Dear friends
I am organising, which of course means doing everything, for our Spring Festival this coming Saturday 28 October.
Please forgive my absence until after the weekend, I am absolutely run off my feet.
Your prayers for its success are entreated – our Parish is in great needs of Funds.
I’ll miss you…God bless
Ana
Thought for the Day – 25 October – St John Vianney on Confession
We come to confession quite preoccupied with the shame that we shall feel. We accuse ourselves with hot air. It is said that many confess and few are converted. I believe it is so, my childrenbecause few confess with tears of repentance.
See, the misfortune is, that people do not reflect. If one said to those who work on Sundays, to a young person who had been dancing for two or three hours, to a man coming out of an alehouse drunk, “What have you been doing? You have been crucifying Our Lord!” they would be quite astonished, because they do not think of it. My children, if we thought of it, we should be seized with horror; it would be impossible for us to do evil. For what has the good God done to us that we should grieve Him thus, and put Him to death again — Him, who has redeemed us from Hell?
It would be well if all sinners, when they are going to their guilty pleasures, could, like St Peter, meet Our Lord on the way, who would say to them, “I am going to that place where you are going yourself, to be there crucified again.” Perhaps that might make them reflect. – St Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars (1786-1859)
St John Vianney, Pray for us!
Quote/s of the Day on Confession – 25 October
“The confession of evil works,
is the first beginning of good works.
You do the truth
and come to the light.”
“A man is repaired in an instant by Divine grace.”
“One who has confessed and received absolution,
will be less punished in Purgatory than one
who has gone no further than contrition.”
“Are you scorched, are you burnt to the very core,
by the heat of concupiscence? Even so, poor sufferers!
You must not lose courage; there is a cool fountain
ready to refresh you and heal all your wounds;
not indeed the first font, which gave you the life you have lost;
but the second Baptism, the divine Sacrament of Penance,
which can restore you to grace and purity!”
“Confession is stronger than an exorcism!”
Our Morning Offering – 25 October
Prayer for the Grace of Devotion
By Thomas à Kempis
O Lord, my God,
You are my all and every good.
And what am I, that I should presume
to address You?
I am the poorest of Your servants
and a wretched worm,
far more poor and worthless
than I can ever realise or express.
Yet, Lord, remember that I am nothing,
I have nothing and can do nothing.
You alone are good, just and holy;
You can do all things, fill all things,
bestow all things,
leaving only the wicked empty-handed.
Remember Your mercies, Lord
and fill my heart with Your grace,
since it is Your will that none of Your works
should be worthless.
How can I endure this life of sorrows,
unless You strengthen me
with Your mercy and grace?
Do not turn Your face from me;
do not delay Your coming,
nor withdraw Your consolation from me,
lest my soul become like a waterless desert.
Teach me, O Lord, to do Your will;
teach me to live worthily
and humbly in Your sight;
for You are my wisdom, who know me truly
and who knew me before the world was made
and before I had my being. Amen
One Minute Reflection – 25 October
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them and whose sins you retain are retained.”…John 20:22-23
REFLECTION – “After confession a crown is given to penitents.”… St John Chrysostom (347-407) Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – Lord God, hear my prayer, forgive my sins, teach me true repentance, help me to renew my life and live only in Your love.
I wish now and every day, sorrow for my sins and the willingness to make reparation for them. Show me how, dear Lord, teach me Your ways. For my sins crucified my Lord, on my God, forgive me! Lord Jesus, I love You, grant that I may never separate myself from You again! Amen
Saints of the Day – 25 October – St Crispin & Crispian – Martyrs – tortured and beheaded c 286 at Rome, Italy in the reign of Diocletian. Patronages – cobblers; curriers; glove makers; lace makers; lace workers; leather workers; saddle makers; saddlers; shoemakers; tanners; weavers, San Crispin, San Pablo City, Philippines. Attributes -depicted holding shoes.
Born to a noble Roman family in the 3rd century AD, Saints Crispin and Crispinian fled persecution for their faith, ending up at Soissons, where they preached Christianity to the Gauls whilst making shoes by night. While it is stated that they were twin brothers, that has not been positively proved.
