Posted in SAINT of the DAY

St Bartholomew the Apostle and Martyr and all the Saints for 24 August

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St Bartholomew the Apostle and Martyr

St Abban
St Abyce
St Agofridus of Lacroix
Bl Antonio de Blanes

St Audoin/Ouen of Rouen (c605-684) Bishop, Confessor, Evangeliser and Missionary, French Official and Adviser, Writer, Peace-makers and Diplomat. Audoin was both Lord Chancellor of France and Officer of the Palace or Administrator.

St Emilie de Vialar (1797–1856) Religious Sister and Founder of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition, Apostle of Charity .Her sanctity was officially recognised by the Church when she was Canonised on 24 June 1951 by Pope Pius XII.

St Eutychius of Troas
St George Limniotes
St Irchard

St Jeanne-Antide Thouret (1765-1826) French Religious and the Founder of the Thouret Sisters – renamed the Sisters of Divine Charity., Apostle of Charity and the Poor and helpless, Teacher. Thouret’s life was one of service to children and the ill across France in schools and hospitals – some of which her order established. This active apostolate did not cease when the French Revolution forced her into exile. She continued her work in both Switzerland and the Kingdom of Prussia. St Jeanne-Antide was Canonised on 14 January 1934 by Pope Pius XI.

St Patrick the Elder
St Ptolemy of Nepi
St Romanus of Nepi
St Sandratus
St Taziano of Claudiopolis

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 24 August – St George Limniotes

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St George Limniotes, a martyr and hermit. Born in 635, he pursued the life of a hermit on Mount Olympus, near Constantinople. Like all hermits, he prayed, fasted, and practiced contemplation, his sanctity gaining him the love of the locals, who sought his counsel and prayers. During his life the heresy of Iconoclasm raged, and he fiercely defended icons and demolished the arguments of the Iconoclasts. For this, in the year 730, at age ninety-five, he was martyred. His murderers mutilated his face, cutting off his nose before they burnt him to death.

Manifestly he was assuredly saved who had been glorified in such a spectacle.

Tertullian (Passion of Perpetua and Felicity)

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 24 August –Exsultet Orbis! St Bartholomew

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Our Morning Offering – 24 August – St Bartholomew the Apostle and Martyr

Exsultet Orbis!
Let the World Rejoice!
Unknown Author

Now let the earth with joy resound,
And Heaven the chant re-echo round;
Nor Heaven nor earth too high can raise
The great Apostles’ glorious praise.

O ye who, throned in glory dread,
Shall judge the living and the dead,
Lights of the world forever more!
To you the suppliant prayer we pour.

Ye close the Sacred Gates on high.
At your command apart they fly.
O loose for us the guilty chain
We strive to break and strive in vain.

Sickness and health your voice obey,
At your command they go or stay.
From sin’s disease our souls restore;
In good confirm us more and more.

So when the world is at its end.
And Christ to Judgment shall descend,
May we be called, those joys to see
Prepared from all eternity.

Praise to the Father, with the Son,
And Holy Spirit, Three in One;
As ever was in ages past
And so shall be while ages last.
Amen

(Roman Breviary for the Common of Apostles)
An Office Hymn that was traditionally prescribed for Vespers and Lauds on the Feasts of Apostles and Evangelists outside Easter time. The Hymn is found as early as the tenth century in a hymnal of Moissac Abbey.

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 24 August – Apostles, foundations of the holy city

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One Minute Reflection – 24 August – St Bartholomew the Apostle and Martyr – Readings: Ps 138:17, Ps 138:1-2, 1 Cor. 12:27-31, Luke 6:12-19

At that time, Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when day broke, He summoned His disciples; and from these He chose twelve – whom He also named Apostles- Simon, whom He named Peter, and his brother Andrew; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alpheus, and Simon called the Zealot; Jude the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, who turned traitor.

Luke 6:12-19

REFLECTION – “Her foundations are upon the holy hills; the Lord loves the gates of Zion.” “You are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone”. Christ, the cornerstone, and the apostles and mighty prophets, the hills that bear the fabric of the city, constitute a sort of living structure. This living building now makes its voice resound in your hearts. God himself, a master builder, is working in you through my tongue so that you may be built up into its structure, like so many squared stones.

Note the shape of a stone that has been perfectly squared off: Christians should have similar qualities. In all their trials they never fall; though pushed and, after a fashion, knocked over, they do not fall; for whatever way a square stone is turned, it still stands erect. Be similar to those squared stones, and be thus prepared for every shock; whatever the force which may push you, it cannot make you lose balance.

You will rise to take your place in this building by a sincere Christian life, by faith, hope and love. The holy city is constructed of its own citizens; they are themselves the blocks that form this city, for these stones are living: "You also," says Scripture, "like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house," Why are the apostles and prophets the foundations? Because their authority is the support of our weakness. Through them we enter the kingdom of God: they proclaim it to us; and while we enter by their means, we enter also through Christ, who is himself its gate.

Saint Augustine

PRAYER – Almighty, eternal God, Who bestowed on us the devout and holy joy of this day to celebrate the Feast of Thy blessed Apostle Bartholomew, grant unto Thy Church, we beseech Thee, both to love what he believed and to preach what he taught. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen

Posted in CATHOLIC Quotes

Quote/s of the Day – 24 August – ‘The most extraordinary miracle of history?!

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Quote/s of the Day – 24 August – St Bartholomew the Apostle and Martyr

“Here is a true child
of Israel.
There is no guile
in him.”

John 1:47

Nathanael answered him,
“Rabbi, you are
the Son of God!
You are the
King of Israel!”

John 1:49

He answered and says unto Him, Rabbi, You are the Son of God, You are the King of Israel: Do you see how his soul is filled at once with exceeding joy, and embraces Jesus with words? You are, says he, that expected, that sought-for One. Do you see how he is amazed, how he marvels? How he leaps and dances with delight? So ought we also to rejoice, who have been thought worthy to know the Son of God; to rejoice, not in thought alone, but to show it also by our actions. And what must they do who rejoice? Obey Him who has been made known to them; and they who obey, must do whatever He wills.

St John Chrysostom

“You are the light of the world,
you are the salt of the earth.”

Matthew 5:14

“Like peaceful conquerors,
without any human weapons
but backed by by the power of God,
they divided the world amongst themselves,
so that they might win it for Christ!
The Roman Empire was small to them.
They travelled, moreover,
to the distant shores of Ethiopia and India,
where the Eagle of Rome had never found its way!
Surely, this is the most extraordinary Miracle of history?!

The Holy Spirit accomplished that,
which human armies had never been able to do,
save in part, or for a limited period of time.
In this achievement,
He used the weakest possible human means,
namely, twelve poor fishermen!
The earthly Empire of Rome, passed away
but the Spiritual domain of Christ still remains,
with its centre at Rome,
as the only true Light, the only unfailing hope and the only pledge of salvation for individuals and nations.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

O Fathers of Our Ancient Faith

O Fathers of our ancient faith,
With all the heav’n, we sing your fame
Whose sound went forth in all the earth
To tell of Christ and bless His Name.

You took the Gospel to the poor,
The Word of God alight in you,
Which in our day is told again,
That timeless Word, forever new.

You told of God, Who died for us
And out of death triumphant rose,
Who gave the Truth which made us free
and changeless through the ages goes.

Praise Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Whose gift is faith that never dies,
A light in darkness now, until
The Day-Star in our hearts arise.

O Fathers of Our Ancient Faith is written by the Benedictine Nuns of Stanbrook Abbey. In the Divine Office it is sung at Morning Prayer in the Common of Apostles. It is set to the anonymous tune associated with the 7th century Latin hymn, Creator Alme Siderum.

