Second Thoughts of the Day – 17 August – The Memorial of St Jeanne of the Cross Delanoue (1666-1736)
Saint Jeanne of the Cross —like many of us—found it difficult not to get caught up in the events and yearnings of the world. She approached her religion as a checklist, rather than a force of faith and direction in her life, simply going through the expected motions and not opening herself to the benefits and riches. Through the most unexpected of sources, Joan came to hear the call of God and embraced her mission of charity on earth and found she could do the work of armies!
She grew in faith in Divine Providence which never wavered and Divine Providence, never disappointed her.
Today we pray for the same openness to those around us and to the message and providence of God, the ability to believe that He is always in control and to rely only on Him —that we might serve Him humbly, obediently and faithfully to the betterment and salvation of mankind.
Thought for the Day – 17 August – The Memorial of St Hyacinth O.P. (1185-1257) – “Apostle of Poland” “Apostle of the North”
“Our readers, we can but fancy, have marvelled at the prodigious labours and travelling of Saint Hyacinth, although we have given only a meager account of them. They extended over a period of nearly forty years and carried him through a large part of Europe and Asia. Doubtless, if they were recorded in detail and in proper sequence, they would be found infinitely more stupendous than we have painted them. He alone could have told them as they should be recounted. Yet it possibly never entered his mind to leave posterity any information on his life. The one thing that engaged his thoughts was, after saving his own soul, to help those of others, to make God known and to extend the kingdom of Christ. The same idea filled the minds of the confrères who were often his companions in labour. In this way, it was only through the scanty records discovered in cities and the early convents that historians have been able to tell us the little we do know about him. Still perhaps never was there a life which should be more completely written than that of Saint Hyacinth Odrowaz.
One may consider the practical, lively faith of the Poles, whether in the home land or in others, as a perpetual miracle of Saint Hyacinth. In no small measure they owe it to him. To that keen faith we must attribute the magnificent institutions of learning, charity, benevolence and the like, as well as the churches, monasteries and similar edifices, in which Poland abounds and in which it has found expression. All these are filled with the spirit which the people largely derived from him. They simply thrill with love and gratitude for him. This true spirit of Catholicity, we must remember, has been preserved undiminished for centuries through wars of every kind, division, hardships, persecution and every sort of oppression-the like of which the world has seen few parallels. We have here, it would seem, the greatest miracle of the zealous apostle’s life. At least, it has contributed more to the glory of God, the good of the Church, and the salvation of souls than any miracle he performed.” (Acta; STANISLAUS, Father, O. P., of Cracow, manuscript Vita Sancti Hyacinthi.)
Saint Hyacinth teaches us to spare no effort in the service of God but to rely for success not on our industry but on the assistance of the Holy Eucharist and the prayer of the Immaculate Mother of God.
St Hyacinth of Poland pray for the Poland, the Church and for us all!
Quote/s of the Day – 17 August – Friday of the Nineteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year B – Today’s Gospel: Matthew 19:3–12
“Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” Matthew 19:4-6
“Speaking of Marriage”
“By their very nature, the institution of matrimony itself and conjugal love are ordained for the procreation and education of children and find in them their ultimate crown.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 48
“The obvious effect of frivolous divorce will be frivolous marriage. If people can be separated for no reason, they will feel it easier, to be united for no reason.”
G K Chesterton (1874-1936)
“To defend his purity, Saint Francis of Assisi rolled in the snow, Saint Benedict threw himself into a thorn bush and Saint Bernard plunged into an icy pond… You – what have you done?”
St Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975)
“Do not forget, that true love sets no conditions, it does not calculate or complain but simply loves.”
St John Paul the Great (1920-2005)
“No one justifies lying, cheating, betraying, promise breaking, devastating and harming strangers. But we expect and we tolerate doing this, to the one person in the world, we promised most seriously, to be faithful to forever – we justify divorce.”
Peter Kreeft
“Marriage is the real vocation crisis in the United States… We have a vocation crisis to life-long, life-giving, loving, faithful marriage. If we take care of that one, we’ll have all the priests and nuns we’ll need for the Church.”
One Minute Reflection 17 August – Friday of the Nineteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year B – Today’s Gospel: Matthew 19:3–12
“‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh.”…Matthew 19:5-6
REFLECTION – “Jesus responds with the overwhelming truth, the blunt truth — this is the truth! — of fullness, always. And Jesus never negotiates the truth. And this small group of enlightened theologians always negotiated truth, reducing it to a case study. Jesus, on the contrary, does not negotiate truth – this is the truth about marriage and there is no other…Pope Francis (Santa Marta, May 20, 2016)
PRAYER – Lord our God,
creator of the universe and all living things,
You made man and woman in your own likeness (Gn 1:27)
and gave them loving hearts
with which to participate in Your work of love.
You willed that in this church today
the lives of your servants, N….. and N….., should be united,
and now You will that they may make their home together,
may seek to love each other more and more each day
and follow Christ’s example in His love for others
even to death on the cross.
Bless, strengthen and protect the love of these newlyweds;
may their love sustain their fidelity to each other,
bringing them happiness and enabling them to find in Christ
the joy of complete self-giving to the one they love.
May their love, like Yours, O Lord,
become a source of life;
may it make them ever attentive to the needs of their neighbours;
and may their home be open to all in need.
