Thought for the Day – 19 August – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
The Sons of God
“We are, or ought to be, sons of God. We are His adopted sons by means of the grace which gives us a share in His Divine Life. This idea is contained, even in the Old Testament, “You are gods, all of you, sons of the Most High (Ps 81:6)” “The Spirit Himself,” explains St Paul, “gives testimony to our spirit that we are sons of God. But, if we are sons, we are heirs also, heirs indeed of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:16-17).
In other words, the grace of God transforms us and makes us His adopted sons. The supernatural life is grafted onto the soul, bringing forth a new man who is capable of actions which will deserve an everlasting reward. We must not allow the old tree, with its dead branches and barren fruit, to spring up again within us, the old man with his defects and evil inclinations must remain dead.
If God’s life is extinguished in us,. we shall cease to be His heirs and co-heirs with Christ. We shall be incapable of doing anything good and shall be destined to eternal damnation.”
Quote/s of the Day – 19August – “The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” – St John Eudes (1601-1680) Confessor, “The Apostle of Two Hearts”
“Our wish, our object, our chief preoccupation, must be, to form Jesus in ourselves, to make His spirit, His devotion, His affections, His desires and His disposition, live and reign there!”
“Faith is a beam, radiating from the face of God.”
A Magnificat By St John Eudes (1601-1680) A Hymn of Praise and Thanksgiving to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Holy Heart of Mary
My soul doth magnify the admirable Heart of Jesus and Mary And my spirit rejoices in Thou great Heart. Jesus and Mary have given me their Heart, This immense Heart, in order that all in me May be performed in its love.
Infinite praise to them, for their ineffable gift. This Heart infinitely merciful, has done great things for me. It has possessed me from the womb of my mother. Infinite thanksgiving for Thou ineffable gifts.
The abyss of my misery has called on the abyss of His Mercy. Infinite thanksgiving for His ineffable gifts. This Heart infinitely meek has presented me With blessings of its sweetness. Infinite thanksgiving for His ineffable gifts. Amen
One Minute Reflection – 19August – “The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” – St John Eudes (1601-1680) Confessor, “The Apostle of Two Hearts”– Sirach 31:8-11, Luke 12:35-40 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“Let your loins be girt about and your lamps burning …” – Luke 12:35
REFLECTION – “It is so that our spirit may be detached from its fantasies that the Word invites us, to shake off this heavy sleep, from the eyes of our souls, so that we may not slide away from the true reality, by clinging to what lacks substance. That is why He sets before us an image of vigilance when He says: “Let your loins be girt about and your lamps burning”… The meaning of these symbols is clear enough. Someone who is girded with temperance, lives in the light of a pure conscience because, filial trust enlightens his life, like a lamp. Lit up by the truth that person’s soul is detached from the sleep of illusion because, no empty dreams are leading it astray. As the Word says – if we do this, we shall enter into a life like that of the Angels…
Indeed, these are they who wait for the Lord at His return from the wedding and who are seated by the heavenly gates, with watchful eyes, so that the King of Glory (Ps 23:7) might once more pass through, when he returns from the marriage feast and enters again into the beatitude above the heavens. “Coming forth like the groom from his bridal chamber” (Ps 18:6)…, He united to Himself like a virgin, the nature we had prostituted to idols, once He had restored its virginal integrity, through sacramental regeneration. The nuptials, having now been accomplished, since the Church has been espoused by the Word… and brought into the chamber of His Mysteries, the Angels awaited the return of the King of Glory to the blessedness which matches His nature.
Hence, the text says that our lives ought to be like those of the Angels. Just as they live far from vice and self-deception, ready to welcome the second coming of the Lord, so we too ought to remain awake at the doors of our dwellings and stand ready to obey, when He comes and knocks at the door.” – St Gregory of Nyssa(335-395) Bishop, Father of the Church, Brother of St Basil the Great (Sermons on the Song of Songs No 11).
PRAYER – O God, Who wondrously enkindled St John, Thy Confessor, to promote the religious veneration of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and through him, willed to found new religious families in the Church, grant, we beseech Thee that we may honour his holy merits and may learn from the example of his virtues. 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 – 19 August – “The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” – St John Eudes (1601-1680) Confessor, “The Apostle of Two Hearts”
Hail Mary! Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary By St John Eudes (1601-1680) “The Apostle of Two Hearts”
Hail Mary! Mother of God the Son. Hail Mary! Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Hail Mary! Temple of the Most Blessed Trinity. Hail Mary! Pure Lily of the Effulgent Trinity. Hail Mary! Celestial Rose of the Ineffable Love of God. Hail Mary! Virgin pure and humble, of whom the King of Heaven willed to be born and, with thy milk to be nourished. Hail Mary! Virgin of Virgins, Hail Mary! Queen of Martyrs, whose soul a sword transfixed. Hail Mary! Lady most blessed! unto whom all power in Heaven and earth is given. Hail Mary! My Queen and my Mother! my Life, my Sweetness and my Hope, Hail Mary! Mother Most Amiable, Hail Mary! Mother of Divine Love, Hail Mary! Immaculate! Conceived Without Sin! Hail Mary! Full of Grace! The Lord is with Thee! Blessed art thou among women! And blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus! Blessed be thy spouse, Saint Joseph, Blessed be thy father, Saint Joachim, Blessed be thy mother, Saint Anne, Blessed be thy guardian, Saint John, Blessed be thy holy Angel, Saint Gabriel, Glory be to God the Father, Who chose thee, Glory be to God the Son, Who loved thee, Glory be to God the Holy Spirit, Who espoused thee.
