Day: July 2, 2024

Posted in HUMILITY-Fr Richard Clarke, PURGATORY, QUOTES on PRIDE, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The WILL of GOD

Thought for the Day – 2 July – Humility under Trials

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Thought for the Day – 2 July – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

HUMILITY
Meditations for a Month

Humility under Trials

When God lays His heavy Hand upon us, we have an excellent opportunity of exercising the virtue of humility and of making great progress in it. There is nothing like a good knockdown blow, for teaching us our own nothingness and for schooling us in submission to God.
If we take the chastisement well and do not allow ourselves to rebel against the Will of God but rather make it an occasion for humbling ourselves the more in His sight, we shall acquire more grace from God and advance more in perfection in a day, than in months of prosperity and spiritual consolation.
How do I bear the trials God sends — well, or ill?

When the time of darkness is upon us and the gloom seems almost intolerable, there is no harm in praying for release from our misery or that God may avert some threatened blow but, the petition must always be accompanied by an act of humility,
“Not my will, but Thine be done!”
If we are patient, God will certainly send us speedy relief; just when we least expect it, peace will be restored to our souls.

Those trials are intended by God to cleanse our souls and to root out the pride which still lurks there, unnoticed by us.
The best prayer for us to offer under them and indeed, at all times and at all seasons, is to cry out to God,
“Humble me, O God and I shall be humbled. Burn out of me now, in this life, all that displeases Thee that I may not have to endure the burning of the life to come!”
Happy are those who in all trouble can offer this prayer!

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, Hail MARY!, MARIAN PRAYERS, MOTHER of GOD

Quote/s of the Day – 2 July – Hail, O Mary, Mother of God

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Quote/s of the Day – 2 July – The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Hail, O Mary, Mother of God
By St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444)
Father & Doctor of the Church

Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
Virgin and Mother!
Morning Star, perfect vessel.
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
Holy Temple in which God
Himself was conceived.
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
Chaste and pure dove.
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
who enclosed the One
Who cannot be encompassed
in your sacred womb.
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
From you flowed the true light,
Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
Through you the Conqueror
and triumphant Vanquisher
of hell, came to us.
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
Through you, the glory
of the Resurrection blossoms.
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
You have saved every faithful Christian.
Hail, O Mary, Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners now
and at the hour of our death.
Amen

Blessed Shall be Her Name
Anonymous Author

Praise we the Lord this day,
This day so long foretold,
Whose promise shone with cheering ray
On waiting saints of old.

The prophet gave the sign
That those with faith might read;
A Virgin, born of David’s line
Shall bear the promised Seed.

Ask not how this should be,
But worship and adore;
Like her whom Heaven’s majesty
Came down to shadow o’er.

She meekly bowed her head
To hear the gracious word,
Mary, the pure and lowly maid,
The favoured of the Lord.

Blessed shall be her name
In all the Church on earth,
Through whom that wondrous Mercy came,
The Incarnate Saviour’s Birth.

Jesus, the Virgin’s Son,
We praise You and adore,
Who are with God the Father One
And Spirit evermore.
Amen

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, ONE Minute REFLECTION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 2 July– ‘ … It was thou … ‘

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One Minute Reflection – 2 July– “The Month of the Most Precious Blood” – The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Song 2:8-14; Luke 1:39-47 – – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“ And how have I deserved that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” – Luke 1:43

REFLECTION – “Most blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb” … For all ages will call thee blessed, as thou said (Lk 1:48). The daughters of Jerusalem, that is to say, the Church, saw thee and proclaimed thy happiness … For thou art the royal throne near which the Angels stood contemplating their Master and Creator, Who was seated on it (Dan 7:9). Thou hast become the spiritual Eden, more sacred and more divine than the former one. The earthly Adam lived in the former, in thou lives the Lord Who came from Heaven (1 Cor 15:47). Noah’s ark was a prefiguration of thee, it saved the seed of the second creation, for thou gave birth to Christ, the world’s Salvation, Who submerged sin and pacified the floods.