Posted in AUGUST - The Immaculate Heart of Mary

Thought for the Day – 24 August – Some Essential Divine Perfections Mirrored in the Admirable Heart of Mary

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St John Eudes – The Admirable Heart of Mary

Some Essential Divine Perfections Mirrored in the Admirable Heart of Mary

In the first place, His divine Love most perfectly draws its own image in His Mother’s amiable Heart. Next to the infinite love burning in the immense furnace of the adorable Heart of Jesus, there never was and never shall be a love so strong, exalted, extensive, ardent and pure, as the love which always possessed, filled and inflamed the virginal Heart of His Mother. This all compassing love in turn stamps upon her a perfect image of all the other divine attributes.

Her admirable Heart is, first of all, a living image of divine Unity. God is alone and unique in the infinite eminence of all His grandeurs. He is the only mighty, the only good, the only wise,’ merciful, just, immortal and blessed Being, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.’ Likewise there is in the whole universe only one Heart of the one Mother of God, unique in dignity, excellence and perfections. It surpasses in power, wisdom, goodness, mercy, piety, love, charity and every other virtue and eminent quality the most perfect heart of any angel or saint. The unique Heart of Our Lady never knew any love other than the purest love of God. It never suffered from the multiplicity of superfluous thoughts, aimless desires and vain affections which usually fill and divide the miserable hearts of the children of Adam. Her heart held one thought, one purpose, one will, one intention, one single affection and one desire only: to please God and to fulfil in all things and everywhere His adorable will.

The admirable Heart of our great Queen bears a true resemblance to divine Simplicity. Duplicity, disguise, deceit, falsehood, curiosity, singularity, worldly wisdom, mundane prudence, the self-love which prompts so many faulty thoughts and reflections concerning ourselves and our actions, these and all other things contrary to holy simplicity never had the least part in the Heart of the heavenly Dove. She was always filled, possessed and animated by the spirit of truth, sincerity, candor and simplicity, that her Son bade us follow when He said: “Be ye . . . as simple as doves.”


The incomparable Heart of the Mother of God enjoys marvellous participation in and resemblance to the Infinity and Incomprehensibility of God Himself, because the almost infinite dignity of the Mother of God ennobles and raises to the highest degree even the smallest details concerning her. Mary’s admirable Heart also received an abundant communication of the immensity of God, a singular faculty to express His immeasurability. Let us listen to St. Bonaventure. “O Mary,” says the Seraphic Doctor, “I behold in thee an immense grandeur and capacity. Tu Maria immensissima. | see in thee three kinds of immensity. The first is the immensity of thy blessed womb, which enclosed Him who is immense and infinite, whom the Heavens and the entire universe cannot contain. The second is the immensity of thy mind and heart, for thy virginal Heart is more vastly immense than thy sacred womb. The third is the immensity of thy grace and charity, because thy Heart being immense, replete with grace and charity, the charity and grace that fill it must necessarily be immense.”

Yes, Mother of Fair Love, thy charity knows no bounds or measure; it not only reaches all ages, all places and everything that God has made, but it is so vast and great that it would encompass a countless number of worlds!

The most constant Heart of the Queen of Angels is likewise an excellent representation of divine Stability and Immutability. It remained always steadfast, firm, unalterable and resolute in its perfect love of God and all the holy dispositions which render a heart entirely pleasing to God. The holy Heart of our great Princess is a beautiful representation of the eternity of God, not only because her affections were always entirely free from temporal attachments and securely fixed upon eternal things, but also because Mary was filled with the spirit of prophecy, which is a participation in the Eternity that renders all things present in the sight of the divine Majesty of God.

The blessed Heart of the Queen of Heaven displays a perfect imitation of the Plenitude and Self-sufficiency of God, who bears the name of Saddai, meaning precisely self-sufficient. Almighty God has need of nothing, being filled with every good. The Son of God, speaking to His Father, exclaims: “Thou art my God, for thou hast no need of my goods.” In like manner, the virginal Heart of the Mother of God, loving God alone, being always free and empty of every alien affection, was constantly filled with God much more perfectly than the Ephesians, to whom St. Paul wrote that he bowed his knees to the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ to obtain for them the grace that they might “be filled unto all the fulness of God.”

The blessed Heart of Our Lady never desired, sought or found any delight or satisfaction outside of God. Her Heart always enjoyed imperturbable rest and peace because being filled to capacity with the plenitude of God, it remained always fully satisfied and incomparably happier and content than the heart of a man possessing a million possible worlds.

Consider well, dear reader, how perfectly the Admirable Heart of your Queen fulfils the mandate to “seek but one thing” and to make God her portion and her heritage for ever. To be happy, give and offer your heart constantly, exclaiming with Mary, St. Thomas and St. Francis: “My God and my All.”

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 23 August – Saints Altigianus and Hilarinus

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Saints Altigianus and Hilarinus, martyrs and monks of the French Burgundian monastery of Saint-Seine founded two centuries earlier by Saint Sequanus. The Moors who had invaded Spain in the early eighth century spread their conquest for a time into parts of France, and penetrated the country all the way to the Burgundian city of Autun. Their advance was not halted until 732, when the Frankish ruler Charles Martel defeated them between Poitiers and Tours. It was about this time that Altigianus and Hilarinus were slain with the sword by the Moors at or close to the Saint-Seine monastery, not far from Autun.

He was bathed with such a quantity of blood, that the people shouted out to him as he was returning, the testimony of his second baptism, “Saved and washed, saved and washed.”

Tertullian (Passion of Perpetua and Felicity)

Posted in MARIAN TITLES

Vigil of St Bartholomew, Notre-Dame de la Victoire de Valois / Our Lady of Victory of Valois, France (1328) and Memorials of the Saints – 23 August

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Vigil of St Bartholomew

St Philip Benizi OSM (1233-1285) Confessor, Co-Founder (one of the Seven Holy Founders of the Order of Servants of Mary) OSM, Servite Priest Genera\Superior, Reformer, Preacher, Medical Doctor. St Philip was Beatified on 8 October 1645 by Pope Innocent X and Canonised on 12 April 1671 by Pope Clement X – he was first Servite to be Canonised.

Notre-Dame de la Victoire de Valois / Our Lady of Victory of Valois, France (1328) – 23 August:

The Feast of Our Lady of Victory of Valois concerns Our Lady’s intercession in the Battle of Cassel, which was fought between the French, under Philip of Valois and the Flemish near Mount Cassel on 23 August in the year 1328. Philip of Valois, or King Philip VI, “Philip the Fortunate,” was the King of France beginning that year until his death in 1350.

Philip led his army against the band of Flemish rebels under Nicolas Zannekin, who were seeking independence from French rule. Having refused to pay what they considered to be excessive taxes to the Count of Flanders, they eventually imprisoned the King’s representative and captured several French towns. The Pope asked Philip to do what he could with the rebels but after having restored the Flemish aristocracy, the Flemish rebels had turned even on them, killing many of them.

Philip was certain of victory, taking 2,500 knights and 12,000 infantry and archers with him into battle. Not knowing where he would attack, the Flemish rebels would have to divide their forces to protect their territory. Even so, the Flemish under Zannekin brought 15,000 soldiers into the field at Cassel.

For three days the two armies did nothing but taunt each other, although the Flemish commenced a direct attack on the French on the third day. Apparently, the French were caught off-guard, for many of them had taken off their armour because of the extreme heat that day. Fleeing in panic, the knights left the field, while much of the French nobility, who stood their ground were wounded. The Duke of Lorraine was slain and the situation appeared desperate.

It is recorded that Philip of Valois, being surrounded by Flemish soldiers as the flower of his nobility fell, had recourse to the Blessed Virgin, who immediately delivered him from that danger. The Dauphin of Vienne, Guigues VIII de la Tour-du-Pin, had been given the command of Philip’s 7th Corps. He led a counter attack which shattered the Flemish assault, while the knights regrouped and attacked the Flemish from the rear. The Flemish were defeated and victory assured by Our Lady of Victory of Valois.

