Day: March 10, 2024

Posted in DEVOTIO, HOLY COMMUNION, QUOTES on DIVINE PROVIDENCE, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, SELF-DISTRUST, The HEART, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli, The WILL of GOD

Thought for the Day – 10 March – Of the Devil’s Artifices, In Order to Draw Us Away, From the Path of Holiness (Part Two)

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Thought for the Day – 10 March – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

XXXI: … Of the Devil’s Artifices, In Order
to Draw Us Away, From the Path of Holiness
(Part Two)

“In like manner, if prevented by your spiritual Father, or in any other way, from attending, as frequently as you desire, to your devotions and especially, Holy Communion, suffer not yourself to be troubled or disquieted by longings after them but, casting off all that is your own, clothe yourself with the good pleasure of your Lord, saying within yourself:

“If the eye of Divine Providence had not perceived sin and ingratitude in me, I should not now be deprived of the blessing of receiving the Most Holy Sacrament but, since my Lord thus makes known to me, my unworthiness, be His Holy Name forever blessed and praised.
I trust, O Lord, that in Thy Infinite loving-kindness, Thou wilt so rule my heart that it may please Thee in all things, in doing, or suffering Thine Will that my heart may open before Thee, so that, entering into it spiritually, Thou may comfort and strengthen it, against the enemies, who seek to draw it away from Thee.
Thus may all be done as seems good in Thy sight.
My Creator and Redeemer, may Thy Will be now and ever, my food and sustenance!
This one favour only do I beg of Thee, O my Beloved that my soul, freed and purified from everything displeasing to Thee and adorned with all virtues, maybe ever prepared for Thy Coming and, for whatsoever it may please Thee to do with me. Amen.”

If you will observe these rules, know for certain that, when baffled in any good work which you have a desire to perform, be the hindrance from the devil, to disquiet you and turn you aside from the way of virtue, or be it from God, to make trial of your submission to His Will, you will still have an opportunity of pleasing your Lord in the way most acceptable to Him.
And herein consists true devotion and the service which God requires of us.

I warn you, also, lest you grow impatient under trials, from whatever source proceeding that, in using the lawful means which God’s servants are wont to use, you use them, not with the desire and hope to obtain relief but because, it is the Will of God that they should be used — for we know not, whether His Divine Majesty will be pleased, by their means, to deliver us.

Otherwise you will fall into further evils — for if the event should not fulfill your purpose and desires, you will easily fall into impatience, or your patience will be defective, not wholly acceptable to God and of little value.”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/03/09/thought-for-the-day-9-march-of-the-devils-artifices-in-order-to-draw-us-away-from-the-path-of-holiness-part-one/

Posted in "Follow Me", AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CARMELITES, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on GOOD WORKS, QUOTES on MERCY

Quote/s of the Day – 10 March – Both debtor and creditor…

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Quote/s of the Day – 10 March – Laetare Sunday / The Fourth Sunday in Lent

“… Every man is both debtor and creditor…
A beggar asks you for alms but you, too,
are God’s beggar, for when we pray
we are all beggars of God.
We stand – or rather, prostrate ourselves –
at our Father’s door (cf Lk 11:5);
we beseech Him with groans,
anxious to receive a grace from Him
and this grace is God Himself!
What does the beggar ask of you?
Bread. And what is it that you are asking of God
but Christ, Who said:
“I am the Living Bread come down from Heaven”
(Jn 6:51).”

St Augustine (354-430)
Father and Doctor of Grace

Lord God, Lift Me Up
By St John of the Cross (1542-1591)

Lord God, my Beloved,
if Thou art still mindful of my sins
and wilt not grant my petitions,
let Thy will be done,
for this is my main desire.
Show Thy goodness and mercy
and Thou shalt be known for them.
If Thou art waiting for me
to do good works
and upon their performance,
Thou wilt grant my petitions,
cause them to be accomplished in me, O Lord!
Send also, the punishment for my sins,
which is acceptable to Thee.
For how will I raise myself up to Thee,
born and bred as I am, in misery,
unless Thou, O Lord,
wilt lift me up
with the Hand which made me?!
Amen

