Catholic Saints, who have written on the Spiritual Life, suggest that a "remote preparation" is necessary in order to better understand the Word of God.  This includes being a lover of the Truth as well as the practice the Virtues of Humility, Meekness, and Docility to God the Holy Ghost.  "Proximate preparation" includes two prayers:  1) The Act of Contrition; and, 2) The Veni, Sancte Spiritus.

An Act of Contrition

O my God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, because I love Thee above all things with my whole heart and soul.  I detest all of my sins because it was for them and His Love for me that Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, my Lord and my God, suffered, was crucified, and died on the cross.  O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee by my sins, faults, imperfections, negligences and carelessness, Who art all good and deserving of all of my love.

I firmly resolve with the help of Thy Grace, to sin no more, to confess my sins, to do penance, to amend my life, to avoid all of the near occasions of sin, and always give to Thee freely, liberally and generously what is of supererogation and perfection, not only in greater things, but especially in lesser things, so that I may gain beforehand Thy efficacious, superabundant, particular and special Graces and Helps so that I will always be victorious in resisting and overcoming all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil and his followers.  Grant me those Graces and Helps needed so that my every thought, word and action may be done solely out of love for Thee, Who art Love.  Amen.

Saint John Chrysostom

It was the custom of Patriarch Saint John Chrysostom [b. Antioch, c. 347 A.D. - d. at Commana in Pontus on Friday, September 14, 407 A.D.], Patriarch of Constantinople [Thursday, February 26, 398 A.D. - Thursday, June 24, 404 A.D.], exiled from his See the 2nd time on Thursday, June 24, 404 A.D., Father and Doctor of the Catholic Church, to properly prepare himself and his Congregation before preaching. He taught that unless God the Holy Ghost prepares the minds and hearts of the Preacher and of the Congregation, the Preacher preaches in vain and the Congregation listens in vain.

Therefore, so as not to waste your time, please pray the Veni, Sancte Spiritus, remembering how one Holy Saint was of the opinion that a Sermon is a Sacramental.

Veni, Sancte Spiritus

Come, O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful
And kindle in them the fire of Thy love.

V. Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created;
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let Us Pray

O God, who didst instruct the hearts of Thy faithful by the light of Thy Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to relish what is right and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary; pray for us.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, Patron Saint of Catholic Schools, pray for us.

“If therefore thou offer thy gift at the Altar, and there thou remember that thy Brother hath any thing against thee;  Leave there thy offering before the Altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy Brother:  and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift” (GOSPEL of today’s Mass [Matthew 5:23-24]).

V  In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

What does “offer thy gift at the Altar” mean?  At the time period in today’s Gospel, Christ was teaching not only forgiveness to the progeny of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but also the Virtues of Charity and Spiritual prudence which take precedence over sacrifice.  Christ explains this is what God requires before anyone presents their “gift”, which was usually an animal, to a Priest of the Mosaic Rite to be sacrificed to God on the Altar of Sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem.

What Christ is teaching all of us in today’s Gospel is to forgive others from our heart and to practice the Virtue of Fraternal Charity as an anti-dote to whatever thoughts and feelings of anger, hatred, bitterness, and unforgiveness which we might have against someone.

God the Holy Ghost, through the pen of the Apostle, counsels all of us: “Let the Charity of the brotherhood abide in you”  (Hebrews 13:1).

You find this prudent and wise counsel put into action even in the secular world.  For example, in a famous play, you find it in this spoken line:

“I will chide no breather in the world but myself, against whom I know most faults” (William Shakespeare [b. at Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England in April 1564 A.D. - d. at Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England on Saturday, April 23, 1616], AS YOU LIKE IT, 1601 A.D., Act III, Scene II - The forest, Orlando [A Son of Sir Rowland de Boys] to Jaques [Another Son of Sir Rowland de Boys]).

A famous Saint puts it this way:

“Fraternal Charity is the sign of predestination. It makes us known as the true disciples of Christ, for it was this Divine Virtue that moved Him  to live a life of poverty and to die in destitution upon the Cross” (Saint Vincent De Paul [b. at Pouy, Gascony, France on April 24, 1581 - d. at Paris, France on September 27, 1660]).

As a practical inference from this, Saint Vincent De Paul frequently said:  "We ought to recognize Christ in all men."  "As Christ said". "As Christ did".

