Thought for the Day – 10 October – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
“Month of the Holy Rosary” The Third Sorrowful Mystery The Crowning with Thorns
“When we see Jesus scourged and crowned with thorns, how can we complain if our path in life is also strewn with thorns? Jesus was the embodiment of innocence; He was God, yet He willed to suffer in order to expiate our sins and to teach us, that the surest road to Heaven is the way of the Cross. It was because the Saints understood this so clearly, that they were so eager to participate in the Passion of Jesus Christ and to offer Him, not only the inevitable sorrows of life but, also voluntary suffering of their own, as a proof of their love. Anyone who does not desire mortification and suffering, does not desire Heaven because, he is not a true follower of Jesus Crucified.
“They who belong to Christ,” says St Paul, “have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24). Let us meditate carefully on the significance of these stern words, so often forgotten today.
Quote/s of the Day – 10 October – The Memorial of St Francis Borgia SJ (1510-1572)
“This death … has already levelled his bow to strike me. Is it not prudent to prevent its stroke, by dying now to the world, that at my death, I may live to God?”
“O sensual, base, miserable and blind life! is it possible, that men should be such strangers to their own happiness, such enemies to themselves, to be fond of thy false enjoyments and for their sake, to deprive themselves of those that are pure, permanent and solid?!”
One Minute Reflection – 10 October – “Month of the Most Holy Rosary” – Readings: Wisdom 7:7-11, Psalms 90:12-13,14-15, 16-17, Hebrews 4:12-13, Mark 10:17-30
“You lack one thing – go, sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come, follow me.”…Mark 10:21
REFLECTION – “This, beloved, is the way in which we found our salvation, Jesus Christ, the High Priest who offers our gifts, the patron and helper in our weakness (Heb 10:20; 7:27; 4:15). It is through Him, that we look straight at the heavens above. Through Him, we see mirrored, God’s faultless and transcendent countenance. Through Him, the eyes of our heart were opened. Through Him, our unintelligent and darkened mind shoots up into the light. Through Him, the Master was pleased to let us taste the knowledge that never fades, He who is “the radiance of His splendour, who towers as much above the angels, as the title He has inherited, is superior to theirs” (He 1:3-4) (…)
Let us take our body. The head is nothing without the feet and the feet are nothing without the head. The smallest organs of our body are necessary and valuable to the whole body, in fact, all parts conspire and yield the same obedience, toward maintaining the whole of the body (cf.1 Co 12:12f.). Therefore, let the whole of our body be maintained in Christ Jesus and let each submit to their neighbour’s rights in the measure determined by the special gift bestowed on them. Let the strong care for the weak and the weak respect the strong; let the rich support the poor and the poor render thanks to God for giving them the means of supplying their needs; let the wise show their wisdom, not in words but in active help; the humble must not testify to themselves but leave it to another to testify in their behalf. Those who are continent must not boast, knowing that it is another who confers on them the ability to remain continent.
Let us, therefore, reflect brethren, of what clay we were made, what and who we were when we entered the world, out of what grave and darkness, our Maker and Creator has brought us into the world, where He has prepared His benefits before our birth. Since, then, we owe all these blessings to Him, we are obliged to thank Him in every way.” … St Pope Clement I (c 35 – c 99) – Pope from c 90 to c 99 – Letter to the Corinthians, § 36-38
PRAYER – Almighty God and Father, you sent St Francis Borgia to be Your witnesses and to bring Your Church to all for the salvation of souls. Sustain us by their prayers that by our lives we may lead all to You through Holy Mother Church. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 10 October – Saint John of Bridlington OSA (1319-1379) Priest, Prior, miracle-worker. In his lifetime he enjoyed a reputation for great holiness and for miraculous powers. John was commended for the integrity of his life, his scholarship , his humility and his quiet generosity. Born in 1319 at Thwing (near Bridlington), Yorkshire, England and died on 10 October 1379 of natural causes. Also known as – John Thwing, John of Thwing, John Twenge, John Thwing of Bridlington. Additional Memorial – 9 October among the Augustinian Canons Regular, 21 October on some calendars.
The Roman Martyrology states: “In Bridlington in England, St John, a Priest, who, Prior of the Monastery of the Canons Regular of St Augustine, shone with prayer, austerity and meekness.“
Born in 1320 in the village of Thwing on the Yorkshire Wolds, about nine miles west of Bridlington, he was of the Yorkshire family Twenge, which during the English Reformation would supply two Roman Catholic Priest-martyrs and was also instrumental in establishing the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Bar Convent, York.
John was educated at a school in the village from the age of five, completing his studies at Oxford University. He then entered the Augustinian Canons Regular community of Bridlington Priory. He carried out his duties with humility and diligence, and was in turn Novice Master, almsgiver, preacher and sub-prior. He became Canon of the Priory in 1346 and was eventually elected Prior in 1356. John initially declined out of humility but after being re-elected, probably in 1361, he took on the duties of Prior in January 1362. He served as Prior for 17 years before his death on 10 October 1379.
