The Holy Father’s Prayer Intention
for July 2018
That priests, who experience fatigue and loneliness
in their pastoral work, may find help
and comfort in their intimacy with the Lord
and in their friendship with their brother priests.
Thought for the Day – 1 July – The Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Today’s Gospel Mark 5:21-43.
The woman healed and the girl raised, have some things in common:
they are female;
they are both called daughter;
and they are linked by the number twelve.
The number is a sign of the restoration of the twelve tribes of Israel at the end of time, a sign of the Messiah and the eschaton – the last things, the final event in the Divine plan.
Israel is also known as the daughter or even, the bride of God (Hos 2:19-21).
In these miracles today, Jesus shows that He has come to bring daughter Israel to health and full life. The healings that connect these daughters of Israel are signs of the spiritual wholeness and the destruction of death that the Messiah brings. And since we know that “God does not delight in the death of the living” (Wis 1:13), we know that new life for the restored people of Israel, was a sign of the offer extended to the whole world. Wherever death comes to destroy, faith in Christ’s power is sufficient, even unto death.
The divine power leaves Jesus in order to flow into us on the Cross and in the Eucharist.
“She touched the hem of His garment, she approached Him in a spirit of faith, she believed and she realised that she was cured… so we too, if we wish to be saved, should reach out in faith to touch the garment of Christ” ...St Ambrose (340-397 Father & Doctor), Expositio Evangelii sec. Lucam, VI, 56. 58.
Sunday Reflection – 1 July – By St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
O my dear Jesus, what can You do to make me love You?
Make me understand, what an excess of love You have shown me, by reducing Yourself to food,
in order to unite Yourself to poor sinners!
You, my dear Redeemer, have so much affection for me,
that You have not refused to give Yourself, again and again, entirely to me in Holy Communion.
And yet, I have had the courage to drive You away from my soul on so many occasions!
You do not despise a humble and contrite heart.
You became human for my sake.
You died for me.
You even went so far as to become my food.
What more can there remain for You to do in order to gain my love?
Oh, that I could die with grief, every time that I remember, that I have despised Your grace.
I repent, O my love, with my whole heart for having offended You.
I love You, O infinite goodness! I love You, O infinite love!
I desire nothing but to love You and I fear nothing but to live without Your love.
My beloved Jesus, do not refuse to come to me.
Come, because I would rather die a thousand times than drive You away again.
I will do all that I can to please You.
Come and inflame my whole soul with Your love.
Grant that I may forget everything, to think only of You,
and to desire You alone,
my sovereign and my only good.
Quote of the Day – 1 July – Month of the Most Precious Blood
“Whenever anything disagreeable
or displeasing happens to you,
remember Christ crucified
and be silent!”
One Minute Reflection – 1 July – The Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Today’s Gospel Mark 5:21-43
“I say to you, arise!”...Mark 5:41
REFLECTION – “Then He entered the room where the child was and, taking the child by the hand, said to her: ‘Talitha koum’. The girl arose immediately and walked around.’ Let us desire Jesus to touch us and at once we too will walk. Whether we are paralysed or whether we commit wrongful deeds, we find ourselves unable to walk. Perhaps we are lying on the bed of our sins as if on a real bed. No sooner will Jesus touch us than we shall at once be healed.”…St Jerome (347-420) Father & Doctor
PRAYER – “By Your grace, Lord, touch our hands, we who are lying down; raise us up from the bed of our sins; cause us to walk. When we have walked, give the command that we should be given something to eat. Lying down, we cannot walk and, if we are not upright, we cannot receive the body of Christ, to whom be glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for endless ages. Amen”…St Jerome (347-420) Father & Doctor
Our Morning Offering – 1 July – Month of the Most Precious Blood
Constant Prayer
to the Precious Blood of Jesus
By St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
Precious Blood,
ocean of divine mercy,
Flow upon us!
Precious Blood,
most pure offering,
Procure us every grace!
Precious Blood,
hope and refuge of sinners,
Atone for us!
Precious Blood,
delight of holy souls,
Draw us!
Amen.
July is the month of the Most Precious Blood
July is the month dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus. Among devotions to the humanity of Christ (e.g., The Holy Name, The Holy Face, Sacred Heart), the Precious Blood of Jesus has the most biblical precedent since it is mentioned so frequently in the New Testament (over 75 times). 
Saint Peter, our first Pope, specifically refers to the blood of Christ as “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled” (1 Peter 1:19).
In fact, it might even be said that the entire Old Testament is a lesson in “blood sacrifice” as an anticipation of Christ’s obedient and merciful sacrifice on the wood of the life-giving cross.
St Paul could rightfully be called the “Theologian of the Precious Blood.”
The Apostle even tell us to place our “faith in His blood”:
“… whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed,” (Romans 3:25).
This reveals that the Precious Blood of Jesus is not an abstraction, but a true devotion to the Divine Person of Christ.
