fear separates us from grace |
Catholic teaching sees the “talents” as
symbols of grace. Fear prevents the third servant from cooperating with that
grace. |
|
God equips before He expects |
The parable shows that God gives “each
according to his ability” (Mt 25:15). Fear is unnecessary because God never
demands what He hasn’t first empowered. |
|
Fear must be overcome by trust |
Jesus repeatedly says, “Do not be afraid.”
The parable echoes this: what is needed is not fear, but faithful
stewardship and trust in divine providence. |
|
Fear leads to spiritual loss |
The servant who buried his talent loses
even what he had. Fear, when it leads to inaction, results in the loss of
spiritual fruitfulness. |
🕊️ A Catholic Response: From Fear to Faith
·
Trust
in Divine Mercy: God is not
a harsh taskmaster but a loving Father who delights in our efforts, not just
our results.
·
Use
Your Gifts Boldly: Whether
your “talent” is prayer, teaching, service, or suffering, offer it back to God
with courage.
·
Embrace
Holy Fear: Let awe of God’s
majesty inspire action, not avoidance.
·
Reject
Useless Fear: As Jesus says
in Mark 5:36, “Do not be afraid; just believe.”
What
to do if you are despised by a loved one?
From a Catholic perspective, loving
someone who despises you is not only possible—it’s a call to holiness. Jesus
Himself modeled this on the Cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do” (Luke 23:34). Here’s how that love can be made known, even when
words fail or hearts are hardened.
✝️ Catholic Wisdom:
Love in the Face of Contempt
1. Love as Willing the Good of the
Other
·
According to St.
Thomas Aquinas, love is not primarily a feeling but an act of the will: to
will the good of the other, for the other’s sake.
·
Even if someone
despises you, you can still pray for them, speak well of them, and desire their
flourishing.
2. Silent Witness of Charity
·
St. Francis de Sales
said, “Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength.”
·
Your consistent
kindness, patience, and refusal to retaliate become a quiet but powerful
testimony of love.
3. Offer Redemptive Suffering
·
Unite the pain of
rejection to Christ’s Passion. This transforms suffering into intercession.
·
As St. Paul writes,
“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all
things” (1 Cor 13:7).
🕊️ Practical Ways to
Make Love Known
|
Action |
Why It Matters |
|
Pray for them daily |
Prayer softens your heart and opens theirs to grace. |
|
Speak kindly of them |
Avoid gossip or bitterness. Let your words be seasoned with grace (Col
4:6). |
|
Serve them quietly |
Small acts of service—without fanfare—can disarm hostility. |
|
Respect their boundaries |
Love doesn’t force reconciliation. Sometimes distance is necessary, but
love remains. |
|
Offer sacrifices for them |
Fasting, Mass intentions, or acts of penance offered for their healing
are powerful. |
🧭 Discernment and
Boundaries
Loving someone doesn’t mean
tolerating abuse or enabling sin. If their contempt is toxic or harmful, the
Church encourages setting healthy boundaries. Love can be expressed from a
distance, through prayer and forgiveness, without putting yourself in harm’s
way.
🌟 A Saintly Example:
St. Thérèse of Lisieux
St. Thérèse once said of a sister
who treated her coldly:
“I set myself to treat her as if I
loved her best of all. I prayed for her, and offered all my little acts of
virtue for her intention.”
Eventually, the sister
softened—without ever knowing Thérèse’s interior struggle. That’s the hidden
power of love rooted in Christ.
ON KEEPING
THE LORD'S DAY HOLY[1]
CHAPTER III
DIES ECCLESIAE
The Eucharistic Assembly:
Heart of Sunday
The table of the Body of Christ
43. This "ascending"
movement is inherent in every Eucharistic celebration and makes it a joyous
event, overflowing with gratitude and hope. But it emerges particularly at
Sunday Mass because of its special link with the commemoration of the Resurrection.
By contrast, this "Eucharistic" rejoicing which "lifts up our
hearts" is the fruit of God's "descending" movement towards us,
which remains forever etched in the essential sacrificial element of the
Eucharist, the supreme expression and celebration of the mystery of the kenosis,
the descent by which Christ "humbled himself, and became obedient unto
death, even death on a Cross" (Phil 2:8).
The Mass in fact truly makes
present the sacrifice of the Cross. Under the species of bread and wine,
upon which has been invoked the outpouring of the Spirit who works with
absolutely unique power in the words of consecration, Christ offers himself to
the Father in the same act of sacrifice by which he offered himself on the
Cross. "In this divine sacrifice, which is accomplished in the Mass, the
same Christ who offered himself once and for all in a bloody manner on the
altar of the Cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner". To
his sacrifice Christ unites the sacrifice of the Church: "In the Eucharist
the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the sacrifice of the members of his Body.
The lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer and work, are
united with those of Christ and with his total offering, and so acquire a new
value". The truth that the whole community shares in Christ's sacrifice is
especially evident in the Sunday gathering, which makes it possible to bring to
the altar the week that has passed, with all its human burdens.
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost[2]
This Sunday stresses
the need for constant repentance and fidelity to our baptismal vows.
