Day: April 25, 2024

Posted in CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, HOLY COMMUNION, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on MORTAL SIN, QUOTES on SIN, THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT - Fr Lorenzo Scupoli

Thought for the Day – 25 April – The Manner in which We Oughtto Receive the Blessed Sacrament (Part One)

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Thought for the Day – 25 April – The Spiritual Combat (1589) – Dom Lorenzo Scupoli OSM (c1530-1610)

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

LIV: … The Manner in which We Ought
to Receive the Blessed Sacrament (Part One)

“The Motives for approaching this Divine Sacrament are many, from which it follows that there are various requirements to be observed at three different times:
Before Communion
At the moment of reception of Communion
After Communion

  1. BEFORE COMMUNION: Whatever be our motive, we must, if stained with mortal sin, cleanse ourselves in the Sacrament of Penance.
    And with all sincerity of heart, we must offer ourselves to Jesus Christ, consecrating our souls and all their faculties to His service.
    For, it is in this Sacrament that He bestows to mankind, His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, together with the immense and inexhaustible treasure of His Infinite merits.
    And as all of our gifts to Him are insignificant, when compared to His gifts to us, we should desire nothing less, than the totality of merits gained by the created beings of the universe, to offer as a gift deserving His regard.
    If our desire is victory over spiritual adversaries, we should meditate for some time previous to the reception of Communion on the incomprehensibly ardent desire, of our Saviour to be one with us in suppressing our inordinate appetites.

In order, however, to formulate some idea of this Divine wish in our regard, we might consider two things.
The first is the ineffable joy with which Wisdom Incarnate dwells among us, for He calls it His delight [Prov VIII:31].
The second is the implacable hatred He bears toward mortal sin, inasmuch as it is both an insuperable obstacle to that much-desired intimate union with Him and in utter opposition to His Divine perfections.
For as God is sovereignly good, a Light undimmed and Beauty inviolate, He must inevitably hate sin which is all malice, all darkness and all corruption.
So burning indeed is this hatred of God for sin that the entire dispensation of the Old and New Testaments, has been ordained for its destruction.
Several of God’s Saints have said that Divinity would have suffered a thousand deaths on a thousand Golgothas, if the smallest faults could be annihilated within us.
These considerations, rudimentary as they are, may enable you to see ,how much our Saviour desires to dwell within our hearts to expiate therefrom, our common enemies; thus we should welcome Him with all the fervour of which we are capable.
The joyful expectancy of His arrival will raise our courage and inspire us to war anew on our predominant passion, by performing many
acts of the contrary virtue.
Particularly should this be so on the evening before and on the morning of our reception of Holy Communion.”

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, QUOTES on DISCIPLESHIP, QUOTES on MISSION, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS, The WORD

Quote/s of the Da y – 25 April – “Go into the whole world and preach the Gospelto every creature.”- Mark 16:15

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Quote/s of the Day – 25 April – St Mark Evangelist

“For the Son of Man came not to be served
but to serve and to give His Life
as a ransom for many …”

Mark 10:45

“Go into the whole world
and preach the Gospel
to every creature.”
Mark 16:15

“You have heard what the Lord said
to His disciples after the Resurrection.
He sent them out to preach the Gospel
and they did so.
Listen: “Through all the earth their voice resounds
and to the ends of the world, their message” (Ps 18[19],5).
Step by step, the Gospel has reached even to us
and the ends of the earth.
In a few words the Lord, addressing Himself
to His disciples, set out what we are to do
and what we have to hope for.
Just as you have heard, He said:
“Whoever believes and is Baptised will be saved.”
He asks for our faith and offers us salvation.
What He offers us, is so precious
that what He asks of us, is as nothing.”

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

“At that time, the Lord appointed
seventy-two others
and sent them forth …”
Luke 10:1

“By saying that He is sending them
as the Father has sent Him, therefore,
He summarised, in a few words,
the character of the Apostles’ mission.
In this way, they would know that they were bound
to call sinners to repentance,
to heal the sick, whether of body or soul
and in all their dealings as stewards,
not by any means to follow their own will
but the will of Him Who sent them and,
finally, to save the world,
insofar as it received the teachings of the Lord.”

