Thought for the Day – 2 September – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
Our Relationship with the Most Holy Trinity
“The bonds of love between God and us, which had been broken by sin, were restored by the Redemption. The bonds of love between our soul and the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity are described by St Bonaventure in this manner. (1) The soul is the daughter of the Divine Father. (2) It is the spouse of Jesus Christ. (3) It is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The concept of our divine sonship can be found even in the Old Testament. “As one whom the mother caresseth,” God promises, “so will I comfort you” (Is 66:13). But Jesus insisted in a special way on this concept of our divine sonship, so that we might love our heavenly Father more. He told us to address God as Father in our prayers. He described Him as a loving Father, waiting with love and forgiveness for His prodigal sons. When leaving this earth, He told us: “I go to my Father and to your Father.”
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us.” writes St John, “that we should be called children of God and so we are” (1 Jn 3:1). “You have not received a spirit of bondage,” explains St Paul, “so as to be again in fear but, you have received a spirit of adoption as sons, by virtue of which, we cry: “Abba! Father!” (Rom 8:15). This divine paternity is the result of the elevation of our souls to the supernatural order by means of grace, which flows into our souls and makes us partakers of the very life of God. It is necessary, therefore, to nourish this grace in ourselves by praying to our heavenly Father with humility and with perseverance. It is equally essential for us to keep this grace alive by being obedient always to the commandments of God and to His holy will.
Let us examine our behaviour and see if we can honestly claim that we are one with God in mind and in heart, in intention and action.”
Quote/s of the Day – 2 September – “Month of the Seven Sorrows of Mary” – Readings: Colossians 1: 9-14; Psalms 98: 2-3ab, 3cd-4-6; Luke 5: 1-11
“Leaving all things, they followed him.”
Luke 5:11
“I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
John 8:12
“If we follow Christ closely we shall be allowed, even on this earth, to stand, as it were, on the threshold of the heavenly Jerusalem and enjoy the contemplation, of that everlasting feast, like the blessed Apostles, who, in following the Saviour as their leader, showed and still show, the way to obtain the same gift from God. They said – See, we have left all things and followed You. We too follow the Lord and we keep His feast by deeds rather than by words.”
St Athanasius (297-373) Father & Doctor of the Church
“We will follow You, Lord Jesus. But in order for us to follow You, call us because without You, no-one will ascend towards You. For You are the way, the truth, the life. You are also our help, our trust, our reward. Welcome those who belong to You, You who are the way; strengthen them, You who are the truth; give them life, You who are the life.”
St Ambrose (340-397) Father & Doctor of the Church
“My sheep follow me,” says Christ. By a certain God-given grace, believers follow in the footsteps of Christ. No longer subject to the shadows of the Law , they obey the commands of Christ, and guided by His words, rise through grace, to His own dignity, for they are called children of God. When Christ ascends into heaven, they also follow Him.”
St Cyril of Alexandria (380-444) Father & Doctor of the Church
“There are two ways of keeping God’s word, namely, one, whereby we store in our memory what we hear and the other, whereby we put into practice, what we have heard (and none will deny that the latter is more commendable, inasmuch, as it is better to sow grain, than to store it in the barn).”
Blessed Jordan of Saxony OP (1190-1237)
“Place all your trust in God, let Him be your fear and your love. He will answer for you, He will do what is best for you. You have here no lasting home. You are a stranger and a pilgrim wherever you may be and you shall have no rest, until you are wholly united with Christ. Why do you look about here when this is not the place of your repose?”
One Minute Reflection – 2 September – “Month of the Seven Sorrows of Mary” – Readings: Colossians 1: 9-14; Psalms 98: 2-3ab, 3cd-4-6; Luke 5: 1-11
“Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men.” – Luke 5:10
REFLECTION – “I am greatly indebted to God who has granted me so great a grace that “many peoples” have been born anew to God through me …. “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” … This is how I want to “wait for the promise” of Him Who never fails us, as He assures us in the Gospel: “They will come from East and West and will sit at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” So we are confident that believers will come from the whole world.
