Devotions from July 19 to 25, 2021
“Whom are you looking for?” Jesus asks Mary Magdalene. It is the essential question Jesus poses to anyone who wants to be his disciple: “Whom are you looking for?” Jesus asks us as well.
Seeking is the disciple's defining condition. “What are you looking for?”: these are the first words spoken by Jesus according to the fourth Gospel. Three years later, in the garden, the same question again: “Whom are you looking for?” Father Ermes Ronchi emphasizes: “With this question, Jesus places his holy hands on the deep and living fabric of the person, which is desire: what do you truly desire? What is your strongest desire? Words that are ‘like a hand that grasps your innards and makes you give birth’ (A. Merini): Jesus, master of desire, exegete and interpreter of the heart, asks each person: what hunger makes your life alive? What dream are you pursuing?” In these days, we reflect on this and try to give an answer, looking to the radiant example of the saints we remember this week.
THURSDAY, JULY 22
Saint Mary Magdalene
Today the Church celebrates Saint Mary Magdalene. She is healed by the Lord Jesus and, following him, serves him with great affection (Lk 8:3). In the end, when the disciples flee, Mary Magdalene stands there, near the Lord's cross, with Mary, John, and some women (Jn 19:25). On Easter Day Jesus appears to her: to the woman in tears because she had seen the empty tomb and the large stone rolled away, the Lord speaks to her, simply calling her by name: “Mary!” and entrusts to her the proclamation of the great mystery: “Go and tell my brothers: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God” (cf. Mk 16:9; Jn 20:11-18). The Order of Preachers counted her among its Patrons. Pope Francis raised her memorial to the rank of a feast, calling her the “Apostle of the Apostles.”
For further reading:
• On Your Word – (July-August 2021 daily missal)
• With living water. Daily Liturgy of the Hours - (July-August)
FRIDAY, JULY 23
Saint Bridget
A Swedish princess, at the age of 14 her father betrothed her to the young Ulf, son of the governor; Bridget would have liked to consecrate herself to God, but she saw the will of God in her father’s wishes and accepted. Her husband proved gentle and eager to lead an evangelical life. Exemplary spouses and parents of eight children, they both became Franciscan tertiaries. When Bridget was widowed in 1344, she began the second period of her life, marked by mystical experiences, prayer, penance, works of charity, and numerous pilgrimages: Assisi, Milan, Jerusalem, and Rome, where she died in 1373. The congregation of nuns known as the “Brigidines” originated at the monastery of Vadstena, which she founded. In 1999, Saint Bridget was proclaimed co-patroness of Europe.
“See the love of your God,” Saint Bridget said regarding the Passion of Jesus; “he would suffer again, if he could, for each one of you what he suffered for all humanity. He would willingly redeem you alone at the price of his Passion. Will your love not respond to such great love?” Let us deepen our knowledge of her extraordinary life and invoke her intercession: may Saint Bridget teach us to live by tirelessly seeking Jesus.
For further reading:
• Fifteen Prayers of Saint Bridget
SATURDAY, JULY 24
Saint Charbel Makhluf
Youssef Makhluf was born in a village in Lebanon in 1828. Having lost his father at the age of 3, he came under the guardianship of his paternal uncle. His early vocation to monastic life was long hindered by his uncle. Finally, in 1851, he entered the Lebanese Maronite Order as a novice, taking the name Charbel in honor of an Antiochene martyr. At the hermitage of Annaya, he stood out for his fervor and simplicity, accepting out of obedience even the most difficult misunderstandings and hardships. On Christmas Day in 1898, he suffered a stroke during Mass and endured eight days of agony, repeating the beautiful prayers of the Syro-Maronite rite until his death. From the very beginning, miracles and extraordinary signs multiplied around his tomb.
Saint Charbel answered Jesus’ question: «Whom are you looking for?». And indeed, «the meaning of such a hidden and reserved life can be understood in the fullness of its completion. It is a tribute to his humble life and that of so many Christians who, in the simplicity of their vocation, offered their entire existence to God and thus “introduced” him into the world as the only treasure that reserves an inheritance of glory» (Fr Filippo Belli, Introduction to the book “Saint Charbel. God alone is enough for life”).
For further reading:
• Saint Charbel. God alone is enough for life
• Prayers to Saint Charbel
SUNDAY, JULY 25
Saint James the Apostle
James is called “the Greater” to distinguish him from the apostle of the same name, James the son of Alphaeus. He and his brother John were the sons of Zebedee, a fisherman in Bethsaida, on the Sea of Tiberias. Together with Peter, they witnessed the Transfiguration, the resurrection of Jairus’s daughter, and the night in Gethsemane. James was the first apostle to be martyred: «About that time King Herod laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword» (Acts 12:1-2). From the ninth century onward, an extraordinary devotion spread in Compostela, on the Iberian Peninsula under Arab rule: James was invoked as a defender of the faith and freedom. The famous shrine dedicated to him is one of the main pilgrimage routes that, over the centuries, shaped Europe’s Christian identity.
For further reading:
• On Your Word – (July-August 2021 daily missal)
Pope Francis says: «When our restlessness encounters Jesus, the life of grace, the life of fullness, the life of the Christian journey begins there». May each of us rediscover our center: Jesus, a safe haven after searching for so long.
Have a good journey!