It was thou whom the burning bush described ahead of time, whom the tables depicted, on which God wrote (Ex 31:18) which the Ark of the Covenant told about; it is thou whom the golden urn, the candelabra, … and Aaron’s staff which blossomed (Num 17:23) clearly prefigured. … I almost left out Jacob’s ladder. Just as Jacob saw Heaven united with the earth by means of the two ends of the ladder and the Angels descending and ascending and as the One who is really the strong and invincible One engaged in a symbolic struggle with him, thus thou, thyself, became the mediator and ladder, by which God came down to us and took upon Himself the weakness of our substance, embracing it and closely uniting it to Himself.” – St John Damascene (675-749) Monk, Theologian, Father and Doctor of the Church – Added by Pope Leo XIII in 1883 (1st Sermon on the Death and Assumption).

PRAYER – Bestow upon Thy servants, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the gift of heavenly grace that as the child-bearing of the Blessed Virgin marked the beginning of our salvation, so may the solemn Feast of her Visitation bring us an increase of peace.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 CATECHESIS, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, MARIAN DEVOTIONS, MARIAN POETRY, MARIAN PRAYERS, MARIAN QUOTES, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, QUOTES on SACRED SCRIPTURE

Our Morning Offering – 2 July– The Magnificat

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Our Morning Offering – 2 July– “The Month of the Most Precious Blood”

The Magnificat
The Canticle of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Luke 1:46-55
Indulgence 100 days

My soul doth magnify the Lord.
And my spirit hath rejoiced
in God my Saviour.
For He hath regarded the humility
of His handmaid,
for behold, from henceforth,
all generations shall call me blessed.
For He Who is mighty hath done
great things unto me: and holy is His Name.
And His mercy is from
generation to generation
unto thos who fear Him.
He hath shown strength with His Arm,
He hath scattered the proud
in the imagination of their heart.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat
and hath exalted the humble.
He hath filled the hungry with good things
and the rich He hath sent empty away.
He hath upheld His servant Israel,
being mindful of His Mercy.
As He spoke unto our fathers,
to Abraham and his seed forever.

Glory be to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Ghost
as it was in the beginning,
is now and ever shall be,
world without end!
Amen

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 2 July – St Lidanus of Sezze (1026-1118) Abbot

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Saint of the Day – 2 July – St Lidanus of Sezze (1026-1118) Abbot, Miracle-worker, Founder of the Monastery of Sezze dedicated to St Cecilia, Virgin Martyr and in memory of his own mother named for St Cecilia. Born in 1026 in Antena, today Civita d’Antino near Avezzano, Italy and died on 2 July 1118 (aged 91–92) at Murillo, today part of Sezze near Terracina in Italy. Patronage – of the City and Diocese of Sezze. Also known as – Lidanus of Antena, Lidan… Lidano…

Ruins of the St Lidanus’ birth-home
 in Civita d’Antino

Lidanus was the only son of Gentilis, from the noble House of Avellarum and of Cecilia. At the very young age of nine, he joined the Benedictine Order at Monte Cassino . In 1043 when Lidanus was 17 years old, his parents died and left him a large fortune part of which he donated to be used, to drain the Pontine Marshes in order to improve the living conditions of all in the area and, with the consent of Abbot Richerio I (1038-1055) of Montecassino, the remainder was used for the construction of a Monastery with an adjoining Church, at the foot of Mount Antoniano, in the heart of the Pontine Marshes, in the Diocese of Sezze.

The area still retains the name of St Lidanus, in fact, he lived for seventy-two years in this Monastery there, of which he had become the Abbot. Lidanus ran the Monastery and lived with his brothers in strict penance, praying, fasting and mortification. His miraculous powers were praised – for example, when the frogs in the swamp were making too much noise, he silenced them with his staff.

Lidanus died in 1118 and was buried in the Church of his Monastery, he remained there until the destruction of that Church which occurred during the struggle between Emperor Frederick II (1194-1250) and the Papacy. His Relics were translated to the Cathedral of Sezze, by will of the Bishop Drusino.

The Cathedral of Sezze

Other official documents remind us of the cult paid to him in the Pontine area – in 1312 the largest of the Cathedral Bells, was dedicated to St Lidanus and, in 1473, the City Magistrate, with a Notarial Deed, committed himself to offering, in honour of the Saint, a new silver Chalice every two years.

Pope Leo X (1475-1521) confirmed the cult and regulated the Feast established by the Statutes of the City of Sezze. In 1606, there was the recognition of the Relics, with the construction of a new Altar, completed in 1672, with a gilded wooden reliquary. Many miracles o occurr at this resting place.

