Day: January 28, 2025

Posted in Meditations on the HIDDEN LIFE, QUOTES on CREATION, QUOTES on HAPPINESS, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, SACRED HEART REFLECTIONS

Thought for the Day – 28 January – Meditation 5, PART ONE:The Happiness of the Heart of Jesus in the Hidden Life

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Thought for the Day – 28 January – Meditations on the Hidden Life: From the 1906 Edition of The Heart of Jesus of Nazareth; it has the Imprimatur of Bishop John Baptist Butt, Diocese of Southwark, England, 5 February 1890. Author’s name known simply as Author of “The Voice of the Sacred Heart.” 
(We return to Fr Clarke for February with his Meditations on The Great Truths.)

Meditation 5, PART ONE:
The Happiness of the Heart of Jesus in the Hidden Life

Where there is union of heart with God, there must be happiness because, the essential element of happiness, is present there, no matter what may be the circumstances in which that life is cast.

We intend in this Meditation to reflect on some of the sources of happiness, wherein we ourselves, may share with the human Heart of God. In the Beginning, when He had finished the Work of Creation, Holy Scripture tells us – “God saw all the things He had made and they were very good.” (Genesis 1:31) These words are suggestive of the Divine complacency in the beautiful Work accomplished and we recognise, a reproduction of this sublime joy of the Creator, in the appreciation, with which, the Heart of Jesus contemplated the works of Nature.

The perception of the beautiful is a Divine lineament which sin has never been able to utterly erase from the human soul but which, is more strikingly developed, in proportion to that purity of heart which imparts judgement, as to the source from whence, all created beauty emanates: “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.” Now what heart was ever comparable in purity and singleness to the human Heart of the Man-God?

Hence it is, that Jesus, walking amidst the fair scenes of Nazareth, could appreciate, with an intensity unknown to us, all the loveliness His Eye beheld; just as years afterwards, when, fatigued with the labours of the day, He found refreshment on the shaded slopes of Olivet and holy joy, as His Eye wandered over the blue waters of Genesereth, sparkling in the sunlight.

He rejoiced, we say, in these things because, His Heart was full of all that was Divine because, He saw in them at once, the expression of the Divine Beauty and the Creation of the Divine Hand; because, His Heart was pure and single and, therefore, as it sought but God and desired but God, so it found Him everywhere.

Lastly, He rejoiced in all Creation, inasmuch, as He saw in it, the Work of His Own Hand by reason of His unity of operation with the Father, resulting from the unity of the Divine Nature.

Posted in QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on DIVINE PROVIDENCE, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on the POOR, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, QUOTES on WEALTH/RICHES, St Francis de Sales, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 28 January – We are fools for Christ’s sake

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Quote/s of the Day – 28 January – St Peter Nolasco OdeM (c 1182–c 1256) Confessor, Founder – 1 Corinthians 4:9-14, Luke 12:32-34 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“For where your treasure is,
there will your heart be too.”

Luke 12:34

“We are made a spectacle to the world
and to Angels and to men.
We are fools for Christ’s sake
but you are wise in Christ;
we are weak but you are strong;
you are honourable but we without honour.
Even unto this hour, we both hunger and thirst
and are naked and are buffeted
and have no fixed abode.
And we labour, working with our own hands.
We are reviled and we bless.
We are persecuted and we suffer it.
We are blasphemed and we entreat.
We are made as the refuse of this world,
the offscouring of all, even until now.”

St Paul – 1 Corinthians 4:9-14

“The great wealth of Christians
is found in the needs of the poor,
provided we grasp how to put our
possessions to good use.
The poor are always before us;
if we entrust our wealth to them,
we shall not lose it.”

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

“Great indeed is the confidence
which God requires us to have
in His paternal care and in His Divine Providence
but why should we not have it,
seeing that no-one has ever been deceived in it?
No-one ever trusts in God
without reaping the fruits of his confidence.”

