One Minute Reflection – 2 May – The Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year C, Gospel: John 10:27-30 – Good Shepherd/Vocations Sunday
“I give them eternal life”...John 10:27
REFLECTION – “The Lord says: “My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me; I give them eternal life”. A little earlier He said to them: “Anyone who enters by me will be saved, he will go in ou, and will find pasture”. (Jn 10:9) He will go into faith, he will go out from faith to vision, from belief to contemplation, will find pasture in eternal refreshment.
The Good Shepherd’s sheep will pasture because whoever follows Him with a guileless heart is nourished with a food of eternal freshness. What are the pastures of these sheep but the eternal joys of an evergreen paradise? The pasture of the elect, is the face of God always before us. When we see Him perfectly, our hearts are endlessly satisfied with the food of life…
Let us seek these pastures, dearly beloved! There we may enjoy the celebration of so many citizens. Let the festival of those who rejoice attract us… Let us enkindle our hearts, my friends, let our faith grow warm again for what it believes, let our desire for heavenly things take fire. To love thus, is to be already on the way. Let no adversity recall us from the joy of inner festivity, no difficulty on his journey, alters the desire, of a person wanting to go to some particular place. Let no seductive good fortune lead us astray, he is a foolish traveller who sees pleasant meadows on his journey and forgets where he is going.”… St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) Father & Doctor of the Church – Homilies on the Gospel, no15[14]
PRAYER – Almighty, ever-living God, bring us to the joy of Your heavenly city, so that we, Your little flock, may follow where Christ, our Good Shepherd, has gone before us, by the power of His Resurrection. May the prayers of the Blessed Virgin, guide us, that we may always follow our Shepherd and thus reach our heavenly home, to praise Him forever. We make our prayer through Christ, our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God now and for all eternity, amen.
Sunday Reflection – 12 May – The Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year C
Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
Doctor of the Church
The Way of Perfection §34
As for ourselves, let us ask the Eternal Father, that we might merit to receive our heavenly bread in such a way, that the Lord may reveal Himself to the eyes of our soul and make Himself thereby known, since our bodily eyes cannot delight in beholding Him, because He is so hidden. Such a knowledge is another kind of satisfying and delightful sustenance that maintains life…
I know a person, to whom the Lord had given such living faith, that when she heard some persons saying, they would have liked to have lived at the time Christ our Good walked in the world, she used to laugh to herself. She wondered what more they wanted, since in the Blessed Sacrament, they had Him just as truly present as He was then… She considered she was at His feet and wept with the Magdalene, no more, nor less, than if she were seeing Him with her bodily eyes in the house of the Pharisee. And even though she didn’t feel devotion, faith told her that He was indeed there.
If we don’t want to be fools and blind the intellect, there’s no reason for doubt. Receiving communion is not like picturing with the imagination, as when we reflect upon the cross or in other episodes of the Passion, when we picture within ourselves how things happened to Him in the past. In communion, the event is happening now and it is entirely true. There’s no reason to go looking for Him in some other place farther away. Since we know that Jesus is with us, as long as the natural heat doesn’t consume the accidents of bread, we should approach Him. Now, then, if, when He went about in the world, the mere touch of His robes cured the sick, why doubt, if we have faith, that miracles will be worked while He is within us and that He will give what we ask of Him, since He is in our house?
“Consequently, every time we approach the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharistic liturgy, we also turn to her who, by her complete fidelity, received Christ’s sacrifice for the whole Church. The Synod Fathers rightly declared that “Mary inaugurates the Church’s participation in the sacrifice of the Redeemer.” She is the Immaculata, who receives God’s gift unconditionally and is thus associated with His work of salvation. Mary of Nazareth, icon of the nascent Church, is the model for each of us, called to receive the gift that Jesus makes of Himself in the Eucharist.”
Our Morning Offering – 12 May – ‘Mary’s Month” – The Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year C
Prayer to Mary, Mother of the Church and Mother of our Faith By Pope Francis
Mother, help our faith!
Open our ears to hear God’s word
and to recognise His voice and call.
Awaken in us a desire to follow in His footsteps,
to go forth from our own land
and to receive His promise.
Help us to be touched by His love,
that we may touch Him in faith.
Help us to entrust ourselves fully to Him
and to believe in His love,
especially at times of trial,
beneath the shadow of the cross,
when our faith is called to mature.
Sow in our faith, the joy of the Risen One.
Remind us, that those who believe are never alone.
Teach us to see all things
with the eyes of Jesus,
that He may be light for our path.
And may this light of faith
always increase in us,
until the dawn of that undying day
which is Christ Himself, your Son, our Lord!
Amen
*Prayer to Mary at the conclusion of the Encyclical Lumen Fidei (29 June 2013)
Saint of the Day – Saint Epiphanius (c 315 – 403) Bishop of Salamis (Cyprus) known as the Oracle of Palestine, Church Father, Theologian, Confessor, Writer, Defender of the Faith, Monk and Ascetic, Apostle of charity and poor, Spiritual adviser, founder of monasteries – he gained a reputation as a strong defender of orthodoxy.
St Epiphanius was born about the year 310, in Palestine. In his youth he began the study of the Holy Scriptures, embraced a monastic life and went into Egypt to perfect himself in the exercises of that state, in the deserts of that country. He returned to Palestine about the year 333 and built a monastery near the place of his birth.
He was ordained a priest and lived and studied as superior of the monastery in Ad that he founded for thirty years and gained much skill and knowledge in that position. There he gained the ability to speak in several tongues, including Hebrew, Syriac, Egyptian, Greek and Latin and was called by St Jerome on that account, Pentaglossis (“Five tongued”).
His labours in the exercise of virtue seemed, to some, to surpass his strength but his apology always was – “God gives not the kingdom of heaven but on condition that we labour and all we can do, bears no proportion, to such a crown.” To his corporal austerities he added an indefatigable application to prayer and study. Most books then in vogue passed through his hands and he improved himself very much in learning, by his travels into many parts.
