Indeed, how good is the Lord: bless his holy name.
Year: A(I). Psalm week: 4. Liturgical Colour: Green.
In other years: Saint Louis (1214 - 1270)
He became King of France (as Louis IX) at the age of 12. He was married and had eleven children, to whom he gave an excellent upbringing. He was noted for his spirit of prayer and penitence and for his love for the poor. He ran his kingdom not only to give peace to the people and economic stability but also for their spiritual good. He founded the Sorbonne and was a friend of St Thomas Aquinas. He was a member of the Order of Penitents of St Francis of Assisi, which later became the Franciscan Third Order and is now known as the Secular Franciscan Order (OFS).
Louis was trusted by his fellow-rulers in Europe and often asked to arbitrate in their disputes. He undertook two unsuccessful crusades to liberate Christ’s burial-place and on the second of these he died, near Carthage, in the year 1270.
In other years: Saint Joseph of Calasanz (1557 - 1648)
He was born in Aragón, received an excellent education and was ordained priest. After working in his own country for some time he went to Rome, where he worked for the education of the poor and founded a religious congregation for that purpose. His idea was that every child should receive an education. As one might expect, he was the object of much envy and calumny. He died in Rome in 1648.
Other saints: St Mary of Jesus Crucified Baouardy (1846-1878)
25 Aug (where celebrated)
St Mary of Jesus Crucified was born into a Greek-Catholic family of the Melkite Rite, at Ibellin, Galilee in 1846. Mary was orphaned at the age of two and raised by her uncle in Alexandria, Egypt. During that time, she was made to work as a house servant after refusing a marriage arranged by her uncle. After suffering violent abuse at the hands of another house servant, Mary escaped her uncle’s house and found work as a domestic servant elsewhere, working in Alexandria, Jerusalem and Beirut.
In 1862, she had moved to France with a family she was serving. In France, Mary discerned a vocation to the consecrated life. In 1867 she entered the Discalced Carmelites at Pau, France and was soon after sent with the founding group to the Carmel of Mangalore in India. She returned to France in 1872 and planned with her superiors to found a monastery in Bethlehem. In 1875 she went to the Holy Land where she built a monastery in Bethlehem and began planning for another at Nazareth. During the work of establishing the monasteries she fell and fractured her arm, which became gangrenous. Her health quickly declined and on the 26th August 1878, Mary died. She is noted for her supernatural gifts, especially for humility, for her devotion to the Holy Spirit, and her great love for the Church.
Liturgical colour: green
The theological virtue of hope is symbolized by the colour green, just as the burning fire of love is symbolized by red. Green is the colour of growing things, and hope, like them, is always new and always fresh. Liturgically, green is the colour of Ordinary Time, the orderly sequence of weeks through the year, a season in which we are being neither single-mindedly penitent (in purple) nor overwhelmingly joyful (in white).
| Mid-morning reading (Terce) | Romans 12:17,19-20,21 © |
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Never repay evil with evil. As scripture says: Vengeance is mine – I will pay them back, says the Lord. But there is more: If your enemy is hungry, you should give him food, and if he is thirsty, let him drink. Resist evil and conquer it with good.
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| Noon reading (Sext) | 1 John 3:16 © |
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This has taught us love – that he gave up his life for us; and we, too, ought to give up our lives for our brothers.
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| Afternoon reading (None) | 1 John 4:9-11 © |
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God’s love for us was revealed when God sent into the world his only Son so that we could have life through him; this is the love I mean: not our love for God, but God’s love for us when he sent his Son to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away. My dear people, since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another.
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