[30] And the Apostles coming together unto Jesus, related to Him all things that they had done and taught. [31] And He said to them: Come apart into a deserted place and rest a little. For there were many coming and going and they had not so much, as time to eat. [32] And … they went into a desert place apart. [Mark 6:30-32] Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
I will be taking a small rest prior to Lent but will still be here for a few important posts. The Candlemas Novena amongst others.
NOVENA In Preparation for the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (The Candlemas Novena)
Today marks the start of the Novena in preparation for the great Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
A version of the Candlemas Novena follows below:-
Day One Bright Mirror of all virtues, holiest Mary, forty days had scarcely elapsed from thy delivery when thou, although the purest of all virgins, didst will, according to the Law, to be presented in the Temple to be purified. Grant that we, like thee, may keep our hearts unstained by sin, that so we too, maybe made worthy to be presented to our God in the Temple of His Glory. Amen
R. That he should not see death until he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
Let us Pray
Almighty, everlasting God, we pray Thy majesty that as Thine Only-begotten Son was presented in the Temple in the substance of our flesh, so Thou wouldst enable us to present ourselves before Thee, with clean hearts. Amen
To all faithful Christians who, in private or public, in Church or in their own houses, shall keep any of the Novenas, in preparation for the principal Feasts of Most Holy Mary, Pope Pius VII, at the prayer of several holy persons, granted, by Rescripts issued through his Eminence the Cardinal-Vicar, 4 August and 24 November 1808 and 11 January 1800 (all of which are kept in the Segretaria of the Vicariate) — i. An Indulgence of 300 days, daily. ii. A Plenary Indulgence to all who shall assist at these Novenas everyday and, who shall afterwards, either on the Feast Day itself, to which each Novena respectively has reference, or on some one day in its Octave, after Confession and Communion, prayed to our Lord and to the Blessed Virgin, according to the pious intention of the Sovereign Pontiff.
Thought for the Day – 24 January – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)
“None shall be crowned who has not fought well.” 2 Tim 2: 5
The Third Weapon of the Spiritual Combat
XII: … Of the Diverse Wills in Man and the Warfare Between Them (Part Two)
“But let no-one imagine it possible to persevere in the exercise of true Christian virtues, or to serve God as He ought to be served, unless he will, in good earnest, do violence to himself and endure the pain of parting with all pleasant things whatsoever, whether great or small, around which his earthly affections are entwined!
Hence it is that so few attain to perfection; for after having, with much toil, overcome the greater vices, they will not persevere in doing violence to themselves, by struggling against the promptings of self-will and an infinity of lesser desires. They grow weary of so unremitting a struggle; they suffer these insignificant enemies to prevail against them and so to acquire an absolute mastery over their hearts!
To this class belong men who, if they do not take what belongs to others, cleave with inordinate affection, to that which is lawfully their own. If they do not obtain honours by unlawful means, yet they do not, as they should, shun them but, on the contrary, cease not to desire and sometimes, even to seek them in various ways. If they observe fasts of obligation, yet they do not mortify their palate in the matter of superfluous eating, or the indulgence in delicate morsels. If they live continently, yet they do not renounce many indulgences which much impede union with God and the growth of the spiritual life and which, as they are very dangerous, even to the holiest persons, and most dangerous to those, who fear them least, should be as much as possible avoided by all. Hence all their good works are performed in a lukewarm spirit and accompanied by much self-seeking, by many lurking impefections, by a certain kind of self-esteem and by a desire to be praised and valued by the world.
Such persons not only fail to make any progress in the way of salvation but rather, go backwards and are, therefore, in danger of relapsing into their former sins because they have no love of true holiness and show little gratitude to their Lord, Who rescued them from the tyranny of the devil.
They are, moreover, too blind and ignorant to see the peril in which they stand and so, falsely persuade themselves, of their own security. And here we discover a delusion which is the more dangerous because, it is little apprehended.
Many who aspire to the spiritual life, unconsciously love themselves far more than they ought to do and, therefore, practice for the most part, those exercises which suit their taste and neglect others, which touch to the quick those natural inclinations and sensual appetites, against which they ought, in all reason, to direct the full strength of the battle.