St Cyril of Alexandria (380-444)
Father and Doctor of the Church

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on DISCIPLESHIP, QUOTES on ENEMIES, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on KINDNESS, QUOTES on MISSION, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on PRIDE, QUOTES on STRENGTH, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 25 April – ‘… Gentleness confronts the arrogant with far greater strength!’

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One Minute Reflection – 25 April – St Mark Evangelist – Ezekiel 1:10-14; … Luke 10:1-9 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“At that time, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them forth …” – Luke 10:1

REFLECTION – “As He sent out disciples into His harvest – which had, in truth, been sown by the Father’s Word but which required, to be worked over, cultivated and carefully tended, if the birds were not to ravage the seed – Jesus said to them: “Behold, I send you out like lambs among wolves”. … The Good Shepherd could not but fear wolves amongst His flock: these disciples were sent to spread grace abroad, not to become a prey. But the Good Shepherd’s care prevented the wolves from doing anything against the lambs he sends out. He sends them that Isaiah’s prophecy might be fulfilled: “The wolf and the lamb shall graze alike” (Is 65:25) … And besides, were not the disciples who were sent ordered not even to carry a staff? …

What our humble Lord laid down, His disciples also accomplished by practicing humility. For He sends them out to announce the faith, not by force but by their teaching; not by exerting force of will but by exalting the doctrine of humility. And He thought well to link patience to humility, since, according to Peter’s testimony: “When He was insulted, He returned no insult; when He suffered, He did not threaten” (1 Pet 2:23).

This amounts to saying: “Be imitators of Me, let go of your thirst for revenge, respond to the blows of pride, not by returning evil for evil but, with the patience that forgives. No-one should perform, on their own account, what they reprehend in others – gentleness confronts the arrogant with far greater strength!” – St Ambrose (340-397) Father & Doctor of the Church (Commentary on St Luke’s Gospel 7:45,59).

PRAYER – O God, Who didst exalt Thy blessed Evangelist Mark, by giving him grace to preach Thine Evangel, grant unto us, we beseech Thee, ever to follow more and more what he teaches and ever to be shielded from all evil by his prayers. 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 HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS

Our Morning Offering – 25 April – Behold the Messengers of Christ

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Our Morning Offering – 25 April – Feast of St Mark Evangelist

Behold the Messengers of Christ
By Fr Jean-Baptiste Santeul (1630-1697)
Priest, Monk, Hymnist, Poet, Writer

Behold the Messengers of Christ,
Who sow in every place,
The unveiled Mysteries of God,
The Gospel of His Grace.

The things through mists and shadows dim
By holy prophets seen,
In the full Light of Day, they saw
With not a cloud between.

What Christ, true Man, Divinely wrought,
What God in Manhood bore,
They wrote, as God inspired, in words
Which live forevermore.

Although in space and time apart,
One Spirit ruled them all
And in their Sacred pages still
We hear that Spirit’s Call.

To God, the blessèd Three in One,
Be glory, praise and might,
Who called us from the shades of death
To His Own glorious Light.
Amen.

Trans. Compilers of Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1861.
This Hymn was used for Vespers I & II and Nocturns on the Feasts of St Mark and St Luke in the Paris Breviary (1736). Cardinal Newman’s Hymni Ecclesiae has it listed for the same hours, as the Common of Evangelists in the Paris Breviary (presumably a later edition).
Tune: “Tiverton“ Rev J Grigg, c1791.

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 25 April – Saint Franca Visalta O.Cist. (1170-1218) Virgin Abbess

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Saint of the Day – 25 April – Saint Franca Visalta O.Cist. (1170-1218) Virgin Abbess in Piacenza and Pittolo, Foundress of a Cistercian Convent. Born in 1170 in Piacenza, Italy and died on 25 April 1218 in Pittoli, Italy of natural causes. Also known as – Franca of Piacenza, Francesca da Vitalta.

Franca was born into the Visalta family in Piacenza in Italy in the 12th Century. Even before her 7th year, she began to develop her beautiful virtues and soon expressed to her parents her desire to devote herself to God wholeheartedly in the Monastery. She was, therefore, taken in by the Benedictine nuns of St Syri in Piacenza, where she received her education.

