Day: December 8, 2019

Posted in CATHOLIC DEVOTIONS of the Month, MARIAN PRAYERS, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, MARIAN TITLES, NOVENAS, The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

Novena in Preparation for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception Day Eight – 8 December

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Novena in Preparation for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
Day Eight – 8 December

By St Maximillian Kolbe OFM (1894-1941) Martyr

OPENING PRAYER

How fair you are, 0 Mary!
The original stain is not in you.
You are the boast of Jerusalem,
You are the joy of Israel.
You are the pride of our people.
You are the advocate of sinners.
0 Mary!
You are the wisest of virgins.
You are the kindest of mothers.
Pray for us.
Intercede for us with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Holy Virgin, you were spotless
from the very moment of your conception.
Because you bore His Son, pray to the Father for us.
Through the spotless conception of the Virgin, 0 God,
You made ready a dwelling place worthy of Your Son.
In anticipation of Your Son’s death,
You preserved her from every stain.
Please purify us by her intercession,
so that we might find our way to You.
We ask this through Christ our lord.
Amen

Daily Readings and Meditations for each day of the Novena are given here, followed by two closing Novena Prayers for each day.

Day 8:   The Immaculata’s Fruitfulnessday 8 - the immaculate conception novena 8 dec 2019.jpg

Reading:
God sends to us the one who personifies His love – Mary, the spouse of the Spirit—a spirit of maternal love—immaculate, all beautiful, spotless, even though she is our sister, a true daughter of the human race.   God confides to her the communication of His mercy to souls.   He makes of her the Mediatrix of the graces merited for us by her divine Son, for she is full of grace, the mother of all souls born of grace, reborn and always being reborn, becoming ever more godlike (Commentary on MI “Act of Consecration,” 1940).

Meditation:
Productivity is one of the chief “virtues” upheld by modern society as a measure of worldly success.   May the Immaculata give witness to each of us that her (and our) ongoing spiritual fruitfulness, in bearing Christ to others, is a far greater achievement than material productivity.

Closing prayers

Novena Prayer to the Immaculata

I greet you, ever-blessed Virgin,
Mother of God throne of grace,
miracle of almighty power!
I greet you, sanctuary of the most Holy Trinity
and Queen of the universe,
Mother of mercy and refuge of sinners!
Most loving Mother,
attracted by your beauty and sweetness
and by your tender compassion,
I confidently turn to you
and beg of you, to obtain for me of your dear Son
the favour I request in this novena
………………………… (here mention you request).
Obtain for me also, Queen of Heaven,
the most lively contrition for my many sins
and the grace to imitate closely,
those virtues which you practised so faithfully,
especially humility, purity and obedience.
Above all I beg you to be my mother
and protectress,
to receive me into the number of your devoted children
and to guide me from your high throne of glory.
Do not reject my petitions, Mother of mercy!
Have pity on me and do not abandon me
during life or at the moment of my death.

Daughter of the Eternal Father,
Mother of the Eternal Son,
Spouse of the Holy Spirit,
Temple of the adorable Trinity,
pray for me.
Immaculate and tender Heart of Mary,
refuge of the needy and hope of sinners,
filled with the most lively respect, love and gratitude,
I devote myself forever to your service
and I offer you my heart,
with all that I am and all that belongs to me.
Accept this offering,
sweet Queen of Heaven and earth
and obtain for me of your dear Son, Jesus Christ,
the favours I ask through your intercession in this novena.
Obtain for me also a tender, generous, constant love of God,
perfect submission to His adorable will,
the true spirit of a Christian
and the grace of final perseverance.
Amen

Closing Prayer of Identification with the Immaculata

O Immaculate Conception, Mary, my Mother,
live in me, act in me, speak in and through me.
Think your thoughts in my mind,
love through my heart.
Give me your own dispositions and feelings.
Teach, lead and guide me to Jesus.
Correct, enlighten and expand my entire personality and life.
Replace me with yourself.
Incline me to constant adoration and thanksgiving,
pray in and through me.
Let me live in you
and keep me in this union always.
Amen

Posted in NOTES to Followers

There is nothing I can do – 8 December

Posted on by AnaStpaul

There is nothing I can do – 8 December

South Africa is struggling under what is called “Load Shedding.”

