Posted in LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS

Thought for the Day – 27 December – St John, the Apostle and Evangelist

Thought for the Day – 27 December – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

St John, the Apostle and Evangelist

“Both in his Gospel and in his letters, St John continually emphasises the virtue of charity.
He stresses the need for love of God and love of our neighbour, “God is love,” he says, “and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him” (1 Jn 4:16).
According to St Jerome, when the Apostle John was almost a hundred years old and lacked the strength to speak for very long, he was accustomed to go, supported by his disciples, to gatherings of the faithful.
There he prepared, on every occasion, the same exhortation: “My children, love one another.
His followers grew tired of this and finally asked him why he kept repeating the same phrase.
Because that is God’s command,” he replied, “and if we do no more than obey it, that is sufficient!

Let us meditate on his words and let us remember, that our love for God is futile, unless it is accompanied by a practical love for our neighbour.
The love of God cannot be separated, from the love of our fellow-men.

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/12/27/thought-for-the-day-26-december-st-john-the-apostle-and-evangelist/
PART TWO:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/12/27/thought-for-the-day-26-december-st-john-the-apostle-and-evangelist-2/

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, INDULGENCES, PARTIAL Indulgence, PRAYERS to the SAINTS, QUOTES on MYSTERIES of our FAITH, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS

Quote/s of the Day – 27 December – St John the Beloved

Quote/s of the Day – 27 December – St John the Apostle and Evangelist, the Beloved

The disciple who
entered into the Mystery of God,
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge …

Col 2:2-3

The Lord Jesus loved this disciple
more than all the others …
and opened the secrets of Heaven to him …
to make of him the author
of that profound Mystery
which man can say nothing about, of himself:
the Mystery of the Word, God’s Utterance,
the Word made flesh.
… While He loved all His disciples
and especially Peter,
with a love in mind and soul,
our Lord loved John
with the love of His Heart ….

Rupert of Deutz (c1075- c1130)
Benedictine Monk, Theologian and Writer

Indulgenced Prayer to St John
(Indulgence 200 days, once a day,
Pope Leo XIII, 1897
)

O Glorious Apostle,
who, on account of thy virginal purity,
wast so beloved by Jesus
as to deserve to lay thy head
upon His Divine breast
and to be left, in His place,
as son to His most holy Mother;
I beg thee to inflame me
with a most ardent love for Jesus and Mary.
Obtain for me from Our Lord
that I, too, with a heart
purified from earthly affections,
may be made worthy,
to be ever united to Jesus.
as a faithful disciple
and to Mary, as a devoted child,,
both here on earth
and eternally in Heaven.
Amen.

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CONTEMPLATIVE Prayer, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, St PETER!, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 27 December – “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow Me.” – John 21:22

One Minute Reflection – 27 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – St John, the Apostle and Evangelist, the Beloved – St John the Apostle and Evangelist, the Beloved – Ecclesiasticus 15:1-6, John 21:19-24 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow Me.” – John 21:22

REFLECTION – “The Church knows of two lives advocated and recommended by God. One in faith, the other in vision; one in our pilgrimage through time, the other in the abode of eternity; one in working, the other in repose; one on the way, the other in our homeland; one in the labour of action, the other in the reward of contemplation. … The first is represented by the Apostle Peter, the second, by John. The first wholly takes place here below, until the end of the world and then comes to an end. The second only reaches its fulfilment after the world’s end; in the world to come, it will never end.

What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow Me…. Let your action follow Me, perfect and modelled on the example of My Passion; let the contemplation which has begun, remain until My return: I will perfect it when I come again. For this persevering fervour which stands firm to the death, is a following of Christ and this knowledge, which will then be manifested in fullness, remains until the return of Christ. Here, in the country of mortal men, we must undergo the afflictions of this world; there, we shall contemplate the Lord’s blessings, in the land of the living (Ps 26:13). …

So let no-one divide one from the other of these two, glorious Apostles, for both are contained in what Peter symbolises and both, will be in what John represents.” – St Augustine (354-320) Father and Doctor of Grace (Sermons on Saint John’s Gospel No 124: 5-7).

