Day: August 29, 2022

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the JUDGE, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, Quotes on SALVATION, The LAST THINGS

Thought for the Day – 29 August – More About Almsgiving

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 29 August – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

More About Almsgiving

“The description of the Last Judgement in the twenty fifth chapter of St Matthew’s Gospel would shock many people, if they were to read it.
The principles, in accordance with which, Christ will pronounce sentence are inescapably clear.
Did you feed and clothe the poor for My sake, He will ask because you recognised Me in them?
If, you have done so, you will certainly be saved.
If, you have neglected to do so, you will be condemned for all eternity.
Christ does not ask about anything else because, everything else is subordinate to the precept of charity.
Where there is charity, everything else follows.
Where charity is lacking, there is nothing else because, Christianity is synonymouse with charity.
Charity, says St Paul, “is the bond of perfection” (Col 3:14).

“If I should speak with the tongue of men and of Angels,” St Paul says elsewhere, “but have not charity, I have become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal … and if I have all faith so as to move mountains, yet have not charity, I am nothing. And if I distribute all my goods to feed the poor … yet do not have charity, it profits me nothing” (Cf 1 Cor 13:1-3).

So, our eternal salvation depends on our charity.
But it must be charity in action, not merely in words.
“He who has the goods of this world,” says St John “and sees his brother in need and closes his heart to him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 Jn 3:17).
Charity must be expressed in almsgiving and good works, for otherwise, it would be a matter of idle talk which would be powerless to save us.

Our almsgiving should not be dictated simply by natural feelings of compassion, however, nor by mere philanthropy.
It should be pre-eminently a religious act, springing from supernatural motives.
Because we see the person of Christ in the poor man, we should love and help him as we should our Diving Redeemer.
This is real Christian charity.

A proud man may also be liberal in giving away money in order to draw attention to himself.
But this is not Christian almsgiving which is never the product of self-love but of the love of God.

Let us be more generous in giving, therefore but, let us always give from the supernatural motive of Christian charity.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

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Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, I BELIEVE!, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on MYSTERIES of our FAITH, St JOHN the BAPTIST, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, The HEART, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 29 August – The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 29 August – The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

“Amen I say to you, there hath not risen
among them that are born of women,
a greater than John the Baptist.”

Matthew 11:11

“The Lord called me from birth,
from my mother’s womb
He pronounced my name.”

Isaias 49:1

“I, for my part, think that the mystery of John
is being fulfilled in the world until the present.
The spirit and the power of John,
must first fill the soul of whoever is destined
to believe in Christ Jesus,
“to prepare for the Lord a people well-disposed” (Lk 1:17)
and to “make ready the way of the Lord,
[to] clear Him a straight path” (Lk 3:5)
in the roughness of their hearts.
Not only at that time were
“the winding paths … made straight
and the rough ways smooth;”
rather, the spirit and the power of John
still go before the Lord and Saviour’s coming today.
Oh greatness of the Lord’s Mystery
and of His plan for the world! ”

Origen Adamantius (c 185-253)
Priest, Theologian, Exegist,
Writer, Apologist, Father

“Why was John allowed to die?”
For what occurred was not a death
but a crown, not an end
but the beginning of a greater life.
Learn to think and live like a Christian.
You will not only remain unharmed
by these events
but will reap the greatest benefits.”

St John Chrysostom (347-407)
Father & Doctor of the Church

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, St JOHN the BAPTIST, The WORD

One Minute Reflection –29 August – “Why was John allowed to die?”

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One Minute Reflection –29 August – The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist – Jeremias 1:17-19, Mark 6:17-29

“He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother.” – Mark 6:28

REFLECTION – “In what way, then, was this just man harmed by this demise, this violent death, these chains, this imprisonment? Who are those he did not set back on their feet — provided they had a penitent disposition — because of what he spoke because of what he suffered,because of what he still proclaims in our own day — the same message he preached, while he was living. Therefore, do not say: “Why was John allowed to die?” For what occurred was not a death, but a crown, not an end, but the beginning of a greater life. Learn to think and live like a Christian. You will not only remain unharmed by these events, but will reap the greatest benefits.” St John Chrysostom (347-407) Archbishop of Constantinople, Father and Doctor of the Church (On the Providence of God 22).

PRAYER – May the great festival of St John the Baptist, ThyPrecursor and Martyr, we beseech Thee, O Lord, assure for us the results of Thy saving help. Who lives and reign with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, St JOHN the BAPTIST

Our Morning Offering – 29 August – John, the Chosen One

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Our Morning Offering – 29 August – The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist
Lauds Hymn
Stanbrook Abbey Hymnal

God called great prophets to foretell
the coming of His Son.
The greatest, called before his birth,
was John, the chosen one.

