Day: November 29, 2016

Posted in ADVENT

Tuesday of First Week of Advent 29 November

Posted on by AnaStpaul

“Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.”

Daily Meditation:
A shoot shall sprout from the stump.
Our God can transform our weakness, our sin, all conflict and all division.
From every life-less stump – where any future hope has been cut off
– a shoot of new life can sprout.
He shall judge the poor with justice,
and decide aright for the land’s afflicted.

We need to really hear this “good news” so that our hearts can begin to be softened
to hear how profoundly our God desires to help us
and to make things right with all of creation.
Throughout the day today, we can lighten our spirits
as we turn to God and pray:
Let me rejoice at the coming of Your Son, for me!

Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever. Psalm 72

Closing Prayer:
God of forgiveness,
I turn to You in my great weakness
and beg for Your help.
Let me feel the joy growing in my heart
as I anticipate Your coming.

I hear the message of the prophets of old
and know that the Messiah will bring
new life and new ways of living.

From the humbleness of my life,
help me to grow and bloom
and hear the words
that will change the world.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen

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Posted in NOVENAS

NOVENA TO THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION (To commemorate the Immaculate Conception)

Posted on by AnaStpaul

DAY ONE

O most Holy Virgin,
who was pleasing to the Lord and became His mother,
immaculate in body and spirit,
in faith and in love,
look kindly on me as I implore your powerful intercession.
O most Holy Mother,
who by your blessed Immaculate Conception,
from the first moment of your conception
did crush the head of the enemy,
receive our prayers as we implore you
to present at the throne of God the favour we now request…

(State your intention here…)

O Mary of the Immaculate Conception,
Mother of Christ,
you had influence with your Divine Son while upon this earth;
you have the same influence now in heaven.
Pray for us
and obtain for us from Him
the granting of my petition if it be the Divine Will.

Amen.

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Immaculate Conception – Peter Paul Rubens – 1628
#dayoneimmaculateconceptionnovena. #29november,
Posted in MORNING Prayers

Thought for the Day – 29 November

Posted on by AnaStpaul

“By now we’ve seen enough Jesuit saints, with their extraordinary loyalty to the Pope that it comes as no surprise that this man too was loyal to the Pope, oh, but what loyalty! Loyalty to the hand that stabs you. Provided you believe that hand is guided by the hand of God. And of course, it wasn’t easy to (even as he had that kind of loyalty) to keep others in line. Out of the 23,000 Jesuits put out of existence in 1773, thanks in large measure to the saint who’s virtues we are reflecting on – ST JOSEPH PIGNATELLI, there is not a single evidence of a public criticism of the Pope. How we need that kind of loyalty today! When one supposedly Catholic writer, take an Andrew Greeley in Chicago, or a Richard McBrien at Notre Dame, or a Hans Kung in Germany – almost every time they either open their mouth or put pen to paper, it is galled and bitterness in attacking the Vicar of Christ. We need this today and no doubt, I have no doubt, that one of the providential reasons for the suppression of the order with such dire consequences, was to give the world the lesson of fidelity, even under duress.”

St Joseph Pignatelli – Pray for us, our Holy Father and for the whole Church, especially the Catholicdigital world!

Venerable John A Hardon SJ (Archives of Lectures)

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#stjosephpignatelli,29novstjosephpignatelli,venjohnahardon,thoughtfortheday29november,

Posted in MORNING Prayers

One Minute Reflection – 29 November

Posted on by AnaStpaul

The message of the cross is foolishness to those
who are perishing but to us who are being saved
it is the power of God……1 Cor 1:18

REFLECTION – I never tire repeating, whenever I speak and I talk about patience, even for a minute, I tell the people in case they even have forgotten or never heard, that patience comes from patior, which is the Latin verb for ‘to suffer’. So if you’re going cultivate the virtue of patience, you’ve got to find somebody who’s causing you some suffering. But, God will always provide, He always comes through but He uses human beings and I dare say that our worst pain comes from persons. And often from those we most love. Here, loving the Church and this Church tells you, you may no longer do the work of God for which you took solemn vow until death. Patience, indeed and THIS was the Cross and the power of St Joseph Pignatelli!………….Venerable John A Hardon SJ

PRAYER – Lord my God, let me rely always on the Power of the Cross of Your Son. Grant that I may attain the salvation which He won for us by His Passion and Resurrection. Teach me patience, trust, loyality and obedience to You my God by the example of Your Saint Joseph Pignatelli, from whom we request his prayer of intercession. Amen

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Posted in MORNING Prayers

Our Morning Offering – 29 November

Posted on by AnaStpaul

“Prayer for Perfect Resignation” by St Joseph Pignatelli, SJ (1737-1811)

My God, I do not know
what must come to me today.
But I am certain that nothing
can happen to me that You have
not foreseen, decreed
and ordained from eternity.
That is sufficient for me.
I adore Your impenetrable
and eternal designs,
to which I submit with all my heart.
I desire, I accept them all
and I unite my sacrifice
to that of Jesus Christ,
my divine Saviour.
I ask in His name
and through His infinite merits,
patience in my trials and perfect
and entire submission to all that comes to me
by Your good pleasure.
Amen

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Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 29 November – St Joseph Pignatelli SJ

Posted on by AnaStpaul

St Joseph Pignatelli SJ –José María Pignatell –  (1737-1811 aged 73) called  The “Second Founder”, the “Saviour” and the “Restorer” of the Society of Jesus – Patron of Jesuit Novices, those suffering unjust   After St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, Pignatelli is arguably the most important Jesuit in its subsequent history, linking the two Societies, the old Society which was first founded in 1540 and the new Society which was founded forty years after it had been suppressed by Pope Clement XIV in 1773. Pignatelli can thus be rightly considered the saviour and restorer of the Jesuits.

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For multiple political reasons, European monarchs pressured the pope into suppressing the Jesuits in the late 18th century. The Jesuit suppression affected Portugal, France, the Two Sicilies, Parma and the Spanish Empire by 1767. In 1773 Pope Clement XIV dissolved the Order entirely. Prussia and Russia refused to carry out the papal decree. Because of this, the Society of Jesus survived in Russia throughout the suppression.

When the Jesuits were suppressed in Spain, Pignatelli could have remained in his country, because he was a member of the Spanish nobility. Instead Pignatelli chose exile with his Jesuit brothers and became Superior for 600 remaining Jesuits. These Jesuits were refused entry into Italy and settled on the southern tip of Corsica, only to be exiled once again when France acquired Corsica in 1768. The community finally made it to Ferrara in Northern Italy, where they lived a fragile existence until the final suppression in 1773.

Now forbidden to practice his ministry as a priest, Pignatelli moved to Bologna and for the next 24 years kept in contact with his dispersed brethren. Pignatelli attempted to become a member of the Jesuit community in Russia. Unable to go to Russia, Pignatelli accepted an invitation from Ferdinand, Duke of Parma, to reestablish the Society in his territory. With several Jesuits from Russia, the Jesuit community was reestablished in 1797. Pignatelli renewed his vows and was appointed Novice Master. Later he was appointed Provincial in Italy.

In the midst of the Napoleonic wars, with shifting political pressures among the small states in Italy, Pignatelli shepherded the re-founded Jesuit communities. Joseph Pignatelli hoped to live to see the full restoration of the Society of Jesus but, worn out by his labours, died in 1811—three years before Pope Pius VII universally restored the Society.

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