PRAYER – O Lord, graciously shed light upon Thy Church, so that, enlightened by the teachings of blessed John, ThyApostle and Evangelist, she may gain YThy everlasting rewards.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 Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS to the SAINTS, SACRED HEART PRAYERS, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS

Our Morning Offering – 27 December – Oh Teach Me then, Dear Saint!

Our Morning Offering – 27 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary”

Oh Teach Me then, Dear Saint!
An Invocation of St John,
the Apostle and Evangelist
Saint of the Sacred Heart”,
Unknown Author

Saint of the Sacred Heart,
Sweet teacher of the Word,
Partner of Mary’s woes
And favourite of thy Lord!
Refrain: Oh teach me then, dear Saint!
The Secrets Christ taught thee;
The Beatings of His Heart
And how it beat for me!

We know not all thy gifts
But this, Christ bids us see,
That He Who so loved all,
Found more to love in thee.
Refrain

When the last evening came,
Thy head was on His Breast,
Pillowed on earth, where now
In Heaven the Saints find rest.
Refrain

Dear Saint! I stand far off,
With vilest sins opprest,
Oh may I dare, like thee,
To lean upon His Breast?
Refrain

His Touch could heal the sick,
His Voice could raise the dead,
Oh that my soul might be
Where He allows thy head.
Refrain

The gifts He gave to thee
He gave thee to impart
And I, too, claim with thee
His Mother and His Heart!
Refrain

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 27 December – Blessed Roger of Verdun O. Praem.(Died 1138) Priest

Saint of the Day – 27 December – Blessed Roger of Verdun O. Praem.(Died 1138) Priest or Regular Canon, Friar , Abbot and Preacher of the Premonstratensian Order (the Norbertines), Born in the late 11th Century in Germany and died in 1138 of natural causes

All Saints and Blesseds of the Premonstratensians

Roger was born at the end of the 11th Century in Germany. He was a nobleman and belonged to the Court of Emperor Lothar III (1125-1137). A few years earlier, Saint Norbert of Xanten (c1080-1134) had left the Court of Emperor Henry V (1106-1125) to live a true apostolic life as a pauper Christi .

Roger was so moved by Norbert’s person and preaching that he gave up his secure position at Court and followed the itinerant preacher. He joined his Order, the Premonstratensians – O.Praem),which are also called the Norbertines, after their Founder, or White Canons, after the colour of the Order’s Habit. When Norbert was appointed Archbishop of Magdeburg in 1126, Roger returned to solitude in the Mother Monastery Prémontré at Laon in the region of Picardy in northern France.

In 1135, Bishop Alberon of Verdun decided to reform the Monastery of Saint-Paul which was inhabited by Benedictines and replace the Monks with the Regular Canons from Prémontré. Roger was assigned by Blessed Hugh of Fosse to lead a group of Monks at the Monastery where he served as the Abbot until his death Under his leadership, the Monastery experienced a considerable renown and increase in Monks, so much so, that under his successor there were 300 religious.

Roger died in 1138. He is honoured as blessed by the Premonstratensians with a memorial day today, 27 December.

Posted in MARIAN TITLES, MARTYRS, SAINT of the DAY, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS

St John the Apostle and Evangelist, the Beloved, Nossa Senhora do Rosário / Our Lady of the Rosary (Brazil) (1817) and Memorials of the Saints – 27 December

Bl Adelheidis of Tennenbach
Bl Christina Ebner

Bl Hesso of Beinwil
St Maximus of Alexandria
St Nicarete of Constantinople
Blessed Roger of Verdun O.Praem. (Died 1138) Abbot

St Theophanes of Nicaea
Bl Walto of Wessobrünn