Day: February 12, 2024

Posted in QUOTES on CHASTITY, QUOTES on LUST, QUOTES on PURITY, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, QUOTES on VICE, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 12 February – Of the Way to Resist the Sins of the Flesh (Part One of Section I)

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Thought for the Day – 12 February – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

“None shall be crowned who has not fought well.” 2 Tim 2: 5

XIX: … Of the Way to Resist the Sins of the Flesh
(I) Before the Temptation
(Part One)

“These sins must be resisted in a way peculiar to themselves and different from the method used against any other temptation.
In order, therefore, to resist successfully, three phases must be observed. The firtst – before the temptation, the second – during the temptation and the third – after the temptation.

Before the temptation the struggle must be against those things which generally occasion it.
First, you must combat the vice but never confront it; on the contrary, avoid to the utmost of your power, every occasion and every person, where you may incur the slightest danger.
And if at times, compelled to converse with such, let it be brief, with a grave and modest demeanour and with words of severity, rather than of excessive tenderness and affability.

Neither be confident in yourself, if you are free of such temptations and, during many years of such exercises, have continued free from temptations of the flesh – for this accursed vice makes its advances secretly, often doing, in an hour, what in many years it had failed to effect and it hurts the more grievously and wounds the more fatally, the more friendly the form it assumes and the less ground of suspicion it seems to give.

And there is often great danger, as experience has shown and still shows, in connections which are indulged in, under fair and lawful pretexts, such as kindred, relations of duty, or, again, great virtue in the person beloved.

For the poisonous pleasure of sense insinuates itself into this over-frequent and imprudent connection, instilling its venom gradually, until it penetrates into the marrow of the soul and darkens the reason more and more, until at last, no account is made of things which are really dangerous, such as mutual glances of tenderness, loving words and the enjoyment of conversation and so, a change creeping over both, they fall at last into destruction, or into some temptation most difficult and toilsome to overcome!”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

Posted in "Follow Me", CARMELITES, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, franciscan OFM, GOD ALONE!, GOD is LOVE, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES on HAPPINESS, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on MERIT, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on STRENGTH, SOLDIERS/ARMOUR of CHRIST, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 12 February – Lose self and all things ….

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Quote/s of the Day – 12 February – The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (1233) – Ecclus 44:1-15; Matthew 19:27-29 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“And everyone who has left house,
or brethren, or sisters, or father,
or mother, or wife, or children, or lands
for My Name’s sake,
shall receive a hundredfold
and shall possess life everlasting.”

Matthew 19:29

“We must follow Christ, cleaving to Him,
nor should we forsake Him until we die.
As Elisha said to his master:
“ As the Lord lives and as you yourself live,
I will not leave you ” (2 Kgs 2:2) …
So, let us follow Christ and stay close to Him!
“To be near God is my good” says the Psalmist (72:28).
“ My soul clings fast to Thee;
Thy right hand upholds me ” (Ps 62:9).
And Saint Paul adds :
“ Whoever is joined to the Lord
becomes One Spirit with Him ” (1 Cor 6:17).
Not just One Body but One Spirit.
His whole body, lives from the Spirit of Christ,
through the Body of Christ,
we attain to the Spirit of Christ.”

Guigo II “The Angelic” O.Cart. (Died c1188)

The 9th Prior of Grande Chartreuse, from 1174 to 1180
(Meditation 10).

“Be strengthened in Almighty God
and in the power of His might,
for with His help, nothing is difficult.
Throw off the heavy load of your own will,
cast aside the burden of sin
and gird yourselves as valiant warriors!
Forget what you are leaving behind;
strain forward to the great things before you.
I tell you that every place where you set foot,
shall be yours.
For the Spirit, Who goes before your face
is Christ the Lord.
He will carry you to the topmost peak
in the arms of His Love.”

St Francis of Assisi (c1181-1226)

“The one who walks in the love of God
seeks neither gain nor reward
but seeks only, with the will,
to lose self and all things, for God
and this loss, the lover judges to be a gain! ”

“Happiness is not a destination,
it is a method of travel.”

