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Daily Message from Pope Francis – The Difference Between Knowing and Recognizing


TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2021

“There is a difference between knowing and recognizing. In essence, this difference makes us understand that we can know various things about a person, form an idea, rely on what others say about that person, we might perhaps meet that person every now and then in the neighborhood; but all that is not enough. This is a knowledge, I would say ordinary, superficial, that does not recognize the uniqueness of the person. We all run this risk: we think we know so much about a person, even worse, we use labels and close the person within our own prejudices.” Pope Francis

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Minute Meditation – When We Cannot Sleep

Sometimes I cannot sleep at night because God is stirring my soul. I have no direct experience of God, but my restlessness and tossing makes me rise and take pen in hand to record my own weakness and God’s great love and kindness. Praise God who acts in our lives when we think it is only our nerves or our inability to unwind and let nature take its course. When we rise and do God’s will, we sleep well the remainder of that time we call the night.

— from the book Song of the Sparrow: New Poems and Meditations by Murray Bodo, OFM

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Saint of the Day – July 13 – Saint Henry

(MAY 6, 972 – JULY 13, 1024)

Saint Henry’s Story

As German king and Holy Roman Emperor, Henry was a practical man of affairs. He was energetic in consolidating his rule. He crushed rebellions and feuds. On all sides he had to deal with drawn-out disputes so as to protect his frontiers. This involved him in a number of battles, especially in the south in Italy; he also helped Pope Benedict VIII quell disturbances in Rome. Always his ultimate purpose was to establish a stable peace in Europe.

According to eleventh-century custom, Henry took advantage of his position and appointed as bishops men loyal to him. In his case, however, he avoided the pitfalls of this practice and actually fostered the reform of ecclesiastical and monastic life. He was canonized in 1146.

Reflection

All in all, this saint was a man of his times. From our standpoint, he may have been too quick to do battle and too ready to use power to accomplish reforms. But granted such limitations, he shows that holiness is possible in a busy secular life. It is in doing our job that we become saints.

//Franciscan Media//

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Minute Meditation – Leaning on God

I lean on God but from time to time I feel that I am leaning on air. That happens when I start putting God out there somewhere too far removed from me. When I remember that God dwells in me and in all my brothers and sisters in Christ, then that leaning becomes substantial again and God takes flesh in those around me whom I can see and hear. We are the body of Christ, and he has no other visible body here and now. God is Spirit who has become enfleshed in Jesus and Jesus takes on flesh and bone in us through the same Holy Spirit. When we lean on one another, we are building up the body of Christ. We are strengthening our own weakness by acknowledging that we are only a part of the whole body and that we need all the other members if we are going to function correctly and appreciate our own worth. 

— from the book Song of the Sparrow: New Poems and Meditations by Murray Bodo, OFM

//Franciscan Media//

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Saint of the Day – July 10 – Saint Amelia

St. Amelia (741-772 A.D.) was born into a noble and pious Christian family in the land of the Ardennes, bordering what is today Belgium and Luxembourg. She was a devout child of strong character who committed her virginity to Christ from a young age. However, because she was such a beautiful and virtuous woman, she was pursued for several years by the young Charlemagne. In one account, Charlemagne broke her arm in a physical struggle to hold her hand, and afterwards her arm was miraculously healed. His romantic interest was rebuffed, and Amelia was eventually able to realize her desire to enter the convent. She spent the rest of her life in the Benedictine abbey of Münster-Bilzen in Belgium, and helped to build a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the Belgian town of Temsche. St. Amelia is said to have performed many miracles, the most famous being the one in which she crossed the Schelde River miraculously while standing on the back of a giant sturgeon fish. St. Amelia is the patroness of farmers, fishermen, and those suffering from arm and shoulder pain. Her feast day is celebrated on July 10th.

//Catholic Company//