This means our Electricity is switched off, up to 4 times per day, for 2 1/2 hours each time.

So when my posts are foreshortened, you will know why.

It is extremely frustrating, to put it mildly!

Please Pray for South Africa!

apologies - power cut - 5 dec 2019.jpg

Posted in QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on SANCTITY

Quote of the Day – 8 December – Making progess

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Quote of the Day – 8 December – The Second Sunday of Advent, Year A

“If we wish to make any progress in the service of God,
we must begin everyday of our life, with new eagerness.
We must keep ourselves, in the presence of God,
as much as possible and have no other view
or end, in all our actions but the divine honour.”

St Charles Borromeo (1538-1584)

if-we-wish-to-make-st-charles-borromeo-16-dec-2017 and 8 dec 2019.jpg

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES of the SAINTS, SUNDAY REFLECTIONS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS

Sunday Reflection – 8 December – Go With Him

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Sunday Reflection – 8 December – The Second Sunday of Advent, Year A

Go With Him

St Ephrem of Syria (306-373)

Father & Doctor of the Church

“Go with Him, as His inseparable companion, to the wedding feast of Cana and drink of the wine of His blessing.   Let you have ever before you, the Face of the Lord and look upon His beauty and let your earnest gaze turn nowhere away from His most sweet countenance.

Go before Him into a desert place and see the wonder of His works, where He multiplied in His own Holy Hands the bread that sufficed the great multitude.

Go, my brother, go forward and with all the love of your soul, follow Christ wherever He may go…   And lovingly behold Him as taking bread into His hands, He blesses it and breaks it, as the outward form of His own Immaculate Body and the chalice which He blessed, as the outward form of His Precious Blood and gave to His Disciples and be you, also, a partaker of His sacraments.”

go my brother go forward - st ephrem - sun reflc 8 dec 2019.jpg

Posted in ADVENT QUOTES, ADVENT REFLECTIONS, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on CONVERSION, The WORD

Advent Reflection – – 8 December – The Second Sunday of Advent – “My Father and I will come to him and make our dwelling within him”

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Advent Reflection – – 8 December – The Second Sunday of Advent, Year A – Readings: Isaiah 11:1-10, Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17, Romans 15:4-9, Matthew 3:1-12

Let us adore the Lord, the king who is to come.

“Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” … Matthew 3:2

REFLECTION – “John the Baptist said:  “Every valley shall be filled” (Lk 3:5) but it was not John who filled every valley, it was our Lord and Saviour… “And the winding roads shall be made straight.”   Every one of us was going astray… and it was Christ’s coming, fulfilled within our very souls, that straightened all that was crooked…  Nothing was so resistant as you were.   Consider your former unruly desires, your fits of anger and other evil tendencies, as to whether they have disappeared.   You will realise that nothing was so resistant as you were, or, in an even more expressive phrase, that nothing was brought so low as you were.   Your behaviour was low, your words and deeds were low.

But my Lord Jesus came – He smoothed down your roughness, He changed all that muddle into roads that joined up to create a way without obstacles within you, well articulated and swept clean, so that God our Father could walk in you and Christ the Lord could make His home in you and say:  “My Father and I will come to him and make our dwelling within him” (Jn 14:23).” … Origen (c 185-253)my father and i will come to him and make our dwellin within him - john 14 23 - 8 dec 2019 2nd sun advent.jpg

MEDITATION – ” … The good news that Jesus brings us — and that John predicts — is that we do not need to wait for the kingdom of God in the future – it is at hand.   In some way it is already present and we may experience spiritual power from now on.   “The kingdom of God is in your midst!”  Jesus will say.   God comes to establish His lordship in our history, today, everyday, in our life and there — where it is welcomed with faith and humility — love, joy and peace blossom.” … Pope Francis (ANGELUS, 4 December 2016)

ADVENT ACTION – May we open the doors of our hearts, where the Lord dwells and share His hospitality with those in need, wherever we find them!

