Day: December 20, 2024

Posted in "Follow Me", ADVENT REFLECTIONS, Meditations for ADVENT, OUR Cross, Quote on SELF-ABANDONMENT, QUOTES on Lukewarmness, QUOTES on PRIDE, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, QUOTES on Will (Sensual or Inferior), The SECOND COMING

Thought for the Day – 20 December – The Dangers of the Careless Soul

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 20 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 Dangers of the Careless Soul

+I. There is in human nature a fatal tendency to procrastinate, especially when that which we know we ought to do, is something to which we are naturally disinclined.
All men are naturally disinclined to do violence to themselves and force their pride and self-will, to yield before the sway of Christ, to put on His yoke and carry His cross.
Hence, men put off and make excuses to themselves and fancy that what is difficult to them to-day, will be easy to morrow .
O fatal mistake!
Each day that we postpone the task of submission, it becomes
more difficult, more distasteful.
Why then do I not hasten to submit myself entirely to Christ?

+2. From day-to-day, the careless soul thus goes on putting off, crying: “Tomorrow I will amend my ways” and when tomorrow comes, it still cries: “Tomorrow.” How fatal is this folly!
Tomorrow may never come, or, if it comes, you may have forfeited the grace!
“Today, if ye will hear His Voice, harden not your hearts.‘

+3. This postponement is always accompanied by some deliberate disobedience to the commands or to the holy inspirations of the Spirit of God.
Thus the careless soul becomes more engrossed in earthly things and more and more disinclined to make the necessary effort. Therefore, it is that, so many will be surprised by the Coming of their Judge at the moment when they least expect Him and are quite unprepared to meet Him.
O Jesus, save me at any cost from the deadly state of the careless soul!

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CATHOLIC Quotes, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on POVERTY, QUOTES on the POOR, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 20 December – This is My commandment … and this is that wedding garment

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Quote/s of the Day – 20 December – The Vigil of St Thomas, Apostle – Ember Friday, Third Week of Advent – Sirach 44:25-27, 45:2-4, 45:6-9; John 15:12-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“This is My commandment
that you love one another,
as I have loved you. ”

John 15:12

“Love the Lord and so,
learn to love yourselves
that when, by loving the Lord,
you shall have loved yourselves,
you may securely love
your neighbour as yourselves. …
So then, have faith with love.
This is the “wedding garment!”

St Augustine (354-430)
Father and Doctor of Grace

“Truly blessed is he who cleaves,
with his thought, to the Prayer of Jesus,
constantly calling to Him in his heart,
just as air cleaves to our bodies,
or the flame to the candle.”

St Hesychius of Jerusalem (Died c450)
Priest, Exegete, Father

“We should always love our neighbour,
as in the breast of Christ”

(The Spirit of St François de Sales II, 1)

“We must help one another,
as much as we can
and leave the rest to God.”

(Letters to Persons in Religion,I, 8)

“Love the poor and poverty,
for it is by this love
that you shall become truly poor.”

(Introduction to the Devout Life
Part III Chapter 15)

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor of the Church

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, FATHERS of the Church, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 20 December – ‘ … Such is the nature of charity. …’

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One Minute Reflection – 20 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – The Vigil of St Thomas, Apostle – Ember Friday, Third Week of Advent – Sirach 44:25-27, 45:2-4, 45:6-9; John 15:12-16 – Scripture search here:

“This is My commandment that you love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love than this no man hath that a man lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:12-13

REFLECTION – “The more we are united to our neighbour, the more we are united to God. So that you may understand the meaning of this saying, I am going to give you an picture, taken from the Fathers – imagine a circle drawn on the ground that is to say, a line drawn into a round shape, with a compass, having a centre. We refer to the middle of the circle as being the exact centre. Now, give your attention to what I am saying. Imagine that this circle is the world, its centre is God and each radius represents different ways or kinds of lifestyle. When the Saints, desiring to draw near to God, move towards the middle of the circle, then to the degree to which they penetrate further into its interior, they draw closer to each other, even as they draw closer to God. The closer they draw to God, the closer they draw to each other and the closer they draw to each other, the closer they draw to God.

From this you will understand that the same thing applies conversely, when we turn away from God to withdraw outside the circle – then it becomes obvious that, the more we withdraw from God, the more we withdraw from each other and, the more we withdraw from each other, the more we also withdraw from God.

Such is the nature of charity. To the extent that we stand outside and do not love God, to the same extent, each one of us stands apart, with regard to their neighbour. But, if we love God, then, insofar as we come closer to God, through our love for Him, we also participate in love of neighbour to the same extent. And insofar as we are united to our neighbour, we are equally so to God.” – St Dorotheus of Gaza (c505-c565) Abbot, Father of the Church (Instructions VI, 76-78).

PRAYER – Put forth Thy power, O Lord, we beseech Thee and delay not and with Thy great might, come to our aid, so that what is hindered by our sins, maybe hastened by Thy merciful goodness. Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen (Collect)

Posted in ADVENT PRAYERS, CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRISTMAS Prayers & Hymns, HYMNS, The DIVINE INFANT, The SECOND COMING

Our Morning Offering – 20 December – “Christ is Near!”

