Day: April 14, 2024

Posted in Holy Name PRAYERS, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, The HOLY NAME, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 14 April – On Mental Prayer 

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Thought for the Day – 14 April – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

XLV: … On Mental Prayer

“MENTAL PRAYER is the elevation of our minds to God, asking of Him, either expressly or tacitly, those things of which we stand in need.
We ask for them expressly, when we say in our hearts:
“O my God, grant me this request
for the honour of Thy holy Name”
OR
“Lord, I am firmly convinced
that this petition is Thy Will
and, for Thy greater honour,
I ask this petition.
Accomplish, therefore, Thy Divine Will in me.”

When harassed by the attacks of the enemy, let us say:
“Come swiftly, O Lord, to my assistance
lest I fall a prey to my enemy.”
OR
“O God, my refuge and my strength,
help me speedily, lest I perish.”

When temptation continues, we must continue the same prayer, courageously resisting the foe and, when the fury of the combat has passed, let us address ourselves to the Almighty, imploring Him to consider our weakness in the face of the enemy’s strength:
“Behold, my God, Thy creature,
the work of Thy hands, a man redeemed
by Thy Precious Blood.
And behold, Satan trying to carry him
from Thee to utterly destroy him.
It is to Thee I fly for aid and it is in Thee
that I place my entire confidence,
for I know that Thou alone art Infinitely good and powerful.
Have pity on a miserable creature who stumbles
blindly, though willfully, into the path of his enemies,
as do all who forsake the assistance of Thy grace.
Help me, therefore, my only hope,
O sole strength of my soul!”

We tacitly ask favours of God when we present to Him our necessities, without making any particular request.
Placing ourselves in His Divine presence, we acknowledge our incapacity to avoid evil or do good, without His aid.
We are, nevertheless, inflamed with a desire of serving Him.
Thus we must fix our eyes upon Him, waiting for His assistance with unbounded confidence and utter humility.
The confession of our weakness and the desire to serve Him, this act of faith so performed, is a silent prayer which will infallibly obtain our request from Heaven.
The more sincere the confession, the more ardent the desire and the more lively the faith, the greater will be the efficacy of the prayer before the throne of God.

There is another method of prayer similar to this but more concise, consisting as it does, in but a single act of the soul.
The soul presents her requests to the Almighty, adverting to a favour already asked and still sought, although not formally expressed.

Let us endeavour to cultivate this kind of prayer and employ it on all occasions; for experience will convince us that nothing is easier, yet nothing more excellent and efficacious!”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on PERSECUTION, QUOTES on THE WORLD

Quote/s of the Day – 14 April – St Justin Martyr

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Quote/s of the Day – 14 April – St Justin Martyr (c100-165)

“The world suffers nothing from Christians
but hates them, because they reject its pleasures.”

“We have strayed from the Immortal’s ways
and worship IDOLS,
with a dull and senseless mind,
the workmanship of our own hands!”

MORE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/06/01/quote-s-of-the-day-1-june-st-justin-martyr/

St Justin Martyr (c 100-165)
Father of the Church

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the LIGHT, 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 ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on TRUTH, The GOOD SHEPHERD, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 14 April – “I am the Good Shepherd and I know Mine and Mine know Me.”- John 10:14

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One Minute Reflection – 14 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – The Second Sunday of Easter – Commemoration of St Justin Martyr (c100-165) – 1 Peter 2:21-25; John 10:11-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“I am the Good Shepherd and I know Mine and Mine know Me.”- John 10:14

REFLECTION – “I am the good shepherd. I know My Own—by which I mean, I love them—and My Own know Me. In plain words – those who love Me are willing to follow Me, for anyone who does not love the Truth, has not yet come to know it.

My dear brethren, you have heard the test we shepherds have to undergo. Turn now to consider, how these words of our Lord, imply a test for yourselves too. Ask yourselves whether you belong to His flock, whether you know Him, whether the Light of His Truth shines in your minds. I assure you that it is not by faith that you will come to know Him but, by love, not by mere conviction but, by action. John the Evangelist is my authority, for this statement. He tells us that anyone who claims to know God, without keeping His commandments, is a liar.

Consequently, the Lord immediately adds: ‘As the Father knows Me and I know the Father and I lay down My life for My sheep.‘ Clearly, He means that laying down His life for His sheep, gives evidence of His knowledge of the Father and the Father’s knowledge of Him. In other words, by the love with which He dies for His sheep, He shows, how greatly He loves His Father.

