Dear All
I will be out of town for about a week – expected back on Wednesday 10 May or Thursday 11th – see you soon. A few forward posts might pop through if I find the time,
I’ll miss you all and be praying for you!
Day: May 3, 2017
Thought for the Day – 3 May
Sts Philip and James left all to follow Jesus, to become His heralds to the whole world. They faced only difficulties, opposition and – finally – death by violence. We cannot avoid the difficulties that come with professing our faith and we are all called to be apostles. Let us pray for the courage to face our task with the same courage with which the Apostles faced theirs. As in the case of the other apostles, we see in James and Philip human men who became foundation stones of the Church and we are reminded again that holiness and its consequent apostolate are entirely the gift of God, not a matter of human achieving. All power is God’s power, even the power of human freedom to accept his gifts. “You will be clothed with power from on high,” Jesus told Philip and the others. Their first commission had been to expel unclean spirits, heal diseases, announce the kingdom. They learned, gradually, that these externals were sacraments of an even greater miracle inside their persons—the divine power to love like God.
Sts Philip and James, Pray for us!
Quote of the Day – 3 May
Quote of the Day – 3 May
“To love is to be transformed into what we love.
To love God is therefore to be transformed into God!”
St John of the Cross
One Minute Reflection – 3 May
One Minute Reflection – 3 May
What was from the beginning, what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon
and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life
for the life was made visible; we have seen it and testify to it……….1 John 1:1-2
REFLECTION – “Two of the favoured witnesses of our beloved Jesus’ Resurrection come before us today. Sts. Philip and James are here, bearing testimony to us that their Master is truly risen from the dead, that they have seen Him, that they have touched Him, that they have conversed with Him during these forty days. And, that we may have no doubt as to the truth of their testimony, they hold in their hands the instruments of the martyrdom they underwent for asserting that Jesus, after having suffered death, came to life again and rose from the grave.”………………..Abbot/Dom Prosper Guéranger
PRAYER – O God, who gladden us each year with the feast day of the Apostles Philip and James, grant us, through their prayers, a share in the Passion and Resurrection of your Only Begotten Son, so that we may merit to behold You for eternity. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Our Morning Offering – 3 May
Our Morning Offering – 3 May
Most Holy Mary
By St John of the Cross
Most holy Mary,
Virgin of virgins,
shrine of the most Holy Trinity,
joy of the angels,
sure refuge of sinners,
take pity on our sorrows,
mercifully accept our sighs
and appease the wrath
of your most holy Son. Amen
Blessed Feast Day of Sts Philip and James, Apostles of Jesus Christ
Blessed Feast Day of Sts Philip and James, Apostles of Jesus Christ
ST PHILIP
The Apostle Philip was one of Christ’s first disciples, called soon after his Master’s baptism in the Jordan. The fourth Gospel gives the following detail: “The next day Jesus was about to leave for Galilee and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him: Follow Me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael, and said to him: We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets wrote, Jesus the Son of Joseph of Nazareth. And Nathanael said to him: Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him: Come and see” (John 1:43ff). — The Church’s Year of Grace, Pius Parsch
Patronages: Hatters; Luxembourg; pastry chefs; Uruguay, 37 cities. Attributes: basket; basket and Tau cross or letter Tau; two or three loaves and a cross; patriarchal cross and spear; knotted cross; broken idols; inverted cross; tall column; dragon; carpenter’s square and cross; long staff and spear; tall cross and book.
On Wednesday, 27 July 2011, the Turkish news agency Anadolu reported that archaeologists had unearthed a tomb that the project leader claims to be the Tomb of Saint Philip during excavations in Hierapolis close to the Turkish city Denizli. The Italian archaeologist, Professor Francesco D’Andria stated that scientists had discovered the tomb within a newly revealed church. He stated that the design of the Tomb and writings on its walls, definitively prove it belonged to the martyred Apostle of Jesus.
ST JAMES THE LESSER
Also known as: Jacobus Minor, James the Just, James the Less, James the Younger, James, son of Alphaeus. James, Son of Alphaeus: We know nothing of this man except his name and, of course, the fact that Jesus chose him to be one of the 12 pillars of the New Israel, His Church. He is not the James of Acts, son of Clopas, “brother” of Jesus and later bishop of Jerusalem and the traditional author of the Letter of James. James, son of Alphaeus, is also known as James the Lesser to avoid confusing him with James the son of Zebedee, also an apostle and known as James the Greater.
Patronage: dying people, apothecaries, druggists, pharmacists, fullers, hatmakers, hatters, milliners, Uruguay, 8 cities in Italy. Attributes: fuller’s club, man holding a book, square rule
Today’s Mass tells us that the example of the Apostles is the most certain and direct path to heaven. They suffered and were persecuted but they placed their confidence in God and now they rejoice in heaven. We too must have confidence in God and not be troubled in our adversities. In our Father’s house there are many mansions and if we follow the way indicated by Him, Christ will come at the end of our life and take us to Himself.
Saints’ Memorials and Feasts – 3 May
St James the Lesser (Feast)
St Philip the Apostle (Feast)
—
St Adalsindis of Bèze
Bl Adam of Cantalupo in Sabina
St Ahmed the Calligrapher
St Aldwine of Peartney
St Pope Alexander I
St Alexander of Constantinople
Bl Alexander of Foigny
St Alexander of Rome
Bl Alexander Vincioli
St Ansfrid of Utrecht
St Antonina of Constantinople
St Diodorus the Deacon
Bl Edoardo Giuseppe Rosaz
St Ethelwin of Lindsey
St Eventius of Rome
St Fumac
St Gabriel Gowdel
St Juvenal of Narni
Bl Maria Leonia Paradis
St Maura of Antinoe
St Peter of Argos
St Philip of Zell
Bl Ramon Oromí Sullà
St Rhodopianus the Deacon
St Scannal of Cell-Coleraine
Bl Sostenaeus
St Stanislas Kazimierczyk
St Theodolus of Rome
St Timothy of Antinoe
Bl Tommaso Acerbis
Bl Uguccio
Bl Zechariah
AnaStpaul 
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