Candace’s Corner
· Linda Ronstadt, born on July 15, 1946
o Note when the Iceman (Dad) was in Fort Huachuca, AZ he received an award from Linda’s brother who was the Chief of Police for Tucson for his Crime Prevention Unit which was selected as the Best in the State of Arizona.
· 10 coolest summer getaways in Arizona: Mountains, lakes and a chilly cave trek
· fast- Marian devotion, protection, and contemplation-Mount Carmel
· St. Anthony Novena 5-on thirteen consecutive Tuesdays.
· Pray Day 7 of the Novena for our Pope and Bishops
· Foodie: National Eggplant Month
o Today is National Orange Chicken Day
· Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Day 9
· Bucket List: Vineyard World Tour:
· Spirit Hour: after six cocktail
JULY 15 Tuesday-Memorial of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop
St. Swithun
Exodus, Chapter 2, Verse 13-14
13The
next day he went out again, and now two Hebrews were fighting! So, he asked the
culprit, “Why are you striking your companion?” 14But
he replied, “Who has appointed you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of
killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses became AFRAID and thought, “The affair must certainly be known.”
Moses was a prince of Egypt and a Hebrew. Moses as a man sought justice for his Hebrew brothers and in a fit of anger killed an Egyptian that was brutalizing a Hebrew slave and secretly buried him in the sand. Secrecy is a key element in knowing your own sinfulness. When we find ourselves wanting to keep something secret, we should ask ourselves are we going down a road that we want to go; is this secrecy that we desire really an attempt to hide our sinfulness from God; who sees all things. Think twice the next time you seek secrecy.
What does the
Bible say?[1]
1.
Proverbs 28:13 “If you hide your sins, you will not succeed. If you confess and
reject them, you will receive mercy.” (mercy verses)
2.
Psalm 69:5 “God, you know what I have done wrong; I cannot hide my guilt from
you.” (Guilt in the Bible)
3.
Psalm 44:20-21 “If we had forgotten the name of our God or lifted our hands to
a foreign god, wouldn’t God find out since he knows the secrets of the heart?”
4.
Psalm 90:8 “You have set our wrong-doing before You, our secret sins in the
light of Your face.”
5.
Numbers 32:23 “But if you don’t do these things, you will be sinning against
the Lord; know for sure that you will be punished for your sin.” God knows
everything about you and He is always watching you.
6.
Jeremiah 16:17-18 “I see everything they do. They cannot hide from me the
things they do; their sin is not hidden from my eyes. I will pay back the
people of Judah twice for every one of their sins, because they have made my
land unclean. They have filled my country with their hateful idols.” (Idolatry
in the Bible)
7.
Psalm 139:1-2 “Lord, you have examined me and know all about me. You know when
I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts before I think them.”
8.
Psalm 139:3-7 “You know where I go and where I lie down. You know everything I
do. Lord, even before I say a word, you already know it. You are all around
me—in front and in back— and have put your hand on me. Your knowledge is
amazing to me; it is more than I can understand. Where can I go to get away
from your Spirit? Where can I run from you?” (God Bible verses)
9.
Luke 12:1-2 “So many thousands of people had gathered that they were stepping
on each other. Jesus spoke first to his followers, saying, “Beware of the yeast
of the Pharisees, because they are hypocrites. Everything that is hidden will
be shown, and everything that is secret will be made known.”
10.
Hebrews 4:12-13 “God’s word is alive and working and is sharper than a
double-edged sword. It cuts all the way into us, where the soul and the spirit
are joined, to the center of our joints and bones. And it judges the thoughts
and feelings in our hearts. Nothing in all the world can be hidden from God.
Everything is clear and lies open before him, and to him we must explain the
way we have lived.”
The danger of
unconfessed sin
11.
Isaiah 59:1-2 “Surely the Lord’s power is enough to save you. He can hear you
when you ask him for help. It is your evil that has separated you from your
God. Your sins cause him to turn away from you, so he does not hear you.”
12.
Psalm 66:18-19 “If I had harbored sin in my heart, the Lord would not have
listened. However, God heard; he listened to my prayer.”
Repent of the
hidden sins you don’t know about.
13.
Psalm 19:12 “How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from
these hidden faults.”
Repent: Turn away
and follow Christ.
14.
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us
our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (Repentance in the Bible)
15. 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, who are
called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn
from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their
sin and will heal their land.”
