Day: April 4, 2022

Posted in "Follow Me", PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES on DISCIPLESHIP, QUOTES on EVANGELISATION, QUOTES on PERSECUTION, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on TRUTH, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE

Thought for the Day – 4 April – Putting Christianity into Practice

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Thought for the Day – 4 April – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Putting Christianity into Practice

“Imagine what the world would be like, if the Gospel of Christ, were practised in it’s entirety, everywhere and by everybody.
It would not, of course, become another earthly Paradise, because suffering and death are the legacy of sin and Our Lord, did not remove these when He redeemed us but made them a necessary element, in our purification and spiritual elevation.
Nevertheless, the full practice of Christianity would transform the world.
A little reflection will convince us of this.
Men would love God above all things and their neighbours as themselves.
The sincere and ardent love of God, would cause wickedness, brutality and every kind of immorality to disappear.
Love of their neighbour, would make men brothers in reality, so that there would be no more wars nor threats of conflict.
The enormous wealth which is squandered on weapons of destruction, could then be diverted to good works.
There would be no more poverty, because, if men loved one another, those who had more than enough, would give to those in want.
There would be no more prisons, because, there would be no more criminals.
There would be no need for a police force, because, everyone would do his duty of his own accord.
The reign of love, which is the reign of Jesus Christ, would triumph upon earth.
Excessive wealth and the selfish love of ease and pleasure, would disappear on one hand, while, on the other, the extreme need of those who can never be sure of a meal, nor of a roof over their heads, would be palliated, until they had been raised to a standard of living, consistent with the laws of God and with the dignity of men.
The love of our neighbour as ourselves, would solve every individual and social problem in this life.
Men would grow into a vast community of brothers devoid of all barriers of hate, selfishness and greed.
This is not a Utopian dream, because it is the clear teaching of the Gospel.
Jesus did not preach the impossible.
He taught us the standards of the perfect life, which we are all obliged to try and lead.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

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Posted in BAPTISM, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on THE WORLD, The MOST HOLY & BLESSED TRINITY, The WORD

Monday in Passion Week – 4 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – “If anyone thirst, let himcome to Me and drink.”

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Monday in Passion Week – 4 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Jonas 3:1-10, John 7:32-39

“O God, by Your Name save me and by your might deliver me.” – Psalm 53:3

“If anyone thirst, let him
come to Me and drink.
He who believes in Me,
as the Scripture says,
‘From within Him
there shall flow
rivers of living waters.’ ”

John 7:37-38

“AS THE DEER LONGS for running water, so my soul longs for You, my God. Just as the deer longs for running water, so do our newly baptised members, our young deer, so to speak, also yearn for God. By leaving Egypt and the world, they have put Pharaoh and his entire army to death in the waters of Baptism. After slaying the devil, their hearts long for the springs of running water in the Church. These springs, are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jeremiah testifies, that the Father is like a Fountain when He says: They have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living water, to dig for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. In another passage we read about the Son: They have forsaken the Fountain of Wisdom. And again, John says of the Holy Spirit: Whoever drinks the water I will give him, that water shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life. The Evangelist explains that the Saviour said this of the Holy Spirit. The testimony of these texts, establishes beyond doubt, the Three Fountains of the Church constitute the mystery of the Trinity.

THESE ARE THE WATERS that the heart of the believer longs for, these are the waters that the heart of the newly baptised yearns for when he says: My heart thirsts for God, the living Fountain. This is not a weak, faint desire to see God, rather the newly baptised actually burn with desire and thirst for God. Before they received Baptism, they used to ask one another: When shall I go and see the face of God? Now their quest has been answered. they have come forward and they stand in the presence of God. They have come before the Altar and have looked upon the Mystery of the Saviour.

HAVING RECEIVED the Body of Christ and being reborn in the life-giving waters, they speak up boldly and say: I shall go into God’s marvellous dwelling place, His house. The house of God is the Church, his marveLlous dwelling place ….

