Thought for the Day – 12 August – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
Rash Judgement
“Instead of examining their own consciences in the presence of God, there are many people who are always prepared to judge the thoughts and actions of others.
Do you belong to this category?
Reflect for a while on the words of the Gospel.
“Do not judge,” said Christ, “that you may not be judged. For with what judgement you judge, you shall be judged and with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you. But why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye and yet, do not consider the beam in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, “let me cast out the speck from your eye” and behold, there is a beam in your own eye? You hypocrite, first cast out the beam from your own eye and then, you will see clearly to cast out the speck from your brother’s eye” (Mt 7:1-5).
These severe words condemn rash judgements; they also impose on us, the obligation of correcting our own faults, rather than censuring those of others.
We are warned, moreover, that if we judge others harshly, the Divine Judge will treat us with equal severity.
A judgement is rash when it is formed without any sure basis and without necessity.
It is a difficult thing to penetrate the secrets of the human heart and conscience.
Only God can do it with absolute certainty.
St Bernard remarked, that anyone who judges others rashly, is usurping a right which belongs to Almighty God.
How can we possibly guess at the motives and intentions of our fellow-men?
It is fairer and kinder to be ready to excuse our fellow-men and to appreciate their good qualities.
We should leave it to God to judge their deficiencies and occupy ourselves with making amendment for our own sins.”
Quote/s of the Day – 12 August – The Memorial of St Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641)
“Hold your eyes on God and leave the doing to Him. That is all the doing, you have to worry about.”
“Follow your own way of speaking to our Lord, sincerely, lovingly, confidently and simply, as your heart dictates.”
“In prayer one must hold fast and never let go, because the one who gives up, loses all. If it seems that no-one is listening to you, then cry out even louder. If you are driven out of one door, go back in by the other.”
“The great method of prayer is to have none. If, in going to prayer, one can form in oneself, a pure capacity for receiving the spirit of God, that will suffice for all method.”
“In prayer, more is accomplished by listening than by talking.”
“Must you continue to be your own cross? No matter which way God leads you, you change everything into bitterness by constantly brooding over everything. For the love of God, replace all this self-scrutiny, with a pure and simple glance at God’s goodness.”
“Hell is full of the talented but Heaven, of the energetic.”
“Whatever you bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.” … Matthew 18:18
REFLECTION – “For our well-being and salvation, all the Holy Scriptures warn us constantly and humbly, to confess our sins, not only before God but also before a holy and godfearing man. This is what the Holy Spirit advises us to do through the mouth of James the apostle: “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed” (5:16) … and the psalmist says: “I confess my faults to the Lord and you took away the guilt of my sin” (Ps 32[31]:5).
We are always wounded by our sins and, in the same way, we should always have recourse to the medicine of confession. For indeed, if God wants us to confess our sins, it is not because He would be unable to know what they are but, because the devil wants to find something of which to accuse us before the judgement seat of the eternal Judge. That is why he would rather we thought more about excusing them than accusing ourselves of them. Our God, to the contrary, being good and merciful, wants us to confess them in this world, so that we may not be ashamed because of them in the next. So if we confess them then He, on His part, shows Himself to be merciful; if we acknowledge them then He forgives … As for ourselves, my brethren, we are really your spiritual physicians, seeking with all concern to heal your souls.” … St Caesarius of Arles (470-543) Bishop and Monk – Sermons to the laity, no. 59
PRAYER – Lord, You chose St Jane Frances to serve You, both in marriage and in religious life. By her prayers help us to be faithful in our vocation and always to work against our perverse inclinations. Only in You and with You and through You may we attain perfection. Lead us Lord! We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. St Jane de Chantal, pray for us, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 12 August – Wednesday of the Nineteenth week in Ordinary Time and the Memorial of St Jane Frances de Chantal VHM (1572-1641)
Prayer of Abandonment By St Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641)
O sovereign goodness
of the sovereign Providence of my God!
I abandon myself forever to Thy arms.
Whether gentle or severe,
lead me henceforth whither Thou will.
