Day: November 9, 2019

Posted in FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the CHURCH

Thought for the Day – 9 November – We have All been made Temples of God through Baptism

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 9 November – Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

We have All been made Temples of God through Baptism

Saint Caesarius of Arles (470-543)

An excerpt from Sermon 229feast-of-the-dedication-of-st-john-lateran-9-nov-2017 AND 2019.jpg

My fellow Christians, today is the birthday of this church, an occasion for celebration and rejoicing.   We, however, ought to be the true and living temple of God.  Nevertheless, Christians rightly commemorate this Feast of the Church, their mother, for they know that through her, they were reborn in the spirit.   At our first birth, we were vessels of God’s wrath, reborn, we became vessels of His mercy.   Our first birth brought death to us but our second restored us to life.

Indeed, before our Baptism we were sanctuaries of the devil but after our Baptism we merited the privilege of being temples of Christ.   And if we think more carefully about the meaning of our salvation, we shall realise that we are, indeed, living and true temples of God. God does not dwell only in structures fashioned by human hands, in homes of wood and stone but rather He dwells principally, in the soul made according to His own image and fashioned by His own hand.   Therefore, the apostle Paul says: The temple of God is holy and you are that temple.

When Christ came, He banished the devil from our hearts, in order to build in them a temple for Himself.   Let us, therefore, do what we can with His help, so that our evil deeds will not deface that temple.   For whoever does evil, does injury to Christ.   As I said earlier, before Christ redeemed us, we were the house of the devil but afterward, we merited the privilege of being the house of God.   God Himself in His loving mercy, saw fit, to make of us, His own home.

My fellow Christians, do we wish to celebrate joyfully the birth of this temple?   Then let us not destroy the living temples of God in ourselves by works of evil  . I shall speak clearly, so that all can understand.   Whenever we come to Church, we must prepare our hearts to be as beautiful as we expect this Church to be.   Do you wish to find this Basilica immaculately clean?   Then do not soil your soul with the filth of sins.   Do you wish this Basilica to be full of light? God too, wishes that your soul be not in darkness but that the light of good works shine in us, so that He, who dwells in the heavens, will be glorified. Just as you enter this Church building, so God wishes to enter into your soul, for He promised – I shall live in them and I shall walk the corridors of their hearts.just as you enter into this church - st caesarius of arles - 9 nov 2019 feast of the lateran.jpg

Posted in CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, PRAYERS of the CHURCH

Quote/s of the Day – 9 November – Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 9 November – Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran

“O God, who out of living and chosen stones, builds up an everlasting dwelling-place for Your Majesty – help Your people, who humbly pray to You and whatever material room Your Church may set apart for Your worship, let it bring also spiritual increase.”

Post Communion prayero-god-who-out-of-living-feast-of-st-john-lateran-9-nov-2017 and quotes 2019

“Stability and permanence are, perhaps,
the especial ideas which a church brings before the mind …
It represents to us, it’s eternity.
It is the witness of Him
Who is the Beginning and the Ending,
the First and the Last,
it is the token and emblem of
“Jesus Christ,
the same yesterday, today and forever.”

St John Henry Newman (1801-1890) Cardinalstability and permanence - st john henry newman - feast of the lateran 9 nov 2019

“God’s desire to build a spiritual temple in the world, a community that worships him in spirit and truth (cf. John 4:23-24).   But this observance also reminds us of the importance of the material buildings in which the community gathers to celebrate the praises of God. Every community, therefore, has the duty to take special care of its own sacred buildings, which are a precious religious and historical patrimony.   For this we call upon the intercession of Mary Most Holy, that she help us to become, like her, the “house of God,” living temple of His love.”

Pope Benedict XVI – 9 November 2008

More here:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/11/09/quote-s-of-the-day-9-november-the-feast-of-the-dedication-of-st-john-lateran/gods-desire-to-build-pope-benedict-9-nov-2017and 2019

Posted in FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, ON the SAINTS, ONE Minute REFLECTION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 9 November – “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

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One Minute Reflection – 9 November – The Feast of the Dedication of St John Lateran – Gospel: John 2:13–22

“Zeal for your house will consume me.” ... John 2:18

REFLECTION – “Is a cathedral the offspring of a random thought, a thing to will and to accomplish at our pleasure?… Surely the churches which we inherit are not the purchase of wealth nor the creation of genius, they are the fruits of martyrdom.   They come of high deeds and sufferings, as long before their very building as we are after it.   Their foundations are laid very deep, even in the preaching of apostles and the confession of saints and the first victories of the gospel in our land.   All that is so noble in their architecture, all that captivates the eye and makes its way to the heart, is not a human imagination but a divine gift, a moral result, a spiritual work.

