Posted in MARIAN TITLES

Holy Cross, Nossa Senhora de Nazaré / Our Lady of Nazareth, Portugal (1182) and Memorials of the Saints – 14 September

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Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Feast) This feast was observed in Rome before the end of the seventh century. It commemorates the recovery of the Holy Cross, which had been placed on Mount Calvary by St Helena.

Nossa Senhora de Nazaré / Our Lady of Nazareth, Portugal (1182) -14 September:

The chronicles of old Portugal report this episode that took place in the year 1182, on the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Dom Fuas Roupinho, a Knight and vassal of King Afonso Henriques, was out hunting on a foggy day. He was pursuing a deer when it came to an unexpected precipice and fell to its death into the sea below.

The horse, which was in close pursuit, reared on the very edge of the cliff and it seemed certain that Dom Fuas would follow the deer to his death. Knowing that a little distance to his left was a cave with the Statue of the Virgin of Nazareth, Dom Fuas immediately invoked her protection. He was saved and in thanksgiving he built a small “Chapel of memory” (Ermida da Memória) over the cave in her honour.

According to a document found with it, the little Statue of the Virgin had been venerated in Nazareth in the times of early Christianity. When the iconoclast heresy started in Constantinople and the heretics were destroying all the Statues, a Monk called Ciriaco took it to a Monastery in Spain in the proximity of Merida.

In 714, when the Saracens invaded the Iberian Peninsula, King Rodrigo fled with Friar Germano to the Atlantic coast, bearing the Statue with them. They hid the Statue in a small cave off the coast of the site that was later to become Nazaré, where it remained until it was found by a shepherd in 1179.

After Our Lady miraculously saved the life of Dom Fuas, the devotion to Our Lady of Nazareth spread throughout the country and was the source of countless graces for the people. In 1377 King Fernando ordered a large Church to be built near the little Chapel, and the Statue is venerated there now.

St Aelia Flaccilla

St Albert of Jerusalem (1149-1215) also known as St Albert of Vercelli – Bishop, Canon Lawyer, Diplomat and Peacemaker and is regarded as a Co-Founder of the Carmelite Order.

St Caerealis
Bl Claude Laplace
St Cormac of Cashel
St Crescentian of Carthage
St Crescentius of Rome
St Generalis of Carthage
St Giulia Crostarosa
St Jean Gabriel Taurin du Fresse
St Maternus of Cologne (Died c 325) Bishop

St Peter of Tarentaise O.Cist (1102-1174) Cistercian Monk, Archbishop of Tarentaise from 1141 until his death, Abbot, Apostle of Charity, Miracle-worker.
There are two men named Saint Peter of Tarentaise who lived one century apart. The man we honour today is the younger Peter, born in France in the early part of the 12th century. The other man with the same name became Pope Innocent the Fifth.

Bl Pedro Bruch Cotacáns
St Rosula of Carthage
St Sallustia
St Victor of Carthage

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 14 September – Saint Aelia Flaccilla

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Saint Aelia Flavia Flaccilla, known as Aelia Flacilla or Flacilla, was a Roman empress and may have been the daughter of Claudius Antonius, Prefect of Gaul. She was the first wife of Emperor Theodosius I. She was of Spanish descent. During her marriage to Theodosius, she gave birth to two sons, the future Emperors Arcadius and Honorius, as well as a daughter, Aelia Pulcheria.

Aelia Flacilla was a zealous supporter of the Nicene Creed, and she was considered a pillar of the Church and model of Christian virtue by Saint Gregory of Nyssa and others. She died in 385 of natural causes.

"The greatness of the good gift given her made her love for Him who gave it all the greater, so she bestowed every kind of attention on the maimed and the mutilated, declining all aid from her household and her guards, herself visiting the houses where the sufferers lodged, and providing every one with what he required. She also went about the chambers of the churches and ministered to the wants of the sick, herself handling pots and pans, and tasting broth, now bringing in a dish and breaking bread and offering morsels, and washing out a cup and going through all the other duties which are supposed to be proper to servants and maids. To them who strove to restrain her from doing these things with her own hands she would say, "It befits a sovereign to distribute gold; I, for the sovereign power that has been given me, am giving my own service to the Giver."

-Theodoret, Ecclesiastical History (Book V.18)

"It appears that, during the reign of Valens, had some dispute with his own clergy at Cyzicus, and had in consequence seceded from the Arians, and retired to Bithynia, near Constantinople. Here multitudes resorted to him; some also gathered from different quarters, a few with the design of testing his principles, and others merely from the desire of listening to his discourses. His reputation reached the ears of the emperor, who would gladly have held a conference with him. But the Empress Flacilla studiously prevented an interview from taking place between them; for she was the most faithful guard of the Nicene doctrines, and feared lest Eunomius might, by his powers of disputation, induce a change in the sentiments of the emperor."

-Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History (Book VII)
Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 14 September – O Cross of Christ

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Our Morning Offering – 14 September – Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

O Cross of Christ
Stanbrook Abbey

O Cross of Christ, immortal tree
On which our Saviour died,
The world is sheltered by your arms
That bore the Crucified.

From bitter death and barren wood
The tree of life is made;
Its branches bear unfailing fruit
And leaves that never fade.

O faithful Cross, you stand unmoved
While ages run their course,
Foundation of the universe,
Creation’s binding force.

Give glory to the risen Christ
And to His Cross give praise,
The sign of God’s unfathomed love,
The hope of all our days.
Amen

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 14 September –  Let us glorify God

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One Minute Reflection – 14 September – Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross – Readings: Gal 6:14, Ps 66:2, Phil 2:5-11, John 12:31-36

At that time, Jesus said to the multitudes of the Jews, Now is the judgment of the world; now will the prince of the world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself.

John 12:31-36

REFLECTION – Knowing then these things, let us rouse ourselves, let us glorify God, not by our faith alone, but also by our life, since otherwise it would not be glory, but blasphemy. For God is not so much blasphemed by an impure heathen, as by a corrupt Christian. Wherefore I entreat you to do all that God may be glorified; for, Woe, it says, to that servant by whom the Name of God is blasphemed, (and wherever there is a woe, every punishment and vengeance straightway follows,) but blessed is he by whom that Name is glorified.

Let us then not be as in darkness, but avoid all sins, and especially those which tend to the hurt of others, since by these God is most blasphemed. What pardon shall we have, when, being commanded to give to others, we plunder the property of others? What shall be our hope of salvation? You are punished if you have not fed the hungry; but if you have even stripped one who was clothed, what sort of pardon shall you obtain? These things I will never desist from saying, for they who have not heard today perhaps will hear tomorrow, and they who take no heed tomorrow perhaps will be persuaded the next day; and even if any be so disposed as not to be persuaded, yet for us there will be no account to give of them at the Judgment. Our part we have fulfilled; may we never have cause to be ashamed of our words, nor you to hide your faces, but may all be able to stand with boldness before the judgment-seat of Christ, that we also may be able to rejoice over you, and to have some compensation of our own faults, in your being approved in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father and the Holy Ghost be glory forever. Amen.

St John Chrysostom

PRAYER – O God, who willed that Your Only Begotten Son should undergo the Cross to save the human race, grant, we pray, that we, who have known His mystery on earth, may merit the grace of His redemption in heaven. For You placed the salvation of the human race on the wood of the Cross, so that, where death arose, life might again spring forth and the evil one, who conquered on a tree, might likewise on a tree be conquered through Christ. O Cross, You are the glorious sign of victory. Through your power may we share in the triumph of Christ Jesus. We adore You O Christ and we praise You, for by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world. Amen.

Posted in CATHOLIC Quotes

Quote/s of the Day – 14 September – Glory in the Cross

Posted on by AnaStpaul

But it behooves us to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ: in Whom is our salvation, life, and resurrection: by Whom we are saved, and delivered.

Gal 6:14

We have sinned much: I know this well. For we are all liable for penalties. But we are not deprived of pardon; nor shall we fall away from repentance for we still stand in the arena, and are in the struggles of repentance. Are You old, and have you come to the last outlet of life? Do not consider even thus that you have fallen from repentance, nor despair of your own salvation, but consider the robber who was freed on the cross. For what was briefer than that hour in which he was crowned? Yet notwithstanding even this was enough for him, for salvation. 

