Today, 31 August, is being observed as International Overdose Awareness Day, an annual event established to raise awareness of overdose and to reduce the stigma of a drug-related death. The observance also acknowledges the grief felt by families and friends remembering those who have died or had a permanent injury as a result of drug overdose.
Background information:
Music of various types has been interwoven into the history of the United States (going back to the original thirteen colonies). Among this music is "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," presented here by Peter, Paul and Mary:
Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of the hidden talents You have placed in each of Your people.
"We may be inclined to believe that the age of martyrdom is an age of the past. When we think of Christian martyrs, we are likely to conjure images of the persecutions that took place in the 1st and 2nd centuries. During the reign of the Roman emperor Decius, for example, an 18-month, empire-wide campaign led to the slaughter of some 3,000 to 3,500 Christians in the year 250 (as estimated by the English ecclesiastical historian WHC Frend).
"And yet the truth is perhaps more difficult to bear, for the 20th and 21st centuries have produced more Christian martyrs than any other time in the history of our great faith.
"How should we respond? What should we do in the face of such evil? . . ."
In a
recent commentary using the example of the brother of two of the 21 Coptic Christians beheaded by ISIS in 2015, Father Patrick Briscoe, O.P.,
reflected on the Christian response of countering violence and terror with love and forgiveness.
To access Fr Patrick's complete post, please visit:
Aleteia: Fr. Patrick Briscoe, OP: Brother of 2 martyrs shows how to counter violence (27 AUG 20)
"You don't want to get to the end of life's journey and discover you never left the interstate." - attributed to Robert Brault
As we continue our Sunday celebration, I offer this version of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir presenting"Take Up Your Cross":
Today the Church celebrates the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time. The assigned readings are Jeremiah 20:7-9, Romans 12:1-2, and Matthew 16:21-27.
The Responsorial Psalm is from Psalm 63 (Psalm 63:2-6, 8-9).
For one version of the Responsorial Psalm set to music, please visit:
YouTube: Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 63) August 30, 2020 My Soul is Thirsting For You O Lord My God
The Gospel reading is as follows:
Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, "God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you."
He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay all according to his conduct."
Reflections on these readings:
Oblates of St. Francis de Sales: Sunday Reflections: 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time August 30, 2020
Oblates of St. Francis de Sales: Sundays Salesian: 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 30, 2020)
