Capuchin Mission Australia

05/09/2026

05/09/2026

Morning Prayer

05/09/2026

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, MATTHEW 18:15-20
(Ezekiel 33:7-9; Psalm 95; Romans 13:8-10)
KEY VERSE: "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (v 20).
READ: Jesus taught the future leaders of the church how to deal with persistent sinners in the community. If a Christian attempted to correct another member of the community who had sinned against him, and that person remained unrepentant, additional members of the community should be brought in to settle the matter. If the person continued to be obstinate, the case should be referred to the whole "church" (ecclesia, used only by Matthew here and in 16:18). This divine authority to "loose and bind" assigned to Peter (Matt.16:19; 1 Cor. 5:9-13) has been given to the church. Christ is eternally present in the church in which the power of united prayer is effective.
REFLECT: Lord Jesus, give me the grace to hear your voice in the church.
PRAY: Pray for leaders to exercise authority with justice and compassion.

04/09/2026

https://gregrowles.wordpress.com/2026/09/04/twenty-third-sunday-in-ordinary-time-a-2/

04/09/2026

In 1946, Teresa, then a Sister of Loreto, received an “order” from Christ to undertake a new sort of radical life in service of “the poorest of the poor”. Two years later, she was granted leave to go to Calcutta’s slums. She tended the dying and took in orphans. In 1950, the Missionaries of Charity were granted status as a Congregation. Teresa’s extraordinarily fruitful vocation has remained manifest, since her death in 1997, in the work of her order, carried on by priests, brothers, lay volunteers, and over 4,500 sisters in 133 countries.

04/09/2026

Morning Prayer

God, who have taught your Church to keep all the heavenly commandments by love of you as God and love of neighbour; grant that, practising the works of charity after the example of blessed Teresa of Calcutta, we may be worthy to be numbered among the blessed in your Kingdom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

04/09/2026

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, LUKE 6:1-5
Weekday
(1 Corinthians 4:6b-15; Psalm 54)
KEY VERSE: "The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath" (v 5).
READ: Picking grain on the Sabbath is the first conflict story in Luke's gospel regarding the Sabbath law. Luke showed how this controversy led to a final break with the religious leaders, and ultimately to Jesus' death. When Jesus' disciples picked and ate grain in the fields, they were accused of violating the Sabbath law that prohibited harvesting (Ex 34:21). Jesus defended his disciples by reminding the Pharisees of a precedent in Scripture. The great King David fed his hungry men with the bread of offering that was reserved for priests (1 Sam 21:1-7). Jesus said that charity must prevail over religious laws. Jesus, the "Son of Man," showed solidarity with the needs of his people and displayed his supreme authority over the law.
REFLECT: Lord Jesus, help me to avoid legalism and act with compassion and justice.
PRAY: Am I unduly bound by scrupulosity?

03/09/2026

Rose of Viterbo
(1233 – March 6, 1251)

Even as a child, Rose had a great desire to pray and to aid the poor. While still very young, she began a life of penance in her parents’ house. She was as generous to the poor as she was strict with herself. At the age of 10, she became a Secular Franciscan and soon began preaching in the streets about sin and the sufferings of Jesus.

Viterbo, her native city, was then in revolt against the pope. When Saint Rose of Viterbo took the pope’s side against the emperor, she and her family were exiled from the city. When the pope’s side won in Viterbo, Rose was allowed to return. Her attempt at age 15 to found a religious community failed, and she returned to a life of prayer and penance in her father’s home, where she died in 1251. Rose was canonized in 1457.

Reflection
The list of Franciscan saints seems to have quite a few men and women who accomplished nothing very extraordinary. Saint Rose of Viterbo is one of them. She did not influence popes and kings, did not multiply bread for the hungry, and never established the religious order of her dreams. But she made a place in her life for God’s grace.

03/09/2026

St Cuthbert

According to tradition, he was a shepherd boy. Certainly he became a monk, and later prior, at Melrose. After the Synod of Whitby in 664 he became prior of Lindisfarne and gradually won over the community to Roman ecclesiastical customs. He was zealous in preaching the Gospel but most attracted to living the life of a hermit, and in 676 he left the monastery and lived in solitude on the nearby island of Inner Farne. For the last two years of his life he served as bishop of Lindisfarne, but he returned to his island to die, on 20 March 687. His remains were removed from their resting place at Lindisfarne to escape Viking raiders and were eventually enshrined at Durham Cathedral. Because the anniversary of his death always falls within Lent, his feast is celebrated on the anniversary of the enshrinement of his remains at Durham.

Almighty God, who called your servant Cuthbert from following the flock to follow your Son and to be a shepherd of your people:in your mercy, grant that we, following his example,may bring those who are lost home to your fold; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, now and for ever. Amen.