Thought for the Day – 26 September – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
Faith and Hope
“We should also have great confidence in the continual assistance which God offers us in the temptations, troubles and trials of life. When we are strongly tempted, we should remember that God will not permit us to be tempted beyond our strength (Cf 1 Cor 10:13), and we should pray to Him for help.
When pain torments us, when humiliations are difficult to bear, when all is dark. we fear each moment and we feel abandoned, let us trust in Him, Who is the Way, the Truth and Life. He says to us, as He said to Peter floundering in the waves: “O O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?” (Mt 14:31).
He is always ready to console and comfort. He is always there waiting for our call. We are not alone!”
Quote/s of the Day – 26 September – St Isaac Jogues SJ (1607-1646) Priest, Martyr, Missionary and Companions
“My confidence is placed in God, Who does not need our help to accomplishing His designs. Our single endeavour, should be, to give ourselves to the work and to be faithful to Him.”
St Isaac Jogues (1607-1646) Martyr
“God is the witness of our sufferings and will soon be our exceedingly great reward. Let us die in this faith… Sustain with courage, the few remaining torments. They will end our lives. The glory which follows them, will never have an end...”
One Minute Reflection – 26 September – “The Month of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Cross” – St Isaac Jogues SJ (1607-1646) Priest, Martyr, Missionary and Companions – Hebrews 10:32-38, Luke 12:1-8 Sacred Scripture seach here: https://www.drbo.org/
“Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? And yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Yes, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore, do not be afraid, you are of more value than many sparrows.” – Luke 12:6-7
REFLECTION – “Do not look forward to the changes and chances of this life in fear – rather look to them with full hope that, as they arise, God, whose you are, will deliver you out of them. He is your keeper. He has kept you hitherto. Do you but hold fast to His dear hand and He will lead you safely through all things and, when you cannot stand, He will bear you in His arms. Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow. Our Father will either shield you from suffering, or He will give you strength to bear it.” – St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Doctor of the Church.
PRAYER – May the continual protection of the blessed Martyrs comfort us, O Lord, for Thou do not cease to behold with favour those whom You have granted the grace of such assistance. 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).
Our Morning Offering – 26 September – St Isaac Jogues SJ (1607-1646), St Isaac Jogues SJ (1607-1646) Priest, Martyr, Missionary and Companions
Jesus, What Can I Give You in Return? Prayer of St Jean de Brébeuf SJ (1593-1649)
Jesus, my Lord and Saviour, what can I give You in return for all the favours You have first conferred on me? I will take from Your hand, the cup of Your sufferings and call on Your name. I vow before Your eternal Father and the Holy Spirit, before Your most holy Mother and her most chaste Spouse, before the Angels, Apostles and Martyrs, before my blessed fathers, Saint Ignatius and Saint Francis Xavier, in truth, I vow to You, Jesus my Saviour, that, as far as I have the strength, I will never fail to accept the grace of Martyrdom, if someday You, in Your infinite mercy, should offer it to me, Your most unworthy servant… My beloved Jesus, here and now, I offer my body and blood and life. May I die only for You, i f You will grant me this grace, since You willingly died for me. Let me so live, that You may grant me the gift of such a happy death. In this way, my God and Saviour, I will take from Your hand, the cup of Your sufferings and call on Your Name, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! Amen
Saints of the Day – 26 September – St Isaac Jogues SJ (1607-1646) Priests, Martyrs, Missionary and Companions – known as The North American or the Canadian Martyrs. Born on 10 January 1607 o, Orléans, Orléanais, France. In 1646, Jogues was Martyred by the Mohawk at their village of Ossernenon, near the Mohawk River. They were Beatified on 21 June 1925, by Pope Pius XI and Canonised on 29 June 1930, by Pope Pius XI. They are collectively the secondary Patron Saints of Canada.