St John Chrysostom

The tongue would not be sufficient to relate the delight felt by him who goes on this road, for, even in this life, he tastes and participates in that good which has been prepared for him in eternal life.

The Dialogue of St Catherine of Siena

Benjamin, in the Old Law, was the figure of the predestinate: accordingly, it is to him that the cup, or chalice, is given – a gift, says St Ambrose, which is presented to only one of all the children of Jacob. To all, indeed, corn was given, but the chalice is reserved for one alone. In fine the great Doctor of our salvation, the Adorable Jesus, teaches us that His disciples shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice, the world which knows not God and is the enemy of God.

Henri-Marie Boudon

Heaven is open only to the innocent and to the truly penitent.

Massillon

Alas, my dear brethren, what have we become even since our conversion? Instead of going always forward and increasing in holiness, what laziness and what indifference we display! God cannot endure this perpetual inconstancy with which we pass from virtue to vice and from vice to virtue. Tell me, my children, is not this the very pattern of the way you live?

St John Vianney

Posted in SEPTEMBER-The SEVEN SORROWS of MARY and The HOLY CROSS

Thought for the Day – 14 September –On the Third Dolor

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Reflections on each of the Seven Dolors of Mary by St Alphonsus Liguori

Of The Loss Of Jesus In the Temple

Saint James the Apostle has said, that our perfection consists in the virtue of patience. “And patience hath a perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, failing in nothing.” The Lord having then given us the Virgin Mary as an example of perfection, it was necessary that she should be laden with sorrows, that in her we might admire and imitate her heroic patience. The dolor that we are this day to consider is one of the greatest which our divine mother Buffered during her life, namely, the loss of her Son in the temple. He who is born blind is little sensible of the pain of being deprived of the light of day; but to him who has once had sight and enjoyed the light, it is a great sorrow to find himself deprived of it by blindness. And thus it is with those unhappy souls who, being blinded by the mire of this earth, have but little knowledge of God, and therefore scarcely feel pain at not finding him. On the contrary, the man who, illuminated with celestial light, has been made worthy to find by love the sweet presence of the highest good, oh God, how he mourns when he finds himself deprived of it !

From this we can judge how painful must have been to Mary, who was accustomed to enjoy constantly the sweet presence of Jesus, that third sword which wounded her, when she lost him in Jerusalem, and was separated from him for three days.

Some writers assert, and not without reason, that this dolor was not only one of the greatest, but that it was the greatest and most painful of all. For in the first place, Mary in her other dolors had Jesus with her; she suffered when St. Simeon uttered the prophecy in the temple; she suffered in the flight to Egypt, but always with Jesus; but in this dolor she suffered at a distance from Jesus, without knowing where he was: “And the light of my eyes itself is not with me.” Thus, with tears, she then exclaimed: Ah, the light of my eyes, my dear Jesus, is no more with me; he is far from me, I know not where he is! Origen says, that though the love which this holy mother bore her Son, she suffered more at this loss of Jesus than any martyr ever suffered at death. Ah, how long: were these three days for Mary! they appeared three ages.

Secondly. Mary well understood the cause and end of the other dolors, namely, the redemption of the world, the divine will ; but in this she did not know the cause of the absence of her Son. The sorrowful mother was grieved to find Jesus withdrawn from her, for her humility, says Lanspergius, made her consider herself unworthy to remain with him any longer, and attend upon him on earth, and have the care of such a treasure. And perhaps, she may have thought within herself, I have not served him as I ought. Perhaps I have been guilty of some neglect, and therefore he has left me. They sought him, lest he perchance had left them, as Origen has said. Certainly there is no greater grief for a soul that loves God than the fear of having displeased him. And therefore Mary never complained in any other sorrow but this, lovingly expostulating with Jesus after she found him : “Son, why hast thou done so to us? Thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.”! By these words she did not wish to reprove Jesus, as the heretics blasphemously assert, but only to make known to him the grief she had experienced during his absence from her, on account of the love she bore him.

This sorrow of Mary ought, in the first place, to serve as a comfort to those souls who are desolate and do not enjoy the sweet presence they once enjoyed of their Lord. They may weep, but let them weep in peace, as Mary wept in the absence of her Son. Let them take courage, and not fear that on this account they have lost the divine favor, for God himself said to St. Theresa: “No one is lost without knowing it; and no one is deceived without wishing to be deceived.” If the Lord departs from the sight of that soul who loves him, he does not therefore depart from the heart. He often hides himself that she may seek him with greater desire and love. But those who would find Jesus must seek him, not amid the delights and pleasures of the world, but amid crosses and mortifications, as Mary sought him: We sought thee sorrowing, as she said to her Son: “Dolentes quasrebamus te.”

Moreover, in this world we should seek no other good than Jesus. Job was not unhappy when he lost all that he possessed on earth; riches, children, health, and honors, and even descended from a throne to a dunghill; but because he had God with him, even then he was happy. St. Augustine, speaking of him, says: He had lost all that God had given him, but he had God himself

Posted in MARIAN TITLES

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Spain, (14th century) and Memorials of the Saints – 13 September

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Lady of Guadalupe in Extremadura, Spain:

The original Our Lady of Guadalupe in Spain

The Marian shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is located in the Extremadura region of what was the Kingdom of Castile. The shrine houses a Black Madonna, a statue crafted by the loving hands of Saint Luke the Evangelist himself and given to Saint Leander, Archbishop of Seville, by Pope Gregory I. It is one of the fifteen Black Madonnas in Spain. The statue was canonically crowned on 12 October 1928 by Pope Pius XI with a crown designed and crafted by Father Felix Granda, and crowned in the presence of King Alfonso XIII of Spain.

Spain was invaded by the Muslims in the year 711. The beloved statue of the Blessed Virgin was taken by the Christians who fled before the advance of the invading hordes, placing the statue in a strongbox and burying it in a cave in the hills near the Guadalupe River in Extremadura. When those who had safeguarded the statue died, the existence of it and the knowledge of its location was lost.

In the year 1326, the Blessed Virgin appeared to a shepherd near the village of Guadalupe, asking him to have priests dig at the site of the apparition. When they did, the priests found the strongbox that had been buried in the earth over 600 years previously. It contained documents that identified the cherished statue that became known as Our Lady of Guadalupe. A Marian shrine was built there in her honor.

A copy of the Extremaduran image is enshrined in Loboc Church in the island province of Bohol, and has documented miracles attributed to the Virgin.

Immediately pilgrims began to visit the shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and in 1340, King Alfonso XI endowed the sanctuary over which he took a particular interest. It was in that same year that Abu Hasan of Morocco had invaded the Iberian Peninsula with a huge army, intending to march into Castile and reverse the earlier Catholic expansion into what had been Muslim territory. The battle of Rio Salado had been hard fought, though it ended in a Christian victory that King Alfonso attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Banner of Cortés preserved in the Army Museum in Toledo (Spain)

In 1389 the Spanish architect, Juan Alphonso, began the church, which has walls ornamented with magnificent votive offerings, attesting to more than three thousand authentic miracles of the Blessed Virgin, Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The veneration for Our Lady of Guadalupe crossed the ocean, and was established by miracles in Mexico. The magnificent captain, Hernan Cortez, conquered the evil Aztec Empire under a Marian standard. Cortez himself was from Extremadura.

Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico

St John Chrysostom (347-407) “Golden Mouthed” Father & Doctor of the Church (Memorial of his Departure).

Dedication of the Basilicas of Jerusalem: Commemoration of the dedications of the Basilicas built on Mount Calvary and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
—
St Aigulf

St Amatus OSB (c 560-c 627) Monk, Abbot, Hermit, Penitent, miracle-worker, together with St Romaric, he founded Remiremont Abbey.