Our of gratitude for this favour, when he made his entry into Paris, Philip went straight to Notre Dame Cathedral. Going into the Church on horseback, he proceeded the whole length of the nave to the Crucifix and there, laid down his arms. The picture of this Monarch on horseback, was, for a long time, to be seen in that Church, to which Philip gave a revenue of 100 livres, to be levied on his domain of Gatinais.

St Abbondius of Rome
St Altigianus
St Apollinaris of Rheims
St Archelaus of Ostia
St Asterius of Aegea
St Claudius of Aegea
St Domnina of Aegea
St Eleazar of Lyons
St Eonagh
St Flavian of Autun
Bl Franciszek Dachtera
Bl Giacomo Bianconi of Mevania
St Hilarinus
St Ireneus of Rome
Bl Jean Bourdon
St Lupo of Novi
St Luppus
St Maximus of Ostia
St Minervius of Lyons
St Neon of Aegea
St Quiriacus of Ostia
St Theonilla of Aegea
St Timothy of Rheims

St Tydfil (Died c 480) Martyr of Wales, Confessor, Princess, Apostle of Mercy to the sick and the needy.

St Victor of Vita
St Zaccheus of Jerusalem

Martyrs of Agea – 4 Saints: A group of Christian brothers, Asterius, Claudius and Neon, denounced by their step-mother who were then tortured and Martyred in the persecutions of Pro-consul Lysias. They were crucified in 285 outside the walls of Aegea, Cilicia (in Asia Minor) and their bodies left for scavengers.

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 23 August – Mary, I Beg You by St Anselm

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Our Morning Offering – 23 August – – “The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary”

Mary, I Beg You
By St Anselm (1033-1109)
Magnificent Doctor
Marian Doctor

Mary, I beg you,
by that grace through which
the Lord is with you
and you will to be with Him,
let your mercy be with me.
Let love for you always be with me,
and the care for me be always with you.
Let the cry of my need,
as long as it persists,
be with you,
and the care of your goodness,
as long as I need it,
be with me.
Let joy in your blessedness
be always with me,
and compassion for my wretchedness,
where I need it,
be with you.
Amen.

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 23 August – Be grateful!

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One Minute Reflection – 23 August – St Philip Benizi OSM (1233-1285) Confessor – Readings: Ps 73:20; 73:19; 73:23, Ps 73:1, Gal 3:16-22, Luke 17:11-19

But Jesus answered and said, Were not the ten made clean? But where are the nine? Has no one been found to return and give glory to God, except this foreigner?

Luke 17:11-19

REFLECTION – Very dear brothers and lords in Christ, I Catherine, the slave of the servants of Jesus Christ, I write to you in his precious blood, with the desire to see you grateful for all the benefits that you have received from God, so that they can increase and nourish in you the source of divine love in your souls. Gratitude is very pleasant to God, and is very useful to us; But ingratitude displeases God a lot and does us great harm: Ingratitude dries up the springs of piety, and we invite God to no longer increase His graces and to deprive us of those he gave us. It is therefore necessary to apply oneself with great zeal to see the benefits of God, because by seeing them we will be grateful and by gratitude we will return glory and praise to his name.

And how will we show our gratitude and ingratitude? I'm going to tell you: we will show our ingratitude by offending the goodness of God and our neighbour, offering them in a thousand ways and by a thousand injustices, by not giving them what we are forced to return to them, that is, by not loving God over all things, and the neighbour as ourselves. Quite the opposite happens for the faithful man, grateful to his Creator; he does him justice by giving him what is due, that is the praise and the honour that God asks; He does it by loving Him above all things, and loving his neighbour as himself. He contemplates the humility of God to lower his pride; he widens his heart in charity, and he purifies himself of all defilement in the purity of Christ, in the abundance of his precious blood.

So I want my very dear brothers, that you are grateful for the graces that you have received from our creator, so that they may increase.

Saint Catherine of Siena

PRAYER – O God, Who through St. Philip, Thy Confessor, gave us an outstanding example of humility, grant that Thy household may follow his example by scorning worldly prosperity and, ever seek the things of Heaven Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen

Posted in CATHOLIC Quotes

Quote/s of the Day – 23 August – Doing great things for God, like St Philip Benezi

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Quote/s of the Day – 23 August – St Philip Benizi OSM (1233-1285) Confessor

“Nothing great is ever achieved,
without enduring much.”

St Catherine of Siena

“We will never do anything great for God
if we do not realise the great gifts
which God has given us.
The very fact that you have the Catholic Faith
at this time of apostasy,
shows that you are especially blessed by God.
Count yourselves extremely blessed.
Hold onto your Catholic Faith,
despite all the things going on around you ,-
not only in your own life
but in the world in general
AND in the Church!”

St Teresa of Avila

“Know that the greatest service
that man can offer to God,
is to help convert souls.”

St Rose of Lima

Posted in AUGUST - The Immaculate Heart of Mary

Thought for the Day – 23 August – Our Lord Jesus Christ, Teacher of the Devotion to the Admirable Heart of Mary

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St John Eudes – The Admirable Heart of Mary

Our Lord Jesus Christ, Teacher of the Devotion to the Admirable Heart of Mary, Part Two

I have bestowed upon you the royal Heart of your great Queen to be regent of your hearts, to rule and govern them according to the most adorable will of my heavenly Father that you may be entirely fashioned according to His Heart.

I have likewise given you the admirable Heart of my most worthy Mother, which is identified with my own Heart, that it may be your true Heart as well; that my children may possess only one Heart with their Mother, and my members the same Heart as their Head. Thus you may serve, adore and love God with a Heart worthy of His infinite goodness: Corde magno et animo volenti, that is, with an immense and measureless Heart, with a Heart all pure and holy, so that you may sing His divine praises and accomplish all your actions in the spirit, love, humility and all the holy dispositions of her admirable Heart. But in order to make this come true, you must renounce entirely your own heart, that is, your mind, your will and your love of self. Strive, therefore, to rid yourself of your earthly heart that is depraved and wicked, and you shall receive an entirely heavenly, holy and divine Heart.

I have finally given this marvellous Heart as an inestimable treasure containing every possible blessing. It is for you, beloved children, to engrave in your hearts a high esteem, a profound respect and a particular affection for so rich a treasure, and to preserve it jealously by the continuation and increase of your veneration for a Heart so holy and amiable.

It is to encourage you to do so that I have said these things, Set down my words in your hearts and practise them faithfully. In this way, you will become the true children of my holy Mother’s Heart, and you will live according to my own. My eyes and my Heart shall ever watch over your necessities. I will carry you in my innermost Heart. You will yourselves be my Heart, my joy and my delight. I will love you as my own Heart, and I will prepare a glorious habitation for you throughout eternity in my Heart and in the Heart of my blessed Mother, which is one with my own. You shall abide forever in our Hearts, and live by their life, you shall possess all the treasures enclosed in our Hearts, and be immersed and buried in their joys. Our Hearts shall be your paradise, the life of your life, the Heart of your heart.

In the love of these Hearts, or rather, this one Heart, you will eternally love, bless and glorify my holy Mother and the sovereign monarch of all hearts, which is the adorable Heart of the most Holy Trinity. May It be forever praised, adored, and loved by all the hearts of angels and of men!

After listening to the divine words of Our Divine Saviour encouraging us to love and honor the most amiable Heart of His Blessed Mother, we shall now contemplate the operations of His adorable Heart towards the maternal Heart of Mary, whereby He teaches us even more effectively than by His eloquent words. Oh, who could worthily describe the least spark of the Divine Heart of Jesus, that furnace of love, towards the Heart of His admirable Mother?

Our Lord has so loved and honored her maternal Heart that He has exalted it above all the hearts of the universe, and made it the most august empire of His glory and the glorious triumph of His love. He has so loved and honored her Heart as to constitute it a Heaven higher and more brilliant than all the heavens in which He is glorified and loved more ardently than in the empyrean heaven.