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

Posted in CATECHESIS, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, GOD is LOVE, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, LENT 2024, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on HELL, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, REDEMPTORISTS CSSR, The GOOD SHEPHERD, The HOLY CROSS, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, The PASSION

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 10 March – On the Tender Compassion which Jesus Christ entertains towards Sinners

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 10 March – Laetare Sunday / The Fourth Sunday in Lent – Galatians 4:22-31, John 6:1-15 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“They who trust in the Lord
are like Mount Sion
which is immovable;
which forever stands.”
Psalm 124:1-2

“Make the men sit down.”
John 6:10

On the Tender Compassion which Jesus Christ
Entertains Towards Sinners

St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)
Most Zealous Doctor

“WE read in this day’s Gospel that, having gone up into a mountain with His disciples and seeing a multitude of five thousand persons, who followed Him because they saw the miracles which He wrought on them that were diseased, the Redeemer said to St Philip: “Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat ?” “Lord,” answered St Philip, “two-hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient that every one may take a little.” St Andrew then said: There is a boy here that has five barley loaves and two fishes but what are these among so many? But Jesus Christ said: “Make the men sit down.” And he distributed the loaves and fishes among them. “The multitude were satisfied and the fragments of bread which remained, filled twelve baskets.”
The Lord wrought this miracle through compassion for the bodily wants of these poor people but, far more tender is His compassion, for the necessities of the souls of the poor that is, of sinners, who are deprived of the Divine Grace.

But, my Lord, since Thou hast resolved to take human flesh, would not a single prayer offered by Thee be sufficient for the redemption of all men? What need, then, was there of leading a life of poverty, humiliation and contempt, for thirty- three years, of suffering a cruel and shameful death on an infamous gibbet and of shedding all Thy Blood by dint of torments?
I know well, answers Jesus Christ, that One Drop of My Blood, or a simple prayer, would be sufficient for the salvation of the world but neither,would be sufficient to show the love which I bear to men and, therefore, to be loved by men when they should see me dead on the Cross, for the love of them, I have resolved to submit to so many torments and to so painful a death.
This, He says, is the duty of a good Shepherd “I Am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth His Life for His sheep… I lay down My Life for My sheep.” (John 10:11, 15) …

This tenderness of Jesus Christ was experienced by the sinful woman (according to St Gregory, — Mary Magdalene) who cast herself at the feet of Jesus and washed them with her tears. (Luke 7:47 and 50) The Lord, turning to her with sweetness, consoled her by saying: “Thy sins are forgiven … thy faith hath made thee safe; go in peace.” (Luke 7:48 and 50.) Child, thy sins are pardoned; thy confidence in Me has saved thee; go in peace.
It was also felt by the man who was sick for thirty- eight years and who was infirm, both in body and soul. The Lord cured his malady and pardoned his sins. … We have also a proof of the tender compassion of the Son of God for sinners, in his conduct towards the woman caught in adultery.

… Jesus Christ has come, not to condemn,but to deliver sinners from hell, as soon as they resolve to amend their lives. And when He sees them obstinately bent on their own perdition, He addresses them with tears in the words of Ezechiel:
“Why will you die, O house of Israel?” (18:31). My children, why will you die? Why do you voluntarily rush into hell, when I have come from Heaven to deliver you from it by death?”
He adds: you are already dead to the grace of God.
But I will not allow your death — return to Me and I will restore to you the life which you have lost.

Let us then, sinners, return instantly to Jesus Christ.
If we have left Him, let us immediately return, before death overtakes us in sin and sends us to hell, where the mercies and graces of the Lord shall, if we do not amend, be so many swords which shall lacerate the heart for all eternity!” – (Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent – Intro, 3,8,9,11,12).

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, GOD ALONE!, I BELIEVE!, MIRACLES, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CREATION, QUOTES on FAITH, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 10 March – ‘ … We are preferred to them …’

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One Minute Reflection – 10 March – Laetare Sunday / The Fourth Sunday in Lent – Galatians 4:22-31, John 6:1-15 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“When the people, therefore, had seen the sign which Jesus had worked, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet Who is to come into the world..” – John 6:14

REFLECTION – “Governing the entire universe, is a greater miracle, than feeding five thousand people with five loaves of bread, yet no-one marvels at it. People marvel at the feeding of the five thousand, not because this miracle is greater but because, it is out of the ordinary. Who is even now providing nourishment for the whole world if not the God Who creates a field of wheat from a few seeds? Christ did what God does. Just as God multiplies a few seeds into a whole field of wheat, so Christ multiplied the five loaves in His Hands. For there was power in the Hands of Christ. Those five loaves were like seeds, not because they were cast on the earth but because, they were multiplied by the One Who made the earth.