St Barsenorius
Bl Claude Dumonet
St Columbinus of Lure
St Emiliano of Valence
St Evantius of Autun
St Gordian of Pontus
Bl Hedwig of Hreford
St Julian of Ankyra
St Ligorius
St Litorius of Tours
St Macrobius
St Marcellinus of Carthage
Bl María López de Rivas Martínez

St Maurilius of Angers (c 336-426) Bishop of Angers, Cantor for Saint Ambrose, (Bishop of Milan and Father and Doctor of the Church), Disciple of St Martin of Tours.

St Nectarius of Autun

St Notburga (c 1265-1313) Virgin
St Philip of Rome
St Venerius of Tino
—
Martyrs of Ireland:
• Blessed Edward Stapleton
• Blessed Elizabeth Kearney
• Blessed James Saul
• Blessed Margaret of Cashel
• Blessed Richard Barry
• Blessed Richard Butler
• Blessed Theobald Stapleton
• Blessed Thomas Morrissey
• Blessed William Boyton

Martyred in the Spanish Civil War including the Martyrs of Pozo de Cantavieja – 11 beati:
• Blessed Bienvenido Villalón Acebrón
• Blessed Emilio Antequera Lupiáñez
• Blessed Florencio Arnáiz Cejudo
• Blessed Francisco Rodríguez Martínez
• Blessed Joaquín Gisbert Aguilera
• Blessed José Álvarez-Benavides de La Torre
• Blessed José Cano García
• Blessed José Román García González
• Blessed Juan Capel Segura
• Blessed Juan Ibáñez Martín
• Blessed Luis Eduardo López Gascón
• Blessed Manuel Alvarez y Alvarez
• Blessed Manuel Martínez Giménez
• Blessed Pío Navarro Moreno
• Blessed Ramiro Argüelles Hevia
• Blessed Sabino Ayastuy Errasti
• Blessed Teófilo Montes Calvo

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 13 September – St Aigulf

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Saint Aigulf, also known as Aigulphe, Aygulf or Ayoul. He was Abbot of Lérins, and a martyr.

St. Benedict frees a monk possessed by a demon by striking him.

Aigulf was born in 630 in Blois and was a Benedictine monk at Fleury, France. He led a party of monks sent to retrieve the relics of Saint Bernard from the Lombards. Later, he was called upon to reform the Abbey of Saint Honorat.

He became abbot of Lérins around 671 and worked to restore monastic discipline, which had weakened over time. He replaced the monks’ own rules, which had been followed since the abbey’s origins, with the Rule of Saint Benedict. Many of the brothers supported him, but some resisted, and following a riot they conspired to have Aigulf and four of his supporters kidnapped by soldiers, taken to the island of Capri, Italy, blinded, tortured and murdered. The monks of Lérins claimed possession of his relics and have always considered Aygulf a martyr. A chapel was dedicated to him in the fortified monastery. 

Saint Aygulf is invoked for the healing of eye ailments.

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 13 September – O God, Send forth Your Holy Spirit

Posted on by AnaStpaul

O God, Send forth Your Holy Spirit
By St Anthony of Padua (1195-1231)
Doctor of the Church

O God,
send forth Your Holy Spirit
into my heart
that I may perceive,
into my mind,
that I may remember,
and into my soul,
that I may meditate.
Inspire me to speak
with piety,
holiness,
tenderness
and mercy.
Teach, guide and direct my thoughts
and senses, from beginning to end.
May Your grace,
ever help and correct me,
and may I be strengthened now
with wisdom from on high,
for the sake of Your infinite mercy.
Amen

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 13 September – Jesus at table with the Pharisees

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One Minute Reflection – 13 September – Readings: Ps 85:3; 85:5, Ps 85:1, Eph 3:13-21, Luke 14:1-11

And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath? But they remained silent. And He took and healed him and let him go.

Luke 14:1-11

REFLECTION – The world’s eternal and invisible Creator, preparing to save humankind, which for long ages had been hindered by its subjection to the heavy law of death, deigned “in these last days” to become man that in his mercy he might redeem those who in justice he condemned. And so as to show the depth of his love for us, he not only became a man but a poor and humble man so that, by drawing near to us in his poverty, he might make us sharers in his riches. So poor did he become for our sake that he had nowhere to lay his head: “Foxes have dens and the birds of the air have their nest, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”.

This is the reason why he agreed to go and dine wherever he was invited, not out of an excessive enjoyment in eating but so that he could teach the way of salvation and stimulate faith. There he would fill the guests with light by his miracles and the servants, who were kept busy inside and were not free to go with him, would hear the words of salvation. Indeed, he despised no one and none were considered unworthy of his love because “he has mercy on all; he hates nothing of what he has made and takes care of them all”.

So that he might carry out this work of salvation the Lord entered the house of an eminent Pharisee on the sabbath. The scribes and Pharisees watched him with the intention of calling him to account, so that if he were to cure the man with dropsy they could accuse him of breaking the Law and, if he did not, they could accuse him of blasphemy or inability. By the pure light of his word of truth they were to see the darkness of their deceit vanish away.

Blessed Guerric of Igny

PRAYER – Lord God and holy Father, guard our faith we pray and grace us with Your mercy. Keep us ever faithful to Your precepts and bring us to Your home, to look upon Your Face. May the prayers of Your saints assist us on our journey. In your untiring life of trust in God, And may our Holy and Sorrowful Mother Mary, be our merciful protector. We ask all this through Christ, our Lord with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.

Posted in CATHOLIC Quotes

Quote/s of the Day – 13 September – Wisdom

Posted on by AnaStpaul

So that, being rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth.

Eph 3:13-21

Some bewail and lament the inmates of the prison, some those who have been expelled from their country and transported to the land of exile, others those who have been deprived of their freedom, others those who have been seized and made captives by enemies, others those who have been drowned, or burnt, or buried by the fall of a house, but no one mourns those who are living in wickedness: on the contrary, which is worse than all, they often congratulate them, a practice which is the cause of all manner of evils.

St John Chrysostom

These are the two roads, and both are hard to travel. Wonder, then, at the ignorance and blindness of man, who, having a Road made for him, which causes such delight to those who use It, that every bitterness becomes sweet, and every burden light, yet prefers to walk over the water. 

The Dialogue of St Catherine of Siena

Poverty is good and contains within itself all the good things in the world. It is a great domain – I mean that he who cares nothing for the good things of the world has dominion over them all. What do kings and lords matter to me if I have no desire to possess their money, or to please them, if by so doing I should cause the least displeasure to God? And what do their honours mean to me if I have realised that the chief honour of a poor man consists in his being truly poor?

St Teresa of Avila

We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing.

St Clare of Assisi

True peace is a certain mark of predestination.

Father Segneri S.J (17th Century)

Posted in SEPTEMBER-The SEVEN SORROWS of MARY and The HOLY CROSS

Thought for the Day – 13 September – On the Second Dolor

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Reflections on each of the Seven Dolors of Mary by St Alphonsus Liguori

Of The Flight of Jesus Into Egypt

Herod having heard that the expected Messiah was born, foolishly feared that the new-born King would deprive him of his kingdom. Hence St. Fulgentius, reproving him for his folly, thus says: “Why, oh Herod, art thou that disturbed? This King who is born has not come to conquer kings by arms, but to subjugate them, in a wonderful manner, by his death.” The impious Herod, therefore, waited to learn from the holy magi where the King was born, that he might take from him his life; but finding himself deceived by the magi, he ordered all the infants that could be found in the neighborhood of Bethlehem to be put to death. But an angel appeared in a dream to St. Joseph, and said to him:” Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt.”

According to Gerson, immediately, on that very night, Joseph made this command known to Mary; and taking the infant Jesus, they commenced their journey, as it seems clearly from the Gospel itself: Who arose and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt.” And then the afflicted Mary knew that already the prophecy of Simeon, regarding her Son, was beginning to be verified: ” He is set for a sign which shall be contradicted.” Seeing that scarcely is he born,when he is persecuted to death. What suffering it must have been to the heart of Mary, writes St. John Chrysostom, to hear the tidings of that cruel exile of herself with her Son! Flee from thy friends to strangers, from the holy temple of the only true God, to the temples of demons. What greater tribulation than that a new-born child, clinging to its mother’s bosom, should be forced to fly with the mother herself!

