Daily Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Thou has destroyed the power of death and given the hope of eternal life, for body and soul. Thou granted Thy Mother a special place in Thy glory and did not allow decay to touch her body. As we rejoice in the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, grant us renewed confidence in the victory of life over death. Amen.
Day 5: O merciful and loving Mother, may thy glorious beauty fill our hearts with a distaste for earthly things and an ardent longing for the joys of Heaven. May thy merciful eyes glance down upon our struggles and our weakness in this vale of tears. Hear then loving Mother, our request and plead to Jesus for us. ……………………………….. (Mention your request) Crown us with the pure robe of innocence and grace here and with immortality and glory in Heaven. O Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us. Amen
Thought for the Day – 10 August – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
Following Jesus, the Divine Model
“Jesus is the Divine Model, Whom we ought to follow and imitate. In Him, the virtues possess both the infinite splendour of the Divinity and the gentle appeal of glorified Humanity. Jesus does not dazzle us with His brightness but kindly invites us to love and follow Him. “Learn from me” He says, “for I am meek and humble of heart and you will find rest for your souls” (Mt 11:29). After He has indicated humility, meekness and interior peace, as the foundations of the spiritual life, He invites us to take up the yoke of His law and assures us, that we shall find it light (Mt 11).
If we follow Jesus, even though we are bowed with Him, beneath the weight of the Cross, we shall experience, even in this life, a reflection of the peace and joy which will be our reward in Heaven.”
Quote/s of the Day – 10 August – Feast of Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr, Readings: Second Corinthians 9:6-10, Psalms 112:1-2, 5-6, 7-8, 9, John 12:24-26
“If anyone serves me, he must follow me and where I am, there will my servant be also.”
John 12:26
“Love one another as I have loved you”
John 15:12
“Behold, my servant whom I have chosen”
Matthew 12:18
“When we stand in the light it is not we who illumine the light and cause it to shine but we are illuminated and made shining by the light… God grants His blessings on those who serve Him because they are serving Him and on those who follow Him because they are following Him but He receives no blessing from them because He is perfect and without need.”
St Irenaeus (c 130 – c 202) Bishop & Martyr, Father of the Church
“My brothers, Christ made love the stairway that would enable all Christians to climb to heaven. Hold fast to it, therefore, in all sincerity, give one another practical proof of it and by your progress in it, make your ascent together.”
St Fulgentius of Ruspe (460-533)
Our Lord, King of All By St Albert the Great (1200-1280) Doctor of the Church
We pray to You, O Lord, who are the supreme Truth, and all truth is from You. We beseech You, O Lord, who are the highest Wisdom, and all the wise depend on You for their wisdom. You are the supreme Joy, and all who are happy owe it to You. You are the Light of minds and all receive their understanding from You. We love, we love You above all. We seek You, we follow You, and we are ready to serve You. We desire to dwell under Your power for You are the King of all. Amen.
“If you wish to enter into life, keep My commandments. If you will know the truth, believe in Me. If you will be perfect, sell all. If you will be My disciple, deny yourself. If you will possess the blessed life, despise this present life. If you will be exalted in heaven, humble yourself on earth. If you wish to reign with Me, carry the Cross with Me. For only the servants of the Cross find the life of blessedness and of true light.”
Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) The Imitation of Christ Chapter 56
One Minute Reflection – 10 August – “Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” – Feast of Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr, Readings: Second Corinthians 9:6-10, Psalms 112:1-2, 5-6, 7-8, 9, John 12:24-26
“Whoever serves me must follow me,and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honour whoever serves me.” – John 12:26
REFLECTION – “Christ’s servants are those who look out for His things rather than their own. “Let him follow me” means “Let him walk in my ways and not in his own,” as it is written elsewhere. For if he supplies food for the hungry, he should do so in the way of mercy, not to brag about it. He should be looking for nothing else there but to do good and not letting his left hand know what his right hand does. In other words, any work of charity should be utterly devoid of any thought of “what’s in it for me.” The one who serves in this way serves Christ and will have it rightly said to him, “Inasmuch as you did it unto one of the least of those who are mine, you did it unto me.” And the one who serves Christ in this way, will be honoured by His Father with the peculiar honour of being with His Son and having nothing lacking in his happiness ever again. And so, when you hear the Lord saying, “Where I am, there shall also my servant be,” do not think merely of good bishops and clergy. But you yourselves should also serve Christ in your own way by good lives, by giving to the poor, by preaching His name and doctrine as best as you can too. Every father [or mother] too will be filling an ecclesiastical and episcopal kind of office by serving Christ in their own homes when they serve their families, so that they too may be with Him forever.” – St Augustine (354-430) Bishop of Hippo, Father and Doctor of Grace of the Church – Tractates on the Gospel of John, 51.
PRAYER – Lord God, You inspired St Lawrence with so ardent a love that his life was renowned for the service of Your people and his death for the splendour of his Martyrdom. Help us to love what he loved and to live as he showed us. St Lawrence, Martyr for Christ and His Church, pray for us. Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, in union with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever amen.
