February is traditionally the Month of the Blessed Trinity, with the Holy Family being celebrated together with the Holy Name of Jesus in January.
The Sign of the Cross
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
(50 Days. 100 Days if made with Holy Water Blessed Pope Pius IX, 1865.)
WHENE’ER across this sinful flesh of mine I draw the Holy Sign, All good thoughts stir within me and renew Their slumbering strength divine, Till there springs up a courage high and true To suffer and to do.
And who shall say but hateful spirits around, For their brief hour unbound, Shudder to see and wail their overthrow? While on far heathen ground Some lonely Saint hails the fresh odour, though Its source he cannot know.
John Henry Newman (1801-1890) Oxford – 25 November 1832
Thought for the Day – 1 February – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
Divine Worship, Charity and Justice
“Divine Worship: We have a strict duty to honour and obey God. “I, the Lord, Am your God,” He tells us in the first commandment of the Decalogue. “You shall not have other gods besides me.” We are obliged, therefore, to worship God both internally and externally, since both soul and body are created by God. Internal worship is especially necessary, for without it, external worship would be an empty formality. It is useless to kneel before the Altar, to assist at Sacred Rites and to recite vocal prayers if, all the time, our minds are elsewhere and we are lacking in the love of God. Spiritual adoration and prayer, are more important than the bowed head and the bended knee.
It would be a grave error, however, to imagine that internal adoration is sufficient and there is not need to assemble in the Church, to observe Feast days or to participate in Sacred Rites and receive the Sacraments, as the Church commands. Everything should be subject to God. The Church was founded by Christ and endowed by Him with the authority to lay down the exact manner in which we should pay homage to Almighty God. She has the right to dictate the feasts and ceremonies in which we are obliged to participate. Anyone who refused to obey the Church, is guilty of disobedience to God. “He who hears you hears me,” said Jesus Christ to His Apostles and through them to their successors “and he who rejeccts you, rejects me” (Lk 10:16).
How do we adore God? Are we among those who pray with their lips and not from the heart? Or do we believe that private devotion is quite sufficient and that there is no need to subject ourselves to all the laws of the Church? Some laws we agree with, some we do not and choose to ignore. In either case, we have gone astray and should be unable to gain God’s favour and cannot be regarded as members of His Church!”
Quote/s of the Day – 1 February – – St Ignatius of Antioch (c35 – c107) Martyr, Bishop of Antioch, Apostolic Father of the Church
“ … Have perfect faith and love for Jesus Christ. These are the beginning and the end of life – faith the beginning, love the end. When these two are found together, there is God and everything else concerning right living follows from them. …”
“Nothing is hidden from the Lord but even our secrets are close to Him. Let us then, do everything, in the knowledge that He is dwelling within us that we may be His temples and He ,God within us.”
“… A tree is known by its fruit. So those who profess to belong to Christ will be known, by what they do. For the work we are about, is not a matter of words, here and now but depends on the power of faith and on being found faithful, to the end!”
One Minute Reflection – 1 February – “The Month of the Blessed Trinitys” – St Ignatius of Antioch (c 35 – 107) Martyr, Bishop of Antioch, Apostolic Father of the Church. – Romans 8:35-39, John 12:24-26 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“If it dies, it produces much fruit” – John 12:24
REFLECTION – “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed which a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet, when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.’” (Mt 13:31). This small seed is for us the symbol of Jesus Christ, Who, sowed into the garden where He was buried, rose from it shortly after, through His Resurrection, as a big tree.
One could say that when He died, He was like a small seed – a small seed because of the humiliation of His flesh but a big tree because of the glorification of His Majesty. He was like a small seed when he appeared completely disfigured before our eyes but like a large tree when He rose again like “the most handsome of men” (Ps 44:3).
The branches of this mysterious tree, are the holy preachers of the Gospel, of whom one of the Psalms indicates the reach: “Their report goes forth throughout all the earth, their message, to the ends of the world “ (Ps 19:5; cf Rom 10:18). The birds rest on these branches while the souls of the just, who have been raised up above earth’s attractions, on the wings of holiness, find in the words of these preachers of the Gospel, the consolation they need in the sorrows and difficulties of this life.”– St Gregory the Great (540-604) Pope, Father and Doctor of the Church (Homilies on Matthew, Ch.13).