Every one can imagine how much Mary must have suffered on this journey. It was a long distance to Egypt. Authors generally agree with Barrada that it was four hundred miles; so that at least it was a journey of thirty days. The way, as St. Bonaventure describes it, was rough, unknown, through woods, and little frequented. The season was winter, and therefore they had to travel in snow, rain, wind, and storms, and through bad and difficult roads. Mary was then fifteen years of age, a delicate virgin, unaccustomed to such journeys. They had no servant to attend them. Joseph and Mary, said St. Peter Chrysologus, had no man servant nor maid-servant; they were themselves both masters and servants. Oh God, how piteous a spectacle it was to see that tender Virgin, with that newly born infant in her arms wandering through this world! St. Bonaventure asks, Where did they obtain food? Where did they rest at night? How were they lodged ? What other food could they have, than a piece of hard bread which Joseph brought with him or begged in charity? Where could they have slept (particularly in the two hundred miles of desert through which they travelled, where, as authors relate, there were neither houses nor inns) except on the sand, or under some tree in the wood, in the open air, exposed to robbers, or those wild beasts with which Egypt abounded? Ah, if any one had met these three greatest personages of the world, what would he have believed them to be but three poor, roving beggars?

They lived in Egypt, according to St. Anselm, Heliopolis, first called Memphis, and now Cairo. And here let us consider the great poverty they must have suffered for the seven years they were there, as St. Antoninus, St. Thomas, and others assert, They were foreigners, unknown, without revenues, without money, without kindred; hardly were they able to support them selves by their humble labors. As they were destitute, says St. Basil, it is manifest what effort they must have made to obtain there the necessaries of life. Moreover, Landolph of Saxony has written, and let it be repeated for the consolation of the poor, that so great was the poverty of Mary there, that sometimes she had not so much as a morsel of bread, when her Son, forced by hunger, asked it of her.

St. Matthew also relates that when Herod was dead, the angel again appeared, in a dream, to St. Joseph, and directed him to return to Judea. St. Bonaventure, speaking of his return, considers the greater pain of the blessed Virgin, on account of the sufferings which Jesus must have endured in that journey, having arrived at about the age of seven years an age, says the saint, when he was so large that he could not be carried, and so small that he could not go with out assistance.

The sight, then, of Jesus and Mary wandering like fugitives through this world, teaches us that we should also live as pilgrims on the earth, detached from the goods which the world offers us, as having soon to leave them and go to eternity.

Posted in Uncategorized

Please Pray

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A dear supporter of the site is suffering with his health. Please add him to your rosaries. God bless xxx

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 12 September – Blessed Thomas of Zumárraga

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Blessed Thomas of Zumárraga was a Dominican friar, priest, missionary, and martyr of Japan.

Thomas was born in Vitoria, Spain, in 1577. In 1594, he was professed in the Order of Preachers in Vitoria. After he entered the Convento de San Esteban de Salamanca, he received the name of Fray Tomás del Espíritu Santo (Brother Thomas of the Holy Spirit). In 1601, he was sent to Mexico en route to the Philippines. Shortly after arriving, in 1603, Fray Francisco Morales, superior of the Dominicans in Manila, sent him to Japan to found a mission.

By the early 17th century Japan was mostly closed to foreigners, but he fearlessly preached the Gospel and worked tirelessly to establish Christian communities. He hid in the mountains in the area of Nagasaki and Ōmura, but in 1617 he was arrested alongside several other missionaries. After five years of imprisonment, he was burnt alive on 12 September 1622.

Pope Pius IX venerated him on 26 February 1866 with a decree of martyrdom, and later proclaimed him blessed on 7 May 1867.

 On all sides all men were flocking together to a spectacle, to us glorious from the devotion of faith, and to be mourned over even by the Gentiles. 

The Life and Passion of St Cyprian (Pontius)

Posted in The HOLY NAME of MARY

Feast of the Holy Name of Mary (1683) and Memorials of the Saints – 12 September

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Feast of the Holy Name of Mary (1683 ) – 12 September:
Feast of the entire Latin Church. It was first observed at Cuenca, Spain in 1513, then extended to the universal Church and assigned to its present place and rank by Pope Innocent XI in 1683 in thanksgiving to God and the Blessed Virgin for the liberation of Vienna, France and the signal victory over the Turks on 12 September 1683. It is the titular feast of the Society of Mary (Marianists) and of the Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

St Ailbe (Died 528) Bishop “The Patrick of Munster,” Confessor, Evangelist – Saint Ailbe is venerated as one of the four great Patrons of Ireland.

Blessed Apolinaris Franco Garcia OFM (1575-1622) Priest, Martyr

St Autonomous
St Curonotus
St Dominic Magoshichi
St Eanswida
St Francis of Saint Bonaventure
St Franciscus Ch’oe Kyong-Hwan

St Guy of Anderlecht (c 950–1012) Hermit and Pilgrim known as “the Poor Man of Anderlecht”

St Juventius of Pavia

Bl Maria Luisa Angelica/Gertrude Prosperi (1799-1847)
St Mancius of Saint Thomas
St Paul of Saint Clare
Bl Pierre-Sulpice-Christophe Faverge
St Sacerdos of Lyon
St Silvinus of Verona
St Tomás de Zumárraga Lazcano
—
Martyrs of Alexandria – 6 saints: A group of Christians martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian. We know little more than their names – Hieronides, Leontius, Sarapion, Seleusius, Straton and Valerian. They were drowned c 300 at Alexandria, Egypt.

Martyrs of Phrygia – 3 saints: Three Christians who were martyred for destroying pagan idols. We know little more than their names – Macedonius, Tatian and Theodolus. They were burned to death in 362 in Phrygia (modern Turkey).

Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
• Blessed Fortunato Arias Sánchez
• Blessed Francisco Maqueda López
• Blessed Jaume Puigferrer Mora
• Blessed Josep Plana Rebugent
• Blessed Julián Delgado Díez

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 12 September – Mary! How Sweetly Falls That Word

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Our Morning Offering – 12 September – Feast of the Holy Name of Mary

Mary! How Sweetly Falls That Word
Anonymous, 19th Century

Mary! How sweetly falls that word
On my enraptured ear!
Oft do I breathe in accents low,
That sound when none are near.
Chorus:
Sing, O my lips and loudly proclaim:
O Mary, O Mary, how sweet is thy name!
Sing, O my lip, and loudly proclaim;
O Mary, O Mary, how sweet is thy name!

Sweet as the warbling of a bird,
Sweet as a mother’s voice;
So sweet to me is that dear name,
It makes my soul rejoice.
Chorus.

Bright as the glittering stars appear,
Bright as the moonbeams shine,
So bright in my mind’s eye is seen
Thy loveliness divine!
Chorus.

Through thee I offer my requests,
And when my prayer is done,
In ecstasy sublime I see
Thee seated near thy Son.
Chorus.

Tune: St Basil’s Hymnal: Unnamed Tune. (1889)

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 12 September – May the most glorious Virgin Mother Mary be jubilant !

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One Minute Reflection – 12 September – Readings: Ps 44:13, 15-16., Ps 44:2, Sir 24:23-31, Luke 1:26-38

At that time, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.

Luke 1:26-38

REFLECTION – May the holy divinity of your glory, my God, O my gentleness, with which you deigned to fill and to inhabit for nine months the chaste viscera of the Virgin Mary, bless you. May the highest virtue of your divinity, which bent to the humbleness of the virginal valley, bless you. May the utmost art of your almightiness, God most high, with which you imparted onto the virgin rose such virtue, radiance, and comeliness as you yourself could yearn for, bless you. May your wondrous wisdom, whose copious grace made all of Mary’s life and body, as well as her soul, comparable with your worthiness, bless you. May you strong, wise and most dulcet love which made you, the flower and spouse of virginity, become the Son of a virgin, bless you.

