This Week’s Gospel Message for Sunday, August 9th is from Matthew 14:22-33.
“During the fourth watch of the night, [Jesus] came toward them walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. ‘It is a ghost,’ they said, and they cried out in fear. At once Jesus spoke to them, ‘Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.’”
“We too struggle with fear; fears about our family, our health, our finances, our future. Faith can help steady us as we struggle with our fears.” Source: Pastoral Patterns, Summer 2020
DAILY READINGS FOR THE WEEK
Monday 2 Cor 9:6-10; John 12:24-26
Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr (Feast) – “According to tradition, when asked to surrender the Church’s riches, Lawrence gathered the poor and said they were the Church’s real treasure. For this affront, he was put to death. He was the most venerated Roman martyr of the early Church and is a patron of Rome.”
Tuesday Ezek 2:8—3:4; Matt 18:1-5, 10, 12-14
Saint Clare, Virgin (Memorial) – “Born in Assisi, at age eighteen she heard Francis of Assisi preach and was inspired by his message. The Poor Clares practiced radical poverty and she was greatly respected as a ‘new leader of women.’” (See page 5 for more info.)
Wednesday Ezek 9:1-7; 10:18-22; Matt 18:15-20
Thursday Ezek 12:1-12; Matt 18:21—19:1
Friday Ezek 16:1-15, 60, 63; Matt 19:3-12
Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr, (Memorial) – “Born in Russian Poland, Raimund Kolbe joined the Franciscans and took the name Maximilian Maria. After the Nazi conquest of Poland, he helped thousands of refugees, including Jews. Arrested by the Gestapo, he was send to Auschwitz. There, a prisoner escaped and, in retaliation, ten men were chosen at random to die. Maximilian offered to take the place of a young father and was executed.”
Saturday Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; 1 Cor 15:20-27; Luke 1:39-56
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – “This solemnity celebrates the bodily taking up of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven at the end of her earthly life. This doctrine was dogmatically defined in 1950 by Pope Pius XII, but accounts of the assumption of Mary into heaven survive in apocryphal narratives from the third and fourth centuries.”
Source: Living With Christ, August 2020