Although the skilful director of many others, St Epiphanius took the great St Hilarion as his master in a spiritual life and enjoyed the happiness of his direction and intimate acquaintance from the year 333 to 356.
The reputation of his virtue made St Epiphanius known to distant countries and about the year 367 he was chosen Bishop of Salamis in Cyprus. But he still wore the monastic habit and continued to govern his monastery in Palestine, which he visited from time to time. He sometimes relaxed his austerities in favour of hospitality, preferring charity to abstinence. No one surpassed him in tenderness and charity to the poor. The veneration which all men had for his sanctity exempted him from the persecution of the Arian Emperor Valens.
In 376, he undertook a journey to Antioch, in the hope of converting Vitalis, the Apollinarist bishop and in 382 he accompanied St Paulinus from that city to Rome, where they lodged at the house of St Paula. Our Saint in return entertained her afterward ten days in Cyprus in 385. The very name of an error in faith, or the shadow of danger of evil, frightened him and the Saint fell into some mistakes on certain occasions, which proceeded from zeal and simplicity.
He was on his way back to Salamis, after a short absence, when he died in 403, having been bishop thirty-six years.
He is best known for composing the Panarion – which means “medicine-chest” (also known as Adversus Haereses, “Against Heresies”), presented as a book of antidotes for those bitten by the serpent of heresy. Written between 374 and 377, it forms a handbook for dealing with the arguments of heretics.
St Pancras of Rome (Optional Memorial)
—
St Crispoldus
St Cyril of Galatz
St Dedë Malaj
St Diomma of Kildimo
St Dionysius of Asia
St Dominic de la Calzada
St Ejëll Deda
St Ephrem of Jerusalem St Epiphanius (c 315 – 403)
St Erc Nasca of Tullylish
St Ethelhard of Canterbury
St Euphrosyna of Terracina
Bl Francis Patrizzi of Siena
Bl Gemma of Goriano
St Germanus of Constantinople
Bl Jane of Portugal
Bl Juan de Segalars
St Lucien Galan
St Modoald of Trier
St Palladius of Rome
St Philip of Agira
St Richrudis of Marchiennes
St Theodora of Terracina
St Thomas Khampheuane Inthirath
On the Annunciation and Mary’s “fiat” Saint Bernard (1090-1153) Mellifluous Doctor
You have heard, O Virgin, that you will conceive and bear a son, you have heard that it will not be by man but by the Holy Spirit. The angel awaits an answer, it is time for him to return to God who sent him. We too are waiting, O Lady, for your word of compassion, the sentence of condemnation weighs heavily upon us.
The price of our salvation is offered to you. We shall be set free at once if you consent. In the eternal Word of God we all came to be and behold, we die. In your brief response we are to be remade, in order to be recalled to life.
Tearful Adam with his sorrowing family begs this of you, O loving Virgin, in their exile from Paradise. Abraham begs it, David begs it. All the other holy patriarchs, your ancestors, ask it of you, as they dwell in the country of the shadow of death. This is what the whole earth waits for, prostrate at your feet. It is right in doing so, for on your word depends comfort for the wretched, ransom for the captive, freedom for the condemned, indeed, salvation for all the sons of Adam, the whole of your race.
Answer quickly, O Virgin. Reply in haste to the angel, or rather through the angel to the Lord. Answer with a word, receive the Word of God. Speak your own word, conceive the divine Word. Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal Word.
Why do you delay, why are you afraid? Believe, give praise and receive. Let humility be bold, let modesty be confident. This is no time for virginal simplicity to forget prudence. In this matter alone, O prudent Virgin, do not fear to be presumptuous. Though modest silence is pleasing, dutiful speech is now more necessary. Open your heart to faith, O blessed Virgin, your lips to praise, your womb to the Creator. See, the desired of all nations is at your door, knocking to enter. If He should pass by because of your delay, in sorrow you would begin to seekHhim afresh, the One whom your soul loves. Arise, hasten, open. Arise in faith, hasten in devotion, open in praise and thanksgiving. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, she says, be it done to me according to your word.
This homily excerpt of St Bernard is in the Office of Readings for 20 December the fourth week of Advent. Hom. 4, 8-9
Thought for the Day – 11 May – Saturday of the Third Week of Easter, C, Gospel: John 6:60–69
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life..”…John 6:68
Excerpt on Pope Benedict’s Catechesis
on Christ and the Church
Wednesday, 15 March 2006
“In choosing the Twelve, introducing them into a communion of life with Himself and involving them in His mission of proclaiming the Kingdom in words and works (cf. Mk 6: 7-13; Mt 10: 5-8; Lk 9: 1-6; 6: 13), Jesus wants to say that the definitive time has arrived in which to constitute the new People of God, the people of the 12 tribes, which now becomes a universal people, His Church.
With their very own existence, the Twelve – called from different backgrounds – become an appeal for all of Israel to convert and allow herself to be gathered into the new covenant, complete and perfect fulfilment of the ancient one. The fact that He entrusted to His Apostles, during the Last Supper and before His Passion, the duty to celebrate His Pasch, demonstrates how Jesus wished to transfer to the entire community, in the person of its heads, the mandate to be a sign and instrument in history of the eschatological gathering begun by Him. In a certain sense we can say that the Last Supper itself is the act of foundation of the Church, because He gives Himself and thus creates a new community, a community united in communion with Himself.
In this light, one understands how the Risen One confers upon them, with the effusion of the Spirit, the power to forgive sins (cf. Jn 20: 23). Thus, the Twelve Apostles are the most evident sign of Jesus’ will. regarding the existence and mission of His Church, the guarantee that between Christ and the Church there is no opposition, despite the sins of the people who make up the Church, they are inseparable.
