Prayer Before Mass Prayer After Mass
June, 2008 August, 2008

July

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20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 1 2 3

 

Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Blessed Junipero Serra, OFM Priest (Optional Memorial)
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Amos 3:1-8; 4:11-12
Psalm 5:4-8
Matthew 8:23-27

The ignorance of some is greatly to be pitied, who load themselves with unwise penances of their devising, putting all their confidence in them, and expecting to become saints by their means. If they would put half of this labor upon mortifying their appetites and their passions, they would gain more in a month than by all their own exercises in many years.

-- St. John of the Cross

Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Weekday
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Amos 5:14-15, 21-24
Psalm 50:7-13, 16-17
Matthew 8:28-34

It is true that God's power triumphs over everything, but humble and suffering prayer prevails over God Himself.

-- St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina

Thursday, July 3, 2008
St. Thomas, Apostle (Feast)
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Ephesians 2:19-22
Psalm 117:1-2
John 20:24-29

Look what God is doing with nothing. People must believe that it is all his, all his. We must allow God to use us, without adding or subtracting anything.  

-- Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Friday, July 4, 2008
Independence Day
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Isaiah 58:6-11
Psalm 107:2-9
Matthew 25:31-46

And to think that for the satisfaction of a single moment of  sin, which left bitter dregs within you, you've lost "the way"!

 -- St. Josemaria Escriva

Saturday, July 5, 2008
Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Amos 9:11-15
Psalm 85:9-14
Matthew 9:14-17

Whoever aspires to perfection must beware of saying," I was right. They did that to me without reason." If you are not willing to bear any cross which is given you not according to reason, perfection is not for you..

-- St. Teresa of Avila

Sunday, July 6, 2008
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading:
Psalm:
Second Reading:
Gospel:
Zechariah 9:9-10
Psalm 145:1-2, 8-11, 13-14
Romans 8:9, 11-13
Matthew 11:25-30

No, my dear children, we need never fear that the Mass hinders us in the fulfillment of our temporal affairs; it is altogether the other way around. We may be sure that all will go better and that even our business will succeed better than if we have the misfortune not to assist at Mass.

 -- St. John Vianney

Monday, July 7, 2008
Weekday
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Hosea 2:16-18, 21-22
Psalm 145:2-9
Matthew 9:18-26

With that slowness, with that passivity, with that reluctance to obey, what damage you do to the apostolate and what satisfaction you give to the devil.

--  St. Josemaria Escriva

Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Weekday
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13
Psalm 115:3-10
Matthew 9:32-38

We shall steer safely through every storm, as long as our heart is right, our intention fervent, our courage steadfast, and our trust fixed in God.

-- St. Francis de Sales

Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Weekday
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Hosea 10:1-3, 7-8, 12
Psalm 105:2-7
Matthew 10:1-7

Prayer is a wine that makes glad the heart of men.

-- St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Thursday, July 10, 2008
St. Veronica Giuliani, Virgin (Feast)
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
2 Corinthians 4:6-11, 16, 17
Psalm 59:2, 10, 17-18
Matthew 16:24-27

If you should ask me what is the way of God, I would tell you that it is humility. Not that there are no other precepts to give, but if humility does not precede all that we do, our efforts are fruitless.  

-- St. Augustine

Friday, July 11, 2008
St. Benedict, Abbot (Memorial)
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Hosea 14:2-10
Psalm 51:3-4, 8-9. 12-14, 17
Matthew 10:16-23

No one should follow what he considers to be good for himself, but rather what seems good for another. They should display brotherly love in a chaste manner; fear God in a spirit of love.

-- St. Benedict

Saturday, July 12, 2008
Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Isaiah 6:1-8
Psalm 93:1-2, 5
Matthew 10:24-33

You cannot be half a saint. You must be a whole saint or no saint at all you will remain.

-- St Therese of Lisiuex

Sunday, July 13, 2008
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Isaiah 55:10-11
Psalm 65:10-14
Romans 8:18-23
Matthew 13:1-23  or 13:1-9

Hold firmly that our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church.

-- St. Thomas Aquinas

Monday, July 14, 2008
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin (Memorial)
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Isaiah 1:10-17
Psalm 50:8-9, 16-17, 21, 23
Matthew 10:34 -- 11:1

It is not the actual physical exertion that counts toward a man's progress, nor the nature of the task, but the spirit of faith with which it is undertaken.

-- St. Francis Xavier

Tuesday, July 15, 2008
St. Bonaventure, Bishop, Doctor of the Church (Feast)
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Isaiah 1:10-17 or 1 Corinthians 2:6-13
Psalm 16:5-9, 11
Matthew 5:13-19

It is possible to contemplate God not only outside us and within us but also above us: outside, through vestiges of Him; within, through His image; and above, through the light that shines upon our mind.

-- St. Bonaventure

Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Optional Memorial)
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Isaiah 10:5-7, 13-16
Psalm 94:5-10, 14-15
Matthew 11:25-27

Take caution to see priests only as the dispensers of the Blood of the humble, Immaculate Lamb and overlook the faults you may see in them. A priest is a man and therefore fallible and capable of making mistakes, but this does not prevent him from being the Annointed of the Lord, marked forever with the indelible sign and having the power to consecrate the Body of Christ and administer the sacraments and to preach to the people in the name of God.

-- St. Catherine of Siena

Thursday, July 17, 2008
Weekday
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Isaiah 26:7-9, 12, 16-19
Psalm 102:13-21
Matthew 11:28-30

A man who governs his passions is master of his world. We must either command them or be enslaved by them. It is better to be a hammer than an anvil.