Bonus: Don’t deny
your sins. See it as God sees it.
Isaiah
55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Copilot
Exodus 2 offers profound lessons on
fear when viewed through a Catholic lens, especially in light of divine
providence, moral courage, and the mystery of God's timing. Here are several
key insights:
🔍 1. Fear and Providence:
Trusting in God's Hidden Hand
- Jochebed’s
Fear and Faith: Moses’ mother, fearing for her son’s life under Pharaoh’s
decree, places him in a basket on the Nile (Ex 2:3). Her fear is real, but
it leads to an act of radical trust in God’s providence.
- Catholic interpretation sees this as a model of faith under
fear: entrusting what we cannot control to God’s care.
- The basket (or “ark”) echoes Noah’s ark—both symbols of
salvation through water, prefiguring baptism.
- Lesson:
Fear can be a catalyst for faith when it drives us to surrender to God’s
will. As the Catechism teaches, “God is the sovereign master of his plan.
But to carry it out he also makes use of his creatures’ cooperation” (CCC
306).
🛡️ 2. Fear of Man vs.
Fear of God
- Moses’
Killing of the Egyptian (Ex 2:11–12): Moses acts to defend a fellow
Hebrew, but when his deed is discovered, he becomes afraid and flees (Ex
2:14–15).
- According to Catholic commentators like Haydock and the
Ignatius Study Bible, Moses’ action was not merely impulsive but inspired
by a sense of justice and divine calling.
- Yet his fear of Pharaoh leads him into exile, showing the
tension between human fear and divine mission.
- Lesson:
The fear of man can derail our vocation if not tempered by the fear of the
Lord—a reverent awe that leads to obedience and courage. As Proverbs 29:25
says, “The fear of man lays a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord is
safe.”
🌿 3. Fear in the
Wilderness: A Place of Formation
- Exile
in Midian (Ex 2:15–22): Moses’ flight into the wilderness is not a retreat
from God’s plan but a preparation for it.
- Catholic theology often sees the desert as a place of
purification and encounter with God (cf. Elijah, John the Baptist,
Jesus).
- In Midian, Moses learns humility, patience, and
dependence—virtues forged in the crucible of fear and solitude.
- Lesson:
Fear and failure are not the end of the story. God often uses our
wilderness experiences to prepare us for greater missions. As St. Paul
later writes, “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10).
👁️ 4. God Sees, Hears,
Knows
- The
chapter ends with a powerful affirmation: “God saw the people of
Israel—and God knew” (Ex 2:25).
- This is not mere observation but a covenantal knowing—God’s
intimate awareness and readiness to act.
- Catholic tradition emphasizes that God’s providence is never
absent, even when He seems silent.
- Lesson:
In moments of fear and silence, we are invited to trust that God sees,
hears, and remembers His promises. This echoes the Catholic understanding
of divine providence and the assurance that “all things work together for
good for those who love God” (Rom 8:28).
|
Theme |
Fear Expressed |
Catholic Insight |
|
Maternal fear |
Jochebed hides Moses |
Trust in divine providence through
sacrificial love |
|
Moral fear |
Moses flees after killing Egyptian |
Fear of man must be overcome by
fear of God and fidelity to vocation |
|
Existential fear |
Moses in exile |
God uses fear and failure to form
us in humility and readiness |
|
Communal fear |
Israel cries out in slavery |
God hears the cry of the oppressed
and acts in covenantal faithfulness |
St. Bonaventure[2]
"In Bonaventure we meet a unique personality. He was unsurpassed in
sanctity, wisdom, eloquence, and gifted with a remarkable skill of
accomplishing things, a heart full of love, a winning disposition, benevolent,
affable, pious, charitable, rich in virtue, beloved by God and man. . . . The
Lord endowed him with such a charming disposition that everyone who saw him was
immediately attracted to him." In these words the historian of the Council
of Lyons concludes his account on St. Bonaventure.
At an early age he was a celebrated
teacher and a powerful preacher. At thirty-six he was called to the highest
post among the Franciscans, the Order which honors him as a second founder. He
was an important figure at the Council of Lyons. His virtue and wisdom, his
versatility and mildness were major factors in attaining the happy result that
the Greeks so easily returned to the unity of the Church.