Therefore, I exhort and counsel you, to be in love with pain and difficulty — for they will bring with them, that which is the end and object of the whole struggle — victory over self!
The more deeply you shall be in love with the difficulties encountered by beginners in virtue and in war, the surer and the speedier shall be the victory and, if your love be to the difficult and the toilsome struggle, rather than to the victory and the virtue to be attained, you shall, the more speedily obtain, all you desire!”
Quote/s of the Day – 24 January – St Timothy (1st Century) Disciple of St Paul, Bishop and Martyr – 1 Timothy 6:11-16, Luke 14:26-33 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“If anyone comes to Me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”
Luke 14:26
“So likewise, everyone of you, who does not renounce all that he possesses, cannot be My disciple.”
Luke 14:33
“Pursue justice, godliness, faith, charity, patience, mildness. Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the life eternal, to which you have been called …”
1 Timothy 6:11-12
“… Anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions, cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:33
“The tradition and the authority of Holy Scripture, show us three renunciations … The first is that, by which, as far as the body is concerned, we make light of all the wealth and goods of this world. By the second, we reject the fashions and vices and former affections of soul and flesh. By the third, we detach our soul from all present and visible things and contemplate only things to come and set our heart on what is invisible. We have to do all these three at once, as the Lord charged Abraham to do, when he said to him “Go out from your country and your kinsfolk and your father’s house.”(Gn 12:1).”
St John Cassian (c360-435) Monk, Founder of Monasteries, Father of the Church
(Conference 3, 6-7)
“Let us trust in Him. Who has placed this burden upon us. What we ourselves cannot bear, let us bear, with the help of Christ. For He is All-powerful and He tells us: ‘My yoke is easy and my burden light.’”
St Boniface (c672-754) Martyr, Confessor, Bishop
“I will go anywhere and do anything, in order to communicate the love of Jesus to those who do not know Him, or have forgotten Him.”
One Minute Reflection – 24 January – St Timothy (1st Century) Disciple of St Paul, Bishop and Martyr – 1 Timothy 6:11-16, Luke 14:26-33 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“If anyone comes to Me, without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” – Luke 14:26
REFLECTION – “On another occasion, the Lord says, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, and wife and children and brothers and sisters and even his own soul, cannot be my disciple.” As a rule, this is more upsetting to the mind of new Christians, who are eager to begin at once, to live in accordance with the precepts of Christ. To those who do not fully grasp its meaning, it would seem contradictory…. He has condescended to call His disciples to the eternal Kingdom. He also called them brothers. In the Kingdom these relationships are transcended because, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither male nor female, neither slave nor freeman but Christ, is all things and in all.” The Lord says, “For in the resurrection, they will neither be married nor marry but will be as the Angels of God in Heaven.”
Whoever wishes to prepare himself now, for the life of that Kingdom, must not hate people but those earthly relationships, through which the present life is sustained, the temporary life that begins at birth and ends with death. Whoever does not hate this necessity, does not yet love that other life, in which there will be no condition of birth and death, the condition which makes marriages natural on earth.” – St Augustine (354-430) Bishop, Father, Doctor of Grace (Sermon on the Mount,15).
PRAYER – Be mindful of our weakness, Almighty God and because the burden of our sins weighs heavily upon us, may the glorious intercession of blessed Timothy, Your Martyr and Bishop, sustain 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 – 24 January – Feast of Saint Timothy, Bishop and Martyr
O Fathers of Our Ancient Faith
O Fathers of our ancient faith, With all the heav’n, we sing your fame Whose sound went forth in all the earth To tell of Christ and bless His Name.
You took the Gospel to the poor, The Word of God alight in you, Which in our day is told again, That timeless Word, forever new.
You told of God, Who died for us And out of death triumphant rose, Who gave the Truth which made us free and changeless through the ages goes.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Whose gift is faith that never dies, A light in darkness now, until The Day-Star in our hearts arise.
