The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus. This excerpt from the Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks about the our Lord's presence in the Holy Eucharist.

1373   "Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us," is present in many ways to his Church: in his word, in his Church's prayer, "where two or three are gathered in my name," in the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned, in the sacraments of which he is the author, in the sacrifice of the Mass, and in the person of the minister. But "he is present . . . most especially in the Eucharistic species."

1374   The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as "the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend." In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained." "This presence is called 'real' - by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be 'real' too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present."

1375   It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ's body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament. the Church Fathers strongly affirmed the faith of the Church in the efficacy of the Word of Christ and of the action of the Holy Spirit to bring about this conversion. Thus St. John Chrysostom declares:

It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. the priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God's. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered.

and St. Ambrose says about this conversion:

Be convinced that this is not what nature has formed, but what the blessing has consecrated. the power of the blessing prevails over that of nature, because by the blessing nature itself is changed.... Could not Christ's word, which can make from nothing what did not exist, change existing things into what they were not before? It is no less a feat to give things their original nature than to change their nature.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

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The Precious Blood of Jesus

The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus.

Veneration of the Precious Blood of Christ, shed for our salvation, and a realization of its immense significance have produced many iconographical representations which have been approved by the Church. Among these two types can be identified: those representing the Eucharistic cup, containing the Blood of the New Covenant, and those representing the crucified Christ, from whose hands, feet and side flows the Blood of our Salvation. Sometimes, the Blood flows down copiously over the earth, representing a torrent of grace cleansing it of sin; such representations sometimes feature five Angels, each holding a chalice to collect the Blood flowing from the five wounds of Christ; this task is sometimes given to a female figure representing the Church, the spouse of the Lamb.

Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy (179)

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In this week's Gospel reading, Jesus tells three parables about the Kingdom of Heaven. In all of them, something small grows into something much bigger. Seeds grow in to wheat and a mustard tree, and a small amount of yeast spreads throughout the entire dough. Our Lord also addresses the question of His permitting evil to remain along with good in the parable of the wheat and the tares. He does so, as the responsorial psalm says because the Lord is, "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and fidelity." He gives us all every opportunity to turn from evil and toward Him. However, Jesus' explanation of the parable also teaches us that there is a culmination to the Kingdom of Heaven when evil and all evildoers are finally put away and the righteous will shine like the sun.

Readings:

Wisdom 12:13,16-19
Psalm 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16
Romans 8:26-27
Matthew 13:24-43

Here are a few commentaries on these readings:

• St. Charles Borromeo Lectionary Site (PDF)


• Of Wheat and Weeds (Also available to be heard as an MP3) from St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology


• Parable of the Wheat and the Tares: "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" (Also available to be heard as an MP3) from The Crossroads Initiative

The Church celebrates the feast day of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel on July 16.

This feast was instituted by the Carmelites between 1376 and 1386 under the title "Commemoratio B. Marif Virg. duplex" to celebrate the victory of their order over its enemies on obtaining the approbation of its name and constitution from Honorius III on 30 January, 1226. The feast was assigned to 16 July, because on that date in 1251, according to Carmelite traditions, the scapular was given by the Blessed Virgin to St. Simon Stock; it was first approved by Sixtus V in 1587. After Cardinal Bellarmine had examined the Carmelite traditions in 1609, it was declared the patronal feast of the order, and is now celebrated in the Carmelite calendar as a major double of the first class with a vigil and a privileged octave (like the octave of Epiphany, admitting only a double of the first class) under the title "Commemoratio solemnis B.V.M. de Monte Carmelo". By a privilege given by Clement X in 1672, some Carmelite monasteries keep the feast on the Sunday after 16 July, or on some other Sunday in July. In the seventeenth century the feast was adopted by several dioceses in the south of Italy, although its celebration, outside of Carmelite churches, was prohibited in 1628 by a decree contra abusus. On 21 November, 1674, however, it was first granted by Clement X to Spain and its colonies, in 1675 to Austria, in 1679 to Portugal and its colonies, and in 1725 to the Papal States of the Church, on 24 September, 1726, it was extended to the entire Latin Church by Benedict XIII. The lessons contain the legend of the scapular; the promise of the Sabbatine privilege was inserted into the lessons by Paul V about 1614. The Greeks of southern Italy and the Catholic Chaldeans have adopted this feast of the "Vestment of the Blessed Virgin Mary". The object of the feast is the special predilection of Mary for those who profess themselves her servants by wearing her scapular.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia

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The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus. This excerpt from the Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks about the our Lord's institution of the Eucharist

1337   The Lord, having loved those who were his own, loved them to the end. Knowing that the hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father, in the course of a meal he washed their feet and gave them the commandment of love. In order to leave them a pledge of this love, in order never to depart from his own and to make them sharers in his Passover, he instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of his death and Resurrection, and commanded his apostles to celebrate it until his return; "thereby he constituted them priests of the New Testament."

