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Monday, July 7, 2025

Monday Night at the Movies On the Waterfront Christopher’s Corner ·           Beans Month  bursts into July with a celebration of one of the...

Nineveh 90

Nineveh 90
Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength

Monday, July 14, 2025

 Monday Night at the Movies


Wise Blood 1979

 Christopher’s Corner

·         Beans Month bursts into July with a celebration of one of the world’s favorite and most versatile ingredients—beans!

·         Eat waffles and Pray for the assistance of the Angels

·         Foodie- Roast beef sirloin & béarnaise dauphinoise

·         Bucket List trip[4]USA 70-degree year trip:

o    Shoshone Falls — “Niagara of the West”

·         Spirit Hour: Good Fortune Cocktail

·         MondayLitany of Humility

·         Drops of Christ’s Blood    


·         Let Freedom Ring Day 6 Freedom from Envy

Understanding and Managing Envy in Modern Life[1]

Envy is a universal emotion. Virtually every discovered civilization—past and present—contains artifacts that record its presence through human history, permeating virtually every aspect of our lives. From ancient scriptures to modern social media feeds, the narrative of envy has evolved, yet its core remains unchanged: it is the discomfort and longing provoked by others' possessions or successes. This post delves into the multifaceted nature of envy. Beginning with an exploration of envy in Greek and Biblical sources, we turn to examine how it is an emotion of utmost social importance—relating to how we find ourselves within our own tribes. We then turn to modern, psychoanalytic understandings of envy before discussing ways to remedy its often-corrosive effects on our mental health.

He restores my soul. He guides me along right paths for the sake of his name. Psalm 23:3




JULY 14 Monday

St. Kateri Tekakwitha-Bastille Day

 

Matthew, Chapter 10, verse 31

So do not be AFRAID; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,

gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking

so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously

give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,

our presence automatically liberates others. 

Marianne Williamson. 

Copilot

 

From a Catholic perspective, the verse “So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:31) offers profound lessons on fear, divine providence, and human dignity. Here's a breakdown of its spiritual significance:

🕊️ 1. Fear Not—You Are Known and Loved

·         Jesus uses the image of sparrows—creatures of seemingly little value—to emphasize God's intimate care for all creation.

·         If not even a sparrow falls without the Father's knowledge, how much more does He care for each of us, made in His image and redeemed by Christ?

·         This is not sentimental reassurance; it’s a theological truth: our worth is rooted in God's love, not in worldly status or success.

🙏 2. Fear of God vs. Fear of the World

·         Catholic teaching distinguishes between:

o    Servile fear: fear of punishment or harm (which Jesus tells us to reject).

o    Filial fear: reverent awe of God’s majesty and justice (which we are called to embrace).

·         As Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa explains, we are not to fear those who can harm the body but to revere the One who holds our soul in His hands.

·         This verse invites us to shift our fear from temporal threats to eternal truths.

🛡️ 3. Trust in Divine Providence

·         St. Francis de Sales beautifully echoes this teaching: “The same Eternal Father who cares for you today will take good care of you tomorrow”.

·         Fear often stems from anxiety about the future. But grace is given in the present moment—like manna in the desert.

·         This verse calls us to live in the present with trust, knowing that God’s providence is constant and personal.

🕯️ 4. Mission in the Face of Fear

·         In context, Jesus is sending the apostles out on mission, warning them of persecution but urging them not to be afraid.

·         The message is clear: courage in proclaiming the Gospel flows from knowing our worth in God’s eyes.

·         We are not alone; we are sent in community, as Church, and upheld by the Spirit.

Spiritual Takeaway

This verse is not a denial of fear, but a redirection of it. It teaches us:

·         To anchor our identity in God’s love.

·         To reverence God, not fear the world.

·         To trust in divine providence, especially in uncertainty.

·         And to proclaim the Gospel boldly, knowing we are never forgotten.

St. Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680).

