Posted in GOD ALONE!, HOW to PRAY at ALL TIMES, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS

Thought for the Day – 7 November – GOD WISHES US TO SPEAK TO HIM WITH CONFIDENCE AND FAMILIARITY

Thought for the Day – 7 November – Meditations with Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

“How to Pray at All Times”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

GOD WISHES US TO SPEAK TO HIM
WITH CONFIDENCE AND FAMILIARITY
Excerpt from Chapter One

“Bear well in mind, you have neither friend, nor brother, nor father, nor mother, nor spouse, nor lover, who loves you more than God.
Divine grace is that great treasure whereby we, vile creatures and poor servants, become the dear friends of our Creator Himself : For it is an Infinite Treasure to men, for they who use it, become the friends of God (Wis 7:14).
In order to fill our hearts with confidence, He emptied Himself, as St Paul says (Phil 2:7), abasing Himself to our level and conversing familiarly with us. … He went as far as to become an Infant, to become poor, to die publicly on a cross; He went as far as to hide Himself under the appearance of bread, in order to become our constant Companion and to unite Himself intimately to us: He who eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me and I in him (John 6:57).

In a word, He loves you as though He had no-one else to love but you alone.
You, too, should love Him alone and all others for His Sake.
Of Him you may say and, indeed, you should say: My Beloved to me and I to Him (Cant, 2:16). My God has given Himself all to me and I give myself all to Him; He has chosen me for His beloved and I choose Him, above all others, for my only Love.

Say, then, to Him, often:

O my Lord! wherefore dost Thou love me thus? What good thing dost Thou see in me? Hast Thou forgotten the injuries I have done Thee? But since Thou hast treated me so lovingly and, instead of casting me into hell, hast granted me so many favours, Whom can I desire to love from this day forward but Thee, my God, my all? … Thou art the God of my heart and the God Who is my portion forever (Ps. 72:25). Thou alone art and shalt be forever, the only Lord of my heart, of my will; Thou my only good, my heaven, my hope, my love, my all: ‘The God of my heart and the God Who is my portion forever.’”

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DEVOTIO, DOCTORS of the Church, DOMINICAN OP, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, GOD ALONE!, HOLY COMMUNION, Holy Name PRAYERS, INDULGENCES, JANUARY month of THE MOST HOLY NAME of JESUS, PAPAL PRAYERS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on CONSOLATION, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on PURITY, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, ROSARY QUOTES, ROSARY REFLECTIONS and QUOTES, The HOLY NAME, The WILL of GOD

Quote/s of the Day – 7 November – The Feast of All Saints of the Order of Preacher

Quote/s of the Day – 7 November – The Feast of All Saints of the Order of Preacher

Speak only with God
or about God.

None who persevered in devotion
to the Holy Rosary, will be condemned.

St Dominic (1170-1221)

Your purity of life, your devotion,
deserve and call for a reward
because you are acceptable
and pleasing to God.
Your purity of life must be made purer still,
by frequent buffetings,
until you attain perfect sincerity of heart.
If, from time to time, you feel the sword
falling upon you with double or treble force,
this also should be seen as sheer joy
and the mark of love!

St Raymond of Peñafort (1175-1275)

Faith in Jesus and in the power of His Holy Name
is the greatest spiritual force in the world today.
It is a source of joy and inspiration in our youth;
of strength in our manhood,
when only His Holy Name and His grace,
can enable us to overcome temptation;
of hope, consolation
and confidence at the hour of our death,
when more than ever before,
we realise, that the meaning of Jesus is
‘Lord, the Saviour.’
We should bow in reverence to His Name
and submission to His Holy Will.

Bl Henry Suso OP (1290-1365)

“Love takes up,
where knowledge leaves off.

If then, you are looking for the way
by which you should go,
take Christ, for He, Himself, is the Way.”

St Thomas Aquinas OP (1225-1274)
Doctor Angelicus / Doctor Communis

When troubled by temptations,
raise up your heart and soul to God,
humbly beseeching Him
to turn them to His greater glory
and to your salvation,
supporting the temptations
as long as it shall please Him
and imploring Him, to grant you grace,
never to offend Him.