May the worthiest heart and soul of the most glorious Virgin Mother Mary (whom, because of my need for salvation, you chose for yourself as mother and that her motherly clemency might always be open to me) be jubilant to you on my behalf. May that most faithful concern which is yours for me (by which you have provided me with an advocate and patron saint of such capability that through her I may easily be able to find your grace, and in whom, I trustfully believe, your eternal mercy is preserved for me) be jubilant to you. May that wonderful tabernacle of your glory, which alone has ministered to you worthily as a holy dwelling place, and through which you can best make amends for me to yourself for the due measure of praise and glory that I owe you, be jubilant to you.

Saint Gertrude of Helfta

PRAYER – Heavenly Father, assist us at all times we pray, to obtain a spirit of worthy penance, for our sins and that of all the world. To the invocation of Your Divine Son, Jesus, we call on the intercession of His holy Mother, to aid us on our pilgrimage. With great affection and confidence, we honour the Holy Hearts and invoke the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, to be our constant source of pure assistance and succour that we might bear fruits worthy of their Names. Blessed be the Name of Mary! Amen

Posted in The BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, The HOLY NAME of MARY

Quote/s of the Day – 12 September – “And the Virgin’s name was Mary.”

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Quote/s of the Day – 12 September – Feast of the Holy Name of Mary

All the rich among the people seek your favor. Behind her the virgins of her train are brought to the King. They are borne in to you with gladness and joy.

Ps 44:13

“As breathing is not only a sign
but even, a cause of life,
so the name of Mary,
which is constantly found
on the lips of God’s servants,
both proves that they are truly alive
and, at the same time,
causes and preserves their life
and gives them, every succour . . .
may Your name, O Mother of God,
be the last sound that escapes my lips!”

St Germanus of Constantinople 

“The name of Mary
is a tower of strength,
which saves sinners from punishment
and defends the just
from the assaults of hell.”

St Lawrence Justinian

“Wherever you may go,
or wherever you may be,
implore Jesus and call upon Mary . . .
Sing these two names,
sing them in your heart,
sing them with your lips,
sing them with your hands.”

Thomas à Kempis

“The name of Mary
is the key
to the gates of Heaven.”

St Ephrem

“Your name, O Mary, is a precious ointment,
which breathes forth the odour of Divine grace.
Let this ointment of salvation
enter the inmost recesses of our souls.”

St Ambrose 

MORE

Posted in SEPTEMBER-The SEVEN SORROWS of MARY and The HOLY CROSS

Thought for the Day – 12 September – On the First Dolor

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Reflections on each of the Seven Dolors of Mary by St Alphonsus Liguori

Saint Simeon’s Prophecy

In this valley of tears, every man is born to weep, and every one must suffer those afflictions that daily befall him. But how much more miserable would life be, if every one knew also the future evils which are to afflict him! Too unhappy would he be, says Seneca, whose fate was such. The Lord exercises his compassion towards us, namely, that he does not make known to us the crosses that await us; that if we are to suffer them, at least we may suffer them only once. But he did not exercise this compassion with Mary, who, because God wished her to be the queen of dolors, and in all things like his Son, and to see always before her eyes, and to suffer continually all the sorrows that awaited her; and those were the sufferings of the passion and death of her beloved Jesus. For St. Simeon in the temple, after having re ceived the divine child in his arms, predicted to her that this child was to be the mark for all the opposition and persecution of men; “Set for a sign which shall be contradicted;” and that therefore the sword of sorrow should pierce her soul: “And thy own soul a sword shall pierce.”

The holy Virgin herself said to St. Matilda, that at the announcement of St. Simeon all her joy was changed into sorrow. For, as it was revealed to St. Theresa, the blessed mother, although she knew before this that the life of her Son would be sacrificed for the salvation of the world, yet she then learned more particularly and distinctly the sufferings and cruel death that awaited her poor Son. She knew that he would be contradicted in all things.

When David, in the midst of all his pleasures and royal grandeur heard from Nathan the prophet, that his son should die “The child that is born to thee shall surely die” he could find no peace, but wept, fasted, and slept upon the ground. Mary received with the greatest calmness the announcement that her Son should die, and peacefully continued to submit to it; but what grief she must have continually suffered, seeing this amiable Son always near her, hearing from him words of eternal Iife and beholding his holy demeanor. Abraham suffered great affliction during the three days he passed with his beloved Isaac, after he knew that he was to lose him. Oh God ! not for three days, but for thirty three years, Mary had to endure a like sorrow. Like, do I say? A sorrow as much greater as the Son of Mary was more lovely than the son of Abraham. The blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget, that while she lived on the earth there was not an hour when this grief did not pierce her soul: As often, she continued, as I looked upon my Son, as often as I wrapped him in his swaddling clothes, as often as I saw his hands and his feet, so often was my soul overwhelmed as it were with a fresh sorrow, because I considered how he would be crucified. 

The evangelist says, that as Jesus Christ advanced in years, so also he advanced in wisdom and in grace with God and men. That is, he advanced in wisdom and in grace before men or in their estimation; and before God, according to St. Thomas, inasmuch as all his works would continually have availed to increase his merit, if from the beginning grace in its complete fulness had not been conferred on him by virtue of the hypostatic union. But if Jesus advanced in the esteem and love of others, how much more did he advance in Mary’s love! But oh God, as love increased in her, the more increased in her the grief of having to lose him by a death so cruel. And the nearer the time of the passion of her Son approached, with so much greater pain did that sword of sorrow, predicted by St. Simeon, pierce the heart of the mother; precisely this the angel revealed to St. Bridget, saying: “That sword of sorrow was every hour drawing nearer to the Virgin as the time for the passion of her Son drew nearer.”

If, then, Jesus our King and his most holy mother did not refuse, for love of us, to suffer during their whole life such cruel pains, there is no reason that we should complain if we suffer a little. Jesus crucified once appeared to sister Magdalene Orsini, a Dominican nun, when she had been long suffering a great trial, and encouraged her to remain with him on the cross with that sorrow that was afflicting her. Sister Magdalene answered him complainingly: “Oh Lord, thou didst suffer on the cross only three hours, but it is more than three years that I have been suffering this cross.” Then the Redeemer replied: “Ah! ignorant soul, what dost thou say? I, from the first moment I was conceived, suffered in heart what I afterwards suffered on the cross. ” If, then, we too suffer any affliction and complain, let us imagine that Jesus and his mother Mary are saying to us the same words.

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saints of the Day – 11 September – Saints Felix, Regula and Essuperanzio 

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Saints Felix, Regula and Essuperanzio were martyrs beheaded together in the 3rd century, near Zürich, Switzerland, for converting to Christianity. Felix and Regula were brother and sister, while Essuperanzio was their servant. They are the patron saints of Zürich.

Felix was a member of the Theban legion which was based in Egypt under Saint Maurice and stationed in Agaunum in the Valais, Switzerland. When the legion refused to sacrifice to Emperor Maximian, the order was given to execute them. The siblings fled, reaching Zürich before they were caught, tried and executed in 286. After decapitation, they miraculously stood to their feet, picked up their own heads, walked forty paces uphill, and prayed before lying down in death. They were buried on the spot where they lay down, on the hilltop which would become the site of the Grossmünster.

This was revealed in a dream to a monk called Florentius in the 8th century. It contributed greatly to the massive conversion of the inhabitants of these regions to Christianity and had such an impact on Zurich that these three saints still appear on the seal of Zurich today.

And Hilarianus the procurator, who had just received the power of life and death in the place of the proconsul Minucius Timinianus, who was deceased, said, ‘Spare the grey hairs of your father, spare the infancy of your boy, offer sacrifice for the well-being of the emperors.’ And I replied, ‘I will not do so.’ Hilarianus said, ‘Are you a Christian?’ And I replied, ‘I am a Christian.’

St Perpetua

Posted in MARIAN TITLES

Our Lady of Hildesheim and Memorials of the Saints – 11 September

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September 11: Our Lady of Hildesheim, Germany (11th Century):

The Abbot Orsini wrote: “Our Lady of Hildesheim, in the duchy of Brunswick, in Germany. An image is there venerated, which Louis the Meek always wore about him. One day, when he had forgotten it in a wood, it became so heavy that it was impossible to remove it, which made the king resolve to build a church there.”