That is why we should apply ourselves diligently to the catch, as we ought to do, following the exhortation and teaching of the Lord Who said: “Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.” And again, He said through the prophets: “Look! I will send many fishermen and hunters.” That is why it was so important to cast our nets, so that “a great number [of fish],” “a crowd” of people might be caught for God and, that everywhere, there might be Priests according to the word of the Lord: “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And, behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” – St Patrick (c 386-461) Bishop – Confession, 38-40 (SC 249)
PRAYER – Lord, my God, You chose us from the foundations of the world to be Your children. We pray that our courage may not fail us as we strive to live in obedience to Your commandments and by our lives spread Your holy Word. We ask too for courage, as we are attacked from all sides, in our struggle home to You. Grant that through the prayers of our Sorrowful Mother, we may fight unto death for Your love and the glory of Your Kingdom. Through our Lord, Jesus, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 2 September – “Month of the Seven Sorrows of Mary”
The Suscipe of Venerable Sr Catherine McAuley (1778-1841)
My God, I am Yours for time and eternity. Teach me to cast myself entirely into the arms of Your loving Providence with a lively, unlimited confidence in Your compassionate, tender pity. Grant, O most merciful Redeemer, that whatever You ordain or permit, may be acceptable to me. Take from my heart all painful anxiety, let nothing sadden me but sin, nothing delight me but the hope of coming to the possession of You, my God and my all, in Your everlasting kingdom. Amen
Saint/s of the Day – 2 September – The September Martyrs of the French Revolution, Blessed John du Lau and Companions. They were massacred by a mob on 2 September and 3 September 1792 and Beatified on 17 October 1926 by Pope Pius XI.
A group of 191 Martyrs who died in the French Revolution. They were imprisoned in the Abbey of St-Germain-des-Prés, Hôtel des Carmes in the Rue de Rennes, Prison de la Force and Seminaire de Saint-Firmin in Paris, France by the Legislative Assembly for refusing to take the oath to support the civil constitution of the clergy. This act placed Priests under the control of the state, and had been condemned by the Vatican.
In 1790, the revolutionary government of France enacted a law denying Papal authority over the Church in France. The French clergy were required to swear an oath to uphold this law and submit to the Republic. Many priests and religious took the oath but a sizable minority opposed it. The revolutionary leaders’ primary target was the aristocracy but by 1792, their attention turned to the Church, especially the non-jurors within it.
In August, in the name of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, those who had refused the oath were rounded up and imprisoned in Parisian monasteries, emptied for that purpose.
Blessed John du Lau, Archbishop of Arles, was born on 30 October 1738 at the Château de la Côte at Biras in the Dordogne, in the Diocese of Périgueux, of an aristocratic family which had fed many members into the higher ranks of the clergy. His father was Armand du Lau, seigneur de La Coste and his mother Françoise de Salleton. Refusing to take the oath to the civil constitution, he had been brought to Paris and cast into the prison of the Cannes, formerly a Carmelite Monastery.
Bl Jean-Marie du Lau d’Alleman, Archbishop of Arles
Blessed Pierre-Louis de la Rochefoucauld, Bishop of Saintes and a vigorous antagonist of Jansenism, and his brother, Francois-Joseph de la Rochefoucauld, Bishop of Beauvais, were sons of Jean de La Rochefoucauld, Lord of Maumont, Magnac and other places, Knight of the military orders of Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel and St-Lazarre de Jérusalem and Marguerite des Escots. Both brothers were imprisoned.
Bl Pierre-Louis de la Rochefoucauld-Bayers, Bishop of Saintes
In September “Vigilance Committees” were set up and mobs sent to the make-shift prisons. On 2 September, a season of bloodshed and slaughter began. The inmates were cut-down in cold blood. All of the prisoners, even the old and disabled, were put to the sword. The executions at the old Carmelite monastery in Paris were recorded.