Our Morning Offering – 10 August – “Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary”
Save Us, O Mary! By Venerable Pope Pius XII (1876-1958) (Pontiff 1939-1958)
O Virgin, fair as the moon, delight of the Angels and Saints in Heaven, grant that we may become like you and that our souls may receive a ray of your beauty, which does not decline with the years but shines forth into eternity. O Mary, sun of Heaven, restore life where there is death and enlighten spirits, where there is darkness. Turn your countenance to your children and radiate on us your light and your fervour. O Mary, powerful as an army, grant victory to our ranks. We are very weak and our enemy rages with uttermost conceit. But under your banner we are confident of overcoming him. …. Save us, O Mary, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, awe-inspiring as an army set in battle array and sustained not by hatred but by the ardour of love. Amen
Saint of the Day – 10 August – Saint Bessus (Died c 286) Martyr, Soldier, Missionary evangelist, miracle-worker. Died by being thrown from Mount Fautenio c 286 in Campiglia Soana, Turin, Italy. Patronages – soldiers, for fertility, Campiglia Soana, Italy, Cogne, Italy, Ivrea, Italy, Valprato Soana, Italy. Also known as – Besso, Besse.
Bessus was a soldier of the Theban legion who were nearly all converted to Christianity. Around 286, the Roman Emperor Maximian was ,with his troops ,in Agaunum (today’s Saint-Maurice in Switzerland).
Christian soldiers of the Theban legion were massacred for refusing to sacrifice to the pagan gods. Only a few legionaries survived the massacre and they began to wander the mountains, carrying the message of the new faith.
These often martyred soldiers were the first evangelists of many valleys in the Western Alps. Bessus too was able to convert a large number of mountain dwellers of the Val Soana, until he was captured and thrown down from Monte Fautenio.
Besso died but miraculously left his mark on the rock below, where the Sanctuary dedicated to him now stands.
San Besso was famous as a great thaumaturge saint, author of countless miracles, protector of soldiers against the dangers of war. The special devotion to the Saint is still expressed today in the feast in his honour celebrated annually on 10 August in the Sanctuary located in the mountains of the Gran Paradiso National Park, in the high Val Soana at over 2000 meters above sea level. The faithful flock in large numbers both from Campiglia and from the Cogne valley, from which it is necessary to leave the day before and stay overnight at the Sanctuary shelter. Many once wore the colourful traditional costumes of the different valleys.
The Statue of the Saint is carried in procession by completing a tour around the great cliff that witnessed his Martyrdom – the honour of carrying the Statuei s in itself a ceremony.
Virgen de la Peña / Our Lady of the Crag, Bogotà, Colombia (1685 )– 10 August:
On 10 August 1685, Bernardino Rodríguez de León“saw a great and unusual radiance that was not the natural light of day” in the peaks east of Bogotá. On drawing near, he realised the light was coming from an image of an Angel, the Virgin and Child and St Joseph, outlined in the living rock.
News of the discovery soon spread throughout the Capital and after an investigation, the Archbishop authorised the construction of a Chapel on the mountainside and public veneration on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday of 1686. The thatched Chapel collapsed in 1714 and a sturdier stone building took its place. Mysteriously, people began to see Our Lady’s face change expression – sad, tearful, joyous. On 8 May 1716, the left wall of the Chapel collapsed to its foundation, after only 150 days. It was decided to move the images from the mountain. In early June, stonemason Luis de Herrera began separating the images from the underlying rock. Legend relates that when he finished, a bird flew out. The images were cleaned, polished and touched up to make the figures and clothing more distinct. They still weighed 750 pounds. In November, men carried them on their shoulders to the plain, where they were greeted with rejoicing and dancing. Another straw shelter protected the statues until completion of a new Chapel in 1722. Now a national monument, Our Lady of the Crag is still a very active Church and an Archdiocesan Sanctuary.
St Lawrence (Died 258) Martyr (Feast) “Keeper of the Treasures of he Church,” Martyr, Archdeacon. St Lawrence was one of the seven Deacons of the City of Rome under Pope St Sixtus II, who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians by decree of the Roman Emperor Valerian. St Lawrence here: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/08/10/saint-of-the-day-feast-of-st-lawrence-of-rome-martyr/
Bl Claude-Joseph Jouffret de Bonnefont St Deusdedit the Cobbler Bl Edward Grzymala Bl Franciszek Drzewiecki Bl Francois François St Gerontius Bl Hugh of Montaigu Bl Lazare Tiersot St Paula of Carthage St Thiento of Wessobrunn — Martyrs of Alexandria – 260+ saints: A large number of Christians who died in Alexandria, Egypt between 260 and 267 in the persecutions of Decius and Valerian, whose names have not come down to us and who are commemorated together.
Martyrs of Rome – 165 saints: Group of 165 Christians martyred in the persecutions of Aurelian. 274 in Rome, Italy.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: • Blessed Antonio González Penín • Blessed José Toledo Pellicer • Blessed José Xavier Gorosterratzu Jaunarena • Blessed Juan Martorell Soria • Blessed Pedro Mesonero Rodríguez • Blessed Victoriano Calvo Lozano
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