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Back to making up for time lost... This time, it's an unaccountably slow PC that takes forever to load anything for some reason I cannot detect, since I have run all the security checks against viruses, cookies, etc., as well as disk cleaning and disk optimization, to no avail, and I haven't the time to bring my PC to a repair shop...
Yesterday, Monday, Pope Francis had no activities nor messages - he stopped saying the morning Masses for invited guests at Santa Marta in early July, and there is no announcement I know of as to whether he will resume them. But even without a formal announcement other than that there will be no general audiences in August, it is obvious that he, too, is 'taking a vacation' this month, except for the Angelus appointments and Mass on the Feast of the Assumption later this week). With Benedict XVI (and probably with John Paul II, too - I have not checked), GAs were only cancelled in July, the official vacation month for the Pope; in recent years, Benedict held the August GAs either at Castel Gandolfo or in St. Peter's Square.
Monday, August 12, 2013, 19th Week in Ordinary Time
Center illustrations, Martini's altarpiece, 1328; and Donatello's lifesize statue of Louis, 1523.
ST. LOUIS DE TOULOUSE (France, 1274-1297), Franciscan and Bishop
A nephew of France's crusader King Louis IX who would become France's only canonised king, Louis was born just 4 years after the king's death, to Charles of Anjou, who would become King Charles II of Naples. His mother descended from the family of Hungary's St. Elizabeth. Small wonder that the boy early showed piety in prayer and corporal works of mercy. At age 14, however, he and two of his brothers were given up by their father as hostages for his freedom when he was defeated by the King of Aragon in the battle that followed the so-called Sicilian Vespers. The brothers were raised in the court of Aragon in the care of Franciscans for 7 years. At age 20, Louis left the court and went to Rome where he took the Franciscan vows. Soon after, he was named Bishop of Toulouse in his native France. He continued to wear his Franciscan robes and immediately won hearts because he gave most of his income to the poor and made it a point to sit at least 25 needy people at his table every day. But the work exhausted him and at age 23, he succumbed to typhoid fever. That same year, his great-uncle, Louis IX, was canonized. He himself was canonized in 1317 just 20 years after his death. Several years later, his younger brother Robert, to whom he had ceded all his secular titles and rights, commissioned Simone Martini to execute an altarpiece to commemorate his brother alongside their illustrious relative Louis IX. The mission, county and city of San Luis Obispo (St. Louis the Bishop) in California were named by the Spanish missionaries after him.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/081213.cfm
No events announced for Pope Francis today.
One year ago...
At the Sunday Angelus, Benedict XVI commented on today's Gospel in which the Jews dispute that Jesus could be the Son of God - since they all knew him as the son of Mary and Joseph - saying that one has to believein the divinity of Jesus in order to hunger for him as the Bread of Life. After the Angelus recitation, he asked the faithful to pray for the victims of torrential rains in China and the Philippines and the recent earthquake in Iran.
ANGELUS TODAY
August 12, 2012
Here is a translation of the Pope's Angelus remarks, an off-the-beaten-track reflection on the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves - not focusing on the miracle itself, but on its wider symbolism for Jesus as the Bread of Life:
Dear brothers and sisters:
The readings from Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John, which accompany us in the liturgy these Sundays, has led us to reflect on the multiplication of the loaves, with which the Lord fed a crowd of 5,000, and the invitation Jesus addressed to those who had eaten that they had to strive for the bread that remains with them forever.
Jesus wanted to help them understand the profound meaning of the miracle which he had performed in satisfying their physical hunger, to prepare them to accept the announcement that he himself is the Bread descended from heaven (cfr Jn 6,41) who provides the definitive satisfaction.
Even the Jewish people, during their long journey in the desert, had eaten bread that came down from heaven - manna - which had kept them alive until they arrived in the Promised Land.
Now, Jesus speaks of himself as the true bread descended from heaven, who is able to maintain life not just for a time and for a stage in the journey, but for always. He is the food that gives eternal life, because he is God's only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, who came to give man life in its fullness, to introduce man to God's own life.
In Jewish thinking, it was clear that the true bread from heaven that nourished Israel was the Law, the Word of God. The People of Israel acknowledged with clarity that the Torah was the fundamental and lasting gift of Moses, and that the fundamental element that distinguished her from other peoples was to know the will of God and therefore the right way to live.
Now Jesus, in manifesting himself as the Bread from heaven, gives testimony that he is the Word of God in person, the Word Incarnate, through whom man could be nourished by the Will of God (cfr Jn 4,35) who orients and sustains existence.
Therefore, to doubt the divinity of Jesus, as the Jews did in today's Gospel account, means opposing the work of God. Indeed, the Jews said: "He is the son of Joseph! We know his father and his mother!" (cfr Jn 6,42). They could not go beyond his earthly origins and therefore refused to accept him as the Word of God made flesh.
St. Augustine, in his Commentary on the Gospel of John, explains it this way: "They were far removed from the celestial bread, and were incapable of hungering for it. The mouth of their heart was sick...Indeed, this Bread demands the hunger of man's inner self. We must ask ourselves if we truly feel this hunger, hunger for the Word of God, hunger to know the true meaning of life. Only he who is drawn to God the Father, who listens to him and allows himself to be instructed by him can believe in Jesus, can meet him and be nourished by him, and thus find true life, the way of life, justice, truth and love"
St. Augustine adds: "The Lord... affirms he is the bread descended from heaven, exhorting us to believe in him... To eat the living Bread, in fact, means believing in him. He who believes, eats. Invisibly, he is sated, and just as invisibly, he is reborn to a more profound and truer life, he is reborn within - he becomes a new man in his most intimate self" (ibidem).
Invoking the Most Blessed Mary, let us ask her to lead us to the encounter with Jesus so that our friendship with him may be ever more intense. Let us ask her to introduce us to the full communion o0f love with her Son, the living Bread descended from heaven, so that we many be renewed by him in the intimacy of our being.
After the prayers, he said this:
My thoughts go, at this time, to the Asian peoples, especially in the Philippines and the People's Republic of China who have been struck severely by violent rains, as well as the people in northwest Iran, who were struck by a violent earthquake.
These events claimed numerous deaths and injuries, thousands of homeless and tremendous damages. I invite you to join me in prayer for those who have lost their lives and for all the persons tried by these devastating calamities. Let these brothers not lack our solidarity and support.
In English, he said:
I am pleased to greet the English-speaking pilgrims gathered for this Angelus prayer.
The readings from today’s Mass invite us to put our faith in Jesus, the "bread of life" who offers himself to us in the Eucharist and promises us the joy of the resurrection.
During these summer holidays, may you and your families respond to the Lord’s invitation by actively participating in the Eucharistic sacrifice and by generous acts of charity. Upon all of you I invoke his blessings of joy and peace!
 [Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 13/08/2013 15:11] |