They earned enough by their trade to support themselves and also to aid the poor. Their success attracted the ire of Rictus Varus, governor of Belgic Gaul, who had them tortured and thrown into the river with millstones around their necks. Though they survived, they were beheaded by the Emperor c 285-286.
An alternative account gives them to be sons of a noble Romano-Briton family who lived in Canterbury, following their father’s murder for displeasing the Roman Emperor. As they were approaching maturity their mother sent them to London to seek apprenticeship and to avoid coming to the attention of their father’s killer. Travelling there, the brothers came across a shoemaker’s workshop at Faversham and decided to travel no further and stayed in Faversham. This account fails to explain how the brothers came to be venerated and martyred.
The feast day of Saints Crispin and Crispinian is 25 October. Although this feast was removed from the Roman Catholic Church’s universal liturgical calendar following the Second Vatican Council, the two saints are still commemorated on that day in the most recent edition of the Roman Church’s martyrology.
In the sixth century a stately basilica was erected at Soissons over the graves of these saints and St Eligius, a famous goldsmith, made a costly shrine for the head of St. Crispinian.
Saint Crispin is often associated with the Battle of Agincourt since the battle was fought on his feastday. It has been immortalised by Shakespeare’s St Crispin’s Day Speech from his play Henry V. Also, for the Midsummer’s Day Festival in the third act of Die Meistersinger, Wagner has the shoemakers’ guild enter singing a song of praise to St Crispin.
A plaque at Faversham commemorates their association with the town. They are also commemorated in the name of the old pub “Crispin and Crispianus” at Strood.
Dedication of all Churches where the Consecration Date is Unknown
—
St Alfons Arimany Ferrer
St Canna verch Tewdr Marw
St Chrysanthus
St Crispin and Crispian
St Cyrinus of Rome
St Daria
St Dulcardus
Bl Edmund Daniel
St Engratia of Segovia
St Francis Serrano
St Fronto of Périgueux
St Fructus of Segovia
St Gaudentius of Brescia
St George of Périgueux
St Goeznoveus of Leon
St Guesnoveus
Bl Henry of Segusio
St Hilary of Mende
St Hildemarca of Fecamp
St Januarius of Sassari
St Lucius of Rome
St Lupus of Bayeux
St Marciano of Constantinople
St Mark of Rome
St Martirio of Constantinople
St Miniato of Florence
St Peter of Rome
St Protus of Sassari
St Recaredo Centelles Abad
St Tabitha
Bl Thaddeus McCarthy
St Theodosius of Rome
St Valentine of Segovia
—
Martyrs of Cruz Cubierta – 5 beati: A mother, Blessed María Teresa Ferragud Roig de Masiá, and her four daughters, Blessed María Joaquina Masiá Ferragud, Blessed María Vicenta Masiá Ferragud, Blessed María Felicidad Masiá Ferragud and Blessed Josefa Ramona Masiá Ferragud, all nuns, who were Martyred in the Spanish Civil War. They were martyred on 25 October 1936 in Cruz Cubierta, Alzira, Valencia, Spain and Beatified on 11 March 2001 by St Pope John Paul II.
Martyrs of England and Wales – 40 saints: Following the dispute between the Pope and King Henry VIII in the 16th century, faith questions in the British Isles became entangled with political questions, with both often being settled by torture and murder of loyal Catholics. In 1970, the Vatican selected 40 martyrs, men and women, lay and religious, to represent the full group of perhaps 300 known to have died for their faith and allegiance to the Church between 1535 and 1679. They each have their own day of memorial, but are remembered as a group on 25 October. They were Canonised on 25 October 1970 by Blessed Pope Paul VI.
Martyrs of Rome – 67 saints: A group of 46 soldiers and 21 civilians martyred together in the persecutions of Claudius II. 269 in Rome, Italy.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
• Blessed Alfons Arimany Ferrer
• Blessed Recaredo Centelles Abad
AnaStpaul 
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