Dear Friends in Christ,
Welcome to our weekly Sunday update. This Sunday (July 14, 2024) is the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost. The Gospel reading for this Sunday features one of Our Lord’s seemingly enigmatic parables, followed by this somewhat mystifying advice conveyed to his disciples: “And I say to you: Make unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity; that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings” (Luke 16:9). Dom Guéranger sees in the unjust steward the sinner confronted by God at the end of his misspent time on earth, afforded a last opportunity to make up the deficit in his spiritual accounts:
This very Judge, whom he so rightly fears, now most mercifully points out to him how he may escape the punishment due to his past maladministration. Let him imitate the prudence of the unjust steward, and he will have praise for it from his Lord: not only, like him, because of his prudence, but because, by his thus spending over God’s servants the riches that were entrusted to his care, far from thereby robbing his divine Master, he acts in strict accordance with his wishes (Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB, “Eighth Sunday after Pentecost,” The Liturgical Year).
Calendar of Saints and Special Observances
Celebrations are those listed in the Roman Missal of 1962 or on the liturgical calendar of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary.
DAY, DATE – FEAST (CLASS)
Sunday, July 14 – Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (II)
Monday, July 15 – St. Henry II, Emperor and Confessor (III)
Tuesday, July 16 – Feria (IV) [Commemoration of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (IV)]
Wednesday, July 17 – Feria (IV) [St. Alexius, Roman Confessor (IV)]
Thursday, July 18 – St. Camillus de Lellis, Confessor (III) [Commemoration of St. Symphorosa and her Seven Sons, Martyrs]
Friday, July 19 – St. Vincent de Paul, Confessor (III)
Saturday, July 20 – St. Jerome Æmiliani, Confessor (III) [Commemoration of St. Margaret, Virgin and Martyr]
Note: The liturgical celebration of St. Bonaventure, OFM, Bishop, Cardinal and Doctor of the Church, which usually takes place on July 14th in accordance with the traditional Roman Calendar, is displaced this year by the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (but see the article under Saints and Special Observances below).
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
The links provided below can be used to download printable copies of the Proper Prayers for Mass in the Extraordinary Form for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost with either English or Spanish translation. The English version includes a commentary from The Parables of the Gospels by Fr. Leopold Fonck SJ (1865-1930) that sheds additional light on the Parable of the Unjust Steward. We also offer a link to a New Liturgical Movement article by Dr. Michael P. Foley (“What the? The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost and Its Collect”), providing yet another interesting perspective on today’s parable.
Latin Mass Schedule: Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (July 14, 2024)
Charlotte Area Latin Masses
Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses
Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses
Latin Mass Schedule: Weekdays
Charlotte Area Latin Masses
Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses
Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses
Note: Travelers are advised to contact parish offices to confirm weekday and Saturday Mass times, since local schedules are sometimes subject to change without notice, especially on or around holidays, holy days of obligation and other special feast days.
Announcements
**New Time for Our Lady of Grace Sunday Latin Mass: Beginning Sunday July 21, the Traditional Latin Mass at Our Lady of Grace in Greensboro will have a new start time of 1:30 p.m. every Sunday. Please spread the word about this schedule change.
Sacred Art Classes by Deacon Joseph Yellico: For three Thursdays in July at St. Ann Parish, Deacon Joseph Yellico will be teaching a course entitled “Sacred Art: The Church’s expression of Truth, Goodness and Beauty.” The course will cover various mediums of sacred art, ranging from painting to architecture, and will also address the doctrine, rich symbolism and philosophical thought involved. The next session will begin in Classroom 2 this Thursday, July 18th, at 7:00 p.m. The last session will take place on the 25th of the month, beginning at the same time. Feel free to come explore with Deacon Yellico the vast treasury of the Church's artwork.
SAVE THE DATE: Thursday August 1, 7pm - Feast of the Holy Maccabees: In the traditional calendar, August 1 is the commemoration of the Holy Maccabees, the seven Old Testament brothers who, along with their mother, were martyred by King Antiochus Epiphanes around 150 B.C. for refusing to eat swine flesh, which was against the laws of God. Saint Thomas Aquinas will offer its 7pm Traditional Latin Mass for this rare commemoration of Old Testament saints, who died defending God’s sacred laws and traditions.
But one of them, who was the eldest, said thus: What wouldst thou ask, or learn of us? we are ready to die, rather than to transgress the laws of God, received from our fathers. – 2 Maccabees 7:2
Holy Face Devotions
Prayers of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus are offered each week at the following churches on the indicated days:
Latin Mass and Liturgical News
Saints and Special Observances
Saint Bonaventure, OFM, Bishop, Cardinal and Doctor of the Church had a significant impact on the formation of the future Pope Benedict XVI, who acknowledged in a General Audience on March 3, 2010, “I confide to you that in broaching this subject I feel a certain nostalgia, for I am thinking back to my research as a young scholar on this author who was particularly dear to me” [General Audience of 3 March 2010: Saint Bonaventure | BENEDICT XVI].
