First Reading: Lamentations 2: 2, 10-14, 18-19
Psalms: Psalm 74: 1-7, 20-21
Gospel Reading: Luke 2: 41-51


FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

    This feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was established by Pope Pius XII on December 8, 1945 and assigned to August 22. However, in more recent times it was moved to immediately follow the Feast of the Sacred Heart in concordance with the fact that wherever Jesus is, there is His Mother and wherever the Blessed Virgin Mary is, there also is her Divine Son. Devotion to the Immaculate Heart dates back to Saint John Eudes in the 17th Century who is known as the apostle of the devotion to the Two Hearts. He petitioned the Popes often during his life to institute special feasts honoring the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts. At each time he met with resistance, but Our Lady had other plans and promoted this devotion to her Immaculate Heart at Fatima when she said, "In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph." Just as the Feast of the Sacred Heart is always celebrated on Friday to commemorate the First Fridays, so also the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is always celebrated on the Saturday immediate following to commemorate the First Saturday Devotion begun after the Fatima apparitions when Our Lady promised her intercession at the hour of a person's death if they received Holy Communion of the First Saturday of five consecutive months and promise to offer reparation to her Divine Son through her Immaculate Heart. This feast also helped establish Saturday as special to Our Lady with the Church establishing optional memorials to the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday during Ordinary Time.

Though it is superseded by the Feast of the Immaculate Heart this year, July 1st is ususally the traditional Feast of Blessed Junipero Serra, the Franciscan Founder of the California Missions:

   Considered the founder of the California missions that still flourish today along the west coast, Blessed Junipero Serra was born Jose Miguel Serra in 1713 in the village of Petra near Mallorca, Spain. The son of a farmer, he received the name Junipero upon joining the Franciscans in 1730. After receiving his doctorate in theology as a priest and teaching at the Lullian University at Palma de Mallorca, he was finally given the assignment he had prayed for - missionary work which took him first to San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1749. For the next eight years he traveled throughout Mexico, holding numerous administrative offices including Commissary of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. In 1767 the Jesuits were expelled from Mexico and the Franciscans were given the spoils with Junipero being named president of the missions in Lower California. Two years later Spain took over Upper California and Blessed Serra accompanied the Conquistadors to San Diego where he founded the first mission in 1769 - Mission de Alcala in Mission Valley which is still considered the "mother of all California missions." Following the traditional Spanish rule for administering the missions, Serra had more than a few run-ins with Spanish leaders and military forces regarding the Indians whom he ministered to and loved. Because of his dedication to the Beatitudes, perseverance, and loyalty to the Indians resulted in countless conversions. Riding by mule and horseback, Blessed Junipero established nine more missions along the California coast from Oceanside to Carmel where he established his headquarters and where he died peacefully in 1784 at the age of 71. At Serra's beatification ceremony in 1988, Pope John Paul II said Blessed Junipero "is a shining example of Christian virtue and the missionary spirit. His great good was to bring the gospel to the native peoples of America, so that they, too, might be consecrated to the truth." It is fitting that the Church established his feast day on the first day of the month America celebrates her heritage and independence.

SUNDAY July 2:
THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Green vestments

Monday July 3:
Feast of SAINT THOMAS, APOSTLE

Red vestments

    Though Saint Thomas the Apostle is often referred to as the "Doubting Apostle," in truth he was one of the most faithful, believing of Christ's disciples. This is confirmed in John 11: 16 when Thomas boldly encourages his fellow apostles to go with Jesus to Lazarus where the fear was that they might be stoned, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him." That does not display doubt, but rather undying faith. But Thomas, being human and having withered the many storms Christ underwent, expressed the sentiment many would. In other words, it was almost too much to believe that Jesus had risen. To allay any further sorrow, Thomas put up a defense to the other Apostles with his famous, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." In other words, "don't tease me!" Christ understood and was gentle with Thomas, rebuking him mildly in John 20: 27-29 with "...and be not unbelieving, but believing...Because thou hast seen Me, thou has believed. Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed." The last sentence is a great lesson in faith for the majority of us have not seen, yet we believe. That's faith. This event also occurred before the Descent of the Holy Spirit. Even before this Thomas had pledged his undying loyalty with his famous response to Our Lord in John 20: 28, "My Lord and my God!" It was Thomas' way of asking forgiveness for doubting. After Christ's Ascension Thomas was sent to preach in Parthia and the Indies where he gained the glorious crown of martyrdom. In 1972 Pope Paul VI proclaimed him "Patron Saint of India."

June 30 - July 2, 2000
volume 11, no. 115
DAILY LITURGY

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