 

Kateri was born in 1656 near the town of Auriesville, New York, the daughter of a Mohawk warrior. She was baptized by Jesuit missionary Fr. Jacques de Lambertville on Easter of 1676 at the age of twenty. She devoted her life to prayer, penitential practices, and the care of the sick and aged in Caughnawaga near Montreal (where her relics are now enshrined). She incurred the hostility of her tribe because of her faith. She was devoted to the Eucharist, and to Jesus Crucified, and was called the "Lily of the Mohawks." She died in 1680 and was beatified June 22, 1980, and canonized on October 21, 2012—the first native American to be declared "Blessed" and "Saint."
—Excerpted from Magnificat, July 2003

 

Bastille Day[1]


Today, July 14, is Bastille Day, the commemoration of the revolution that brought down France’s Ancien Régime and led to the establishment of a new order that promised to totally refashion society. Unlike the American Revolution, which was fought to conserve rights and maintain political order, the French Revolution destroyed the fabric of French society. No aspect of human life was untouched. The Committee of Public Safety – influenced by Rousseau – claimed that to convert the oppressed French nation to democracy, “you must entirely refashion a people whom you wish to make free, destroy its’ prejudices, alter its habits, limit its necessities, root up its vices, purify its desires.” To achieve this end, the new rational state, whose primary ideological plank was that the sovereignty of “the people” is unlimited, attempted to eliminate French traditions, norms, and religious beliefs.

The revolutionary governing bodies were particularly determined to destroy every vestige of the Roman Catholic Church because France was hailed by Rome as the Church’s “eldest daughter” and the monarch had dedicated “our person, our state, our crown and our subjects” to the Blessed Virgin. The Constituent Assembly began the campaign against the Church by stating in the Declaration of the Rights of Man, “nobody or individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.” In other words, the Church could no longer have any say in public matters. The secular state would now have the final word over every aspect of human and social life.

Next, the government abrogated the 1516 Concordat that defined France’s relationship with the Vicar of Christ. Financial and diplomatic relations with the papacy ceased. In the name of freedom, all monastic vows were suspended and in February 1790, legislation was approved to suppress the monasteries and confiscate their properties. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy, passed on July 12, 1790, decreed that the priesthood was a civil body and all bishops and priests were to be selected by the people and paid by the state.

The pope was to have no say in the matter. In addition, clerics had to swear an oath of loyalty to the French Constitution. Dissidents had to resign their ministries, and many were prosecuted as criminals. Lay Catholics loyal to the pope were treated as rebels and traitors. With only four out of 135 bishops taking the oath in 1791, the more radical Legislative Assembly ordered additional sanctions against the Church. All religious congregations were suppressed and wearing clerical garb was forbidden.

·         Priests loyal to the papacy were automatically guilty of “fanaticism” and sentenced to ten years imprisonment. Processions were forbidden; crucifixes and religious artifacts were stripped out of churches. Government priests were granted freedom to marry, divorce was permissible, and marriage became a civil procedure.

·         Also, education, managed for centuries by the Church, was nationalized. To further de-Christianize France, a new civil religion was introduced – patriotism. The Gregorian calendar was eliminated and replaced with names related to nature. To abolish Sunday worship, months were rearranged to contain three “weeks” of ten days apiece, thus designating every tenth day for rest.

·         Catholic holy days were replaced with national holidays and civic days of worship. The “Cult of Great Men” (i.e., Rousseau) replaced the veneration of saints. The use of the word “saint” was forbidden. “There should be no more public and national worship but that of Liberty and Holy Equality,” declared the revolutionary government. Every city and village were ordered to erect an “altar to the fatherland” and to conduct July “Federation Month” patriotic rites.

·         The Feast of Nature was observed in August and the Cult of Reason was celebrated at Paris’ Civic Temple, formerly the Cathedral of Notre Dame. A female dancer was crowned as the Goddess of Reason and performed for the assembly. In 1794, the deistic cult of the Supreme Being replaced the atheistic adoration of reason. At the first public worship, the self-declared high priest, Robespierre, pronounced in his homily, “the idea of the Supreme Being and the soul’s immortality is a continuous summons to justice and consequently social and republican.”

·         Despite all the efforts of the missionaries of terror, the Church was not stamped out of existence. The heroism of the thousands of martyred bishops, priests, and religious inspired millions of the faithful and caused a spiritual renascence in France during the nineteenth century. The notorious political rogue and excommunicated bishop of Autun, the Prince de Talleyrand, reviewing that terrible period of persecution, conceded, “Regardless of my own part in this affair, I readily admit that the Civil Constitution of the Clergy . . . was perhaps the greatest political mistake of the Assembly, quite apart from the dreadful crimes which flowed there from.”  General of the Republic, Henri Clarke, agreed. In a report to the government in 1796, he wrote, “Our revolution, so far as religion is concerned, has proved a complete failure.

