One Minute Reflection – 26 November – “The Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory” – St Sylvester Gozzolini OSB Silv. (1177– 1267) Priest, Abbot – Ecclesiasticus 45:1-6; Matthew 19:27-29 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“And everyone who has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s Sake, shall receive a hundredfold and shall possess life everlasting.” – Matthew 19:29
REFLECTION – “You have heard, my brethren that Peter and Andrew abandoned their nets to follow the Redeemer at the first sound of His Voice (Mt 4:20) … Perhaps someone will say to himself, under his breath, “What have those two fisherman abandoned to answer the Lord’s call? They had practically nothing.” But, in this matter we should think of their disposition of heart, rather than their fortune. The person who has not kept hold of anything for himself, has left a good deal; the person who has forsaken everything, has left a good deal, even if it is but small.
As for ourselves, we passionately hold onto what we possess and what we do not have, we pursue with all our desire. Indeed, Peter and Andrew left a great deal, since both forsook even the desire to possess. They forsook a great deal because, in giving up their goods, they also gave up their covetousness. In following the Lord, they gave up everything they might have desired, if they had not followed Him.” – St Gregory the Great (540-604) Pope, Father and Doctor of the Church (Sermon 5 on the Gospel).
PRAYER – Most merciful God, Who when the holy Abbot Sylvester was devoutly meditating upon the vanity of this world beside an open grave, graciously willed to call him into the desert and enrich him with unusual merits, we humbly pray that, following his example, despising the things of earth, we may thoroughly enjoy Thy everlasting presence. 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).
AnaStpaul 