1338   The three synoptic Gospels and St. Paul have handed on to us the account of the institution of the Eucharist; St. John, for his part, reports the words of Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum that prepare for the institution of the Eucharist: Christ calls himself the bread of life, come down from heaven.
1339   Jesus chose the time of Passover to fulfill what he had announced at Capernaum: giving his disciples his Body and his Blood:

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the passover meal for us, that we may eat it...." They went ... and prepared the passover. and when the hour came, he sat at table, and the apostles with him. and he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.".... and he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." and likewise the cup after supper, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood."

1340   By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus' passing over to his father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the glory of the kingdom.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

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The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus.

The veneration of the Blood of Christ has passed from the Liturgy into popular piety where it has been widely diffused in numerous forms of devotional practices. Among these mention can be made of the following:

• the Chaplet of the Most Precious Blood, in which the seven "effusions of the Blood of Christ", implicitly or explicitly mentioned in the Gospels, are recalled in a series of biblical meditations and devotional prayers: the Blood of the Circumcision, the Blood of the Garden of Gethsemane, the Blood of the Flagellation, the Blood of the Crowning of Thorns, the Blood of the Ascent to Calvary, the Blood flowing from Christ's side pierced by the lance;


• the Litany of the Blood of Christ, which clearly traces the line of salvation history through a series of biblical references and passages. In its present form it was approved by the Blessed John XXIII on 24 February 1960(195);


• Adoration of the Most Precious Blood of Christ takes a great variety of forms, all of which have a common end: adoration and praise of the Precious Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, thanksgiving for the gift of Redemption, intercession for mercy and pardon; and offering of the Precious Blood of Christ for the good of the Church;


• the Via Sanguinis: a recently instituted pious devotion, practiced in many Christian communities, whose anthropological and cultural roots are African. In this devotion, the faithful move from place to place, as in the Via Crucis, reliving the various moments in which Christ shed his blood for our salvation.

Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy (176-7)

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World Youth Day (WYD) this year is being held from July 15 through 20 in Sydney, Australia. The Holy Father will preside over the week-long event that culminates in a Papal mass on the last day July 20th.

The following links are provided as resources and sites of interest for WYD:

• The Official WYD Web site


• The Vatican's WYD Web site


• EWTN's WYD Web site


• eBenedict - A WYD Web site hosted by the Archdiocese of Sydney’s newspaper


• The National Catholic Register's Pope Blog


• Britain's Catholic Herald WYD Portal


• The Archdiocese of San Antonio Blog on WYD


• The Archdiocese of Indianapolis Blog on WYD

Hat Tip to Charlotte was Both

World Youth Day (WYD) is the largest youth event in the world and will be held in Sydney from Tuesday 15 to Sunday 20 July 2008.

WYD is a week-long series of events attended by the Pope and hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the globe. It has become the largest single mobilization of young people in the world.

The week culminates in a Final Mass celebrated by the Pope on the last day (the actual World Youth Day). Typically, it is the largest event of the week and, overseas, has drawn millions of people. (From the Web site)

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The bulletin for July 13, 2008 is available by clicking here to view it.

Listed below are a few of the items from this week's bulletin. See the bulletin for more details and to read all of the announcements.

TWO UPCOMING HAITI IMMERSION TRIPS: (1) The Haitian Health Care Foundation (HHCF) is planning a Haiti Medical Professionals trip October 17-25, 2008. It will be an immersion experience for medical professionals designed to expose the participants to current HHCF programs and the Haitian medical system. Participants will visit multiple sites including the Zanmi Lasanté Sociomedical Complex in Cange, Haiti (www.pih.org). The deadline to register for this trip is August 15th. For information, contact Susan Pleasants at vabatt@aol.com. (2) Diocesan Haiti Immersion Retreat Applications are now being taken for the immersion retreat to Haiti, November 29 through December 6, 2008. This trip is designed to give individuals an opportunity to learn about Haiti's history, culture, economics, politics, and religion. This is not a tourist visit, but rather a pilgrimage and time to be open to the gifts of Haiti and God's transformation. For information, contact Patrice Schwermer at pschwermer@richmonddioces.org or at (804) 622-5129.

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS: The next meeting of the Fr. Louis A. Rowen Council is Monday, July 21st at the Stone Chapel. Rosary is at 7:15 p.m., and the meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. Future planning date of Monday, August 18th will be the installation of 2008-2009 Council officers, followed by a covered dish supper. Details to follow.