St Vincent Ferrer OP (1350-1419)

O Divine Jesus!
Lonely in So Many Tabernacles
By St Pope Pius X (1835-1914)
Pope of the Blessed Sacrament”
(St Pius X was elected to the Chair of St Peter
on the Feast of St Dominic
and became a ‘Protector’ of the Order
).

O Divine Jesus!
Lonely today in so many Tabernacles,
without visitor or worshipper,
I offer Thee my lonely heart.
May it’s every beat be a prayer of love to Thee.
Thou are ever watching under the Sacramental Veils,
in Thou love, Thou never sleeps
and Thou are never weary of Thy vigils for sinners.
O Loving Jesus!
O Lonely Jesus!
may my heart be a lamp,
the light of which shall burn and beam
for Thee alone.
Watch, Sacramental Sentinel!
Watch for the weary world,
for the erring soul
and for Thy poor lonely child.

O Jesus, my God, I adore Thee,
here present in the Sacrament of Thy love.
Amen

Indulgences:
100 days each time before the Tabernacle
300 days each time before the Blessed Sacrament Exposed
(St Pope Pius X – 3 July 1908)
Prayers to the Sacred Heart

15th Ed 1936

MORE DOMINICAN QUOTES:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/11/07/quote-s-of-the-day-7-november-st-dominic-and-his-ops/

Posted in DOMINICAN OP, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on PERSECUTION, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on THE WORLD, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 7 November – ‘ … Rejoice, ardent travellers …’

One Minute Reflection – 7 November – “The Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory” – Within the All Saints Octave and the Feast of all the Dominican Saints – Apocalypse 7:2-12, Matthew 5:1-12 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in Heaven.” – Matthew 5:12

REFLECTION – “Rejoice in the Lord without ceasing (cf Phil 4:4), my dear children. I beg you rejoice, citizens of Heaven but exiles on earth, inhabitants of the Jerusalem on high (cf Gal 4:26) but banished from affairs here below, inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven but disinherited from taking any part at all, in earthly pleasures! Rejoice, ardent travellers, at undergoing exile and maltreatment in a foreign land in the name of the commandment of God! Rejoice, you who are last in this world but lords of blessings which exceed our understanding (cf Phil 4:7).

Rejoice, noble company, brought together by God, assembly united in heart and soul, who give life to filial and fraternal love, a replica on earth of the Host of Angels! … Rejoice, God’s workers, apostolic men. … Rejoice, you who set your joy in each other, each making his own the reputation of his brother, you in whom is found neither jealousy, rivalry nor envy but, in their place, peace and charity and life in common. In truth, I do not say that we are not attacked – indeed, who is crowned if not the one who struggles and fights, who exchanges thrusts and wounds with his assailants? – but, I say, we should not let ourselves be brought down by the machinations of Satan.

Yes, my children, assembly of God, nourish yourselves with the food of the Spirit and drink the water given by the Lord; whoever comes to possess this water will never thirst again but it will become, in Him, a spring of living water welling up to eternal life (cf Jn 4:14). … Yet a little while and we shall have vanquished. And blessed shall we be; blessed also, it shall be said, are the places, family and countries which have borne you (cf Lk 11:27-28).” – St Theodore the Studite (759-826) – (Catechesis 47The Great Catecheses)

PRAYER – Almighty, eternal God, Who granted us to honour the merits of all Thy Saints in a single solemn festival, bestow on us, we beseech Thee, through their manifold intercession, that abundance of Thy mercy for which we yearn. 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 BREVIARY Prayers, CATHOLIC TIME, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, DOCTORS of the Church, DOMINICAN OP, EUCHARISTIC, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, EUCHARISTIC ADORATION and Nocturnal, FATHERS of the Church, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, PRAYERS of the SAINTS

Our Morning Offering – 7 November – Lauda Sion Salvatorem, (Excerpt) By St Thomas Aquinas OP

Our Morning Offering – 7 November – “The Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory” – On Thursday we devote our hearts and souls to the most holy Eucharist. The Eucharist is the greatest Gift of God to mankind, as it is nothing less than Jesus Himself. Therefore today too, we pray for our Priests AND as today is the Feast Day of All the Saints of the Order of Preachers or the Dominicans, we pray a prayer by one of their greatest sons.