It is surely not demanding too much of Catholics in this age of apostasy to so virtuously conduct themselves as to force  non-Catholics to observe the same thing the pagans and other non-Catholics observed of the first Catholics as one early Father of the Catholic Church writes:

“See how these Christians love one another.  How much respect they have for each other! How ready they are to render any service, or even to suffer death, for one another’s sake!” (Tertullian, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus [b. Carthage, 155 A.D. - d. 225 A.D.], Apologeticus, 39.)

The tribute paid in the Acts of the Apostles to the great mass of the faithful in those early days of the Catholic Church should also be deserved today:  “And the multitude of believers had but one heart and one soul” (Acts 4:32).  I pray and hope that all Catholics of the 21st Century imitate the Catholics of the 1st Century in this regard.

Christ teaches all of us:  “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:39).  No one who is familiar with the New Testament can have even the slightest doubt about this. Even if one’s reading of the Bible was only limited to the Gospel of Saint Matthew and the Epistles of Saint John the Apostle, the evidence for the authoritative character of this moral precept and its consequent binding force would be more than abundant.

If you are like most Americans today, you have major burn-out, what with the Satanic economic depression into which the United States was plunged during the previous Presidential administration in the Fall of 2008 by certain immoral anti-Christ acts of the Federal Reserve Bank, which said administration did nothing to fix but merely ignored it - thus committing mountains of Mortal Sins of deliberate omissions - and in which disastrous economic depression most Americans still find themselves with either little or no relief in sight.

Within this chaotic confusion and rampant tyranny of the Federal Reserve Bank in Washington, D.C., it is wise and prudent to refresh one’s memory about certain fundamental and basic truths from time to time, as in this case, not only to restore one’s faith, hope, trust, and confidence in God, but also in His unchangeable Truths as found in His written Revelation..

Therefore, here is a brief text from Chapter Four of Saint John’s first Epistle:

1 Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 By this is the spirit of God known. Every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God:
3 And every spirit that dissolveth Jesus, is not of God: and this is anti-Christ, of whom you have heard that he cometh, and he [i.e. his “spirit”] is now already in the world.
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome him [i.e. the “spirit” of anti-Christ; evil]. Because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
5 They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them.
6 We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
7 Dearly beloved, let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity.
9 By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by him.
10 In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins.
11 My dearest, if God hath so loved us; we also ought to love one another.
12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abideth in us, and his charity is perfected in us.
13 In this we know that we abide in him, and he in us: because he hath given us of his spirit.
14 And we have seen, and do testify, that the Father hath sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.
15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God.
16 And we have known, and have believed the charity, which God hath to us. God is charity: and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him.
17 In this is the charity of God perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment: because as he is, we also are in this world.
18 Fear is not in charity: but perfect charity casteth out fear, because fear hath pain. And he that feareth, is not perfected in charity.
19 Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us.
20 If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom he seeth not?
21 And this commandment we have from God, that he, who loveth God, love also his brother.

Consider Saint Jerome’s story about the conduct and advice of the Beloved Apostle in his extreme old age.  When he was too infirm to go to the church, unless when carried there, he continually repeated to his disciples the counsel:  “Children, love one another”.

He explains it this way in his Epistle:

10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever is not just, is not of God, nor he that loveth not his brother.
11 For this is the declaration, which you have heard from the beginning, that you should love one another.
12 Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one, and killed his brother. And wherefore did he kill him? Because his own works were wicked: and his brother's just.
13 Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you.
14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not, abideth in death.
15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself.
16 In this we have known the charity of God, because he hath laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth the charity of God abide in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth. (1 John 3:10-18).

One day when he was asked why he so constantly reiterated the same advice, he replied: “Because it is the precept of our Lord, and this alone is sufficient, if well observed.” That, lacking this, all else is insufficient, not only for the attainment of the perfection of one’s state, but even for salvation, is unquestionable, as is clear from the writings of Apostles other than Saint John.

Consider how Saint Paul clearly writes:

“If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.  And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.”  (1 Corinthians 13:

Although all of us are familiar with the above Scripture texts, yet it is quite possible that we have seldom, if ever, made a specific personal application to ourselves of the principles found in them.

Remember how Christ answered the question of the doctor of the law, thus teaching all of us the two Great Commandments?

“A doctor of the law, asking Him, tempting Him:  Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law?  Jesus said to him:  Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind.  This is the greatest and the first commandment.  And the second is like to this:  Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Matthew 22:35-39).

Considered in its extensive applicability, the word “neighbor” which designates every human being, without distinction of religion, race, age, sex, social standing, moral condition, or any other circumstance such as in the eyes of the world may constitute a line of demarcation.