Saint Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, who was probably born in 1217, was originally known as Giovanni de Fidanza. As a boy, he fell seriously ill; and even his father, who was a physician, despaired of his life. But Giovanni’s mother turned in prayer to the recently canonized Saint Francis, and the boy made a miraculous recovery.
The saint of Assisi who had famously embraced a life of poverty was to exert a continuing influence on Giovanni throughout his life. After receiving the Master of Arts Diploma in Paris, the young scholar was so impressed by the dedication and piety of the Friars Minor that he sought admission to the Franciscan order. As he would later explain in a letter to another friar, “I confess before God that the reason which made me love the life of blessed Francis is that it resembled the birth and early development of the Church. The Church began with simple fishermen and was subsequently enriched by very distinguished and wise teachers; the religion of Blessed Francis was not established by the prudence of men but by Christ.”
Around the year 1243 Giovanni took the Franciscan habit and the name Bonaventure and was sent to the University of Paris where he acquired the qualifications in philosophy, theology and Scriptural studies necessary to pursue an academic career. The title of his theological dissertation was Questions on the Knowledge of Christ, and Christ was to remain at the center of all his work in the brilliant career that followed.
Both the Friars Minor of St. Francis and the Friars Preachers of St. Dominic, the other relatively new mendicant order, met with fierce opposition from the older religious orders during Saint Bonaventure’s time at the University of Paris, and the right of their members to teach in that prestigious institution was openly challenged. Saint Bonaventure responded by composing a work entitled Evangelical Perfection in which he demonstrated how the members of the medicant orders were living according to the word of Our Lord by observing their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Pope Alexander IV was so impressed by Bonaventure’s defense of the newer orders that in 1257 he supported his appointment as a doctor and master of the University of Paris. The Franciscan scholar’s tenure in the position was short-lived, however, as he was elected the same year by the General Chapter of the Order of Friars Minor to serve as Minister General.
Prior to Bonaventure’s election, the order had experienced explosive growth, its numbers expanding to include 30,000 members spread across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and as far east as Peking. During his 17 years as head of the Friars Minor, the former academic was continuously challenged to maintain the unity of purpose and action inspired by the life of the order’s founder, Saint Francis. In 1260 he presented to a session of the General Chapter at Narbonne a text collecting the norms that were to regulate the day-to-day activities of all Franciscans. Just as importantly, he assembled the historical documents relating to the life of Saint Francis and sought input from those who had actually known the Poverello in order to compose an official biography endorsed by the General Chapter at its meeting in Pisa in 1263.
On June 23, 1273, Pope Gregory X made Bonaventure a cardinal and appointed him bishop of Albano. Then he called on him to organize an ecumenical council of the whole Church which was convened at Lyons in May of the following year. Bonaventure addressed the council twice but died suddenly on July 15, 1274. The future saint was buried the following day in the church of the Friars Minor in Lyons. Those attending his funeral Mass included the pope, cardinals, and other members of the council, as well as the king of Aragon. Addressing members of the council one day later, Pope Gregory spoke of the incalculable loss incurred by the Church and directed priests and prelates throughout the world to offer Mass on behalf of the deceased.
Saint Bonaventure was enrolled in the official list of saints by Pope Sixtus IV on April 14, 1482. On March 14, 1557, Pope Sixtus V named him one of the principal Doctors of the Church, declaring that the “Seraphic Doctor” equalled in stature the “Angelic Doctor,” Saint Thomas Aquinas. Sadly, his shrine was desecrated by Huguenots five years later, and the urn containing his remains was torched in the public square.
In addition to his voluminous commentaries on The Sentences of Peter Lombard and The Gospel of Saint Luke, Saint Bonaventure wrote numerous shorter works of enduring influence, including The Mind’s Road to God, The Tree of Life and The Triple Way. Concerning the Perfection of Life was written for the Poor Clares of the monastery founded at Longchamps by Isabelle of France, the sister of King Louis IX. Among his notable later works are the Lectures on the Six Days of Creation.
The life of this great philosopher-saint of the Catholic Church is celebrated on July 14th in accordance with the traditional Roman Calendar (although the feast is superseded this year by celebration of the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost).
Closing Commentary
In closing, we offer an excerpt from his commentary on the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost from The Liturgical Year of Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB, followed by a link to the full text. This week focuses on the glory and beauty of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D. shortly before the terrible siege (Luke 21:20-28) that will soon befall the seemingly invincible holy city by the Romans, which the Church observes in next Sunday's liturgy.
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
In the Middle Ages, this Sunday was called, the sixth and last Sunday after the Natalis of the Apostles (that is, the Feast of St. Peter); it was, indeed, the last, for the years when Easter had been kept was late in April as was possible; but, it was only the first after that Feast of St. Peter, when Easter immediately followed the spring equinox.
