Thought for the Day – 8 October – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
“Month of the Holy Rosary” The First Sorrowful Mystery The Agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
“Let us pay particular attention to the scene in Gethsamane. Jesus is lying prostrate on the ground. He has given everything for sinful humanity. He has given His heavenly teaching, His miracles and His mercy. Even more, He has given Himself in the Blessed Eucharist, which He has instituted in the form of food and drink, to sustain men on their earthly journey.
Now, He lies prostrate in prayer. Near Him, are His Apostles who, already forgetful of the immense favours which they have received, are asleep!
Not far away, there is another Apostle, Judas, who has sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver, as a slave would be sold and is about to deliver Him to His executioners. But Jesus can see across the centuries – many other Judases, so many traitors, who will be indifferent and sleep, never thinking of Him and neglecting to make any return for His infinite love. His Passion is beginning now and will be protracted throughout the centuries. Before His Crucifixion, He drinks the bitter chalice of human ingratitude and, in His tremendous Agony, He perspire drops of Blood.”
Quote/s of the Day – 8 October– The Memorial of St Bridget of Sweden (c 1303 – 1373)
“O Lord, make haste and illumine the night. Say to my soul that nothing happens without You permitting it and that nothing of what You permit, is without comfort.”
“O Mary, you give assistance to everyone endeavouring to rise to God!”
“There is no sinner in the world, however much at enmity with God, who cannot recover God’s grace, by recourse to Mary and by asking her assistance.”
“Let everyone who has the grace of intelligence, fear that because of it, he will be judged more heavily, if he is negligent.”
One Minute Reflection – – 8 October – “Month of the Holy Rosary” – Readings: Joel 1: 13-15; 2: 1-2; Psalm 9: 2-3, 6 & 8-9; Luke 11: 15-26
“When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, ‘I shall return to my home from which I came…” – Luke 11:24
REFLECTION – “The unclean spirit dwelt in us before we believed, before we came to Christ when our soul was still committing fornication against God and was with its lovers, the demons. Afterward it said, “I will return to my first husband,” and came to Christ, who “created” it from the beginning “in his image.” Necessarily the adulterous spirit gave up his place when it saw the legitimate husband.
Christ received us and our house has been “cleansed” from its former sins. It has been “furnished” with the furnishing of the Sacraments of the faithful, that they who have been initiated know. This house does not deserve to have Christ as its resident immediately, unless its life and conduct are so holy, pure and incapable of being defiled, that it deserves to be the “temple of God.” It should not still be a house but a temple in which God dwells. If it neglects the grace that was received and entangles itself in secular affairs, immediately, that unclean spirit returns and claims the vacant house for itself. “It brings with it seven other spirits more wicked,” so that it may not be able again to be expelled “and the last state of that kind of person is worse than the first.” It would be more tolerable that the soul would not have returned to its first husband once it became a prostitute, than having gone back after confession to her husband, to have become an adulteress again. There is no “fellowship,” as the Apostle says, “between the temple of God and idols,” no “agreement between Christ and Belial.” – Origen of Alexandria (c 185-253) Priest, Theologian, Exegist, Writer, Apologist, Father (Homilies on Exodus, 8)
PRAYER – Lord God and Father, who entrusted the earth to men and each to the other, grant us the grace this day, to see Your Face. Grant us the grace to work faithfully for Your glory, for the salvation of our souls through the light of faith and by the grace which You have given us. We beg the grace of Your love and mercy and the light of love You send with Your Holy Spirit. May the prayers of Mary our Holy Mother, keep us ever in her guiding care. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 8 October – “Month of the Holy Rosary”
Cast Upon Us a Look of Mercy By Blessed Pope Pius IX (1792-1878)
O Jesus! Cast upon us a look of mercy, turn Your Face towards each of us as You did to Veronica, not that we may see it, with our bodily eyes, for this we do not deserve but turn Your Face towards our hearts, so that, remembering You, we may ever draw from this Fountain of Strength, the vigour necessary to sustain us, in the combats of life. Amen
Saint of the Day – 8 October – Saint Felix of Como (Died 390) the first Bishop of Como. Felix was a friend of Saint Ambrose, who praised him for his missionary activity and Ordained him a Priest in 379 and Consecrated him as Bishop in 386. St Ambrose sent him to evangelise the City of Como, as a testimony to the great missionary drive of the Church of Milan. When St Bassianus of Lodi (c 320 – 413 – feast day 10 June) built a Church dedicated to the Apostles at Lodi, he Consecrated it in the presence of Saints Ambrose and Felix. St Felix is honoured as a zealous shepherd of souls. Additional Memorials – 31 August in Milan and 14 July on some calendars.