The Massacre at the Abbaye Prison near St Germain des Pres, engraved by Reinier Vinkeles and Daniel Vrydag
Among the Martyrs was Blessed Alexander Lenfant, a Jesuit. Just a few minutes before he died, he had been hearing the confession of a fellow priest. Both were killed moments later. The rioters then went to the Carmelite church which was also being used as a prison.
The mob called out, “Archbishop of Arles!” Archbishop John du Lau of Arles (Jean-Marie du Lau d’Alleman) was praying in the Chapel. When summoned, he came out and he said, “I am he whom you seek.” Thereupon, they cracked his skull, stabbed him and trampled him underfoot. Then the leader set up a “tribunal” before which the imprisoned were herded and commanded to take the oath. All refused; so, as they passed down the stairway, they were hacked to pieces by the murderers.
tThe Martyrs’ Stairway
The Bishop of Beauvais had earlier been wounded in the leg. When summoned, he answered, “I do not refuse to die with the others but I cannot walk. I beg you to have the kindness to carry me where you wish me to go.” For a moment, his courtesy silenced the assassins. But, when he, too, refused the oath, he was killed like the rest.
On 3 September the same mob went to the Lazarist Seminary. It was also a temporary prison, with ninety Priests and religious. Only four escaped death.
According to Nicolas-Edme Restif de la Bretonne, “The number of active killers who took part in the September massacres was only about one hundred and fifty. The rest of Paris looked on in fear or approval, or stayed behind closed shutters.”
Earl Gower, a British diplomat, wrote in his dispatches: “These unfortunate people fell victims to the fury of the enraged populace and were massacred with circumstances of barbarity too shocking to describe. The mob went afterwards to the prison of the Abbaye and having demanded of the jailors a list of the prisoners, they put aside such as were confined only for debt and pulled to pieces most of the others. The same cruelties were committed during the night and continue this morning in all the other prisons of the Town. When they have satiated their vengeance, which is principally directed against the refractory Priests,… it is to be hoped the tumult will subside but as the multitude are perfectly masters, everything is to be dreaded.”
THE 191 COURAGEOUS and BLESSED MARTYRS ARE: • Ambroise-Augustin Chevreux • Andé Angar • André Grasset de Saint-Sauveur • André-Abel Alricy • Anne-Alexandre-Charles-Marie Lanfant • Antoine-Charles-Octavien du Bouzet • Antoine-Mathieu-Augustin Nogier • Apollinaris of Posat • Armand de Foucauld de Pontbriand • Armand-Anne-Auguste-Antonin-Sicaire Chapt de Rastignac • August-Dénis Nezel • Bernard-François de Cucsac • Bertrand-Antoine de Caupenne • Charles Carnus • Charles-François le Gué • Charles-Jéremie Bérauld du Pérou • Charles-Louis Hurtrel • Charles-Regis-Mathieu de la Calmette de Valfons • Charles-Victor Véret • Claude Bochot • Claude Cayx-Dumas • Claude Chaudet • Claude Colin • Claude Fontaine • Claude Ponse • Claude Rousseau • Claude-Antoine-Raoul Laporte • Claude-François Gagnières des Granges • Claude-Louis Marmotant de Savigny • Claude-Silvain-Raphaël Mayneaud de Bizefranc • Daniel-Louis André Des Pommerayes • Denis-Claude Duval • Éloy Herque du Roule • Étienne-François-Dieudonné de Ravinel • Étienne-Michel Gillet • Eustache Félix • François Balmain • François Dardan • François Dumasrambaud de Calandelle • François Lefranc • François Varheilhe-Duteil • François-César Londiveau • François-Hyacinthe lé Livec de Trésurin • François-Joseph de la Rochefoucald-Maumont • François-Joseph Monnier • François-Joseph