The Daily Pilgrimage

Good Morning, Pilgrim

Receive this day from God.

Today the Church recalls that Christ entrusted His doctrine, sacraments, and authority to the apostles and commanded them to hand these gifts on. Catholics therefore receive the Faith from the Church rather than inventing it privately. They must also remember that sacred office is meant to serve revealed truth: holding an office and remaining faithful to its duties are related, but they are not identical.

Renew the complete gift of body, soul, possessions, spiritual goods, time, relationships, labor, suffering, and future to Jesus through Mary.

Formation in True Devotion - Day 271: Review and Deepening: Perfect Consecration to Jesus by Mary

“This devotion consists, then, in giving ourselves entirely and altogether to our Lady, in order to belong entirely and altogether to Jesus by her. We must give her; (1) our body, with all its senses and its members; (2) our soul, with all its powers; (3) the exterior goods of fortune, whether present or to come; (4) our interior and spiritual goods, which are our merits and our virtues, and our good works, past, present, and future.”
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 121

Ora — Begin with Prayer

Offer the day before spending it

Prayer gives the day its right beginning and its right end. Before work, conversation, news, or distraction claims the mind, adore the Blessed Trinity and offer every prayer, work, joy, suffering, and temptation to Jesus through Mary. Ask your Guardian Angel for help, and place the souls and needs entrusted to you beneath God's will.

Begin simply. Make the Morning Offering through the hands of Our Lady. Pray the Three Hail Marys for purity and final perseverance, ask your Guardian Angel to govern the senses and imagination, and name the soul or intention for which today's prayers and sacrifices will be offered. Do not rush these acts merely because they are familiar; let them place the whole day beneath God before the world begins to claim it.

O Lord, govern my speech when error must be named. Let me correct with charity, courage, and sobriety, never with bitterness or theatrical anger.

Quote of the Day

“Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.”
Our Lord Jesus Christ, John 1:47, Douay-Rheims

Today's Full Breviary Sermon or Proper Lesson

The Apostle without guile, sent to bear witness.

Matins - Second Nocturn - St. Bartholomew, Apostle

The complete appointed Breviary sermon or proper lessons verified for this observance are printed below. Where a Common supplies additional material, it is identified distinctly rather than presented as the proper text.

Roman Breviary and St. Ambrose, Proper lessons and homily on Luke 6

“An Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.”

• The Breviary remembers St. Bartholomew within the apostolic mission, his preaching among distant peoples, and his martyrdom for Christ.
• The Apostle's traditional identification with Nathanael places sincerity and freedom from guile beside missionary courage.
• St. Ambrose teaches that the Apostles were not chosen for worldly power, but to carry Christ's authority through humility, suffering, and truth.

Let apostolic simplicity expose duplicity. Christ sends souls who will receive truth without bargaining and bear it without relying on worldly rank.

Walk with the Church

The Church has already begun praying. Enter her prayer.

Today the Roman year keeps St. Bartholomew, Apostle. Receive the observance as the Church gives it: first understand what is commemorated, then let its doctrine and worship shape the day.

Roman Martyrology

August 24

apostle St. Bartholomew, who preached the Gospel of Christ in India. He passed thence into the Greater Armenia, where, after converting many to the faith, he was flayed alive by the barbarians, and beheaded by order of king Astyages, and thus he terminated his martyrdom. His sacred body was first carried to the island of Lipara, then to Benevento, and finally to Rome in the island of the Tiber, where it is venerated by the pious faithful. — At Carthage, three hundred holy martyrs, in the time of Valerian and Gallienus. Among other torments inflicted on them, a pit filled with burning lime was prepared by order of the governor, who, live coals with incense being brought to him, said to the confessors: "Choose one of these two things; to offer incense to Jupiter on these coals, or to cast yourselves into the lime." Armed with faith, and confessing Christ to be the Son of God, they quickly precipitated themselves into the pit, and amidst the vapors of the lime were reduced to dust. From this circumstance this blessed troop obtained the appellation of White Mass. — At Nepi, St. Ptolemy, bishop, disciple of the blessed apostle Peter. Being sent by him to preach the Gospel in Tuscany, he died a glorious martyr of Christ in the city of Nepi. — In the same place, St. Eomanus, bishop of that city, who was the disciple of St. Ptolemy, and his companion in martyrdom. — At Ostia, St. Aurea, virgin and martyr, who was plunged into the sea with a stone tied to her neck. Her body, being cast on the shore, was buried by blessed Nounus. — In Isauria, St. Tatio, martyr, who received the crown of martyrdom by being beheaded in the persecution of Domitian, under the governor Urbanus. — The same day, St. Eutychius, disciple of the blessed Evangelist John. He preached the Gospel in many countries, was subjected to imprisonment, to stripes and fire, and finally he rested in peace. — Also, t. George Limniota, monk. Because he reprehended the impious emperor Leo for breaking holy images and burning the relics of the saints, he had his hands cut off and his head burned by order of the tyrant, and went to our Lord to receive the recompense of a martyr. — At Rouen, St. Owen, bishop and confessor. — At Nevers, St. Patrick, abbot.

Gospel of the Day

He chose twelve of them.

St. Bartholomew, Apostle - Luke 6:12-19

“He chose twelve of them, whom also he named apostles.”

Let St. Bartholomew teach you a quiet apostolic heart. Christ knows how to choose and how to use the hidden faithful.

Learn from Today's Saint or Feast

St. Bartholomew

Apostle and witness to Christ without guile.

St. Bartholomew is honored among the apostles sent by Christ to preach the Gospel, and is traditionally identified with Nathanael, of whom Our Lord said: Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.

His feast calls the Church back to apostolic simplicity. The disciple must receive truth plainly, confess Christ without duplicity, and bear witness where he is sent.

Ask St. Bartholomew for a heart without guile. The Lord can build much with a soul that receives truth plainly.