The Mater Ecclesiae Gryphons Rugby Football Club played at the Surfside 7’s rugby tournament in the U19 division on Saturday July 19. They won their first match 15-10 and lost the final two matches of the tournament to finish ranked eighth out of 12 teams representing high schools from the area.

Scorers for the Gryphons included Jake Barakat, Mark Byrne, Joseph Higgins, and Dan Heffernan. Tom Heffernan kicked the conversions making one of four.

Boys from the diocese interested in playing rugby are encouraged to join the Little Gryphons team for boys 5-10, a high school team for boys 15-19 and a mid level team for boys 11-14.

Gospel of the Day ( Matthew 13:54-58 )

He came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, "Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?

Is he not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?

Are not his sisters all with us? Where did this man get all this?"

And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house."

And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith.

***

Reflections:

" 'Is he not the carpenter's son?'... And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith."

So long as I enjoy that breath of life granted to me by you, Holy Father, Almighty God, I will proclaim you as God eternal, but also as Father eternal. Never will I set myself up as judge of your almighty power and mysteries; never will I set my limited understanding before the true appreciation of your infinity; never will I claim you to have existed beforehand without your Wisdom, Power and Word, God the Only-Begotten, my Lord Jesus Christ. For even though human language is weak and imperfect when it speaks of you, this will not inhibit my mind to the point of reducing my faith to silence for lack of words able to express the mystery of your being...

Already, among the realities of nature, there are many things of whose cause we have no knowledge without, nevertheless, being ignorant of their effects. And when, where our nature is concerned, we have no idea what to say about them, our faith is embued with adoration. If I behold the movement of the stars..., the ebb and flow of the sea..., the life-force hidden in the tiniest seed..., my ignorance helps me to contemplate you. For if I do not understand the nature placed at my service, I discern your goodness from the mere fact that it is there to serve me. I perceive that I do not even understand myself, but I wonder at you all the more... You have given me intellect, life and human feeling, the source of so many joys, yet I do not begin to understand how I began to be...

So it is through failing to understand what surrounds me that I grasp what you are, and it is through perceiving what you are that I come to adore you. That is why, in what concerns your mysteries, my incomprehension lessens not a bit my faith in your omnipotence... Your eternal Son's birth exceeds even the idea of eternity; it is prior to the times everlasting. Before any other thing that exists, he was Son proceeding from you, O God and Father. He is true God... You have never existed without him... Before ever time was, you are the eternal Father of your Sole Begotten One.

Source: Daily Gospel

YANGJU, Korea (CNS) -- Elementary school students learned about preserving the environment and protecting nature during recent Catholic-run "eco-camps." Augustine Maeng Joo-hyung, an official with the Environmental Pastoral Committee of the Seoul Archdiocese, told the Asian church news agency UCA News July 29 that the goal of the camps was for the children to experience an eco-friendly lifestyle away from urban areas. The campers, ages 9-12, stayed in wooden cabins without air conditioning and worked on the retreat center's farm, planting and harvesting peppers and lettuce. They also went for forest walks and dyed white T-shirts using yellow soil and turmeric as natural pigments. The Environmental Pastoral Committee and Hanmaum (one heart) Retreat Center of the neighboring Diocese of Uijeongbu organized the two similar camps July 28-30 and July 30-Aug. 1. About 200 elementary school students from the Seoul Archdiocese and the dioceses of Incheon, Suwon and Uijeongbu attended the camps.

more about "Made to Worship", posted with vodpod

Before the day
Before the light
Before the world revolved around the sun
God on high
Stepped down into time
And wrote the story of His love for everyone

He has filled our hearts with wonder
So that we always remember

You and I were made to worship
You and I are called to love
You and I are forgiven and free
When you and I embrace surrender
When you and I choose to believe
Then you and I will see who we were meant to be

All we are
And all we have
Is all a gift from God that we receive
Brought to life
We open up our eyes
To see the majesty and glory of the King

He has filled our hearts with wonder
So that we always remember

Even the rocks cry out
Even the heavens shout
At the sound of His Holy name
So let every voice sing out
Let every knee bow down
He is worthy of all our praise

Gospel of the Day (Matthew 13:47-53)

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.

When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away.

Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Do you understand all these things? They answered, "Yes."

And he replied, "Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old."

When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.