-- St. Dominic de Guzman

Friday, July 18, 2008
Votive Mass of the Precious Blood
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:

Isaiah 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8
(Ps) Isaiah 38:10-12, 16
Matthew 12:1-8

Faith is not a wish to believe or a will to believe something contrary to reason. Faith is not living as if something were true. Faith is the acceptance of a truth based on the authority of God's revelation, as manifested in the Church and in Scripture.

-- Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

Saturday, July 19, 2008
Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Micah 2:1-5
Psalm 10:1-4, 7-8, 14
Matthew 12:14-21

I will go up to the foot of the Cross; I will press my arms tightly around the cold body, the corpse of Christ, with the fire of my love.....I will unail it, with my reparation and mortifications....I will wrap it in the new winding-sheet of my clean life, and I will bury it in the clean rock of my breast, where no one can tear it away from me, and there, Lord, take your rest! Were the whole world to abandon you...serviam! I will serve you Lord.

-- St. Josemaria Escriva

Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading:
Psalm:
Second Reading:
Gospel:
Wisdom 12:13, 16-19
Psalm 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16
Romans 8:26-27
Matthew 13:24-43 or 13:24-30

The quiet solitude of the night make it a favorable time for prayer and most suitable for those who watch. With worldly occupations put aside and the attention undivided, the whole man, at night, stands in the divine presence.

-- St. Niceta of Remesiana

Monday, July 21, 2008
St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest, Doctor of the Church (Feast)
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Wisdom 8:9-16 or 2 Corinthians 5:14-21
Psalm 67:2-5, 7-8
Luke 9:1-6

God is love, and all his operations proceed from love. Once he wills to manifest that goodness by sharing his love outside himself, then the Incarnation becomes the supreme manifestation of his goodness and love and glory.

-- St. Lawrence of Brindisi

Tuesday, July 22, 2008
St. Mary Magdalen (Memorial)
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Micah 7:14-15, 18-20
Psalm 85:2-8
John 20:1-2, 11-18

Have you sinned? Go into church and wipe out your sin. As often as you might fall down in the marketplace, you pick yourself up again. So too, as often as you sin, repent and confess your sin. Do not despair as the devil wants you too.

-- St John Chrysostom

Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Weekday
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Jeremiah 1:1, 4-10
Psalm 71:1-6, 15, 17
Matthew 13:1-9

Don't have Jesus Christ on your lips and the world in your hearts. I would rather die and come to Jesus Christ than be king over the entire earth.

-- St. Ignatius of Antioch

Thursday, July 24, 2008
Weekday
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13
Psalm 36:6-11
Matthew 13:10-17

In this day in which the Rich became poor for our sakes, let the rich man make the poor man share with him at his table. On this day came forth to us the Gift, even though we had not asked for it! Let us therefore bestow alms on those who cry and beg from us.

-- St. Ephraem the Syrian

Friday, July 25, 2008
St. James, Apostle (Feast)
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
2 Corinthians 4:7-15
Psalm 126:1-6
Matthew 20:20-28

If you should ask me what is the way of God, I would tell you that it is humility. Not that there are no other precepts to give, but if humility does not precede all that we do, our efforts are fruitless.

 -- St. Augustine

Saturday, July 26, 2008
Sts. Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Memorial)
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Sirach 44:1, 10-15
Psalm 132:11, 13-14, 17-18
Matthew 13:16-17

We must mortify our tongue. An impure word spoken in jest may prove a scandal to others, and sometimes a word of double meaning, said in a witty way, does more harm than a word openly impure.

-- St Alphonsus Liguori

Sunday, July 27, 2008
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading:
Psalm:
Second Reading:
Gospel:
1 Kings 3:5, 7-12
Psalm 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-130
Romans 8:28-30
Matthew 13:44-52 or 13:44-46

To rely on our talents is a cause of great loss. When someone places confidence in his own prudence, knowledge, and intelligence, God, to make him know and see his insufficiency, withdraws from him His help and leaves him to work by himself. This is often why our undertakings miserably fail.

-- St Vincent de Paul

Monday, July 28, 2008
Weekday
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Jeremiah 13:1-11
(Ps) Deuteronomy 32:18-21
Matthew 13:31-35

As the result of sin, the virtues have become painful to us; we shrink from them because they mean humiliation and suffering. " You do not want to be humiliated?" Humilation is an honor, suffering a joy, because Jesus Christ has placed in them true honor and true joy.

-- St. Peter Julian Eymard

Tuesday, July 29, 3008
St. Martha (Memorial)
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
 
Jeremiah 14:17-22
Psalm 79:8-9, 11, 13
John 11:19-27 or Luke 10:38-42

It is not in human nature to deceive others for any long time, without in a measure deceiving ourselves also.

-- John Henry Cardinal Newman

Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Weekday
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21
Psalm 59:2-4, 10-11, 17-18
Matthew 13:44-46

The soul possesses freedom; and though the devil can make suggestions, he does not have the power to compel you against your will.

-- St. Cyril of Jerusalem

Thursday, July 31, 2008
St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest (Memorial)
First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
Jeremiah 18:1-6
Psalm 146:1-6
Matthew 13:47-53

He is generous even to exhaustion; and what is most wonderful is, that He gives Himself thus entirely, not once only, but every day, if we wish it. Every fresh Communion is a new gift which Jesus Christ makes of Himself.

-- St. Ignatius of Loyola