In his lifetime he enjoyed a reputation for great holiness and for miraculous powers. On one occasion he changed water into wine. On another, five seamen from Hartlepool in danger of shipwreck called upon God in the name of His servant, John of Bridlington, whereupon the Prior himself appeared to them in his Canonical habit and brought them safely to shore. The men left their vessel at the harbour and walked to the Monastery where they thanked John in person for saving their lives.
“The Vision of William Staunton,” recounts William’s visit to St Patrick’s Purgatory where he sees both purgatory and the earthly paradise and is conducted through the otherworld by St John of Bridlington and St Ive.
After his death from natural causes, the fame of the miracles brought by his intercession, spread rapidly through the land. Alexander Neville, Archbishop of York, charged his suffragans and others, to take evidence with a view to his Canonisation. Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York, assisted by the Bishops of Durham and Carlisle, officiated at a solemn translation of his body on 11 March 1401. Pope, Boniface IX, shortly afterwards Canonised him. The Canonisation had been lost but the original Bull was unearthed in the Vatican archives by T A Twemlow, who was engaged in research work there for the British government.
At the English Reformation, Henry VIII was asked to spare the magnificent Shrine of the Saint but it was destroyed in 1537. The nave of the Church, restored in 1857, is all that now remains of Bridlington Priory.
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
La Naval de Manila / Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary , Quezon City, Philippines (1593) – Second Sunday of October: Also known as Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario / The Grand Lady of the Philippines.
In 1593, the Governor General of the Philippines commissioned a Statue of Our Lady of the Rosary for the Dominican Church in Manila. A un-named Chinese sculptor carved the hardwood body and ivory hands and face, which has Asian features. About 4’8″ tall, the image is dressed in cloth of gold, with a crown and a halo of 24 stars and adorned with precious donated jewels. Our Lady holds the Child Jesus with her left hand and a Rosary with her right. The title “La Naval” refers to Our Lady’s help in the naval battles of Lepanto in 1571 and Manila in 1646, when a small Catholic fleet repeatedly repelled Dutch invaders. The Catholic Church in Manila first celebrated the feast of “La Naval” on 8 October 1646. Pope Pius X’s Apostolic Delegate crowned the Statue on 5 October 1907. Pope Pius XII also sent an Apostolic Letter on the occasion of the tricentenary of the Battle of La Naval de Manila on 31 July 1946. The Japanese bombing of 27 December 1941 destroyed the Church of Santo Domingo in Manila’s old walled city. Hidden for safekeeping, the holy Statue moved in 1954 to its present location in the Santo Domingo Shrine in Quezon City.
In 1646, naval forces of the Dutch Republic made several repeated attempts to conquer the Philippines in a bid to control trade in Asia. The combined Spanish and Filipino forces who fought, requested the intercession of the Virgin through the Statue prior to battle. They were urged to place themselves under the protection of Our Lady of the Rosary and to pray the Rosary repeatedly. They went on to rebuff the continued attacks by the superior Dutch fleet, engaging in five major battles at sea and losing only fifteen members of the Spanish Navy. After the Dutch retreat, in fulfillment of their vow, the survivors walked barefoot to the Shrine in gratitude to the Virgin. Later, on 9 April 1662, the Cathedral chapter of the Archdiocese of Manila declared the naval victory a miraculous event owed to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, declaring:
“Granted by the Sovereign Lord through the intercession of the Most Holy Virgin and devotion to her Rosary, that the miracles be celebrated, preached and held in festivities and to be recounted amongst the miracles wrought by the Lady of the Rosary, for the greater devotion of the faithful to Our Most Blessed Virgin Mary and Her Holy Rosary.“
St Cassius St Cerbonius of Populonia St Cerbonius of Verona St Clarus of Nantes Bl Demestrius of Albania Bl Edward Detkens St Eulampia St Eulampius St Florentius the Martyr St Fulk of Fontenelle St Gereon St Gundisalvus Bl Hugh of Macon St John of Bridlington OSA (1319-1379) Priest, Prior of the Monastery of the Canons Regular of St Augustine. Bl Leon Wetmanski St Maharsapor the Persian St Malo the Martyr St Patrician St Paulinus of Capua
Bl Pedro de Alcantara de Forton de Cascajares St Pinytus of Crete Bl Pontius de Barellis St Tanca St Teodechilde St Victor of Xanten
Martyrs of Ceuta – 7 beati: A group of seven Franciscan Friars Minor missionaries to Muslims in the Ceuta area of modern Morocco. Initially treated as madmen, within three weeks they were ordered to convert to Islam and when they would not they were first abused in the streets, then arrested, tortured and executed. • Angelo • Daniele di Calabria • Donnolo • Hugolinus • Leone • Nicola • Samuele They were beheaded in 1227 in Mauritania Tingitana (Ceuta, Morocco). Local Christians secreted the bodies away and gave them proper burial in Ceuta. They were Beatified in 1516 by Pope Leo X.
AnaStpaul 
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