One Minute Reflection – 23 August – ‘… On the rock of Holy Church …’

One Minute Reflection – 23 August – Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Readings: Isaiah 22: 19-23, Psalms 138: 1-2, 2-3,6, 8 (8bc), Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20 and the Memorial of St Tydfil (Died c 480) Martyr of Wales

“Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. ” … Matthew 16:17-18

REFLECTION – “We feel Ourself perfectly safe on the rock of Holy Church. … Supernatural force has never … been found wanting in the Church, nor have Christ’s promises failed; … nay, they are endowed with even greater force for Us after having stood the test of centuries and so many changes of circumstances and events.

Kingdoms and empires have passed away; peoples once renowned for their history and civilisation have disappeared; time and again the nations, as though overwhelmed by the weight of years, have fallen asunder; while the Church, indefectible in her essence, united by ties indissoluble with her heavenly Spouse, is here today radiant with eternal youth, strong with the same primitive vigour with which she came from the Heart of Christ dead upon the Cross.
Men powerful in the world have risen up against her. They have disappeared and she remains!
Philosophical systems without number, of every form and every kind, rose up against her, arrogantly vaunting themselves her masters, as though they had at last destroyed the doctrine of the Church, refuted the dogmas of her faith, proved the absurdity of her teachings.
But those systems, one after another, have passed into books of history, forgotten, bankrupt; while from the Rock of Peter the light of truth shines forth as brilliantly as on the day when Jesus first kindled it on His appearance in the world and fed it with His Divine words: “Heaven and earth shall pass, but my words shall not pass” (Mt 24:35). (…)

Wherefore, … turn your steps towards this unshaken rock upon which Our Saviour founded the Universal Church, so that the path of him, who is sincere of heart, may not be lost in devious windings.” … St Pope Pius X (1835-1914) (Papal reign: 1903 to 1914 – Encyclical “Iuncunda sane”

PRAYER – God our Father, for love of You, St Tydfil the Martyr, left the world and gave herself to a life of penitence, austerity and charity, loving You and Your Church with the greatest of all loves. Help us by her prayers, so to follow the path of life on earth, in complete love of You and thus of Your children, that we may obtain the fullness of joy in Your presence in heaven and be clothed fit for the wedding feast. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.