At the age of 14 she entered the same Convent as a Novice. There she became a lamp of all virtues for her fellow sisters and in the wounds of her divine Saviour she found her most blissful consolations.  In 1206 she mediated between her hometown and Pope Innocent III and by her efforts, peace was restored. After the death of the Abbess, Franca was unanimously elected by her fellow sisters, who were around fifty in number, to be their Abbess. In this capacity she sought to promote godliness in every possible way, especially the spirit of mortification which is said to be the first adornment of a monastic community. In order to achieve this goal, however, she had to endure great difficulties and was finally removed from her office..

Nevertheless, one of the Nuns, Sister Carentia, agreed with her discipline. When Sr Carentia left St Syri Convent and entered the Cistercian Novitiate at Rapallo. Around the year 1216, Franca convinced her parents to build a Cistercian house at Montelana. There, she became the Abbess of the community at of Santa Maria di Montelana and Sr Carentia joined her there and was appointed as the Prioress. The community later moved to Pittoli.

Sanctuary of St Franca built in the 19th Century on the site of the former Monastery of Santa Maria di Montelana.
Montelana used to be the name of the mountain on which the Monastery stood.

Franca consistently maintained the severe penances she imposed on herself, even in the face of poor health. She spent most nights in the chapel, praying for hours.

She died in this Abbey on St Mark’s Day 1218. Her Relics were later translated to Piacenza where they are today, in the Church of San Raimondo.

Relics of St Franca at the Church of St Raimondo

Franca was Beatified on 21 March 1273 by Pope Gregory X and Canonised by Pope Paul V in the early part 17th Century.

Posted in MARTYRS, ROGATION DAYS, SAINT of the DAY, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS

St Mark the Evangelist, Rogation Day – The Greater Litanies and the Saints for 25 April

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St Mark the Evangelist – Also known as John Mark (Born 1st Century – Martyred 25 April 68 at Alexandria, Egypt) – St Marks is symbolised by the Winged Lion.
St Mark:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/04/25/saint-of-the-day-25-april-st-mark-the-evangelist/
And:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/04/25/saint-of-the-day-25-april-st-mark-the-evangelist-solemnity/

Rogation Day – The Greater Litanies
(Sometimes called “St Mark’s Procession”):


The procession for the Greater Litanies is held on St Mark’s day, 25 April that, for the Rogations, or Lesser Litanies, may be recited on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Ascension day.
About Rogation Days HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/05/23/virgen-de-gracia-virgin-of-grace-aes-puente-viesgo-pas-miera-cantabria-spain-1575-and-memorials-of-the-saints-23-may/

St Agathopodes of Antioch

St Anianus of Alexandria (Died c 86) 2nd Bishop of Alexandria, after St Mark and succeeding him. Consecrated by St Mark and disciple of St Mark. He was Ordained by Saint Mark and was also the first convert Mark won for Christ in the region, in c 48.
As St Mark was entering Rakotis, a suburb of Alexandria, the strap of his sandal broke. He found a cobbler, St Anianus, to repair it. While he was working on the sandal, the awl slipped in Anianus’ hand, piercing it. Anianus cried ‘“Heis ho Theos” (“God is one”) in response to the pain. Mark took the opportunity to preach the Gospel of Christ to him, at the same time.
https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/25/saint-of-the-day-25-april-st-anianus-of-alexandria-died-c-86-sucessor-and-disciple-of-st-mark-the-evangelist/

Blessed Boniface of Valperga (Died 1243) Bishop of Valperga, Italy. Distinguished by his love for the poor and his great humility -his spiritual depth and holiness of life, made him very popular, even among the simplest people.
This Holy Boniface:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/04/25/saint-of-the-day-25-april-blessed-boniface-of-valperga-died-1243-bishop/

St Callista of Syracuse
St Clarentius of Vienne
St Erminus of Lobbes (Died 737) Bishop and Confessor
St Evodius of Syracuse
Saint Franca Visalta O.Cist. (1170-1218) Virgin Abbess
St Heribaldus of Auxerre
St Hermogenes of Syracuse
St Kebius
St Macaille
St Macedonius
St Mario Borzaga
St Pasicrate of Mesia
St Phaebadius of Agen
St Philo of Antioch
St Robert of Syracuse
Bl Robert Anderton
Stefano of Antioch
St Valenzio of Mesia
Bl William Marsden