… BY THE WORD OF GOD you have been lifted out of the dangerous waters of this world, like so many little fish. In us, the nature of things has been changed. Fish taken out of the sea die but the Apostles have fished for us and have taken us out of the sea of this world, so we could be brought from death to life. As long as we were in the world, our eyes looked down into the abyss and we lived in filth. After we were rescued from the waves, we began to look upon the Sun and look up at the True Light. Confused in the presence of so much joy, we say: Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, in the presence of my Saviour and my God.” – St Jerome (343-420) Bishop and Great Western Father and Doctor of the Church (An excerpt from his Sermon on Psalm 41 addressed to the Newly Baptised).

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on MERCY, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on SACRED SCRIPTURE, SAINT of the DAY

Quote/s of the Day – 4 April – St Isidore of Seville

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Quote/s of the Day – 4 April – The Memorial of St Isidore of Seville (c 560-636) Father & Doctor of the Church

“… Every excess brings, not health but danger.”

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever.”

“War with vices
but peace, with individuals.”

“The more you devote yourself,
to study of the sacred utterances,
the richer will be your understanding of them,
just as the more the soil is tilled,,
the richer is the harvest.”

St Isidore of Seville (c 560-636)
Father & Doctor of the Church

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on TRUTH, The HEART, The KINGDOM of GOD, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 4 April ‘ … As long as we keep the seed of Truth … and His commandments …’

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One Minute Reflection – 4 April – Monday in Passion Week – Jonas 3:1-10, John 7:32-39 and the Memorial of St Isidore of Seville (c 560-636) Father & Doctor of the Church

“You shall seek me and shall not find me …” – John 7:34

REFLECTION – “To seek Jesus is often something good, for it is the same as to seek the Word, the Truth and Wisdom. But you will say, that the words “to seek Jesus” are sometimes said about those who want to harm Him. For example: “They tried to seize Him but no-one laid a finger on Him because His hour had not yet come.” … He knows from whom He distances Himself and with whom He remains, without being found yet, so that if someone seeks Him, that person will find Him at the favourable time. The Apostle Paul said to those, who did not yet possess Jesus in this way and, who did not contemplate Him: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who shall go up into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘Who shall go down into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). What is it He does say? ‘The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.” (Rom 6:6-8)

When in His love for humankind, the Saviour said: “You will look for me,” (Jn 8:21) He let us glimpse the things pertaining to the reign of God, so that those, who look for Him, do not do so outside of themselves saying: “’Here, He is here’, or ‘He is there.’ The Gospel tells them: “The reign of God is already in your midst.” (Lk 17:21) As long as we keep the seed of Truth that has been placed in our soul and His commandments, the Word will not distance Himself from us. But if evil spreads in us to corrupt us, Jesus will tell us: “I am going away. You will look for me but you will die in your sins.” – Origen (c 185-253) Priest, Theologian, Father (Commentary on Saint John, 19,12).

PRAYER – O God, Who granted to Your people blessed Isidore, as a minister of salvation, grant, we beseech You, that we who cherished him on earth as a teacher of life, may be found worthy to have him as an intercessor in Heaven. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on THE LIGHT of CHRIST

Our Morning Offering – 4 April – Lord Jesus, Think on Me

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Our Morning Offering – 4 April – Monday in Passion Week

Lord Jesus, Think on Me
By St Synesius of Cyrene (375-430)
Bishop of Ptolemais

Lord Jesus, think on me
and purge away my sin,
from earth-born passions set me free,
and make me pure within.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
With care and woe oppressed,
let me Thy loving servant be
and taste Thy promised rest.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
nor let me go astray,
through darkness and perplexity
point Thou the heav’nly way.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
that, when the flood is past,
I may eternal brightness see,
and share Thy joy at last.
Amen

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 4 April – Saint Peter of Poitiers (c 1130-1215)

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Saint of the Day – 4 April – Saint Peter of Poitiers (c 1130-1215) Bishop, Scholastic Theologian, Writer, Peacemaker. Born at Poitiers or in its neighbourhood about 1130 and died in Paris in 1215.

The Roman Martyrology reads: “In Poitiers in Aquitaine, France, St Peter, Bishop, who favoured the birth of the Order of Fontevrault.”