This miracle was presented to our senses, in order to stimulate our minds… and so make us marvel at “the God we do not see because of His works which we do see” (Rom 1:20). For then, when we have been raised to the level of faith and purified by faith, we shall long to behold, although not with our eyes, the invisible God Whom we recognise, through what is visible. This miracle was performed for the multitude to see; it was recorded for us to hear. Faith does for us, what sight did for them. We behold with the mind, what our eyes cannot see and we are preferred to them because, of us it was said: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (Jn 20:29).” – St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of the Church (Homilies on Saint John’s gospel, 24).

PRAYER – Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we who know how courageously Thy holy Martyrs have confessed the faith, may experience their goodness as they intercede for us with Thee. 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 CHRISTMAS Prayers & Hymns, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, HOLY WEEK, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, Our MORNING Offering, PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYERS, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 10 March – God of Mercy and Compassion

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Our Morning Offering – 10 March – Laetare Sunday / The Fourth Sunday in Lent

God of Mercy and Compassion
By Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736)
Composer

God of mercy and compassion,
Look with pity upon me,
Father, let me call Thee Father,
‘Tis Thy child returns to Thee.

Refrain:
Jesus, Lord, I ask for mercy.
Let me not implore in vain,
All my sins, I now detest them,
Never will I sin again.

By my sins I have deserved
Death and endless misery,
Hell with all its pains and torments,
And for all eternity.
(Refrain)

By my sins I have abandoned
Right and claim to heav’n above.
Where the Saints rejoice forever
In a boundless sea of love.
(Refrain)

See our Saviour, bleeding, dying,
On the cross of Calvary;
To that Cross my sins have nail’d Him,
Yet He bleeds and dies for me.
(Refrain)

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 10 March – St Attalas of Bobbio (Died c627) Abbot

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Saint of the Day – 10 March – St Attalas of Bobbio (Died c627) Abbot, Disciple of, Assistant and Successor to St Columban (543-615). A legendary leader of great wisdom and scholarly abilities, a loving father to his Monks and a generous and kindly Apostle to the poor and the ill, Miracle-worker. His Monks included Saint Valery, Saint Blitmund and St Bertulf, all Abbots at various times. Born in Burgundy, France and died in c627 of natural causes in Bobbio, Italy. Patronages – of Bobbio and of Luxeuil-les-Bains, France. Also known as – Attal, Attala, Attale.

The Roman Martyrology reads today: “In the Monastery of Bobbio, the Abbot, St Attalas, renowned for miracles.”

Attalas was originally from Burgundy, where he was born into a noble family. For his suitable education he was entrusted to Aredius, the Bishop of Gap, City of the Dauphiné.

However, desiring a more rigid lifestyle, Attalas fled and took refuge for some time in the Monastery of Lérins. But even this renowned Monastery did not satisfy him and he decided to move to Luxeuil, the Monastery founded by Saint Columban. Here he was finally able to find the austerity he desired and place himself under the guidance of the great Irish Saint.

When Colomban was banished from France for having accused the vices of King Theodoric of Austrasia, he took some companions with him to Lombardy, including Attalas. They settled in Bobbio, on land donated by the Lombard King.

Colomban was now in his seventies, a venerable age and he survived only a year after the foundation of the new Monastery. Much of the credit for the foundation of this Monastery of Bobbio is, in fact, due toour Saint, who succeeded him as Abbot in 615.

When charismatic authority of the holy founder died and his place was taken by Attalas, various objections to the austerity of community life were raised by the Monks but Attalas did not allow himself to be influenced and let those who were dissatisfied leave. However, some of these later returned and he welcomed them with affection and benevolence.

