Day: December 18, 2024

Posted in ADVENT, ADVENT REFLECTIONS, Meditations for ADVENT, QUOTES on WATCHING, The SECOND COMING

Thought for the Day – 18 December – The Uncertainty of His Coming

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Thought for the Day – 18 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 Uncertainty of His Coming

+1. Ever since Our Lord’s Ascension into Heaven , His servants have watched for His return, crying out: “Come , O Lord Jesus, come quickly!”
In the days of the Apostles, in the early ages of the Church, in mediæval times , men believed that His Coming was close at hand. In these later days, it is true, the expectancy is not as immediate as it once was but, the very fact that we think the world has still [a time] to run, may be an indication that the end is not far away.
Can I, from my heart, offer the prayer that His coming may not be long delayed?

+2. Men sometimes tell us, when six thousand years have passed, the world will have run its course and Christ will return to Judge the living and the dead.
It may be so but rash indeed is he, who ventures thus to fix the time for it is Our Lord Himself Who tells us: “Of that
day and that hour knoweth no man, nor the Angels of God but the Father only.”
One of the essential characteristics of that day will be its suddenness. Hence, learn the importance of being always ready and then you will be always safe and at peace.

+3. We may not live until the Second Coming of Christ surprises the world but, we shall liveuntil the day which is the call for us to Judgement.
That day is not far off; it may be very near and the chance is, it will either come unexpectedly, or will be preceded by a time which will be but a poor time for preparation.
I must be prepared now, I must always be prepared, for the moment when I hear the Voice of God summoning me and then, the sooner that time comes, the better for me.

Posted in CATECHESIS, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, MARIAN QUOTES, MARIAN TITLES, MOTHER of GOD, QUOTES on CHASTITY, QUOTES on HUMILITY, Quotes on SALVATION, St Francis de Sales, The ANNUNCIATION, The INCARNATION, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 18 December – Chastity and Humility

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Quote/s of the Day – 18 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – The Feast of Our Lady of Expectation

“ By a woman,
came the flood of our ills
and by a woman too,
our blessings,
have their spring.”

St Gregory Thaumaturgus (c213-c270)
“the Wonder-Worker,” Bishop, Confessor

“And Mary said,
‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be to me according to thy word.’”

Luke 1:38

“The price of our salvation
is offered to thee.
We shall be set free at once, if thou consent.
In the eternal Word of God, we all came to be
and behold, we die.
In thy brief response,
we are to be remade.
in order to be recalled to life.… Answer quickly, O Virgin.
Reply in haste to the Angel,
or rather, through the Angel to the Lord.
Answer with a word,
receive the Word of God.
Speak thine own word,
conceive the Divine Word.
Breathe a passing word,
embrace the Eternal Word!”

St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)
The Last Father and the Mellifluous Doctor

“She saw herself raised to the highest dignity
that ever was or will be, for although
it should please God to create anew many worlds,
He could never make a pure creature be greater
than the Mother of God.
Our Lady humbled herself and acknowledged herself unworthy of being raised to the high dignity
of Mother of God, therefore, she was made to be His Mother, for she had no sooner uttered the protestation of her littleness, than, having abandoned herself to Him,
by an act of incomparable charity,
she became the Mother of the Most High,
Who is the Saviour of our souls!”

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritas

Posted in ADVENT, DECEMBER - The DIVINE INFANCY and The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, EMBER DAYS, FATHERS of the Church, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, MARIAN TITLES, MOTHER of GOD, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on PURITY, The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, The INCARNATION, The REDEMPTION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 18 December – ‘ … She indeed, is Mother of God, divinely named Mary … ‘

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One Minute Reflection – 18 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – Ember Wednesday – The Feast of Our Lady of Expectation – Isaias 7:10-15; Luke 1:26-38 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Hail, full of grace!” – Luke 1:28

REFLECTION – “The degeneration caused by sin had obscured the beauty of our original nobility. But when the mother of supreme Beauty is born, our nature finds its purity once more and sees itself moulded according to the perfect model, worthy of God (Gn 1:26)… We had all preferred the world below, to that above. There no longer remained any hope of salvation. The state of our nature cried aloud to Heaven to come to the rescue … Then, at last, in His good pleasure, the world’s Divine Artificer determined to make a new world appear, a different world full of harmony and youth.

Now was it not fitting, that a most pure virgin without stain, should place herself at the service of this mysterious plan, first of all?… And where was this virgin to be found, if not in this woman, alone of her kind, chosen by the world’s Creator before all generations? Yes, she indeed, is Mother of God, divinely named Mary, whose womb gave birth to God Incarnate and whom, He Himself had supernaturally prepared, as His Temple…

In this way, then, the design of the Redeemer of our race was to bring about a birth and, as it were, a new creation to replace the one which went before. Therefore, just as in Paradise, He had taken a little clay out of the pure and spotless earth, to fashion the first Adam (Gn 2:7), so, at the moment of bringing about His Own Incarnation, He made use of another earth, so to speak, namely, this Pure and Immaculate Virgin, chosen from among all other beings He had created. It is in her that He, Adam’s Creator, has remade us in our very substance and become a new Adam (1 Cor 15:45), that the old might be saved by the New and Eternal!” – St Andrew of Crete (660-740) Bishop (Sermon 1 for the Nativity of the Mother of God ; PG 97, 812).

PRAYER – O God, Who, by the message of an Angel, willed to take flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, grant that we, Thy suppliants, who believe her to be truly, the Mother of God, may be helped by her intercession with Thee. 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 ADVENT PRAYERS, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, MARIAN POETRY, MARIAN PRAYERS, MARIAN TITLES, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, PRAYERS to the DIVINE INFANT JESUS

Our Morning Offering – 18 December – Awaiting Baby Jesus

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Our Morning Offering – 18 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – The Feast of Our Lady of Expectation

Awaiting Baby Jesus
Traditional Catholic Advent Prayer

My heart is beating,
filled with joy,
awaiting Mary’s Baby Boy.
For with this Child, we embrace
the birth of God’s
most precious grace.
Baby Jesus, soon to come!
For us comes the Promised One.
Baby Jesus, God’s own Son,
Thou will be the Chosen One
to lead Thy flock unto salvation.
Our eternal life awaits.
The birth of Jesus brings us nearer
Heaven’s Holy Gates.
Sing with joy
and count the days,
for soon to come,
the Lord we’ll praise.
Rejoice that Jesus
will soon arrive,
the Messiah and our faith alive.
Amen

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 18 December – Saint Samthann (Died 739) Virgin, Abbess

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Saint of the Day – 18 December – Saint Samthann (Died 739) Virgin, Abbess of the Monastery she had founded, Clonbroney. Born in Ireland and died at her Convent Clonbroney in 739. Also known as – Samthan, Samthana, … of Clonbroney.

The ‘Life of Samthann’ is known mainly from an early 14th-Century manuscript. Below is taken from this ‘Life of Saint Samthann’ from a translation by two Irish Priests, Fathers Diamuid O’Laoghaire and Peter O’Dwyer:

Samthann’s father’s name was Diamramus and her mother’s Columba. As she matured her foster-father, Cridan, King of the Ui Coirpri, gave her in marriage to a nobleman. Before the marriage solemnities were celebrated, the nobleman saw, at midnight, something like a ray of the sun, extended through the roof of the house, onto the bed in which Samthann was sleeping with the King’s two daughters. Amazed by the unusual vision of light at such an hour, he rose immediately and, advancing toward his spouse’s bed, found that her face was illumined by that ray. He was very happy to be gifted with a spouse who was surrounded by heavenly light.

The following night, when the solemnities had been celebrated, both were entering the marriage bed, as is customary … but before the consumation of the marriage, … tiredness overcame Cridan. Then Samthann gave herself to prayer, knocking at the doors of Divine Mercy beseeching God might keep her virginity unblemished. And God heard her prayer, for at about midnight that Town in which they lived seemed to outsiders to be on fire. A flame of extraordinary magnitude was seen ascending from the mouth of the holy virgin to the roof of the house. A mighty cry was raised outside in the Town and those who were asleep within, were awakened. Together, they hastened to extinguish the fire.

In the meantime the holy virgin Samthann hid herself in a cluster of ferns nearby. The fire vanished immediately without doing any damage. When morning came, her foster-father, the King, set out to look for her. When he found her, she begged him to change his decision and allow her to marry her only true Spouse, the King of Heaven. Then the King said, “We offer you to God, the Spouse Whom you choose.” Then she, with her husband’s permission, entered the Monastery of the virgin Cognat where she remained for a time.

Later Samthann became the Abbess of the Convent of Clonbroney. Many miracles were attributed to her. When a worker hired by Samthann to build an Oratory silently wished for himself and his co-workers, a feast of forty bread loaves with butter, cheese and milk, he was soon awed to see this dream meal brought to them.Smiling at his astonishment, Samthann said to him, “The thought of your heart is fulfilled, is it not?”

St Samthan had founded Clonbroney (Cluain-Bronach) Abbey in County Longford, a house which refused large donations, for fear of losing the simplicity of their lives.

Her cultus was promoted by Saint Virgilius of Salzburg. Her name is in both the Litany and the Canon of the Irish Stowe missal which had been compiled in thelate 8th or early 9th Century.

The Cover of the Stowe Missal
Posted in EMBER DAYS, MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

Ember Wednesday, Novenas- Day Three, Our Lady of the Expectation and the Saints celebrated on 18 December

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EMBER WEDNESDAY: Fast and Abstinence
https://anastpaul.com/2020/12/16/today-is-an-ember-day-did-you-remember/

Christmas Novena to the Christ Child – Day Three: THE THIRD DAY

The Monthly Novena to the Infant of Prague – LINK : The Third Day

Our Lady of the Expectation – This Feast originated in Spain. When the Feast of the Annunciation (25 March) was transferred to 18 December because of the regulation forbidding Feasts in Lent, it remained on this date after the Annunciation was again celebrated on its original date. It impressed on the faithful, the sentiments of the Blessed Virgin as the time of her delivery approached.
More about the Feast here:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/12/18/the-feast-of-our-lady-of-expectation-18-december/

St Auxentius of Mopsuetia (Died c 321) Bishop of Mopsuestia, Southern Turkey, ex-Office in the Roman Army.
A Shepherd’s Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/12/18/saint-of-the-day-18-december-saint-auxentius-of-mopsuetia-died-c-321-bishop/

St Basilian of Laodicea
St Bodagisil of Aquitaine
St Desiderius of Fontenelle

St Flannán of Killaloe (7the Century) Bishop, Abbot, Missionary to the Hebrides Islands, renowned for his preaching.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/12/18/saint-of-the-day-18-december-saint-flannan-of-killaloe-7th-century/

St Flavitus (Died 630) Priest, Hermit, Miracle-worker:
His Life of Mortifications and Holiness:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/12/18/saint-of-the-day-18-december-st-flavitus-died-630-priest-hermit/

St Gatian of Tours (c 251-301) The founding Bishop of the See of Tours, Missionary..
About St Gatian:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/12/18/saint-of-the-day-18-december-saint-gatian-of-tours-c-251-301/


St Mawnan of Cornwall – He is lincluded in various calendars in the British Isles. A Town in the County of Cornwall is named for him. No reliable information about his life has survived.
St Rufus of Philippi+
St Samthann (Died 739) Virgin, Founder Abbess
St Theotimus of Laodicea– Martyr. No further information has survived.

St Winebald OSB (c 701-761) Benedictine Priest, Abbot, Confessor, Missionary, Founder of many Monasteries, disciple of St Boniface.
St Winebald’s Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/12/18/saint-of-the-day-18-december-saint-winebald-osb-c-701-761/

St Zosimus of Philippi+

Mercedarians Redeemers – Also known as “Blessed Redentori.”
A group of Mercedarian Friars who worked together, under the leadership of Saint Peter de Amer, to ransom prisoners and minister to them after.
Blessed Bernardo de Pratis
Blessed Giacomo de Lara
Blessed Louis Gasco
Blessed Peter de Quesada
Blessed Peter of Barcelona
Blessed William de Quadres

Martyrs of Northwest Africa – 42 Saints:
Mercedarian Redeemers – 6 beati – These are a group of Mercedarian Friars who worked together, under the leadership of Saint Peter de Amer, to ransom (e.g., redeem) prisoners and minister to them after.