Lauda Sion Salvatorem
Sion, Lift Up thy Voice and Sing

(Excerpt)
By St Thomas Aquinas OP (1225-1274)
Doctor Angelicus / Doctor Communis

Sion, lift thy voice and sing,
Praise thy Saviour and thy King,
Praise with hymns thy Shepherd true,
Dare thy most to praise Him well,
For He doth all praise excel,
None can ever reach His due.

Special theme of praise is Thine,
That true living Bread divine,
That life-giving flesh adored,
Which the brethren twelve received,
As most faithfully believed,
At the Supper of the Lord.

Let the chant be loud and high,
Sweet and tranquil be the joy
Felt to-day in every breast;
On this festival divine
Which recounts the origin
Of the glorious Eucharist.

St Thomas Aquinas wrote the Liturgy for Corpus Christi when Pope Urban IV added the Solemnity to the universal Church’s Liturgical calendar in 1264. He provided a great sequence, one of the great poems chanted or recited before the proclamation of the Gospel.
Lauda Sion is one of only four medieval sequences which were preserved in the Roman Missal published in 1570 following the Council of Trent (1545–1563)—the others being Victimae Paschali Laudes (Easter), Veni Sancte Spiritus (Pentecost) and Dies irae (requiem masses).
(A fifth, Stabat Mater, would later be added in 1727.)
Before Trent, many feasts had their own sequences. The existing versions were unified in the Roman Missal promulgated in 1570.
The Lauda Sion is still sung today as solemn Eucharistic hymn, though its use is optional in the post-Vatican II Ordinary form.
As with St Thomas’s other three Eucharistic Hymns, the last few stanzas of the Lauda Sion are often used alone, in this case, to form the “Ecce Panis Angelorum”.

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 7 November – Blessed Lucia of Settefonti (Died 12th Century) Virgin

Saint of the Day – 7 November – Blessed Lucia of Settefonti (Died 12th Century) Consecrated Virgin, Nun, Abbess. Born as Lucia Chiari, near Bologna, Italy and died at Settefonti in the same vicinity of natural causes.

The legendary tale of the beautiful Lucia takes place in the 12th Century in Bologna. A little girl is born into the noble Chiari family. Her mother, who is very religious, teaches her to love Jesus. Lucia grows into a beautiful girl with blond hair. Everyone admires her and the boys dream of marrying her but Lucia decides to Consecrate herself to Jesus and wear the habit of a cloistered Nun forever.

Lucia entered the Monastery in Settefonti, near Bologna. These are years in which the City is tormented by the struggles between the Guelphs (loyal to the Pope) and the Ghibellines (loyal to the Emperor). A Knight from Bologna, Count Diotagora Fava, called Rolando, sees Lucia in Church before she has taken her vows and falls in love with her.

In order to meet her, he asks to be lodged in the Castle of Ozzano (Bologna). Every morning he travels an arduous path to go to the Church where Lucia, who has by now, become the Abbess, goes to Mass with the other Nuns. Every morning, Rolando, waits for Lucia to see her. Never a word between the two, nothing but loving looks ensue. But Abbess Lucia is troubled by the handsome Knight who for months, even in winter, in the cold, snow and rain, appears every day at Mass.

Lucia becomes ill because she suffers: she wants to stay true to her vocation but she also feels she loves the Knight. Lucia no longer goes to Mass but the young man goes anyway. Lucia then decides to speak to Rolando and begs him to respect her desire to belong only to Jesus.

Rolando, in sadness and desperation, decides to fight for Christ and leaves on the Crusade to free the Holy Land from the Saracens. He is taken prisoner, chained and thrown into a cell. The Crusader has a fever and always thinks of Lucia who has so much faith in the Lord. He calls out to her, asks for help. One night he dreams of her and hears her sweet voice saying to him: “Dear Rolando, I am dead but God grants me the grace that you may be freed.”

Legend has it that when Rolando awoke, he found his chains broken. Amazed by the miracle, the Saracens let him return to Italy. Rolando went to Lucia’s Tomb in Settefonti. Here the Knight wept bitterly and left his broken chains, in memory of the miracle.

