Day: December 22, 2016

Posted in ADVENT, The WORD

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent – 22 December 2016

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thursday of the Fourth Week of
Advent – 22 December 2016

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

Daily Meditation:

And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God, my saviour.”

Mary’s response (the Gospel) based upon Hannah’s prayer
(Responsorial Psalm) can be our prayer today.
Our anticipation of the coming of our Lord into our hearts grows
as we praise God for coming to us in our lowliness.

My heart exults in the Lord, my saviour.

Closing Prayer:
Oh, king of us all.
I find myself standing before
Your strength and splendour
watching, waiting
and filled with total joy.

You have lifted my mind in hope.
Now help me to open my life
to Your coming..

I want to be like Mary, Your mother.
Her wonderful courage and strength
inspire me to do the same.
She simply said Yes
and the impossible was done.

Thank You for this Advent journey.
The anticipation has filled my life
and made me long for
a closer relationship with You.

My life gets so busy that I forget to focus.
Thank You for guidance.
Thank You for the quiet moments
when I have felt Your love.

Nothing will be impossible with God.

Guide my feet on the way of peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

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

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Christmas Novena to the Christ Child

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Christmas Novena to the Christ Child
Day Seven
Flight Of The Child Jesus Into Egypt.

Dear Infant Jesus, crying so bitterly! Yes, You have reason to weep in seeing Yourself persecuted by men whom You love so much. I, too, O God, have once persecuted You by my sins. But You know that now I love You more than myself and that nothing pains me more than the thought that I have so often spurned You, my sovereign Good.

Forgive me, O Jesus and let me bear You with me in my heart n all the rest of the journey that I have still to make through life, so that together with You I may enter into eternity. So often have I driven You from my soul by my sins. But now I love You above all things and I regret above other misfortunes that I have offended You. I wish to leave You no more, my beloved Lord. But You give me the strength to resist temptations. Never permit me to be separated from You again. Let me rather die than ever again lose Your good grace.

O Mary, my hope, make me always live in God’s love and then die in loving Him. Amen.

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Posted in ADVENT, CATHOLIC Quotes, CHRISTMASTIDE!, MORNING Prayers, The WORD

Thought for the Day – 22 December

Posted on by AnaStpaul
………If we examine Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus, we find very similar motifs to Matthew’s – Matthew tells us that Herod, having been duped by the Magi, furiously lashed out, ordering the murder of every boy in Bethlehem under two years of age. Not exactly the reaction of someone who is just delighted that the Christmas season has arrived!  Luke sets up his story as the tale of two rival Emperors: Caesar, the king of the world and Jesus, the baby king. While Caesar rules from his palace in Rome, Jesus has no place to lay his head; while Caesar exercises rangy power, Jesus is wrapped in swaddling clothes; while Caesar surrounds himself with wealthy and sophisticated courtiers, Jesus is surrounded by animals and shepherds of the field. And yet, the baby king is more powerful than Augustus – which is signaled by the presence of an army (stratias in the Greek) of angels in the skies over Bethlehem.

All four of the Gospels play out as a struggle, culminating in the deadly business of the cross, between the worldly powers and the power of Christ. For Jesus is not simply a kindly prophet with a gentle message of forgiveness; he is God coming in person to assume command. He is the Lord. And the entire New Testament couldn’t be clearer that his Lordship means that all those who follow a contrary rule – meaning, pretty much every one of us – are under judgment.

To be sure, the distinctive mark of Jesus’ Lordship is love, compassion, forgiveness and non-violence – but this is not the stuff of sentimentality and warm feelings. It is a provocation, a challenge, a call to conversion of the most radical kind

Bishop Robert Barron –  Why Christmas should bother everybody – December 15, 2016 –

ARE WE READY for the challenge?