The Cross is ever planted in hazard and suffering and is watered with tears and blood. No where does it take root and bear fruit, except its preaching be with self-denial.   It is easy, indeed, for the ruling powers to make a decree and set religion on high and extend its range,and herald its name but they cannot plant it, they can but impose it.   The Church alone can plant the Church.   The Church alone can found her sees and inclose herself within walls.   None but saintly men, mortified men, preachers of righteousness, and confessors for the truth, can create a home for the truth in any land.

Thus the Temples of God are withal the monuments of His saints…   Their simplicity, grandeur, solidity, elevation, grace and exuberance of ornament, do but bring to remembrance the patience and purity, the courage, meekness and great charity, the heavenly affections, the activity in well-doing, the faith and resignation, of men who themselves did but worship in mountains and in deserts,and in caves and dens of the earth.   They laboured but not in vain, for other men entered into their labours (cf. Jn 4:38) and, as if by natural consequence, at length their word prospered after them and made itself a home, even these sacred palaces in which it has so long dwelt…   O happy they who, in a sorrowful time, avail themselves of this bond of communion with the saints of old and with the universal Church!…   Happy they, who when they enter within their holy limits, enter in heart into the court of Heaven!” … St John Henry Newman (1801-1890) Cardinal, Founder of the Oratory in England, Theologian – PPS vol. 6, 19john 2 18 zeal for your house - thus the temples of the lord - st john henry newman 9 nov 2019 lateran basilica

PRAYER – Almighty God, as we recall with joy, the Dedication of this house of Yours on each recurring anniversary, listen to Your people’s prayer and grant that our worship here may be a sincere and holy service, honouring Your Name and bringing us the fullness of redemption.  feast-of-the-dedication-of-st-john-lateran-9-nov-2018 and 2019Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, in union with the Holy Spirit, one God for all eternity, amen.

Posted in CATHOLIC DEVOTIONS of the Month, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, Our MORNING Offering, PURGATORY, The HOLY SOULS

Our Morning Offering – 9 November – You are the Lord of Life and Death

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Our Morning Offering – 9 November – Month of the Holy Souls

You are the Lord of Life and Death
By Saint Gregory Nazianzen (330-390)
Father & Doctor of the Church

Lord and Creator of all
and especially of Your creature man,
You are the God and Father
and Ruler of Your children,
You are the Lord of life and death,
You are the guardian and benefactor of our souls.
You fashion and transform all things in their due season
through Your creative Word,
as You know to be best
in Your deep wisdom and providence.
Receive now those who have gone ahead of us
in our journey from this life.
And receive us too at the proper time,
when You have guided us in our bodily life
as long as may be for our profit.
Receive us prepared indeed
by fear of You but not troubled,
not shrinking back on that day of death or uprooted by force
like those who are lovers of the world and the flesh.
Instead, may we set out eagerly
for that everlasting and blessed life
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
To Him be glory forever and ever.
Amenyou are the lord of life and death - prayer for the holy souls - st gregory of naziazen 9 nov 2019.jpg

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 9 November – Blessed Ludovico Morbioli (1433-1485)

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Saint of the Day – 9 November – Blessed Ludovico Morbioli (1433-1485) Penitent, Preacher, Ascetic.   The oldest biography of Blessed Ludovico is a poem composed between 1485 and 1489 by Bl Baptist of Mantua, who lived in Bologna for many years.Blessed-Ludovico-Morbioli

Ludovico belonged to a family of the lower middle class.  His father was Francis of Anthony, his mother Agnes and these were blessed with six children, five
boys and one girl.   Ludovico was born in Bologna in 1433.   His youth was happy and carefree, with little thought for God and his religious roots, nor did his life change after his marriage with Lucy, daughter of John Tura.

In 1462 he moved to Venice, where he was struck by a serious illness, taken into the hospice of the Canons Regular of St Saviour, he underwent a profound spiritual crisis that resulted in a radical change in his life.   He probably returned to Bologna in 1470 and aroused admiration and amazement for his austere and penitent conduct.   He separated from his wife, put on a plain grey habit, much like that of the Carmelites (hence the erroneous affirmation that he was a Carmelite tertiary), which he afterwards changed for a white one with a cross on his breast and which he wore both summer and winter.   He went through the streets of Bologna preaching penance and mortification and accompanied those condemned to the scaffold.   He visited other cities of Emilia (Modena, Ferrara) on a mule.   He travelled the streets holding a cross in his hand and preaching penance.

He spent his last months in a basement that he transformed into a cell like those in convents.   When he became ill, he refused every relief.   He died at Bologna on 9 November 1485, aged 52, as he himself had foretold.