Today, Lucia’s Relics are buried in the Basilica of Sant’Andrea di Ozzano, where Rolando’s broken chains are also found. For those who wish, there is a path through the woods and hill, which takes the visitor to the places where the two young lovers of Jesus lived.

Lucia’s cult was confirmed and she was Beatified in 1779 by Pope Pius VI.

The Basilica of Sant’Andrea di Ozzano
Posted in DOMINICAN OP, MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

Within the All Saints Octave, Onze Liewe Vrou van Scherpenheuvel / Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel Belgium (17th Century) and Memorials of the Saints – 7 November

Within the All Saints Octave

Onze Liewe Vrou van Scherpenheuvel / Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel
Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, Belgium (17th Century) – Commemorated on the First Sunday after the Feast of All Saints
HERE:

https://anastpaul.com/2021/11/07/twenty-fourth-sunday-after-pentecost-the-feast-of-all-saints-of-the-order-of-preachers-onze-liewe-vrou-van-scherpenheuvel-our-lady-of-scherpenheuvel-scherpenheuvel-zichem-belgium-17th-century/

The Feast of All Saints of the Order of Preachers:
Fountain of all holiness, You stirred up in our holy brothers and sisters an extraordinary love of truth, conformity to Christ Crucified and a thirst for the salvation of souls: may we imitate them in offering You thanksgiving on account of the way of life they gave us.” — From the Intercessions at Lauds for the Feast of All Saints of the Order of Preachers.
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/11/07/thought-for-the-day-7-november-feast-of-all-dominican-saints/

St Achillas (Died 313) Bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, Confessor, Scholar particularly in Philosophy and Theology. Bishop St Theonas had Ordained him to the Priesthood and appointed Achillas as the Head of the Catechetical School of Alexandria upon the departure of St Pierius, for Rome, who we celebrated on 4 November. Born in Alexandria, Egypt and died there in 313 of natural causes.
The Roman Martyrology states of him today: “At Alexandria, blessed Achillas, a Bishop renowned for erudition, faith and purity of life.
His Holy Life:

https://anastpaul.com/2023/11/07/saint-of-the-day-7-november-saint-achillas-died-313-bishop-confessor/

St Amarand
St Amaranthus

Blessed Anthony Baldinucci SJ (1665-1717) Priest of the Society of Jesus, Preacher, Writer and Missionary. Fr Baldinucci was Beatified by Pope Leo XIII on 25 March 1893.
Biography here:

https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/11/07/saint-of-the-day-blessed-anthony-baldinucci-s-j-1665-1717/

St Athenodorus of Neo-Caesarea
St Auctus of Amphipolis
St Baud of Tours
St Blinlivet
St Congar

St Engelbert of Cologne (c1185-1225) Archbishop Martyr, Count, Guardian and Chancellor of the Empire on behalf of the young King, protector of the Monasteries and religious Orders, Apostle of the poor.
His Life and Death:

https://anastpaul.com/2021/11/07/saint-of-the-day-7-november-saint-engelbert-of-cologne-c-1185-1225/

St Ernest of Mecca

St Florentius of Strasburg (Died 693) ) the 13th Bishop of Strasburg from 618–624, Missionary, Miracle-worker, founder of Monasteries and Churches, Hermit. Born in Ireland and died in 693 in Strasburg, Germany.
Biography:

https://anastpaul.com/2022/11/07/saint-of-the-day-7-november-st-florentius-of-strasburg-died-693-t/

St Fufus Bishop and Confessor

St Gebetrude of Remiremont
St Herculanus of Perugia
St Hesychius of Mytilene
St Hieron of Mytilene
Bl Hyacinth Castañeda Puchasons
St Lazarus the Stylite
Blessed Lucia of Settefonti (Died 12th Century) Virgin
St Nicander of Mytilene
Bl Peter Ou
St Prosdocimus of Padua
St Prosdocimus of Rieti
St Raverranus of Séez
St Rufus of Metz
St Taurion of Amphipolis
St Thessalonica of Amphipolis
St Tremorus of Brittany

St Willibrord (c658 – 739) “Apostle to the Frisians,” Bishop, Missionary.
Biography:

https://anastpaul.com/2018/11/07/saint-of-the-day-7-november-st-willibrord-c-658-739-apostle-to-the-frisians/