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 20 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary”

“Christ is Near!”
Vox clara ecce intonas
Hear the Herald Voice Resounding
Unknown Sixth Century
Trans. Fr Edward Caswell C.Orat. (1814-1878)

Hear the herald voice resounding:
“Christ is near!” it seems to say,
“Cast away the dreams of darkness,
Welcome Christ, the Light of day!”

Wakened by this solemn warning,
Let the earthbound soul arise;
Christ her Sun, all sloth dispelling,
Shines upon the morning skies.

See the Lamb so long expected,
Comes with pardon down from Heav’n;
Hasten now, with tears of sorrow,
One and all to be forgiv’n.

So when next He comes with glory,
Shrouding all the earth in fear,
May He then as our Defender
On the clouds of heav’n appear.

Honour, glory, virtue, merit,
To the Father and the Son,
With the co-eternal Spirit,
While eternal ages run.
Amen!

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 20 December – St Hoger (Died 916) Bishop

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Saint of the Day – 20 December – St Hoger (Died 916) Bishop of Hamburg-Bremen in Saxony, modern Germany where he died of natural causes on 20. Hoger was a Reformer and strict disciplinarian of the Clergy. Also known as – Hogerus, Hojerus, Holger, Hotgerns, Huggar.

Bremen Cathedral Facade showing some of it’s Saints

Hoger born in the 9th Century. He became a Monk in the Monastery of Corvey (New Corbie) at Höxter on the Weser River in Saxony, Germany.

Towards the end of the life of the holy Archbishop, Adalgar of Hamburg-Bremen, age and illness made it necessary for him to obtain an auxiliary Bishop and the choice fell on Hoger. Later, five neighbouring Bishops were assigned to assist the Archbishop in his duties.

Adalgar died on 9 May 909 and Hoger succeeded as the 4th Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen. He was known for his strict application of clerical discipline.

Shortly after his death, under his successor Reginwart (916-918), the Diocese was attacked by the Huns, who burned Bremen.

Hoger died on 20 December 916 in Bremen. He was buried in the Church of St Michael in Bremen. 120 years later, in 1036, his Relics were translated and enshrined in the Cathedral on the occasion of the recognition of his cultus as a Saint. His Feast Day is the day of his death.

Bremen Cathedral
Posted in MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

Vigil of St Thomas, Apostle, EMBER FRIDAY, Christmas Novenas – Fifth Day, Notre-Dame de Molène / Our Lady of Molene, France (1075) and the Saints for 20 December

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VIGIL OF ST THOMAS, APOSTLE

EMBER FRIDAY – Fast and Abstinence

Christmas Novena to the Divine Infant Jesus
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)
THE FIFTH DAY

The Monthly Novena to the Miraculous
Infant Jesus of Prague
The Fifth Day

Notre-Dame de Bon Retour à Île-Molène / Our Lady of Molene, France (1075) – 20 December
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/12/20/notre-dame-de-bon-retour-a-ile-molene-our-lady-of-molene-france-1075-christmas-novena-day-five-and-memorials-of-the-saints-20-december/

St Attala of Strasbourg
St Bajulus of Rome
St Crescentius of Africa
St Damian of Padua
St Dominic of Brescia

St Dominic de Silos OSB (1000-1073) Monk, Abbot. He was a Spanish Monk, to whom the Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos, where he served as the Abbot, is dedicated. The mother of the better-known Saint Dominic de Guzmán, the Blessed Joan of Aza, prayed at his Shrine before she was able to conceive the son she named for him. That son would grow up to found the Dominican Order. Dominic’s special patronage thus became connected with pregnancy and until the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, his abbatial crozier was used to bless the queens of Spain and was placed by their beds when they were in labour.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/12/20/saint-of-the-day-20-december-st-dominic-de-silos-o-s-b-c1000-1073/

St Eugene of Arabia
St Hoger (Died 916) Bishop
Bl John de Molina
St Julius of Gelduba
Bl Lorenzo Company
St Liberatus of Rome
St Macarius of Arabia
St Malou of Hautvillers
St Paul of Latra
Blessed Peter de la Cadireta

Blessed Peter Massalenus (1375-1453) Monk, Mystic
His Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/12/20/saint-of-the-day-20-december-blessed-peter-massalenus-1375-1453-monk/

St Philogonius of Antioch (Died 324) Bishop, Widower, Lawyer, Patriarch of Antioch. Defender of the true Faith against Arianism, in fact, he was one of the first to publicly denouce the heresy, Defender of the people against persecution, Ascetic.
His Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/12/20/saint-of-the-day-20-december-saint-philogonius-of-antioch-died-324/

St Thomas of Dover

St Ursicinus of Saint-Ursanne (c552-c625) Abbot, Hermit, disciple of St Columban (543-615).  Born in c552 in either France or Ireland and died on 20 December in c625 near modern St-Ursanne, Jura, Switzerland of natural causes. Patronages – against stiff neck, Besançon in France, in Switzerland – Basel, Saint-Ursanne.
A Saint Patron against a Stiff Neck!:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/12/20/saint-of-the-day-20-december-saint-ursicinus-of-saint-ursanne-c552-c625-abbot/