God has loved and honored His Mother to such an extent that from the first instant in which He gave her blessed Heart its being, He worked in it countless great miracles, imparting the most abundant communication of His own divine perfections, and rendering it most worthy, noble, perfect, mighty, wise, holy, just, merciful, kind, liberal; He has made it the richest, happiest, most glorious, most amiable and most admirable of all hearts.

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 22 August – Blessed William Lacey

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Blessed William Lacey, was a martyr of England and a priest. Born in Horton, West Riding, Yorkshire, he married a widow and both his step-sons became Jesuits.

He distinguished himself as a lawyer and as an ardent Catholic, using his house as a refuge for the much-oppressed Catholics of the time, being one of those gentlemen whose house was open to priests that came from the colleges abroad. Having been advised by them that he could not in good conscience attend Protestant churches, his absence was noted and he was forced to give up his position. He was subject to repeated fines, until he had to leave his home and stay with friends, but never long in one place. For fourteen years he suffered persecution for his faith, which included imprisonment at Hull. After the death of his wife, he went abroad and arrived at Reims, 22 June 1580. On 25 September following he went on to Pont-à-Mousson, and thence to Rome, where he obtained a dispensation. The dispensation was necessary as Lacy had been married twice.

He arrived at Douai in 1577 and, after the transference of the English College to Reims, was ordained priest on Holy Saturday, 1579. On his return to England in August he seems to have found a refuge with Robert Dymoke, hereditary Champion of England (d. in Lincoln gaol for his faith, 11 Sept 1580), at Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire. He was eventually arrested, 8 August, 1582. After condemnation the two martyrs shared one cell in a turret till 10 August, when Blessed Richard was moved to an underground dungeon.

York’s ‘Tyburn’ at Knavesmire, where the martyrs were executed

He was executed at Knavesmaire, just outside of York with Blessed Richard Kirkman. They are both members of the 158 Douai Martyrs.

My son, my son, remember eternal life; look up to Heaven and see the One Who reigns there; life is not taken from thee, it is exchanged for a better one.

St Symphorian’s mother

Posted in MARIAN TITLES

Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Octave Day of the Assumption) and Memorials of the Saints – 22 August

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Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Octave Day of the Assumption)

St Timothy and Companions – Martyrs

St Andrew of Fiesole
St Anthusa of Seleucia
St Antoninus of Rome
St Arnulf of Eynesbury
St Athanasius of Tarsus
Bl Bernard Perani
St Dalmau Llebaría Torné
St Epictetus of Ostia
St Ethelgitha of Northumbria
St Fabrician of Toledo
St Felix of Ostia

Blessed Giacomo/James Bianconi OP (1220–1301) Confessor, Priest and Friar of the Order of Preachers, Spiritual Advisor, founder and restorer of Convents and Churches. Pope Urban VIII Beatified the Blessed Giacomo in 1641.

St Joan Farriol Sabaté

St John Kemble (1599 – 1679) Martyr, Priest. Ordained in 1625, he returned to Monmouthshire and served more than 50 years as an itinerant Priest, winning admirers even among Protestants. After being dragged on a hurdle to Widemarsh Common, Kemble declared on the scaffold that he died for the religion that had made this country Christian and that he forgave all his enemies. He was then obliged to encourage the executioner, who had no stomach for his task.

St John Wall
St Josep Roselló Sans
St Julio Melgar Salgado
St Maprilis of Ostia
St Martial of Ostia
St Maurus of Rheims
St Narciso de Esténaga y Echevarría
St Philibert of Toledo
Bl Richard Kirkman
St Saturninus of Ostia
Bl Simeon Lukach
St Sigfrid of Wearmouth
St Symphorian of Autun

Blessed Timoteo da Monticchio OFM (1444-1503) Priest of the Order of the Friars Minor, he was endowed with mystical gifts, especially of the Blessed Virgin and of St Francis of Assisi. On 10 March 1870, his Beatification was confirmed by Pope Pius IX. His body is incorrupt.

St Thomas Percy
St Timothy of Rome
Bl William Lacey

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 22 August – O Immaculate Heart of Mary By St Gertrude the Great

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Our Morning Offering – 22 August – Month and Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Octave Day of the Assumption)

O Immaculate Heart of Mary
By St Gertrude the Great (1256-1302)

O Immaculate Heart of Mary,
I have nothing in myself to offer thee
which is worthy of thee
but what thankgiving I ought I to pay thee,
for all the favours
which thou hast obtained for me
from the Heart of Jesus!
What reparation ought I to make thee
for all my tepidity, in thy service!
I desire to return thee love for love,
the only good which I possess,
is the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
which thou, thyself hast given me.
I offer thee this Treasure of Infinite Price,
I cannot do more
and thou dost not deserve less, at my hand
but, receiving from me,
this Gift most Precious in thy sight,
be pleased, I beseech thee,
to accept too, my poor heart,
which I here offer to thee
and I shall be forever blessed.
Amen.

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 22 August – Close to the cross of Christ stood His mother

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One Minute Reflection – 22 August – Month and Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Octave Day of the Assumption) – Readings: Heb 4:16, Ps 44:2, Sir 24:23-31, John 19:25-27

At that time, there were standing by the Cross of Jesus, His Mother, and His Mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. When Jesus, therefore, saw His Mother and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He said to His Mother, Woman, behold your son. Then He said to the disciple, Behold, your mother. And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

John 19:25-27

REFLECTION – There are two martyrdom species: one manifest, the other secret; One visible, the other hidden; One in the flesh, the other in the heart. The martyrdom of the heart goes beyond the torments of the flesh.

So the glorious virgin triumphed in this kind of suffering, all the more glorious as it was closer when, attached to the adorable cross of the Lord's passion, she drew from the chalice, she drinks of His passion, watered in the torrent of pain, she could endure a pain forever unparalleled. She runs following Jesus not only with the smell of her perfumes, but in the abundance of her pain; Not only in the joy of consolations, but also in the overflow of suffering. Mother, she saw her son, the real Solomon, with the tiara of which she had crowned him and, herself crowned with a crown of affliction, she was following Him.


She was standing with the cross to consider the very soft head of her son, anoint of oil with her companions, struck with a reed and crowned with thorns. She saw the most beautiful of the children of men who no longer had neither radiance or beauty. She saw despised and restored to the last rank He who is exalted above all peoples. She saw the saint of saints crucified with the scoundrels and the impious. She saw the eyes of this sublime man lowering himself, and the head of the one who supports the universe to lean, tilted on his shoulders, the very serene face of God wither, and vanish the beauty of his face.

St Amadeus of Lausanne

PRAYER – Almighty, everlasting God, Who in the Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, prepared a dwelling place worthy of the Holy Spirit, graciously grant, that we, who are devoutly keeping the Feast of her Immaculate Heart, may be able to live according to Thy Heart.Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen 

Posted in AUGUST - The Immaculate Heart of Mary

Quote/s of the Day – 22 August – The Immaculate Heart of Mary

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Quote/s of the Day – 22 August – Month and Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Octave Day of the Assumption)

“In the end,
my Immaculate Heart
will triumph.”

“Let us decide to become one,
with all the faithful,
in offering the prayers and actions
and sufferings of each day
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
through the Immaculate Heart of His Mother Mary.
We shall certainly receive showers of graces,
both for ourselves
and for the salvation of the souls of our neighbours.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Prayer to the Two Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary

O Heart of Jesus pierced for our sins
and giving us Your Mother on Calvary!
O Heart of Mary pierced by sorrow
and sharing in the sufferings of your divine Son
for our redemption!
O sacred union of these Two Hearts!
Praised be the God of Love who united them together!
May we unite our hearts and every heart
so that all hearts may live in unity and in imitation
of that sacred unity which exists in these Two Hearts.
Triumph, O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary!
Reign, O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus!
– in our hearts, in our homes and families,
in the hearts of those who as yet do not know You
and in all nations of the world.
Establish in the hearts of all mankind the sovereign triumph
and reign of your Two Hearts so that the earth may resound
from pole to pole with one cry:
Blessed forever be the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
and the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary!
Obtain for me a greater purity of heart
and a fervent love of the spiritual life.
May all my actions be done for the greater glory of God
in unions with the divine heart of Jesus
and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Hear and answer our prayers and intentions
according to Your most merciful will.
Amen

Posted in AUGUST - The Immaculate Heart of Mary

Thought for the Day – 22 August – Our Lord Jesus Christ, Teacher of the Devotion to the Admirable Heart of Mary

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St John Eudes – The Admirable Heart of Mary

Our Lord Jesus Christ, Teacher of the Devotion to the Admirable Heart of Mary, Part One

WE HAVE every reason to consider the adorable Heart of Jesus as the second foundation of the devotion to the admirable Heart of Mary. The supremely ardent love for the Heart of His dearest Mother, burning in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, makes Him the herald of this devotion, which He teaches to us both by word and example.