St John of the Cross (1542-1591)
Doctor of the Church

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on The SOUL, QUOTES on THE WORLD, QUOTES on VICE, QUOTES on WEALTH/RICHES, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS, The HEART, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 12 February – ‘… True faith knows no delay. …’

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One Minute Reflection – 12 February – “The Month of the Most Holy and Blessed Trinity” – The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (1233) – Ecclus 44:1-15; Matthew 19:27-29 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“And everyone who has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold and shall possess life everlasting.” – Matthew 19:29

REFLECTION – “Jesus said to them, ‘Come after Me; I will make you fishers of men.’” Happy transformation of fishing! Simon and Andrew are what Jesus caught fishing … These men are made similar to fish, caught by Christ, before going themselves to catch other people. “They immediately abandoned their nets and became His followers.” True faith knows no delay. As soon as they heard Him, they believed, they followed Him and they became fishers. “They immediately abandoned their nets.” I think that with those nets, they abandoned all the vices of the life of this world …

“Proceeding a little farther along, He caught sight of James, Zebedee’s son and his brother, John … He summoned them on the spot. They abandoned their father Zebedee, who was in the boat with the hired men and went off in His company.” You will tell me — faith is daring. What indication did they have, what sublime characteristic had they noted which made them follow Him, as soon as He called them? We realise that evidently something Divine came forth from Jesus’ gaze, from the expression on His Face which incited those who looked at Jesus to turn towards Him … Why am I saying all this? It is to show you that the Lord’s Word was active and, that through the least of His Words, He was working on His task: “He commanded and they were made.” (Ps 148:5) With the same simplicity, He called and they followed …: “Hear, O daughter and see; turn your ear, forget your people and your father’s house. So shall the king desire your beauty.” (Ps 45:11-12)

Listen well, brother and follow the path of the Apostles; listen to the Saviour’s Voice, ignore your father according to the flesh and see the true Father of your soul and your mind … The Apostles left their father, left their boat, left all their riches of that time; they abandoned the world and its countless riches; they renounced all that they owned. However, God does not consider the mass of riches but rather, the soul of the person who renounces them. Those people who left only a few things would also have renounced a large fortune, if the need had arisen.” – St Jerome (347-420) Father and Doctor of the Church (Homilies on the Gospel of Mark).

PRAYER – O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, to keep alive the memory of Your most holy Mother’s sorrows, through the Seven holy Fathers enriched your Church with a new family of her Servants, graciously grant that we may be so united with them in their sorrows, as also to share their joys. Who lives and reigns with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in BLESSED TRINITY PRAYERS, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, FEBRUARY - THE BLESSED TRINITY (Traditional), GOD ALONE!, Holy Name PRAYERS, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on ANGER, QUOTES on CONSCIENCE, QUOTES on THE WORLD, The HOLY NAME, The MOST HOLY & BLESSED TRINITY

Our Morning Offering – 12 February – Now that the Daylight Fills the Sky, We Lift our Hearts to God on High

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Our Morning Offering – 12 February – “The Month of the Most Holy and Blessed Trinity”

Now that the Daylight Fills the Sky,
We Lift our Hearts to God on High
By St Ambrose (340-397)
Great Latin Father and Doctor of the Church
Trans J M Neale (1818-1866)

Now that the daylight fills the sky,
We lift our hearts to God on high
That He, in all we do or say,
Would keep us free from harm today,

Would guard our hearts and tongues from strife,
From angry words, would shield our life,
From evil sights, would turn our eyes
And close our ears to vanities.

So we, when this new day is gone
And night in turn is drawing on,
With conscience by the world unstained,
Shall praise His Name for vict’ry gained.

“All praise to You, Creator Lord!
All praise to You, eternal Word!
All praise to You, O Spirit wise!”
We sing as daylight fills the skies.
Amen

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 12 February – St Anthony Kauleas of Constantinople (c829-901) Bishop, Confessor

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Saint of the Day – 12 February – St Anthony Kauleas of Constantinople (c829-901) Bishop, Confessor, Defender of orthodoxy. Anthony was a pious man exercising mortification and penances. He generously endowed monastic foundations and founded or re-founded the Kauleas Monastery with the support of the emperor, who preached at the Church’s dedication. Buried in the Church of his Monastery, Anthony was held responsible for many miracles. Born in c829 near Constantinople and died on 12 February 901 of natural causes.
Also known as – Anthony Cauleas, Antony Cauleas, Antony Kauleas, Antony II of Constantinople, Antonius of Constantinople.

The Roman Martyrology reads: “At Constantinople, St Anthony, a Bishop in the time of the Emperor Leo VI.”

Anthony was born near Constantinople, in a place where his parents had retreated, for fear of iconoclastic persecution. Upon the death of his mother, Anthony, then just twelve years old, entered a Monastery in the Byzantine imperial Capital. There, in the course of time, he became the Abbot with the name of “Anthony II Kaukeas” (having been preceded by Antonio I Cassimatas, 821-837). Anthony’s father too entered Anthony’s Monastery and received the religious Habit directly from his son’s hands.