PRAYER – Lord, watch over Your people, who come to You in confidence.   Strengthen the hearts of those who hope in You.   Give courage to those who falter because of their failures.   In this holy season of Advent, lead them closer to You in hope, by the power of Your Holy Spirit.   May they we share Your saving acts of kindness today and one day proclaim them in your eternal kingdom.   We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.the second sunday of advent - 8 dec 2019 .jpg

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS

Our Morning Offering – 8 December – Prayer After Holy Communion – by St Basil the Great (329-379)

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Our Morning Offering – 8 December – The Second Sunday of Advent, Year A

Prayer After Holy Communion
By St Basil the Great (329-379)
Father & Doctor of the Church

O Christ, our Master and God,
King of the ages and Creator of all,
I thank You for all the Good things
that You have given to me
and for the reception of
Your most pure and life-giving Mysteries.
I pray You, therefore,
O good Lover of mankind,
keep me under Your protection
in the shadow of Your wings.
Grant that with a pure conscience,
until my last breath,
I may worthily partake of Your Holy Things,
for the forgiveness of sins
and for life everlasting.
For You are the bread of Life,
the Fountain of holiness
and the Bestower of blessings
and to You, we give glory
together with the Father
and the Holy Spirit,
now and forever and ever.
Amenprayer after Holy Communion by st Basil the great - 8 dec 2019.jpg

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 8 December – Saint Pope Eutychian (Died 283)

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Saint of the Day – 8 December – Saint Pope Eutychian (Died 283) – Born in Etruria or Tuscany (both in modern Italy) and died on 7 December 283.   The Church states his reign as January, 275 to 7 December 283.Pope_Eutychian.jpg

This was a time of relative quiet in the Roman Church.   There was no persecution or outright hostilities.   However, the Empire was in deep trouble.   This era is called the Crisis of the Third Century. Emperors were assassinated with great frequency.   While the Church fought battles over dogma, the Empire, in only 20 years, had to go through many battles over land.

Eutychian was thus free to fight internal battles which threatened to divide the Church. The two biggest battles were the Novationist schism and the Trinitarian controversy. Novatian had begun his campaign during the time of Pope Cornelius.   The persecutions had scared many into denouncing Christianity to save themselves.   After peace came, many wanted to come back to communion with the Church.   Could they be given absolution?   Novatian said no.   He was so adamant and pushed his teaching so convincingly that he was elected pope by some in Rome, claiming primacy from 251 to 258.   This led to the question of whether a schismatic presbyter could validly baptise someone, or did that person need to be re-baptised.   Although previous popes declared that not to be so, it was still a point of contention during Eutychian’s papacy.   Although Novatian left Rome during another series of persecutions, giving up his claim to antipope and no-one hearing from him again, his concepts lasted for several centuries.st pope eutychian,.jpg

The other battle waged in Rome was the question of the Trinity.   It was obvious that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit were mentioned individually in the New Testament.   Were they three modes of God’s being?   Or were they three “persons” in one God?   There is no record of Eutychian’s opinion.   The established concept was not decided on his watch.saint_eutychian_l.jpg

Under Eutychian’s papacy and the next few, as well, the Roman Catholic Church became a main cultural institution in the empire. Peaceful acceptance of the religion had begun. This is his legacy.st pope eutychian medallion.jpg

St Eutychian was the last pope buried in the papal crypt at the Catacombs of Callixtus.

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Second Sunday of Advent and Memorials of the Saints – 8 December

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Second Sunday of Advent, Year A +2019
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception – MOVED to 9 December +2019

Bl Alojzy Liguda
St Anastasia of Pomerania
St Anthusa of Africa
St Antonio García Fernández
St Casari of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon
St Eucharius of Trier
St Pope Eutychian (Died 283) The 27th Pope
St Gunthildis of Ohrdruf
Bl Jacob Gwon Sang-yeon
Bl Johanna of Cáceres
Bl José María Zabal Blasco
St Macarius of Alexandria
St Marin Shkurti
St Patapius
Bl Paul Yun Ji-chung
St Rafael Román Donaire
St Romaric of Remiremont
St Sofronius of Cyprus