With Christ “There is neither Jew nor Greek:  there is neither bond nor free:  there is neither male nor female.” (Galatians 3:28).  Here on earth our love is due to the apparently heterogeneous multitude of humanity as Saint John describes:

“After this I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands” (Apocalypse 7:9).

It frequently happens that when you meet a person only occasionally, and for a relatively brief period, that person is usually on their “best behavior”.  But it can sometimes be quite a different matter when living with that person day after day and month after month, especially if the defects of character are (like our own, no doubt) neither few nor negligible.

Even the most irritable, disputatious, or domineering person, who justly merits the rebuke of Ecclesiasticus: “Be not as a lion in thy house, terrifying them of thy household, and oppressing them that are under thee” (Ecclesiasticus 4:35), is generally on good behavior when visiting or being visited by others. Normal self is temporarily subdued while appearing in the guise, or disguise, of a good-natured person.

But if the “normal nature” of such people is against Fraternal Charity, but is instead that of a detractor, a slanderer, a calumniator/defamer, the written Word of God has warned them against such sins where you read:

“Thou shalt not be a detractor [Latin Vulgate - criminator - accuser; slanderer; defamer] nor a whisperer [Latin Vulgate - susurro -  whisperer; mutterer; tale-bearer (informant; tattletale; tattler; tipster; snitch)] among the people” (Leviticus 19:16).

“Thou shalt not calumniate [Latin Vulgate - calumniam - defame, malign, libel, slander, traduce] thy neighbour, nor oppress him by violence” (Leviticus 19:13).

“The whisperer and the double tongue [Latin Vulgate - bilinguis - two-tongued; treacherous; false; hypocritical] is accursed: for he hath troubled many that were at peace” (Ecclesiasticus 28:15).

“Make a balance for thy words, and a just bridle for thy mouth and take heed lest thou slip with thy tongue, and fall in the sight of thy enemies who lie in wait for thee, and thy fall be incurable unto death” (Ecclesiasticus 28:29-30).

Detractors are odious in the sight of God:

“ ...whisperers, detractors, hateful to God...” (Romans 1:29-30).

This is summarized as:

“The mouth of a fool is his destruction: and his lips are the ruin of his soul” (Proverbs 18:7).

Jesus Christ replaced the pre-Christian lex talionis [The law of revenge.  Juridically - The law of retaliation, law of equal and direct retribution retaliating in kind for crimes committed.] of the proverbial “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” of the Old Testament: “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth” (Exodus 21:24) with the perfect law of Charity.

“But I say to you that hear:  Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you.  Bless them that curse you, and pray for them that calumniate you” (Luke 6:27-28).

“You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy.  But I say to you, Love your enemies:  do good to them that hate you:  and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you:  That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh His sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and he unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have?  do not even the publicans this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more?  do not also the heathens this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:43-48).

Saint Vincent De Paul tells us:

“Let us endeavor to show ourselves full of compassion towards the faulty and the sinful. If we do not show compassion and charity to these, we do not deserve to have God show it towards us.”

But let not the earnest practice of the Virtue of Fraternal Charity hinder or block you from Fraternal Correction.  Do not use the Virtue of Fraternal Charity as an excuse for not practicing the Virtue of Fraternal Correction if you have Spiritual children or biological children who are in need of instruction and correction, or even others as in the case of Saint Paul who corrected Saint Peter who had fallen into heresy.

Remember the example of the correct use of the Virtue of Fraternal Correction as exercised by Saint Paul?  Here is the Scripture text:

“But when Cephas [Peter] was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.  For before that some came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles:  but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them who were of the circumcision. And to his dissimulation the rest of the Jews consented, so that Barnabas also was led by them into that dissimulation.  But when I saw that they walked not uprightly unto the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all:  If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as the Jews do, how dost thou compel the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?  We by nature are Jews, and not of the Gentiles sinners.  But knowing that man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ; we also believe in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law:  because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” (Galatians 2:11-16; emphasis added).

The Virtue of Fraternal Correction makes use of the Virtue of Fraternal Charity which Virtue is the motive for the proper exercise of the Virtue of Fraternal Correction.

In other words, the Virtue of Fraternal Charity does not mean you have to be a doormat for some maniac on which to wipe both feet, because this is contrary to the Virtue of Justice, but rather that you defend yourself from all those who would harm you because your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost and it is an execrable sin for anyone to desecrate or otherwise profane or defile the Temple of God the Holy Ghost.