Therefore, a slogan that was popular some years back: “Jesus yes, Church no”, is totally inconceivable with the intention of Christ. This individualistically chosen Jesus is an imaginary Jesus.
We cannot have Jesus without the reality He created and in which He communicates Himself. Between the Son of God-made-flesh and His Church there is a profound, unbreakable and mysterious continuity by which Christ is present today in His people.
He is always contemporary with us, He is always contemporary with the Church, built on the foundation of the Apostles and alive in the succession of the Apostles. And His very presence in the community, in which He Himself is always with us, is the reason for our joy. Yes, Christ is with us, the Kingdom of God is coming.”
Quote of the Day – 11 May – Saturday Third Week of Easter, C
Jesus Christ You have heard Him spoken of, indeed the greater part of you are already His – you are Christians. So, to you Christians I repeat His name, to everyone I proclaim Him – Jesus Christ is the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega. He is the King of the new world. He is the Secret of history. He is the Key to our destiny.
One Minute Reflection – 11 May – Saturday of the Third Week Easter, C, Gospel: John 6:60–69
“Do you want to leave me too?”...John 6:67
REFLECTION – “Jesus confronts His listeners, including His disciples, with an even more merciless decision, in the light of His promise of the Eucharist. Because He refuses to back away, in the slightest, from His statements about the Eucharist, these words seems so ‘intolerable’ to his listeners, that they are faced with the toughest test of all. Indeed, for His disciples, Jesus hones His assertions even more finely, when He predicts His ascent to the Father and claims that all His words are: ‘Spirit and life.”
This draws a line among His disciples, a line that Jesus knew existed from the outset – it was already clear who would follow Him in faith and who would betray Him.
There could be no neutrality.
The account refers to ‘many disciples’ who excused themselves. Judas is not the only one who does not believe. Jesus is not concerned about numbers, hence He even confronts the twelve with the same choice: “Do you want to leave me too?” As spokesman for the small group of faithful ones, Peter gives voice to the word of faith, to the belief that Jesus is “the Holy One of God.” Faith had brought him to a realisation and that realisation, made possible, the virtually blind faith needed for such a decision!”…Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988)
PRAYER – Mould our minds and our hearts, we pray You Lord, by the union of Your Son and His Church. As we belong to You, You joined us to Your Son to become one with Him. May we always strive to live up to this union and may we make our lives, a constant sharing, in Christ’s death and Resurrection. May His Mother give us her heart, to love Him as she does. We make our prayer through Him and in Him and with Him, in the union of the Holy Spirit, God for always and forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 11 May – ‘Mary’s Month’ and a Marian Saturday – Third Week Easter, C
Most Holy Mary Sure Refuge of Sinners By St John of the Cross (1542-1591)
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
Saint of the Day – 11 May – St Mamertus (Died c 475) also known as Mamertius, Mammertus – Archbishop of Vienne in Gaul – present day France, Theologian, Writer, Founder of the introduction of the praying of Litanies prior to Ascension Day, called “Rogation Days.” Rogation days are days of prayer and fasting in the Church. They are observed with processions and the pra\ying of the Litany of the Saints. The major Rogation is held on 25 April, the minor Rogations are held on Monday to Wednesday, preceding Ascension Thursday. The word Rogation comes from the Latin verb rogare, meaning “to ask,” which reflects the beseeching of God, for the appeasement of His anger and for protection from calamities.
An engraving of Saint Mamertus from an 1878
His feast day is the first of the Ice Saint, who are St Mamertus (or, in some countries, St Boniface of Tarsus), St Pancras and St Servatius. They are so named because their feast days fall on the days of 11 May, 12 May and 13 May respectively, known as “the black-thorn winter” in Austrian, Belgian, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, North-Italian, Polish, Slovene and Swiss folklore.
Prior to his elevation to the see of Vienne, little has been recorded about Mamertus’ life. The fact that his brother, Claudianus Mamertus, the theological writer, received in his youth a sound training in rhetoric and enjoyed the personal acquaintance of Bishop Eucherius of Lyons (434-50), suggests that the brothers belonged to a wealthy Gallic family from the neighbourhood of Lyons. Like his brother, St Mamertus was distinguished for his secular learning as well as theology and, before his elevation to the episcopate, appears to have been married.
His election and consecration took place shortly before 462. As bishop he enlisted the services of his brother, who had withdrawn to a cloister and ordained him priest of Vienne. The activity of the brothers is described in one letter of Sidonius Apollinaris, while another is addressed to Bishop Mamertus.
Saint Mamertus (right), pictured with Saints Avitus and Apollinaris (details)
St Mamertus was the founder of the Rogation Processions, according to Sidonius Apollinaris and his second successor, Avitus. In connexion with these intercessory processions, Mamertus summoned a synod at Vienne between 471 and 475.
Amidst the scourges of the time, wars, famines and natural disasters, which were seen as divine anger against the sinful lives of the people, which threatened their entire destruction, St Mammertus received a token of the divine mercy. A terrible fire happened in the city of Vienne, which baffled the efforts of men but by the prayers of the good bishop the fire on a sudden went out. This miracle strongly affected the minds of the people. The holy prelate took this opportunity to make them sensible of the necessity and efficacy of devout prayer and formed a pious design of instituting an annual fast and supplication of three days, in which all the faithful should join, with sincere compunction of heart, to appease the divine indignation by fasting, prayer, tears and the confession of sins.
The Church of Auvergne, of which St Sidonius was bishop, adopted this pious institution before the year 475 and it became in a very short time a universal practice.
During his episcopate, the remains of St Ferreolus were discovered and were translated by Mamertus to a church in Vienne, he built in honour of that martyr.
About 475 he attended a synod at Arles, which dealt with the predestination teaching of Lucidus, a Gallic priest. As this is the latest information we possess concerning him, we may assume that he died shortly afterwards.