THE Introit of the Mass of to-day is
the prayer of a soul that confides in the powerful and benign protection of
God. The Lord is the strength of His people, and the protector of the salvation
of His anointed. Save Thy people, O Lord, and bless Thy inheritance, and rule
them forever. Unto Thee will I cry, O my God be not Thou silent to me, lest I
become like them that go down into the pit (Ps. xxvii. 8, 9, 1).
Prayer.
O God of hosts, to Whom belongeth all that is best, infuse into our breasts the
love of Thy name, and grant within us an increase of devotion, that Thou mayest
nourish what is good, and by the pursuit of piety preserve what Thou hast
nourished.
EPISTLE. Rom. vi. &-11.
Brethren: All we, who are baptized
in Christ Jesus, are baptized in His death. For we are buried together with Him
by baptism unto death: that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of
the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted
together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His
resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the
body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. For
he that is dead is justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we
believe that we shall live also together with Christ: knowing that Christ
rising again from the dead, dieth now no more, death shall no more have
dominion over Him. For in that He died to sin, He died once: but in that He
liveth, He liveth unto God. So, do you also reckon that you are dead to sin,
but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Explanation.
St. Paul here exhorts us that as through baptism we become members of Christ’s
mystical body, what was accomplished in Him actually must also take place in us
spiritually. As Jesus died for our sins, was buried, rose again, and ascended
into heaven, so also must we, once risen from sin, live henceforth to God, a
new, holy life, conformed to that of Christ.
GOSPEL. Mark viii. 1-9.
At that time, when there was a great multitude with Jesus,
and they had nothing to eat, calling His disciples together, He saith to them:
I have compassion on the multitude; for behold they have now been with Me three
days, and have nothing to eat. And if I shall send them away fasting to their
home, they will faint in the way: for some of them came from afar off. And His
disciples answered Him: From whence can anyone fill them here with bread in the
wilderness? And He asked them: How many loaves have ye? Who said: Seven. And He
commanded the multitude to sit down upon the ground. And taking the seven
loaves, giving thanks, He broke, and gave to His disciples for to set before
them, and they set them before the people. And they had a few little fishes and
He blessed them, and commanded them to be set before them. And they did eat and
were filled, and they took up that which was left of the fragments, seven
baskets. And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and He sent them
away.
Why
did Jesus say, I have compassion on the multitude, etc.?
To confirm
by acts what He had previously, through St. Matthew (Matt. vi. 33), taught in
words, namely, that to them who seek first the kingdom of God and His justice,
all other things shall be added without asking; and to show us, at the same
time, the greatness of God’s love, which takes account of every hour spent in
His service, and compassionates every want of man. The multitude were not
solicitous for food, and had not even asked it from Him, and yet He cared for them.
Renewal
of Baptismal Promises[3]
V. Do you reject Satan?
R. I do.
V. And all his
works?
R. I do.
V. And all his
empty promises?
R. I do.
V. Do you
believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth?
R. I do.
V. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born
of the Virgin Mary was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and
is now seated at the right hand of the Father?
R. I do.
V. Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?
R. I do.
V. God, the
all-powerful Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has given us a new birth by water
and the Holy Spirit, and forgiven all our sins. May he also keep us faithful to
our Lord Jesus Christ for ever and ever.
R. Amen.
(This is a family service that is
directed by one of the parents. The family members renew their baptismal vows
and sprinkle themselves with the Easter water,)
Pray for our Nation.
Apollo
11[4] (July 16–24, 1969) was the
American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon.
Commander Neil
Armstrong and
Lunar Module Pilot Buzz
Aldrin landed the Apollo
Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, and Armstrong became the first
person to step onto the Moon's surface six hours and 39 minutes later, on July
21 at 02:56 UTC. Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later, and they spent about two
and a quarter hours together exploring the site they had named Tranquility Base upon landing. Armstrong and Aldrin
collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material to bring back to Earth
as pilot Michael
Collins flew the Command
Module Columbia
in lunar
orbit, and were on
the Moon's surface for 21 hours, 36 minutes before lifting off to rejoin Columbia.
Novena
of St. Ann[5]
Daily Prayer to Saint Ann
O
glorious St. Ann, you are filled with compassion for those who invoke you and
with love for those who suffer! Heavily burdened with the weight of my
troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present
intention which I recommend to you in your special care.
Please recommend it to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and place it
before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy issue. Continue
to intercede for me until my request is granted. But, above all, obtain for me
the grace one day to see my God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the
saints to praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen.
Our Father, . . . Hail Mary . . .
O Jesus, Holy Mary, St. Ann, help me now and at
the hour of my death. Good St. Ann, intercede for me.
FOURTH DAY
Good Saint Ann, you offered your
daughter in the temple with faith, piety, and love. With the happiness
which then filled your heart, help me to present myself to God and to the world
as a committed disciple of Jesus.
Take me under your protection.
Strengthen me in my temptations. Show yourself to be a mother and help me
to live a life of holiness and love.
Bible in a Year-Day 32
As we continue to read through the ten plagues of Egypt, Fr. Mike uses the example of Pharaoh to show us how our hearts can either harden or melt in response to God. Today we read Exodus 9, Leviticus 7, and Psalm 49.
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Reparations
for offenses and blasphemies against God and the Blessed Virgin Mary
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
