Thought for the Day – 21 January – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)
Meditations for Christmastide “The Holy Infancy” From “The Devout Year” By Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)
“The Return Home”
+1. At length , when it seemed as if God had almost forgotten His well-beloved Son, the summons came to return to the land of Israel An Angel appeared to Joseph with the welcome news – those who had sought the life of Jesus were dead and, therefore, they might go back in safety. Those who are willing to wait, are sure to obtain their desires. It is impatience and the restless desire for immediate relief which leads to so many disappointments. In the things of God, as in all else, it is those who wait, who win.
+2. How full of joy were the hearts of Joseph and Mary as they neared, once more, their native land! Like all the Saints, they had an intense love for their Country , their people and their home. Holy indifference does not mean that we have no natural affections for kindred and for fatherland,but that, those affections are entirely subordinate to the Will of God .
+3. If the people of Egypt knew not that their God was dwelling among them, they did know that they had, had amongst them, those who were the special friends of God. Mary and Joseph had endeared themselves to all around by their gentleness, charity, patience courtesy, humility, and thoughtful kindness to all. To these then, how terrible a grief was the departure of the Holy Family. Do I endear myself to those among whom I live?
Quote/s of the Day – 21 January – St Agnes (c 291- c 304) Virgin and Martyr –
“And He said to them: Why are you troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?” Luke 24:38
“Christ is truly the Word, the Only-begotten Son equal to the Father, united to a truly human soul and a real body, clean of all sin. This is the Body which died, the Body which rose again, this Body was fastened to the Cross, this Body laid in the tomb, this Body is seated in the Heavens. Our Lord wished to persuade His disciples that what they were seeing was truly bone and flesh… Why did He want to convince me of this truth? Because He knew, just how much it was to my own good, to have faith in it and how much I had to lose, if I did not. You too, then, have faith – it is He, the Bridegroom!”
St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of Grace
“Behold, the Bridegroom is coming, go forth to meet Him!” Matthew 25:6
“He worked and struggled as our Champion against our enemies, broke open the bars of our prison, won the struggle, vanquished our death through His Own, redeemed us through His Blood, freed us through His water in Baptism and made us rich, through His Sacraments and His gifts, so that, as He says in the Gospel (Mt 25:6), we might “go out” with all virtues to, “meet Him” in the palace of His glory and enjoy Him forever in eternity.”
Bl Jan van Ruysbroeck (1293-1381)
(The Spiritual Espousals, Prologue)
“Come, O come, for without Thee, there will be no happy day, or hour because Thou art my happiness and without Thee, my table is empty. I am wretched, as it were, imprisoned and weighted down with fetters, until Thou fills me with the Light of Thy Presence, restore me to liberty and show me a friendly Countenance.”
One Minute Reflection – 21 January – “The Month of the Holy Name of Jesus and the Holy Family” – St Agnes (c 291- c 304) Virgin and Martyr – Ecclesiasticus 51:1-8, 12; Matthew 25:1-13 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“ … The Bridegroom came and they, who were ready, went in with Him … ” – Matthew 25:10
REFLECTION – “In this world, which is to say, in the Church, wholly following Christ, He says to all of us: “Whoever wishes to come after Me must deny himself.” This command is not being directed to virgins but not married women, to widows but not wives, to Monks but not husbands, to Priests but not laity. It is the whole Church, the whole Body of Christ with all its members, differentiated and divided according to their proper functions which is, to follow Christ. May she wholly follow Him, she who is one alone, the dove, the bride (Sg 6:9); may she follow Him, she who has been redeemed and endowed with the Blood of her Bridegroom. Virginal purity has its place here; the continence of widows has its place here; wedded chastity has its place here…
These members who have their place here should follow Christ, each according to their category, each according to their status, each after its fashion. Let them deny themselves, that is to say, let them not rely on themselves. Let them carry their cross that is to say, bear, for Christ’s sake in the world, all that the world inflicts on them. May they love Him, He, the Only One, Who never deceives or is deceived, the Only One ,Who is not mistaken. May they love Him because, what He promises is true. Yet because, He does not give it to us now, our faith falters. Keep going, persevere, bear and accept this delay and you have carried His Cross!” – St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of Grace (Sermon 96:9)
PRAYER – Almighty, eternal God, Thou Who choose the weak things of the world to confound the strong, mercifully grant that we, who are celebrating the feast of blessed Agnes, Thy Virgin and Martyr, may reap the benefit ofher patronal 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).