St Isaac Jogues and Companions from the Roman Breviary
Among the members of the Society of Jesus who brought most renown to the infant Church in North America, in the middle of the seventeenth Century, God chose as victims eight men of outstanding integrity, that from the seeds of faith watered with their blood, there might spring up a more abundant harvest.
All these Martyrs–six Priests and two Laymen–natives of France, were sent by their Superiors to the Missions in Canada, at that time known as New France. With Quebec as a centre, they made numberless missionary journeys to the various sectors of this vast territory, labouring amidst the greatest hardships. In the end, all were most cruelly put to death and for the same reaso – their faith, although not at the same time and place.
Jean de Brebeuf, born at Conde-sur-Vire, in the Diocese of Bajon (now Constance), of an illustrious family and Isaac Jogues, born in Orleans, are regarded as their leaders and masters and rightly so. For they were valiant men, fired with apostolic zeal, living most mortified lives, in intimate prayerful union with God and, at times, were honoured with heavenly visions.
St Jean de Brébeuf (1607-1646 aged 39) Priest
Not unlike them, were their four companion Priests: Antoine Daniel, born at Dieppe, Gabriel Lalemant and Charles Gamier, both Parisian born and Noel Chabanel, a native of Mende – all of these faithfully fulfilled their Priestly functions, labouring principally in various villages of the Huron country.
Frequent raids by the Iroquois, a hostile neighbouring tribe, often wrought havoc in the Huron missions and seriously endangered the lives of the Fathers in charge of them. In 1642, on a journey from Quebec to the Huron country, Isaac Jogues, together with Rene Goupil, a lay co-adjutor of the Society of Jesus, fell in with the Iroquois, who held him and his companion as slaves and subjected them to most horrible torments. In the same year on the 29th of September, Rene was killed by order of an old savage, out of hatred for the Cross of salvation. It was near Auriesville, in the present State of New York, where this most sincere man breathed forth his soul to God.
In the following year Isaac managed to escape and made his way back to France. He returned to America after another year and along with John Lalande, who was also a co-adjutor of the Society of Jesus, made a second and third journey to the savages, his erstwhile tormentors.
On 18 October 1646, in the present diocese of Albany, Isaac was struck with a tomahawk and thus obtained the Palm of Martyrdom. The following day his companion, John, meeting with a like fate, took his flight to Heaven, to be rewarded with the same Crown of Martyrdom.
St Isaac Jogues (1607-1646) aged 39) Priest
On 4 July 1648, in an attack upon the village of St Joseph by the Iroquois, Antoine Daniel, in charge of the Huron mission there, was slain while fearlessly defending his flock. Overwhelmed by a shower of arrows and bullets at the entrance of the Church, like a good shepherd he laid down his life for his sheep. Within a year, on 16 March 1649, at St Ignace, a village situated in what is now the Province of Ontario, Canada, John de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalemant were captured by the Iroquois. That same day, Brebeuf, rightly called the Apostle of the Hurons, died a glorious death, after undergoing long drawn-out tortures of the most atrocious description, during which, this gallant soldier of Christ manifested such fortitude, as to excite even the admiration of the savages themselves. On the following day Gabriel Lalemant suffered the same cruel Martyrdom, during which, he showed the same heroic virtue.
St Gabriel Lalemant (1610-1649) aged 38 Priest
St Antoine Daniel (1601-1648) aged 47) Priest
In December of the same year, 1649, on the eve of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Charles Garnier, after several bullet Wounds was killed by a blow from a hatchet, thereby adding a glorious Crown to a life of exceptional innocence. On the following day Noel Chabanel became the victim of the treachery of a Huron apostate, who killed him and threw his body into a river. His longing for the Palm of Martyrdom was thus realised in his own beloved mission. Although he felt a natural repugnance for this work among the savages, hero that he was, he bound himself by a vow to remain in this mission until death.
St Charles Garnier (1606-1649) aged 33) Priest
These eight Martyrs, the first in North America, were Beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1925 and were Canonised by the same Pontiff five years later.
AnaStpaul 
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