Peter studied at the University of Paris, where he became Professor of Theology and lectured for thirty-eight years. In 1169 he succeeded Peter Comestor in the Chair of Scholastic Theology. His lectures were so brilliant as to inspire the enmity of Gauthier de St-Victor, one of the bitterest opponents of Scholasticism, who ranked him with Gilbert de la Porrée, Abelard and Peter Lombard in the pamphlet wherein he tries to throw ridicule on the four doctors, under the name of the “Four Labyrinths of France.”

Appointed as Chancellor of the Church of Paris ,Peter displayed great zeal on behalf of poor students and to supply their want of text-books, which were very expensive, he had a kind of synopsis engraved on the walls of the classrooms for their assistance.

In 1182, Peter was appointed Bishop of Poitiers, where he remained until his death in 1215. In 1191 he was appointed by Pope Celestine III to settle a dispute between the Abbeys of St-Eloi and St-Victor. He was a constant correspondent of Pope Celestine III and Pope Innocent III. Peter publicly denounced the sacrilegious tyranny and license of Philip I and William VI,  Count of Poitiers and Duke of Aquitaine. and supported Bl Robert d’Arbriselle fin the foundation of the Fontrevault Abbey.  In 1193 he succeeded Hilduin as Chancellor of Notre Dame. 

He wrote commentaries, still unedited, on Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and the Psalms. A chronological and genealogical abridgment of the Bible is also attributed to him. In his magnum opus, Sententiarum libri quinque, published before 1170, he applied the dialectical method to theology. 

Poitiers Cathedral
Posted in MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

Monday in Passion Week, the Fifth Week of Lent, Notre-Dame de Grace, Honfleur, Normandie / Our Lady of Grace, Normandy, France and Memorials of the Saints – 4 April

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Monday in Passion Week, the Fifth Week of Lent

Notre-Dame de Grace, Honfleur, Normandie / Our Lady of Grace, Normandy, France – 4 April:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/04/easter-sunday-2021-the-resurrection-of-the-lord-solemnity-of-solemnities-our-lady-of-grace-normandy-and-memorials-of-the-saints/

St Isidore of Seville (c 560-636) Father & Doctor of the Church, Writer, Teacher, Reformer and Evangelist. Sometimes called – “The last scholar of the ancient world.” (Memorial)
St Isidore’s life:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/04/04/saint-of-the-day-4-april-st-isidore-of-seville-c-560-636-father-doctor-of-the-church/
AND:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/04/04/saint-of-the-day-4-april-st-isidore-of-seville-father-and-doctor-of-the-church/

Bl Abraham of Strelna
St Agathopus of Thessalonica
St Aleth of Dijon

St Benedict of Sicily OFM (1526-1589) Friar Minor of the Observance, Confessor.
About St Benedict:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/04/04/saint-of-the-day-4-april-st-benedict-of-sicily-o-f-m-1526-1589/

Bl essed Giuseppe Benedetto Dusmet OSB (1818-1894) Cardinal Archbishop of Catania, Italy, professed Benedictine religious, Abbot, Professor, Apostle of the sick and the poor.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/04/04/saint-of-the-day-4-april-blessed-giuseppe-cardinal-benedetto-dusmet-osb-1818-1894/

St Gwerir of Liskeard
St Henry of Gheest
St Hildebert of Ghent
St Peter of Poitiers (c 1130-1215) Bishop

St Plato (c 734-813) Monk, Confessor, Defender of sacred images and of the Sacraments of Marriage and Holy Orders.
St Plato’s Lifestory:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/04/saint-of-the-day-4-april-saint-plato-c-734-813/

St Theodulus of Thessalonica
St Theonas of Egypt
St Tigernach of Clogher
St Zosimus of Palestine

Martyred in Cairo
François de la Terre de Labour
Nicolas of Montecorpino

Martyrs of Thessalonica – 14 Saints: Fourteen Christians who were Martyred together, date unknown. No other information, except the names of 12 of them, has survived – Ingenuus, Julianus, Julius, Matutinus, Orbanus, Palatinus, Paulus, Publius, Quinilianus, Saturninus, Successus, Victor and two whose names have not come down to us.
Agathopus the Deacon, Theodulus the Lector.