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Posted in CHRISTMASTIDE!, MORNING Prayers, QUOTES of the SAINTS

Quote of the Day – 22 December

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Quote of the Day – 22 December

“Jesus was born in a cave in Bethlehem because, Sacred Scripture tells us, “there was no room for them in the inn.”
—I am not departing from theological truth when I say that Jesus is still looking for shelter in your heart.”

~~~St. Josemaria Escrivä

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Posted in MORNING Prayers, QUOTES of the SAINTS, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 22 December

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One Minute Reflection – 22 December

A child is born to us, a son is given us;  upon his shoulder dominian rests……Is 9:5

REFLECTION – In adoring our Saviour’s birth, it is our origin that we celebrate.  Christ’s temporal generation is the source of the Christian people, the birth of His Mystical Body. All of us encounter in this Mystery a new birth in Christ…………….St Leo the Great.

PRAYER – Heavenly Father, in celebrating the birth of Your Son on earth, let me also celebrate my birth in His Mystical Body.  Grant that I may thus be brought closer to You in union with Your only Son.  Saints and Martyrs and all Christ’s Holy Ones, Pray for us! Amen

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Posted in MORNING Prayers, PRAYERS of the SAINTS

Our Morning Offering – 22 December

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Our Morning Offering – 22 December

I beseech You, O my God,
that I may know You,
love You
and rejoice in you.
If in this life I cannot do these things fully,
grant that I may at the least progress in them
from day to day.
Advance in me the knowledge of You now,
that in the life to come it may be complete.
Increase in me the love of You here,
that there it may be full. O God of truth:
I pray that I may obtain that which You promise,
that my joy may be made full.
And in the meantime,
let my mind meditate on it;
let my soul hunger after it
and my whole being long for it,
till at last I enter into the joy of my Lord,
who is God, blessed forever. Amen.

St. Anselm of Canterbury

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Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 22 December

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Saint of the Day – 22 December – St. Chaeremon & St. Ischyrion & Other Martyrs

In his letter to Fabian, the Bishop of Antioch, St. Dionysius of Alexandria speaks of Christians who suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Decius.

Many were driven to flee into the desert where they suffered hunger, exposure, and died prey to either wild beasts, or at the hand of men just as wild. A good number were also sold into slavery.

St. Dionysius particularly mentions a very old man, the Bishop of Nilopolis, by name of Chaeremon who, with a companion, disappeared into the mountains of Arabia.  Though a search was carried out, not even their bodies were found.

In the same letter St. Dionysius also mentions the name of Ischyrion, the procurator of a magistrate of Egypt.

When ordered by the Egyptian official to sacrifice to the idols, Ischyrion refused so steadfastly that neither abuse nor threats could make him change his mind.  The enraged magistrate then had him mutilated and impaled.  A great many other martyrs are included here who gave their lives for Christ Jesus at this time in Egypt.

AND today it seems to be repeating itself, Christians are persecuted in these regions.  Let us Pray for them all today!

O New Martyrs, through a malevolent force as old as Eden you now number among the ancient holy ones; keep us particularly in your prayers, as once again we are focused on the mysterious lands where humanity first came into being and into knowing and where all will finally be revealed. Pray that we may put aside all that is irrelevant to the moment and looking forever to the East, prepare our spirits for the engagements into which we may be called, whether we live amid these places of ancient roads and portals, or in the most modern of dwellings.

Mary, the God-bearer, pray for us,
Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us,
Saint John the Forerunner, pray for us,
All Holy Men and Women, pray for us.
Amen, Amen.

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Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saints for 22 December

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St Abban of New Ross
Bl Adam of Saxony
St Amaswinthus of Málaga
St Athernaise of Fife
St Bertheid of Münster
St Chaeremon of Nilopolis
St Flavian of Acquapendente
St Honoratus of Toulouse
St Hunger of Utrecht
St Ischirione of Alexandria
Bl Jutta of Diessenberg
Bl Ottone of Toulouse
Bl Thomas Holland
St Zeno of Nicomedia
Martyrs of Ostia – (3 saints)
Martyrs of Rhaitu – (43 saints)
Martyrs of Via Lavicana – (30 saints)