O Fathers of Our Ancient Faith is written by the Benedictine Nuns of Stanbrook Abbey. In the Divine Office it is sung at Morning Prayer in the Common of Apostles. It is set to the anonymous tune associated with the 7th century Latin hymn, Creator Alme Siderum.
Saint of the Day – 24 January – Blessed William Ireland SJ (1636-1679) Priest Martyr. Born in 1636 in Lincolnshire, England and died by hanging on 24 January 1679 at Tyburn, London, England. Also known as – William Ironmonger, William Iremonger. He was Beatified on 15 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI.
William was the eldest son of William Ireland of Crofton Hall, Yorkshire, by his wife, Barbara, a daughter of Ralph Eure, 3rd Baron Eure of Washingborough, Lincolnshire. He had several sisters, to whom he remained close, and who worked tirelessly to prove his innocence After he was falsely accused of conspiring to murder King Charles II during the Popish Plot conspiracy and hysteria,
He was educated at the English College at St Omer in France and was admitted to the Society of Jesus at the age 19 at Watten, Belgium. He studied Theology in Liege and in 1667, aged 31, was Ordained a Priest. For 10 years William was the Confessor to the Poor Clares at Gravelines in Northern France, waiting to return to England.
In 1677, when he finally succeeded, entering his country as William Ironmonger, (William Iremonger) he had only been working as Procurator of his Order (responsible for finances) for a year, when he already became the first victim of the nefarious conspiracy hatched by Titus Oates.
The apostate and perverted Titus Oates, was an Anglican Minister, who hated all Catholics and most particularly, he harboured a deeply vicious hatred towards the Society of Jesus. Together with another Minister, Israel Tonge, he invented the plot which the English Jesuits had supposedly planned wherein the assassination of King Charles II, the fall of the Government and its official religion and the re-establishment of Catholicism. This fictional tale caused an uproar and a new furious persecution against Catholics.
Among the first victims was Fr William, who was arrested together with Fr John Fenwick and William’s assistant, Mr John Grove. They were locked up in Newgate Prison and secured with heavy shackles which embedded itself into the bare flesh of their legs. On 17 December 1678, after three months in the horrors of the most notorious Prison in England, they were finally tried, along with Fr Thomas Whitbread and Thomas Pickering, a Benedictine Brother. At the trial, Titus Oates claimed to have witnessed a meeting of the Jesuits in April of that year and heard the Jesuits plotting to kill the King. He claimed that William, Fr Fenwick and John Grove were at the meeting and the Frs Whitbread and Pickering were to carry out the plan. They allegedly tried to carry out the murder but Fr Pickering’s gun allegedly failed three times. Another witness largely confirmed these statements.
Fr William, however, proved that at the time when he was supposed to be walking around the Royal Palace, he was in fact in the Midlands and in the north of Wales. As evidence to the contrary, Oates bribed a maid who claimed to have seen him in London at the time. On these trumped-up charges and blatant lies, William, John Grove and Fr Pickering were found guilty of high treason and sentenced to be hanged,drawn and quartered.
The execution was postponed by Royal Order for one month because the King, Charles II, himself did not believe that the Jesuits were involved in a conspiracy against him. Oates, however, procured and bribed, several more so-called witnesses of dubious repute, after which the King, fearing the wrath of the people, allowed the execution of the sentence.
William and John Grove were taken to Tyburn on 24 January 1679. The mob pelted them with stones and verbal abuse as they were led to the gallows. The King, who had already stated privately that they were innocent, as a special act of clemency, ordered that they be allowed to hang until they were dead, thus sparing them the usual horrors of drawing and quartering whilst still alive. They were hanged,and when they died, they were taken down so that they could be drawn and dismembered.
St Projectus St Sabinian of Troyes St Suranus of Sora St Thyrsus Bl essed William Ireland SJ (1636-1679) Priest Martyr
Martyrs of Asia Minor – 4 Saints: A group of ChristiansMmartyred together for their faith. The only details to survive are four of their names – Eugene, Mardonius, Metellus and Musonius. They were burned at the stake in Asia Minor.
Martyrs of Antioch: Babylas Epolonius Prilidian Urban
AnaStpaul 
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