Supported by their love and the love of Christ,
may they play an active part
in building up a more just and fraternal world
and thus be faithful to their human and christian vocation.
Amen…The Roman Missal – Rite of marriage : Nuptial Blessing 5
Our Morning Offering – 17 August – Friday of the Nineteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year B
Steer the Vessel of our Life, O God By St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor
Frail is our vessel,
and the ocean is wide;
but as in Your mercy
You have set our course,
so steer the vessel of our life
towards the everlasting shore of peace,
and bring us at length
to the quiet haven of our heart’s desire,
where You, O God, are blessed,
and live and reign for ever and ever.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 17 August – St Jeanne Delanoue (1666-1736) – Foundress of the Congregation of St Anne de la Providence, Apostle of Charity – born on 18 June 1666 at Samur, Anjou, France as Jeanne Delanoue and died on 17 August 1736 at Fencet, France of natural causes.
JEANNE DELANOUE was born in Saumur, in the valley of the Loire River, on 18 June 1666. She was the youngest in a family of twelve. Her parents owned a business near the sanctuary of Notre-Dame-des-Ardilliers. Although but six years of age when her father died, she helped her mother run the store in order to maintain the family. Her qualities were remarkable: she was skillful, energetic and indefatigable, even to the point of keeping the store open on Sundays and holy days.
Orginal Family Shop– “the little Providence House”
The future was hers. Her “business” was growing and prospering. It was precisely within this context of success that, at the age of 27, shortly after the death of her mother, an elderly woman, a faithful pilgrim to the shrine of NotreDame-des-Ardilliers, invited Jeanne to consecrate herself to the many poor people of her neighbourhood.
Despite the responsibilities she had accrued, in response to this call which she believed to have come from God, Jeanne turned toward the poor. They assumed more of her time each day than did her clients until finally they became her full-time occupation. Within a short time no longer did the poor await her visits to them but they came to her. In 1700, she warmly welcomed a child into her home and soon after she took in the sick, the aged and the destitute.
With so many needing lodging, the only place for the poor were the grottos hollowed out in the tuff. She made them as comfortable as she could, however it was necessary for her to seek help. Within four years, in 1704, some young girls were interested in helping Jeanne and were even willing to wear a religious habit if she wished them to do so. It was thus that the congregation of Sainte-Anne de la Providence was born. Under this name the constitutions were approved in 1709.
Jeanne Delanoue’s tenacity, supported by the dedicated women who worked with her, brought about the foundation of Saumur’s first home for the poor (in 1715) – a home which King Louis XIV visted in 1672.
Very quickly her charity spread beyond the limits of Saumur and of her diocese. More than that, already there were forty helpers who were under her direction and who had made the decision to follow her example of self-sacrifice, of prayer and of mortification.
At her death, August 17, 1736, Jeanne Delanoue left a dozen communities, as well as homes for the poor and schools. “The saint is dead”, they said in Saumur.
Everyone could admire her zeal and the work she accomplished in the numerous visits she received and made, but only her closest friends knew about her mortification, her life of prayer and of union with God. It is from this that her untiring charity proceeded. She was attracted toward all those who suffer but especially those who are poor and God knows they were many during those sad years of want, of cold, of famine and of war.
The Sisters of Jeanne Delanoue, as they simply call themselves today, number about 400 sisters in France, in Madagascar and in Sumatra, where they began in 1979.
On 5 November 1947 Venerable Pope Pius XII beatified Jeanne Delanoue. On 31 October 1982 St Pope John Paul 11 singled out for the people of God, yet another saint, Saint Jeanne Delanoue…vatican.va
St Jacobo Kyushei Gorobioye Tomonaga
St James the Deacon
St Jeanne of the Cross Delanoue (1666-1736)
St Jeroen of Noordwijk
St Juliana of Ptolemais
St Leopoldina Naudet
St Mamas
Bl Marie-Élisabeth Turgeon
St Michaël Kurobyoie
St Myron of Cyzicus
Bl Nicholas Politi
Bl Noël-Hilaire Le Conte
St Paul of Ptolemais
St Theodore of Grammont
—
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: Bl Antoni Carmaniú Mercarder, Bl Facundo Escanciano Tejerina, Bl Eugenio Sanz-Orozco Mortera, Bl Enric Canadell Quintana, Florencio López Egea and see below –
Martyrs of Malaga – 8 beati: A priest and seven brothers, all members of the Hospitallers of Saint John of God, all martyred together in the Spanish Civil War:
• Antonio del Charco Horques
• Eusebio Ballesteros Rodríguez
• Florentino Alonso Antonio
• Isidro Valentín Peña Ojea
• Juan Antonio García Moreno
• Manuel Sanz y Sanz
• Pedro Pastor García
• Silvestre Perez Laguna
17 August 1936 in Málaga, Spain – they were Beatified on 13 October 2013 by Pope Francis.
Martyrs of Maspujols – 3 beati: Three priests in the archdiocese of Tarragona, Spain.
Martyred together in the Spanish Civil War:
• Josep Mañé March
• Magí Civit Roca
• Miquel Rué Gené
17 August 1936 in Maspujols, Tarragona, Spain. They were Beatified on 13 October 2013 by Pope Francis. The beatification ceremony was celebrated in Tarragona, Spain.
AnaStpaul 
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