Our Morning Offering – 21 January – “The Month of the Holy Name of Jesus and the Holy Family”
The Love of Thy Name By Thomas à Kempis CRSA (1380-1471) The Imitation of Christ (Book 3 Ch 26:1-4)
My God, Sweetness beyond words, make bitter all the carnal comfort which draws me from love of the eternal and lures me to its evil self, by the sight of some delightful good in the present. Let it not overcome me, my God. Let not flesh and blood conquer me. Let not the world and its brief glory deceive me, nor the devil trip me by his craftiness. Give me courage to resist, patience to endure and constancy to persevere. Give me the soothing unction of Thy spirit, rather than all the consolations of the world and in place of carnal love, infuse into me, the love of Thy Name. Amen
Saint of the Day – 21 January – Blessed Walter of Bruges OFM (c1225-1307) Priest and Friar of the Friars Minor and the Bishop of Poitiers, student and disciple of St Bonaventure, spiritual writer, Master of Theology and Provincial General of the Order, Defender of the Faith and the Popesparticularly against King Philip the Fair. for France. Born in 1225 in Zande, near Ostend, Belgium and died on 21 January 1307 in Poitiers, France of natural causes. Also known as – ,Guatier Van den Zande, Gautier of Poitiers, Gualterus Brugensis, Gualterus de Brugge, Galtier… Gauthier… Gualterus… Gualtiero… Walter…
This may be our Blessed Walter
In 1240, when Walter was barely fifteen when he entered the Franciscans in Bruges in the County of Flanders. He studied theology at the Sorbonne University in Paris and became a pupil of the renowned Franciscan Doctor of the Church, St Bonaventure owho was Walter’s Professor at the Sorbonne University in Paris.
St Bonaventure was a Doctor of Theology, Prefect of the Franciscan study house in Paris and also the General Superior of all Franciscans. Walter was promoted to Doctor of Theology and he became a Lecturer in Theology at the Sorbonne University of Paris.
From 1267 to 1269, he was a teacher there and also became a celebrated preacher. In 1269 he became the Provincial Superior of the French Franciscans. As such, took part in the General Chapters of the Order at Lyon (1274), Padua (1276) and Assisi (1279).
On 4 December 1279, Pope Nicholas III appointed him as the Bishop of the important Seat of Poitiers, despite the determined resistance of the Franciscan, also supported by the General of the Order, St Boponaventure and very much against Walter’s will.
Walter exercised his Office with great fidelity to the appointment, demonstrating uncommon qualities of government and a great love for the poor. In particular, he distinguished himself for his strenuous defence of the rights of his Church and of Popes Nicholas III and Boniface VIII, against King Philip the Fair and his friends, including the Archbishop of Bordeaux, Bertrand de Got. When the latter became Pope Clement V in 1305, Walter’s position, due to the King’s intrigues, became more delicate than ever and the Pope accepted his resignation from the Episcopal Office, a resignation which had already been presented, in the past in 1296 and in 1304, to the aforementioned 2 Popes.
Walter then retired to a Convent in Poitiers where he spent his last years in meditation and prayer. He died a saintly death in Poitiers in 1307 and was buried in the Franciscan Church in Poitiers. Walter was soon venerated as such by the people. Many miracles were attributed to him, of which we possess contemporary reports and sworn testimonies. Pope Clement V, in the same year of Walter’s death, went to visit his tomb and had him exhumed to learn the content of an appeal, written by Walter and placed in his hands in the tomb, in which he proclaimed his innocence to Pope Clement’s beliefs that some of his writings were heretical. Later, the legends that arose to obscure the memory of Clement V would dramatise this event.