PRAYER – Be mindful of our weakness, O aAmighty God and since the burden of our deeds is grievous to us, grant that the glorious intercession of blessed Ignatius Thy Martyr and Bishop, may protect us. 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 – 1 February – “The Month of the Blessed Trinity”
O Lord, Our God, We Believe in Thee, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. By St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of the Church
O Lord, our God, we believe in Thee, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. As far as I have been able, as much as Thou hast given me the power to do so, I have sought for Thee. I have desired to see that in which I believe; much have I striven and laboured.
Lord, my God, my only hope, let me never tire of seeking Thee but make me seek Thy Face with constant ardour. Give me the strength to seek after Thee – Thou Who hast made me, Who hast given me, more and more, the hope of finding Thee.
Thou seest my strength and my weakness; do Thou sustain the one and heal the other; Thou seest my strength and my ignorance. Where Thou hast opened to me, come make me welcome; where Thou hast closed to me, open to my plea. Give me to remember, understand and love Thee. Amen
Saint of the Day – 1 February – Saint Sigebert III of Austrasia (c 630-656) King, Married and father of St Dagobert II. Born in c 630 in Metz, Moselle, Lorraine, France and died on 1 February 656 at Metz, France of natural causes, aged 25-26. His body was incorrupt until it was attacked by the marauders during the French Revolution. Patronages – the City and Diocese of Nancy, France. Also known as – Sigebert the Younger, Sigisbert…
Sigebert was the eldest son of King Dagobert I and his concubine Ragnetrude and half-brother of King Clovis. The King recalled and made peace with Saint Amand, who was previously banished for criticising the King’s vices and unholy life and asked him to baptise his new-born son. The ceremony was performed at Orléns and Charibert II, Dagobert’s half-brother who was King of Aquitaine at the time, was the Godfather. Dagobert assigned the education of Sigebert to Pepin of Landen, who was the Mayor of the Palace in Austrasia. Pepin took the baby Sigebert and moved with him to his domains in Aquitane, where they remained for the next three years.
In 633, a revolt of the nobles forced Dagobert to make the three-year old Sigebert King of Austrasia. However, he refused to give the power to Pepin of Landen by making him Mayor of the Palace for the child-king. Instead, he had put Sigebert under the tutelage of Adalgisel as Mayor of the Palace and the Bishop of Cologne, Saint Cunibert, as Regent, while keeping Pepin in Neustria as hostage.
On the death of Dagobert in 639, the two Frankish kingdoms became independent once again under Sigebert III and his little brother, Clovis II. Both kingdoms were under child-kings – Sigebert was around eleven years old and Clovis was five – and were ruled by the respective Regents. It was under Seigbert’s reign that the Mayor of the Palace began to play the most important role in political life and he has been described as the first “roi fainéant”—“do-nothin king”—of the Merovingian dynasty. A most unfair derogatory and insulting title, considering he was a child however, as he grew in age and wisdom, he disregarded worldly affairs as of no value anyway and focused his heart on things above.
In 640 the Duchy of Thuringia rebelled against Austrasia in the only war of Sigebert’s reign.The young King attempted to quell the rebellion but was defeated. The rout left Sigebert weeping in his saddle.
Throughout his youth and adolescencd, Sigebert had grown in personal sanctity and love for God and His Church. He became an extremely holy and devout adult under the tutelage of Pepin and the spiritual direcrion of Saint Cunibert and lived a life of Christian virtue. He used his wealth to establish numerous Monasteries, homes and hospitals especially for the poor and Churches, including the renowned Monastery of Stavelot-Malmedy.
Sigebert III died of natural causes on 1 February 656 at age 25. He was buried in the Abbey of Saint Martin near Metz which he had founded. In 1063 his body, found incorrupt, was taken out of the tomb and moved to the Altar. During the French Revolution the Abbey and tomb were desecrated. What Relics remained were moved to the Nancy Cathedral. The Statue below is situate on the facade of said Cathedral.
Bl Anthony Manzoni St Asclepiades St Autbert of Landevenec St Brigid of Fiesole St Cecilius of Granada St Cinnia of Ulster St Clarus of Seligenstadt St Crewenna St Darlaugdach of Kildare St Henry Morse St Jarlath Bl John of the Grating St Kinnia St Paul of Trois-Châteaux St Raymond of Fitero
St Sabinus St Severus of Avranches St Severus of Ravenna
St Sigebert III of Austrasia (c 630-656) King, Married and father of St Dagobert II. His body was incorrupt until it was attacked by the marauders during the French Revolution.
St Tryphon of Lampsacus St Ursus of Aosta St Veridiana
AnaStpaul 
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