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

(Spiritual Conferences 6)

Posted in "Follow Me", DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on THE VOICE OF GOD, St PETER!, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 28 January – ‘Make for yourselves purses which do not grow old, a treasure unfailing in Heaven …’

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One Minute Reflection – 28 January – “The Month of the Holy Name of Jesus and the Holy Family” – St Peter Nolasco OdeM (c 1182–c1256) Confessor, Founder – 1 Corinthians 4:9-14; Luke 12:32-34 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Sell what you possess and give alms. Make for yourselves purses which do not grow old, a treasure unfailing in Heaven, where neither thief draws near, nor moth destroys.” – Luke 12:33

REFLECTION – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 5:3) … Of this generous poverty, the Apostles first, after the Lord, have given us example. Unhesitatingly leaving all they had, at the Voice of the Heavenly Master, they were joyfully converted and abandoned the catching of fish, to become fishers of men (Mt 4:18). Among the latter, many became like themselves, by imitating their faith; for with those first children of the Church, “the community of believers was of one heart and mind” (Acts 4:32). Stripped of all their possessions, they were enriched with eternal goods, thanks to holy poverty. Welcoming the Apostles’ preaching, they rejoiced to have nothing in this world and yet, possess all things in Christ. (2 Cor 6:10).

Hence, the blessed Apostle Peter, when he was going up to the temple and was asked for alms by a lame man, said, “I have neither silver nor gold but what I do have I give you; in the Name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk” (Acts 3:6)… Peter healed him with a word and he, who did not have a coin with Cæsar’s image upon it, restored upon the man, the Image of Christ. And by the riches of this treasure, not only was that one person aided, whose power of walking was restored but too, the five thousand men who then believed the Apostle’s preaching because of this miracle (Acts 4:4). And Peter, that poor man, who did not have anything to give him, who asked for alms, bestowed so great a gift of Divine Grace that, not content with setting one man upright on his feet, he healed, those many thousands of believers in their hearts, by giving them faith.” – St Leo the Great (400-461) Pope, Father and Doctor of the Church (Sermon 95 2-3).

PRAYER – O God, Thou Who, as an example of Thy love, divinely taught St Peter to enrich Thy Church with new offspring, a family of Religious devoted to the ransom of the faithful, grant by his intercession that we may be released from the slavery of sin and rejoice in lasting freedom in Heaven. 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 Holy Name PRAYERS, JANUARY month of THE MOST HOLY NAME of JESUS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on PERSECUTION

Our Morning Offering – 28 January – May We Confess Thy Name to the End By St Cyprian

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Our Morning Offering – 28 January – “The Month of the Holy Name of Jesus and the Holy Family”

May We Confess Thy Name to the End
By St Cyprian of Carthage (200-258)
Bishop and Martyr
Apostolic Father of the Church

Good God,
may we confess Thy Name to the end.
May we emerge unmarked
and glorious from the traps
and darkness of this world.
As Thou hast bound us together
by charity and peace
and, as together,
we have persevered under persecution,
so may we also rejoice together
in Thy Heavenly Kingdom.
Amen

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 28 January – Saint John of Réomay (c425-c539) Founder Abbot

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Saint of the Day – 28 January – Saint John of Réomay (c425-c539) Founder Abbot of the Monastery of Réomay, Priest, Hermit, Reformer. Born in Dijon around 425 and died there at his Monastery, of natural causes in c539. Also known as – Jean, Giovanni.

The Roman Martyrology reads today: “In the Monastery of Rheims, the demise of a holy Priest name John, a man of God,”

Son of a senator of Dijon, Hilary and his wife, Quieta, John was born in Courtangy, a family property near Dijon. At the age of twenty, he left his home after having built a Chapel dedicated to Saint Stephen in the family property at Courtangy which later became a Parish. He went into the nearby forest and lived alone among the ruins of Roman buildings. All this happened around the years 460-465.

Soon becoming a popular source of spiritual guidance, John was joined by some disciples, He became the leader of a community and founded the renowned Monastery of Réomay. Then, becoming overwhelmed by the burdens of administration and governing, he fled to Lérins Monastery, at that time, one of the centres of expansion of western monasticism. Without revealing his identity, John enjoyed peace and a prayerful solitude, until a traveller recognised him and he was recalled by the Bishop of Langres, on whom he depended (the Vita calls him Gregory, 507-539).

But sadly he found that the Monks had become lax in their practices and he had to reform it by applying the Rule followed in Lerins (that of St Macarius). The Frankish Kings protected the Monastery of Réomay which became a place of reference and where great and holy figures passed through.

John is credited with several miracles, the best known being that of having returned the water to a necessary well and evicting the resident basilisk dragon which creature you see on the images of our Saint.