·         France has become once more Roman Catholic, and we may be on the point of needing the pope himself in order to enlist clerical support for the Revolution.” The French ideologues learned, as did their barbaric heirs in the twentieth century, that every effort to destroy the Church and eliminate the faithful fails. As Christ Himself promised: “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Therefore, do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

Bastille Day-the other story[2]

Bastille Day marks the anniversary of the attacks on the French prison of Bastille, a symbol of King Louis XVI's power. On July 14, 1789, a group of Parisian revolutionaries attacked the Bastille looking for gun powder to go with the rifles they had recently stolen from the Invalides. The revolutionaries stormed the prison, defeating the soldiers and bringing victory to the common people of France. This event marked the beginning of the French Revolution, the defeat of a monarchy and the birth of a republic as King Louis XVI was beheaded by use of a guillotine on July 21, 1793, in front of a crowd of Parisians. The anniversary of this attack is now the French National holiday and is observed on July 14th each year.

Bastille Day Facts & Quotes

·         The French Revolution was brought about partially due to the unequal class system found in France during the late 1700s.  The Catholic clergy held the highest position, next came Louis XVI and his court, and lastly were the general population.  Without the benefit of being born into a higher class, the general population had almost no hope of ever improving their station in life.

·         Louis XVI's spending at Versailles and his financial support of the American Revolutionary War against the British, placed France in severe economic crisis.  The general population was starving while King Louis XVI was building a great navy and continuing his lavish lifestyle in Versailles.

·         The French flag consists of blue; white and red. White was the color of the Monarchy and red and blue represented Paris. During the Revolution, the white was surrounded by blue and then red.

·         A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one of several of its children to give it a direction by dint of victories. - Napoleon Bonaparte

Bastille Day Top Events and Things to Do

·         Watch the Fireworks at the Eiffel Tower. They usually start around 11pm and can be viewed from the Champs de Mars and Trocadero.

·         Attend a French military parade.

·         Visit a French national museum as most is free to visit on Bastille Day or visit a local firehouse in France - they are open to the public on this holiday.

·         Watch a movie or a documentary about the French Revolution. Our picks: The French Revolution (2005), Jefferson in Paris (1995), Marie Antoinette (2006), Danton (1983) and That Night in Varennes (1982)

·         Go out to a French Restaurant.  Many have specials for this day.

Grand Marnier Day[3]

Grand Marnier Day celebrates this innovative adult beverage and all of the wonderful ways it can be used. Grand Marnier was the labor of love of Louis-Alexandre Marnier Lapostolle, founder of the Grand Marnier brand. His ambition to blend together Haitian tropical oranges with traditional Cognac out of France was seen as entirely unexpected during its time, but that didnt deter him at all. Since then his family name has risen to mean quality and innovation in the liquor industry and maintains a position of distinction among connoisseurs. Nothing but the highest quality Cognac is used in the creation of Grand Marnier, specifically the Ugni Blanc grapes from within the Cognac region of France. The grapes are double distilled in copper stills to bring out the richest aromas and delicious flavor profile. The same Cognac has been sourced since the creation of Grand Marnier in 1880. Since their first release, theyve continued to release other groundbreaking liquors including their Cordon Jaune, produced with a neutral grain spirit instead of Cognac, and their Cuvee du Centenaire, a limited release made with 25-year-old Cognacs.

How to Celebrate Grand Marnier Day

·         The best way to celebrate Grand Marnier Day is to try out a few of the mixed drinks that can be made with it and indulge in its rich succulent flavors.

·         Why not start off with a Marnier & Bubbles! All you need to do is mix Grand Marnier with Champagne or another French sparkling white wine. The proportions are 1 ounce of Grand Marnier and 4 ounces of sparkling white wine. Then, for a splash of color, add a cherry.

·         Or you can mix up a Grand Marnier-Ita. Simply mix 2 parts Tequila with 1-part juice of lime and mix it up. Pour it into a cocktail glass through a strainer with ice, and then add some lime wheels to finish it off. 

Bible in a Year-Day 25

Where is God in Job's suffering? Today, Fr. Mike dives deeper into Job's questions as he wrestles with his suffering. We learn that God always uses our suffering for a purpose although we may not understand it in the moment. Today's readings are Genesis 47-48, Job 39-40, and Psalm 16.

