For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy. - St. Thérèrse of Liseaux

The Holy Father's prayer intentions for July are:

General:   That the Christians of the Middle East may live their faith in full freedom and be an instrument of peace and reconciliation.

Mission:   That the Church may be the seed and nucleus of a humanity reconciled and reunited in God's one and only family, thanks to the testimony of all the faithful in every country in the world.

Pro-Life Prayer Intention

That men may grow in the authentic spirit of fatherly responsibility.

Sunday's Readings: Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24 Psalm 30:2, 4-6, 11-13 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15 Mark 5:21-24, 35-43

Here are several commentaries on these readings:

• St. Charles Borromeo Lectionary Site (PDF)


• Arise! (Also available to be heard as an MP3) from St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology


• Jairus' Daughter and the Enlightenment from The Crossroads Initiative

"Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice" (CAPP) is a lay-led, pontifical organization characterized by a special relationship with both our founder, Pope John Paul II, and Pope Benedict XVI, who continues the tradition of yearly meetings with us. The Holy Father sees CAPP as a vehicle for lay education and evangelization of Catholic social doctrine, as contained in the encyclical Centesimus Annus. CAPP is made up of business people, academics, and professionals who assist Pope Benedict XVI in the continuing call for a "New Evangelization."

Pope John Paul II established Fondazione Centesimus Annus – Pro Pontifice on June 5, 1993. It is run in accordance with its approved bylaws under the aegis of the Apostolic See. It is headquartered in the state of Vatican City. The organization is subject to the civil law of Vatican City and the Canon Law of the Church.

[CAPP's] purpose is the implementation of "Catholic Social Teaching" (CST) through lay Catholic business, academic and professional leaders.

It is [CAPP's] goal to be action oriented; to actively implement this personal call from the Holy Father to order and throw light upon all the affairs of the world in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ.

This will be [CAPP's] driving force, with all subsequent activities held accountable to it.

From the Web site

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St. Aloysius Gonzaga

Born in the castle of Castiglione, 9 March, 1568; died 21 June, 1591. At eight he was placed in the court of Francesco de'Medici in Florence, where he remained for two years, going then to Mantua. At Brescia, when he was twelve, he came under the spiritual guidance of St. Charles Borromeo, and from him received First Communion. In 1581 he went with his father to Spain, and he and his brother were made pages of James, the son of Philip II. While there he formed the resolution of becoming a Jesuit, though he first thought of joining the Discalced Carmelites. He returned to Italy in 1584 after the death of the Infanta, and after much difficulty in securing his father's consent, renounced his heritage in favor of his brother, 2 November, 1585, a proceeding which required the approval of the emperor, as Castiglione was a fief of the empire. He presented himself to Father Claudius Acquaviva, who was then General of the Society, 25 November, 1585. Before the end of his novitiate, he passed a brilliant public act in philosophy, having made his philosophical and also his mathematical studies before his entrance. He had in fact distinguished himself, when in Spain, by a public examination not only in philosophy, but also in theology, at the University of Alcalá. He made his vows 25 November, 1587. Immediately after, he began his theological studies. Among his professors were Fathers Vasquez and Azor. In 1591 when in his fourth year of theology a famine and pestilence broke out in Italy. Though in delicate health, he devoted himself to the care of the sick, but on March 3 he fell ill and died 21 June, 1591. He was beatified by Gregory XV in 1621 and canonized by Benedict XIII in 1726. His remains are in the church of St. Ignazio in Rome in a magnificent urn of lapis lazuli wreathed with festoons of silver. The altar has for its centerpiece a large marble relief of the Saint by Le Gros.

The Church celebrates the feast of St. Aloysius Gonzaga on June 21st.

From EWTN

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The Life of Prayer

During the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we can take the opportunity to let His Heart transform our hearts. We are disposed to His grace through prayer, especially the prayer of the mass through which we receive the grace of the Eucharist. In this excerpt from the Catechism, we learn about the life of prayer which flows from a heart transformed by Christ. Each time our heart is renewed by the grace of God, we are more alive in Christ. And through the renewal of our hearts springs the desire to draw even closer to Christ through prayer.

2697   Prayer is the life of the new heart. It ought to animate us at every moment. But we tend to forget him who is our life and our all. This is why the Fathers of the spiritual life in the Deuteronomic and prophetic traditions insist that prayer is a remembrance of God often awakened by the memory of the heart "We must remember God more often than we draw breath."1 But we cannot pray "at all times" if we do not pray at specific times, consciously willing it These are the special times of Christian prayer, both in intensity and duration.