The Eastern Church was, at that time, in a state of great confusion, after the Emperor had expelled the legitimate Constantinopolitan Bishop, Saint Ignatius and, in 867, had imposed the ingamous Photius on the Episcopal throne. However, in 886, he too was forced to leave the Episcopal Seat probably pushed by the new Emperor Leo VI who wanted to install his younger brother Stephen. Photius did not resist and retired to a Monastery, while the followers of St Ignatius did not recognise the legitimacy of Stephen’s election, as he was Ordained Deacon by Photius himself. In this context, upon Stephen’s death in 893 Anthony was elected as the Bishop of Constantinople.

His work was immediately characterised by multiple efforts aimed at reconciling the two factions, finally managing to persuade the Archbishop, Stiliano Mapas, leader of the Ignatians, to put an end to the schism. It is not historically clear ,whether the intervention of the Bishop of Rome was necessary to resolve the dispute or whether he simply sanctioned the solution already reached by Anthony. The fact is that both Churches, both Rome and Constantinople, recognised “Ignatius, Photius, Stephen and Anthony” as an authentic and valid succession of Bishops of the Byzantine See. Peace was officially stipulated in 899 and Anthony died shortly afterwards, in 901.

Apart from his particular role in the universal history of the Church, as described so far, there is not much further information on Anthony’s life, other than what his contemporaries have passed down — his great spirit of mortification, prayer and penance. He founded a splendid Monastery in which he wanted to be buried which was later renamed in his honour “tou koulea, or tou kyr antoniou.”

Posted in MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

Madonna del Pilerio, Italy (12th Century), Notre-Dame-de- Argenteuil / Our Lady of Argenteuil, Paris, France (c 500), The Seven Holy Founders and the Saints for 12 February

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Madonna del Pilerio, Italy (12th Century) – 12 February:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/02/12/madonna-del-pilerio-our-lady-of-argenteuil-paris-france-and-memorials-of-the-saints-12-february/

Notre-Dame-de- Argenteuil / Our Lady of Argenteuil, Paris, France (c 500) – 12 February: Cathedral of Our Lady of Argenteuil, Paris, built by King Clovis I containing a portion of the Seamless Garment of Christ.
All about this Marian Title:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/02/12/feast-of-our-lady-of-argenteuil-and-the-seamless-tunic-12-february/

The Seven Holy Founders of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary (the Servites)
Pope Leo XIII Canonised them all on 15 January 1888. After the Canonisation of the Seven Founders, their Feast was inserted in the General Roman Calendar for celebration on 11 February, the anniversary of the granting of canonical approval to the order in 1304. In 1909, 11 February became the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and the Feast of the seven founders was moved to 12 February.
In 1969 the Feast was moved to 17 February.
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/02/17/saints-of-the-day-17-february-the-seven-holy-founders-of-the-servite-order-osm-formation-on-15-august-1233/

St Alexius of Kiev
St Ammonius of Alexandria
Bl Anthony of Saxony
St Anthony Kauleas of Constantinople (c829-901) Bishop

St Benedict of Aniane OSB (747-821) “The Second Benedict,” Monk. Next to St Benedict himself, St.Benedict of Aniane influenced the shape of Benedictine monasticism in the West more than anyone else.
About St Benedict:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/02/12/saint-of-the-day-12-february-st-benedict-of-aniane-747-821-the-second-benedict/

Bl Benedict Revelli
St Damian of Africa
St Damian of Rome
St Ethelwald of Lindisfarne

St Eulalia of Barcelona (c 290-c 303) Virgin Martyr
Her Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/02/12/saint-of-the-day-12-february-saint-eulalia-of-barcelona-c-290-c-303-virgin-and-martyr/

St Gaudentius of Verona (Died c465) Bishop

St Goscelinus of Turin (Died 1053) Abbot
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/02/12/saint-of-the-day-12-february-saint-goscelinus-of-turin-osb-died-c-1053/

Bl Gregory of Tragurio
Bl Humbeline of Jully
St Julian of Alexandria

St Julian the Hospitaller / St Julian the Poor – Layman
About St Julian:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/02/12/saint-of-the-day-12-february-st-julian-the-hospitaller/
Bl Ladislaus of Hungary
Bl Ludan

St Meletius of Antioch (Died 381) Bishop of Antioch, Confessor.
His Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/02/12/saint-of-the-day-12-february-saint-meletius-of-antioch-died-381-bishop-of-antioch/

St Modestus of Alexandria
St Modestus of Carthage
St Modestus the Deacon
Bl Nicholas of Hungary
St Sedulius
Bl Thomas of Foligno

Martyrs of Albitina – 46 Saints:
During the persecutions of Diocletian, troops were sent to the churches of Abitina, North Africa on a Sunday morning; they rounded up everyone who had arrived for Mass and took them all to Carthage for interrogation by pro-consul Anulinus. The 46 who proclaimed their Christianity were executed. We know some of their names and stories. They were tortured to death in 304 in prison at Albitina, North Africa.