The Feast of St Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor.

"LOVE AND PRACTICE SIMPLICITY AND HUMILITY AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE OPINION OF THE WORLD, BECAUSE IF THE WORLD HAD NOTHING TO SAY AGAINST US, WE WOULD NOT BE REAL SERVANTS OF GOD." (St Padre Pio).

"At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will." (Matthew 11: 25 - 26).

Wednesday 13th July 2022,  of 15th Week of Ordinary Time is the feast of St Henry II. (973 - 1024). German. Crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1014 by Pope Benedict VIII as Emperor Henry II. He was a powerful man of the world, a man of war and international politics. He became a saint.  It shows that anyone can become a saint. Henry used his wealth and power to promote the Kingdom of God by supporting missionary work. In spite of his cares of the earthly Roman Empire, his gaze was on Heaven, the eternal Kingdom.

In our Gospel of today, there is a note of joy in the voice of Jesus as He talked about the secret of how the gracious and mysterious will of the Father works. We know that Abba Father has a tender love or preferential options for the widow, orphans and migrants. This is an Old Testament teaching. Jesus added another class of people to the preferential group: the "Childlike."

Who are the Childlike?

God in His merciful and powerful Providence chooses the weak to accomplish great things. He chose Mary, the 14 year old Virgin of Nazareth to be the Mother of the Son. He chose Saints Catherine of Siena and Therese, the Little Flower and revealed to them the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. He called and chose St Maria Faustina and revealed to her the secrets of the Divine Mercy.

The childlike therefore are people like the above mentioned saints but also these old and tried warriors: Moses, David, Elijah, Paul, Mother Teresa, Sister Angelica. God makes known His inner life and His ways to them. God who does not ration His Holy Spirit wants to make the same gift of the Holy Spirit to all His children.

"It is the little and the poor who come to Me in the Sacrament of My love and who console My Heart by their presence to Me. It has always been so. The proud and the worldly have no time for Me, because I am hidden, because I am poor, because I am silent, in the Sacrament of My love. But those who are themselves humble and poor are drawn to the humility and the poverty of My Eucharistic presence. I welcome them. I take comfort in their presence, and I recognize them as those blessed of My Father to whom belongs already the Kingdom of Heaven." (IN SINU JESU page 229).

7. 13. July is the Month dedicated to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ.
“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost offered himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?”  (Hebrews 9:14).

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