Thought for the Day – 23 February – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
The Order of the Day
“Once we have decided on our manner of behaviour towards God, it is necessary to determine how we shall act in regard to our neighbour. We can have quite a number of unexpected matters to which we must attend during the day but normally, we have a good idea what kind of people we shall be dealing with.
There will be people who are an occasiuon of sin. We must try to avoid these but, if that is not possible, we must be on our guard and rely on the weapons of divine grace to protect us. There will be troublesome and annoying people with whom we must be patient and restrained. There will be people who are in want, either materally or spiritually, whom we must enlighten and assist. We shall meet difficulies and complicated problems to deal with which we must ask God for insight and prudence.
If we live in intimate union with Our Lord, we shall be competent to deal with all the business of the day, especially with the unexpected and even the shocking.”
Quote/s of the Day – 23 February – The Memorial of St Peter Damian (1007-1072) Doctor of the Church
“Let us detach ourselves in spirit from all that we see and cling to that which we believe. This is the Cross which we must imprint on all our daily actions and behaviour.”
“I scourge both flesh and spirit because I know that I have offended in both flesh and spirit.”
“May Christ be heard in our language, may Christ be seen in our life, may He be perceived in our hearts”
“Let us faithfully transmit to posterity, the example of virtue, which we have received, from our forefathers.”
Our Lenten Journey with St Francis de Sales – 23 February – Ash Thursday
“Blessed is the man who feareth the Lord, he shall delight exceedingly in His Commandments.” Psalm 111:1
“But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not be seen fasting by men …” Matthew 6:17-18.
ON FASTING 2 St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Doctor Caritas
“THE SECOND CONDITION is never to fast through vanity but always through humility. If our fast is not performed with humility, it will not be pleasing to God. All our ancient Fathers have declared it so but particularly, St Thomas, St Anbrose and the great St Augustine. St Paul, in the epistle which he wrote to the Corinthians (1 Cor 3) … declares the conditions necessary for disposing ourselves to fast well during Lent. He says this to us: “Lent is approaching. Prepare yourselves to fast with charity, for if your fast is performed without it, it will be vain and useless, since fasting, like all other good works, is not pleasing to God unless it is done in charity and through charity. When you disciopline yourself, when you say long prayers, if you have not charity, all that is nothing. Even though you should work miracles, if you have not charity, they will not profit you at all. Indeed, even if you should suffer martyrdom, without charity, your martyrdom is worth nothing and would not be meritorious in the eys of the Divine Master. For all works, small or great, however good they may be in themselves, are of no value and profit us nothing, if they are not done in charity and through charity,”
I say the same now – if your fast is without humility it is worth nothing and cannot be pleasing to the Lord! … Now, according to the Apostle, all that is done without charity is not pleasing to God, so I say, in the same way with this great Saint, that if you fast without humility, your fast is of no value. For if you have not humility you have not charity and if you are without charity, you are also without humility. It is almost impossible to have charity without being humble and to be humble withou having charity. These two virtues have such an affinity with one another that the one can never be without the other!
But what is this fast through humility? It is never to fast through vanity. Now how can one fast through vanity? … To fast through vanity is to fast through self-will, since this self-will is not without vanity or, at least, not without a temptation to vanity. And what does it mean to fast through self-will. It is to fast as one wishes and not as others wish – to fast in the manner which pleases us and not as we are ordered or counselled.
Let each one of us examine our consciences and we will find that all that comes from ourselves, from our own judgement, choice and election, is esteemed and loved far better, than that which comes from another!” – (Excerpt from the Sermon given for Ash Wednesday on 9 February 1622).
One Minute Reflection – 23 February – Thursday after Ash Wednesday, a Day of Fasting – The Memorial of St Peter Damian (1007-1072) Doctor of the Church – 2 Timothy 4:1-8, Matthew 5:13-19 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house.” – Matthew 5:14-15.
REFLECTION – “The Lord called His disciples, the salt of the earth because they seasoned with heavenly wisdom, the hearts of men, rendered insipid by the devil. Now He calls them the light of the world too because they have been enlightened by Him, the true and everlasting Light and have themselves become, a light in the darkness.
Since He is the Sun of Justice, He fittingly calls His disciples, the light of the world. The reason for this, is that through them, as through shining rays, He has poured out the Light of the knowledge of Himself, upon the entire world. For by manifesting the Light of Truth, they have dispelled the darkness of error from the hearts of men.
Moreover, we too have been enlightened by them. We have been made light out of darkness as the Apostle says: “For once you were darkness but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light.” He says another time: “For you are not sons of the night and of darkness but you are all sons of light and of the day.”
Saint John also rightly asserts in his letter: “God is Light and whoever abides in God is in the light just as God Himself is in the light.” Therefore because we rejoice in having been freed from the darkness of error, we should always walk in the light as children of light. This is why the Apostle says: “Among them you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.”
If we fail to live in the light, we shall, to our condemnation and that of others, be veiling over and obscuring by our infidelity, the light men so desperately need. As we know from Scripture, the man who received the talent should have made it produce a heavenly profit but instead, he preferred to hide it away rather than put it to work and was punished as he deserved.
Consequently, that brilliant Lamp which was lit for the sake of our salvation should always shine in us. For we have the lamp of the heavenly commandment and spiritual grace, to which David referred: “Your law is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Solomon also says this about it: “For the command of the law is a lamp.”