Daily Devotions

·         Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them in fasting: Catholic Politian’s and Leaders

·         Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Day 8

·         Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus

·         Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus

·         Drops of Christ’s Blood

·         Universal Man Plan

·         Rosary



[3] https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/grand-marnier-day/

[4] Schultz, Patricia. 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler's Life List Workman Publishing Company. Kindle Edition. 


Sunday, July 13, 2025



Claire’s Corner

·         Today in honor of the Holy Trinity do the Divine Office giving your day to God. To honor God REST: no shopping after 6 pm Saturday till Monday. Don’t forget the internet.

·         Bucket List Trip: Around the World “Perfect Weather”

o    SiavongaZambia

·         Let Freedom Ring Day 7 Freedom from Vengeance

·         Foodie: Qi guo ji in honor of the first cat show

·         Harrison Ford, born on July 13, 1942

·         Spirit Hour: Mai Tai

·         Barn Day

·         On Sundays Pray:

o   O Glorious Queen of Heaven and Earth, Virgin Most Powerful, thou who hast the power to crush the head of the ancient serpent with thy heel, come and exercise this power flowing from the grace of thine Immaculate Conception. Shield us under the mantle of thy purity and love, draw us into the sweet abode of thy heart and annihilate and render impotent the forces bent on destroying us. Come Most Sovereign Mistress of the Holy Angels and Mistress of the Most Holy Rosary, thou who from the very beginning hast received from God the power and the mission to crush the head of Satan. Send forth thy holy legions, we humbly beseech thee, that under thy command and by thy power they may pursue the evil spirits, counter them on every side, resist their bold attacks and drive them far from us, harming no one on the way, binding them to the foot of the Cross to be judged and sentenced by Jesus Christ Thy Son and to be disposed of by Him as He wills.

o   St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, come to our aid in this grave battle against the forces of darkness, repel the attacks of the devil and free the members of the Auxilium Christianorum, and those for whom the priests of the Auxilium Christianorum pray, from the strongholds of the enemy.

o   St. Michael, summon the entire heavenly court to engage their forces in this fierce battle against the powers of hell. Come O Prince of Heaven with thy mighty sword and thrust into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits. O Guardian Angels, guide and protect us. Amen.


JULY 13 Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

 Fatima July 13

 

Matthew, Chapter 10, verse 28

And do not be AFRAID of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. 

Copilot: This verse—Matthew 10:28—is a powerful exhortation from Jesus to His disciples, urging them to live with a holy fear rightly ordered toward God, not toward human threats. Here's a deeper reflection on its meaning:


🔥 Fear Reordered: Body vs. Soul

"And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna."
— Matthew 10:28

🕊️ Context

Jesus is preparing His disciples for persecution. He knows they will face hostility, even violence, for proclaiming the Kingdom. But He reframes fear: not as something to be avoided, but as something to be rightly directed.

💡 Key Themes

·         Temporal vs. Eternal:
Human beings can inflict physical harm—even death—but they cannot touch the eternal soul. Jesus is reminding us that the soul’s destiny is of far greater consequence than bodily safety.

·         Holy Fear of God:
The “one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna” is traditionally understood to refer to God—not because God desires destruction, but because He alone has ultimate authority over eternal judgment. This is not a fear of terror, but of awe, reverence, and accountability.

·         Gehenna as Symbol:
Gehenna was a valley outside Jerusalem associated with idolatry and later with a perpetually burning garbage heap—an image of final judgment. Jesus uses it to underscore the seriousness of eternal consequences.

🧭 Spiritual Application

·         Courage in Witness:
This verse emboldens believers to speak truth without fear of worldly repercussions. Martyrs throughout history have lived this verse—valuing fidelity to God over self-preservation.

·         Examination of Fear:
What do we fear most—loss of reputation, comfort, life itself? Jesus invites us to shift our fear from man to God, not to live in dread, but in reverent trust.

·         Hope in the Soul’s Worth:

The soul is inviolable by human hands. This is a profound affirmation of human dignity and the eternal value of each person.

Therefore love God with all your Strength

We must be resilient in our faith to resist the devil and the suffering he inflicts by his influence on weak and sinful men. John McCain in his book Character is Destiny[1] points to the 16th President of the United States as a man who demonstrates for us the characteristic of RESILIENCE. Resilience is the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens. Abraham Lincoln had known loss and grief all his life yet rather that than succumb to defeat; he somehow, always found a way to rise back up. He was inarguably a man of action. Although he was known to have chronic depression he never yielded and in some way resurrected from his melancholic states thinking, “To remain as I am is impossible; I must die or be better.” 