IMPACT: Before the Holy Comforter listening sessions can take place in August and September, we need a few people who are willing to facilitate one of the sessions. If you are interested, please call the parish office or email mcc310@embarqmail.com.

PANTRY: It's Reverse Collection time again. Since we will have NO government food to distribute until the middle of August, your support is critical. Please be as generous as possible.

CATHOLICISM 101: A study group on the Catechism of the Catholic Church with video presentations by Fr. John Corapi meets selected Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. in the Community Room of St. Thomas Aquinas Church. The next session is on 19 July "Christian Prayer II". Contact sackandpam@comcast.net.

CATECHISTS NEEDED: Christian Formation needs catechists for all programs--Child, Youth, and Adult. Catechists are needed to teach Kindergarten through RCIA level classes. Please contact Teresa Ritzert for more information. Classes will begin in August.

THE LORD NEEDS YOU: How can you do this? Become a Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. As individuals have left this ministry, the need for new ministers at all masses has become urgent. Training will be provided. PLEASE contact Margaret McElroy at 973-6429 or mdm1909@embarqmail.com.

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In this week's Gospel reading, we hear the familiar parable of the sower. Our Lord is the sower who sows the seeds, and we are the ground which receives the seed. The parable teaches us that our response to the Word of God is our responsibility because we can either reject or receive His Word. We might find many reasons for not receiving His Word, but it is the same result--the seed does not grow unless the ground is fertile. However, if we receive the Word of God with joy, the seed will grow and we will produce abundant fruit.

Readings:

Isaiah 55:10-11
Psalm 65:10-14
Romans 8:18-23
Matthew 13:1-23

Here are a few commentaries on these readings:

• St. Charles Borromeo Lectionary Site (PDF)


• The Word's Return (Also available to be heard as an MP3) from St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology


• Parable of the Sower-Farming the Seeds of Faith (Also available to be heard as an MP3) from The Crossroads Initiative

The Church celebrates the feast day of St. Benedict on July 11.

Benedict was the son of a Roman noble of Nursia, a small town near Spoleto, and a tradition, which St. Bede accepts, makes him a twin with his sister Scholastica. His boyhood was spent in Rome, where he lived with his parents and attended the schools until he had reached his higher studies. Then "giving over his books, and forsaking his father's house and wealth, with a mind only to serve God, he sought for some place where he might attain to the desire of his holy purpose; and in this sort he departed [from Rome], instructed with learned ignorance and furnished with unlearned wisdom" (Dial. St. Greg., II, Introd. in Migne, P.L. LXVI).

Benedict does not seem to have left Rome for the purpose of becoming a hermit, but only to find some place away from the life of the great city; moreover, he took his old nurse with him as a servant and they settled down to live in Enfide, near a church dedicated to St. Peter, in some kind of association with "a company of virtuous men" who were in sympathy with his feelings and his views of life. Enfide, which the tradition of Subiaco identifies with the modern Affile, is in the Simbrucini mountains, about forty miles from Rome and two from Subiaco. It stands on the crest of a ridge which rises rapidly from the valley to the higher range of mountains, and seen from the lower ground the village has the appearance of a fortress. As St. Gregory's account indicates, and as is confirmed by the remains of the old town and by the inscriptions found in the neighborhood, Enfide was a place of greater importance than is the present town. At Enfide Benedict worked his first miracle by restoring to perfect condition an earthenware wheat-sifter (capisterium) which his old servant had accidentally broken. The notoriety which this miracle brought upon Benedict drove him to escape still farther from social life, and "he fled secretly from his nurse and sought the more retired district of Subiaco". His purpose of life had also been modified. He had fled Rome to escape the evils of a great city; he now determined to be poor and to live by his own work. "For God's sake he deliberately chose the hardships of life and the weariness of labor".

A short distance from Enfide is the entrance to a narrow, gloomy valley, penetrating the mountains and leading directly to Subiaco. Crossing the Anio and turning to the right, the path rises along the left face oft the ravine and soon reaches the site of Nero's villa and of the huge mole which formed the lower end of the middle lake; across the valley were ruins of the Roman baths, of which a few great arches and detached masses of wall still stand. Rising from the mole upon twenty five low arches, the foundations of which can even yet be traced, was the bridge from the villa to the baths, under which the waters of the middle lake poured in a wide fall into the lake below. The ruins of these vast buildings and the wide sheet of falling water closed up the entrance of the valley to St. Benedict as he came from Enfide; today the narrow valley lies open before us, closed only by the far off mountains. The path continues to ascend, and the side of the ravine, on which it runs, becomes steeper, until we reach a cave above which the mountain now rises almost perpendicularly; while on the right hand it strikes in a rapid descent down to where, in St. Benedict's day, five hundred feet below, lay the blue waters of the lake. The cave has a large triangular-shaped opening and is about ten feet deep. On his way from Enfide, Benedict met a monk, Romanus, whose monastery was on the mountain above the cliff overhanging the cave. Romanus had discussed with Benedict the purpose which had brought him to Subiaco, and had given him the monk's habit. By his advice Benedict became a hermit and for three years, unknown to men, lived in this cave above the lake. St. Gregory tells us little of these years, He now speaks of Benedict no longer as a youth (puer), but as a man (vir) of God. Romanus, he twice tells us, served the saint in every way he could. The monk apparently visited him frequently, and on fixed days brought him food.