St Anastasius of Lérida
St Anthimus of Rome
St Bassus of Sabina
St Bertilla
St Criotan of MacReddin
Bl Diego of Saldaña
St Evellius of Pisa
St Fabius of Sabina
St Fremund of Dunstable
St Gengulphus of Burgundy
St Gualberto St Ignatius of Laconi OFM Cap. (1701-1781) Biography: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/05/11/saint-of-the-day-11-may-st-ignatius-of-laconi-o-f-m-cap-1701-1781/
Bl Illuminatus
St Illuminatus of San Severino
Bl James Walworth
Bl John Rochester
St Maiulo of Hadrumetum
St Majolus of Cluny St Mamertus (Died c 475)
St Maximus of Sabina
St Mayeul
St Mozio of Constantinople
St Possessor of Verdun
St Principia of Rome
St Tudy
St Vincent L’Hénoret
Bl Vivaldus
St Walbert of Hainault
—
Martyrs of Camerino: An imperial Roman official, his wife, their children and servants, all of whom were converts and martyrs: Anastasius, Aradius, Callisto, Eufemia, Evodius, Felice, Primitiva, Theopista.
Marian Thoughts – 10 May – “Mary’s Month” and Friday of the Third Week of Easter, C
From the Constitution on the Church of the Second Vatican Council (Lumen Gentium #61-62)
The Motherhood of Our Lady in God’s Plan of Salvation
From all eternity, together with the Incarnation of the divine Word, the Blessed Virgin was predestined to be the Mother of God. By the will of divine Providence, she was the loving mother of the divine Redeemer, here on earth and, above all others, in a unique way she was the willing partner and the humble handmaid of the Lord. She conceived, brought forth and nourished Christ. She presented Him to the Father in the temple and shared the suffering of His Son as He died on the cross. In an utterly singular way, she co-operated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the Saviour’s work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason, she is a mother to us in the order of grace.
This motherhood of Mary, in the order of grace, began with the consent which she gave in faith, at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, it will last without interruption, until the eternal fulfilment of all the elect. Once assumed into heaven, she did not set aside this saving role but, with her numerous prayers of intercession, continues to win for us, the gifts of eternal salvation.
By her maternal charity, Mary cares for the brethren of her Son who still wander through this world, in the midst of dangers and difficulties, until they are led to the happiness of their heavenly home.
For this reason the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjustrix and Mediatrix – but they are titles which must be understood, in a way, that neither detracts from, nor adds anything to the dignity and efficacy of Christ the one Mediator.
For no creature could ever be counted as equal with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer. Just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways, both by sacred ministers and by the faithful and, as the one goodness of God, is really communicated in different ways to His creatures, in the same way, the unique mediation of the Redeemer, does not exclude but, rather gives rise among creatures, to a manifold co-operation, which is but a sharing in this one source.
The Church does not hesitate to profess this subordinate role of Mary. She knows it through unfailing experience of it and commends it to the hearts of the faithful, so that, encouraged by this maternal help, they may follow the Mediator and Redeemer more clearly.
Sancta Mater Maria, Mother of God and our Mother, Pray for us!
Thought for the Day – 10 May – Friday of the Third Week of Easter, C and the Memorial of Blessed Ivan Merz (1896-1928)
Excerpt from the Beatification Homily
St John Paul II (1920-2005)
Sunday, 22 June 2003
Dear brothers and sisters, the just man, surrounded by divine light, becomes in turn a lamp which radiates light and gives warmth. This is what we learn today from the figure of Ivan Merz.
A gifted young man, he made a good return on his rich natural talents and obtained great human success – it can be said that he had a very successful life. But that is not the reason why he is today declared Blessed. What makes him one of the choir of the Beati is his success in God’s eyes. The great aspiration of his whole life was “never to forget God, to desire always to be one with Him”. In all his activities Ivan Merz sought “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus” and he allowed Christ to make him his own (cf. Phil 3:8,12).
At the school of the liturgy, the source and summit of the Church’s life (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10), Ivan Merz grew to the fullness of Christian maturity and became one of the principal promoters of the liturgical renewal in his country.
Taking part in Mass and drawing nourishment from the Body of Christ and the Word of God, he drew the inspiration to become an apostle of young people. It was not by chance that he chose as his motto “Sacrifice – Eucharist – Apostolate”. Conscious of the vocation he had received in Baptism, he made his whole life a “race” towards holiness, the “high standard” of Christian life (cf. Novo Millennio Ineunte, 31). For this reason, as the First Reading says, “his memory will not disappear and his name will live through all generations” (Sir 39:9).
The name of Ivan Merz, has meant in the past, a programme of life and of activity, for an entire generation of young Catholics. Today too, it must do the same!
…Do not seek a more comfortable life elsewhere, do not flee from your responsibilities and expect others to resolve problems but resolutely counter evil with the power of good.
Like Blessed Ivan, strive for a personal encounter with Christ which sheds new light on life. May the Gospel be the great ideal guiding your approaches and your decisions! Thus you will become missionaries in word and deed, signs of God’s love and credible witnesses of the merciful presence of Christ. Never forget: “one does not light a lamp and put it under a bushel” (cf. Mt 5:15).
Dear brothers and sisters, who take part with such fervour in this celebration, may the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, keep your heart and your spirit in the knowledge and love of God and of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ!