St Charles of Sezze (image below), always carried with him, a Relic of our Saint and with it, blessed the sick. Pope Pius VI Canonised St Lidanus on 9 April 1791, granted the proper Office and the solemn Feast of 2. A 14th Century document, preserved in the Capitular Archive of Sezze, contains the oldest image of Lidanus with the narration of his life, he is depicted with Benedictine monastic habits, with the book of the Rule and the Abbot’s pastoral staff in his hands.

This St Charles of Sezze is a lifestory is very much worth revisiting here:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/01/06/saint-of-the-day-6-january-st-charles-of-sezze-o-f-m-1613-1670/

Posted in FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, franciscan OFM, JESUIT SJ, MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

The Feast of the Visitation of Our Lady, Notre Dame de la Visitation / Our Lady of the Visitation, Auvergne, France (1717), St Processus and Companions and the Saints for 2 July

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The Feast of the Visitation of Our Lady, instituted in 1385 by Pope Urban IV
https://anastpaul.com/2018/05/31/the-feast-of-the-visitation-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-31-may/
AND:
https://anastpaul.com/2017/05/31/feast-of-the-visitation-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-31-may/
AND:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/07/02/the-feast-of-the-visitation-of-our-lady-2-july/

Notre Dame de la Visitation / Our Lady of the Visitation, Lescure, Valuéjols, Cantal, Auvergne, France (1717) – Commemorated on the Fourth Sunday of June and/or 2 July :
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/07/02/notre-dame-de-la-visitation-our-lady-of-the-visitation-lescure-valuejols-cantal-auvergne-france-1717-and-memorials-of-the-saints-2-july/

St Processus of Rome * (Died c67) Martyr, Layman and
St Martinian of Rome * (Died c67) Martyr, Layman
Their Lives and Deaths:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/07/02/saints-of-the-day-2-july-saints-processus-and-martinian-of-rome-died-c67-martyrs/

Bl Benedict Metzler

St Bernadino Realino SJ (1530-1616) Priest of the Society of Jesus, Lawyer, Teacher, Apostle of Charity.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2017/07/02/saint-of-the-day-2-july-st-st-bernadino-realino-sj/

Servant of God Bernard of Quintavalle OFM ( Died 1q241) “The First fruits of the Minor Orders” – The First Follower of St Francis of Assisi. Bernard was his faithful and devout companion who received. from St Francis on his deathbed, custody of the Friars Minor. \he died nearly 20 years after St Francis.
Dear Bernard:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/07/02/saint-of-the-day-2-july-servant-of-god-bernard-of-quintavalle-ofm-died-1241-the-first-follower-of-st-francis-of-assisi/

Bl Giovanni da Fabriano Becchetti
St Jacques Fermin
Bl Jarich of Mariengaarde
St Jéroche
St Lidanus of Sezze (1026-1118) Abbot
St Monegundis
St Oudoceus

Blessed Peter of Luxembourg (1369-1387) Bishop and Cardinal. Because of his prudence and sanctity, at the early age of fifteen, he was appointed Bishop of Metz. He made his public entry into his See barefoot and riding on a donkey.
An Inspiring Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/07/02/saint-of-the-day-2-july-blessed-peter-of-luxembourg-1369-1387/

Bl Pietro Becchetti da Fabriano

St Swithun (c 800-863) Bishop of Winchester, Miracle-worker.
About St Swithun:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/07/02/saint-of-the-day-2-july-saint-swithun-c-800-863-bishop/

Martyred Soldiers of Rome – 3 Saints: Three soldiers who were converted at the Martyrdom of Saint Paul the Apostle. Then they were martyred, as well. We known nothing else about them but their names – Acestes, Longinus and Megistus. Martyred c68 in Rome, Italy

Martyrs in Carthage by Hunneric – 7 Saints: A group of seven Christians tortured and murdered in the persecutions of the Arian Vandal king Hunneric for remaining loyal to the teachings of orthodox Christianity. They were some of the many who died for the faith during a period of active Arian heresy. – Boniface, Liberatus, Maximus, Rogatus, Rusticus, Septimus and Servus.

Martyrs of Campania – 10 Saints: A group of ten Christians Marytred together in the persecutions of Diocletian. The only details about them to have survived are their names – Ariston, Crescention, Eutychian, Felicissimus, Felix, Justus, Marcia, Symphorosa, Urban and Vitalis. Martyred in 284 in Campania, Italy.