Day: May 23, 2024

Posted in patience, PATIENCE - Fr Richard CLARKE, QUOTES on PATIENCE

Thought for the Day – 23 May – The Divine Patience

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 23 May – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

PATIENCE
Meditations for a Month

The Divine Patience

  1. When we speak of the patience of God we use the word in rather a different meaning to that in which it is applied to men. It means that God abstains from inflicting on the sinner, the punishment that he deserves, that He is long-suffering, that He waits to see if he will perchance repent and turn to Him that He is slow to anger and of great mercy. O my God, how patient Thou hast been with me when I rebelled against Thee! How Thou hast borne with all my ingratitude and sinfulness and stubbornness and disobedience!
  2. Holy Scripture contains many examples of the patience of God. When the human family had become so wicked that God determined to destroy them by the Flood, He waited a hundred years before carrying out the sentence. When the cry of the Cities of the Plain rose up before Him, He waited before He determined to destroy them. When Saul forfeited his kingdom by his disobedience, God waited for ten years before He carried out the sentence. Learn from God’s example to be patient with evil-doers and to love mercy rather than vengeance.
  3. God never acts in a hurry and He, thereby desires, to teach us deliberation in all that we do. We do not leave an interval of time as He does between the wrong and the infliction of the punishment. We are so impulsive that we commit many faults which we might easily have avoided if we had learned to wait. What need was there for the delay that we find attributed to God? He, as Perfect Wisdom, needs no time for deliberation. But, it is that we may recognise the necessity of being slow to act and especially, of being slow to act in anger, that God represents Himself as always waiting.
Posted in DECEMBER - The DIVINE INFANCY and The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, MARIAN QUOTES, PAPAL ENCYLICALS, The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

Quote of the Day –23 May – Ineffabilis Deus

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Quote of the Day –23 May – “The Month of the Blessed Virgin Mother Mary” –

“Let all the children of the Catholic Church,
who are so very dear to us, hear these words of ours.
With a still more ardent zeal for piety, religion and love,
let them continue to venerate, invoke
and pray to the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God,
conceived without original sin.
Let them fly with utter confidence
to this most sweet Mother of mercy and grace
in all dangers, difficulties, needs, doubts and fears.
Under her guidance,
under her patronage,
under her kindness and protection,
nothing is to be feared; nothing is hopeless.
Because, while bearing toward us, a truly motherly affection
and having in her care, the work of our salvation,
she is solicitous about the whole human race.
And since, she has been appointed by God,
to be the Queen of Heaven and Earth
and is exalted above all the Choirs of Angels and Saints
and, even stands at the Right Hand,
of her only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
she presents our petitions in a most efficacious manner.
What she asks, she obtains.
Her pleas can never be unheard!”

Pope Pius IX (1792-1878)

Ineffabilis Deus
(which proclaimed the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception
on 8 December 1854)

Posted in "Follow Me", JESUIT SJ, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on DISCIPLESHIP, QUOTES on EVANGELISATION, QUOTES on MISSION, The KINGDOM of GOD, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 23 May – ‘… Alas! what an immense number of souls are excluded from Heaven through your fault …’

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One Minute Reflection – 23 May – Pentecost Thursday
– Acts 8:5-8; Luke 9:1-6 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“And He sent them to preach the Kingdom of God …” – Luke 9:2

REFLECTION – “Since I came here, I have had no rest. I have been from village to village and every child not yet Baptised I have Baptised… But the children would not let me say my Office or eat or rest until I had taught them some prayers. It was then that I really began to feel that of such is the Kingdom of Heaven (Mk 10:14). I could not reject so religious a request without myself being irreligious. I made a start with the Sign of the Cross and taught them the Apostles’ Creed, the Our Father and the Hail Mary. I saw, immediately, that they were very intelligent. If only there were someone to train them in the principles of Christianity, I am sure that they would be extremely good Christians.

