Day: October 29, 2019

Posted in CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, DIVINE MERCY, GOD is LOVE, HYMNS, MINI SERIES, PAPAL HOMILIES, POETRY, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, St JOHN HENRY Cardinal NEWMAN!, The MOST HOLY & BLESSED TRINITY, The WORD, VATICAN Resources

Thought for the Day – 29 October – How to speak about God?

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Thought for the Day – 29 October – Tuesday of the Thirtieth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 13:18-21

Again he said, …”To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?
It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in
with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch of dough was leavened.” Luke 13:20

Excerpt – Part One
Year of Faith – How to speak about God?

Pope Benedict XVI
Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 28 November 2012

The important question we ask ourselves today is – how can we talk about God in our time?   How can we communicate the Gospel so as to open roads to His saving truth in our contemporaries’ hearts — that are all too often closed — and minds — that are at times distracted by the many dazzling lights of society? Jesus, the Evangelists tell us, asked Himself about this as He proclaimed the kingdom of God – “With what can we compare the Kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?” (Mk 4:30).

How can we talk about God today?   The first answer is that we can talk about God because He has talked to us, so the first condition for speaking of God is listening to all that God Himself has said.   God has spoken to us!   God is therefore not a distant hypothesis concerning the world’s origin, He is not a mathematical intelligence far from us.   God takes an interest in us, He loves us, He has entered personally into the reality of our history, He has communicated Himself, even to the point of taking flesh.   Thus God is a reality of our life, He is so great that He has time for us too, He takes an interest in us. In Jesus of Nazareth we encounter the face of God, who came down from His heaven to immerse Himself in the human world, in our world, and to teach “the art of living”, the road to happiness, to set us free from sin and make us children of God (cf. Eph 1:5; Rom 8:14).   Jesus came to save us and to show us the good life of the Gospel.

Talking about God means first of all expressing clearly what God we must bring to the men and women of our time, not an abstract God, a hypothesis but a real God, a God who exists, who has entered history and is present in history, the God of Jesus Christ as an answer to the fundamental question of the meaning of life and of how we should live. Consequently speaking of God demands familiarity with Jesus and His Gospel, it implies that we have a real, personal knowledge of God and a strong passion for His plan of salvation without succumbing to the temptation of success but following God’s own method.   God’s method is that of humility — God makes Himself one of us — His method is brought about through the Incarnation in the simple house of Nazareth; through the Grotto of Bethlehem, through the Parable of the Mustard Seed.

We must not fear the humility of taking little steps but trust in the leaven that penetrates the dough and slowly causes it to rise (cf. Mt 13:33).   In talking about God, in the work of evangelisation, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we must recover simplicity, we must return to the essence of the proclamation – the Good News of a God who is real and effective, a God who is concerned about us, a God-Love who makes Himself close to us in Jesus Christ, until the Cross and who, in the Resurrection, gives us hope and opens us to a life that has no end, eternal life, true life. – To be continued/…

Firmly I believe and truly
St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Firmly I believe and truly
God is three and God is On
And I next acknowledge duly
Manhood taken by the Son.
And I trust and hope most fully
In that Manhood crucified
And each thought and deed unruly
Do to death, as He has died.
Simply to His grace and wholly
Light and life and strength belong
And I love, supremely, solely,
Him the holy, Him the strong.

And I hold in veneration,
For the love of Him alone,
Holy Church, as His creation,
And her teachings, as His own.
And I take with joy whatever
Now besets me, pain or fear
And with a strong will I sever
All the ties which bind me here. 
Adoration aye be given,
With and through the angelic host,
To the God of earth and heaven,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.firmly i believe and truly st john henry newman 29 oct 2019.jpg

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Posted in QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on LOVE, SACRED and IMMACULATE HEARTS, SAINT of the DAY

Quote of the Day – 29 October – St Gaetano Errico (1791-1860)

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Quote of the Day – 29 October – The Memorial of St Gaetano Errico (1791-1860), Founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary

“Let us toil, to the loss of everything,
not excluding life, if necessary,
to make known to all people,
the most ardent love of the Sacred Hearts
and to kindle this holy
and divine love, in the hearts of humanity.”
(From the Rule)

St Gaetano Errico (1791-1860)let us toil to the loss of everything - st gaetano errico 29 oct 2019.jpg

Posted in Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS for VARIOUS NEEDS, The HOLY SPIRIT

Our Morning Offering – 29 October – O Holy Spirit, Soul of My Soul

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Our Morning Offering – 29 October – Tuesday of the Thirtieth week in Ordinary Time, Year C

Désiré Joseph Cardinal Mercier – (21 November 1851-23 January 1926) was Archbishop of Malines, Belgium from 1906 until his death.   Besides the heroic leadership he demonstrated during World War I, he hosted the famous Catholic-Anglican dialogue known as the ‘Malines Conversations’ and obtained the establishment of the liturgical feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces, with its proper Mass and Office.
His spiritual mentor was Blessed Dom Columba Marmion.
Here, in his own words, is the daily practice he recommended:

“I am going to reveal to you the secret of sanctity and happiness.   Every day for five minutes control your imagination and close your eyes to the things of sense and your ears to all the noises of the world, in order to enter into yourself.   Then, in the sanctity of your baptised soul (which is the temple of the Holy Spirit), speak to that Divine Spirit, saying to Him:

O Holy Spirit, Soul of My Soul
By Désiré Joseph Cardinal Mercier (1851-1926)

O Holy Spirit,
Soul of my soul,
I adore You!
Enlighten me,
guide me,
strengthen me,
console me.
Tell me what I should do,
give me Your orders.
I promise to submit myself
to all that You desire of me
and to accept, all
that You permit to happen to me.
Just make me know Your Will.
Amen

If you do this, your life will flow along happily, serenely and full of consolation, even in the midst of trials.   Grace will be proportioned to the trial, giving you strength to carry it and you will arrive at the Gate of Paradise, laden with merit.   This submission to the Holy Spirit is the secret of sanctity.”