One Minute Reflection – 10 May – and Friday of the Third Week of Easter, C, First Reading: Acts 9:1-20 and the Memorial of Blessed Ivan Merz (1896-1928)
“He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”…Acts 9:4
REFLECTION – “How can we show that He is there and that He is also here? Let Paul answer for us, who was previously Saul. First of all, the Lord’s own voice from heaven shows this: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Had Paul climbed up to heaven then? Had Paul even thrown a stone at heaven? It was Christians he was persecuting, them he was tying up, them he was dragging off to be put to death, them he was everywhere hunting out of their hiding places and never sparing when he found them. To him the Lord said, “Saul, Saul.” Where is He crying out from? Heaven. So He’s up above. “Why are you persecuting me?” So He’s down below.”…St Augustine (354-430) Bishop of Hippo, Father & Doctor (Sermon 122)
PRAYER – Almighty God, You sent Your Son and we have now come to know the grace of His Resurrection. Through Him we live and move and have our being. As we follow Him, He walks with us and leads us to You. Grant we pray, that His mother and ours, may guide our way to Him and may the prayers of Blessed Ivan Merz, who always followed closely behind the Lord, be a solace in our trials. Through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God now and forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 10 May – “Mary’s Month” and Friday Third Week of Easter, C
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God By St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) Father & Doctor of the Church
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
Virgin and Mother!
Morning Star, perfect vessel.
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
Holy Temple in which god Himself was conceived.
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
Chaste and pure dove.
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
Who enclosed the One who cannot be encompassed
in your sacred womb.
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
From you flowed the true light, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
Through you the Conqueror
and triumphant Vanquisher of hell came to us.
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
Through you, the glory of the Resurrection blossoms.
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
You have saved every faithful Christian.
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners now
and at the hour of our death.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 10 May – Blessed Ivan Merz (1896-1928) aged 32 – Layman, Teacher, Professor, Apostle of the Blessed Sacrament and of prayer, Founder of Youth Movements in Croatia – Patronages – Croatian youth, youth as a whole, World Youth Day celebrations.
Ivan Merz was born in Banja Luka, Bosnia, on 16 December 1896 and was baptised on 2 February 1897. He attended elementary and middle school in Banja Luka and, after a brief period of education at the military academy of Wiener Noustadt, he enrolled in 1915 at the University of Vienna, with the dream of teaching young people in Bosnia, thus, he would be following the example of his professor, Ljubomir Marakovic, who helped Ivan to discover the richness of the Catholic faith.
In March 1916, Ivan was enlisted in the army and shipped to the Italian battle front, where he spent the greater part of two years beginning in 1917. The war experience and its horrors marked a turning point in Ivan’s young life and contributed greatly to his spiritual growth, prompting him to abandon his future into God’s hands and to strive with all his might towards the goal of Christian perfection.
On 5 February 1918, he wrote in his diary: “Never forget God! Always desire to be united with Him. Begin each day in the first place with meditation and prayer, possibly close to the Blessed Sacrament or during Mass. During this time, plans for the day are made, one’s defects are put under examination and grace is implored for the strength to overcome all weakness. It would be something terrible if this war had no meaning for me!… I must begin a life regenerated in the spirit of this new understanding of Catholicism. The Lord alone can help me, as man can do nothing on his own”.At this time, Ivan also made a private vow of perpetual chastity.
After the war, he continued his studies at Vienna (1919-20) and then in Paris (1920-22). In 1923 he obtained a degree in philosophy. His thesis was entitled “The influence of the Liturgy on the French authors”.He then became a professor of language and French literature and was exemplary in his dedication to the students and to his responsibilities as a teacher.
In his spare time he studied philosophy and theology and deepened his knowledge of the documents of the Magisterium of the Church.
Ivan was especially noted for his interest in young people and concern for their growth in faith and holiness. He started the “League of Young Croatian Catholics” and the “Croatian League of Eagles” within the Croatian Catholic Action Movement. Their motto was: “Sacrifice Eucharist Apostolate”.
For Ivan, the purpose of this organisation was to form a group of front-line apostles whose goal was holiness. The scope of this goal also flowed over into liturgical renewal, of which Ivan was one of the first promoters in Croatia.
As a Catholic intellectual, Ivan was able to guide young people and adults to Christ and His Church, through his writings and organised gatherings. He also sought to teach them love and obedience to the Vicar of Christ and the Church of Rome.
In the face of any misunderstandings and difficulties, Ivan always had an admirable patience and calm, the fruit of his continual union with God in prayer. Those who knew him well described him as a person who had his “mind and heart immersed in the supernatural”. Convinced that the most effective way to save souls was through efficacious suffering, he offered to God all his physical and moral sufferings, particularly for the intention of the success of his apostolic endeavours.
Shortly before his death, he offered his life for the youth of Croatia. In short, the young man believed that his vocation was very simply “the Catholic faith”.
Ivan Merz died on 10 May 1928 in Zagreb. He was 32 years old….Vatican.va
Blessed Ivan left an example of how a man can live, fight and suffer for God’s cause. Merz tried hard to give his life the “full meaning”, heading for sanctity and all his pedagogical task was devoted to the formation of apostles of sanctity. He died with a reputation of a saint. His shrine is located in the Basilica of the Heart of Jesus in Zagreb, Croatia. The canonisation cause started in 1958.
He was Beatified by St Pope John Paul on Sunday, 22 June 2003 in Bosnia Herzegovina.
Blessed Ivan Merz’s tomb in the Basilica of the Heart of Jesus in Zagreb, Croatia
On 3 March 2018, His Excellency Francisco Mendoza De Leon, DD, bishop of the Diocese of Antipolo and local Ordinary of the Blessed Ivan Merz Centre and Reliquarium, formally opened and blessed the Blessed Ivan Merz Reliquarium.
The Blessed Ivan Merz Reliquarium (Home of the Sacred Relics) was established to house the sacred relics of Blessed Ivan Merz and of other sacred relics belonging to Our Lord, the Blessed Mother and beatified and canonised Servants of God. It serves as spiritual oasis for pilgrims, devotees and disciples in faith of the Apostle of the Youth.
We pray that those who will visit Blessed Ivan Merz Reliquarium will experience the Lord’s kind assistance.
May those who venerate the remains of the Saints, especially of Blessed Ivan Merz, with their prayers and merits, obtain pardon for sin and protection from every adversity.
