Tuesday 6th June

One bread, one body 

A painting by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens—called The Defenders of the Eucharist—includes a serene Saint Norbert, his white robes wrapped around a ciborium (the cup that holds the consecrated Eucharist) as he cradles the Blessed Sacrament. Norbert founded the Norbertine religious order as well as the first Third Order for laypeople embracing the spirit of religious life. And, as a successful peacemaker, he’s often depicted with an olive branch. But Norbert’s preaching about the Blessed Sacrament, convincing entire villages to reclaim their lost belief in the Real Presence—also having eucharistic miracles happen on his watch—has earned him the title “Apostle of the Blessed Sacrament.” May he inspire our devotion as the National Eucharistic Revival enters its second phase this month.

Today's readings: Tobit 2:9-14; Mark 12:13-17

Wednesday 7th June

Transcending prejudice in service to God 

This day marks the 105th death anniversary of Servant of God Julia Greeley, one of seven AfricanAmerican Catholics on the path to sainthood. She is one of two such candidates born into slavery in Ralls County, Missouri during the mid-19th century, alongside Venerable Augustus Tolton. Freed during the Civil War, she emigrated to Colorado with her employer and became a Catholic due to their influence. There she would become known as “Denver’s Angel of Charity” despite her own poverty, assisting the destitute at night so as not to offend her white beneficiaries. She died in 1918 and was the first and only Catholic layperson to lay in repose in the city—later becoming the first buried in the cathedral. May her legacy of service live on in all of us.

Today's readings: Tobit 3:1-11a, 16- 17a; Mark 12:18-27 (355).

Thursday 8th June

Love begets love

It’s June, a popular month for weddings in North America. Church teachings about marriage varied for the first millennium. Today they communicate high ideals, resting on this basic framework, paraphrased from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: God loves us with a definitive and irrevocable love; married couples share in this love, which supports and sustains them. Their faithfulness to each other witnesses God’s persistent love. Many are called to marriage, but others follow a different path. How has God called you to share the love poured out on you?

Today's readings: Tobit 6:10-11; 7:1bcde, 9-17; 8:4-9a; Mark 12:28- 34 

Friday 9th June

A troubled land calls for compassion 

Saint Ephrem of Syria was a prolific writer of poetry, hymns, poems, sermons, and biblical commentaries. He has been called the most significant of all the fathers of the Syriac-speaking church tradition. He addressed the church in Syria in troubled times … and Syria’s troubles continue, perhaps never more acutely than today. Already suffering badly the devastation of 12 years of ruthless suppression, in February it suffered a devastating earthquake that killed more than 7,000 people and devastated more than 10,000 buildings in northwest Syria. The U.N. reports that more than 4 million Syrians, mostly women and children, depend on humanitarian aid to survive. Mercy USA invites donations for housing for destitute Syrians. Consider a donation in honor of Ephrem.

Today's readings: Tobit 11:5-17; Mark 12:35-37 (357).

Saturday 10th June

The widow’s mite revisited 

It is ironic that the story of the widow’s mite in today’s gospel is so often used as an example of generous giving when it’s obvious that giving “all she had, her whole livelihood” had left her destitute and penniless. Jesus actually uses the widow’s action as an example of what happens when the unscrupulous clergy of his day, with their long robes and the esteem of the people, “devour the houses of widows.” The lesson is for religious leaders not to push poor people into deeper poverty. Pray for your pastors.

Today's readings: Tobit 12:1, 5-15, 20; Mark 12:38-44