» Enjoy our Liturgical Seasons series of e-books!
"And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured (Luke 6:17-18)."
The feast of the Seven Founders of the Orders of Servites, which is ordinarily celebrated today, is superseded by the Sunday liturgy.Click here for commentary on the readings in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.Sunday Readings
The first reading is from the book of Jeremiah (Jer 17:5-8). Jeremiah lived through one of the most troubled periods of the ancient Near East as he witnessed the fall of Assyria and the rising of Babylon. In the midst of this turmoil, the kingdom of Judah, came to its downfall by resisting this overwhelming force of history. The two predominant themes of Jeremiah's message are to precisely define true Yahwehism, and to proclaim the imminent wars as punishments of Judah's aberrations. Today's reading falls into the category of true Yahwehism and is a wisdom saying on true justice.
- Read the more detailed, corresponding passage in Matthew 5:3-12 on the Beatitudes. Choose a beatitude to focus on for the rest of this month. Write it in conspicuous places throughout your house — desk, home altar, fridge, bathroom mirror. Think of some small practical ways to put this beatitude into action in your daily life. For some ideas on how to live the poverty and detachment prescribed by the first beatitude (Blessed are the poor in spirit), read this interview with spiritual director and writer Fr. Dubay.
- Read a summary of St. Bernard's advice for living the Beatitudes, and the Holy Father's exhortation to the youth at Toronto's World Youth Day to be people of the Beatitudes.
Commentary for the Readings in the Extraordinary Form:
Septuagesima Sunday"Why do you stand here all day idle? . . . Go you also into the vineyard" (Gospel).