Day: February 5, 2019

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Thought for the Day – 5 February – The Memorial of St Agatha (c 231- c 251)

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 5 February – Tuesday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C – Gospel: Mark 5:21–43 and

Agatha, is claimed as the patroness of both Palermo and Catania.   The year after her death, the stilling of an eruption of Mount Etna was attributed to her intercession.   As a result, people continue to ask her prayers for protection, against fire.

St Agatha gave herself without reserve to Jesus Christ, she followed Him in virginal purity and then looked to Him for protection.   And down to this day, Christ has shown His tender regard for her mortal remains – again and again, during the eruptions of Mount Etna, the people of Catania have exposed her relics for public veneration and thus experienced safety.   In modern times, on opening her tomb in which her body lies waiting for the resurrection, her skin has been found to be intact, a sweet fragrance emanating from this temple of the Holy Spirit.

The scientific modern mind winces at the thought of a volcano’s might being contained by God because of the prayers of a Sicilian girl.   Still less welcome, probably, is the notion of that saint being the patroness of such varied professions as those of foundry workers, nurses, miners and Alpine guides.   Yet, in our historical precision, have we lost an essential human quality of wonder and poetry and even our belief that we come to God by helping each other, both in action and prayer?   And, far more than this, from where did it all come from in the first place and, you and I, in and by what power are we upheld?

Jesus Christ, Lord of all things! 
You see my heart, You know my desires. 
Possess all that I am – You alone. 
I am Your sheep.
Make me worthy to overcome the devil.

(Prayer of St Agatha)jesus-christlord-of-all-things-st-agatha-5-feb-2018.jpg

St Agatha, Pray for Us!st agatha pray for us 5 feb 2019 no 2.jpg

Posted in QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONSCIENCE, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on LOVE, SPEAKING of ....., thomas a kempis

Quote/s of the Day – 5 February – Speaking of “Conscience and Death”

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 5 February

Speaking of “Conscience and Death”

Thomas à Kempis CRSA (1380-1471)

“If you have a good conscience,
you would not greatly fear death.”

“The glory of the good,
is in their consciences
and not, in the tongues of men.”

“Happy is the man
who renounces everything,
which may bring a stain or burden,
upon his conscience”3 conscience quotes - thomas a kempis 5feb2019.jpg

“He has great tranquillity of heart,
who cares neither for the praises,
nor the fault-finding of men.
He will easily be content and pacified,
whose conscience is pure.
You are not holier if you are praised,
nor the more worthless,
if you are found fault with.
What you are, that you are;
neither by word can you be made greater,
than what you are in the sight of God.”he has great tranquility of heart - thomas a kempis 5 feb 2019.jpg

“Love alone makes heavy burdens light
and bears in equal balance,
things pleasing and displeasing.
Love bears a heavy burden
and does not feel it
and love, makes bitter things,
tasteful and sweet.”love alone makes heavy burdens lights - thomas a kempis 5feb2019.jpg

“Without labour there is no rest,
nor without fighting,
can the victory be won.”without labour there is no rest thomas a kempis 5feb2019.jpg

“You shall rest sweetly,
if your heart condemns you not.”you shall rest sweetly - thomas a kempis 5feb2019.jpg

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, MORNING Prayers, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN, SAINT of the DAY, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 5 February …”I say to you, arise.”… Mark 5:41

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 5 February – Tuesday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C – Gospel: Mark 5:21–43 and The Memorial of St Agatha (c 231- c 251)

…”I say to you, arise.”… Mark 5:41

mark 5 41 - i say to you arise - jairus' daughter - 5 feb 2019

REFLECTION – ““He took the child by the hand and said to her: ‘Talitha koum’, which means, ‘Little girl…arise.’”   “Since you have been born again, you are to be called ‘little girl’.   Little girl, arise for my sake – your healing does not come from you.”   “And immediately the little girl arose and walked around.”   May Jesus touch us, too and at once we shall walk.   We may well be paralysed, our deeds may be evil and we may be unable to walk, we may be lying on the bed of our sins… but if Jesus touches us, then we shall immediately be healed.   Peter’s mother-in-law was suffering with fever – Jesus touched her hand and she arose and immediately served Him (Mk 1:31)…

“They were utterly astounded and he gave them strict orders that no one should know this.”   Do you see now why He put the people out when He was going to work a miracle? He ordered and not just ordered but strictly ordered, that no one should know of this.   He ordered the three apostles and He ordered the parents, too, that no one should know. Our Lord ordered them all but the little girl herself, she who had stood up, could not be silent.