Bonaventure was a subtle scholastic and a profound mystic. Because of the latter he is known as the "Seraphic Teacher." In philosophy he was the principal leader of the Platonic-Augustinian school of Franciscan thought; as such he stood opposed to the Aristotelianism that was making its way into the schools of the time (ably represented by Thomas Aquinas). Bonaventure's Life of St. Francis was a favorite book of the Middle Ages. When St. Thomas was told about Bonaventure's work, he said: "Let us allow one saint to labor for another." His contemporaries are said to have believed that no one was "more handsome, more holy, or more learned" than he.
—Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace,
Pius Parsch
St Swithun, Bishop &
Confessor: Missa “Sacerdotes tui “
Saint Swithin Swithun (or Swithin, Old English: Swīþhūn;
died c. 862) was a Saxon bishop. He was born in the kingdom of Wessex and
educated in its capital, Winchester. He was famous for charitable gifts and
building churches. His feast day is 15 July and his emblems are rain drops and
apples.
Swithin was chaplain to Egbert, the 802-839 king of Wessex.
Egbert’s son Ethelwulf, whom Swithin educated, made him bishop of Winchester in
852.
Only one miracle is attributed to Swithin while he was
alive. An old lady’s eggs had been smashed by workmen building a church.
Swithin picked the broken eggs up and, it is said, they miraculously became
whole again.
And if any church fell down, or was in decay, S. Swithin
would anon amend it at his own cost. Or if any church were not hallowed, he
would go thither afoot and hallow it. For he loved no pride, ne to ride on gay
horses, ne to be praised ne flattered of the people…
Swithin died on 2 July 862. According to tradition, he had
asked to be buried humbly. His grave was just outside the west door of the Old
Minster, so that people would walk across it and rain fall on it in accordance
with Swithin’s wishes. William of Malmesbury recorded that the bishop left
instructions that his body should be buried outside the church, ubi et
pedibus praetereuntium et stillicidiis ex alto rorantibus esset obnoxius
[where it might be subject to the feet of passers-by and to the raindrops pouring
from on high], which has been taken as indicating that the legend was already
well known in the 12th century.
On 15 July 971 though, Swithin’s remains were dug up and
moved to a shrine in the cathedral by Bishop Ethelwold. Miraculous cures were
associated with the event, and Swithin’s feast day is the date of the removal
of his remains, not his death day. However, the removal was also accompanied by
ferocious and violent rain storms that lasted 40 days and 40 nights and are
said to indicate the saint’s displeasure at being moved. This is probably the
origin of the legend that if it rains on Saint Swithun’s feast day, the rain
will continue for 40 more days.
Saint Swithin is still seen as the patron of Winchester
Cathedral.
INTROIT Psalm 131: 9-10
Let Thy priests, O Lord, be clothed with justice, and let
Thy saints rejoice: for Thy servant David’s sake, turn not away the face of Thy
anointed. V. O Lord, remember David, and all his
meekness. v. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy
Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.
COLLECT
God, who dost gladden us by the merits and intercession of
thy blessed confessor bishop Swithun, grant us this boon, that we who ask for
his good offices may obtain them through the gift of thy grace.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. R. Amen.
EPISTLE Hebrews 7: 23-27
Lesson from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the
Hebrews: Brethren, there were made many priests, because by reason of
death they were not suffered to continue: but Jesus, for that
He continueth forever, hath an everlasting priesthood. Whereby He is
able also to save forever them that come to God by Him; always living
to make intercession for us. For it was fitting that we should
have such a high priest, holy, innocent, and undefiled, separated from
sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as
the other priests, to offer sacrifice first for His own sins, and then for
the people’s; for this Jesus Christ our Lord did once, in offering
Himself.
GRADUAL Psalm 131: 16-17
I will clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints
shall rejoice with exceeding great joy. There will I bring forth a horn to
David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. Alleluia, alleluia! Ps. 109:4
The Lord has sworn an oath there is no retracting: Thou art a priest forever in
the line of Melchisedech. Alleluia!
GOSPEL Matthew 24:
42-47
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: Watch, because
you know not what hour your Lord will come. But this know ye, that, if the
goodman of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly
watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open. Wherefore be you also
ready: because at what hour you know not the Son of man will come. Who,
thinkest thou, is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath appointed
over his family, to give them meat in season? Blessed is that servant, whom
when his lord shall come he shall find so doing. Amen I say to you, he shall
place him over all his goods.
OFFERTORY
ANTIPHON Psalm 88: 25
My truth and My mercy shall be with him: and in My name
shall his horn be exalted.