Pey • François-Louis Hébert • François-Louis Méallet de Fargues • François-Urbain Salins de Niart • Gabriel Desprez de Roche • Gaspard-Claude Maignien • Georges Girault • Georges-Jérôme Giroust • Gilbert-Jean Fautrel • Gilles-Louis-Symphorien Lanchon • Guillaume-Antoine Delfaut • Henri-August Luzeau de la Mulonnière • Henri-Hippolyte Ermès • Henri-Jean Milet • Jacques de la Lande • Jacques Dufour • Jacques Friteyre-Durvé • Jacques-Alexandre Menuret • Jacques-Augustin Robert de Lézardières • Jacques-étienne-Philippe Hourrier • Jacques-François de Lubersac • Jacques-Gabriel Galais • Jacques-Jean Lemeunier • Jacques-Joseph Le jardinier desLandes • Jacques-Jules Bonnaud • Jacques-Léonor Rabé • Jacques-Louis Schmid • Jean Charton de Millou • Jean Goizet • Jean Lacan • Jean Lemaître • Jean-André Capeau • Jean-Antoine Guilleminet • Jean-Antoine Savine • Jean-Antoine Seconds • Jean-Antoine-Barnabé Séguin • Jean-Antoine-Hyacinthe Boucharenc de Chaumeils • Jean-Antoine-Joseph de Villette • Jean-Baptiste Bottex • Jean-Baptiste Jannin • Jean-Baptiste Nativelle • Jean-Baptiste-Claude Aubert • Jean-Baptiste-Marie Tessier • Jean-Baptiste-Michel Pontus • Jean-Charles Caron • Jean-Charles Legrand • Jean-Charles-Marie Bernard du Cornillet • Jean-François Bonnel de Pradal • Jean-François Bousquet • Jean-François Burté • Jean-François-Marie Benoît-Vourlat • Jean-Henri Gruyer • Jean-Henri-Louis-Michel Samson • Jean-Joseph de Lavèze-Bellay • Jean-Joseph Rateau • Jean-Louis Guyard de Saint-Clair • Jean-Marie du Lau d’Alleman • Jean-Michel Philippot • Jean-Philippe Marchand • Jean-Pierre Bangue • Jean-Pierre Duval • Jean-Pierre Le Laisant • Jean-Pierre Simon • Jean-Robert Quéneau • Jean-Thomas Leroy • Joseph Bécavin • Joseph Falcoz • Joseph-Louis Oviefre • Joseph-Marie Gros • Joseph-Thomas Pazery de Thorame • Jules-Honoré-Cyprien Pazery de Thorame • Julien le Laisant • Julien Poulain Delaunay • Julien-François Hédouin • Laurent • Louis Barreau de La Touche • Louis le Danois • Louis Longuet • Louis Mauduit • Louis-Alexis-Mathias Boubert • Louis-Benjamin Hurtrel • Louis-François Rigot • Louis-François-André Barret • Louis-Jean-Mathieu Lanier • Louis-Joseph François • Louis-Laurent Gaultier • Louis-Remi Benoist • Louis-Remi-Nicolas Benoist • Loup Thomas-Bonnotte • Marc-Louis Royer • Marie-François Mouffle • Martin-François-Alexis Loublier • Mathurin-Nicolas de la Ville Crohain le Bous de Villeneuve • Mathurin-Victoir Deruelle • Michel Leber • Michel-André-Sylvestre Binard • Michel-François de la Gardette • Nicolas Bize • Nicolas Clairet • Nicolas Colin • Nicolas Gaudreau • Nicolas-Claude Roussel • Nicolas-Marie Verron • Olivier Lefebvre • Philibert Fougères • Pierre Bonzé • Pierre Brisquet • Pierre Brisse • Pierre Gauguin • Pierre Landry • Pierre Ploquin • Pierre Saint-James • Pierre-Claude Pottier • Pierre-Florent Leclercq • Pierre-François Hénocq • Pierre-François Pazery de Thorames • Pierre-Jacques de Turmenyes • Pierre-Jacques-Marie Vitalis • Pierre-Jean Garrigues • Pierre-Louis de la Rochefoucauld-Bayers • Pierre-Louis Gervais • Pierre-Louis Joret • Pierre-Louis-Joseph Verrier • Pierre-Michel Guérin • Pierre-Michel Guérin du Rocher • Pierre-Nicolas Psalmon • Pierre-Paul Balzac • Pierre-Robert Regnet • René Nativelle • René-Joseph Urvoy • René-Julien Massey • René-Marie Andrieux • René-Nicolas Poret • Robert le Bis • Robert-François Guérin du Rocher • Saintin Huré • Sébastien Desbrielles • Solomon Leclerq • Thomas-Jean Montsaint • Thomas-Nicolas Dubray • Thomas-René Dubuisson • Urbain Lefebvre • Vincent Abraham • Vincent-Joseph le Rousseau de Rosencoat • Yves-André Guillon de Keranrun • Yves-Jean-Pierre Rey de Kervisic.