St John of Avila (1499-1569) “Apostle of Andalusia”– Doctor of the Church About St John: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/05/10/saint-of-the-day-10-may-st-john-of-avila-1499-1569-apostle-of-andalusia-known-as-father-master-avila-doctor-of-the-church/
St Joseph de Veuster (1840-1889) – St Damian of Molokai“The Martyr of Molokai”(Optional Memorial) St Damian’s life: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/05/10/10-may-the-memorial-of-st-damian-de-veuster-de-molokai/
St Alphius of Lentini
Bl Amalarius of Metz
Bl Antonio of Norcia
St Aurelian of Limoges
Bl Beatrix d’Este the Elder
St Blanda of Rome
St Calepodius of Rome
St Catald of Taranto
St Comgall of Bangor
St Cyrinus of Lentini
St Dioscorides of Smyrna
Bl Enrico Rebuschini
St Epimachus of Rome
St Felix of Rome
Bl Giusto Santgelp
St Gordian the Judge Bl Ivan Merz (1896-1928)
Bl Nicholas Albergati
St Palmatius of Rome
St Philadelphus of Lentini
St Quartus of Capua
St Quintus of Capua
St Simplicius of Rome
St Solange of Bourges
St Thecla
Bl William of Pontnoise
Marian Thoughts – 9 May – ‘Mary’s Month’ – Thursday Third Week of Easter, C
St Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167)
From his sermons – Sermon 20
Mary, our Mother
Let us come to His bride, let us come to His mother, let us come to the best of His handmaidens. All of these descriptions fit Blessed Mary.
But what are we to do for her? What sort of gifts shall we offer her? O that we might at least repay to her the debt we owe her! We owe her honour, we owe her devotion, we owe her love, we owe her praise. We owe her honour because she is the mother of Our Lord. He who does not honour the mother, will without doubt dishonour the son. Besides, scripture says: ‘Honour your father and your mother.’
What shall we say, brethren? Is she not our mother? Certainly, brethren, she is in truth our mother. Through her we are born, not to the world but to God.
We all, as you believe and know, were in death, in the infirmity of old age, in darkness, in misery. In death because we had lost the Lord, in infirmity of old age , because we were in corruptio, in darkness because we had lost the light of wisdom and so we had altogether perished.
But through blessed Mary we all underwent a much better birth than through Eve, inasmuch as Christ was born of Mary. Instead of the infirmity of old age, we have regained youth, instead of corruption, incorruption, instead of darkness, light.
She is our mother, mother of our incorruption, of our light. The Apostle says of our Lord, ‘Whom God made our righteousness, our sanctification and our redemption.’
She, therefore, who is the mother of Chris,t is the mother of our wisdom, mother of our righteousness, mother of our sanctification, mother of our redemption. Therefore, she is more our mother than the mother of our flesh. Better, therefore, is our birth, which we derive from Mary, for from her is our holiness, our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption.
Scripture says, ‘Praise the Lord in his saints’. If the Lord is to be praised in those saints through whom He performs mighty works and miracles, how much more should He be praised in her, in whom He fashioned Himself, He who is wonderful beyond all wonder.
Thought for the Day – 9 May – Thursday Third Week of Easter, C
The Eucharist, Pledge of our Resurrection
Saint Irenaeus (130-202)
Bishop, Father of the Church and Martyr
An excerpt from a Against Heresies
If our flesh is not saved, then the Lord has not redeemed us with His blood, the Eucharistic chalice does not make us sharers in His blood and the bread we break, does not make us sharers in His body. There can be no blood without veins, flesh and the rest of the human substance and this the Word of God actually became – it was with His own blood that He redeemed us. As the Apostle says – In Him, through His blood, we have been redeemed, our sins have been forgiven.
We are His members and we are nourished by creatures, which is His gift to us, for it is He who causes the sun to rise and the rain to fall. He declared that the chalice, which comes from His creation, was His blood and He makes it the nourishment of our blood. He affirmed that the bread, which comes from His creation, was His body and He makes it, the nourishment of our body. When the chalice we mix and the bread we bake, receive the Word of God, the Eucharistic elements become the body and blood of Christ, by which our bodies, live and grow. How then can it be said, that flesh belonging to the Lord’s own body and nourished by His body and blood, is incapable of receiving God’s gift of eternal life? Saint Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians that we are members of His body, of His flesh and bones. He is not speaking of some spiritual and incorporeal kind of man, for spirits do not have flesh and bones. He is speaking of a real human body composed of flesh, sinews and bones, nourished by the chalice of Christ’s blood and receiving growth from the bread which is His body.
The slip of a vine planted in the ground bears fruit at the proper time. The grain of wheat falls into the ground and decays only to be raised up again and multiplied by the Spirit of God who sustains all things. The Wisdom of God places these things at the service of man and when they receive God’s word, they become the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ. In the same way our bodies, which have been nourished by the Eucharist, will be buried in the earth and will decay but they will rise again at the appointed time, for the Word of God will raise them up, to the glory of God the Father. Then the Father will clothe our mortal nature in immortality and freely endow our corruptible nature with incorruptibility, for God’s power is shown most perfectly in weakness.
One Minute Reflection – 9 May – Thursday Third Week of Easter, C, First Reading: Acts 8:26–40
“… and was returning home. Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.”…Acts 8:28
REFLECTION – “Consider, I ask you, what a great effort it was not to neglect reading even while on a journey and, especially, while seated in a chariot. Let this be heeded by those people who do not even deign to do it at home but rather think reading the Scriptures is a waste of time, claiming as an excuse their living with a wife, conscription in military service, caring for children, attending to domestics and looking after other concerns, they do not think it necessary for them to show any interest in reading the holy Scriptures.” … St John Chrysostom (347-407) Father & Doctor (Homilies on Genesis, 35.)
