Day: April 21, 2024

Posted in "Follow Me", GOD ALONE!, GOD is LOVE, GOD the FATHER, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, The PASSION, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 21 April – Meditation on the Sufferings of Christ (Part Two)

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Thought for the Day – 21 April – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

LI: … Meditation on the Sufferings of Christ
(Part Two)

“If you would have a lively sorrow for your sins, let your meditation convince you that if Jesus Christ suffered so much, it was to inspire you with wholesome self-contempt and a hatred of your disorderly passions, particularly your greatest faults which are naturally most offensive to Almighty God.

And if you would excite sentiments of admiration, you need only consider that nothing is more shocking than the sight of the Creator of the universe, the Fountain of Life, butchered by His own creatures, the right of the Supreme Majesty, as it were, annihilated, Justice condemned, Beauty defiled and lost in filth, the Beloved of the Eternal Father become the hated of sinners.
Light inaccessible is overwhelmed by the powers of darkness; Uncreated glory and felicity are buried under ignominy and wretchedness!

To arouse compassion in your heart for the sufferings of your Saviour and God, exclusive of His exterior pains, consider the most acute of His sufferings, His interior anguish.
For if you are moved by the first, you will be pierced with grief at the sight of the second.
The soul of Christ beheld the Divinity in Heaven, then as clearly as it does now.
It knew how much God deserved to be honoured and, as it infinitely loved Him, desired that all creatures should love Him with all the power of their souls.
Seeing Him, therefore, so horribly dishonoured throughout the world by countless, abominable crimes, it was overwhelmed with grief that the Divine Majesty was not loved and served by all men.
As the greatness of this desire of the soul of Christ that His Father be loved, was beyond imagination, it is futile to try to comprehend the depths of His interior sufferings in the agonies of death.”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/04/20/thought-for-the-day-20-april-meditation-on-the-sufferings-of-christ-part-one/

Posted in ACT of CONTRITION, DOCTORS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, PRAYERS for VARIOUS NEEDS, PRAYERS of PETITION, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, The WILL of GOD

Quote/s of the Day – 21 April – St Anselm

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Quote/s of the Day – 21 April – St Anselm (1033-1109) ArchBishop of Canterbury, Confessor, Magnificent and Marian Doctor of the Church

“No-one will have any other desire in Heaven
than what God wills and the desire of one,
will be the desire of all and the desire of all
and of each one, will also be the desire of God.”

O Lord Our God, Grant Us Grace
By St Anselm (1033-1109)
Archbishop of Canterbury
Doctor of the Church

O Lord our God,
grant us grace to desire Thee
with our whole heart;
that, so desiring, we may seek
and, seeking, find Thee
and so finding Thee,
may love Thee
and loving Thee,
may hate those sins
from which Thou hast redeemed us.
Amen.

A Prayer for All in Need
By St Anselm (1033-1109)
Archbishop of Canterbury
Doctor of the Church

O Lord,
we bring before Thee,
the distress and dangers
of peoples and nations,
the pleas of the imprisoned
and the captive,
the sorrows of the grief-stricken,
the needs of the refugee,
the impotence of the weak,
the weariness of the despondent
and the diminishments of the aging.
O Lord, stay close to them all.
Amen

MORE:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/04/21/quote-s-of-the-day-21-april-st-anselm-2/

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CONSCIENCE, QUOTES on JOY, The KINGDOM of GOD, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 21 April – ‘ … And what is the Kingdom of Heaven ? …’

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One Minute Reflection – 21 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – The Third Sunday after Easter – St Anselm (1033-1109) Bishop, Confessor, Magnificent and Marian Doctor of the Church – 1 Peter 2:11-19; John 16:16-22 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“So also you now indeed have sorrow but I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice. And your joy no man shall take from you.” – John 16:22

REFLECTION – “What is true joy, brethren, other than the Kingdom of Heaven? And what is the Kingdom of Heaven other than Christ our Lord? I know that everyone wants to have true joy. But the person who wants to be happy with his harvest, without cultivating his field, is deluding himself; the person who wants to harvest fruit without planting trees is mistaken. We cannot have true joy, without righteousness and peace … At present, respecting righteousness and having peace, we work hard for a short time like people bent over good work. But afterwards, we will rejoice without end because of the fruit of that work.

Listen to the Apostle Paul, who said of Christ: “It is He Who is our peace.” (Eph 2:14) … And speaking to His disciples, the Lord told them: “I shall see you again, then your hearts will rejoice with a joy no one can take from you.” What is that joy which no-one can take from you, other than your Lord Himself, Whom no man can take from you?

So examine your conscience, brethren – if righteousness reigns there, if you want, desire and wish the same thing for everyone as for yourself, if there is peace in you, not only with your friends but equally with your enemies, then know that the Kingdom of Heaven, which is to say Christ the Lord, abides in you.” – St Caesarius of Arles (470-543) Bishop, Father (Sermon 166).

