Accept, mighty Maid, we beseech thee, This prayer with its fragrance of flowers; With one soul we seek thus to reach thee And hail thee, God’s Mother and ours.
Thy heart is made glad by our praying; Thy bounty is generous and wise; Thy hands are enriched for conveying What God’s tender Mercy supplies.
We kneel at thy Shrines in the Churches; Oh, gently look down from above, And welcome the heart that then searches For worthy expressions of love.
Let others present precious caskets Of gems, or heap Altars with gold; Slight prayer-beads shall serve us for baskets To bring thee the garland they hold.
With violets lowly we fashion This wreath and with these combined Red roses–our faith in the Passion With Chastity’s lilies entwined.
Our minds, as the Mysteries vary, Are active, our hands play their part; And always thy name, Holy Mary, Oft-uttered, rejoices the heart.
Be with us, we trust thee to guide us Through life and when labouring breath At the last, seeks thine aid, be beside us To help at the hour of our death.
Novena to Our Lady of the Rosary – Day Four – 1 October
Day Four – We Pray for the Virtue of Humility and our personal intention:
May Almighty God give us compassion and humility in our hearts. Let us be kind, gentle, generous, loving, giving and forgiving wherever we may go. Allow pride to never get the best of us as You fulfill our dreams. Help us not to have a boastful tongue against our brothers. Let humility invade our souls… Amen
Daily Prayer along with our Daily Rosary:
My dearest Mother Mary, behold me, your child, in prayer at your feet. Accept this Holy Rosary, which I offer you in accordance with your requests at Fatima, as a proof of my tender love for you, for the intentions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in atonement for the offenses committed against your Immaculate Heart and for this special favour which I earnestly request in my Rosary Novena: ………………………….. (Mention your request).
I beg you to present my petition to your Divine Son. If you will pray for me, I cannot be refused. I know, dearest Mother, that you want me to seek God’s holy Will concerning my request. If what I ask for should not be granted, pray that I may receive that which will be of greater benefit to my soul.
I offer you this spiritual Bouquet of Roses because I love you. I put all my confidence in you, since your prayers before God are most powerful. For the greater glory of God and for the sake of Jesus, your loving Son, hear and grant my prayer. Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation.
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for our Holy Mother Church and for our country.
Sweet Heart of Jesus, be my love.
Sweet Heart of Mary, at the hour of my death, lead me home.
“One of the main advantages of the Rosary is that it enables us to unite with our vocal prayer, meditation on the principal Mysteries of our faith. During each decade we should meditate briefly on one of these Mysteries. In this way, our faith will be enlivened and we shall be roused to imitate, in our lives, the example of Jesus and Mary.
The Rosary is composed of the Church’s most beautiful prayers – the Our Father, which Jesus Himself taught us to say when addressiug our heavenly Father and the Hail Mary, which consists of the Angel’s greeting to the Blessed Virgin when he came to announce to her, that she was to be the Mother of God, of the inspired words of St Elizabeth on the occasion of the Visitation and of the moving plea for mercy, both now and at the hour of our death, which the Church places upon the lips of her sinful children (composed and proposed by St Peter Canisius 1521-1597) Doctor of the Church). Each decade concludes with the short hymn of praise in honour of the Blessed Trinity: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, amen. This prayer, expresses the two principal Mysteries of our faith, namely, the Unity and Trinity of God and, in an indirect fashion, the Incarnation of the Second Divine Person.
If we think of all this when we are fervently reciting the Holy Rosary, it will prove to be a treasury of grace.”
Quote/s of the Day – 1 October – “Month of the Most Holy Rosary”
“The Rosary is a treasure of graces.”
Pope Paul V (1550-1621)
“The Rosary is the most powerful weapon to touch the Heart of Jesus, Our Redeemer, who loves His Mother.”
St Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716)
Praise of the Rosary From a sermon of St Francisco Coll
“… Oh Rosary! You are a book, brief yes but that teaches the holiest and most sacred of our Religion. You are an ark, that conceals a very rich treasure worthy of all men seeking it with great eagerness. You are a gift from Heaven, that you reveal to us the elements of religion, the principles, the motives and the practice of all the virtues, you light us in charity and love towards that God Who so deigned to do and suffer for us. You wake up the drowsy, enflame the lukewarm, you push the lazy, you embrace the righteous, you convert sinners, you reduce or confuse heretics, you frighten the devil, you tremble to hell or, to put it better, you are a devotion that includes and contains all the devotions.”
St Francisco Coll y Guitart OP (1812-1875) “The Apostle of Modern Times”
“There is no surer means of calling down God’s blessing upon the family, than the daily recitation of the Rosary.”