In Ephesians, the Apostle teaches us that our redemption was purchased “through His blood” (Eph 1:7) and in Hebrews, he teaches that the entire New Covenant is rooted in the Precious Blood of Jesus:
“….he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, to cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.” (Hebrews 9:12–15)
Saint John the Apostle stresses the love of God and the Precious Blood when he writes: “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,” (Rev 1:5). Elsewhere, Saint John explains that the Blood of Jesus continues to be applied to us: “But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” (1 Jn 1:7).
St John Chrysostom calls the Precious Blood “the saviour of souls”, St Thomas Aquinas, “the key to heaven’s treasures”, St Ambrose, “pure gold of ineffable worth”, St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, “a magnet of souls and pledge of eternal life”. The sins of mankind, in their number, in their offence to the Supreme Being, in the effects on transgressors, are immense, yet, the Precious Blood of Jesus is not frightened by numbers, it has in Itself the power to appease an angered God and to heal wounded creatures.
The Precious Blood is a cleansing bath. Unlike all other blood, which stains, the Blood of Jesus washes clean and white. According to the words of St John, in the Apocalypse, the Angels wonder and the question is asked: “These that are clothed in white robes, who are they?” The Lord answers: “These are they that have washed their robes and have made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.” For no other reason did the Precious Blood flow but to regain for the souls of men the beautiful dress of innocence and, once regained, to preserve it throughout life and into eternity.
The Blood of the Saviour is a well of consolation for troubled hearts. Can anyone, confidingly, look at the Sacred Blood trickling down from the Cross without taking courage to carry on, in spite of the difficulties which are the common lot of all? One glance at the Cross must be able to drive away fear. And, another, must be able to instil trust in Him who did not rest until the last drop, mingled with water, flowed out of an opened Heart. He, who was willing to do so much for men, must be willing to overlook and forget the frailties which they deeply regret; He must be willing to come to their assistance when harassed, to defend them when tempted, to comfort them when afflicted. The Blood of Jesus must be for Christians what the north-star is to sailors.
Would that men on earth honoured the Precious Blood in the manner in which they who are in heaven give honour and praise and thanksgiving! They proclaim that It purchased the glory which they enjoy. Without It, they would have remained slaves of Satan and outcasts from the eternal mansions of God. Let us profess that we owe to the Sacred Blood of Jesus all that we have in this life and that to It we shall owe all that we shall enjoy in a better and eternal life! The New and Everlasting Covenant must be mediated through the Blood of One who is absolutely perfect, sinless and obedient to God the Father – our Lord Jesus Christ.
Daily Offering to the Father
Eternal Father,
I offer You
the Most Precious Blood
of Your divine Son, Jesus,
for sinners everywhere,
sinners in my home, in my family
and in the universal Church.
I offer It too, in supplication,
for the holy souls in purgatory
and for the needs of holy mother Church.
Amen
The Most Precious Blood of Our Lord, Jesus Christ: The feast was removed from the General Roman Calendar in 1969, “because the Most Precious Blood of Christ the Redeemer is already venerated in the solemnities of the Passion, of Corpus Christi, of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and in the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.” However, as this is the Month of the Most Precious Blood, this day, Sunday is most worthy of celebrating this Feast Day, this year (2018).
St Junipero Serra (1713-1784) (Optional Memorial, USA)
and my post last year: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/07/01/saint-of-the-day-st-junipero-serra-o-f-m-apostle-of-california-1-july/
St Aaron of Caerleon
St Aaron the Patriarch
Bl Antonio Rosmini-Serbati
St Arnulf of Mainz
Bl Assunta Marchetti
St Atilano Cruz Alvarado
St Calais of Anisole
St Carilephus
St Castus of Sinuessa
St Cewydd
St Concordius of Toledo
St Cuimmein of Nendrum
St Domitian of Lerins
Bl Elisabeth de Vans
St Eparchius of Perigord
St Eutychius of Umbria
St Esther the Queen
St Gall of Clermont
Bl George Beesley
St Golvinus of Leon
St Gwenyth of Cornwall
St Huailu Zhang
Bl Jan Nepomucen Chrzan
Bl Jean-Baptiste Duverneuil
St Julius of Caerleon
St Justino Orona Madrigal
St Juthware
St Leonorious of Brittany
St Leontius of Autun
Bl Luis Obdulio Navarro
St Martin of Vienne
Bl Montford Scott
Bl Nazju Falzon
St Nicasius of Jerusalem
St Oliver Plunkett (1629-1681) Martyr
Bl Pierre-Yrieix Labrouhe de Laborderie
St Secundinus of Sinuessa
St Servan of Culross
St Theobald of Vicenza
St Theodoric of Mont d’Or
Bl Thomas Maxfield
Bl Tullio Maruzzo
St Veep
—
Martyrs of Rome – 6 saints: Six Christians who were martyred together. No details have survived except their names – Esicius, Antonius, Processus, Marina, Serenus and Victor. They were martyred in Rome, Italy, date unknown.
AnaStpaul 
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