PRAYER – O God, Who didst give blessed Anselm to be Thy people’s minister in eternal salvation, grant we pray, that we, who have him for teacher of life here on earth, may also deserve now that he is in Heaven, to have him for an advocate. 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 "Follow Me", GOD ALONE!, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD

Our Morning Offering – 21 April – The Joy of My Lord By St Anselm ‬

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Our Morning Offering – 21 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – St Anselm (of Canterbury) OSB (1033-1109) Bishop, Confessor, Magnificent and Marian Doctor of the Church

The Joy of My Lord
By St Anselm ‬(1033-1109)
Doctor of the Church

I beseech Thee, O my God,
that I may know Thee, love Thee,
and rejoice in Thee.
If in this life, I cannot do these things fully,
grant that I may, at the least,
progress in them, from day to day.
Advance in me, the knowledge of Thee, now
that in the life to come, it may be complete.
Increase in me, the love of Thee, here
that there, it may be overflowing.
O God of Truth,
I pray, that I may obtain
that which Thou promise
that my joy may be complete.
And in the meantime,
let my mind meditate on it,
let my soul hunger after it
and my whole being long for it,
till at last, I enter into the joy of my Lord,
Who is God, blessed forever.
Amen

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 21 April – Saint Wolbodó of Liège (c950-1021) Bishop

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Saint of the Day – 21 April – Saint Wolbodó of Liège (c950-1021) Bishop, Chaplain to the Emperor, supporter of Monasteries and the Founder of the Monastery of St Lawrence, which became his heir and where he is buried. Born in c950 in Flanders, Belgium and died on 21 April 1021 in Liège, Belgium of natural causes. Patronage – of Students. Also known as – Fulmodo, Vilpodo, Volbodo, Wolbodon.

His biography, although sparse in detail, tells us of a man of noble Flemish lineage, whose education at the Cathedral school of Utrecht, where he became a Canon, a Professor and finally led him to assume the role of Dean of the Cathedral of Saint Martin and, later, of Chaplain to the Court of Henry II.

Appointed as the Bishop of Liège in 1018 and in November of that year he was Consecrated Bishop by St Heribert of Cologne, assisted by Bishop Gerard of Cambrai, in the presence of Emperor Henry II. He led the Diocese with wisdom and devotion until 1021, the year of his death. He was responsible for the foundation of the Abbey of St Lawrence in Liège, testimony to his religious fervour and his commitment to the spread of the cult of the Saints.

St Lawrence Abbey Church

He named Olbert of Gamblou, as head of the Abbey of St James in Liège and in 1020 deposed Ingobrand as the Abbot of Lobbes Abbey, replacing him with Richard of Saint-Vanne. In 1020 he also installed St Poppo, the Prior of the Abbey of Saint-Vaast in Cambrai, as the Abbot of Stavelot Abbey.

In the official recorded listing of the Bishops, Wolbodó appears after Baldéric de Looz and before Durand.

Wolbodó bequeathed his moveables, 300 Marks of silver and his lands in Flanders, to the Abbey of St Lawrence, Liège and was buried in the Abbey’s Crypt which, at the time, was still under construction. In 1656 his tomb was opened and his remains reburied.

Saint Wolbodó is considered the Patron Saint of Students. In Delft, Holland, the Student Society, Menschen Vereeniging Wolbodó, is named after him.

Liège Cathedral
Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, MARIAN TITLES, MARTYRS, SAINT of the DAY

The Third Sunday of Easter, Institution of the Confraternity of the Immaculate conception, Toledo, Spain (1484), St Anselm and the Saints for 21 April

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The Third Sunday of Easter

Institution of the Confraternity of the Immaculate conception, Toledo, Spain (1484) – The Conceptionists (1506) – 21 April:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/21/institution-of-the-confraternity-of-the-immaculate-conception-toledo-spain-the-conceptionists-1506-and-memorials-of-the-saints-21-april/

St Anselm (of Canterbury) OSB (1033-1109) Bishop, Confessor, Magnificent and Marian Doctor of the Church
SWonderful t Anselm!
https://anastpaul.com/2017/04/21/saint-of-the-day-21-april-st-anselm-of-canterbury-doctor-of-the-church/
AND:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/04/21/saint-of-the-day-21-april-st-anselm-1033-1109-bishop-confessor-doctor/

St Abdechalas
St Anastasius I of Antioch Bishop
St Anastasius Sinaita of Sinai (Died c700) Abbot
St Apollo of Nicomedia
St Arator of Alexandria

St Beuno Gasulsych (c 545-c 640) Monk, Abbpt, Miracle-worker.
The Life of St Beuno:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/21/saint-of-the-day-21-april-saint-beuno-gasulsych-c-545-c-640/

St Conrad of Parzham OFM Cap (1818-1894) Franciscan Religious Lay Friar, Devotee of Blessed Sacrament and Marian, Apostle of Charity, Miracle worker with the charism of prophecy.
His heroic virtues and the miracles he performed won for him the distinction to be ranked among the Blessed by Pope Pius XI in 1930. Four years later, the same pope, approving additional miracles which had been performed, solemnly inscribed his name in the list of Saints.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/04/21/saint-of-the-day-21-april-st-conrad-of-parzham-ofm-cap-1818-1894/

St Crotates of Nicomedia
St Cyprian of Brescia
St Felix of Alexandria
St Fortunatus of Alexandria
St Frodulphus
St Isacius of Nicomedia
St Maelrubba of Applecross

St Silvius of Alexandria
St Simeon of Ctesiphon
St Vitalis of Alexandria
Bl Vitaliy Bayrak
St Wolbodó of Liège (c950-1021) Bishop