Therefore, we must not hide this lamp of law and faith. Rather, we must set it up in the Church, as on a lampstand, for the salvation of many, so that we may enjoy the Light of Truth itself and all believers may be enlightened.” – St Chromatius of Aquileia (Died c 407) Bishop of Aquileia, Theologian, Exegete, Writer and friend of Saints Ambrose and Jerome, Defender of St John Chrysostom. (An excerpt from Treatise on the Gospel of Saint Matthew). St Chromatius’ life here:https://anastpaul.com/2020/12/02/saint-of-the-day-2-december-saint-chromatius-of-aquileia-died-c-407/
PRAYER – Grant us, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, to follow the counsel and examples of St. Peter, Thy Confessor and Bishop, so that by setting earthly goods at naught we may attain everlasting happiness. 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 – 23 FebruaryAsh Thursday and The Memorial of St Peter Damian (1007-1072) Doctor of the Church
Have Mercy, Lord By St Peter Damian (1007-1072) Doctor of the Church
Have mercy, Lord, on all my friends and relatives, on all my benefactors, on all who pray to Thee for me and on all who have asked me to pray to Thee, for them. Give them the spirit of fruitful penance, mortify them in all vices and make them flower in all Thy virtues. Amen
Saint of the Day – 23 February – Saint Milburga (Died 715) Prioress, Abbess, Miracle-worker. Born in the 7th Century England and died in 715 at the Much Wenlock Abbey, Shropshire, England of natural causes. Patronage – of birds. Also known as – Milburg, Milburge, Mildburg, Mildburga, Milburgh. Additional Memorial – 25 June (translation of relics).
Milburga lived when the peoples of Anglo-Saxon England were being converted to Christianity. Of royal birth, Milburga’s family was distinguished by its holiness. She was the daughter of King Merewald of Magonset and his wife, St Ermenburga (alias Aebbe of Minster-in-Thanet) and, therefore, sister of Sts Mildred and Milgitha.
Her father, Merewalh and Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury, founded a Monastery on the borders of Wales, under a French Abbess, Liobinde of Chelles. at Wenlock (in Shropshire) in about 670–80. Milburga became its second Abbess, governing a community – a so-called ‘dual house’ – of both Nuns and Monks, who worshipped in separate Churches and would also have had their own dormitories and refectories.
Milburga eventually succeeded Abbess Liobinde of Chellesher in this office. Shortly afterward, a neighbouring Prince attempted to compel her to become his wife and, with that intent, pursued her with an armed force. She fled across a river, which at once rose into an impassable flood and discouraged her pursuers.
Most of what we know about Milburga comes from a ‘Life,’ written in Latin by a Monk called Gocelin in the late 11th Century. It describes Milburga’s miracle-working powers, which included raising the dead. It also recounts how, through Milburga’s prayers, geese which were destroying the Abbey’s corn were banished, never to return. Because of this, Milburga is depicted in art as an Abbess accompanied by geese or other wild birds.
A poor widow came to her in her oratory, bringing the body of her little dead son. Throwing herself at the feet of the abbess, she besought her to raise the child to life. “You must be mad!” exclaimed Milburga, “How can I raise your child? Go and bury him and submit to the bereavement sent to you by God!”. “No,” said the sorrowing mother, “I will not leave you until you give me back my son!” The Abbess prayed over the little corpse and, while doing so, she suddenly appeared to the poor supplicant to be raised from the earth and surrounded by lovely flames – the living emblem of the fervour of her prayer. Within a few minutes, the child had recovered.
Unsurprisngly, Milburga was immediately regarded as a Saint after her death in 715. Her remains were buried in the Nuns’ Church at Wenlock. By the 11th Century, this had fallen into ruins and the location of Milburga’s grave forgotten.
The Ruins of St Milburga’s Priory at Wenlock, Shropshire
Between 1080–82, a community of Cluniac Monks settled at Wenlock, building their Church on the site of the former Anglo-Saxon one. Soon after 1100, boys playing amid the ruins of the ancient Nuns’ Church fell into a tomb where the bones of Milburga were rediscovered. Esteemed as holy Relics, these were solemnly enshrined in the Monks’new Church. Numerous miracles were attributed to them, including the healing of lepers and the curing of the blind.
The Cluniac Monastery at Wenlock was dedicated to St Milburga and St Michael, both of whom were depicted on the Priory’s seal. Feasts, or holy days, in honour of St Milburga are celebrated by the Monks on 23 February and 25 June.
St Milburga Patchwork Collage at St Milburga Parish, Shropshire
St Alexander Akimetes St Boswell St Dositheus of Egypt St Felix of Brescia St Florentius of Seville St Giovanni Theristi (1049–1129) Monk Bl John of Hungary
St Lazarus Zographos (c 810-c 867) Priest, Monk known as “the Painter and the Iconographer.” Lazarus lived before and during the second period of Byzantine Iconoclasm. The Roman Martyrology states of him today: “St Lazarus, a Monk, whom the Iconoclast Emperor Theophilus ordered to be put to torture for having painted holy images. His hand was burned with a hot iron but, being healed by the power of God, he painted anew the holy images which had been defaced and finally rested in peace.” Biography: https://anastpaul.com/2022/02/23/saint-of-the-day-23-february-st-lazarus-zographos-810-865/
St Martha of Astorga St Medrald St Milburga (Died 715) Abbess Bl Milo of Benevento St Ordonius St Polycarp of Rome St Romana
St Serenus the Gardener (Died 307) Martyr. Serenus was by birth a Grecian. He left his family estate, friends and country to serve God in celibacy, penance and prayer. With this design he bought a garden in Sirmium in Pannonia, which he cultivated with his own hands and lived on the fruits and herbs it produced. His Life and Death: https://anastpaul.com/2019/02/23/saint-of-the-day-23-february-st-serenus-the-gardener-died-307-martyr/
Martyrs of Syrmium – 73 Christians who were Martyred together in the persecutions of Diocletian. We know no details about them, and only six of their names – Antigonus, Libius, Rogatianus, Rutilus, Senerotas and Syncrotas.
AnaStpaul 
You must be logged in to post a comment.