PRAYER – Almighty, ever-living God, in Your Word, You shed the light of Your glory on the peoples who are living in the shadow of death. By Your Word, You teach us all things and lead us in the way of hope and love. For Your Word is Truth and Your Word became flesh and filled our world with the Sun of Justice, Your Son, He who is the Sun and the Truth. May our steps be guided by His Mother, as we follow in the footsteps of Your Word and may the prayers of Blessed Maria Carmen Rendiles, be a help in our trials. Through Christ, our Lord Jesus, with You in union with the Holy Spirit, now and forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 9 May – ‘Mary’s Month’ – Thursday Third Week of Easter, C
Prayer to our Mother of Perpetual Succour
O Mother of Perpetual Succour,
with great confidence
we come before your holy icon
to be inspired by the example of your life.
We think of you at that moment,
when, full of faith and trust,
you accepted God’s call to be the mother of His Son.
Help us your children, to accept with joy our calling in life.
When you learned that your cousin Elizabeth was in need,
you immediately went to serve her and offer your help.
Make us, like you, to be concerned for others.
We think of you, Mother, at the foot of the cross.
Your heart must have bled to see your Son in agony.
But your joy was great when He rose from the dead,
victorious over the power of evil.
Mother of Sorrows,
help us through our trials and disappointments.
Help us not to lose heart.
May we share with you and your Son,
the joy of having courageously
faced up to all the challenges of life.
AMEN
Saint of the Day – 9 May – Blessed Carmen Elena Rendiles Martínez more commonly known as Blessed Maria Carmen Rendiles (1903-1977) – in religion María Carmen – was a Venezuelan professed religious of the Servants of the Eucharist and the founder of the Servants of Jesus of Caracas, Apostle of Charity, Catechist, Administrator and founder of many schools and convents. She served in a leadership position for her order in France where she spent her time of religious formation and returned to Venezuela to found her order in 1965 and assume control as Superior-General of her new order. Patronage – Servants of Jesus of Caracas.
Blessed Maria Carmen was born on 11 August 1903 in Caracas, Venezuela. She was the third of eight children and her family was wealthy and respected in the capital city. Her baptism was celebrated in the church of Santa Anna on 24 September 1903 and she received her Confirmation on 28 October 1905, she made her First Communion on 11 March 1911. Carmen was born with a rare physical deformation and was missing her left arm. She lived her whole life with a prosthetic arm but this physical setback never affected her joyful spirit. She was admired and impressed many people with how she lived her life, not letting her handicap hold her back.
When she was fifteen, she become a Catechist at her parish and would go on missions to nearby towns to teach. She did this for many years and began to feel the calling to be a religious nun and serve God. In 1927 she joined the Congregation of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, which was based in France but had convents in Venezuela. She studied in Toulouse, France. When her studies were completed, she went back to Caracas and worked there in the convent for about 10 years.
She served in many different jobs and positions during her time as a nun and in 1951 she was named the Provincial Superior for her region. During this time, she started new convents and several schools in both Venezuela and Columbia. She even started a school for poor children in her old childhood home, which she inherited.
Blessed Maria Carmen founded the Servants of Jesus on 25 March 1965. The order received diocesan approval and support on 14 August 1969 from the Cardinal Archbishop of Caracas José Humberto Quintero Parra. She was the Superior General of her new order from 1969 when she was appointed until her death on 9 May 1977 due to influenza. In 2015 there were 94 religious in a total of 19 communities in both Venezuela and in Colombia.
In 5 July 2013, Pope Francis declared her a venerable (decree of heroic virtues) and on 16 June 2018 she was Beatified. The beatification miracle involved the healing of Trinette Durán de Branger on 18 July 2003 and the ceremony was celebrated in Caracas, Venezuela, by Cardinal Angelo Amato. Her process of sainthood continues.
“It brings immense joy to the entire Catholic Church of Venezuela, and especially for the Archdiocese of Caracas, to announce that Pope Francis has signed the decree approving the beatification of Mother Carmen Rendiles Martínez” announced Archbishop of Caracas Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino.
“On 21 November, a miracle presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints was approved, for which it will be beatified next year.”
Urosa explained that Martinez will become the third Venezuelan beatified by the Vatican. The blessing comes after the Vatican studied and approved, an “instantaneous, perfect, stable and lasting” miraculous healing on Trinette Durán de Branger, on 18 July 2003.
Urosa extended his congratulations to the Congregation Servants of Jesus, founded by Mother Rendiles Martinez, for her tireless and laborious work performed through the commission that leads to the process of beatification and canonisation.
“It has been arduous work carried out by Dr Silvia Correale, postulator of the cause, Sister Rosa María Ríos, vice postulator and the general superiors of the Congregation,” the Cardinal pointed out. “The current head of the religious order is Mother Maria Eugenia Noreña.”
St Banban the Wise
St Beatus of Laon
St Beatus of Lungern
Bl Benincasa of Montepulciano
St Brynoth of Scara
St Dionysius of Vienne
Bl Fortis Gabrielli
St Gerontius of Cervia
St Giuse Hien
St Gorfor of Llanover
St Gregory of Ostia
St Hermas of Rome
Isaiah the Prophet
St John of Châlon Bl Theresa of Jesus/Karolina Gerhardinger (1797-1879) Biography: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/05/09/saint-of-the-day-9-may-blessed-theresa-of-jesus-karolina-gerhardinger-1797-1879/
St Maria del Carmen Rendiles Martinez
St Pachomius of Tabenna
St Sanctan of Kill-da-Les
Bl Stefan Grelewski
Bl Thomas Pickering
St Vincent of Montes
Martyrs of Persia: 310 Christians murdered together for their faith in Persia. No details about them have survived.