Again He says: ‘My sheep hear My voice and I know them; they follow Me,and I give them eternal life.’ Shortly before this He had declared – ‘If anyone enters the sheepfold through Me, he shall be saved, he shall go freely in and out and shall find good pasture.‘ He will enter into a life of faith; from faith, he will go out to vision, from belief to contemplation and will graze in the good pastures of everlasting life.

So our Lord’s sheep will finally reach their grazing ground, where all who follow Him in simplicity of heart, will feed on the green pastures of eternity. These pastures are the spiritual joys of Heaven. There, the elect look upon the Face of God with unclouded vision and feast at the banquet of life, forever more.

Beloved brothers, let us set out for these pastures ,where we shall keep joyful festival with so many of our fellow citizens. May the thought of their happiness urge us on! Let us stir up our hearts, rekindle our faith and long eagerly for what Heaven has in store for us. To love thus, is to be already on our way. No matter what obstacles we encounter, we must not allow them to turn us aside from the joy of that heavenly feast. Anyone who is determined to reach his destination, is not deterred by the roughness of the road that leads to it. Nor must we allow the charm of success to seduce us, or we shall be like a foolish traveller who is so distracted by the pleasant meadows through which he is passing that he forgets where he is going.” – St Gregory the Great (540-604) Bishop of Rome and Great Western Father and Doctor of the Church (An excerpt from his Sermon 14).

PRAYER – O God, Who through the preaching of the Cross,which is to them who perish, foolishness, didst wonderfully teach, unto thy blessed Martyr Justin, the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus Our Lord, grant unto us we beseech Thee, at his prayer,s the grace to cast off all false teaching and ever to hold fast to the Faith. Through the same 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 CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HOLY COMMUNION, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, The HOLY MASS

Our Morning Offering – 14 April – St Anselm’s Prayer before Holy Communion

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Our Morning Offering – 14 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – The Second Sunday of Easter

Prayer Before Holy Communion
By St Anselm (1033-1109)
Doctor of the Church

O Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of the living God,
Who according to the Will of the Father
and with the co-operation of the Holy Ghost,
has, by Thy Death. given Life to the world,
I adore and revere this, Thy Holy Body
and this, Thy Holy Blood
which was given up
and poured forth, for the many,
unto remission of sins.
O merciful Lord,
I beg of Thee mercy,
that through the power of this Sacrament,
Thou will make me one of that many.
Through faith and love, make me feel
the power of these Sacraments,
so I may experience their saving power.
Absolve and free from all sin
and punishment of sin, Thy servants,
Thy handmaidens, myself,
all who confessed their sins to me,
those whom I have promised,
or am obliged, to pray for
and so too, those who themselves hope
or beg, to be helped, by my prayers to Thee.
Make our Church rejoice
in Thy constant protection and consolation.
Amen

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Posted in MARTYRS, SAINT of the DAY

Saints of the Day – 14 April – St Tiburtius, St Valerian and St Maximus (Died 3rd Century) Martyr, Layman

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Saints of the Day – 14 April – St Tiburtius of Rome (Died 3rd Century) Martyr, Layman, brother of St Valerian; St Maximus of Rome (Died 3rd Century) Martyr, Layman; St Valerian of Trastevere (c177-c229) Martyr, Layman, brother of St Tiburtius and husband of St Cecilia (Died c232) the Martyrs.

The Roman Martyrology reads: “At Rome, on the Appian Way, the birthday of the Holy Martyrs, Tiburtius, Valerian and Maximus, who suffered in the time of the Emperor, Alexander and the Prefect, Almachius. The first two being converted to Christ by the exhortations of the blessed Cecilia and Baptised by Pope St Urban, were beated with rods and decapitated for the True Faith. But Maximus, the Chamberlain of the Prefect, moved by their constancy and encouraged by the vision of an Angel, believed in Christ and was scourged with leaded whips until he expired.”

Saints Cecilia, Valerian and Tiburtius by Botticini

The three holy Martyrs Tiburtius, Valerian and Maximus, who lived in the 3rd Century in Rome, are remembered by ancient sources since the 5th Century, however, there are two versions which deal with their personality and historical existence – one is linked to the ‘Passio’ of St Cecilia, while the other is reported by the ‘Hieronymian Martyrology’ or the Martyurology of St Jerome.

In the aforementioned Martyrology they are mentioned four times, the first indicates them as buried in the Catacombs of Praetextatus on the Appian Way and remembered on 14 April and this version is the one then passed into the Roman Martyrology, still in use today.