I will not regard the way
through which Thou will have me pass
but keep my eyes fixed upon Thee,
my God, who guides me.
My soul finds no rest without the arms
and the bosom of this heavenly Providence,
my true Mother, my strength and my rampart.
Therefore I resolve with Thy Divine assistance,
0 my Saviour,
to follow Thy desires and Thy ordinances,
without regarding or examining
why Thou does this rather than that
but I will blindly follow Thee,
according to Thy Divine will,
without seeking my own inclinations.
Hence I am determined to leave all to Thee,
taking no part therein,
save by keeping myself in peace in Thy arms,
desiring nothing, except as Thou incites me to desire,
to will, to wish.
I offer Thee this desire, 0 my God,
beseeching Thee to bless it.
I undertake all it includes,
relying on Thy goodness,
liberality and mercy,
with entire confidence in Thee,
distrust of myself,
and knowledge of my infinite misery and infirmity.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 12 August – St Pedro del Barco (1088-1155) – Hermit, Penitent, Canon, Apostle of the needy, he is regarded as the father of the agricultural industry in Avila – born in 1088 in Ávila, Spain and died on 1 November 1155 of natural causes.
Born in the late eleventh century into a peasant family, his existence is known through popular and local legends that acquired written support in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, such as the Epilogue of things worthy of memory belonging to the illustrious , very magnificent and very noble city of Ávila, by Gonzalo de Ayora, published in 1519, or Las Grandezas, antiquity and nobility of Barco de Ávila and its origin , by Luis Álvarez, which was published in Madrid in 1625.
Some traditions consider him to be born in a house in Barco de Ávila that is on the corner of the cemetery of the Church of the Ascension and which has hosted, since 1663, a Chapel built by order of the magistrate Juan Antonio Mangíbar.
It is said that when his father died, he withdrew, together with his friend, Saint Pascual de Barco de Ávila (also born in Tormellas), to a forest near Barco de Ávila to lead the life of a penitent, alternating work and prayer in uninterrupted prayer. Pity for the poverty of the local people, he dismantled a mountainous massif, in one of whose caves he lived and transformed it into a plain suitable for cultivation, creating a fertile space in which the natives of the place could grow beans and other crops for their maintenance. This enterprise, granted him the title of Father of the Land in his region.
This saint, digger of new lands won from the forests and mountains, lived chained to shackles and ate bread in a wooden bowl. Tradition says that he preached to the birds and other animals of the forest who paid homage to him, his work companions being two roe deer that helped him in his work. He took pity on a gypsy woman who had been a prostitute and, repentant, wanted to enter a convent in Ávila, for which she sold part of her land in order to be able to endow her.
The Bishop of Segovia, Pedro de Agen, appointed him Canon of the Cathedral of Segovia and commissioned him, together with Íñigo Navarrón, a teacher in Theology, to govern the house and farm of Párraces, where a Convent of Canons regular was founded, under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin and governed by the Rule of St Benedict. Saint Pedro lived there until the death of the Bishop and the appointment of Navarrón as Bishop of Coria.
He returned to Barco de Ávila in 1149 to end his days as a Hermit and Penitent. One day, as an old man, while ploughing a field, he asked a boy to bring him water from a nearby spring. The fountain, called St Pedro, is a pilgrimage site for the people of Barco de Ávila, just like his hut, which was transformed into a Hermitage in 1490.
In the centre of town of Barco de Ávila, next to the Church of the Assumption, is the Hermitage of San Pedro del Barco (1088-1155), built in the 18th century on the remains of what was his original cell.
Upon his death, which occurred on 1 November 1155, the inhabitants of the towns in which he had preached, disputed the possession of his body – Piedrahita, Horcajada, Segovia, Párraces, Barco de Ávila and Ávila.
Unable to reach an agreement, they loaded a blind mule with the body of the Saint and left it to the mule’s will to determine the place where he should be buried.
The mule headed towards Ávila and, upon reaching the Romanesque Church consecrated to Saints Vicente, Sabina and Cristeta, located outside the city walls, it entered the interior of the temple, went to the south arm of the transept and struck with its hoof on the ground to mark a stone slab with his footprint and thus transmit the divine will, designating the place where his relics should rest.