Not only are you not required to take abuse, whether it be verbal, physical, psychological, financial, or whatever, but you are required to preserve your life and the lives of all others (e.g. children) who may be adversely affected by said maniac who goes about as a roaring “lion in thy house, terrifying them of thy household, and oppressing them that are under thee” (Ecclesiasticus 4:35).

In imitation of Saint Paul, confront the maniacal roaring lion with the Virtue of Fraternal Charity.  But if the Virtue of Prudence and the Gift of Wisdom direct you to do otherwise, because the maniac is either possessed or mentally ill, then by all means follow a Spiritually prudent course of action which will protect you and your loved ones and whomsoever else needs to be protected.  In this case, protecting others is also considered to be the Virtue of Fraternal Charity.

Nevertheless, it is also necessary to be very careful of falling into the pit of “bitter zeal” (James 3:14) or of rash judgement.

“Even if a rash judgment is true, it is a sin against justice because, in judging thus, a man arrogates to himself a jurisdiction which is not his to exercise. God alone is capable of judging with certainty the secret intentions of hearts, or those that are not sufficiently manifested. Hence even the Church does not judge them: ‘de internis non judicat.’”

“Rash judgment is likewise a sin against charity. What is most serious in the eyes of God, is not that this hasty judgment is often false and always unjust, but that it proceeds from malevolence, though often expressed with the mask of benevolence, which is only a grimace of charity. Anyone judging rashly is not only a judge who arrogates to himself jurisdiction over the souls of his brothers which he does not possess, but a judge sold by his egoism and his pride, at times a pitiless judge, who knows only how to condemn, and who, though unaware of it, presumes to impose laws on the Holy Ghost, admitting no other way than his own. Instead of seeing in his neighbor a brother, a son of God, called to the same beatitude as he is, he sees in him only a stranger, perhaps a rival to supplant and humiliate. This defect withdraws many from the contemplation of divine things; it is a veil over the eyes of the spirit.”

“If we do not go so far, we may judge the interior life of a soul rashly in order to enjoy our own clear vision and to show it off. Let us remember that God alone sees this conscience openly. We should be on our guard and remember with what insistence Christ said: ‘Judge not.’ At the moment when we are judging rashly, we do not foresee that shortly afterward we shall perhaps fall into a more grievous sin than the one for which we reproached our neighbor. We see the mote in our neighbor's eye and do not see the beam in our own.”

“If the evil is evident, does God demand that we should not see it? No, but He forbids us to murmur with pride. At times, He commands us in the name of charity to practice fraternal correction with benevolence, humility, meekness, and discretion, as indicated in the Gospel of St. Matthew (Matthew 18:15- 17); and as St. Thomas (Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, q.33, a.1, 2.) explains it. We should see whether correction is possible and if there is hope for amendment, or whether it is necessary to have recourse to the superior that he may warn the guilty person.(Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, q.33, a.1, 2).”

“Finally, as St. Catherine of Siena says, when the evil is evident, perfection, instead of murmuring, has compassion on the guilty party; we take on ourselves, in part at least, his sin before God, following the example of our Lord who took all our sins upon Himself on the cross. Did He not say to us: ‘Love one another, as I have loved you’? (John 13:34).”

“We must, therefore, repress rash judgment that we may become accustomed to see our neighbor in the light of faith and to discover in him the life of grace, or at least his nature so far as it is an image of God that grace should ennoble.”

“It is not sufficient to look upon our neighbor benevolently; we must love him effectively. We can do this by bearing with his defects, returning him good for evil, avoiding jealousy, and praying for union of hearts” (Reverend Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.  [b. Auch, France 1877 A.D. - d. Rome, Italy, 1964 A.D.], who taught dogmatic and Spiritual theology for 53 years at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Angelicum, in Rome, THE THREE AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE, Prelude of Eternal Life, Translated by Sister M. Timothea Doyle, O.P., Volume 2, Part 3 -  The Illuminative Way of Proficients, Chapter 20: Fraternal Charity, Radiation of the Love of God, Section D - How to Make Progress in Fraternal Charity.).

Resolutions

In your resolutions for today, ask the good God to help you to always exercise the Virtues of Charity and Spiritual prudence and to go to Confession before Mass if necessary, especially if you are  conscious of Mortal Sin and also if you have anger issues, even if they are only internal,

Because it is one thing to tell someone NOT to do something, but quite another to give someone some practical suggestions as to HOW TO DO something positive, here are a few practical suggestions for how you can practice Fraternal Charity in the real world.