The Reliquary of Mary

In 815 Emperor Louis the Pious had a reliquary that he and his hunting party lost in the woods and upon finding it were unable to free from a rosebush. The Emperor took this as a sign that the Cathedral and diocese were meant to be established at that location (Hildesheim) and dedicated to Mary. Thus, to this day, the reliquary embodies the historical identity and continuity of the diocese. At the ordination of enthronement of a new bishop of Hildesheim, it is presented to them as a special symbol of their solemn reception of the diocese from their predecessor or the Diocesan administrator.

Bishop Godehard with the reliquary in a statue from 1450 

Saint Mary’s Cathedral at Hildesheim, Germany, is a medieval cathedral built between the years 1010 and 1020. There is also a one-thousand year old rosebush climbing the wall of the cathedral’s apse. The bush survived the bombing of the cathedral in 1945, as the roots remained alive beneath the rubble, and according to legend, Hildesheim will continue to be prosperous as long as the rosebush continues to flourish.

The rosebush dating back to 815

St Adelphus of Remiremont
St Almirus
Bl Baldassarre Velasquez

Blessed Bonaventure of Barcelona OFM (1620-1684) Franciscan Friar, Reformer, Papal Adviser, Founder of Retreat houses.

Blessed Carlo (Charles) Spinola SJ (1564-1622) Priest, Martyr, Missionary to Japan.

St Deiniol of Bangor
St Didymus of Laodicea
St Diodorus of Laodicea
Bl Dominic Dillon
St Elijah Speleota OSBM (863-960) Basilian Monk and Hermit
St Emilian of Vercelli
St Essuperanzio of Zurich
St Felix of Zurich
Bl Francesco Giovanni Bonifacio
Bl Franciscus Takeya
Bl François Mayaudon
Bl Gaspar Koteda
St Gusmeo of Gravedona sul Lario
St Hyacinth of Rome

St John Gabriel Perboyre/Jean Gabriel Perboyre (1802-1840) Priest, Martyr, Missionary.

Bl John Bathe
St Leudinus of Toul
St Matthew of Gravedona sul Lario
St Paphnutius of Thebes
St Patiens of Lyon
Bl Peter Taaffe
Bl Petrus Kawano
St Protus of Rome
St Regula of Zurich
Bl Richard Overton
St Sperandea
St Theodora the Penitent
Bl Thomas Bathe
—
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
• Blessed José María Segura Panadés
• Blessed José Piquer Arnáu
• Blessed Josep Pla Arasa
• Blessed Lorenzo Villanueva Larrayoz

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 11 September – Mother of Love, of Sorrow and of Mercy

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Our Morning Offering – 4 September – “Month of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mother of Love, of Sorrow and of Mercy
By St Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373)

O Blessed Virgin Mary,
Immaculate Mother of God,
who endured a martyrdom of love and grief,
beholding the sufferings and sorrows of Jesus!
Thou didst co-operate in the benefit of my redemption
by thy innumerable afflictions
and by offering to the Eternal Father,
His only-begotten Son, as a holocaust
and victim of propitiation for my sins.
I thank thee for the unspeakable love
which led thee to deprive thyself
of the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus,
true God and true Man, to save me, a sinner.
Oh! make use of the unfailing intercession
of thy sorrows with the Father and the Son,
that I may steadfastly amend my life
and never again crucify
my loving Redeemer by my sins
and that, persevering till death in His grace,
I may obtain eternal life
through the merits of His Cross and Passion.
Amen
Mother of love, of sorrow and of mercy, pray for us!

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 11 September – “When the Lord saw her… he said to her: ‘Do not weep’”

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One Minute Reflection – 11 September – “Month of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – Readings: Ps 85:1-3, Ps 85:4, Gal 5:25-26; 6:1-10, Luke 7:11-16

And as He drew near the gate of the town, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a large gathering from the town was with her. And the Lord, seeing her, had compassion on her, and said to her, Do not weep.

Luke 7:11-16

REFLECTION – Christ, hope of the believer, does not call those who leave this world ‘dead’ but ‘sleeping’ when he says: “Our friend Lazarus is asleep”. The apostle Paul, likewise, does not want us to be grieved “about those who have fallen asleep”. By this, if our faith holds that “everyone who believes” in Christ, according to his word in the Gospel, “will never die”, we know that he himself is not dead and we too will not die. Because “the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven and the dead will rise”. May hope in the resurrection encourage us, then, since we shall see then all those we have lost. It matters that we should firmly believe in him, that is to say that we obey his precepts, since he applies his mighty power to raising the dead with more ease than we rouse those who are asleep.

This is what we say; and yet, I don't know through what feeling, we take refuge in tears and a feeling of regret compromises our faith. Alas! How pitiable man's condition is, and without Christ how empty our life is! But you, O Death, who are cruel enough to break the union between spouses and separate those whom friendship unites, from henceforth your power has been shattered. From now on your pitiless yoke has been crushed by him who threatened you through the words of the prophet Hosea: “O death, I will be your death”. That is why we hurl our challenge together with the apostle Paul: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”. He who vanquished you has redeemed us; he has delivered his beloved soul into the hands of sinners that he might make them his beloved friends.

It would take too long to call to mind everything in Holy Scripture that should bring us all consolation. It is enough to hope in the resurrection and raise our eyes to the glory of our Redeemer since it is in him that we are already raised, as our faith gives us to believe, according to the apostle Paul's words: “If we have died with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him”.

Saint Braulion of Saragossa

PRAYER – Remember Lord, Your solemn Covenant, renewed and consecrated by the Blood of the Lamb, so that Your people may obtain forgiveness for their sins and continued growth by grace. May the Blessed Virgin, the Sorrowful Mother of Christ, our Treasure, intercede for our salvation. We make our prayer through Jesus Christ Your Son, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God with You Father, now and forever, amen.

Posted in CATHOLIC Quotes, QUOTES on THE WORLD

Quote/s of the Day – 11 September – The World

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For if anyone thinks himself to be something, whereas he is nothing, he deceives himself.

Gal 5:25-26; 6:1-10

God alone can satisfy a soul, calm its anxieties, its suspicions, its fears, and every trouble that stirs within our hearts. Whenever I tried to fill up the aching void in my heart, said St Augustine, I found that nothing equalled the happiness I felt, in trying to do my duty in serving God.

Pere Croiset S.J

The world, it is that raging sea, on which are tossed to and fro vessels containing a crowd of sinners, whose cares and projects depend on the fortunes or misfortunes of life, whose aim seems to be to build palaces on sand, whose hopes are fixed on the fleeting enjoyments of this life, who seek for joys and pleasures which are a thousand times more fatiguing than they are worth.

Massillon

Ah! who can walk with a firm unshaken step in the midst of the passions of the world, amidst its seductive charms? Let us then think and meditate on the words of Job, ‘The life of man on earth is a continual warfare,’.

St Ambrose

The world is a monstrous assemblage of party spirits who revile each other, and regard each other with contempt, envy, and jealousy, void of honour and fair dealing.

Massillon

The world is more dangerous when it flatters us, than when it ill-treats us, we should be more careful of trusting it, when it invites us to love it, than when it admonishes us and compels us to despise it. They who follow the maxims of the world, experience nothing but misery, and the flattering expectation of happiness is delusive and vain. Would you wish not to be an enemy of God? Do not be a friend of the world.

St Augustine

Posted in SEPTEMBER-The SEVEN SORROWS of MARY and The HOLY CROSS

Thought for the Day – 11 September – The Fourteen Rules Continued

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Letter to the Friends of the Cross by St Louis de Montfort

[Suffer all sorts of crosses, without exception and without choice]


10) My dear Friends of the Cross, make the resolution to suffer any kind of cross without excluding or choosing any: any poverty, injustice, loss, illness, humiliation, contradiction, slander, spiritual dryness, desolation, interior and exterior trials, saying always, “My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready.” Be prepared, then, to be forsaken by men and angels, and seemingly by God himself; to be persecuted, envied, betrayed, slandered, discredited and abandoned by everyone; to suffer hunger, thirst, poverty, nakedness, exile, imprisonment, the gallows, and all kinds of torture, even though you have done nothing to deserve it.

