Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, QUOTES on DIVINE PROVIDENCE, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on PERSEVERANCE, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 13 April – On Prayer (Part Four)

Thought for the Day – 13 April – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

The Fourth Weapon of the Spiritual Combat
XLIV: … On Prayer (Part Four)

“Continue perseveringly in prayer; for humble perseverance vanquishes the invincible.
And, if the importunity of the widow in the Gospel, inclined to her request the unjust judge, laden with iniquity, shall a like perseverance fail to incline to our petitions that Good God, Who is Himself the plenitude of goodness?!

And, although the Lord should delay to hear and even seem to reject your prayer, pray on still and still hold fast firm and lively confidence in His aid; for, in Him, there is no lack but an Infinite superabundance of all things needful for the grace we ask.

Therefore, unless there be some fault on your part, you may rest assured either of obtaining all your petition, or something which will be more profitable to you, or, it may be, both together and the more He seems to repulse you, the more do you humble yourself in your own sight, considering your own de-merits and fixing your eyes steadfastly on the mercy of God.

Establish thus, more and more, your confidence in Him which will be most acceptable to your Lord, if you maintain it more lively and entire, the more it is assailed.

Lastly, give thanks always to God, acknowledging Him to be no less good and wise and loving, when some things are denied, than if all were granted you.
Happen what may, do you remain ever steadfast and joyful in humble submission to His Divine Providence.

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/04/10/thought-for-the-day-10-april-on-prayer-part-one/
PART TWO:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/04/11/thought-for-the-day-11-april-on-prayer-part-two/
PART THREE:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/04/12/thought-for-the-day-12-april-on-prayer-part-three/

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, JANUARY month of THE MOST HOLY NAME of JESUS, QUOTES on DISCIPLESHIP, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, QUOTES on THE WORLD, QUOTES on TRUTH, The HOLY NAME, The WORD, Thomas a Kempis

Quote/s of the Day – 13 April – Self-denial

Quote/s of the Day – 13 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – Wisdom 5:1-5; 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

Take nothing for your journey,
neither staff, nor bag,
nor bread, nor money;
neither have two tunics.

Luke 9:3

He seems to demand of us
the most entire renunciation …
So, if we keep back for ourselves ,
any earthly goods or any perishable supplies,
our minds will remain sunk in them,
as though in mud.
Then, inevitably, our souls will become unable
to contemplate God and will be unmoved
by desire for the splendours of Heaven
and for the good things promised us.
We shall only be able to acquire those good things,
if we ask for them unceasingly,
with a burning desire that will, besides,
make easy the effort needed to gain them.

St Basil the Great (329-379)
Father and Doctor of the Church

If you wish to enter into life,
keep My commandments.
If you will know the truth,
believe in Me.
If you will be perfect,
sell all.
If you will be My disciple,
deny yourself.
If you will possess the blessed life,
despise this present life.
If you will be exalted in Heaven,
humble yourself on earth.
If you wish to reign with Me,
carry the Cross with Me.
For only the servants of the Cross
find the life of blessedness
and of true Light.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)

The Imitation of Christ Chapter 56

True spiritual life consists in this:
that man keep his eyes on God, constantly,
long for nothing but for God,
keep nothing in mind but God
and begin every single action,
in God’s Name
and direct it to Him.

St Anthony Mary Zaccaria (1502-1539)

Posted in "Follow Me", AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on DISCIPLESHIP, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on MARRIAGE, MARRIED LOVE, The KINGDOM of GOD / HEAVEN, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 13 April – ‘ … In the Kingdom these relationships are transcended …’

One Minute Reflection – 13 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – St Hermenegild (Died 585) Martyr, Confessor – Wisdom 5:1-5; 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 – OGod, Who didst teach Thy blessed Martyr Hermenegild to choose a heavenly, rather than an earthly crown, grant, we beseech Thee, that we, like him, may so pass through temporal things that we finally miss not those which are eternal. Through esus 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 DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, MARIAN DEVOTIONS, MARIAN PRAYERS, MARIAN Saturdays, PRAYERS of the SAINTS

Our Morning Offering – 13 April – Mary, I Beg You By St Anselm

Our Morning Offering – 13 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – Saturday in the Second Week after Easter

Mary, I Beg You
By St Anselm (1033-1109)
Magnificent Doctor
Marian Doctor

Mary, I beg you,
by that grace through which
the Lord is with you
and you will to be with Him,
let your mercy be with me.
Let love for you always be with me,
and the care for me be always with you.
Let the cry of my need,
as long as it persists,
be with you,
and the care of your goodness,
as long as I need it,
be with me.
Let joy in your blessedness
be always with me,
and compassion for my wretchedness,
where I need it,
be with you.
Amen.

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 13 April – Saint Ida of Boulogne (c1040-1113)

Saint of the Day – 13 April – Saint Ida of Boulogne (c1040-1113) Widow, Countess, Apostle of charrity to the poor and needy, a lady of pious devotion and love for the Church to which she extended donations and assistance wherever needed. She supported and became a friend and correspondent of St Anselm of Canterbury who was deeply involved in the Cluniac reform in France. Born in c1040 in Ardennes, France and died on 13 April 1113 of natural causes. Patronage – of widows. Also known as – Ida of Lorraine, Ida of Lower Lorraine, Ida of Verdun, Ide…

Ida was the daughter of Godfrey III, the Duke of Lower Lorraine and his wife Doda. She became the bride of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne and the couple became the parents of Eustace III, Godfrey of Bouillon, the Leader of the First Crusade and also the first Ruler of Jerusalem under the title, Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre, having refused the title of King and Baldwin, who did accept the title of King of Jerusalem.

Count Eustace and St Ida his Countess

She was a great benefactor of the Church and the poor. After her husband’s death she founded several monasteries: Saint-Wulmer in Boulogne for the Augustinian Canons, Saint-Michel-du-Wast for the Cluniac Monks. She made considerable donations to the Abbeys of Saint-Bertin, Bouillon and Afflighem, favoured the reform of Cluny under the influence of St Anselm of Canterbury who remained a great friend and in correspondence with her. Some of St Anselm’s letters to Ida have survived.This detail underlines the role the holy Archbishop had in the monastic reform in Flanders.

Ida did not take the Benedictine Habit, as has been believed but she obtained it from St Ugo at Cluny, so that she could consider herself a secular oblate of the Benedictine Order.

She died today in 1113 and was buried in the Church of Wast (we note that many biographical information read, wrongly, Saint-Waast, instead of Wast). In 1669 her Relics were transferred to the Benedictines of the Holy Sacrament in Paris, who took them with them, when, in 1808, they settled in Bayeux, where they are still kept (one Relic, however, was left in Wast).

Ida’s Feast which was celebrated in the ancient Diocese of Boulogne, was later authorised in the Diocese of Arras and Bayeux. The commemoration of the Saint is found in many medieval calendars on 13 April. Blessed Ida of Louvain is also remembered on this day, although the date of her death is unknown.

Posted in MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

Santa Maria dei Voti / Our Lady of Mantua, Italy (1640), St Hermengild (Died 585) Martyr, Confessor, King and the Saints for 13 April

Saturday in the Second Week after Easter

St Agathonica of Pergamus
St Agathodorus of Pergamus

St Carpus of Pergamus
Bl Edward Catherick
Bl Francis Dickenson
St Guinoc
St Ida of Boulogne (c1040-1113) Widow
Bl Ida of Louvain
Bl James of Certaldo
Bl John Lockwood

St Martius of Auvergne
Bl Miles Gerard
St Papylus of Pergamus
St Proculus of Terni
St Ursus of Ravenna Bishop and Confessor