Would you know how the Only-begotten Son of God, who is also the Son of Mary, exhorts us to venerate His glorious Mother’s loving Heart? Listen to what He revealed in 1300 to St. Mechtilde, one of the most glorious daughters of St. Benedict, whose writings have been approved by learned and devout doctors. One day during Advent, as the Saint sought to salute the Mother of God in a most pleasing manner, Our Lord Himself deigned to instruct her as follows:

“Thou shalt salute my holy Mother’s virginal Heart as an ocean replete with heavenly grace and a treasure filled with myriad blessings for mankind.

“Thou shalt honor it as the purest Heart after mine own because she was the first to take the vow of chastity.

“Thou shalt hail it as the humblest Heart of any simple creature, for her humility drew me from my Father’s bosom and rendered her worthy to conceive me in her chaste womb by the power of the Holy Ghost.

“Thou shalt reverence her Heart as supremely devout and most ardent in its desire for my Incarnation and birth on earth, because the fervor of her desires and of her longing attracted me to her and became the cause of man’s salvation.

“Thou shalt honor her Heart as most glowingly inflamed with love for God and man. Thou shalt salute it as the wisest and most prudent, for she kept in her Heart the memory of each event of my childhood, youth and adult life and made a most holy use of this remembrance.

“Thou shalt greet her Heart as the most faithful, for she not only consented to permit me, her only Son, to be sacrificed, but she also offered me to my Eternal Father as a sacrifice for the redemption of the world.

“Thou shalt salute her Heart as the most vigilant and most zealous for the interests of the nascent Church, for the care she took to pray unceasingly could not be disregarded.

“Thou shalt glorify her Heart as raised to the highest degree of uninterrupted contemplation, for no tongue can worthily speak of the graces and favors that men owe to the power of her intercession.”

I have always been and shall forever be the most singular object of all the affections of her Holy Heart, as she herself has always been and will forever be, after my Eternal Father, the first object of my love. All who truly love me must, therefore, be particularly zealous in honoring and teaching others to honor the Heart that I love more and that gives me greater glory and love than the hearts of all the angels and men together.

I have given my Mother’s Heart to you as a divine Sun to enlighten you through the darkness of the world, to warm you in the frosts of mortal life, to gladden and to comfort you in the sorrows, pains and miseries of earth, and to vivify and strengthen you against the decline and weakness of human frailty. I have given her Heart to you as a beautiful mirror, into which you should often gaze in order to see the stains that tarnish your souls, so that you may cleanse them. With the aid of this celestial mirror, you should array your souls with becoming ornaments that they may become pleasing in the sight of my divine majesty.

I have given her Heart to you as a heavenly chronicle and book of life, that you may study its pages unceasingly, and learn to know perfectly and to love ardently the ravishing beauty of those Christian virtues whose faithful practice gives eternal life. But what you should learn above all from this book are the marvellous merits of holy humility and the means to practice it, so as to crush in your hearts the cursed serpent of pride and vanity that wreaks such havoc, not only in the souls of children of perdition, but in my own children’s hearts as well.

I have given the Heart of my incomparable Mother to you as a holy Rule that will enable you to become saints, if you faithfully observe it.

I have given her Heart to you as a precious vessel, filled with manna from heaven and the nectar of paradise, to nourish your hearts with the meat of the angels, even in this world, and so to inebriate them with heavenly wine, that the things of the earth and time may be forgotten entirely and the sole delight of your hearts rest in those things which are heavenly and eternal.

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saints of the Day – 21 August – Saint Bernard of Lérida, Saint Gracia of Lérida, Saint Maria of Lérida

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Siblings, and children of Almanzor, Muslim caliph of Lerida, Catalonia, Spain, during the Moorish Occupation in the 12th century. Saint Bernard converted and became a Benedictine Cistercian monk at Poblet, taking the name Bernard. He then converted his two sisters Gracia and Maria, and together they attempted to convert their other brother, Almanzor, who turned them over to Moorish authorities. They were martyred in 1180.

Saint Bernard
Saint Gracia
Saint Maria

The exact circumstances surrounding their deaths are not known. Bernard, Gracia and Maria are venerated as the patron saints of Alcira, Valencia, Spain.

Muslim army in Iberia

Stand fast in the faith, and love one another, all of you, and be not offended at my sufferings.

St Perpetua

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 21 August – Prayer of Abandonment By St Jane Frances de Chantal

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Our Morning Offering – 21 August – The Memorial of St Jane Frances de Chantal VHM (1572-1641)

Prayer of Abandonment
By St Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641)

O sovereign goodness
of the sovereign Providence of my God!
I abandon myself forever to Thy arms.
Whether gentle or severe,
lead me henceforth whither Thou will.
I will not regard the way
through which Thou will have me pass
but keep my eyes fixed upon Thee,
my God, who guides me.
My soul finds no rest without the arms
and the bosom of this heavenly Providence,
my true Mother, my strength and my rampart.
Therefore I resolve with Thy Divine assistance,
0 my Saviour,
to follow Thy desires and Thy ordinances,
without regarding or examining
why Thou does this rather than that
but I will blindly follow Thee,
according to Thy Divine will,
without seeking my own inclinations.
Hence I am determined to leave all to Thee,
taking no part therein,
save by keeping myself in peace in Thy arms,
desiring nothing, except as Thou incites me to desire,
to will, to wish.
I offer Thee this desire, 0 my God,
beseeching Thee to bless it.
I undertake all it includes,
relying on Thy goodness,
liberality and mercy,
with entire confidence in Thee,
distrust of myself,
and knowledge of my infinite misery and infirmity.
Amen.

Posted in MARIAN TITLES

The 11th Sunday after Pentecost, Our Lady of Knock, Ireland (1879) and Memorials of the Saints – 21 August

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The 11th Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday within the Octave of the Assumption

Our Lady of Knock, Ireland (1879) – 21 August:

The Apparition in County Mayo in Ireland of Our Lady of Knock is reported to have occurred on the evening of 21 August 1879, the Vigil of the Octave of the Feast of the Assumption. Those who witnessed the miracle, ranged in age from five years old to seventy five.

The Apparition was described as follows:
“Our Lady was wearing a large, brilliant crown and clothed in white garments. On her right was Saint Joseph, his head inclined toward her and on her left Saint John the Evangelist. To the left of Saint John was an Altar on which stood a Crucifix and a lamb.”

Standing only a few feet off the ground, the Blessed Virgin wore a white cloak and was described by witnesses as being incredibly beautiful. She wore a bright golden crown and appeared to be praying with her eyes looking toward Heaven with her arms bend in front of her with her palms facing inward.”

Fifteen parishioners stood, before the Apparition, for two hours as they recited the Rosary. Although it was daylight when the Apparition began, the weather changed and it began to rain heavily. The area around the Apparition appeared unaffected, however, as the ground remained dry, as long as the vision lasted. Our Lady did not speak but the gable of the Church where the Apparition occured was covered with a cloud of light.

Saint Joseph, also wore white robes and stood on the Virgin’s right. He inclined his head respectfully toward the Blessed Virgin. Saint John the Evangelist wore a miter and appeared to be preaching as he held a book in his left hand.