SECRET
Hallow the gifts we offer Lord, and at the intercession of
thy blessed confessor bishop Swithun, do thou cleanse us by their means from
the defilement of our sins. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth
and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world
without end. R. Amen.
PREFACE of the Common
It is truly meet and just, and profitable unto salvation,
that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks to thee, O Holy
Lord, Father Almighty, eternal God, through Christ, our Lord. Though whom the
angels praise thy majesty, the dominions adore it, the powers are in awe. Which
the heavens and the hosts of heaven together with the blessed seraphim joyfully
do magnify. And do thou command that it be permitted to us join with them in
confessing thee, while we say with lowly praise:
COMMUNION ANTIPHON Matthew
24: 46-47
Blessed is that servant, whom when his lord cometh he shall
find watching: Amen I say to you, he shall place him over all his goods.
POSTCOMMUNION
We humbly beg thee, almighty God, to grant that we whom
thou renewest with thy sacrament, at the intercession of thy blessed confessor
bishop Swithun, may lead lives acceptable to thee and worthy of thy
servants. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth
with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without
end. R. Amen.
Bible in a Year-Day 26
Today we wrap up our journey through the Patriarchs as Fr. Mike finishes the book of Genesis and the book of Job. Fr. Mike particularly draws our attention to God's beautiful yet mysterious response to Job's questions. Today's readings are Genesis 49-50, Job 41-42, and Psalm 17.
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: The Families of St. Joseph Porters
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
· Let Freedom Ring Day 9 Freedom from Abuse of Sexuality Outside the Marital State
o From a Catholic perspective, sex transmutation—though not a term traditionally used in Church teaching—can be understood as the redirection of sexual energy toward higher, God-centered purposes such as chastity, charity, creativity, and sanctity. This aligns with the Church’s broader theology of the body, virtue, and spiritual discipline.
o ✝️ Catholic Understanding of Sexual Energy
§ The Church teaches that sexual desire is not evil in itself. Rather, it is a powerful gift from God, meant to be ordered toward:
· Unitive love within sacramental marriage
· Procreation of new life
· Sanctification through self-mastery and virtue
o When not expressed in marriage, sexual energy is to be sublimated—transformed into acts of love, service, and spiritual devotion. This is where the idea of “transmutation” finds resonance.
o 🕊️ Catholic Pathways to Transmuting Sexual Energy
§ 1. Chastity as a Virtue
· Chastity is not mere abstinence but the integration of sexuality within the person.
· It involves self-mastery, enabling one to love rightly and purely.
· Saints like Augustine and Aquinas emphasized chastity as a path to freedom and holiness.
§ 2. Redemptive Suffering and Offering
· Sexual temptation can be united with Christ’s suffering and offered for the salvation of souls.
· This transforms struggle into intercession and spiritual growth.
§ 3. Prayer and Contemplation
· Redirecting desire through contemplative prayer (e.g., the Rosary, Adoration) elevates the soul.
· St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body teaches that the body, including its desires, can become a “sacrament” of divine love when rightly ordered.
§ 4. Creative and Apostolic Work
· Saints and mystics often channeled intense passion into writing, preaching, or serving the poor.
· Sexual energy, when sublimated, can fuel heroic virtue and creativity.
o 🧠 Catholic Examples of Transmutation
· Saint | · How They Transmuted Sexual Energy | · |
· St. Augustine | · Turned from lust to theological brilliance and pastoral zeal | · |
· St. Thomas Aquinas | · Chose celibacy and intellectual purity, writing the Summa Theologica | · |
· St. Francis of Assisi | · Embraced radical poverty and love of creation | · |
· St. Teresa of Ávila | · Channeled longing into mystical union with Christ | · |
o
📖 Scripture and Teaching
§ Romans 12:1 – “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.”
§ 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit… glorify God in your body.”
§ Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2337–2359) – Teaches about chastity, purity of heart, and the call to holiness for all states of life.
o 🕯️ A Catholic Practice of Sex Transmutation
§ Here’s a simple daily rhythm:
· Morning Offering: “Lord, I offer you my desires and passions today. Purify them and use them for your glory.”
· Midday Check-In: Redirect wandering thoughts with a Hail Mary or short prayer.
· Evening Reflection: Examine how you responded to temptations. Offer failures to God’s mercy and successes to His glory.
[1] https://biblereasons.com/secret-sins/