20 Mercedarian Martyrs of Riscala: 20 Mercedarian friars who were murdered by Huguenot heretics for refusing to denounce their faith. 16th century at the Santa Maria convent at Riscala, France.
From the Sermons of St Sophronius (560-638) Father of the Church
(St Sophronius was a courageous leader of the Jerusalem Church during the Islamic conquests of the seventh century, Bishop Saint Sophronius I has his liturgical memorial on 11 March).
The blessings of the Father shone upon men through Mary
‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.’ Could anything transcend the joy that is yours, O Virgin Mother? Could anything surpass this race granted by God to you alone? Is it possible to think of anything more gratifying and more splendid? Nothing can even approach the marvel that we see in you. All things lie far below the grace that is yours; in comparison, even the best of them take second place and their brilliance is overshadowed.
‘The Lord is with you’ and who has dared to strive against you? God has been born of you, who would stand in your way and not gladly give you first place and supremacy? For this reason, when I contemplate the privileges that put you above all creatures I cry out to you in highest praise. ‘Hail O favoured one, the Lord is with you.’ The joy that comes from you is shared not only by mankind but also by the powers of heaven.
Truly, ‘you are blessed among women’ for you have changed the condemnation of Eve into a blessing. Because of you, and through you, Adam who hitherto was cast down and condemned received a blessing.
Truly, ‘you are blessed among women’ for through you the blessing of the Father came to mankind and reprieved them from the age-old sentence.
Truly, ‘you are blessed among women’, because through you, your ancestors found salvation. You were to give birth to the Saviour who would win for them God’s salvation.
Truly, ‘you are blessed among women’ for without the seed of man you bore the fruit that gives a blessing to the whole earth and frees it from being condemned to produce only thorns.
Truly, ‘you are blessed among women’, for though you are a woman like any other woman you will in actual fact become the Mother of God. If the one to be born of you, is in truth God incarnate, you rightly deserve to be called ‘she who gave birth to God’, inasmuch, as you truly did give birth to God.
You have God enclosed within your womb. He lives in you according to the flesh and comes forth from you like a bridegroom, giving joy to all and sharing His divine light with all mankind.
In you, O Virgin, as in the clear brightness of heaven, God ‘has placed his tent’ and He ‘will come forth from you like a bridegroom from his chamber’. Like a giant He will run the course of His life to bring salvation to all living things. That course ‘will stretch from one end of the heavens to the other’ filling all things with the life-giving warmth of God’s radiance.
Thought for the Day – 8 May – Wednesday Third Week of Easter, C
“A New Life”
“The perfect surrender and humiliation were undergone by Christ – perfect because He is God, surrender and humiliation, because He is man.
Now the Christian belief is that, if we somehow share the humility and suffering of Christ, we shall also share in His conquest of death and find a new life after we ave died and, in it, become perfect and perfectly happy creatures.
This means something much more than our trying to follow His teaching.
People often ask when the next step in evolution – the step to something beyond man – will happen. But, on the Christian view, it has happened already.
In Christ, a new kind of man appeared and the new kind of life which began in Him, is to be put into us.”
Quote/s of the Day – 8 May – Wednesday 3rd Week of Easter, C, Gospel: John 6:35–40
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life, he who comes to me shall not hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst.”…John 6:35
“A celebration may be flawless on the exterior, very beautiful — but if it does not lead us to encounter Jesus Christ, it is unlikely to bear any kind of nourishment to our heart and our life. Through the Eucharist, however, Christ wishes to enter into our life and permeate it with His grace, so that in every Christian community there may be coherence between liturgy and life.”
Pope Benedict
General Audience, 12 February 2014
“Through the Eucharist we enter Christ’s paschal mystery, allowing us to pass from death to life with Him.”
Pope Francis
“The Eucharist is Jesus Himself who gives Himself entirely to us. Nourishing ourselves of that “Bread of Life” means entering into harmony with the heart of Christ, assimilating His choices, His thoughts, His behaviour. It means entering into a dynamism of love and becoming people of peace, people of forgiveness, of reconciliation, of sharing in solidarity. Heaven begins precisely in this communion with Jesus”
One Minute Reflection – 8 May – Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter, C, Gospel: John 6:35–40 and the Memorial of Blessed Clara Fey (1815-1894)
“This is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life”…John 6:40
REFLECTION – “We wish to see Jesus” (Jn 12:21). This request, addressed to the Apostle Philip by some Greeks who had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover, echoes spiritually in our ears too… Like those pilgrims of two thousand years ago, the men and women of our own day — often perhaps unconsciously — ask believers not only to “speak” of Christ but in a certain sense to “show” Him to them. And is it not the Church’s task, to reflect the light of Christ in every historical period, to make His face shine also before the generations of the new millennium?
Our witness, however, would be hopelessly inadequate if we ourselves had not first contemplated His face… The contemplation of Christ’s face, cannot fail to be inspired by all that we are told about Him, in Sacred Scripture, which from beginning to end, is permeated by His mystery, prefigured in a veiled way in the Old Testament and revealed fully in the New… Remaining firmly anchored in Scripture, we open ourselves to the action of the Spirit (cf. Jn 15:26) from whom the sacred texts derive their origin, as well as to the witness of the Apostles (cf. Jn 15:27), who had a first-hand experience of Christ, the Word of life – they saw Him with their eyes, heard Him with their ears, touched Him with their hands (cf. 1 Jn 1:1). What we receive from them is a vision of faith based on precise historical testimony.”…St John Paul II (1920-2005) – Apostolic Letter “ Novo Millennio Inuente ”, §16-17
PRAYER – Holy almighty God, in Your wisdom You created us and by Your providence You rule us. Penetrate our inmost being with Your holy light, so that our way of life may always be one of faithful service, as we follow Your Son, who leads us to eternal life. May the prayers of Mary our Mother and Blessed Clara Fey, help us to shine Your light on our neighbour. Through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
AnaStpaul 
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