During these three years of solitude, broken only by occasional communications with the outer world and by the visits of Romanus, he matured both in mind and character, in knowledge of himself and of his fellow-man, and at the same time he became not merely known to, but secured the respect of, those about him; so much so that on the death of the abbot of a monastery in the neighborhood (identified by some with Vicovaro), the community came to him and begged him to become its abbot. Benedict was acquainted with the life and discipline of the monastery, and knew that "their manners were diverse from his and therefore that they would never agree together: yet, at length, overcome with their entreaty, he gave his consent". The experiment failed; the monks tried to poison him, and he returned to his cave. From this time his miracles seen to have become frequent, and many people, attracted by his sanctity and character, came to Subiaco to be under his guidance. For them he built in the valley twelve monasteries, in each of which he placed a superior with twelve monks. In a thirteenth he lived with "a few, such as he thought would more profit and be better instructed by his own presence". He remained, however, the father or abbot of all. With the establishment of these monasteries began the schools for children; and amongst the first to be brought were Maurus and Placid.

The remainder of St. Benedict's life was spent in realizing the ideal of monasticism which he has left us drawn out in his Rule, and before we follow the slight chronological story given by St. Gregory, it will be better to examine the ideal, which, as St. Gregory says, is St. Benedict's real biography (ibid., 36). We will deal here with the Rule only so far as it is an element in St. Benedict's life.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia

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This site otherwise known as "Fr. Paul Ward's Personal Areopagus" belongs to a priest who by his writings and actions is a strong defender of the Church. Fr. Paul was ordained in 2004 and is now assigned to Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (or Assumption Grotto) Parish in Detroit, MI as an Associate Pastor.

These pages contain his homilies and commentaries, as well as other writings. We are sure that you will be inspired to encounter such a courageous priest and will profit from his work.

From Catholic Culture

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The month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus. This excerpt from the Catechism of the Catholic Church discusses the symbolism of the bread and wine which are transfigured into the Body and Blood of Christ during the Eucharist.

1333   At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ's Body and Blood. Faithful to the Lord's command the Church continues to do, in his memory and until his glorious return, what he did on the eve of his Passion: "He took bread...." "He took the cup filled with wine...." the signs of bread and wine become, in a way surpassing understanding, the Body and Blood of Christ; they continue also to signify the goodness of creation. Thus in the Offertory we give thanks to the Creator for bread and wine, fruit of the "work of human hands," but above all as "fruit of the earth" and "of the vine" - gifts of the Creator. the Church sees in the gesture of the king-priest Melchizedek, who "brought out bread and wine," a prefiguring of her own offering.

1334   In the Old Covenant bread and wine were offered in sacrifice among the first fruits of the earth as a sign of grateful acknowledgment to the Creator. But they also received a new significance in the context of the Exodus: the unleavened bread that Israel eats every year at Passover commemorates the haste of the departure that liberated them from Egypt; the remembrance of the manna in the desert will always recall to Israel that it lives by the bread of the Word of God; their daily bread is the fruit of the promised land, the pledge of God's faithfulness to his promises. The "cup of blessing" at the end of the Jewish Passover meal adds to the festive joy of wine an eschatological dimension: the messianic expectation of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. When Jesus instituted the Eucharist, he gave a new and definitive meaning to the blessing of the bread and the cup.

1335   The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and distributes the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigure the superabundance of this unique bread of his Eucharist. The sign of water turned into wine at Cana already announces the Hour of Jesus' glorification. It makes manifest the fulfillment of the wedding feast in the Father's kingdom, where the faithful will drink the new wine that has become the Blood of Christ.

1336   The first announcement of the Eucharist divided the disciples, just as the announcement of the Passion scandalized them: "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" The Eucharist and the Cross are stumbling blocks. It is the same mystery and it never ceases to be an occasion of division. "Will you also go away?": The Lord's question echoes through the ages, as a loving invitation to discover that only he has "the words of eternal life" and that to receive in faith the gift of his Eucharist is to receive the Lord himself.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

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