Finally, imagine that you have been deprived of your possessions and your good name, and turned out of your home, like Job and St. Elizabeth of Hungary; that you are thrown into the mire, like St. Elizabeth, or dragged onto the dung heap, like Job, all covered with ulcers, without a bandage for your sores or a piece of bread to eat – something people would not refuse to a horse or a dog. Imagine that, in addition to all these dreadful misfortunes, God leaves you a prey to every assault of the devil, without imparting to your soul the least feeling of consolation. You should firmly believe that this is the highest point of heavenly glory and of genuine happiness for the true and perfect Friend of the Cross.

[Four considerations for suffering well]


11) To help you to suffer in the right spirit, acquire the good habit of reflecting on these four points:

[a. The eye of God]

Firstly, the eye of God, who, like a great king from the height of a tower, observes with satisfaction his soldier in the midst of battle, and praises his courage. What is it that attracts God’s attention on earth? Is it kings and emperors on their thrones? He often regards them only with contempt. Is it great victories of armies, precious stones, or whatever is great in the eyes of men? No, “what is thought highly of by men is loathsome in the sight of God.” What, then, does he look upon with pleasure and satisfaction, and about which he inquires of the angels and even the devils? It is the one who is struggling with the world, the devil, and himself for the love of God, the one who carries his cross cheerfully. As the Lord said to Satan, “Did you not see on earth a great wonder, at which all heaven is filled with admiration? Have you seen my servant Job, who is suffering for my sake?”

[b. The hand of God]

Secondly, consider the hand of God. All natural evils which befall us, from the smallest to the greatest, come from the hand of God. The same hand that killed an army of a hundred thousand men on the spot also causes a leaf to fall from the tree and a hair from your head; the hand which pressed so heavily on Job gently touches you with a light tribulation. It is the same hand which makes both day and night, sunshine and darkness, good and evil. He has permitted the sinful actions which hurt you; he is not the cause of their malice, but he permits the actions. If anyone, then, treats you as Shimei treated King David, heaping you with insults and throwing stones at you, say to yourself, “We must not take revenge. Let him carry on, for the Lord has commanded him to act in this way. I know I deserve every kind of insult, and that it is only right that God should punish me. My hands, keep yourselves from violence; refrain, my tongue, from speaking; do not strike, do not say a word. It is true this man attacks me, that woman reviles me, but they are God’s representatives, who have come on behalf of his mercy to punish me as his love alone knows how. Let us not offend his justice by usurping his rights to vengeance. Let us not slight his mercy by resisting the loving strokes of his lash, lest he should deliver me, instead, to the absolute justice of eternity.”

On the one hand, God in his infinite power and wisdom bears you up, while with the other he afflicts you. With one hand he deals out death, while with the other he dispenses life. He humbles you to the dust and raises you up, and with both arms he reaches from one end of your life to the other with kindness and power; with kindness, by not allowing you to be tempted and afflicted beyond your strength; with power, by supporting you with his grace in proportion to the violence and duration of the temptation or affliction; with power again, by coming himself, as he tells us through his holy Church, “to support you on the edge of the precipice, to guide you on the uncertain road, to shade you in the scorching heat, to protect you in the drenching rain and biting cold, to carry you in your weariness, to aid you in your difficulties, to steady you on slippery paths, to be your refuge in the midst of storms” (Prayer for a Journey).

[c. The wounds and sufferings of Christ crucified]

Thirdly, reflect on the wounds and sufferings of Christ crucified. He himself has told us, “All you who pass by the way” of thorns and the cross, “look and see.” Look with the eyes of your body, and see through the eyes of your contemplation, whether your poverty, destitution, disgrace, sorrow, desolation are like mine; look upon me who am innocent, and lament, you who are guilty! The Holy Spirit tells us, through the Apostles, to contemplate the crucified Christ. He bids us arm ourselves with this thought, for it is the most powerful and formidable weapon against our enemies. When you are assailed by poverty, disrepute, sorrow, temptation, and other crosses, arm yourselves with the shield, breastplate, helmet and two-edged sword, which is the remembrance of Christ crucified. It is there you will find the solution of every problem and the means to conquer all your enemies.

[d. Heaven above; hell below]

Fourthly, look upwards and see the beautiful crown that awaits you in heaven if you carry your cross well. It was this reward which sustained the patriarchs and prophets in their faith and persecutions; which inspired the apostles and martyrs in their labours and torments. The patriarchs could say with Moses, “We would rather be afflicted with the people of God, and be happy with him forever, than enjoy for a time the pleasures of sin.” And the prophets could say with David, “We suffer persecution for the reward.” The apostles and martyrs could say with St. Paul, “We are as men sentenced to death, put on show in front of the whole universe, angels as well as men, by our suffering, and as the offal of the world, the scum of the earth, for the sake of a weight of eternal glory, which this small and temporary suffering will produce in us.” Let us look upwards and see the angels, who exclaim, “Be careful not to forfeit the crown which is marked out for the cross you have received, if you bear it well. If you do not bear it well, another will carry it in the right spirit and will take your crown with it. Fight bravely and suffer patiently, we are told by all the saints, and you will receive an eternal kingdom.” Finally, listen to our Lord himself, who says to you, “I will give my reward only to the one who suffers and is victorious through his patience.”

Now let us look downward to the place we have deserved and which awaits us in hell in the company of the bad thief and all who have not repented, if we suffer as they did, with feelings of resentment, ill-will and revengefulness. Let us say with St. Augustine, “Lord, treat me as you will in this world for my sins, so long as you pardon them in eternity.”

[Never complain against creatures]

12) Never willingly complain against any person or thing that God may use to afflict you. There are three kinds of complaints we may make in times of distress. The first is natural and spontaneous, as when the body groans and complains, weeps and laments. There is no fault in this, provided, as I have said, that the heart is resigned to the will of God. The second kind of complaint is that of the mind, as when we make known our ills to someone who can give us some relief, such as a doctor or a superior. There may be some imperfection in this if we are too eager to tell our troubles, but there is no sin in it. The third kind is sinful: that is when we criticise our neighbour either to get rid of an evil which afflicts us or to take revenge on him; or when we wilfully complain of what we suffer with impatience and murmuring.

[Accept the cross only with gratitude]

13) Whenever you receive any cross, always welcome it with humility and gratitude. And when God favours you with a cross of some importance, show your gratitude in a special way, and get others to thank him for you. Follow the example of the poor woman who lost all that she had in an unjust law- suit and immediately offered her few remaining coins to have a Mass said in thanksgiving for her good fortune.

[Take up some voluntary crosses]

14) If you want to make yourself worthy of the best kind of crosses, that is, those which come to you without your choosing, then under the guidance of a prudent director, take up some of your own accord. For example, suppose you have a piece of furniture you are fond of, but which is of no use to you. You could give it away to someone who needs it, saying to yourself, “Why should I have things I don’t need when Jesus is so poor?’ Or if you have a distaste for a certain kind of food, an aversion for the practice of some particular virtue, or a dislike for some offensive odour, you could take the food, practice the virtue, accept the odour, and thus conquer yourself. Or again, your fondness for a certain person or thing may be immoderate. Why not see less of that person, or keep away from those things that attract you? If you have a natural inclination never to miss what is going on, to be always doing things, to be in the limelight, to frequent popular places, then guard your eyes, watch your tongue, and stay where you are. Have you a natural aversion for certain persons or things? Then overcome it by not avoiding them.

If you are truly Friends of the Cross, then, without your knowing it, love, which is ever ingenious, will discover thousands of little crosses to enrich you. And you will not need to have any fear of vainglory, which so often spoils the patience which people exhibit under spectacular crosses. And because you have been faithful in little things, the Lord will place you in charge of greater, according to his promise. That is to say, in charge of the greater graces he will bestow on you, of the greater crosses he will send you, of the greater glory he will prepare for you….