***

Reflections:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life" (Jn 3,36)

[Saint Catherine heard God say:] Know that on the final judgment day the Word my Son will come in my divine majesty to reprove the world with divine power. It will not be like when he was born in poverty, coming from the Virgin's womb into the stable among the animals, and then dying between two thieves. At that time I had my power in him to allow him to suffer pains and tortures as a man-not that my divine nature was cut off from his human nature, but I let him suffer as a man to atone for your sins. Not so will he come in this end time. Then he will come in power to reprove these people in person.

For the just it will be a cause for reverent fear and great rejoicing. Not that his face will change-for he is one with my divine nature and therefore unchangeable, and even in his human nature his face is unchangeable since it has taken on the glory of his resurrection. But it will seem so to the eyes of the damned. For they will see him with their terribly darkened vision.

A sick eye sees nothing but darkness when it looks into such lightsomeness - and it is no fault of the light that it seems so different to the two; the fault is in the sick eye. So the damned see my Son in darkness, confusion, and hatred, not through any fault of my divine Majesty with which he comes to judge the world, but through their own fault.

Source: Daily Gospel

Gospel of the Day (Matthew 13:44-46)

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls.

When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.

***

Reflections:

Hidden treasure

The spouse of the Canticles says that... she arose to look for her Beloved in the city, but in vain; after having gone out of the city, she found him whom her soul loved! (Sg. 3,1-4). Jesus does not will that we find his adorable presence in repose; He hides Himself... Oh! what a melody for me is this silence of Jesus. He made Himself poor that we might be able to give Him love. He holds out His hand to us like a beggar so that on the radiant day of judgment when He will appear glory, He may have us hear those sweet words: "Come, blessed of my Father, for I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me to drink; I did not know where to lodge, and you gave me a home; I was in prison, sick, and you helped me,» (Mt 25,34-36). It was Jesus Himself who spoke these words; it is He who wants our love, who begs for it. He places Himself, so to speak, at our mercy; He does not want to take anything unless we give it to Him...

Jesus is a hidden treasure, an inestimable good which few find, for it is hidden, and the world loves what sparkles. Ah! if Jesus had willed to show Himself to all souls with His ineffable gifts, no doubt there is not one of them that would have despised Him. However, He does not will that we love Him for His gifts, He Himself must be our reward.

To find a hidden thing one must hide oneself; our life must then be a mystery. We must be like Jesus, whose face was hidden,» (Is 53,3)... Jesus loves you with a love so great that, if you to see it, you would be in an ecstasy of happiness... but you do not see it, and you are suffering. Soon, Jesus «will stand up to save all the meek and humble of the earth!» (Ps 76[75], 10).

Source: Daily Gospel

Gospel of the Day (Luke 10:38-42)

As they continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.

She had a sister named Mary (who) sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.

Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me."

The Lord said to her in reply, "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."

***

Reflections:

"A woman whose name was Martha welcomed him"

We shall be seated at table in eternity. I would not dare to say this if it had not been the Lord who promised it. He promises a great reward to his servants, for her says: «he will have them recline at table and proceed to wait on them,» (Lk 12,37)... Great is this promise, then, and happy its fulfilment. Let us act in such a way as to be worthy of it; may we be so helped as to come to the place where the Lord will serve us at table.

What will that meal be if not a rest? And what does «He will serve us» mean if not that he will satisfy us? With what food and drink? To be sure, with truth itself... Do you doubt that God is able to feed you in this way when already your eyes are being filled with light in the same way? If many see the light, yet it shines abundantly; if few see it, yet it shines with the same brightness. It spreads comfort abroad but cannot fall short; we use it without causing its diminishment... Why do you still not understand? Because you are preoccupied with many things. Martha's work preoccupies you. Even more: it preoccupies us all. For who is free from this work of serving?...

And so, my beloved, I beg and exhort you...: let us long for this life together. Let us run together towards it so that, when we arrive, we may dwell there. The time is coming and will have no end when the Lord will seat us at table to serve us. With what will he serve us if not himself? Why ask what you will be eating? It is the Lord himself... «One thing I ask of the Lord; this I seek: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord,» (Ps 27,4)... So let us not have any taste for fleshly food...: it will come to an end. If you want to carry out Martha's task by busying yourself with it, let it be with moderation and compassion... Work comes to an end, rest will come, yet one doesn't attain to rest except by working. The boat passes on, one reaches one's homeland, yet the homeland is reached only by means of the boat. But I am certain that we will not suffer shipwreck because we are carried on the wood of the cross.

Source: Daily Gospel