Since then thousands of people have made pilgrimages to Knock to pray to Our Lady. Their prayerful, penitential and reverential spirit, has been commended again and again by visitors from other lands. No sign of commercialism detracts from the purely religious atmosphere of that hallowed spot. People from all walks of life kneel in humble supplication before the Shrine of Our Lady, fully confident that she has sanctified that spot by her appearance there.

Organised pilgrimages from various Diocese are conducted frequently to the Shrine The Holy Rosary comprises the main portion of the devotion – the Shrine is, therefore, appropriately called the Rosary Shrine. The “Knock Shrine Annual” relates many wonderful accounts of cures and conversions effected at the Shrine.

St Jane Frances de Chantal VHM (1572-1641) – Mother, Widow, Foundress of the Congregation of the Visitation. Close friend of St Francis de Sales and St Vincent de Paul, both of whom guided and assisted her and her foundation, spiritually.

St Abraham of Smolensk (Died c 1222) Monk, Abbot, Priest, apostle of the poor, Preacher, Biblical scholar and spiritual adviser.

St Agapius of Edessa
St Agathonicus of Constantinople
St Anastasius Cornicularius
St Aria of Rome
St Avitus I of Clermont
St Bassa of Edessa
Bl Beatrice de Roelas
St Bernhard of Lérida
St Bernard de Alziva
St Bonosus
St Camerinus of Sardinia
St Cameron
St Cisellus of Sardinia
St Cyriaca
St Euprepius of Verona
St Fidelis of Edessa
Bl Gilbert of Valenciennes
St Gracia of Lérida
St Hardulph
St Joseph Nien Vien
Bl Ladislaus Findysz
St Leontius the Elder
St Luxorius of Sardinia
St Maria of Lérida
St Maximianus the Soldier
St Maximilian of Antioch
St Natale of Casale Monferrato
St Paternus of Fondi
St Privatus of Mende
St Quadratus of Utica

St Sidonius Apollinaris (c 430 – 489) Bishop, Copnfessor, Poet, Diplomat, Writer, Scholar, Apostle of the poor and of exiles.

St Theogonius of Edessa
St Zoticus the Philosopher

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 21 August – “They hauled it ashore and sat down to put what was worthwhile into containers”

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One Minute Reflection – 21 August – The 11th Sunday after Pentecost and the Memorial of St Jane Frances de Chantal VHM (1572-1641) – Readings: Ps 118:75; 118:120, Ps 118:1, Prov 31:10-31, Matt 13:44-52

I know, O Lord, that Your ordinances are just, and in Your faithfulness You have afflicted me. Pierce my flesh with Your fear; I fear Your ordinances.

Ps 118:75; 118:120

REFLECTION – “He shall rule the world with justice and the peoples with his truth.” Which justice and which truth? He will gather to him his chosen ones; the others he will separate, for he will place the former at his right and the latter at his left. What will be more just, more true than that? Those who did not want to practice mercy before the judge came, will not expect mercy from the judge. Those who wanted to practice mercy, will be judged with mercy. For he will say to those whom he has placed at his right: “Come. You have my Father’s blessing! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.” And he will attribute acts of mercy to them: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink” and all that follows.

Because you are unjust, will the Judge not be just? Because you sometimes lie, will Truth not be truthful? If you want to meet a merciful judge, be merciful before he comes. Forgive if someone has offended you; give away the possessions of which you have an abundance. Give what you have received from him: “Name something you have that you have not received.” These are the sacrifices that are very pleasing to God: mercy, humility, gratitude, peace, charity. If that is what we bring in sacrifice, we will await with assurance the coming of the Judge, of him who “shall rule the world with justice and the peoples with his truth.”

Saint Augustine

PRAYER – Almighty and merciful God, Who endowed St Jane Frances, burning with love of Thee, with a wondrous strength of spirit through all the paths of life, in the way of perfection and willed through her, to ennoble Thy Church, by a new religious family, grant by her merits and prayers, that we who are aware of our weakness, may trust firmly in Thy power and, by the assistance of divine grace, overcome all obstacles in our way. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen

Posted in CATHOLIC Quotes

Quote/s of the Day – 21 August – St Jane Frances de ChantaL

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Quote/s of the Day – 21 August – The Memorial of St Jane Frances de Chantal VHM (1572-1641)

“All God wants is our heart.”

“We think not enough of this Truth –
that God is present with us
that He sees our thoughts,
even long before we have them.
That He knows what we think
and shall think, better than we ourselves
that He sees the folds and recesses,
of our heart
and of this other Truth –
that NOTHING HAPPENS to us
but by the order of Providence.
We should all be Saints,
if we well apprehended these Truths.
And truly, it is a great consolation,
to know that God sees
the bottom of our heart.”

“Suffering borne … quietly and patiently,
is a continual, very powerful prayer,
before God.”

“Hold your eyes on God
and leave the doing to Him.
That is all the doing,
you have to worry about.”

“Follow your own way of speaking to our Lord,
sincerely, lovingly, confidently and simply,
as your heart dictates.”

“In prayer one must hold fast and never let go,
because the one who gives up, loses all.
If it seems that no-one is listening to you,
then cry out even louder.
If you are driven out of one door,
go back in by the other.”

“Must you continue to be your own cross?
No matter which way God leads you,
you change everything into bitterness
by constantly brooding over everything.
For the love of God,
replace all this self-scrutiny,
with a pure and simple glance at God’s goodness.”

Posted in AUGUST - The Immaculate Heart of Mary

Thought for the Day – 21 August – Mary’s Heart, the Hill of Calvary

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St John Eudes – The Admirable Heart of Mary

Mary’s Heart, the Hill of Calvary

Last in my series of symbolic pictures of the holy Heart of the spotless Virgin I show you Calvary, as it reveals the sorrows of the crucified Heart of Mary at the time of her Son’s Passion.

What is Calvary? It is a mountain, the most important and notable mountain of the Holy Land. What is the Heart of the Mother of God? Is it not also a mountain, the most illustrious mountain of that blessed land referred to in these words of Sacred Scripture: “Lord, thou has blessed the land.” This land is the Blessed Virgin Mary, and her Heart is the noblest and highest peak of her body and of her soul.

What is Calvary? It is Mount Moriah on which God commanded Abraham to slay his son, Isaac. The Hebrew rendition of the twenty second chapter of Genesis reads: “Go into the land of Moriah,” instead of the usual version: “Go into the land of vision.” ? It is the place where King David raised an altar and offered sacrifice that God might stop the plague that ravaged his people, and also the site on which Solomon erected the Temple of Jerusalem, for Mount Sion is the same as Mount Moriah, and Calvary is part of the same chain of hills.

What is Calvary? It is the place where the Cross of Jesus was raised. And was the Cross of Salvation not raised first of all in Mary’s holy Heart? What is Calvary? It is the place stained with the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. But Mary’s Heart was bathed with It through love and compassion and the Precious Blood of her beloved Son penetrated and impregnated His Mother far more than it soaked the soil of Calvary.

On Calvary, we behold the thorns that wounded the adorable head of our Saviour, the nails that pierced His hands and feet, the lance that opened His Heart, the ropes that bound Him, the gall and vinegar He was given to drink, and the wounds which covered His body from head to foot. We can see the same wounds in the maternal Heart of His saintly Mother. “The Cross and the nails which crucified the Son’s body, crucified the Mother’s Heart as well.” St. Jerome quotes St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, as saying: “All the wounds which covered the body of Jesus, had their counterpart in Mary’s Heart. The whips, the thorns, the nails which pierced and tore the Saviour’s body, ran through His holy Mother’s Heart and shattered it. Every blow rending the body of the Son had its cruel echo in the Heart of His Mother.”