Lincoln rose to the highest office in the land after surviving a hard and poor childhood in the Indiana wilderness, a harsh father, little education, and deep loneliness. He survived the death of his brother, a sister, his mother, his first sweetheart, and his own children and his marriage to Mary Todd was troubled. As president he was considered dismal by most. 

How did Lincoln persist? 

He willed it. He was neither swift nor brilliant at work but he was exhaustive; he continued. His resilience sprang from his deep conviction that America was, “the last, best hope of earth.” In the end he paid for his devotion with his life; so that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth. 


ON KEEPING THE LORD'S DAY HOLY[2]

CHAPTER III

DIES ECCLESIAE

The Eucharistic Assembly:
Heart of Sunday

Easter banquet and fraternal gathering

44. The communal character of the Eucharist emerges in a special way when it is seen as the Easter banquet, in which Christ himself becomes our nourishment. In fact, "for this purpose Christ entrusted to the Church this sacrifice: so that the faithful might share in it, both spiritually, in faith and charity, and sacramentally, in the banquet of Holy Communion. Sharing in the Lord's Supper is always communion with Christ, who offers himself for us in sacrifice to the Father".(72) This is why the Church recommends that the faithful receive communion when they take part in the Eucharist, provided that they are properly disposed and, if aware of grave sin, have received God's pardon in the Sacrament of Reconciliation,(73) in the spirit of what Saint Paul writes to the community at Corinth (cf. 1 Cor 11:27-32). Obviously, the invitation to Eucharistic communion is more insistent in the case of Mass on Sundays and holy days.

It is also important to be ever mindful that communion with Christ is deeply tied to communion with our brothers and sisters. The Sunday Eucharistic gathering is an experience of brotherhood, which the celebration should demonstrate clearly, while ever respecting the nature of the liturgical action. All this will be helped by gestures of welcome and by the tone of prayer, alert to the needs of all in the community. The sign of peace — in the Roman Rite significantly placed before Eucharistic communion — is a particularly expressive gesture which the faithful are invited to make as a manifestation of the People of God's acceptance of all that has been accomplished in the celebration and of the commitment to mutual love which is made in sharing the one bread, with the demanding words of Christ in mind: "If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift" (Mt 5:23-24).

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost[3]

WITH the priest in the Introit of the Mass, let us implore God’s assistance, and say: “Hear, O Lord, my voice, with which I have cried to Thee; be Thou my helper, forsake not, do not Thou despise me, O God, my Savior. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?” (Ps. xxvi. 7, 9, 1.)

Prayer. O God, Who hast prepared invisible goods for them that love Thee, infuse into our hearts the affection of Thy love, that loving Thee in all things and above all, we may obtain Thy promises which surpass every desire.

EPISTLE, i. Peter iii. 8-15.

Dearly Beloved: Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, being lovers of the brotherhood, merciful, modest, humble: not rendering evil for evil, nor railing for railing, but contrariwise, blessing: for unto this are you called, that you may inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him decline from evil, and do good: let him seek after peace, and pursue it: because the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and His ears unto their prayers: but the countenance of the Lord upon them that do evil things. And who is he that can hurt you, if you be zealous of good? But if also you suffer anything for justice sake, blessed are ye. And be not afraid of their fear, and be not troubled; but sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts. How may and ought we to sanctify the Lord Jesus in our hearts? By faithfully imitating Him; for thereby we become His true and faithful disciples, honor Him, sanctify ourselves and edify others, who by our good example are led to admire Christianity, and Christ its founder, and to become His followers.

GOSPEL. Matt. v. 20-24.

At that time Jesus said to His disciples: I tell you, unless your justice abounds more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you: that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. And whoso ever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. If therefore thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath anything against thee: leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother, and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift.

In what did the justice of the Pharisees consist?

They were very pious in outward appearance, and avoided those vices which caused temporal disgrace and injury; but, on the other hand, they were full of malice in their hearts, and this Christ often reproached them with, calling them hypocrites.

How are we to understand what Christ says about anger and using abusive words?