“And he said she should be given something to eat” – so that her resurrection might not be thought to be a ghostly apparition.   And He Himself, after His resurrection, ate fish and a piece of honeycomb (Lk 24:42)…   Lord, I beseech you, touch our hands as we, too, lie prostrate.   Make us rise from our bed of sins and enable us to walk.   And when we have walked, make them give us something to eat.   We cannot eat when we are lying down- unless we are standing, we shall not be able to receive the Body of Christ.”…St Jerome (347-420) – Father & Doctor of the Church

PRAYER – Increase in us, O Lord, the gift of faith, so that we may arise and offer our praise to You and by Your grace, yield fruit from heaven, for the glory of Your Kingdom. Lord God, let St Agatha, who became precious in Your sight through her pure life and valiant martyrdom, plead for our forgiveness.   For, with joy and rejoicing, as though to a feast, St Agatha, went to prison and offered her sufferings to You, with many prayers. Through Jesus Christ, Your divine Son, in unity with the Spirit, one God forever. St Agatha, pray for us, amen.

Posted in Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, The HOLY NAME, thomas a kempis

Our Morning Offering – 5 February – Write Your Blessed Name, Upon My Heart

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 5 February-Tuesday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C

Write Your Blessed Name, Upon My Heart
By Thomas à Kempis

Write Your blessed name,
O Lord,
upon my heart,
there to remain so indelibly engraved,
that no prosperity,
no adversity shall ever move me
from Your love.
Be to me a strong tower of defence,
a comforter in tribulation,
a deliverer in distress,
a very present help in trouble
and a guide to heaven
through the many temptations
and dangers of this life.
Amenwrite your blessed name o lord upon my heart - thomas a kempist - 5 feb 2019.jpg

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 5 February – St Adelaide of Guelders (c 970–1015)

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Saint of the Day – 5 February – St Adelaide of Guelders (c 970–1015) – Abbess, Apostle of Charity, Miracle-worker, Reformer, Counsellor to the Archbishop of Cologne.   She is also known as Adelaide of Vilich, Adelaide of Bellich, Alice, Adelheid, Adalheide.   Born in c970 in Geldern, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and died on 5 February 1015 at Our Lady of the Capitol convent at Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany of natural causes.st adelaide.jpg

When Adelaide was still very young, she entered the convent of St Ursula, Our Lady of the Capitol, founded by her parents in Cologne, where the Rule of St Jerome was followed.   About 980, her parents founded the convent of Villich.   Adelaide was “redeemed” from the Ursulione convent by exchange with a parcel of land and became abbess of this new convent, initially established as an unusually late example of a community of canonesses.   Canons were attached to the convent in order that Mass might be said.   Here, Adelaide introduced the stricter Benedictine rule.   She insisted that the nuns under her care learn to read Latin, that they might understand the Mass.img-Saint-Adelaide-of-Guelders

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia “the fame of her sanctity and of her gift of working miracles soon attracted the attention of Saint Heribert, Archbishop of Cologne”, who could scarcely have ignored an abbess of her high connections.   He appointed her abbess of the convent of St Maria im Kapitol, Cologne, to succeed her sister Bertha, who died about 1000.   Emperor Otto III reaffirmed Vilich’s immunities from ecclesiastical interference and the right to appoint its own abbess, a title that remained only briefly in the founding family.   She died at her convent in Cologne in the year 1015 but was buried at Vilich, where her feast was solemnly celebrated on 5 February and rapidly attracted pilgrims.

A hagiography, Vita Adelheidis, provides some information regarding her family.

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Memorials of the Saints – 5 February

Posted on by AnaStpaul

St Agatha (c 231- c 251) (Memorial)
All about St Agatha: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/02/05/saint-of-the-day-st-agatha-c-231-c-251-virgin-and-martyr/

St Adelaide of Guelders (c 970–1015)
St Agatha Hildegard of Carinthia
St Agricola of Tongres
St Albinus of Brixen
St Anthony of Athens
St Avitus of Vienne
St Bertulph
St Buo of Ireland
St Calamanda of Calaf
St Dominica of Shapwick
St Fingen of Metz
Bl Françoise Mézière
St Gabriel de Duisco
St Genuinus of Sabion
St Indract
St Isidore of Alexandria
St Jesús Méndez-Montoya
Bl John Morosini
St Kichi Franciscus
St Luca di Demenna
St Modestus of Carinthia
Bl Primo Andrés Lanas
St Saba the Younger
St Vodoaldus of Soissons
—
Martyrs of Pontus: An unknown number of Christians who were tortured and martyred in assorted painful ways in the region of Pontus (in modern Turkey) during the persecutions of Maximian.