Tuesday in the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time

We pray the Tuesday office and sit with Saint Augustine’s plea to love those outside full unity with the Church, especially Christians who reject our baptism and still call God “Our Father”. We choose compassion over contempt by naming them as brothers, asking God to heal minds and hearts, and committing ourselves to the unity of the Spirit in peace. 
• opening prayers, Glory Be, and a daily offering through the Immaculate Heart of Mary 
• Saint Augustine on charity for those outside the Church and those divided from unity 
• why “brothers” applies to Christians and why division should grieve us 
• the rebaptism dispute as a sign of denied kinship and mistaken judgment 
• refusing to repeat baptism while still recognising theirs as our own 
• praying for repentance, clarity, and healing from hatred and weakness 
• call to live worthy of our vocation and preserve unity in peace 
If you found this time of prayer and reflection fruitful and would like more opportunities to grow in your faith, consider joining the Cristeros and purchasing our publications, now available on Amazon.com. The Cristeros app is available on the Apple app and Google Play Store. More information on the Cristeros can be found at the Cristeros.org. 

Transcript

Opening Prayers And Offering

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Tuesday, in the fourteenth week of ordinary time, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. O my Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, for the remission of my sins, for the intentions of my family and friends, and in particular, for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen.

Saint Augustine On Loving Outsiders

SPEAKER_00 0:50

From a discourse on the Psalms by Saint Augustine, Bishop. We entreat you, brothers, as earnestly as we are able, to have charity not only for one another, but also for those who are outside the church. Of these, some are still pagans, who have not yet made an act of faith in Christ. Others are separated insofar as they are joined with us in professing faith in Christ our Head, but are yet divided from the unity of His body. My friends, we must grieve over these as over our brothers. Whether they like it or not, they are our brothers, and they will only cease to be so when they no longer say, Our Father. The prophet refers to some men, saying, When they say to you, You are not our brothers, you are to tell them, You are our brothers. Consider whom he intended by these words. Were they the pagans? Hardly, for nowhere either in Scripture or in our traditional manner of speaking, do we find them called our brothers, nor could it refer to the Jews who do not believe in Christ. Read Saint Paul, and you will see that when he speaks of brothers without any qualification, he refers always to Christians. For example, he says, Why do you judge your brother, or why do you despise your brother? And again you perform iniquity and common fraud, and this against your brothers. Those then who tell us you

Baptism Disputes And Calling Them Brothers

SPEAKER_00 2:20

are not our brothers are saying that we are pagans. That is why they want to baptize us again, claiming that we do not have what they can give, hence their error of denying that we are their brothers. Why then did the prophet tell us, say to them, You are our brothers? It is because we acknowledge in them that which we do not repeat. By not recognizing our baptism, they deny that we are their brothers, while on the other hand, when we do not repeat their baptism, but acknowledge it to be our own, we are saying to them, You are our brothers. If they say, Why do you seek us? What do you want of us? we should reply, You are our brothers. They may say, Leave us alone, we have nothing to do with you. But we have everything to do with you, for we are one in our belief in Christ, and so we should be in one body, under one head.

Prayer For Unity And Final Blessing

SPEAKER_00 3:12

And so, dear brothers, we entreat you on their behalf, in the name of the very source of our love, by whose milk we are nourished, and whose bread is our strength, in the name of Christ our Lord and His gentle love. For it is time now for us to show them great love and abundant compassion by praying to God for them. May He one day give them a clear mind, to repent and realize that they have nothing whatever to say against the truth. They have nothing now but the sickness of their hatred, and the stronger they think they are, the weaker they become. We entreat you then to pray for them, for they are weak, given to the wisdom of the flesh, to fleshly and carnal things. But yet they are our brothers. They celebrate the same sacraments as we, not indeed with us, but still the same. They respond with the same amen, not with us, but still the same, and so pour out your hearts for them in prayer to God. I implore you in the Lord, lead a life worthy of the vocation to which you have been called. Be careful to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, and there is but one hope given to you by your calling. Be careful to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. O God, who in the abasement of your Son have raised up a fallen world, fill your faithful with holy joy, for on those you have rescued from slavery to sin, you bestow eternal gladness. 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. Amen. All that I have and all that I am, I give to your hands, Jesus, through the heart of Mary, your blessed mother. Amen. Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Invitation To Join The Cristeros

SPEAKER_00 5:11

If you found this time of prayer and reflection fruitful and would like more opportunities to grow in your faith, consider joining the Cristeros and purchasing our publications, now available on Amazon.com. The Cristeros app is available on the Apple app and Google Play Store. More information on the Cristeros can be found at the Cristaros.org.