There is a beautiful Litany of the Graces of St. Paul in the June 2008 edition of "Magnificat" We thought we'd like to contemplate each portion of the litany over the next several weeks during this Jubilee Year dedicated to St. Paul.

"Glorious St. Paul,
When you were stoned by the people in Lystra, your disciples prayed in a circle around you until you arose and walked back into town - help me to pray unceasingly and to have the courage to face the persecution that is part of being a Christian."

We are studying sin this summer!

This week we are studying the difference between

original and actual sin.

These lovely candles are  available for purchase through Wolfe's Baldwin Brass Center Ordering candles from this link  financially supports this site. Thank you!

Use your green candle Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday to celebrate  Ordinary Time.

• Monday, August 11 use a white candle for the memorial of St. Clare, the young woman who was inspired by St. Francis of Assisi to give up her life of wealth and follow her vocation to true freedom. As was the case with many young women of the 12th and 13th centuries, Clare was expected to marry a man of wealth chosen by her father. She refused to do so and escaped to the one place she could be assured of being allowed to follow her dream - the Church. She founded the religious order we know as the Poor Clares. She became extremely influential within the Church, and inspired popes, bishops, and priests alike.
   
• Thursday, August 14 use a red candle for the memorial of St. Maximillian Kolbe, the priest and promoter of Marian devotions who was martyred in Auschwitz, the infamous Nazi concentration camp. An order from the camp's commandant doomed 10 men to death because another prisoner had escaped from the camp. Father Kolbe insisted on taking the place of a man who had a wife and children depending on him. For two weeks Father Kolbe and the other men who were sentenced to slow execution by starvation, thirst, and neglect prayed constantly. Amazingly, several men, including Father Kolbe, survived the two weeks without food and water. They were finally executed by lethal injection. The man whose life Father Kolbe saved spent the rest of his life spreading the story of Father Kolbe's selfless courage. St. Maximillian Kolbe was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1981.
   
• Friday, August 15 use a white candle for the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Click here for more information

Mark your calendar! Mark your calendar! Mark your calendar!

We'll be interrupting our celebration of the Year of St. Paul for a wonderful reason:
August 15th is the solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady!
We will be praying a novena from August 7th - August 15th.
Click here for the Novena prayer

Click here to learn the Blessing of Herbs, the traditional celebration for the solemnity of the Assumption.

If you would like daily e-mail reminders for the
Novena for the Assumption of Our Lady, please contact us at admin@cominhomecatholic.com
Hope you can join us!

Focus on God!

It is much easier to discuss parables than miracles. We've been struggling with the many ideas this Sunday's Gospel encompasses. We decided the basic idea is to focus on God, even when times are difficult. Nevertheless, there is so much more to learn from these passages!

The first reading prepares us for the message of looking toward God despite any chaos around us. God is not the turbulence, the difficulties, the challenges. God is the whisper that gives us strength throughout the chaos.

In the second reading from his letter to the Romans, we hear Paul's anguish that his own people have rejected the Messiah. He does not blame, rant and rave; he loves them and prays for them. What an incredible example of following the Way of Jesus - to love someone who could easily become an enemy. 

The Gospel is a complex story that may once again be easy to overlook. Matthew tells us Jesus had just fed 5000 men (not counting women and children), then sent away His disciples in a boat. He stayed to dismiss the crowd, and went off alone to pray. Before long a storm brewed over the Sea of Galilee, and the disciples in their boat became frightened. Jesus walked on the water toward them. He showed the disciples He was in control of the elements, but they did not yet understand. Peter had an inkling of the glory of God, but still needed an obvious call from God before he followed Him. Even after Peter took the "leap of faith" he faltered when the storms grew more severe. Nevertheless, Jesus was there with an outstretched hand to help Peter when he faltered.

What does all this mean? We went to the Gospel of John to see if we could get a little help. After all, John is the evangelist who explains the theology rather than simply reporting the life of Jesus. John 6:1-16 describes the familiar story of the multiplication of loaves and fishes. In John's account, the crowd wanted to make Him king. Jesus sent the disciples away quickly, as if to keep them from getting caught up in the wave of excitement. Then Jesus went off alone to pray. As in Matthew's Gospel, He walked on the water allowing the disciples to witness His glory. However, in John's account, the next morning the crowd returned to Jesus excitedly. It was then (in the remaining verses of John 6) that Jesus told them they had to eat His flesh and drink His blood to receive eternal life. Almost all the people who had eaten the loaves and fishes the day before, including many disciples, walked away from Jesus forever. Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, "Are you going to leave, too?" Peter, the one who needed the call, and whose faith had faltered with the storm, admitted the reality he had just experienced, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" Many had eaten  the bread, but could not commit to Jesus. Many were caught up in the excitement of this world, but could not conceive the wonder of the next world.

God became Man to show us the Way. Are you following the well-laid path?
 

Lectionary readings for the 19th Week of Ordinary Time: