Day: December 3, 2024

Posted in ADVENT REFLECTIONS, Meditations for ADVENT, QUOTES on DIVINE PROVIDENCE, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on HOPE, QUOTES on WATCHING, The SECOND COMING

Thought for the Day – 3 December – The Announcement of His Coming

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 3 December – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

Meditations for Advent
From “The Devout Year”
By Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

The Announcement of His Coming

“+1. For a short time after their creation our first parents lived in perfect peace and happiness in the Garden of Eden. If they had continued obedient to the authority of their Creator, during
their whole time of probation, there would have been no need for the advent of the Son of God as their Redeemer from sin, for sin there would have been none.
It was their deliberate rebellion which was the occasion that determined the visit of the Word to this world of ours. No
wonder that the Church sings, O felix culpa! O happy transgression which earned a Redeemer such as this!
Admire God’s wonderful Providence in thus bringing good out of evil and advantage to man for his very sin!

+2. The promise made was couched in words which gave no immediate prospect of the crushing of the serpent’s head and the destruction of his power. It left the curse of sin upon the earth and its inhabitants and announced the sorrows which would accompany them through their time of sojourn here. This law still holds. Christ came to abolish sin but not its temporal consequences.
He who sins shall suffer, is a law which Christ fulfilled and in no way destroyed.

+3. Yet, the promise of a Redeemer rekindled the light of hope in the souls of Adam and Eve. They and all their children, were ever looking and praying for His Coming. God’s intention was to keep them in expectancy. So too, with His Second Coming. There has always been a tradition of expectation. “Blessed is the man whom his Lord , when He cometh, shall find watching.”
Hence, learn to watch and pray.
Come quickly , O Lord Jesus!”

Posted in "Follow Me", GOD ALONE!, JESUIT SJ, QUOTES on EDUCATION, QUOTES on EVANGELISATION

Quote/s of the Day – 3 December – St Francis Xavier SJ (1506-1552)

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Quote/s of the Day – 3 December – St Francis Xavier SJ (1506-1552) Confessor

“Would to God that these men who laboUr so much
in gaining knowledge, would give as much thought
to the account, they must one day give to God,
of the use they have made of their learning
and of the talents entrusted to them!”

“Tell the students to give up their small ambitions
and come eastward to preach the Gospel of Christ.”

MORE:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/12/03/quote-s-of-the-day-3-december-st-francis-xavier-5/

St Francis Xavier (1506-1552)

Posted in JANUARY month of THE MOST HOLY NAME of JESUS, MIRACLES, ON the SAINTS, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on PRIESTS, the PRIESTHOOD and CONSECRATED LIFE, QUOTES on SACRED SCRIPTURE, The HOLY NAME, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 3 December – ‘ … Even today! …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 3 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – St Francis Xavier SJ (1506-1552) Confessor – Romans 10:10-18, Mark 16:15-18 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“And these signs shall follow them who believe: In My Name they shall cast out devils. They shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents and, if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay their hand upon the sick and they shall recover.” – Mark 16:17-18

REFLECTION – “The Lord said to the Eleven: “And these signs shall follow them who believe: In My Name they shall cast out devils. They shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents and, if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay their hand upon the sick and they shall recover.” In the primitive Church all the signs the Lord lists here, were fulfilled to the letter, not only by the Apostles but, many other of the Saints. The Gentiles would not have abandoned the worship of idols if the Gospel preaching had not been confirmed with so many signs and wonders. Indeed, did not the disciples preach “a Crucified Christ, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,” according to Saint Paul’s saying? (1 Cor 1:23) …

As for us, from now, on signs and wonders are no longer needed, it is enough for us to read or hear an account of those which have happened. For we believe in the Gospel, we believe in the Scriptures which relate them. And yet, signs still take place daily and, if we would mark them well, we would acknowledge that they have far more worth than the concrete miracles of former times.

Every day Priests administer Baptism and call to conversion – is not this to cast out demons? Every day they speak a new language when they explain holy Scripture by replacing the old letter with the newness of its spiritual sense. They put serpents to flight, when they free sinners’ hearts from their attachment to evil with gentle exhortation … They cure the sick, when they reconcile weak souls to God with their prayers. Such are the signs the Lord had promised his Saints – it is these they accomplish even today!” – St Bruno of Segni O.Cart. (c1030 -1101) Cistercian Bishop (Commentary on Saint Mark’s Gospel).

PRAYER – O God, Thou Who were pleased to gather into Thy Church the peoples of the Indies by the preaching and miracles of blessed Francis, mercifully grant that we, who honour his glorious merits, may also imitate the example of his virtues. 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 GOD ALONE!, JESUIT SJ, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 3 December – I Love Thee, God, I Love Thee By St Francis Xavier (1

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 3 December – St Francis Xavier SJ (1506-1552) Confessor

I Love Thee, God, I Love Thee
By St Francis Xavier (1506-1552)
Translated by Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ (1844-1889)

I love Thee, God, I love Thee—
Not out of hope for Heaven for me
Nor fearing not to love and be
in the everlasting burning.
Thou, my Jesus, after me
Didst reach Thine arms out dying,
For my sake suffered nails and lance,
Mocked and marred countenance,
Sorrows passing number,
Sweat and care and cumber,
Yea and death and this for me,
And Thou could see me sinning.
Then I, why should not I love Thee,
Jesu so much in love with me?
Not for Heaven’s sake, not to be
Out of hell by loving Thee,
Not for any gains I see,
But just the way that Thou didst me
I do love and will love Thee.
What must I love Thee, Lord, for then?
For being my King and God.
Amen

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 3 December – St Abbo of Auxerre (Died c860) Bishop

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Saint of the Day – 3 December – St Abbo of Auxerre (Died c860) Bishop, Monk and Abbot. Died ion 3 December n c860 of natural causes. Also known as – Abbone, Abbon.

In some records Abbo appears as the Bishop of Auzerre in the 35th place, in others in36th. He governed the Diocese in the second half of the 9th Century. In the list of Bishops, of the “Liber Episcopalis” in which brief biographical notes and chronological data have been provided, Abbo appears after Saint Eribaldus, who was his brother and before the blessed Christian.

There is little information about him. Abbo embraced religious life from a young age by entering the Benedictine Monastery of Saint Jerome in Auxerre. In that Monastery he also held the office of Abbot for two years.

In the year 857 he was elected as the Bishop of Auxerre, succeeding his brother Saint Eribaldus. He participated in two Councils – that of Metz on 28 May 859 and that of Savonnièrres on 14 June of the same year.

His government of the Diocese was only around three years long
He retired from the Office prior to his death and already in the acts of the Synod of Thusey which took place in October 860, there is the signature of his successor, the blessed Christian.

Saint Abbo died on 3 December 860. At the recognition of his Relics,, made in the 17th Century, his body was found almost intact. At this time it is mentioned that his Feast Day was celebrated on 3 December. (Source: Mauro Bonato, https://www.santiebeati.it).

Posted in JESUIT SJ, MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

Vergine di Montesanto / Our Lady of the Holy Mountain, Rome (1659), The 5th Day of the Immaculate Conception Novena, St Francis Xavier and the Saints for 3 December

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Novena in Honour of the Immaculate Conception
of the Blessed Virgin Mary: LINK to the Fifth Day – THE FIFTH DAY – 3 December

Vergine di Montesanto / Our Lady of the Holy Mountain, Rome, Italy (1659) – 3 December:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/12/03/vergine-di-montesanto-our-lady-of-the-holy-mountain-rome-italy-1659-and-memorials-of-the-saints-3-december/

St Francis Xavier SJ (1506-1552) Confessor, Priest, Missionary, co-Founder with St Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) and St Peter Faber (1506-1546) of the Society of Jesus. One of the Greatest Missionaries since St Paul. St Francis was Canonised on 12 March 1622 by Pope Gregory XV. His body is incorrupt.
Glorious St Francis!:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/12/03/saint-of-the-day-3-december-st-francis-xavier-sj-1506-1552-confessor/
AND:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/12/03/saint-of-the-day-3-december-st-francis-xavier-sj-1506-1552-one-of-the-greatest-missionaries-since-st-paul/

St Abbo of Auxerre (Died c860) Bishop
St Abran
St Agapius
St Agricola of Pannonia
St Anthemius of Poitiers
St Attalia of Strasbourg
Bl Bernard of Toulouse OP Martyr

St Birinus of Dorchester (c 660-650) Bishop, “Apostle to the West Saxons,” Benedictine Monk.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/12/03/saint-of-the-day-3-december-st-birinus-of-dorchester-c-660-650/

St Cassian of Tangiers
St Claudius of Africa
St Claudius the Martyr
St Crispin of Africa
St Edward Coleman
St Eloque of Lagny

St Emma of Bremen (c975–1038) Married Laywoman, Princess, Mother and Widow, Apostle of the poor, founder of Churches.
About St Emma:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/12/03/saint-of-the-day-3-december-saint-emma-of-bremen-c-975-1038/

St Ethernan
St Hilaria the Martyr
St Jason the Martyr
St John of Africa
St Lucius, King
St Lucy the Chaste
St Magina of Africa
St Mamas
St Marcos García Rodríguez
St Maurus the Martyr

St Mirocles (Died c316) Confessor, the 6th Bishop of Milan from before 313 to c316. Mirocles was one of the originators of the Ambrosian Liturgy and Chant. The Roman Martyrology reads: “At Milan, St Mirocles, Confessor and Bishop, sometimes mentioned by St Ambrose.”
His Zealous Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/12/03/saint-of-the-day-3-december-saint-mirocles-died-c316-confessor-bishop/

St Seleucus
St Stephen of Africa
St Theodore of Alexandria
St Theodulus of Edessa
St Veranus
Zephaniah the Prophet

Martyrs of Nicomedia: Christians Martyred together in the persecutions of Diocletian – Ambicus, Julius and Victor. c 303 in Nicomedia, Bithynia (modern Izmit, Turkey).