2698   The Tradition of the Church proposes to the faithful certain rhythms of praying intended to nourish continual prayer. Some are daily, such as morning and evening prayer, grace before and after meals, the Liturgy of the Hours. Sundays, centered on the Eucharist, are kept holy primarily by prayer. the cycle of the liturgical year and its great feasts are also basic rhythms of the Christian's life of prayer.

2699   The Lord leads all persons by paths and in ways pleasing to him, and each believer responds according to his heart's resolve and the personal expressions of his prayer. However, Christian Tradition has retained three major expressions of prayer: vocal meditative, and contemplative. They have one basic trait in common: composure of heart. This vigilance in keeping the Word and dwelling in the presence of God makes these three expressions intense times in the life of prayer.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

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Sacred Heart of Jesus, Part 4

Devotion to the Sacred Heart can be pathetically cheapened by treating it as just another devotion. On the contrary, it contains in its doctrinal foundation what the popes have reminded us are the seven cardinal mysteries of our Faith, which the world denies but we accept. These seven cardinal mysteries are:

• God created the human race out of love. He did not need to create anything or anyone. Moreover, He elevated the human race to a supernatural destiny, nothing less than the vision of the Holy Trinity for all eternity. All of this not because He had to, but only because He loves.


• God became man out of love for the sinful human race. He became a mortal man to die to prove how much He loves us. He assumed a human will that He might freely suffer. Do all humans suffer? Yes. Do all humans suffer willingly? No. The essence of love is to suffer willingly for the one you claim to love. God became man to suffer with a human will.


• Christ, the Son of God who became the Son of Man, suffered and died not just for the predestined elect, but for all mankind.


• God gives everyone enough grace to be saved. Is everyone saved? No. God wants all men to be saved yet gave us a free will with which we can choose either to love Him or love ourselves even to the contempt of God.


• We have a free will by which we can really choose to love God. When we want what God wants then we are loving Him. Love unites two wills: the will of God, by which He offers us His grace; and our will, by which we correspond with the graces we receive.


• We have a free will that can go beyond the call of duty. We can do more than just cooperate with God's grace to avoid sin. We can also love God more than we have to . . . more than we must. Read the letters of St. Margaret Mary. After twenty pages you will have to brace yourself. This loving God more than we have to means loving the cross. Christ joyfully chose the cross, and invites us to do the same, out of love for Him.


• We believe that Jesus Christ gave us Himself in the Holy Eucharist, by which He remains now on earth, in the fullness of his humanity and with his living human Heart. In every Mass, He freely offers Himself to his heavenly Father, and through the Mass confers the graces He won for us on the cross. In Holy Communion, we receive Him with his Heart into our own hearts, to sustain our selfless love of Him by our enduring love for everyone whom He places into our lives.

From Doctrinal Foundation of Devotion to the Sacred Heart by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

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Sunday's Readings: Job 38:1, 8-11 Psalm 107:23-26, 28-31 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 Mark 4:35-41

Here are several commentaries on these readings:

• St. Charles Borromeo Lectionary Site (PDF)


• In the Storm (Also available to be heard as an MP3) from St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology


• Teaching the Divinity of Christ by The Socratic Method from The Crossroads Initiative

Catholic Answers is the largest Catholic apologetics and evangelization organization in North America. This site is among the best and most comprehensive of the Catholic sites on the Internet. It features a large library of online answer tracts, personal and insightful newsletters, a number of their popular booklets, and an audio archive of their popular radio programs "Catholic Answers Live" and "The Doctor is In" — well worth frequent and extended visits.

From Catholic Culture

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Year For Priests

Tomorrow, June 19th, begins the Year for Priests. Pope Benedict XVI announced on March 16th of this year that June 19, 2009 through June 19, 2010 would be a Year for Priests with the theme, "Faithfulness of Christ, faithfulness of priests". The year will culminate in a meeting of priests next year in St. Peter's Square at the close of this special year.

During the course of the year, the patron saint of parish priests, St. John Mary Vianney, will be declared the patron saint of all priests. In addition, the year will be an opportunity to highlight and better understand the essential role of priests in the modern world and to encourage the faithful to support and encourage the priesthood especially be fostering vocations and answering God's call to the priesthood.

More information on the Year for Priests can be found at Catholic Culture.

Prayer to Jesus

We are all called to pray--to be in conversation with God. Through mass we are invited to enter into the prayer of the Church by being present at the re-presentation of the Holy Sacrifice of Jesus. We are also invited to pray to our Lord Jesus Christ throughout the ordinary events of our everyday lives. The Catechism helps us grasp the importance of calling upon the Lord Jesus at all times.