His life was filled with joy and hope;
he knew he must decrease,
and that we must prepare a place
where Jesus may increase.

John searched in solitude for Christ
and knew Him when He came.
He showed the world the Lamb of God
and hailed Him in our name.

That lonely voice cried out the truth
Derided and denied.
As witness to the law of God
His mighty martyr died.

We praise You, Trinity in One,
the light of unknown ways,
the hope of all who search for You
whose love fills all our days.

Posted in FRANCISCAN OFM, MARTYRS, SAINT of the DAY

Saint/s of the Day – 29 August – Blessed John of Perugia`OFM (Died 1231) and Blessed Peter of Sassoferrato OFM (Died 1231) Martyrs

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Saint/s of the Day – 29 August – Blessed John of Perugia`OFM (Died 1231) Priest and Blessed Peter of Sassoferrato OFM (Died 1231) Lay Brother, Martyrs, Confessors, Friars of the Friars Minor. Both were beheaded in 1231 in Valencia, Spain. We have no artworks of the two Saints, those below are generic Franciscans.

A Franciscan Friar

The two Friars Minor, Blessed John of Perugia, a Priest, and Peter of Sassoferrato, a lay brother, were sent to Spain with a large number of Friars by St Francis himself. There, they were assigned to the kingdom of Aragon, where they built a small Convent in the little town of Teruel and reaped much fruit, by their holy lives, their prayers and their sermons on penance.

Their longing for the conversion of the infidels and the hope of obtaining the Palm of Martyrdom urged Friars John and Peter to go to the larger city of Valencia, which was governed, at that time, by the Moorish King Azotus. The Friars began to preach in public that Jesus Christ is the true Son of God and that only through Him, can we be saved. Azotus was a bitter enemy of the Christians.

Hearing of the activities of the Friars, he had them seized and cast into prison. He used every possible means to force them to apostatise. But when promises and threats alike, failed to shake their constancy, he condemned them to be beheaded. The Friars thanked the King,, praying fervently to God to enlighten their persecutor and in His mercy, to grant him the grace of conversion to the true Faith. Then, Blessed John of Perugia and Peter of Sassoferrato were beheaded. This occurred in the year 1231.

A few years later, James I, the Catholic King of Aragon, made war on Valencia. His army defeated the army of Azotus, who by this ill fortune and by the grace which the holy Martyrs had won for him from God, recognised Mohammed as a false prophet and Christ as the Saviour of the world. King James rejoiced exceedingly when Azotus asked to be Baptised. After his Baptism, Azotus offered the Friars Minor, his former palace for a Convent.

“When I was still an infidel,” he told them, “I caused your brethren to be executed at Teruel. I sincerely regret this crime and desire to make reparation for it. Accept my palace, in which the blood of many holy Martyrs has been shed and convert it into a convent.”

The palace was remodeled into a Convent and, next to it, a Church was erected in honour of the two Martyrs. On 11 September 1704, Pope Clement XI approved the public veneration which was paid to them and in 1783, Pope Pius VI again honoured them by confirming their cultus.

Posted in FRANCISCAN OFM, MARTYRS, SAINT of the DAY, St JOHN the BAPTIST

The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist and Memorials of the Saints – 29 August

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The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist
Here:
https://anastpaul.com/2017/08/29/saint-of-the-day-the-beheading-of-st-john-the-baptist-29-august/

St Sabina of Rome (Died c 126) Martyr, Widiw
Her Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/08/29/saint-of-the-day-29-august-saint-sabina-of-rome-died-c-126-martyr/

Blessed John of Perugia`OFM (Died 1231) Martyr, Friar of the Friars Minor
AND
Blessed Peter of Sassoferrato OFM (Died 1231) Martyr, Friar of the Friars Minor

St Adelphus
St Adausia of Rome
St Alberic of Bagno de Romagna
St Basilia of Sirmium
Bl Bronislava
St Candida of Rome
St Edwold the Hermit
St Euthymius of Perugia
St Maximian of Vercelli
St Medericus
St Nicaeus of Antioch
St Paul of Antioch
St Repositus of Velleianum
Bl Richard Herst
St Sabina of Troyes
St Sator of Velleianum
St Sebbe of Essex
St Velleicus
St Victor of La Chambon
St Vitalis of Velleianum