O Glorious Virgin Mary, may all people love and praise the Amen!
Saint of the Day – 19 August – Blessed Hugh Green (c1584-1642) Priest, Martyr. Born in c1584 in London and died by a botched hanging and finally beheaded on 19 August 1642, at Dorchester, Dorset, England during the reign and persecutions of Charles I. Also known as – Ferdinand Brook/s or Ferdinand Brown. Additional Memorila on 29 October as one of the Martyrs of Douai. Hugh was Beatified on 15 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI.
Hugh Green was born in c1584 of Protestant parents. He took a Degree at Cambridge in 1605 but, in 1610, after converting to Catholicism Hugh travelled to Douai to study for the Priesthood.
He tried his vocation as a Capuchin Friar but left that Friars Minor in 1612, whereafter he was and was Ordained to the Priesthood and left to return to England as a Missionary to the persecuted Church.
Hugh returned to England and as a Chaplain at Chideock Castle, Dorset. Here Hugh served the Catholics of Dorset under the protection of Lady Blanche Arundell of Lanherne.
Just before the beginning of the Civil War, on 8 March 1641, Charles I, to placate the Puritan Parliament of England, issued a proclamation making the presence of Catholic Priests in England a crime punishable by death. Although Hugh intended to lpossibly eave England under this ban, he was too tardy in his exercise of this intention, probably because he could not desert his fellow Catholics, so much in need of their Priests.
He was captured near Lyme Regis, imprisoned and then executed on 19 August 1642. In prison his constancy so affected his fellow-captives that two or three women sentenced to die with him, sent him word that they would ask his absolution before death. They did so after confessing their sins on the scaffold to all the people watching the gruesome spectacle and were absolved by the Martyr, Fr Hugh.
The story of his execution is more appallingly cruel and barbaric than usual – there was no experienced executioner available, so a barber-cum-part-time-executioner spent almost half an hour trying to locate his heart while he was hanging by his neck on the scaffold. Finally, a soldier mercifully ended this torture by beheading him. When his head was severed, the Puritan mob used it as a football! As Archbishop Challoner noted, this was thankfully, not an event repeated in the annals of the English Martyrs.
Blessed Hugh Green is honoured at the Church of Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs and St Ignatius, Chideock, Dorset.
St Andrew the Tribune St Badulf of Ainay St Bertulf of Luxeuil St Calminius St Credan of Evesham St Donatus of Mount Jura St Elaphius of Châlons St Guenninus Bl Guerricus Blessed Hugh Green (c1584-1642) Priest Martyr
Blessed Jordan of Pisa OP (c 1255–1311) Dominican Friar, Theologian, Professor, renowned Preacher, Founder of the Confraternity of the Holy Redeemer at Pisa, Visionary, Marian devotee, promoter and daring innovator of the vernacular Italian language as a ‘church’ language and a tool for evangelisation. On 23 August 1833, Blessed Jordan’s cultus was confirmed by Pope Gregory XVI and in 1838 he was Beatified by Pope Gregory XVI. His Life: https://anastpaul.com/2019/08/19/saint-of-the-day-blessed-jordan-of-pisa-op-c-1255-1311/ St Julius of Rome
St Louis of Toulouse OFM (1274-1297) Prince and Bishop, Neapolitan Prince of the Capetian House of Anjou, Franciscan Friar and Priest, Apostle of Prayer, of Penance and of the poor and the sick. He had received the last sacraments on the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady and on the 19th of August, 1297, while pronouncing the holy name of Mary, he yielded his soul to God. Because of the many miracles that were wrought at his tomb, he was Canonised as early as 1317, during the lifetime of his mother. Lovely St Louis: https://anastpaul.com/2020/08/19/saint-of-the-day-19-august-saint-louis-of-toulouse-ofm-1274-1297-prince-and-bishop/St Louis of Toulouse OFM (1274-1297) Prince and Bishop, Neapolitan Prince of the Capetian House of Anjou, Franciscan Friar and Priest, Apostle of Prayer, of Penance and of the poor and the sick. He had received the last sacraments on the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady and on the 19th of August, 1297, while pronouncing the holy name of Mary, he yielded his soul to God. Because of the many miracles that were wrought at his tomb, he was Canonised as early as 1317, during the lifetime of his mother. Lovely St Louis: https://anastpaul.com/2020/08/19/saint-of-the-day-19-august-saint-louis-of-toulouse-ofm-1274-1297-prince-and-bishop/
St Magnus of Anagni St Magnus of Avignon St Magnus of Cuneo St Marianus of Entreaigues St Marinus of Besalu St Magino of Tarragona St Mochta St Namadia of Marsat St Rufinus of Mantua St Sarah the Matriarch St Sebaldus St Thecla of Caesarea St Timothy of Gaza
Martyrs of Nagasaki – 15 Beati: A group of missionaries and their laymen supporters who were executed for spreading Christianity in Japan. They are: Antonius Yamada, Bartholomaeus Mohyoe, Iacobus Matsuo Denji, Ioachim Díaz Hirayama, Ioannes Miyazaki Soemon, Ioannes Nagata Matashichi, Ioannes Yago, Laurentius Ikegami Rokusuke, Leo Sukeemon, Ludovic Frarijn, Marcus , kenoshita Shin’emon, Michaël Díaz Hori, Paulus Sankichi, Pedro de Zúñiga, Thomas Koyanag., They were beheaded on 19 August 1622 at Nagasaki, Japan and Beatified , 7 May 1867 by Pope Pius IX.
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