September 5
“Anyone who approaches this august sacrament with special devotion…experiences how great is the value of communing with Christ…for there is nothing more effective for advancing on the road to holiness.
-Pope Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei
Today’s Reflection:
Consider your preparation time before mass? Is it such that you may receive the Holy Eucharist with special devotion? Are you aware that you are in communion with Christ?
There’s always a sense of shock when someone close to us dies. The deeper our love, the more overwhelming our sorrow. That’s especially so when that death was sudden and unexpected.
A major scientific study involving nearly a half million people, has found that there is no singular genetic marker for homosexuality – a result that experts say is the “nail in the coffin” of the belief that people with same-sex attraction are “born that way.”
September 4
“O God, Who in a wonderful Sacrament
hast bequeathed to us the memorial of Thy Passion,
Grant we pray that we may so venerate
the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood,
as to continually experience within us the fruit of Thy Redemption. Amen.”
-Prayer of St. Peter Julian Eymard
Today’s Reflection:
How can you receive the Body and Blood of Christ with greater faith, hope
and love?
A statement by the superior general of the Society of Jesus, Father Arturo Sosa, SJ, that the devil “is not a person . . .” brought swift condemnation but gave the Church a valuable opportunity to teach the faithful about the nature of evil.
The U.S. Bishops have issued a statement calling the faithful to prayer after the August 31 shooting incident in Midland and Odessa, Texas that left seven dead and wounded 22 others, including a 17-month-old baby. This shooting marks the 18th mass shooting in the U.S. in 2019.
September 3
“They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in his goodness, raised up again.”
-St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to Smyrnaeans (110 AD)
Today’s Reflection:
Do you think believing in the Real Presence is more our less difficult today than it was for people in the time of St. Ignatius? Why or why not?
September 2
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
-John 6:51
Today’s Reflection:
Many of Jesus’s disciples found this teaching so difficult that they left Him. Take time today to read and ponder the entire chapter of John 6. What does it speak to your heart?
September 1
“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.”
-1 Corinthians 11:23 – 30
Today’s Reflection:
How do we discern the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist? What is
St. Paul telling the early Church of Corinth?
August 31
“Jesus prayed, preached and gave us the example of how we should live. But is that all He did to save the world? No, He saved it primarily by
His Passion and Death.”
-Emil Neubert, SM, STD
Today’s Reflection:
Are you ready to help conquer the world for Christ? Then be prepared to suffer in union with Him. Like Christ and our Blessed Mother, all true apostles have understood the redemptive value of suffering.