The Martyrdom of St Valerian

The other versions remembers them as buried in other Cemeteries in Rome and celebrates them on various dates, sometimes confused, like the case of Tiburzio with another namesake. Scholars have not reached an absolute certainty, it seems however, that only St Tiiburtius is celebration on 14 April, while, in theCatacombs of of Callistus, the other two were buried and celebrated on 21 April. It seems that later, it was St Gregory the Great who united them in a single celebration today.

However, according to the ‘passio’ Valerian was St Cecilia’s husband and converted by her, he was Baptised by St Pope Urban I (222-230) and in his turn he converted hid brother, Tiburtius to Christianity. Both were sentenced to death by the Prefect Almachius, who entrusted them to the Adjutant (second-in-command of the Prefect) who, before having the sentence carried out, also converted, thus being condemned and killed a few days later.

Valerian and Tiburtius were martyred and buried in a place called Pagus da Cecilia, four miles from Rome but which, has not been identified. Maximus was placed in a different sarcophagus. Their tombs were restored first by Pope Gregory III (731-741) then by Pope Hadrian I (772-795) and finally by Pope Paschal I (817-824) who transferred their Relics to the Basilica of St Cecilia in Trastevere.

Amico Aspertini: Burial of Saints Valerian and Tiburtius
Posted in MARIAN TITLES, MARTYRS, SAINT of the DAY

The Second Sunday of Easter, Santa Maria de Cs,stomp / Our Lady of Guam (1825), St Justin Martyr, St Tiburtius and Companions and the Saints for 14 Apri

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The Second Sunday of Easter

Santa Maria de Camarino / Our Lady of Guam, Mariana Islands (1825), Patron of Guam – 14 April:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/14/santa-maria-de-camarino-our-lady-of-guam-mariana-islands-1825-and-memorials-of-the-saints-14-april/

St Justin Martyr (c 100-165) Martyr, Layman, first Christian Philosopher, Apologist, Orator, Teacher, Writer, Missionary
His Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2017/06/01/saint-of-the-day-1-june-st-justin/

St Tiburtius of Rome (Died 3rd Century) Martyr, Layman
St Maximus of Rome (Died 3rd Century) Martyr, Layman
St Valerian of Trastevere (c177-c229) Martyr, Layman, brother of St Tiburtiusabove and husband of St Cecilia (Martyrs)

St Abundius the Sacristan (Died c564) Confessor, Layman, Sacristan of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Pope St Gregory I, the Great wrote of his life, which was filled with many graces.
His Holy Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/04/14/saint-of-the-day-14-april-st-abundius-the-sacristan-died-c564-confessor-sacristan/

St Ardalion the Actor

St Benezet the Bridge Builder (c 1163-1184) Shepherd, Mystic, miracle-worker, Founder of the Fratres Pontifices – the Bridge-Building Brotherhood. His body is incorrupt.
Wonderful St Benezet:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/04/14/saint-of-the-day-14-april-st-benezet-the-bridge-builder-c-1163-1184/

St Bernard of Tiron (1046-1117) Monk, Abbot, Founder of the the Tiron Abbey and the Tironensian Order. St Bernard had a deep devotion to the Passion of Christ, teaching and instruction his disciples in the love of the Holy Cross.
The Roman Martyrology reads: “In the Monastery of Tiron near Chartres in France, Saint Bernard, Abbot, who on several occasions gave himself up to a hermit life in the woods and on the Island of Chausey but also dedicated himself to instructing and guiding the disciples, who in great numbers, flocked to him.”
St Bernard’s Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/04/14/saint-of-the-day-14-april-st-bernard-of-tiron-c-1046-1117/

St Domnina of Terni
St Fronto of Nitria Abbot
Bl Hadewych O.Praem. (c1150-c1200) Nun

St John of Montemarano OSB (Died 1095) the First Bishop of Montenarano, Italy in 1074, Benedictine Monk, Miracle-worker. He was Canonised in 1906 by Pope Pius X.
His Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/14/saint-of-the-day-14-april-saint-john-of-montemarano-osb-died-1095/

St Lambert of Lyon Bishop and Confessor

St Lydwina of Schiedam (1380-1433) Virgin, Mystic, Ascetic, Apostle of the Holy Eucharist and of Penance and Prayer,
Lovely St Lydwina:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/04/14/saint-of-the-day-14

St Peter Gonzalez OP (1190 – 1246) Castilian Priest and Friar of the Order of Preachers, Confessor. He was Canonised on 13 December 1741 by Pope Benedict XIV.
About St Peter:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/04/14/saint-of-the-day-14-april-blessed-peter-gonzalez-o-p/

St Tassach of Raholp
St Thomaides of Alexandria