Walter received public veneration immediately after his death and Pope Clement V himself did not oppose popular piety; this veneration continued uninterrupted, even after 1562 when the Huguenots desecrated his sumptuous tomb. A liturgical Office recited in the Cathedral of Poitiers in his honour dates to the end of the 15th Century or the beginning of the 16th Century. The testimonies of the public veneration paid to Walter, throughout the centuries, are innumerable. To this day, however, the apostolic process for a formal recognition of this cult by the Holy See has not yet been concluded.
Walter’s writings, of Augustinian-Bonaventurian orientation, testify to his openness to Thomistic theses.
St Agnes of Aislinger St Anastasius of Constantinople St Aquila of Trebizond St Candidus of Trebizond Bl Edward Stransham
St Epiphanius of Pavia (c 439–496) Bishop of Pavia, Italy from from 466 until his death. Papal and Secular Mediator and Peacemaker, Known as – “Epiphanius the Peacemaker,” “The Glory of Italy,” “The Light of Bishops.” The Roman Martyrology for 21 January reads : “In Pavia, Saint Epifanio, Bishop , who, at the time of the barbarian invasions, worked zealously for the reconciliation of the peoples, for the liberation of prisoners and for the reconstruction of the destroyed City.” Biography: https://anastpaul.com/2022/01/21/saint-of-the-day-21-january-saint-epiphanius-of-pavia-439-496/
St Eugenius of Trebizond Blessed Walter [Gautier] of Bruges OFM (c1225-1307) Bishop St Gunthildis of Biblisheim
Blessed Josefa María Inés de Benigánim OAD (1625–1696) Nun of the Discalced Augustinian Nuns with the religious name of “Josefa María of Saint Agnes,” Virgin, Mystic, gifted with the charism of prophecy and counsel. She became known for her profound spiritual and theological insight as well as for her severe austerities she practised during her life. Her body is Incorrupt. Blessed Josefa was Beatified on 26 February 1888, at Saint Peter’s Basilica by Pope Leo XIII. Biography: https://anastpaul.com/2020/01/21/saint-of-the-day-21-january-blessed-josefa-maria-ines-de-beniganim-oad-1625-1696/
St Lawdog St Maccallin of Waulsort
St Meinrad of Einsiedeln OSB (c 797–861) “Martyr of Hospitality,” Martyr, Priest, Monk, Hermit. In 1039, the year of Meinrad’s Canonisation as a Saint, his remains were brought back to Einsiedeln. During the French Revolution, Meinrad’s relics were hidden at Tyrol, Austria, by Abbot Conrad Tanner and his reliquary is now enshrined in the Grace Chapel of the Abbey Church at Einsiedeln. St Meinrad’s Life and Death: https://anastpaul.com/2021/01/21/saint-of-the-day-21-january-saint-meinrad-of-einsiedeln-osb-c-797-861-martyr/
St Patroclus of Troyes
St Publius of Athens (2nd Century) Bishop and Martyr. Died around 112. (Not to be confused with St Publius of Malta who is remembered on 22 January). The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Athens, the birthday of St Publius, Bishop, who as successor of St Denis (Dionysius) the Areopagite, nobly governed the Church at Athens. No less celebrated for the lustre of his virtues than for the brilliance of his learning, he was gloriously crowned for having borne testimony to Christ.” His Life and Death: https://anastpaul.com/2024/01/21/saint-of-the-day-21-january-st-publius-of-athens-2nd-century-bishop-and-
St Valerian of Trebizond St Vimin of Holywood St Zacharias the Angelic
Blessed Martyrs of Laval – 19 Beati: Fifteen men and four women who were Martyred in Laval, France by anti-Catholic French Revolutionaries. The were born in France and they were Martyred on several dates in 1794 in Laval, Mayenne, France. They were Beatified on 19 June 1955 by Pope Pius XII at Rome, Italy.
Martyrs of Rome – 30 Saints: Thirty Christian soldiers executed together in the persecutions of Diocletian. They were Martyred in 304 in Rome, Italy.
Martyrs of Tarragona: Augurius, Eulogius, Fructuosus.
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