Today’s readings: Isaiah 7:1-9; Matthew 11:20-24 (390). “Unless
your faith is firm you shall not be firm!”
Wednesday, July 16 Memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Think of a good title
You know Mary by many titles—Mother of God, Star of the Sea,
and Queen of Peace to name a few. Mary’s titles say something
about her, just as your own titles reflect aspects of your identity:
sibling, parent, spouse, teacher, clerk, caregiver, peacemaker. At
times titles may feel limiting. They might seem too defining or
confining to particular roles. Yet look to Mary—Our Lady of Good
Counsel, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Theotokos or “God-Bearer”—
whose titles, like your own, speak to the expansiveness of faithfilled lives.
Today’s readings: Isaiah 10:5-7, 13b-16; Matthew 11:25-27 (391).
“Although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned,
you have revealed them to the childlike.”
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Thursday, July 17
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Be nice to your sister and brother
One of the little miracles of faith is its power to make strangers
into family. People who might never have known or even chosen
to be with one another find themselves together in parishes, prayer
groups, Bible study circles, the R.C.I.A., and communities of faith.
It’s a visible sign of Christ’s selfless love going out to those who
otherwise would not be connected and bringing them together in
bonds of concern and support. The “other” becomes a “sister” or
“brother.” Do something today for one of your “siblings.”
Today’s readings: Isaiah 55:10-11; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew
13:1-23 or 13:1-9 (103). “We wait for adoption, the redemption of
our bodies.”
Monday, July 14 Memorial of Kateri Tekakwitha, virgin
Inner vision sees everything clearly
Saint Kateri was born in 1656 in a Mohawk village in present-day
upstate New York, and when she was 4 she contracted the smallpox virus that Europeans carried with them upon arrival. Her
parents and brother died; she survived but with a badly scarred
face and impaired eyesight. Because of her poor vision, Kateri was
named “Tekakwitha,” which means “she who bumps into things.”
But one thing she saw clearly was her vocation to a consecrated
life. She was baptized and lived out her brief life joyfully serving
the children and elderly members in a Christian mission. Respond
to hardship by seeing the deeper calling to which you are invited.
Today’s readings: Isaiah 1:10-17; Matthew 10:34-11:1 (389).
“Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Get some rest
It’s mid-July; time for vacating the hectic pace you live for three
seasons of the year. Even if for only one day, you need to retreat,
to take time away. As poet Maya Angelou advises: “Each person
deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares
which will not withdraw from us.” Start your day(s) of rest by
handing over your burdens to God.
Today’s readings: Isaiah 26:7-9, 12, 16-19; Matthew 11:28-30
(392). “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I
will give you rest.”
Friday, July 18 Memorial of Camillus de Lellis, priest
Healing wounded warriors
Hundreds of years before the International Red Cross started helping those wounded in battle, a group of men dedicated themselves
to that same cause and they, too, wore large red crosses—the difference being they were members of a religious order established
by Saint Camillus de Lellis—a reformed soldier—in the 1580s:
the Order of Clerks Regular, Ministers to the Sick (abbreviated
as M.I.). To this day Camillians continue to wear the red cross on
their habits and to focus on helping those whose wounds attest to
broken humanity—unable, or at least unwilling, to turn away from
the weapons of war. Be a peacemaker and healer in your own life.
Today’s readings: Isaiah 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8; Matthew 12:1-8
(393). “If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
you would not have condemned these innocent men.”
Tuesday, July 15
Saturday, July 19 Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Three ways to be saved
Your final glimpse of a friend or loved one can impress itself
powerfully on the mind. While you know the aged aunt isn’t still
knitting in that favorite chair or the college pal might not be kicking that football around forever, in the land of memory these folks
seem frozen in place. Sometimes, of course, there’s perfect unity
between memory and reality. Mary of Nazareth is last seen in the
New Testament praying with the church on Pentecost morning.
And if you seek her intercession, you’ll find she’s still there.
Memorial of Bonaventure, bishop, Doctor of the church
Saint Bonaventure, a friend and biographer of Saint Francis of Assisi,
is also a Doctor of the church, a person of great holiness with deep
insight into faith and tradition who wrote explaining these truths to
others. His spirit is caught in this saying attributed to him: “Three
things are necessary to everyone: . . . truth of faith which brings
understanding; love of Christ which brings compassion; endurance
of hope which brings perseverance.” No adult, he said, is saved unless
they have faithful understanding in their minds, loving compassion in
their hearts, and enduring perseverance in their actions.
Last seen praying
Today’s readings: Micah 2:1-5; Matthew 12:14-21 (394). “Behold,
my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight.”
Invest just five minutes a day, and your faith will deepen and grow—a day at a time.
©2014 by TrueQuest Communications. TakeFiveForFaith.com; 800-942-2811; [email protected]. All rights reserved. Daily email sign-up and App available online. Art may be subject to additional
copyright. Noncommercial reprints permitted with the following credit: Reprinted with permission from TakeFiveForFaith.com. Scripture citations from the New American Bible Revised Edition. Contributors:
Alice Camille, Sister Colleen Gibson, S.S.J., Daniel Grippo, Father Larry Janowski, O.F.M., Sister Maxine Kollasch, I.H.M., Joel Schorn, Jennifer Tomshack, Patrice J. Tuohy, Sister Julie Vieira, I.H.M.