Very many out here fail to become Christians simply because there is no-one available to make them Christian. I have very often had the notion, to go round the universities of Europe and especially, Paris and to shout aloud everywhere, like a madman and to bludgeon those people who have more learning than love, with these words: “Alas! what an immense number of souls are excluded from Heaven through your fault and thrust down to hell!”

If only those people devoted themselves to this care in the way they do to literature. Then they would be able to render God an account of their doctrine and of the talents entrusted to them! Many of them, moved by this thought and helped by meditation on the things of God, would take pains to hear what the Lord is speaking in them and, putting aside their own selfish desires and worldly matters, would put themselves fully at God’s service and call. They would indeed cry from their soul: “Lord, here I am. What would you have me do? Send me wherever you wish, even as far as India.” – St Francis Xavier (1506-1552) Jesuit Missionary (Letters 4 and 5 to Saint Ignatius Loyola).

PRAYER – O God, Thou Who on this day have taught the hearts of the faithful by the Light of the Holy Spirit, grant us by that Holy Spirit Himself, to know what is right and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the same Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, Our MORNING Offering, PENTECOST, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRAYERS to THE HOLY GHOST, The HOLY GHOST

Our Morning Offering – 23 May – Nunc, Sancte, nobis Spiritus, Come, Holy Ghost, Who ever One

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Our Morning Offering – 23 May – Pentecost Thursday

Nunc, Sancte, nobis Spiritus
Come, Holy Ghost, Who ever One
By St Ambrose (340-397)
Trans John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
Trans 1836

Come, Holy Ghost, Who ever One
Art with the Father and the Son.
Come, Holy Ghost, our souls possess
With Thy full flood of holiness.

In will and deed, by heart and tongue,
With all our powers, Thy praise be sung.
And love, light up our mortal frame,
Till others catch the living flame.

Almighty Father, hear our cry
Through Jesus Christ our Lord most high,
Who with the Holy Ghost and Thee
Doth live and reign eternally.

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint/s of the Day – 23 May – Saint Eutychius of Valcastoria (6th Century) Abbot and Confessor and Saint Florentius of Valcastoria (6th Century) Confessor

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Saint/s of the Day – 23 May – Saint Eutychius of Valcastoria (6th Century) Abbot and Confessor, Hermit and Saint Florentius of Valcastoria (6th Century) Confessor, Hermit, Miracle-worker. Also known as Eutizio and Fiorenzo. St Florentius attracts 2 additional memorils – on 1 June in Foligno and on 27 June in Norcia.

The Roman Martyrology reads: “In the territory of Norcia in Umbria, commemoration of Saint Eutizio, Abbot, who, as Pope Saint Gregory the Great recounts, first practiced a solitary life together with Saint Fiorenzo, leading many to God with their encouragement and later, governed the nearby Monastery with great holiness.”

St Gregory the Great narrates their lives in the Dialogues. There is also a legend of Eutychius of late origin, in which the events told by St Gregory are attributed to him. And what is found in the fabulous Acts of another Eutychius are also sometimes attributed to today’s Saint.

After having led a solitary life together with Florentius in the Norcia Province, Eutychius was elected Abbot of a Monastery in Valcastoria, famous in the Middle Ages which he ruled for many years and which took its name from him, even though he was not its founder.

It is believed that the arrival of Eutychius to Valcastoria and the construction of the Monastery date o the early times of the Ostrogothic invasion, i.e. after 487.

When Eutychius became the Abbot, Florentius remained alone and, suffering as a result, he prayed to the Lord to send him a companion. As soon as he left the oratory he found a bear, to which he gave the task of taking four or five goats to pasture, a job which the animal carried out with care. But four of Eutychius’ Monks, envious of Florentius’ miracles, killed the bear, causing him great pain. Eutychius went to console him but Florentius, inconsolable, asked the Lord for severe punishment of the guilty. These, struck by a mysterious illness, died miserably.

Upon Eutychius’ death, Florentius probably took himself to Foligno, where he died around 540 and where he is commemorated on 1 June. In Norcia, his Feast is 27 June. The Martyrology of Farfa, from the 16th Century commemorates both our Saints today on 23 May as Confessors. Both are registered in the Roman Martyrology on 23 May.