The meaning of His words is, “You have heard from your teachers and doctors of the law, that whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment of men; but I say to you, who think it no sin to be angry or envious, that whosoever is angry with his brother without cause, shall be in danger of the judgment of God. You have heard that whosoever calls his brother fool, shall be brought before the council and punished; but I say to you, that God punishes with hell fire every grievous offence against your neighbor, as also the hatred and enmity of your heart towards Him.”

Why must one first be reconciled to his brother before he offers his gift at the altar, or undertakes any good work?

Because no offering, or other good work, can be pleasing to God so long as we are living in enmity, hatred, and strife with our neighbor, and thereby going directly against His will and example.

Remedies for Anger.

The first and best means to overcome anger is humility; to become thus humble, gentle, and patient, one must often consider the example of Christ, Who endured so many contradictions, persecutions, and insults, without reviling again when reviled Himself, and without threatening vengeance to any one for all He suffered. An excellent preventive to anger is, to think over in the morning what causes will be likely to draw us into anger at any time during the day, and to guard ourselves against them beforehand, by a firm resolution to bear everything patiently for the love of God; and then, when anything vexatious occurs and excites our anger, to say and do nothing so long as the anger lasts.

How shall we be reconciled with our enemies?

Not only with the lips but from the heart, and with sincerity and promptness. “Is he absent whom you have wronged,” says St. Augustine, “so that you cannot easily reach him? humble yourself then before God, and ask His pardon before you offer your gift, with a firm resolution to be reconciled with your enemy as soon as possible.”

INSTRUCTION ON SWEARING.

To swear is to call upon God, upon His truth, His justice, or other attributes, or upon His creatures, in the name of God, as witnesses of the truth.

Is swearing lawful, and when?

Yes, when necessity demands it, and when the matter sworn to is true and just: when a man thus swears he imitates God, honors Him as all-holy, all-wise, all-just, and contributes to the triumph of justice and innocence. On the other hand, great sins are committed:

1.       By those who swear in a false and unjust cause, which may be, besides, of little moment; for they call upon God as a witness to falsehood and wrong, thus violating His truth and justice.

2.       By those who swear in a good cause, but without necessity or a sufficient reason; for it is certainly unseemly to call God as witness on every trivial occasion.

3.       In like manner, they sin grievously and constantly who have become so habituated to swearing as to break out into oaths, without so much as knowing or thinking whether the thing is true or false, whether they will keep their word or not; where by they expose themselves to great danger, both because they run the risk of swearing falsely, and also because they frivolously abuse the name of God, of His saints, and of His works.

Everyone, says St. Chrysostom, who swears often sometimes swears falsely; just as lie who talks a great deal sometimes utters things unseemly and improper. For this reason, according to the opinion of St. Augustine, the Savior forbade Christians to swear at all (Matt. v. 34), that they might not fall into a habit of swearing, and, by reason of that, into swearing falsely. Whoever has this habit should take the greatest pains to overcome it. To accomplish which, it will be useful to him to reflect:

1.       That if we have to render an account for every idle word we speak, how much more strictly will we be judged for needless, idle, and false oaths! “Remember thy last end, and thou shalt not sin,”

2.       To remember that persons who swear so lightly are generally less believed than others.

3.       To repent each time that he swears, and to punish himself by a penance.

 

Fatima: How July 13, 1917 “changed” the Church[4]

What Our Lady of Fatima did that day inspired many to convert, but provoked others to reject the faith.

What she did that day inspired many to convert but provoked others to reject the faith out of hand. It made some people a little nutty and won the begrudging respect of others.

July 13 was the day Our Lady scared the daylights out of three shepherd children by showing them hell and sternly warning them about a second global war and a new age of martyrdom.

But the surprising — and surprisingly harsh — July 13, 1917, apparition changed the faith of the Church in our time.

·         First: July 13 returned hell to the center of Catholic consciousness.

Little Lucia dos Santos was 10 when Our Lady of Fatima began to appear to her every 13th of the month starting in May, 1917, along with her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, 8 and 7.

But in July, instead of just exhorting the children to say the Rosary and pointing them to heaven, she showed them a terrible sight.

“We saw as it were a sea of fire,” Lucia wrote. “Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form … amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear.”

To give Our Lady of Fatima credit, the vision of hell only happened after a year of preparation, including visits by an angel and much reassurance about heaven. But the vision so badly rattled Jacinta, especially, that it seemed to change her personality utterly.