Ven Servant of God Pope Pius XII (1876-1958)
“The Rosary is the best therapy for these distraught, unhappy, fearful and frustrated souls, precisely because it involves, the simultaneous use of three powers – the physical, the vocal and the spiritual and in that order.”
One Minute Reflection – 1 October – “Month of the Most Holy Rosary” – Readings: Baruch 1: 15-22; Psalms79: 1b-5, 8-9; Luke 10: 13-16 and the Memorial of St Bavo of Ghent (c 589–654
“He who hears you, hears me and he who rejects you, rejects me and he who rejects me, rejects him who sent me” – Luke 10:16
REFLECTION – “Consider the great authority He gave the holy Apostles, how He declared them praiseworthy,and how He decorated them with the highest honours. “He who hears you,” He says, “hears me and he that rejects you, rejects me and he who rejects me, rejects him who sent me.” O what great honour! What incomparable dignities! O what a gift worthy of God! Although men, the children of earth, He clothes them with a godlike glory. He entrusts His Words to them, that they, who resist anything, or venture to reject them, may be condemned. When they are rejected, He assures them that He Himself suffers this. Then again, He shows that the guilt of this wickedness, as being committed against Himself, rises up to God the Father. See with the eyes of the mind, how vast a height He raises the sin committed by men in rejecting the saints! What a wall He builds around them! How great security he contrives for them! He makes them such as must be feared and in every way plainly provides for their being uninjured!” – St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444)Known as ‘The Pillar o Faith,” Archbishop of Alexandria, Father and Doctor of the Incarnation)(Commentary on Luke, Homily 63)
PRAYER – God, our Father, Your promised Your Kingdom to the little ones and the humble of heart. Give us grace to walk confidently in the way of St Bavo of Ghent, so that helped by their prayers, we may see Your eternal glory. Through Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 1 October – The Memorial of St Romanos the Melodist (c 490-c 556) Deacon, Hymnographer, Poet, Writer.
Rescue Our Life, Lord By St Romanos the Melodist (c 490-c 556)
We implore You, O All-Holy, Long-Suffering, Life and Restoration, Source of goodness, look down from Heaven and visit all those who ever trust in You; rescue our life, Lord, from all constraint and affliction and, in the faith of Truth, guide us all, at the prayers of Your Immaculate Mother of God and Virgin, Save Your world and those in the world and spare us all, You Who, for us, became Man without change, only Lover of mankind. Amen
Saint of the Day – 1 October – Saint Bavo of Ghent (c 589–654) Married. Widower, Soldier, Monk and Hermit, Penitent. Born in c 589 at Brabant, Liege, Belgium as Allowin and died on 1 October 654 at Saint Bavo’s Abbey of natural causes. Patronages – the Cities of Ghent, Zellik and Lauwe in Belgium, City of Haarlem, Netherlands, Diocese of Amsterdam, Netherlands, the Netherlands, of falcons and falconry. Also known as – Allowin, Bavone of Ghent.
The Roman Martyrology states of him today: “In Ghent in Flanders, in present-day Belgium, Saint Bavo, a Monk, who was a disciple of Saint Amand. He abandoned the world, distributed his goods to the poor and retired to the Monastery he founded in this place.“
Saint Bavo with falcon and sword, by Geertgen tot Sint Jans, late 15th century
Bavo was born into a family of high social rank. His father was Pippin of Landen, the Mayor of the Palace and his mother, Itta of Metz.
A wild, young aristocrat of Brabant, he contracted a beneficial marriage to the daughter of the Merovingian Count Adilone and had a daughter named Agletrude. At that time, he was a soldier who led an undisciplined and disorderly life.
The young wife died, it is not known how and Bavo, deeply struck by the misfortune, interrupted his dissolute life and suffered a moral crisis, which was the starting point of his conversion.
He went to St Amand who was preaching to the still pagan populations of the Ghent region. On returning to his house he distributed his wealth to the poor, and then received the tonsure from Amand. He entered the Monastery of Ganda as a Monk., This Monastery had been founded by St Amando and was later renamed in Bavo’s honour.
He became a disciple of the missionary St Amand and followed him on his apostolic wanderings in Flanders and France. On one occasion, Bavo met a man whom he had sold into slavery years before. Wishing to atone for his earlier deed, Bavo had the man lead him by a chain to the town jail as penance and reparation for the sins of his past life.
After some time he returned to Ganda, where he had a small cell built in the hollow of a large tree and led a reclusive and ascetic life for three years.
But privations and sacrifices quickly weakened him, dying around 654. His body was buried in the Monastery of Ganda.
St Bavo by Rembrandt
At present, his relics rest partly in the Cathedral of Ghent, which too is dedicated to St Bavo and partly in the Benedictine Abbey of Nesle-la-Reposte, the place where the Monks who fled from Ganda had taken refuge, to escape the Norman invasions, around 882- 883.