The Roman Martyrology states: “In Como, St Felix, Bishop, who, Ordained by St Ambrose of Milan, was the first to rule the Church of this City.”
The first document that presents Felix, is a letter from St Ambrose of Milan, from which it is noted that the recent evangelisation work of the first Bishop, Felix, although it had led to the conversion of many people, required the indispensable and constant collaboration of some co-operators: “I know well that you do not lack work in the vineyard of the Lord, especially because there are few workers with you, who can help us but, this lament is old and too well known to us: the Hand of God, however, has not shortened; He will help you in your need and will send you new workers to harvest the grain of the Lord. I thank the Lord very much, He, Who favoured you in the conversion of these souls and cordially congratulate you, hearing how many of these citizens of Como have already accepted the Catholic faith.”
From the full text of the letter, which is undated, it appears that Felix enjoyed the familiarity and paternal predilection of Saint Ambrose, who had conferred on him the Episcopal Consecration on Sunday 1 November, almost certainly in 386 and had sent him to the Consecration of the Basilica of the Apostles built by St Bassianus in Lodi, Bishop of that City, who longed for the presence of the Bishop of Como.
In another letter, of exquisitely familiar and friendly tone, commonly ascribed to the year 387, Ambrose thanks Felix for the gift of a basket of truffles but also complains that he visits him too rarely.
According to an ancient tradition, Felix would have erected the first Church of Como on the open slope of the Baradello hill, in honour of the Saints Carpoforo and fellow martyrs and in it buried their bodies.
Tradition has handed down 8 October as the date of Felix’s death, also his feast day. He was buried in the primitive Church of San Carpoforo and subsequently in the enlarged Basilica of the same name, until, in 1932, his body was transferred to the new Parish Church of San Brigida, where his cult is still alive and placed under the main Altar.
A very unclear picture but it seems to be the Shrine of St Felix in the Church of St Brigid in Como
Notre-Dame du Bon Remède / Our Lady of Good Remedy, France (1197) – 8 October:
In 1197, a Sorbonne Doctor of Theology and newly Ordained Priest, Jean de Matha, while saying his first Holy Mass, saw a vision of an Angel with a red and blue cross on his chest and his hands resting on the heads of two captives. The following year, St Jean founded a religious order dedicated to the redemption of Christians held as slaves by Moslems — the Hospitaler Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of Captives, commonly called the Trinitarians. On their habit, Jean placed the Cross he had seen on the Angel,and, as their Patron, he gave them Notre-Dame du Bon Remède, a popular devotion in his Provençal homeland. Now devoted largely to education and evangelisation, for three centuries they raised funds and travelled from Europe into Africa to buy thousands of captives’ freedom with Our Lady’s help. A painting (right) in the Trinitarian Motherhouse of Cerfroid in northern France, shows Our Lady of Good Remedy giving a bag of money to St Jean/John of Matha, while a grateful freedman and St Felix of Valois, look on. The Order celebrates her feast day 8 October.
800 years ago Christians were being captured and sold into slavery by the thousands, and nobody knew what to do about it. Then, in the year 1198, a man had an idea. St. John of Matha founded the Trinitarians to go to the slave markets, buy the Christian slaves and set them free. To carry out this plan, the Trinitarians needed large amounts of money. So, they placed their fund-raising efforts under the patronage of Mary. They were so successful that, over the centuries, the Trinitarians were able to free thousands and thousands of people and to return them safely home. In gratitude for her miraculous assistance, St. John of Matha honoured Mary with the title of “Our Lady of Good Remedy.” Devotion to Mary under this ancient title is widely known in Europe and Latin America and the Church celebrates her feast day on 8 October. Our Lady of Good Remedy is often depicted as the Virgin Mary handing a bag of money to St. John of Matha. When in need – for whatever reason but especially where you have had difficulty obtaining help – invoke the aid of Our Lady of Good Remedy and you will surely experience the power of her intercession.
St Amor of Aquitaine St Artemon of Laodicia St Badilo St Benedicta of Laon St Benedicta of Origny-sur-Oise St Evodius of Rouen St Felix of Como (Died 390) Bishop St Gratus of Chalons
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