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Pentecost Thursday, Virgen de Gracia / Virgin of Grace, Spain (1575), St John Baptiste de Rossi and the Saints for 23 May

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Pentecost Thursday

Virgen de Gracia / Virgin of Grace, Aés, Puente Viesgo, Pas-Miera, Cantabria, Spain (1575) – 23 May:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/05/23/the-solemnity-of-pentecost-virgen-de-gracia-virgin-of-grace-aes-spain-1575-and-memorials-of-the-saints-23-may/

St John Baptiste de Rossi (1698-1764) Priest, Confessor, Preacher and Teacher.
About St John:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/05/23/saint-of-the-day-23-may-st-john-baptist-de-rossi-1698-1764/

St Basileus of Braga

St Desiderius of Langres (c 307-c 356) Martyr, the Third Bishop of Langres, France. St Desiderius is a Cephalophores (one who picks up his head, after being beheaded and walks).
His Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/05/23/saint-of-the-day-23-may-saint-desiderius-of-langres-c-307-c-356-martyr/

St Epitacius of Tuy
St Euphebius of Naples
St Eutychius of Valcastoria (6th Century) Abbot and Confessor
St Florentius of Valcastoria (6th Century) Hermit and Confessor
St Goban Gobhnena

St Guibertus of Gorze (892-962) Monk, Hemit, Founder of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre, of Gemblou at Namur , Belgium.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/05/23/saint-of-the-day-23-may-st-guibertus-of-gorze-892-962/

Saint Ivo of Chartres (1040-1116) Bishop of Chartres Confessor, Reformer, Defender of the Faith, Lawyer, Canon Lawyer, Teacher and Theologian, Writer.
(His Feast Day was altered by Vatican II – it is today 23 May, the day of his death on earth and his entrty into Heaven).
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/12/23/saint-of-the-day-23-december-saint-ivo-of-chartres-c-1040-1115/
AND:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/05/23/saint-of-the-day-23-may-saint-ivo-of-chartres-1040-1116-bishop-of-chartres-copnfessor/

St Jane Antide Thouret
Bl Leontius of Rostov

St Michael of Synnada (Died 826) Bishop, Confessor, Monk, Emmissary and Diplomat of Peace.
His Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/05/23/saint-of-the-day-23-may-saint-michael-of-synnada-died-826/

St Onorato of Subiaco
St Spes of Campi
St Syagrius of Nice

St William of Rochester (Died c 1201) Martyr, Layman – Patron of adopted children.
His Life and Death
https://anastpaul.com/2019/05/23/saint-of-the-day-23-may-st-william-of-rochester-died-c-1201-martyr/

Martyrs of Béziers: 20 Mercedarian Friars murdered by Huguenots for being Catholic. Martyrs. 1562 at the Mercedarian convent at Béziers, France.

Martyrs of Cappadocia: A group of Christians tortured and Martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian and Galerius. Their names and the details of their lives have not come down to us. They were crushed to death in c.303 in Cappadocia (in modern Turkey).

Martyrs of Carthage: When a civil revolt erupted in Carthage in 259 during a period of persecution by Valerian, the procurator Solon blamed it on the Christians, and began a persecution of them. We know the names and a few details about 8 of these martyrs – Donatian, Flavian, Julian, Lucius, Montanus, Primolus, Rhenus and Victorius. They were beheaded in 259 at Carthage (modern Tunis, Tunisia).

Martyrs of Mesopotamia: A group of Christians Martyred in Mesopotamia in persecutions by imperial Roman authorities. Their names and the details of their lives have not come down to us. They were suffocated over a slow fire in Mesopotamia.

Martyrs of North Africa: A group of 19 Christians Martyred together in the persecutions of the Arian Vandal King Hunneric for refusing to deny the Trinity. We know little more than a few of their names – Dionysius, Julian, Lucius, Paul and Quintian. c