We have already noticed the variable character of this last portion of the liturgical cycle, which was the result of Easter’s being kept on a different day each year; and that, in consequence of this variation, this week might be either the second of the reading from the Sapiential Books, or, what was of more frequent occurrence, the Books of Kings were still providing the Lessons for the divine Office. In this latter case, it is the ancient Temple raised by Solomon, the King of Peace, to the glory of Jehovah, that engages the Church’s attention today. We shall find, that the portions of the Mass, which are chanted on this Sunday, are closely connected with the Lessons read in last night’s Office.
Let us, then, turn our reverential thoughts once more to this splendid monument of the ancient Covenant. The Church is now going through that month, which immediately preceded the events so momentous to Jerusalem; she would do honor, today, to the glorious and divine past which prepared her own present. Let us, like her, enter into the feelings of the first Christians, who were Juda’s own children; they had been told of the impending destruction foretold by the Prophets; and an order from God bade them depart from Jerusalem. What a solemn moment that was, when the little flock of the elect,—the only ones in whom was kept up the faith of Abraham and the knowledge of the destinies of the Hebrew people,—had just begun their emigration, and looked back on the city of their fathers, to take a last farewell! They took the road to the east; it led towards the Jordan, beyond which, God had provided a refuge for the remnant of Israel. They halted on the incline of Mount Olivet, whence they had a full view of Jerusalem; in a few moments, that hill would be between them and the City. Not quite forty years before, the Man-God had sat himself down on that same spot, taking his own last look at the City and her Temple. Jerusalem was seen, in all her magnificence, from this portion of the Mount, which afterwards would be visited and venerated by our Christian pilgrims. The City had long since recovered from its ruins; and had, at the time we are speaking of, been enlarged by the princes of the Herodian family, so favorably looked on by the Romans. Never, in any previous period of her history, had Jerusalem been so perfect and so beautiful, as she then was, when our fugitives were gazing upon her. There was not, as yet, the slightest outward indication that she was the City accursed of God. There, as a queen in her strength and power, she was throned amidst the mountains of which the Psalmist had sung, her towers and palaces seemed as though they were her crown. Within the triple inclosure of the walls built by her latest kings, she enchased those three hills, the grandest, not only of Judea, but of the whole world: first, there was Sion, with her unparalleled memories; then, Golgotha, that had not yet been honored with the Holy Sepulcher, and which, nevertheless, was even then attracting to herself the Roman legions, who were to wreak vengeance on this guilty land; and lastly, Moriah, the sacred mount of the old world, on whose summit was raised that unrivalled Temple, which gave Jerusalem to be the queen of all the Cities of the East, for, as such, even the Gentiles acknowledged her.
“At sun-rise, when, in the distance, there appeared the sanctuary, towering upwards of a hundred cubits above the two rows of porticos which formed its double enclosure; when the sun cast his morning rays on that façade of gold and white marble; when there glittered the thousand gilded spires which mounted from its roof;—it seemed,” says Josephus, “that it was a hill capped with snow, which gradually shone, and reddened, with the morning beams. The eye was dazzled, the soul was amazed, religion was roused within the beholder, and even the pagans fell down prostrate.” Yes, when the Pagan came hither, either for conquest or for curiosity,—if he ever returned, it was as a pilgrim. Full of holy sentiments, he ascended the hill; and, having reached the summit, he entered, by the golden gate, into the gorgeous galleries, which formed the outward inclosure of the Temple. In the Court of the Gentiles, he met with men from every country; his soul was struck by the holiness of a place, where he felt that there were preserved, in all purity, the ancient religious traditions of the human race; and, he being profane, stood afar off, assisting at the celebrations of the Hebrew worship, such as God had commanded it to be, that is, with all the magnificence of a divine ritual. The white column of smoke from the burning victims rose up before him as earth’s homage to God, its creator and savior; from the inner courts, there fell on his ear the harmony of the sacred chants, carrying as they did to heaven, both the ardent prayer of those ages of expectation, and the inspired expression of the world’s hope; and when, from the midst of the levite choirs and the countless priests who were busy in their ministry of sacrifice and praise, the High Priest, with his golden crown on his head, came forth holding the censer in his hand, and entering, himself alone, within the mysterious veil which curtained off the Holy of Holies,—the stranger, though he had but a glimpse of all those splendid symbols of religion, yet confessed himself overpowered, and acknowledged the incomparable greatness of that invisible Deity, whose majesty made all the vain idols of the Gentiles seem to him paltry and foolish pretenses. The princes of Asia, and the greatest kings considered it an honor to be permitted to contribute, both by personal gifts of their own making, and by sums taken from the national treasuries, towards defraying the expenses of the holy place.