One of my favorite Jackson Browne songs

“But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.  You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.  So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.” – I Thessalonians 5:4-6
 
The Weekly Reminder:
 
“Treasures in Heaven”
 

 
“I Believe“
 

 
“Every Time I Breathe”
 

 
J

Ordinary Time: July 23rd
Thursday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time; Opt Mem of St. Bridget, Religious

Today the Church celebrates the Optional Memorial of St. Bridget (1302-1373), patron saint of Sweden. She married a young prince and lived happily with him for 28 years, bearing him eight children. St. Catherine of Sweden was their daughter. After her husband died, Bridget founded the Order of the Most Holy Savior (the Brigittines), erecting at Vadstena a double monastery for monks and nuns. Following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, she later went to Rome, where she worked for the return of the Popes from Avignon. She died of natural causes in 1373, at the age of seventy-one. This Scandinavian mystic is famous for her revelations concerning the sufferings of our Redeemer.
 
St. Bridget of Sweden Gives the Rule to the Brigittines – Hand colored woodcut, 1480s
In the center St. Bridget hands copies of the Rule to the nuns on her right and the monks on her left. As they do still today, the nuns wear crowns with five red circles referencing the five wounds of Christ. The monks’ mantles feature small red crosses with a Eucharistic host at the center.

5 things to know about St. Bridget of Sweden, mystic and mother
 
1. St. Bridget experienced her first vision at age 10.
Bridget, or “Birgitta,” was born to wealthy, devout parents in Sweden in the year 1303. Her mother died early in her life, and she and her siblings were raised by their aunt. At 10 years old, Bridget had a vision of Christ on the cross in his agonizing suffering. In her vision, Bridget saw Christ with his wounds from Good Friday, with the wounds of “The Man of Sorrows” in Isaiah 53. She asked Jesus who hurt him, and he responded: “Those who despise me and refuse my love for them.” She would go on to write about these and other revelations; her works were published posthumously.
 
2. St. Bridget served in the royal court of Sweden.
Bridget was married in 1316 at the young age of 13 to 18-year-old Ulf Gudmarsson, the Swedish prince of Nericia. The two joined the Third Order of St. Francis and dedicated their resources to building a hospital and caring for the needs of the poor. Ulf served on the council of the king of Sweden, Magnus Eriksson, and the king asked Bridget to be a lady-in-waiting for his wife, Queen Blanche of Namur.
 
3. St. Bridget was a mother to eight children, and one of them became a saint.
Bridget and Ulf raised a large family together while also serving the poor and managing their duties in court. Of Bridget’s eight children, two died in infancy, and another two died in the Crusades. Two of their surviving children were married, and another two joined religious life. One of those two became a saint and was canonized St. Catherine of Sweden.
 
4. St. Bridget founded a religious order, the Brigittines, after her husband died.
Bridget and Ulf made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela between 1341 and 1343, but on their return trip, Ulf became ill. The couple stopped in France until Ulf regained his health, but soon after they returned to Sweden, in 1344, he passed away.

After his death, Bridget donated her belongings to the poor and devoted her life to Christ, following a call from God to start a new religious order. She founded the Order of the Most Holy Savior, now known as the Brigittines, in 1346, and her congregation was approved by Pope Urban V in 1370. The Brigittines were to be led by an abbess and constitute both nuns and priests. The priests, who lived in a separate section, served as chaplains and confessors for the nuns.
 
King Magnus helped Bridget make the Abbey of Vadstena the home of the Brigittines. He donated a small palace and land for the new monastery.
 
But Bridget would never see her work come to fruition. She had a vision from Christ calling her to return to Rome and await the pope’s return from France during the Avignon Papacy. She never became a nun herself, and she never saw the monastery in Vadstena. She died several years before the pope’s permanent return to Rome.
 
But her order spread through Europe and still exists today in both contemplative monasteries and apostolic convents, with branches in 19 countries including Sweden, Norway, Poland, Italy, Israel, India, the Philippines, Mexico, and the United States.
 
5. St. Bridget is the co-patroness of Europe.
After Bridget died in Rome on July 23, 1373, her children brought her remains back to the headquarters of her religious order. Less than 20 years later, in 1391, Pope Boniface IX proclaimed her a saint. Her revelations and writings on the sufferings of Christ were published after her death. In 1999, Pope St. John Paul II chose her as one of the three female co-patronesses of Europe, along with St. Catherine of Siena and St. Edith Stein.

God

is the

Holy Trinity.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

From ‘Heartworn Highways’ documentary. Highly recommended.

☘️
Hail Mary

☘️

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

LORD ‘TIS NOT THAT I DID CHOOSE THEE

1 Lord, ’tis not that I did choose Thee; That I know could never be;
For this heart would still refuse Thee Had Thy grace not chosen me.
Thou hast from the sin that stained me Washed and cleansed and set me free
And unto this end ordained me That I ever live to thee.

2 It was grace in Christ that called me, taught my darkened heart and mind;
Else the world had yet enthralled me, To Thy heavenly glories blind.
Now I worship none above Thee; For Thy grace alone I thirst,
Knowing well that if I love Thee, Thou O Lord didst love me first.

3∆ Praise the God of all creation, Praise the Father’s boundless love.
Praise the Lamb, our expiation, Priest and King enthroned above.
Praise the Spirit of salvation, Him by whom our spirits live.
Undivided adoration to the great Jehovah give.

Starts with about a half minute of improvisation…

College Football is just around the corner.

The Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band Halftime Drill

College Football Playoff Game Miami –

12/20/25

College Football is just around the corner.

Pregame – Texas A&M vs. Texas –

11/28/2025 –

The University of Texas Longhorn Band

Today’s Who song, from their final album.

God Speaks Of Marty Robbins.

DanDeplorable Devotional for July 23, 2026

https://gab.com/archippus417/posts/116966483449077326

I’m posting a screenshot in case anyone has trouble accessing the Gab website:

Sundance , give us a rundown on whats going to happen when a senator refers a judge to the doj for investigation ! Let’s use the jack smith referral

23 July 2014 Dora Bryan [Broadbent], British stage and screen actress (A Taste of Honey), novelty singer (“All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle”), and hotelier dies at 91

All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle
Replacement #3 termination
No more live footage left, audio only now

23 July

Roger Sherman
(1721-1793)

American lawyer and Founding Father of the United States (Declaration of Independence, Constitution), dies of typhoid fever at 72

The Young Bull by Paulus Potter

☘️

The Our Father

☘️

Our Father, Who art in heaven, 
Hallowed be Thy Name. 
Thy Kingdom come. 
Thy Will be done, 
on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. 
And forgive us our trespasses, 
as we forgive those who trespass against us. 
And lead us not into temptation, 
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

The Sermon on the Mount by Jan Brueghel the Elder

☘️

Matthew 18:20

For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.