At present, Saint Pedro del Barco de Ávila has an Altar and sepulchre in the south arm of the transept of the Church of San Vicente, a place where the footprint of the mule is also preserved, protected by a wrought iron fence. The first document that confirms the ownership of the Church as dedicated to the saints Vicente, Sabina, Cristeta and Pedro del Barco de Ávila, dates from the reign of Fernando III el Santo and is dated in 1252.
He is represented dressed in a black Benedictine habit, white hair and beard, with a wrinkled face, carrying a book with the Rule of Saint Benedict of Nursia and farming instruments in his hands or feet. Sometimes he is accompanied by a deer or a mule.
St Macarius of Syria
St Merewenna
St Micae Nguyen Huy My
St Murtagh of Killala
St Photinus of Marmora St Pedro del Barco (1088-1155)
Bl Pierre Jarrige de la Morélie de Puyredon
St Porcarius of Lerins
St Simplicio of Vercelli
St Ust
—
Martyrs of Augsburg – 4 saints: The mother, Hilaria, and three friends of of Saint Afra of Augsburg. While visiting the tomb of Saint Afra who were seized by the authorities and martyred when they visited Afra’s tomb – Digna, Eunomia, Euprepia and Hilaria. They were burned alive c 304.
Martyrs of Rome – 5 saints: A group of Christians martyred together in the persecutions of Diocletian. We know little more than their names – Crescentian, Juliana, Largio, Nimmia and Quiriacus.
• c.304 in Rome, Italy
• buried on the Ostian Way outside Rome.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
• Blessed Antoni Perulles Estivill
• Blessed Atilano Dionisio Argüeso González
• Blessed Carles Barrufet Tost
• Blessed Buenaventura García-Paredes Pallasá
• Blessed Carles Barrufet Tost
• Blessed Domingo Sánchez Lázaro
• Blessed Enrique María Gómez Jiménez
• Blessed Félix Pérez Portela
• Blessed Gabriel Albiol Plou
• Blessed José Jordán Blecua
• Blessed Josep Nadal Guiu
• Blessed Juana Pérez Abascal
• Blessed Manuel Basulto Jiménez
• Blessed Manuel Borràs Ferré
• Blessed Pau Figuerola Rovira
• Blessed Pedro José Cano Cebrían
• Blessed Perfecto Del Río Páramo
• Blessed Ramona Cao Fernández
• Blessed Vittoria Diaz y Bustos de Molina
and these below:
Martyrs of Barbastro – 6 beati: Six Claretian brothers and priests who were martyred together in the persecutions of the Spanish Civil War.
• Gregorio Chirivas Lacamba
• José Pavón Bueno
• Nicasio Sierra Ucar
• Pere Cunill Padrós
• Sebastián Calvo Martínez
• Wenceslau Clarís Vilaregut
They were martyred on 12 August 1936 in Barbastro, Huesca, Spain and Beatified on 25 October 1992 by Pope John Paul II.
Martyrs of La Torre de Fontaubella – 4 beati: Four parish priests who were murdered together in the persecutions of the Spanish Civil War.
• Antoni Nogués Martí
• Joan Rofes Sancho
• Josep Maria Sancho Toda
• Ramon Martí Amenós
They were martyred on 12 August 1936 in La Torre de Fontaubella, Tarragona, Spain and Beatified on 13 October 2013 by Pope Francis. Their beatification celebrated in Tarragona, Spain.
Martyrs of Puerta de Hierro – 5 beati: Five nun in the Archdiocese of Madrid, Spain, all members of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, and all martyred together in the Spanish Civil War.
• Estefanía Saldaña Mayoral
• María Asunción Mayoral Peña
• María Dolores Barroso Villaseñor
• María Severina Díaz-Pardo Gauna
• Melchora Adoración Cortés Bueno
They were martyred on 12 August 1936 in Puerta de Hierro, Aravaca, Madrid, Spain and Beatified on
27 October 2013 by Pope Benedict XVI.
AnaStpaul 
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