Today, July 1
Feast of the Day
No feast of the day
Saint of the Day
In the devotion to the Sacred Heart, the heart of Jesus is adored as a symbol of his threefold love: human love, spiritual love, and divine love. In the Old Testament, this love is described as a father's love for his children or a husband's for his wife. In the New Testament, the promise of living water, the Holy Spirit, is fulfilled in the pierced heart of the Messiah. By the Middle Ages, the Heart of Jesus was the object of a more personal devotion and in the late 17th century, the devotion became a liturgical cult. In modern times, the image of the Sacred Heart in the home has become a sign that the love of Jesus rules over the family. In 1899, Pope Leo XIII consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
©2011 Living with Christ, Novalis - Bayard Press Canada Inc., http://www.livingwithchrist.ca/. Reprinted with permission.
Saint Theodoric
Readings of the Day
Book of Amos 5,14-15.21-24.
Seek good and not evil, that you may live; Then truly will the LORD, the God of hosts, be with you as you claim! Hate evil and love good, and let justice prevail at the gate; Then it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will have pity on the remnant of Joseph. I hate, I spurn your feasts, I take no pleasure in your solemnities; Your cereal offerings I will not accept, nor consider your stall-fed peace offerings. Away with your noisy songs! I will not listen to the melodies of your harps. But if you would offer me holocausts, then let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream.
Psalms 50(49),7.8-9.10-11.12-13.16bc-17.
"Hear, my people, and I will speak; Israel, I will testify against you; God, your God, am I." "Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you, for your burnt offerings are before me always.” I take from your house no bullock, no goats out of your fold." "For mine are all the animals of the forests, beasts by the thousand on my mountains. I know all the birds of the air, and whatever stirs in the plains, belongs to me." "If I were hungry, I should not tell you, for mine are the world and its fullness. Do I eat the flesh of strong bulls, or is the blood of goats my drink?" "Why do you recite my statutes, and profess my covenant with your mouth, Though you hate discipline and cast my words behind you?"
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 8,28-34.
When Jesus came to the territory of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs who were coming from the tombs met him. They were so savage that no one could travel by that road. They cried out, "What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?" Some distance away a herd of many swine was feeding. The demons pleaded with him, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine." And he said to them, "Go then!" They came out and entered the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea where they drowned. The swineherds ran away, and when they came to the town they reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs. Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district.
Daily Reflection
The modern world shows itself at once powerful and weak, capable of the noblest deeds or the foulest; before it lies the path to freedom or to slavery, to progress or retreat, to brotherhood or hatred. Moreover, man is becoming aware that it is his responsibility to guide aright the forces which he has unleashed and which can enslave him or minister to him. That is why he is putting questions to himself. The truth is that the imbalances under which the modern world labors are linked with that more basic imbalance which is rooted in the heart of man. For in man himself many elements wrestle with one another. Thus, on the one hand, as a creature he experiences his limitations in a multitude of ways; on the other he feels himself to be boundless in his desires and summoned to a higher life. Pulled by manifold attractions he is constantly forced to choose among them and renounce some. Indeed, as a weak and sinful being, he often does what he would not, and fails to do what he would (Rm 7:15) Hence he suffers from internal divisions, and from these flow so many and such great discords in society... Nevertheless, in the face of the modern development of the world, the number constantly swells of the people who raise the most basic questions or recognize them with a new sharpness: what is man? What is this sense of sorrow, of evil, of death, which continues to exist despite so much progress? What purpose have these victories purchased at so high a cost? What can man offer to society, what can he expect from it? What follows this earthly life? The Church firmly believes that Christ, who died and was raised up for all, can through His Spirit offer man the light and the strength to measure up to his supreme destiny. Nor has any other name under the heaven been given to man by which it is fitting for him to be saved. (Acts 4:12) She likewise holds that in her most benign Lord and Master can be found the key, the focal point and the goal of man, as well as of all human history. The Church also maintains that beneath all changes there are many realities which do not change and which have their ultimate foundation in Christ, Who is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.(Heb 13:8).