2665   The prayer of the Church, nourished by the Word of God and the celebration of the liturgy, teaches us to pray to the Lord Jesus. Even though her prayer is addressed above all to the Father, it includes in all the liturgical traditions forms of prayer addressed to Christ. Certain psalms, given their use in the Prayer of the Church, and the New Testament place on our lips and engrave in our hearts prayer to Christ in the form of invocations: Son of God, Word of God, Lord, Savior, Lamb of God, King, Beloved Son, Son of the Virgin, Good Shepherd, our Life, our Light, our Hope, our Resurrection, Friend of mankind....

2666   But the one name that contains everything is the one that the Son of God received in his incarnation: JESUS. the divine name may not be spoken by human lips, but by assuming our humanity the Word of God hands it over to us and we can invoke it: "Jesus," "YHWH saves." The name "Jesus" contains all: God and man and the whole economy of creation and salvation. To pray "Jesus" is to invoke him and to call him within us. His name is the only one that contains the presence it signifies. Jesus is the Risen One, and whoever invokes the name of Jesus is welcoming the Son of God who loved him and who gave himself up for him.

2667   This simple invocation of faith developed in the tradition of prayer under many forms in East and West. the most usual formulation, transmitted by the spiritual writers of the Sinai, Syria, and Mt. Athos, is the invocation, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners." It combines the Christological hymn of Philippians 2:6-11 with the cry of the publican and the blind men begging for light. By it the heart is opened to human wretchedness and the Savior's mercy.

2668   The invocation of the holy name of Jesus is the simplest way of praying always. When the holy name is repeated often by a humbly attentive heart, the prayer is not lost by heaping up empty phrases, but holds fast to the word and "brings forth fruit with patience." This prayer is possible "at all times" because it is not one occupation among others but the only occupation: that of loving God, which animates and transfigures every action in Christ Jesus.

2669   The prayer of the Church venerates and honors the Heart of Jesus just as it invokes his most holy name. It adores the incarnate Word and his Heart which, out of love for men, he allowed to be pierced by our sins. Christian prayer loves to follow the way of the cross in the Savior's steps. the stations from the Praetorium to Golgotha and the tomb trace the way of Jesus, who by his holy Cross has redeemed the world.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

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Sacred Heart of Jesus, Part 3

Devotion to the Sacred Heart is a wonderful historical expression of the Church's piety for Christ, her Spouse and Lord: it calls for a fundamental attitude of conversion and reparation, of love and gratitude, apostolic commitment and dedication to Christ and his saving work. For these reasons, the devotion is recommended and its renewal encouraged by the Holy See and by the Bishops. Such renewal touches on the devotion's linguistic and iconographic expressions; on consciousness of its biblical origins and its connection with the great mysteries of the faith; on affirming the primacy of the love of God and neighbor as the essential content of the devotion itself.

Popular piety tends to associate a devotion with its iconographic expression. This is a normal and positive phenomenon. Inconveniences can sometimes arise: iconographic expressions that no longer respond to the artistic taste of the people can sometimes lead to a diminished appreciation of the devotion's object, independently of its theological basis and its historico-salvific content.

This can sometimes arise with devotion to the Sacred Heart: perhaps certain over sentimental images which are incapable of giving expression to the devotion's robust theological content or which do not encourage the faithful to approach the mystery of the Sacred Heart of our Savior.

Recent time have seen the development of images representing the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the moment of crucifixion which is the highest expression of the love of Christ. The Sacred Heart is Christ crucified, his side pierced by the lance, with blood and water flowing from it (cf, John 19, 34).

From Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy

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Sunday's Readings: Exodus 24:3-8 Psalm 116:12-13, 15-18 Hebrews 9:11-15 Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

Here are several commentaries on these readings:

• St. Charles Borromeo Lectionary Site (PDF)


• Blood of the Covenant (Also available to be heard as an MP3) from St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology


• Eucharist: The Body of Christ, The Real Presence from The Crossroads Initiative

This is the five hundredth blog post on the Holy Comforter Parish Blog.

The blog was started on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 2007. Since that time, the blog has developed some regular features including weekly posts on devotion, an excerpt from the Catechism, Church history, and commentaries on the Sunday Liturgical readings. In addition, the blog has announced upcoming parish events and local events as well as provided information of interest to Catholics who live and worship in the Charlottesville, Virginia area.

Anniversaries are always good times to reassess strengths and weaknesses. To help with that assessment, we would ask for your feedback. Please add a comment to this blog post about what you like, do not like, or would like to see in the Blog, on the Web site, or in the weekly Newsletter. (Please note that comments are moderated which means that they have to be approved before they are posted; this is done to limit inappropriate comments and spam.)

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