John died a centenarian shortly in 539. Jonah of Bobbio , his biographer, attributes to him one hundred and twenty years. His body, first buried in the territory of the Abbey, was later included within the walls of a Basilica which became a place of burial (the Church of Saint Maurice of Corsaint, corpus sanctum). Around 580, his fourth successor, the Abbot Leopardin, raised John’s body and transferred it to the Altar. Finally, after the reconstruction of the Monastery in the current village of Moutier-Saint-Jean, the Bishop of Langres, Betta (790-820) brought him to the new Abbey a few kilometers from the original burial site. St John’s is celebrated in Réomay today with the rest of the Church.

Réomay Monastery 17th Century depiction
Posted in SAINT of the DAY

The Second Feast of St Agnes, St Peter Nolasco OdeM (c 1182–c 1256) Confessor, Day 5 of the Candlemas Novena and Memorials of the Saints – 28 January

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NOVENA In Preparation for the
Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary – LINK to DAY FIVE, 28 January:  DAY FIVE, 28 JANUARY

The Second Feast of St Agnes:
28 January is traditionally the day of the “Second Feast of St Agnes,” although this very ancient observance was reduced to a commemoration in 1931 and abolished in the post-Vatican II reform (1969). It is still kept in the TGraditional Church and in some Churches dedicated to St Agnes, most prominent among them, the Basilica built over the site of her burial, less than a mile and a half from the gates of Rome.
In liturgical books, the formal name of the feast is “Sanctae Agnetis secundo” which means “the feast of St Agnes for the second time.” This title is found on the calendar of the Tridentine Missal and Breviary, as also seven centuries earlier in the Gregorian Sacramentary. The single Matins lesson in the Breviary of St Pius V tells us, that after her death, Agnes appeared first to her parents to console them and then to the Emperor Constantine’s daughter Constantia, who suffered from an incurable sore, while she was praying at her grave, exhorting Constantia to trust in Christ and receive Baptism. Having done this and been cured, Constantia later built a Basilica in the Saint’s honour.

St Peter Nolasco OdeM (c 1182–c 1256) Confessor, Founder of the Congregation of the Royal and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy of the Redemption of the Captives (Mercadarians).
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/01/28/saint-of-the-day-28-january-saint-peter-nolasco-odem-c-1182-c-1256/

St Aemilian of Trebi
Bl Amadeus of Lausanne
St Antimus of Brantôme
St Archebran
Bl Bartolomé Aiutamicristo
St Brigid of Picardy
St Callinicus
St Cannera of Inis Cathaig
Blessed Charlemagne (a decree of Canonisation was issued by the anti-pope Paschal III but this was never ratified by valid authority.)
St Constantly
St Flavian of Civita Vecchia
St Glastian of Kinglassie
St James the Almsgiver
St James the Hermit
St John of Réomay (c425-c539) Abbot

Blessed Julian Maunoir SJ (1606-1683) Priest “The Apostle of Brittany,” “The Good Father of Brittany,” Missionary, Founder of the “Breton Missionaries” Apostolate. On 20 May 1951 the Good Father Julian, Apostle of Brittany, was Beatified by Pope Pius XII.
About Bl Julian:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/01/28/saint-of-the-day-28-january-blessed-julian-maunoir-sj-1606-1683-priest-the-apostle-of-brittany-the-good-father-of-brittany/

St Julian of Cuenca (c 1127-1208) Bishop of Cuenca (1127-1208) the second Bishop of Cuenca, Spain from c 1196 until his death. Professor, Hermit, Reformer, Miracle-worker, basket-weaver using the money he gained from this trade to support the poor and needy, He was also a regular visitor to prisoners, assisting them spiritually and with material succour. Born as Julián Ben Tauro in c 1127 at Burgos, Spain and died on 28 January 1208 in Cuenca, Spain of natural causes, aged around 80 years. Patronages – basket-weavers, for rain, of the City and Diocese of Cuenca.
This Devoted Shepherd:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/01/28/saint-of-the-day-28-january-saint-julian-of-cuenca-1127-1208-bishop/

St Leucius of Apollonia
St Maura of Picardy
Bl Odo of Beauvais
St Palladius of Antioch
St Paulinus of Aquileia
St Richard of Vaucelles
St Thyrsus of Apollonia

Martyrs of Alexandria: A group of 4th-century lay faithful in Alexandria, Egypt. During the celebration of Mass one day an Arian officer named Syrianus led a troop of soldiers into their church and proceded to murder all the orthodox Christians in the place. 356 in Alexandria, Egypt.