Posted in "Follow Me", GOD ALONE!, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on MERIT

Thought for the Day – 12 December – Merit and the Love of God

Thought for the Day – 12 December – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Merit and the Love of God

It is necessary, therefore, to love God and to do everything for the love of Him and for His glory alone.
If we are to love God, however, we must know Him.
If only we knew God perfectly, not only should we love Him but, we should come near to expiring from excessive love!
We love God too little because, we know Him too little!
Let us endeavour, therefore, to know Him by meditating on His infinite goodness, beauty and perfection.

Any other goodness, beauty or perfection is a faint reflection of that of God, Who is the Source of all true goodness.
We should not allow ourselves to be distracted or disturbed by these fleeting and perishable reflections.

God alone is enough for us.
Let us learn to know Him and, in consequence, to love Him in the splendour of created things which reflect His beauty and power.
The stars and the flowers, the waves of the sea and the trees of the forest, all speak to us of God.
Let us come to know and to love Him, until we lament with St Augustine:
“Too late have I loved Thee!”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/12/15/thought-for-the-day-15-december-merit-and-the-love-of-god/

Posted in MARIAN QUOTES, MARIAN TITLES, The BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Quote/s of the Day – 12 December – Our Lady of Guadalupe

Quote/s of the Day – 12 December – The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Know, know for sure,
my dearest, littlest
and youngest son
that I am the perfect
and ever Virgin Holy Mary,
Mother of the God of Truth,
through Whom everything lives,
the Lord of all things near us,
the Lord of Heaven and earth.

I want, very much, to have a little house
built here for me, in which I will show Him,
I will exalt Him and make Him manifest.
I will give Him to the people
in all my personal love,
in my compassion,
in my help, in my protection
because, I am truly your merciful Mother,
yours and all the people who live
united in this land and of all the other people
of different ancestries, my lovers,
who love me, those who seek me,
those who trust i
n me.

Let not your heart be disturbed.
Do not fear that sickness,
nor any other sickness or anguish.
Am I not here, who is your Mother?
Are you not under my protection?
Am I not your health?
Are you not happily within my fold?
What else do you wish?
Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything!

Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego
1531

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the HIGH PRIEST, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DECEMBER - The DIVINE INFANCY and The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, MARIAN QUOTES, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, MARIAN TITLES, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on PURITY, The ANNUNCIATION, The BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 12 December – ‘… Mary is the new tree of life …’

One Minute Reflection – 12 December – Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent, Within the Octave of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Proverbs 8:22-35; Luke 1:26-28 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women” – Luke 1:28

REFLECTION – “Son of God, grant me your own admirable Gift that I may celebrate the wondrous beauty of Thy beloved Mother! The Virgin gave birth to a Son while preserving her virginity; she suckled Him Who gives nourishment to the peoples; in her immaculate breast, she bore Him Who carries the whole world in His Hands. She is Virgin and Mother, what will she not be hereafter? Holy in body, all beautiful in soul, pure of mind, upright in intelligence, perfect in feeling, chaste and faithful, pure of heart and filled with virtue.

May the hearts of virgins rejoice in Mary, since of her was born the One Who set humankind free from dreadful slavery. May the old Adam, wounded by the serpent, rejoice in Mary; it is Mary who gives Adam a posterity which allows Him to crush the accursed serpent and Who cures him of his mortal wound (Gen 3:15). Let Priests rejoice in the blessed Virgin; she has brought the High Priest into the world, Who gave Himself as a victim, putting an end to the sacrifices of the Old Covenant. … Let the Prophets rejoice in Mary, since in her were fulfilled their visions, in her were realised their prophecies, in her were confirmed their oracles. Let all the Patriarchs rejoice in Mary, since she received the blessing promised to them, she, who, in her Son, has brought them to completion. …

Mary is the new tree of life who, instead of the bitter fruit picked by Eve, gives to mankind that sweet fruit on which the whole world is fed!” – St Ephrem (306-373) Deacon in Syria, Father and Doctor of the Church (Marian Hymn).

