Feast days rounding out this week

Feast days of two doctors of the church, the founder of the Jesuits along with St. Martha will be celebrated the last four days of this week:

Wednesday, July 29
St. Martha, along with her brother Lazarus and sister Mary, had a special friendship with the Lord. Martha is mentioned in both the Gospels of Luke and John. The Scriptures tell us, "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister and Lazarus" (John 11:5). This friendship with Christ is illustrated in the three Gospel passages. Martha first appears in Luke 10:38-42. Martha and Mary receive Jesus as a guest into their home. While simply sits at the feet of Christ, "listening to Him speak." frustrated Martha asks , "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Jesus responds "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." Martha next appears in John 11:1-53, mourning outside the tomb of her brother Lazarus who had died four days earlier and was then raised from the dead. She is only mentioned the third time in John 12:1-9 when Mary draws criticism and complaint from some gathered in the house by anointing Jesus’ feet with expensive oil. Martha is not the focus of the passage; she is mentioned only briefly, described with the simple statement, "Martha served."

Thursday, July 30
St. Peter Chrysologus ("the man of golden speech") earned the title of Doctor of the Church for his eloquent sermons, of which some two hundred remain. Made Archbishop of Ravenna by miraculous intervention of St. Peter in 433, he rooted out all remaining traces of paganism, as well as a number of abuses among the Christians. In his sermons he strongly urged frequent Communion. He is supposed to have given us the saying: "He who wants to laugh with the devil cannot rejoice with Christ." St. Peter died about the year 450 in his native city of Imola.


Friday, July 31
Captain Ignatius Loyola, the future founder of the Jesuit, was hit by a cannonball In the year 1521 which fractured his left leg. While he was convalescing, Ignatius read about Christ and His saints and thus turned wholly to God. He then undertook to equip himself for Christ's service by acquiring a good classical and theological education. The members of the Society of Jesus became the shock troops of the Church in the battle against the spread of Protestantism in Europe, as well as one of the greatest foreign mission organizations that the world has known. Ignatius died on July 31, 1556.

Saturday, August 1
St. Alphonsus de Liguori was a great preacher of the Gospel to the poor. His charity and apostolic spirit led him to found the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer to carry on this work. He sent his Redemptorists, as our Lord did the Apostles, into the countryside and the market towns and villages, to announce the Kingdom of God. He became Bishop of Sant' Agata dei Goti, near Naples, and died at the age of ninety, in 1787. For his great works on Moral Theology he has been declared a Doctor of the Church.

As of 2009, there are 33 Doctors of the Catholic Church. three are women (Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, and Therese of Lisieux) and 24 are quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.