FRIDAY-SATURDAY-SUNDAY
July 28-30, 2000
volume 11, no. 127

LITURGY for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, July 28 through 31, 2000

Friday, July 28, 2000

      First Reading: Jeremiah 3: 14-17
      Psalms: Jeremiah 31: 10-13
      Gospel Reading: Matthew 13: 18-23

Saturday, July 29, 2000

      First Reading: Jeremiah 7: 1-11
      Psalms: Psalm 84: 3-6, 8, 11
      Gospel Reading: John 11: 19-27 or Luke 10: 38-42
Feast of Saint Martha, Disciple of the Lord
        Though there has been much confusion, Saint Martha was the sister of Mary of Bethany and not to be confused with Mary Magdalene, whose feast we recently celebrated. While Mary of Bethany is said to have been a "dreamer" sitting by Our Lord for hours at a time just drinking everything in, Martha was the "doer" and at times resented it such as the account in Luke 10: 38-42 in which Jesus lovingly rebuked her "Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many things; and yet only one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the best part and it will not be taken away from her." Sacred Scripture records that Martha and Mary's brother was Lazarus and in John 11: 40, Jesus again tests Martha's faith just before resurrecting Lazarus when He says, "Have I not told thee that if thou believe thou shalt behold the glory of God?" Yet through it all Martha rolled with the punches, so to speak, and was always there to cook for Our Lord and clean for she truly believed. Martha, like Mary Magdalene, was there at the foot of the Cross with the Blessed Mother and Saint John and was privileged to see Jesus after His Resurrection. Some accounts have Martha traveling to Gaul (France) after Pentecost with Lazarus and Mary of Bethany to preach the Gospel though this is not substantiated.

SUNDAY, July 30, 2000

      First Reading: 2 Kings 4: 42-44
      Psalms: Psalm 145: 10-11, 15-18
      Second Reading: Ephesians 4: 1-6 Gospel Reading: John 6: 1-15

Because it is the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Feast of Saint Peter Chrysologos, Bishop and Doctor of the Church is superseded this year.

Feast of Saint Peter Chrysologos, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
        Born in 380, Saint Peter Chrysologus was Bishop of Ravenna, Italy during the Council of Ephesus in which he defended the Blessed Mother's title of Theotokos - Mother of God. He was also influential with the empress Gallia Placidia who had built his church of St. John the Evangelist through the influence of the Emperor Constantine. However Peter frequently rebuked her for the annual carnival, admonishing "They who delight in the devil cannot rejoice in Christ." Through his edification and preaching many abandoned their libidious ways and turned their attention to the Gospel which Peter preached relentlessly and how the Incarnate Word related with their current situations. Peter, who was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XIII in 1729, said of the role of Bishop: "He obeys the king, he collaborates with those in power, he respects the elderly, he is kind to youth, he loves his companions, he is affectionate toward children, he imitates Christ in his generous service to all." Ever the promoter of orthodox teaching and total loyalty to Holy Mother Church, Peter passed on peacefully to his Heavenly reward in 451 at the age of 71.

Monday, July 31, 2000

    Monday July 31:
    Feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest and Religious Founder

    White vestments

      First Reading: Jeremiah 13: 1-11
      Psalms: Deuteronomy 32: 18-21
      Gospel Reading: Matthew 13: 31-25
Feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest and Religious Founder
        The founder of the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits, was born in Guipuzcoa, Spain in 1491, the youngest of eleven children. Saint Ignatius Lopez of Loyola did not realize what great mission God had in store for him until, while recovering from a battle injury at Pamplona in 1521, he began reading "The Life of Christ" by Ludolph of Saxony. It was during this time that two people came into his life that would alter the course of history and his life forever. First, the heresy of the monk Martin Luther who Ignatius realized had to be thwarted; and secondly, through prayer for direction, Our Lady appeared to him in a vision requesting he make a pilgrimage to Montserrat where the famous Madonna statue resided at the Benedictine Abbey. Shortly after she imparted the the idea of his now famous and simple Spiritual Exercises which he made a first draft of in 1522. His life would reflect the course of the Jesuits which he was about to found. After a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he returned to study Latin at the University of Alcala in Spain but was imprisoned on the false charges of being an illuminist. He fled to Salamanca where again he was prosecuted through a kangaroo court and jailed. Freed seven years later, he journed to Paris where he completed his studies. Then in 1534, four years after the Diet of Augsburg, Ignatius gathered six companions including his friend Saint Francis Xavier in the chapel at Montmartre to form the Society of Jesus, vowing poverty and chastity, and offering themselves to the Holy Father as he wished to use them. Though they had intended to go to the Holy Land to preach the Gospel, political circumstances prevented this journey. It was to be providential as Ignatius was ordained in 1538 and two years later the Jesuits were approved by Pope Paul III in his papal bull Regimini Militantes Ecclesiae. Raised to be a soldier, Ignatius truly became a "soldier of Christ" as did his Order of which he became the first Superior General in 1551, a year after the definitive Constitution of the Jesuits had been approved by Pope Jules III. During a general meeting of the Society in 1556, Ignatius, at the age of 65, passed away peacefully. From the beginning the Jesuits had dedicated their ministry to defending the Pope and fighting the heresies that threatened Holy Mother Church. While Martin Luther was effecting millions of defectors from Holy Mother Church, God raised up a man who would conversely convert millions more through his Society's commitment of imparting thorough knowledge of the One, True Faith.

July 28-30, 2000
volume 11, no. 127
DAILY LITURGY


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