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saints of the Day – 10 September – Sts Victor and Sosthenes of Chalcedon

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Saints Victor and Sosthenes of Chalcedon were soldiers and the executioners assigned to torture Saint Euphemia. However her faith and prayers converted them to Christianity. The Proconsul Priscus ordered Victor and Sosthenes to throw the saint into a red-hot furnace. In the flames, however, they saw angels who prevented them from touching the saint. When they refused to carry out the order, they were placed in shackles. Other soldiers, who threw Saint Euphēmia into the fire, were burnt by the flames, but inside the furnace the martyr remained unharmed.

St Victor of Chalcedon

They were subsequently martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian. The Proconsul tried to make them bow down to the idols, but they replied that they had come to know the true God and would not offer homage to demons. As they were led to the wild beasts, they begged the Lord to forgive the sins they had committed as pagans. Then a divine voice came from Heaven, calling them to their rest. The animals did not touch their bodies. Later, the two martyrs were buried secretly by some Christians.

Then I awoke, and perceived that I was not to fight with beasts, but against the devil. Still I knew that the victory was awaiting me.

St Perpetua

Posted in MARIAN TITLES

Beata Vergine Maria della Vita / Our Lady of Life (1289) and Memorials of the Saints – 10 September

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Beata Vergine Maria della Vita / Our Lady of Life (1289) 10 September:
Patronage – hospitals in the Diocese of Bologna, Italy.

The cult of the Madonna della Vita is connected with the hospital of the same name founded in 1289 by the Compagnia dei Battuti, present in Bologna since 1261. In the Sanctuary dedicated to her, between 1370 and 1380, Simone dei Crocefissi frescoed the image of the Blessed Virgin, which remained covered during the renovations in the years 1454-1502 and accidentally found among the exultation of the Bolognese people on 10 September 1614. It depicts Mary Mother and Queen as she rests her face to the cheek of Jesus, according to the iconography of the Mother of Tenderness.
The close link between the original hospital activity and the devotion of the brothers, was also expressed by the motto inscribed under the double Cross: “Vitam dat nobis crux tua, Christe Jesu” “Your Cross gives us life, Christ Jesus.”

St Agapius of Novara
St Alexius Sanbashi Saburo

St Ambrose Edward Barlow OSB (1585-1641) Priest, Martyr.

St Autbert of Avranches
St Barypsabas
St Candida the Younger
St Clement of Sardis
St Finnian of Moville
St Frithestan
Bl Jacques Gagnot

St Nicholas of Tolentino OSA (1245-1305) known as the Patron of Holy Souls, Priest, Augustinian Friar Monk, Confessor, Mystic.

Blessed Oglerio O.Cist (c 1136-1214) Cistercian Monk, Abbot, Mediator and peace-maker, Reformer, Penitent, Writer.

St Peter Martinez
St Pulcheria (399-453) Empress, Widow
St Salvius of Albi
St Sosthenes of Chalcedon
St Theodard of Maastricht
St Victor of Chalcedon
—
Martyrs of Bithynia – 3 sister saints: Three young Christian sisters martyred in the persecutions of emperor Maximian and governor Fronto: Menodora, Metrodora, Nymphodora. They were martyred in 306 in Bithynia, Asia Minor (in modern Turkey).

Martyrs of Japan – 205 beati: A unified feast to memorialise 205 missionaries and native Japanese known to have been murdered for their faith between 1617 and 1637.

Martyrs of Sigum – 8 saints: A group of Nicomedian martyrs, condemned for their faith to be worked to death in the marble quarries of Sigum. There were priests, bishops and laity in the group but only a few names have come down to us: Dativus, Felix, Jader, Litteus, Lucius, Nemesian, Polyanus, Victor. They were worked to death c 257 in Sigum.

Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
• Blessed Félix España Ortiz
• Blessed Leoncio Arce Urrutia
• Blessed Tomàs Cubells Miguel

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 10 September – I Rise – An Old Morning Prayer

Posted on by AnaStpaul

I Rise – An Old Morning Prayer – Excerpt
From The Blossoms of the Cross — 1894
The Sisters of St Joseph

I rise In God’s strength,
In God’s power,
In the Agony of Christ,
In the Cross of Christ,
In Christ’s Precious Blood,
These will sustain me against my enemies,
visible and invisible.
I rise in the blessing of Christ
which my dearest Jesus left to the whole world.
Protect me, All-Holy Trinity,
God the Father, Who created me,
God, the Son, Who redeemed me in His Precious Blood,
God, the Holy Ghost, Who sanctified me in Holy Baptism.
God, the Father, I give myself to Thee!
God, the Son, I commend myself to Thee!
God, the Holy Ghost, teach me!
Mary, Mother of God, assist me!
All you Saints of God, pray for me!
All you Holy Angels, protect me!
The Cross of Christ preserve me!
Amen

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 10 September – “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God”

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 10 September – “Month of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – Readings: Ps 91:13-14, Ps 91:2, 1 Cor. 4:9-14, Luke 12:32-34

For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

Luke 12:32-34

REFLECTION – “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. The beginning of the New Testament is altogether joyful and full of fresh grace. It even nudges the unbeliever and sluggish to pay heed and, more to the point, to act by promising happiness to the unfortunate and the Kingdom of heaven to those in exile, those in any kind of distress. The beginning of the new Law is pleasant to hear and starts off under happy auspices since the Legislator follows on from this beginning by giving so many assurances of beatitude. In this way those who have been attracted by them will go from one virtue to the next, climbing the eight steps that this Gospel has set up and placed within our hearts. For it is clear that what it is all about is the ascent of the heart and of the progress of merit through eight steps of virtue, leading men gradually from the lowest to the highest levels of evangelical perfection. In this way they will at last enter and see the God of gods in Zion, in his Temple, of which the prophet has said: “It had a stairway of eight steps,”.

The first virtue of the beginner is to renounce the world, through which we become poor in spirit; the second is gentleness, by which we submit ourselves and become accustomed to obedience; then the grief with which we lament our sins or with weeping beg for the virtues. These we certainly enjoy wherever we have the greatest hunger and thirst for justice, as much for ourselves as for others, and begin to be stirred by zeal against sinners. Yet, lest immoderate fervour turn into fault, the mercy by which it is tempered follows after. Through putting this into practice and training ourselves, when we have learnt how to be just and how to be merciful, then we may, perhaps, be capable of entering into contemplation and giving ourselves to the purification of our hearts so as to see God.

Blessed Guerric of Igny

PRAYER – Lord God, in Your wisdom, You created us, in love. By Your providence, You rule us, in love. Penetrate our inmost being with the holy light of Your Son. Penetrate our hearts with the overwhelming love for Your love, so that we may weep in consolation. May the Light that is Jesus Christ our Lord, enlighten our hearts that we may see clearly the way we should tread. May the prayers of Your holy Angels, Martyrs, Saints and our Sorrowful Martyr Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, be our guiding inspiration. Through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever amen.

Posted in CATHOLIC Quotes

Quote/s of the Day – 10 September – Royal children

Posted on by AnaStpaul

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, Do not be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom.

Luke 12:32-34

Happy are the Christians who feel the honour and acknowledge the grace which God has bestowed upon them when He has received them as His servants! Oh! what a good Master we have! how magnificent are His promises! how faithful He is to carry them out! how liberal are His rewards! How happy is he who serves Him! and thrice happy is the choice he has made! Oh! If all men knew what it was to be a servant of God, they would have no more ardent wish or aspire to a higher honour than to be reckoned among the number of His faithful servants.

Henri Marie Boudon

Wherever we go there is mercy, the peaceful, active, endless mercy of our Heavenly Father. If we work by day, we work in mercy’s light, and we sleep at night in the lap of our Father’s mercy. The courts of Heaven gleam with its outpoured prolific beauty. Earth is covered with it, as the waters cover the bed of the stormy sea. Purgatory is, as it were, its own separate creation, and is lighted by its gentle moonlight, gleaming there soft and silvery, through night and day.

Father Faber

God does not act as men do. He does not grant half a pardon.

La Pere De La Colombiere

Had you tasted the sweet delight which God has poured into our souls, you would indeed despise the good things this world offers.

Father Spinola

Full confidence in the goodness of Almighty God is one of the sure marks of predestination.

Pere Vincent Houdry (17th century)