Madonna della Montagna / Our Lady of the Mountain, Polsi di San Luca, Reggio Calabria, Calabria, Italy (1144) – 2 September :
The stone Statue found in the Chest
in 1144, a boy found his calf kneeling before an unusual iron Cross, apparently just unearthed. The Madonna appeared, asking for the young herder to spread the news and for a Church to be built on the spot, half a mile high in the mountains.
In 1560, a chest was found floating in the sea. It was taken ashore and found to contain a stone Statue of the Madonna. When the chest was placed in a cart, the oxen suddenly took off for the mountain pass and nothing more was heard of the Statue until it turned up in the heart of Aspromonte, at the place where a calf had found a Cross and the Madonna had requested a Church. The Sanctuary there became a place of pilgrimage.
This is the replica Statue which is used for the Processions
Every year, people from all over Calabria and Sicily would make the 24-hour walk, enlivened by hymns and ballads, along the rugged path to Polsi, where they would greet the Madonna with gunshots on their arrival on 2 September As pilgrims still do — though now they can travel by road or train as well — they would spend the night in one of the hostels near the Shrine. On 3 September, a wooden Madonna is carried in procession. The stone Statue is only taken from its place on the main Altar every 25 years or in special circumstances. Also known as the Mother of the Good Shepherd, the Madonna of the Mountain was crowned in 1881, 1931 and on 2 September 1981.
The stone Statue above the Altar
Bl Albert of Pontida St Antoninus of Pamiers St Antoninus of Syria
St Theodota of Bithynia St Valentine of Strasbourg St William of Roeskilde — Marytrs of Nicomedia – 3 saints: Three Christians who were martyred together in the persecutions of Diocletian. No details about them but their names have survived – Concordius, Theodore and Zenone. They were martyrd in Nicomedia, Bithynia (in modern Turkey).
The Holy Martyrs of September (Died 1792) – 191 beati:Also known as – • Martyrs of Paris,• Martyrs of Carmes.
Martyrs of 2 September – 10 saints: A group of ten Christian martyrs; their names are on old martyrologies but we have lost all record of their lives and deaths. They were canonised. • Antoninus • Diomedes • Eutychian • Hesychius • Julian • Leonides • Menalippus • Pantagapes • Philadelphus • Philip
Holy Bishops of Rennes: Honors all the bishops of the Diocese of Rennes, France who have been recognized as saints and beati. They include : Saint Maximinus of Rennes Saint Modéran of Rennes Saint Rambert of Rennes Saint Riotisme of Rennes Saint Servius of Rennes Saint Synchronius of Rennes
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: • Blessed Baldomer Margenat Puigmitja • Blessed Fortunato Barrón Nanclares • Blessed Joan Franquesa Costa • Blessed José María Laguía Puerto • Blessed Lorenzo Insa Celma
AnaStpaul 
You must be logged in to post a comment.