PRAYER – O God, Who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, prepared a worthy dwelling for Thy Son and Who, by Thy Son’s death, foreseen by Thee, preserved her from all taint, grant, we beseech Thee, through her intercession that we too may come to Thee unstained by sin.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).

Posted in INDULGENCES, MARIAN PRAYERS, MARIAN TITLES, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRAYERS to the SAINTS

Our Morning Offering – 12 December – Our Lady of Guadalupe,Mystical Rose By St Pius X (500 Days Indulgence)

Our Morning Offering – 12 December – Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe,
Mystical Rose
Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe
By St Pius X (1835-1914)

Our Lady of Guadalupe,
Mystical Rose,
make intercession
for the holy Church,
protect the Sovereign Pontiff,
help all those who invoke thee in their necessities,
and since thou art the ever Virgin Mary
and Mother of the true God,
obtain for us from thy most holy Son
the grace of keeping our faith,
sweet hope in the midst of the bitterness of life,
burning charity and the precious gift
of final perseverance.
Amen

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 12 December – Saint Columba of Terryglass (Died 552) Abbot, One of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland

Saint of the Day – 12 December – Saint Columba of Terryglass (Died 552) Abbot, Founder of Monasteries, Miracle-worker. One of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland, pupil and disciple of St Finnian of Clonard (470–549) known as the “Tutor of the Saints of Ireland.” Born in Leinster, Ireland and died on 13 December 552 of the Plague at his Monastery in Terryglass, where he was also buried. Also known as – Colum mac Crimthainn, Colum moccu Loigse, Columba of Tirdaglas, Columba of Tyrdagla. Additional Memorial – 6 January as one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.

Columba was the son of Ninnidh, a descendant of Crinthainn, King of Leinster. In his childhood, he learned his Psalms and Hymns from an old holy man named Colman Cule, who lived near Clonenagh and founded the Church of Cluain Cain.

As he grew into adulthood, he studied with St Finnian of Clonard and then, Columba resolved to go to Rome and bring back Relics of Saints Peter and Paul. On his return, he visited Tours and brought from there, the staff of St Martin of Tours. He also visited England and preached with some success to the Anglo-Saxons.

Returning home, he remained at Clonenagh for around a year, before crossing Slieve Bloom and founding a Church near Lough Derg.

Around 520, Columba was prompted by an Angel, to relocate to the Island of Inis Cealtra and establish a Monastery there. , He remained a long time at this Monastery. According to one report, when one of his Monks died suddenly on the shore opposite the northern part of the Island, Columba ordered the Monks to go and say to the dead man, “Columba bids thee arise.” The man then arose and returned with them to the Island.

Columba founded the celebrated Monastery of Tirdaglas (Tir-da-glasí), or Terryglass in 548. St Fintan of Clonenagh (c526-603) received his religious formation at Terryglass and was deeply influenced by the penitential practices and the severity of the Rule at the Terryglass Monastery finally becoming the Abbot

When Saint Finnian was in extremis, suffering from the Plague, he sent for Columba to administer Holy Viaticum. Columba himself died of the Plague on 13 December 552 and was buried within the precincts of his Monastery at Terryglass.

There are some fifteen more Saints of Ireland, bearing the name of our St Columba all being mentioned in the Martyrology of Gorman.

Terryglass Parish Church with a Cross, being part of a Shrine to St Columba in the foreground
Posted in MARIAN TITLES, MARTYRS, SAINT of the DAY

Within the Octave of the Immaculate Conception, Nuestra Senora De Guadalupe / Our Lady of Guadalupe (1531) and Memorials of the Saints for 12 December

Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent

St Abra
St Agatha of Wimborne
Bl Bartholomew Buonpedoni

St Colman of Clonard
St Columba of Terryglass (Died 552) Abbot One of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.
Bl Conrad of Offida
St Corentius of Quimper
St Cormac
St Cury
St Donatus the Martyr
St Edburga of Thanet

St Gregory of Terracina
St Hermogenes
Bl Ida of Nivelles

Bl Martin Sanz
St Simon Phan Ðac Hòa
St Spyridon of Cyprus
St Synesius