St Bavo saves Haarlem
The most popular scene is the moment of his conversion, which has many legends attached to it. Because he is so often shown with a falcon, he came to be considered the patron saint of falconry. In medieval Ghent, taxes were paid on Bavo’s feast day, and it is for this reason, that he is often shown holding a purse or money bag.
The Conversion of St Bavo by Peter Paul Rubens
The City of Bamberg in Belgium is named after him, with Bamberg meaning “Mount of Bavo.” Several Churches are dedicated to him, including: Saint Bavo Cathedral, in Ghent which is most famous for housing the breath-taking Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck completed in 1432, see video below; Sint-Bavokerk and Cathedral of Saint Bavo, both in Haarlem; Sint-Bavokerk in Heemstede, Lauwe, and Zellik; Saint Bavo Church and School, in Mishawaka, Indiana; Sint-Bavokerk in Wilrijk.. His picture is also part of the Coat of Arms of the Antwerp Suburb Wilrijk.
Madonna di Valverde, / Our Lady of Valverde di Rezzato, Italy (1399 and 1711) – 1 October:
The Sanctuary of the Madonna di Valverde, belonging to the Parish of San Giovanni Battista di Rezzato Diocese of Brescia, is located in Valverde, at the foot of the Botticino and Serle hills. The Sanctuary was born in the places of the apparitions of 1399, the only one in history where both the Madonna and her Divine Son, Jesus Christ, the Saviour aooeared with His Mother and the second Marian Apparition of 1711.
For over six centuries the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Valverde has been a destination of pilgrimages from all over the north of Italy and is, above al,l in the heart of the community of Rezzato – Virle, which every year, on the Feast of St Anna on 26 July, recalls, with a solemn historical procession, the miracle of the apparitions.
In 1399, more than six hundred years ago, during the ploughing work in a field near Valverde, the oxen pulling the plough stopped and bent their knees. A man in a red robe and a blue mantle (Christ) appeared to the worker who guided them and ordered him to throw the three loaves that he kept in his saddlebag into the nearby pond. The peasant got ready to obey the order but was held back by the Apparition of the Madonna who advised him to return to beg the Lord, to revoke the order just given. If the three loaves had touched the waters of the lake, three scourges would have been unleashed (famine, plague and war) with which Christ intended to punish men for their impiety. Jesus, by the insistence of tHis Holy Mother, consented to the peasant’s plea and agreed that only one of the loaves need be thrown into the water and, therefore, only the scourge of the epidemic would spread throughout the area. Our Lady recommended to the peasant to announce to everyone, what he had seen with his own eyes, exhorting men to repent and to approach faith and the Sacraments again.
A Chapel was first built near the lake, then, in the early seventeenth century, a large and beautifully decorated Sanctuary followed.
St Thérèse of Lisieux/St Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face/The Little Flower OCD (1873 – 1897) Virgin, Carmelite Nun, Doctor of the Church (Memorial) She was Canonised by Pope Pius XI on 17 May 1925. The same Pope proclaimed her Universal Patron of the Missions, alongside Saint Francis Xavier, on 14 December 1927. Up until 1969 her Memorial was celebrated on 3 October. Biography: https://anastpaul.com/2018/10/01/saint-of-the-day-st-therese-of-lisieux-o-c-d-1873-1897-doctor-of-the-church/
St Aizan of Abyssinia St Albaud of Toul Bl Andrew Sushinda Bl Antoni Rewera St Aretas of Rome St Bavo of Ghent (c 589–654) Married. Widower, Monk and Hermit. Bl Cecilia Eusepi Bl Christopher Buxton St Crescens of Tomi St Dodo Bl Dominic of Villanova Bl Edward James St Evagrius of Tomi St Fidharleus Bl Gaspar Fisogiro St Gregory the Illuminator St John Kukuzelis Bl John Robinson
St Maxima of Lisbon Bl Nikita Budka St Piaton of Tournai St Priscus of Tomi Bl Ralph Crockett Bl Robert Widmerpool Bl Robert Wilcox
St Romanos the Melodist (c 490-c 556) Deacon, Hymnographer, Poet, Writer. He is said to have composed more than 1,000 hymns celebrating various festivals of the ecclesiastical year, the lives of the saints and other sacred subjects, some 60 to 80 of which survive. Wonderful Saint Romanos! https://anastpaul.com/2020/10/01/saint-of-the-day-1-october-st-romanos-the-melodios-c-490-c-556/
St Sazan of Abyssinia St Verissimus of Lisbon St Virila St Wasnulf — Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: • Blessed Carmelo Juan Pérez Rodríguez • Blessed Higinio Mata Díez • Blessed Juan Mata Díez • Blessed Álvaro Sanjuán Canet • Blessed Florencia Caerols Martínez
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