The only thing that would make this vision okay, and not an example of emotional abuse, is if hell were a real place and we were in eminent danger of ending up there if we don’t do something drastic.

It is. We are.

·         Second: She reiterated the most unpopular — and most important — message of Christianity.

The messages of Jesus (Mark 1:15), John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1-2) and Peter (Acts 2:38) were all the same: “Repent!” Jesus defined the Church’s mission as preaching “repentance, for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 24:47).

Yet every pope from Pius XII to Francis has said “the sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.”

The refusal to repent — the belief that sin doesn’t really matter — is at the heart of the major moral disasters of our time, from abortion to human trafficking, from the pornography epidemic to the urban violent crime rate. Those who see no wrong do terrible things.

Our Lady of Fatima’s vision of hell is an absolutely necessary corrective to the presumptuous expectation that we are all going to heaven no matter what. It is true that God wants to forgive everybody. But one thing stops him: We don’t repent.

·         Third: Our Lady of Fatima de-romanticized war.

“This war will end,” Our Lady of Fatima told the children in July, “but if men do not refrain from offending God, another and more terrible war will begin.”

Whatever they understood about the particulars, the general sense of this message was clear to the children: War isn’t an occasion for God to reward victors, but to punish sin.

The “reward” paradigm had existed for a long time in Christian history: From Charlemagne to Joan of Arc, from Notre Dame des Victoires to the Conquistadores. Every Christian culture had their Robin Hood and King Arthur figures: Heroes of the unconventional virtues of clever violence. But Our Lady of Fatima poured cold water on all of that. Martial virtues are real, but they are an example of God bringing good out of evil — not of God’s will being won by violence.

·         Finally, July 13 de-romanticized martyrdom.

For that matter, Our Lady of Fatima also level-set our understanding of martyrdom.

In the at-home movies era, many of us are only now watching Silence by Martin Scorcese, which follows a Jesuit’s disillusionment as he looks for glory in the persecutions of Japan and finds soul-numbing horror instead.

The children saw a vision of the pope “half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow,” praying for the corpses he stumbled past until he was himself shot. Our Lady knows that in heaven martyrdom is glorious — and that on earth, it is painful and sad.

The meaning of all of this was not lost on the three shepherd children.

They learned that it was absolutely urgent that they console Jesus, convert sinners and commit to Mary.

July 13 is only part of their story — a story that includes far more consolation than condemnation and was meant for every generation, including ours.

 Bible in a Year-Day 24

Fr. Mike takes a look at the dramatic moment when Jospeh makes himself known to his brothers and weeps out of joy. Today's readings are Genesis 45-46, Job 37-38, and Proverbs 4:20-27. 

The First Cat Show[5]

Have you ever noticed that some people may be very, very good at lying with their lips; yet by their gestures or body language you can always see the truth? This may be the reason we have such a great affection for pets who bodily speak the truth of their own likings. Let us ask our Lord whose hands were nailed to the wood and can no longer gesture---to allow us to be His hands thus making our own gestures speak His language of love.

A British man, Mr. Harrison Weir, got the idea for the first cat show. He was a Fellow of the Horticultural Society, and artist, and a cat lover. He developed a schedule, classes, and prizes for the show. He also created the "Points of Excellence" -- a guideline for how the cats would be judged.

The Crystal Palace, in south-east London, was chosen for the site of the first show. (Dog shows had already been held there). A man named Mr. F. Wilson was appointed manager of the show for setting up the Crystal Palace. The judges were Mr. Weir, his brother John Weir, and the Reverend J. Macdona.

The show was held on July 13, 1871. Nearly 160 cats were shown. The cats were mostly short-haired and were divided into different color groups. Pedigrees were not around at this time. It wasn't until 1887 that the National Cat Club formed in Britain and began tracking the parentage of cats. The prize cats did not have their photos taken but were drawn by an artist to record them.

The show attracted a great deal of interest. Cat shows soon became fashionable in Britain, particularly because they were patronized by Queen Victoria, who owned a pair of Blue Persians. In the 1870s, larger and larger cat shows were held in Britain. In 1895 the first official cat show was held in Madison Square Garden, New York.

Daily Devotions

·         Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them in fasting: Victims of clergy sexual abuse

·         Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Day 7

·         Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus

·         Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus

·         Drops of Christ’s Blood

·         Universal Man Plan

·         Rosary