Jonah of Susa, his Hagiographer, remembers him as “a man loved by all, of great fervour and charity for the poor and pilgrims. He knew how to resist the proud but he was humble with the humblest, he did not allow himself to be silenced in conversations with intelligent people but with simple people, he knew how to talk about the secrets of God. Wise when he came across thorny problems, firm when challenged by heretics, he was strong in adversity, disciplined in favourable times, always temperate and discreet. He showed love and respect towards his subordinates and wisdom towards his disciples. In his presence, no-one could be excessively sad or display undisciplined gaiety.”

Like St Colomban, Attalas also found himself having to fight Arianism which was widespread in the surroundings of Milan.

Bobbio Monastery

Having become seriously ill, Attalas asked to be laid outside his cell, near which there was a Crucifix which he touched everytime he entered or left his cell and to be left alone there on the ground. As a Monk, who remained nearby testified, the now dying Saint prayed fervently and had a vision of Paradise for several hours. Finally taken back to his cell, he died the following day. It was the year c627. Saint Attalas was buried next to Saint Colomban and a few years later Saint Bertulf, their successor, also joined them in the same tomb and shared the cult with them.

The Sepulchre of St Attalas
Posted in MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

Laetare Sunday / The Fourth Sunday in Lent, St Joseph Novena, Santa Maria della Querce / Our Lady of the Oak, Tuscany, Italy (1467), Forty Martyrs of Sebaste and the Saints for 10 March

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Laetare Sunday / The Fourth Sunday in Lent

Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, Armenia (Died 320) – Forty Christian soldiers of the Thunderstruck Legion of the Imperial Roman army who were tortured and murdered for their faith during the persecutions of Emperor Licinius. They were exposed naked on a frozen pond to freeze to death at Sebaste, Armenia in 320 and their bodies afterward were burned.
THE FULL STORY HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/03/10/saints-of-the-day-10-march-the-forty-martyrs-of-sebaste-armenia-died-320/

Santa Maria della Querce / Our Lady of the Oak, Tuscany, Italy (1467) – 10 March:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/03/10/our-lady-of-the-oak-tuscany-italy-1467-and-memorials-of-the-saints-10-march/

NOVENA FOR THE INTERCESSION OF SAINT JOSEPH
DAY ONE – Link: NOVENA FOR THE INTERCESSION OF SAINT JOSEPH
(Remember last year St Joseph’s Feast was moved to 20 March due to Laetare Sunday falling on his Feast Day, 19 March. Hence the Novena began a day later than usual.)

St Alexander of Apema
St Anastasia the Patrician
St Andrew of Strumi
St Attalas of Bobbio (Died c627) Abbot
St Blanchard of Nesle-la-Réposte
St Caius of Apema
St Cordratus of Nicomedië

St Droctoveus (c530-c580) Abbot, disciple of St Germanus He was the first Abbot of the Benedictine Monastery which became the Church of Saint Germain-des-Pres in Paris.
His Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/03/10/saint-of-the-day-10-march-st-droctoveus-c530-c580-abbot/

St Emilian of Lagny
St Failbhe the Little
St Gustav the Hermit
St Himelin
Bl John of Vallombrosa
St Kessog

St Macarius of Jerusalem (Died c335) Bishop of Jerusalem for over twenty years. Defender of the Faith against Arianism, founder of the True Cross with St Helena, organiser and manager of the building of the Sacred Basilicas, including the Church of the Holy Sepuchre in Jerusalem, paid for by St Constantine the Great, St Helena’s son. Also of great import is the fact that Bishop Macarius was one of the two main authors of the Nicene Creed, that is, of the Creed that we still pronounce in Mass today
The Life os St Macarius:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/03/10/saint-of-the-day-10-march-saint-macarius-died-c-335/

St Peter of Veroli
St Rufinus of Nicomedië
St Sannudius of Bagensena
St Saturninus of Nicomedië
St Sedna of Ossory
St Silvester of Ireland

St Pope Simplicius (Died 483) Papal Ascension 25 February 468 – 10 March 483.
His Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/03/10/saint-of-the-day-10-march-saint-pope-simplicius-483/

St Victor of North Africa
Bl Wirnto of Formbach

Anonymous Martyrs of Persia – A group of 42 Christians Martyred in Persia in the 4th century.