One is to humbly and meekly remind yourself, saying of someone you might be tempted to despise, or to hate, or to be angry against, or to slander or to detract or to calumniate: “There, but for the Grace of God, go I!”

Another practical suggestion is to tell yourself, and one or more people are waiting for you to say something negative about a certain person: “If I can not say anything good about someone, I will not say anything at all.”

Keep in mind that the Scripture testifies that there is: “A time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3:7). In other words, if you are about to speak uncharitably either to another person, or about another person, this is definitely  not the right “time to speak”, but it is the right “time to keep silence”.  It is wise and prudent when to know to be silent as the Bible testifies: “The prudent shall keep silence” (Amos 5:13).

Another way to say it is: “If I can not say anything good about (here insert the name of the person or persons), I will not say anything at all.”

Yet another is to simply say:  “Because speech is silver and silence is gold, I choose the gold to the silver”!

This comes from what some claim is an ancient Egyptian proverb which says: “speech is silver; silence is golden”! (Thomas Carlyle [b. at Ecclefechan, Dumfries - Galloway, Scotland on Friday, December 4, 1795 - d. at London, England on Saturday, February 5, 1881] translated the phrase from German into English in 1831 in his major work entitled Sartor Resartus [The tailor re-tailored] - a parody of Hegel, and of German Idealism.)

In evil people, realize that although Christ is not truly present in such a person, yet in another sense Christ is present in virtue of His Divine Will only insofar as He permits their evil for His Divine purposes, whether for the Spiritual purification of the souls of others, or for some other reason(s) which usually only He knows.

So with those who are evil, instead see Christ permitting their activities in accordance with the Divine Will of God which is a mystery to many in this life, but which is revealed and understood in eternal life.  Yet even when dealing with or about evil people, one must guard one’s speech against rash judgment just as Saint Michael the Archangel did with Lucifer as it is written:

“When Michael the Archangel, disputing with the devil, contended about the body of Moses, he durst not bring against him the judgment of railing speech, but said: ‘The Lord command thee’” (Jude 1:9).

Finally, if all else fails, remind yourself that Saint Vincent De Paul said:  “Fraternal Charity is the sign of predestination.”

Make a practice of what helped Saint Vincent De Paul to become a great Saint by reminding yourself that you "ought to recognize Christ in all men" because just as you would never even think about doing or saying anything negative to Christ, and/or about Christ, therefore, with your Spiritual eyes “see” Christ in every person and in this way you will either say nothing about other people or say only positive things about them.

This can be done in three ways according to Saint Vincent De Paul:

1)  When you have to perform any action, represent to yourself the way in which Christ did it when He was still in this world.  Also do it in the same spirit and with the same intention with which Christ did it so that you imitate Christ.

2) Think how Christ continually looks down upon you from Heaven, and pours on you the abundance of His many Graces, Blessings, and counsels.

3) “See” Christ in the person of your neighbor.

In this way, you shall perform your actions with more ease and perfection.  In doing things this way, you will avoid many faults as well as a great deal of anxiety and impatience.  Plus, whatever you do for your neighbors will give you the same degree of merit as if you did it for Our Dear Lord, Jesus Christ, Himself.

“When the love of God obtains the mastery of a soul, it produces in it an insatiable desire to labor for the Beloved; so that, though it may perform many and great works and spend much time in His service, all seems nothing, and it constantly grieves at doing so little for its God, and if it could annihilate itself and perish for Him, it would be well pleased. And so it considers itself unprofitable in all that it does and regards its life as idle; for, as love teaches it what God merits, by this clear light it sees all the defects and imperfections of its actions, and thus derives confusion and grief from them all. And as it feels that its work is very poor to be offered to so great a Lord, it is at the greatest distance from vainglory and presumption, and from condemning others” (Saint John Chrysostom  [b. Antioch, c. 347 A.D. - d. at Commana in Pontus on Friday, September 14, 407 A.D.], Patriarch of Constantinople [Thursday, February 26, 398 A.D. - Thursday, June 24, 404 A.D.], exiled from his See the 2nd time on Thursday, June 24, 404 A.D., Father and Doctor of the Catholic Church).

“Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13: 34).
“If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man” (James 3:2).

“If therefore thou offer thy gift at the Altar, and there thou remember that thy Brother hath any thing against thee;  Leave there thy offering before the Altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy Brother:  and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift” (GOSPEL of today’s Mass [Matthew 5:23-24]).

V  In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

 

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