Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist: "sat with Jesus and his disciples"

"Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do."

-- Mt 9:9-13

Outward sacrifice, to be genuine, must be the expression of spiritual sacrifice: "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit. . . . " The prophets of the Old Covenant often denounced sacrifices that were not from the heart or not coupled with love of neighbor. Jesus recalls the words of the prophet Hosea: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice." The only perfect sacrifice is the one that Christ offered on the cross as a total offering to the Father's love and for our salvation. By uniting ourselves with his sacrifice we can make our lives a sacrifice to God.

-- CCC 2100

Art: The calling of Saint Matthew, Caravaggio.

La Festa di San Gennaro a Napoli / Saint Januarius: "nothing hidden that will not become visible"

...nothing secret that will not come to light.

-- Lk 8:16-18

By canonizing some of the faithful, i.e., by solemnly proclaiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God's grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors. "The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church's history." Indeed, "holiness is the hidden source and infallible measure of her apostolic activity and missionary zeal."

-- CCC 828

In photo: The archbishop of Naples shows the reliquary containing the blood of Saint Januarius / San Gennaro during the feast of the patron at the Duomo. The faithful gather in the cathedral church on the feast day to beg for a sign of favor in the liquefaction of the saint's relic as a sign that the city will be preserved from the danger of natural disasters such as the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius which looms over the city or earthquake.

Video: San Gennaro Il miracolo del sangue sciolto a Napoli / San Gennaro: the miracle of liquefying blood at Naples

Ember Days: September 18, 20 and 21

The Four Seasons

The Ember days, which fall on a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of the same week, occur in conjunction with the four natural seasons of the year. Autumn brings the September Embertide, also called the Michaelmas Embertide because of their proximity to the Feast of St. Michael on September 29. Winter, on the other hand, brings the December Embertide during the third week of Advent, and spring brings the Lenten Embertide after the first Sunday of Lent. Finally, summer heralds the Whitsun Embertide, which takes place within the Octave of Pentecost.

In the 1962 Missal the Ember days are ranked as ferias of the second class, weekdays of special importance that even supersede certain saints’ feasts. Each day has its own proper Mass, all of which are quite old. One proof of their antiquity is that they are one of the few days in the Gregorian rite (as the ’62 Missal is now being called) which has as many as five lessons from the Old Testament in addition to the Epistle reading, an ancient arrangement indeed.

Fasting and partial abstinence during the Ember days were also enjoined on the faithful from time immemorial until the 1960s. It is the association of fasting and penance with the Embertides that led some to think that their peculiar name has something to do with smoldering ash, or embers. But the English name is probably derived from their Latin title, Quatuor Temporibus, or The Four Seasons. Source: Michael P. Foley/Rotate Caeli.

In Impressione Ss. Stigmatum S. Francisci

Domine Iesu Christe, qui, frigiscente mundo, ad inflammandum corda nostra tui amoris igne, in carne beatissimi Francisci passionis tuae sacra Stigmata renovasti: concede propitius; ut eius meritis et precibus crucem iugiter feramus, et dignos fructus poenitentiae faciamus: Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross: "so must the Son of Man be lifted up"

... so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

-- Jn 3:13-17

"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." The lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it. Jesus Christ, the one priest of the new and eternal Covenant, "entered, not into a sanctuary made by human hands. . . but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf." There Christ permanently exercises his priesthood, for he "always lives to make intercession" for "those who draw near to God through him". As "high priest of the good things to come" he is the center and the principal actor of the liturgy that honors the Father in heaven.

-- CCC 662

S John Chrysostom: “Can a blind person guide a blind person?"

No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.

-- Lk 6:39-42

In the ecclesial service of the ordained minister, it is Christ himself who is present to his Church as Head of his Body, Shepherd of his flock, high priest of the redemptive sacrifice, Teacher of Truth. This is what the Church means by saying that the priest, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, acts in persona Christi Capitis:

It is the same priest, Christ Jesus, whose sacred person his minister truly represents. Now the minister, by reason of the sacerdotal consecration which he has received, is truly made like to the high priest and possesses the authority to act in the power and place of the person of Christ himself (virtute ac persona ipsius Christi). Christ is the source of all priesthood: the priest of the old law was a figure of Christ, and the priest of the new law acts in the person of Christ.

-- CCC 1548

Sanctissimi Nominis Mariae - Most Holy Name of Mary

The honoured name of the Virgin Mary, which is said to mean Star of the Sea, is most fitting for the Virgin Mother. She may well be compared to a star ; for, as a star beameth forth its rays without any diminution of its own lustre, so too the Virgin gave birth to a Son with no loss to her virginity. The departing rays do not lessen the star's brightness, nor Mary's Son her ínviolate maidenhood. She is, therefore, that noble star risen from Jacob and raised by nature above this great and wide sea. She shineth with merits, she enlighteneth with her example. Ye, all ye that are cast about upon sea of temporalities in storms and tempests more than ye walk on solid land, turn ye not your eyes away from the brightness of this star. Think of Mary, call on Mary, so that ye may experience for yourself how fittingly it was said, And the Virgin's name was Mary. - Pope Innocent XI ordered the Feast of this most holy name, which had already been honoured with a special rite in some parts of the Christian world, to be celebrated each year by the universal Church as a perpetual memorial of the great blessing of that signal victory won at Vienna in Austria over the cruel Turkish tyrant who had been grinding down the Christian people.