“O my Queen,” exclaims St. Bonaventure, “Thou art not only standing near the Cross, but thou art with Thy Son on the Cross; Thou dost suffer, thou art crucified with Him, the only difference being that while He suffers in His body, thou dost suffer in thy loving Heart. All the wounds scattered over His body are united in thy Heart, because the sword of sorrow has pierced thy very soul. Thy virginal Heart, O my sovereign Lady, is wounded by the lance, pierced by the nails and thorns, heaped with opprobrium, ignominy and imprecations, saturated with vinegar and gall. Why wouldst thou, most honored Lady, be immolated for us? Is not our Saviour’s Passion sufficient for our salvation? Must the mother also be crucified with her Son? O sweetest Heart, so full of love, must thou then be changed into bitter sorrow? I seek to behold thy loving Heart, my dearest Mistress, but it seems to have vanished and in its place I find only the bitterness of gall, myrrh and absinth. I seek the Mother of God and I find only thorns, nails, a lance, a sponge and vinegar. I look for Mary on the Cross, and I see only spittle, insults, lashes and wounds, so truly has she been overwhelmed by outrages.” I see my Redeemer crucified, suffering, agonizing, dying and finally dead on Calvary. I also behold His sorrows, suffering, agony and death in His Blessed Mother’s Heart. “She had lived of her Son’s life, and when He died on the Cross, she died with Him,” says a holy Premonstratensian Abbot.

“Both Mother and Son were nailed to the Cross, the Son in the body, the Mother in her Heart,” exclaims St. Lawrence Justinian,’ the sainted Patriarch of Venice. “Could not Mary die in her Heart, as Jesus died in His body?” asks St. Bernard.

On Calvary, the only Son of Mary gave us an inestimable gift, when in the excess of His incomprehensible goodness He addressed Himself to each one of us in the person of St. John and speaking of His holy Mother, said to us: “Behold thy Mother.” And from Calvary, the Mother of Jesus, whose sentiments and will are one with those of her beloved Son, gives herself to us to be our Mother with the same Heart and with an equal love. Having enshrined the words of her Son in her maternal Heart, she echoes them again, and adopts each one of us in particular. Thus both Jesus and Mary say to us: “Behold thy Mother.”

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Memorials of the Saints – 20 August

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Within the Octave of the Assumption

St Bernard O.Cist. (1090-1153) Abbot of the Order of Citeaux (the Cistercians), Confessor, “Doctor Mellifluus” of the Church and the Last Father of the Church,“The Bard of Mary”- Theologian, Reformer, Writer, Mystic, Preacher, Mariologist, Advisor, Mediator, Poet. St Bernard, the Founding Abbot of Clairvaux Abbey in Burgundy, France, was one of the most commanding Church leaders in the first half of the twelfth century, as well as, one of the greatest spiritual masters of all time and the most powerful propagator of the Cistercian reform.

St Amadour the Hermit
St Bernard of Valdeiglesius

St Bernardo Tolomei (1272 – 1348) Founder, Theologian, Mystic, Hermit, Lawyer, Soldier, Politician.

St Brogan
St Burchard of Worms
St Christopher of Cordoba
St Cristòfol Baqués Almirall
St Edbert of Northumbria
Bl Georg Hafner
Bl Gervais-Protais Brunel
St Gobert of Apremont
St Haduin of Le Mans
St Heliodorus of Persia
St Herbert Hoscam
St Leovigild of Cordoba
Bl Louis-François Lebrun
St Lucius of Cyprus
St Maximus of Chinon

Blessed Maria de Mattias ASC (1805-1866) Founder of the religious Congregation of the Sisters Adorers of the Blood of Christ, Mystic, Teacher, Preacher, Catechist

St Oswine of Deira (Died 651) King, Martyr, King of Deira in northern England.

St Philibert of Jumièges (c 608–684) Abbot and Monastic Founder, particularly of Jumièges Abbey. 

St Porphyrius of Palestrina
St Ronald of Orkney
St Samuel the Patriarch
Bl Wladyslaw Maczkowski
St Zacchaeus the Publican

Posted in Uncategorized

Saints of the Day – 20 August – St Zacchaeus & St Amadour the Hermit

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Saint Zacchaeus the Publican, also known as Zaccheo, whose name means “pure, innocent”, was a chief tax-collector at Jericho, who climbed a tree in order to see Jesus because he couldn’t see over the crowd. Jesus decided to go to the man’s house, and when the locals grumbled that Christ was friendly with sinners, Zacchaeus showed his conversion by making retribution to any he had harmed, and by giving largely to charity.

Jesus invites Zacchaeus to come down from the sycamore tree

Many things are reported of him after this, including that he married Saint Veronica, that he became bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, and that he is Saint Amadour who was an early hermit in France. At Jericho there is a large, square tower, which by tradition is named the House of Zacchaeus.

Saint Amadour, also known as Amadour of Lucca, Amadour of Rocamadour, Amadoro, Amator, Amatore. In 1126 or 1162 (records vary), the body of this saint was found, possibly incorrupt, in a tomb with indications that the person had died about 1000 years earlier. No doubt for good reasons, people at the time decided that he was Saint Zacchaeus the Publican who changed his name when he converted to Christianity. Tradition records that he was a servant in the house of the Holy Family. He married St. Veronica, going with her to Gaul where they spread the Christian faith around Bordeaux. Amadour is also recorded as having gone to Rome to witness the martyrdom of Sts. Peter and Paul. He returned to Gaul and after the death of St. Veronica he became a hermit at Quircy, France, where he built a shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

There is also a pilgrimage path closeby to his shrine, and some relics enshrined at the Saint Michelotto Franciscan convent.

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 20 August – To Thee We Cry, O Queen of Mercy! By St Bernard

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Our Morning Offering – 20 August – “The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” and the Memorial of St Bernard (1090-1153) Confessor, “The Bard of Mary”

To Thee We Cry,
O Queen of Mercy!
By St Bernard (1090-1153)
Mellifluous Doctor of the Church

To thee we cry,
O Queen of Mercy!
Return, that we may behold
thee, dispensing favours,
bestowing remedies,
giving strength.
Ah, tender Mother!
Tell thy All-powerful Son
that we have no more wine.
We are thirsty after the wine of His Love,
of that marvellous wine,
which fills souls with a holy inebriation,
inflames them
and gives them the strength
to despise the things of this world
and to seek, with ardour,
Heavenly goods.
Amen.

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 20 August – “In order that the Scripture might be fulfilled”

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One Minute Reflection – 20August – “The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” and the Memorial of St Bernard (1090-1153) Confessor – Readings: Sir 15:5, Ps 91:2, Ecclus 39:6-14, Matt 5:13-19

Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

Matt 5:13-19

REFLECTION – “I have come not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it”… Indeed, at that time, by his own power and in his own person, the Lord fulfilled all the mysteries the law foretold concerning himself. All prophecies were fulfilled by his passion. When, as holy David predicted, a sponge full of vinegar was offered him on the cross, he accepted it and said: “It is fulfilled”; and bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

Now as well as carrying out himself all that had been prophesied, he also gave us commandments to carry out. Of old the easier commandments laid down by the law were not observed, but we, by grace and the power of the cross, are expected to observe more difficult ones.

Epiphanius of Benevento (5th-6th centuries)

PRAYER – O God, Who gave to Thy people, blessed Bernard, as a minister of salvation, grant, we beseech Thee, that we, who cherished him on earth as a teacher of life, may be found worthy to have him as an intercessor in Heaven.Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen 

Posted in AUGUST - The Immaculate Heart of Mary, CATHOLIC Quotes

Quote/s of the Day – 20 August – St Bernard

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Quote/s of the Day – 20 August – “The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” and the Memorial of St Bernard (1090-1153) Abbot, Confessor, “Doctor Mellifluus” of the Church and the Last Father of the Church,“The Bard of Mary”

With good reason is Mary called the center of the earth, for all the inhabitants of Heaven, and those of hell, those who come before us, and those who will come after us, their children’s children and their entire posterity look to her as to the midst and the center of the earth. She is, in fact, next to her divine Son, the mediator between God and Man, between the Head and the members of the Mystical Body, the Church, between the Old and New Testament, between Heaven and earth, between justice and mercy. They look to her as to the Ark of God, Ark of the Covenant and of peace between God and His people, as the cause of all that is good and the masterpiece of all ages, past and to come.

