Thirty-Second Week of Ordinary Time November 10, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #46
“Does my reception of the Eucharist, like intercessory prayer, help those I love as well as myself?”
(Peter Kreeft, Practical Theology, p.283)
Thirty-First Week of Ordinary Time Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Latin) November 3, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #45
“He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.” (2 Maccabees 12:43-46)
Thirtieth Week of Ordinary Time October 27, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #44
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, PROVIDED (emphasis added) we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
(Romans 8:15-18)
Twenty-Ninth Week of Ordinary Time Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost (Latin) October 20, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #43
“But in order to perceive the true answer to the ‘why’ of suffering, we must look to the
revelation of divine love, the ultimate source of the meaning of everything that exists.”
(Apostolic Letter of John Paul II, On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering, p.17)
Twenty-Eighth Week of Ordinary Time October 13, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #42
“When pain is to be borne, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all.”
(C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain)
Twenty-Seventh Week of Ordinary Time October 6, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #41
“Does God hear the prayers of sinners?” My best possible answer: “Yes and No.”
Twenty-Sixth Week of Ordinary Time September 29, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #40
“God stands before God in the attitude that is fitting for God.” (Adrienne von Speyr, Confession, p.21)
Twenty-Fifth Week of Ordinary Time September 22, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #39
“And when he saw them, he said unto them, ‘Go shew yourselves unto the priests.’ And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.” (Luke 17:14 KJV)
Twenty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time September 15, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #38
“So long as a man is ignorant of his defects and of their real nature, all his endeavor (be it ever so laudable) to overcome those defects will end in failure. Not infrequently we meet persons who, while sincerely bent on reforming, direct all their attention to merely imaginary faults of theirs, thus fighting against windmills and leaving their real defects untouched.”
(Dietrich von Hildebrand, Transformation in Christ, p.43)
Twenty-Third Week of Ordinary Time September 8, 2024 Year of the Most Holy Eucharist Reflection #37
“For the Christian — not only for the contemplative, but for every Christian — the purpose of life is union with Christ.”
(Dom Hubert van Zeller, How to find God, p.3)