Cardinal Mercier was also a noted Thomist scholar and the founder of the higher Institue of Philosophy at Louvain University, as also, the Revue Neoscholastique. … (In Sinu Jesu, Monday 16 March 2009)o holy spirit soul of my soul - cardinal desire joseph mercier in sinu jesu 29 oct 2019.jpg

 

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 29 October – St Narcissus of Jerusalem (c 99-c 215)

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Saint of the Day – 29 October – St Narcissus of Jerusalem (c 99-c 215) Bishop of Jerusalem, miracle-worker – Patronage – of the aged.   St Narcissus is usually depicted with large jars relating to the great miracle of the conversion of water into lamp oil.

St Narcissus was born towards the end of the first century and he was nearly 80 years old when he was named as the 30th bishop of Jerusalem.st narcissus snip.JPG

In 195, he and Theophilus, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, presided together over a Council of the Bishops of Palestine held at Caesarea around Easter.   There it was decreed, that the feast be kept always on a Sunday and not continually with the Jewish Passover.

The Bishop and historian Eusebius says the following miracle can be attributed to him. One year on Easter-eve the Deacons did not have any oil for the lamps in the church, which was necessary at the solemn divine office on that day.   Narcissus ordered those who had care of the lamps to bring him some water from the neighbouring wells. This being done, he pronounced a devout prayer over the water.   Then he bade them pour it into the lamps which they did.   The water was immediately converted into oil, to the great surprise of all the faithful.   Some of this miraculous oil was kept there as a memorial at the time when Eusebius wrote his history.img-Saint-Narcissus-of-Jerusalem

The veneration of all good men for this holy bishop, however, could not shelter him from the malice of the wicked.   Three incorrigible sinners, fearing his severity in the observance of ecclesiastical discipline, accused him of a terrible act.   The sinners swore that they were right, adding the following to their testimony – one wished that he might perish by fire, another, that he might be struck with a leprosy and the third, that he might lose his sight, if what they alleged was not the truth.   Their accusations were false, however and soon, Divine Retribution called upon them.   The first was burnt in his house along with his whole family by an accidental fire in the night, the second was struck with a universal leprosy and the third, terrified by these examples, confessed the conspiracy and slander and by the abundance of tears which he continually shed for his sins, lost his sight before his death.

Narcissus either could not stand the shock of the bold calumny, or perhaps he made it an excuse for leaving Jerusalem in order to spend some time in solitude, which had long been his wish.   He spent several years undiscovered in his retreat, where he enjoyed all the happiness and advantage which a close conversation with God can bestow.

The neighbouring Bishops appointed a new Priest for his church until Narcissus returned.   Upon his return, the faithful rejoiced and convinced him to once again undertake the administration of the Diocese, which he did.

As he reached extreme old age, he made St Alexander his coadjutor.   St Narcissus continued to serve his flock and even other churches, by his assiduous prayers and his earnest exhortations to unity and concord, as St Alexander testifies in his letter to the Arsinoites in Egypt, where he says that Narcissus was at that time about one hundred and sixteen years old when he died of natural causes.   The Roman Martyrology honours his memory today, 29 October.Narcissus of Jerusalem

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Memorials of the Saints – 29 October

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St Abraham Kidunaia
St Abraham of Rostov
St Achahildis of Wendelstein
St Anne of Mount Olympus
St Colman of Kilmacduagh
St Dodone of Wallers-en-Fagne
St Donatus of Corfu
St Ermelinda of Meldaert
St Eusebia of Bergamo
St Felician of Carthage
St Gaetano Errico (1791-1860)
His Story:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/10/29/saint-of-the-day-29-october-st-gaetano-errico-1791-1860/
St Honoratus of Vercelli
St John of Autun
St Kennera
St Mary of Edessa
St Narcissus of Gerona
St Narcissus of Jerusalem (c 99-c 215)
St Sigolinus of Stavelot
St Stephen of Cajazzo
St Terence of Metz
St Theodore of Vienne
St Zenobius of Sidon
—
Martyrs of Douai – (160 saints and beati): 160 priests, laymen and religious who studied at the English College in Douai, France, then returned to minister to covert Catholics in England during a period of government persecution of the Church, and were murdered for their work.

Martyrs of Lucania – (4 saints): A group of Christians executed together for their faith. Only their names have survived – Felician, Hyacinth, Lucius and Quintus. Their martyrdom occurred in Lucania, southern Italy.

Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
• Blessed Arsenio Merino Miguel
• Blessed Benito Paradela Novoa
• Blessed Joaquina Rey Aguirre
• Blessed José Ruiz Bruixola
• Blessed Maurilio Tobar González
• Blessed Ponciano Nieto Asensio
• Blessed Victoria Arregui Guinea