Very desirable is the virtue of virginity, yet humility is more necessary. We are counselled to embrace the former, but the latter is a matter of precept. To the one we are invited, to the other we are constrained. Concerning virginity the Saviour only says, ‘He that can take it, let him take it’, whereas He speaks thus of humility: ‘Unless you be converted and become as little children you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ The first, therefore, is commended with the promise of a special reward, whilst the second is exacted as a debt.  

Virginity is a virtue that is found with few, but far fewer are they who combine it with humility. If therefore thou be one who can only admire the virginity of Mary, apply thyself with zeal to copy her humility, and that will be enough for thee. But if thou art both a virgin and a humble virgin, thou hast attained to true greatness, whosoever thou mayest be.

Nevertheless, there is something further for thee to admire in Mary, something even more wonderful than this union of humility with virginity. I refer to that prerogative by which she unites integrity with fruitfulness. For ‘from the beginning of the world it hath not been heard that any” woman was at one and the same time a mother and a virgin. And oh! If thou remeberest Whose Mother she was, what bounds shalt thou set to thy admiration of her incomparable grandeur? Shalt thou not be brought to understand that thou canst never admire her as much as she deserves?

Is not the God of the universe and the Lord of the angels called Son by Mary, who, as the Evangelist St Luke, tells us, once said to Him, “Son, why hast Thou done so to us?” Which of the celestial princes would dare to use such language? Mary, remembering that she is His Mother, gives with confidence the name of Son to that awful Majesty Whom angels are happy to serve with lowly reverence.

The inhabitants of Heaven, that is, the angels, look to her as to the one through whom the losses inflicted on them by sin will be repaired; those who are in the fiery torment, which here means purgatory, look to her as to the one through whose mediation they will be delivered, those who came before us see in her the fulfilment of the ancient prophecies, those who shall follow us consider her as the means whereby they will one day be crowned with immortal glory.

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Posted in AUGUST - The Immaculate Heart of Mary

Thought for the Day – 20 August – Mary’s Heart, the Fiery Furnace of Babylon

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St John Eudes – The Admirable Heart of Mary

Mary’s Heart, the Fiery Furnace of Babylon

Another symbolic picture of the admirable Heart of the most Holy Mother of God is the miraculous furnace described in the third chapter of the Prophet Daniel. St. John Damascene and many other holy Doctors affirm that the fiery furnace was a figure of the sinless Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary and its burning fire a reflection of the heavenly fire in the holy breast of the Mother of Fair Love. Here are St. John Damascene’s words: “Is it not true,” he says addressing Our Lady, “that this furnace, filled with a fire at once burning and refreshing, was a faithful image of thee and an excellent picture of the divine and eternal fire dwelling within thee?”

But you may well ask how anything so noble and holy as the Heart of the Queen of Heaven could be represented by the furnace of Babylon, an instrument of torture designed by the wickedness and cruelty of King Nabuchodonosor? Remember that the three young men, Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago, thrown into the furnace to be burnt to ashes, belonged to the people of Israel, and everything that happened to the Israelites was a figure and a foreshadowing of the great miracles that were to be fulfilled in Christianity, and in the Father and Mother of Christians. “All these things happened to them in figure.” Remember also that St. Augustine and St. Gregory the Great tell us that Sacred Scripture mentions many objects which though profane and wicked in themselves, are nevertheless a representation of good and holy thoughts.

Certainly that furnace was the product of Nabuchodonosor’s impious rage, but divine Providence, without whose order and permission nothing can happen, designated it to show the extent of the power of God and the marvels of His goodness, through the miraculous protection given to His faithful friends.

In the furnace of Babylon we behold many marvels wrought by God’s omnipotence. Consider that in the midst of the furnace filled with fire and flame, there should be a refreshing wind, likened to fragrant dew. “The angel made the midst of the furnace like the blowing of a wind bringing dew.” What a marvel it is to behold a burning furnace whose flames protect those inside its crucible, while they destroy those who remain outside! What a miracle to see fire comforting and refreshing those cast into the sevenfold heat of its flames, while burning to death those standing at a safe distance! How miraculous for three young men to survive in a furnace whose flames leapt to a height of forty-nine cubits, not suffering injury but walking about with joy as in a place of delight! The three gladly sang the praises of Almighty God and emerged from their ordeal with greater strength and vigor than before while the fire could not so much as singe a single fibre of their clothing. Great indeed are the marvels to be found in Babylon’s furnace; yet they merely foreshadow the miracles which we find in the furnace of the glowing Heart of the Queen of Angels.

It is a great miracle to witness fire and water subsisting side by side in the furnace of Nabuchodonosor. The fire did not turn the cooling water into steam nor did the water quench the burning heat of the fire. What manner of fire is this? It is the fire of divine love burning in the Virginal Heart of Mary. What is the cooling dew? It is the water of tribulation, which so often flooded the holy Heart of the Mother of Sorrows. The fire of love did not dry up the waters of affliction; and the waters of tribulation were unable, I shall not say to extinguish, but even to diminish in the least degree the divine ardor of that heavenly fire.

Love has the virtue of fire, that it may unceasingly inflame the Virgin Mother’s purest Heart with its sacred ardour, and also the properties of water, as it extinguishes entirely the fire of self-love and of attachment to vain and perishable things. Is it not a great miracle to behold a fire refreshing, consoling and filling with joy the children of the Mother of God, while it pursues, burns, devours its enemies? Her virginal Heart, which is ablaze with love for her true children, directs the fire and flame of its anger against those who injure or scandalize her loved ones.

Three Hebrew children walked safely in the first furnace; yet the prophet saw there four, and the fourth was like the Son of God. “The form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Actually it was an angel, representing the Only-begotten Son of God in the Babylonian furnace, but this same Son of God resides and dwells in person in the glowing Heart of His most holy Mother. He is all fire and flame of love and charity. “The Lord thy God is a consuming fire.”

We also notice that the three young men were bound hand and foot when thrown into the furnace, but immediately their bonds were consumed by the fire and they were freed within the furnace. Come, come, poor slaves of sin and of the world! Come, slaves of passion, of self-love and self-will, chained in the irons and fetters of Babylon! Fear not to plunge into our sacred furnace! These flames will not harm you; instead they will destroy your fetters and establish you in the holy liberty of the children of God and of His loving Mother. They will inflame your hearts with the fire of heavenly love, they will transform them into divine fire itself.

Your hearts must become furnaces of eternal love, if they would avoid being ranked with the miserable hearts of the wicked against whom the terrible sentence was uttered: “Thou shalt make them as an oven of fire, in the time of thy anger.” What dost Thou will to do, O Lord, with the ungrateful wretches, whom Thou didst create to love Thee, whose obligations to love Thee are boundless, yet who have loved everything but Thee, and have even kindled fires of insult and heaped outrages upon Thee? Thou shalt make of them furnaces of wrath, in the time of Thy terrible vengeance. Thou shalt hurl them into the eternal fire prepared for Satan and his minions, where they will be swallowed, burned and penetrated by the infernal fire. In life these souls would not permit the sweet and radiant flames of Thy holy love to burn within them, so they shall be yielded to the eternal torments of devouring fire in endless hell.

Would you avoid this tragedy, the greatest of all misfortunes? Then give your hearts to your admirable Queen, imploring her to offer them to her beloved Son with the prayer that He may kindle in them the fire He came to spread on earth, the fire He so greatly desires should be lighted. On your part, correspond by removing every obstacle from your hearts, and if this sacred flame is already burning there, make every effort to increase it more and more, by the practice of Christian virtues, the meditation of the gospel and especially the exercise of divine love and charity.