CATHOLIC FAITH AT HOME RESOURCES
For Our Family of Parishes
St. Thomas More, St. Bernadette, St. Mary's, St. Peter's
August 7
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THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
which always falls in the liturgical season of Ordinary Time.
A Brief Daily Prayer for August (or really anytime!)
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Immaculate Heart of Mary,
I give you my heart.
With it, I want to love you,
and be with you,
and through you,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and
the entire divine creation.
My dear Mother,
I place myself in your
Holy and Immaculate Heart.
I know that you
will take care of me,
and all those who
have recourse to you
in all our needs.
With your motherly help,
I wish to sanctify this entire day, for the conversion of sinners, the reparation of our sins,
for the glory and love of the Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
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THE RESCUE PROJECT
ARRIVING
AUGUST 20,2022
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The most urgent evangelistic task is the
compelling proclamation of the Gospel
in a way that
people are overwhelmed and brought to a decision
to entrust themselves to Jesus Christ.
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This task is all the more urgent with every passing day.
Click the link below to learn more about what's coming:
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ST. BERNADETTE FESTIVAL
AUGUST 19-20
6 PM -11 PM
“Celebrate Life – The St. Bernadette 2022 Festival.”
Their Major Annual Spirit and Fund Raising Event...
After the past two years' limitations, this is a very important year!
Click the link below to learn ways you can help:
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The Children of Mary invite you to actively share in their mission!
And no classes or meetings to attend!
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Through a new movement
for lay people:
Disciples of
Our Eucharistic Lord
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Meditation
Read this slowly and ask God to help you hear
what He wants you know from it today.
It may well be that kneeling is alien to modern culture
– insofar as it is a culture,
for this culture has turned away from the faith
and no longer knows the One before whom kneeling is the right,
indeed the intrinsically necessary gesture.
The man who learns to believe learns also to kneel,
and a faith or a liturgy no longer familiar with kneeling
would be sick at the core.
Where it has been lost, kneeling must be rediscovered,
so that, in our prayer, we remain in fellowship
with the apostles and martyrs, in fellowship with the whole cosmos,
indeed in union with Jesus Christ Himself.
Pope Benedict XVI
Prayer
Now keep in mind your thoughts as you speak to our Savior .
Lord Jesus, in the Holy Eucharist,
we believe You are with us in the Blessed Sacrament.
We believe You are inviting us to join with You
in conquering the world for Your Heavenly Father.
But we are blind. Enlighten our minds.
We are weak. Strengthen our hearts.
Make us Disciples of Our Eucharistic Lord;
make us Disciples of Life through the Eucharist.
Help us to understand the Eucharist
now on earth by faith - as a prelude to seeing You,
our Incarnate God, face to face, for all eternity.
Amen.
Click the link below to learn more, register and receive their FREE book:
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National Eucharistic Revival Resources
Scandal, division, disease, doubt.
The Church has withstood each of these throughout our very human history...
But today we confront all of them... all at once!
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WEEKLY UPDATE
This week, in the Heart of the Revival …
Father Joe Laramie, S.J.,
shares a personal story about
how an hour with the Eucharist
healed his attitude during a difficult time.
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Father Andy Davy describes a beautiful moment from his
childhood when he met Jesus in the Eucharist.
The Fraternity Poor of Jesus Christ offers moving sung prayer
via their music video “Come to Me.”
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KNOW ANYONE WHO WANTS TO BECOME CATHOLIC?
The RCIA process starts again in September!
If you know someone interested in becoming Catholic,
suggest they fill out the form on our STM website.
Click the link below:
Learn how Lori Ann Mancini decided to become Catholic
after a dramatic encounter with the Eucharist.
Click the link below:
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THE ASSUMPTION NOVENA
The Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary
is celebrated every year on
August 15th.
This feast commemorates
the death of the Blessed Virgin Mary
and her assumption,
body and soul, into Heaven.
A most important Marian feast,
it's also a Holy Day of Obligation.
Click the link below to find the nine day prayers for the:
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Why is the fish
a symbol of Christ?
Scroll down to find the answer!
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GOSPEL READING REFLECTION
For August 7, 2022
The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year C - Lk 12:32-48
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Recognizing God
in the Ordinary
"Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
And should he come in the second or third watch
and find them prepared in this way,
blessed are those servants."
- We will meet Christ. This will occur either at Christ’s second coming, if we are alive then, or at the moment of our death, which we cannot foresee.
- We must be prepared for this meeting.
- Christ is giving us good news here. He is saying this returning master is very happy, like one returning home from a wedding, so happy that he will do the unimaginable, which is to serve his servants. On our part, we don’t want to do anything to disturb our master’s happiness by being “asleep” or unprepared.
- Christ is warning us that he will return, and we should welcome this warning, just as we would be glad to know that a thief is coming at a certain time in the night so we can be prepared.
- To “gird your loins” means to tie up your long, loose fitting lower garments so you are prepared for physical work or even for battle. We are at work now building Christ’s kingdom and battling evil, especially in ourselves. If we are doing these things, we are ready to meet Christ at every moment. Just washing some dishes, because it is our present duty, is being ready.
- Being ready certainly means to remain in a state of grace, meaning to be free of mortal sin, and to return to a state of grace immediately through the Sacrament of Reconciliation if we should fail.
- Prompted by Peter’s question, Our Lord elaborates on the duties of anyone in authority, especially those in authority in his Church, like Peter. There is no doubt that the world has been filled with people in authority who only serve themselves. This is true at times in the Church, as Our Lord warned. Such servants will be rewarded or punished according to their merits.
"Much will be required of the person entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”
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ANSWER TO QUIZ
The fish is everywhere.
In ancient Christian catacombs, inscribed on sarcophagi, in mosaics and other art forms.
We see it in churches, on t-shirts, on cars, and in the little logo for Get Fed. It’s a symbol we still use today to say, “I am a Christian.”
But why do we use a fish to say this?
The fish has several interrelated meanings in Christian symbolism. Widely used in both the Old and New Testaments, it is understood to mean both Christ Himself
and the Christians who follow Him,
and is also an important symbol of the Holy Eucharist.
A most fascinating and beautiful facet of the symbol its use as an acronym. In Greek, the first letter of each word in
“Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior”
creates ICHTHYS, which is fish in Greek,
which is a profession of faith in Christ,
and His divine identity and His saving mission.
It is likely that such symbols assisted the early Christians
in times of persecution, when they needed
a way to communicate with one another
without arousing pagan suspicions.
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Click the link below to find more:
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BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
Spiritual reading is about
seeking God's Truth and applying it to our lives.
There is not a Catholic truth and a non-Catholic truth.
There is only God's Truth.
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This week's recommendation is:
Theology for Beginners
by Frank Sheed
This is one of the most
outstanding presentations
of the
Christian faith's central doctrines
ever penned.
After showing how God is Spirit, the author examines
God’s infinity and man’s creation from nothing,
then moves to the
Trinity, the Fall, the Incarnation and Redemption,
the Mystical Body, Grace and the Sacraments,
and the Last Things.
For those to whom these
doctrines once seemed formidable,
Sheed's is a fresh voice of
lucid and carefully reasoned prose.
To read Theology for Beginners is
to have one’s mind awakened
to the spiritual realities at the center of human existence.
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We pray you will be excited to embark on purposeful spiritual reading as a way to build a more prayer-filled, Christ centered life.
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