He was buried in the cathedral of St Peter.   Although a popular cult to him began
immediately after his death, his bones were not found in the restoration of the
cathedral, which occurred under Gabriel Card. Paleotti (1566-97).   Already in 1582, Ludovico was inscribed in the catalogue of saints of Bologna and Card.   Paleotti included him in the Archiepiscopalis Bononiensis /Of the Archdiocese of Bologna/ in 1594.   Under Jerome Card. Boncompagni a regular process of canonisation was begun (1654) but the work was never brought to a conclusion.   In 1843 his cult was permitted for the diocese of Bologna and for the Carmelite Order, which erroneously claimed him as one of its tertiaries.   The liturgical celebration at Bologna is fixed for 17 November as an optional memorial.

Blessed Ludovico’s Beatification received full approval on 24 October 1843 after Pope Gregory XVI confirmed the late penitent’s longstanding and enduring local ‘cultus’, with his memorial prescribed for today.

Posted in FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Our Lady of Almudena and Memorials of the Saints – 9 November

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Dedication of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran (Feast):  The oldest and first in rank of the four basilicas of Rome, Italy.   The name is derived from the Laterani family, on the site of whose palace the basilica stands. King Constantine presented this palace to the Church.   Its annual celebration throughout the Latin Church is a sign of love and unity with the Papacy and Pope.
The original church building, probably adapted from the hall of the palace, was dedicated to the Saviour and from its splendour was known as the Basilica Aurea. Though several times destroyed and rebuilt, the basilica retained its ancient form, being divided by rows of columns into aisles and having an atrium with colonnades.   The tasteless restoration of the 17th century changed its appearance.   A monastery was formerly between the basilica and the city wall of which the cloister still remains. The original apse survived until 1878, when it was destroyed and a deeper apse built.   The ancient mosaics have been preserved   The high altar, which is of wood and is believed to have been used by Saint Peter, is now encased in marble.   In the upper part of the baldachinum are the heads of the Apostles, Peter and Paul.   The baptistery is an octagonal edifice with porphyry columns.   The font is of green basalt.   This basilica has been the cathedral of Rome since the 4th century.

More here:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/11/09/feast-of-the-dedication-of-the-basilica-of-saint-john-lateran-9-november/
AND:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/11/09/feast-of-the-dedication-of-st-john-lateran-9-november/

Our Lady of Almudena:   The Virgin of Almudena (Virgen de la Almudena) is a medieval icon of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ.   The image is the advocation of the Virgin that serves as a patroness of Madrid, Spain.
Intriguingly, however, its name derives from the Arabic term of Al Mudayna, or the citadel.   There are various legends regarding the icon.   One story is that in 712, prior to the capture of the town by the advancing Muslim forces, the inhabitants of the town secreted the image of the virgin, for its own protection, inside the walls surrounding the town.   In the 11th century, when Madrid was reconquered by the King Alfonso VI of Castile, the Christian soldiers endeavoured to find the statue.   After days of prayer, the spot on the wall hiding the icon crumbled, revealing the statue.   Another legend is that as Christian soldiers approached the town, they had a vision of Mary imploring them to allow her to lead them into the city. Again the miraculous crumbling of the wall occurred, with the icon showing an entry route through the walls.
The Cathedral of Madrid is dedicated to this advocation of the Virgin and her feast day, 9 November, is a major holiday in Madrid.502px-virgin_de_la_almudena_-_catedral_de_la_almudena

St Agrippinus of Naples
St Alexander of Salonica
St Aurelius of Riditio
St Benignus of Armagh
St Eustolia
St Francisco José Marín López de Arroyave
St Gabriel Ferretti
Bl George Napper
Bl Gratia of Cattaro
Bl Helen of Hungary
Bl Henryk Hlebowicz
St Jane of Segna
Bl Ludovico Morbioli (1433-1485)

St Justo Juanes Santos
St Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi
St Luis Morbioli
St María de la Salud Baldoví Trull
Bl María del Carmen of the Child Jesus
St Pabo
St Sopatra
St Theodore Stratelates
St Ursinus of Bourges
St Valentín Gil Arribas
St Vitonus of Verdun
—
Martyrs of Constantinople – 3 saints: A group of ten Catholic Christians who tried to defend an image of Jesus over the Brazen Gate of Constantinople from an attack by Iconoclasts during the persecutions of emperor Leo the Isaurian. The group of was seized by soldiers, condemned by judges for opposing the emperor, and martyred. The only details that have survived are three of their names – Julian, Marcian and Maria. They were martyred in 730 at Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey).

Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
• Blessed Anastasio Garzón González
• Blessed Francisco José Marín López de Arroyave
• Blessed Justo Juanes Santos
• Blessed María de la Salud Baldoví Trull
• Blessed Valentín Gil Arribas