Thought for the Day – 4 February – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)
Meditations on “The Great Truths” From “The Devout Year” By Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)
4th Day – God our Best Friend
All are Thine , O Lord , Who lovest souls. (Wisdom xi:27)
+1. Friendship is one of the consolations of man upon earth. One faithful friend is worth a hundred acquaintances. A friend who values our friendship, for its own sake, is a treasure without price. Such a friend we have in God. He has nothing to gain from my friendship, His Infinite Happiness is not increased by it. Yet, His Infinite Goodness includes an intense desire to make me happy!
+2. When we have a faithful friend who is possessed of unlimited influence and power, we consult him in all our difficulties. God is, of all friends, the most faithful and the most powerful; He desires to be consulted by us in things small, as well as great, never tiring of our requests, more ready to hear, than we to pray! Yet, how little have I had recourse to Him hitherto! How little I have trusted Him!
+3. The best proof of a friend’s love, is a desire for our company. In this, what friend is like God? He asks us, begs us, commands us, to be always in His Presence – “Walk with God and be thou perfect .” His one object, in all His advice, is to secure our company forever in Heaven. Why am I so indifferent about His Presence, so soon weary of God? Pray that you may appreciate and relish the Divine Friendship of God.
Quote/s of the Day – 4 February – The Parable of the Talents
“And he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more.
Matthew 25:16
“I have chosen you and have appointed you, that you should go and should bring forth fruit and your fruit should remain, says the Lord.”
John 15:16
“What dost thou have that thou hast not received?”
St Paul – 1 Corinthians 4:7
“Watch me, O Lord, this day – for, abandoned to myself, I shall surely betray Thee!”
St Philip Neri (1515-1595)
“As a general rule, God gives us three kinds of talents. There are – (1) material, like health or riches; (2) intellectual and moral, such as intelligence, personality and ability; and (3) supernatural, like Divine grace, a vocation, or extraordinary powers. God lavishly distributes all these talens to whomsoever He pleases and in accordance with His own hidden dessigns. We have no right,, therefore, to envy the talents of others, nor, to be discontented with our own. … If we cheerfully accept and offer to God, our lack of certain talents, we can gain great merit in His eyes.”
One Minute Reflection – 4 February – “The Month of the Blessed Trinity” – St Andrew Corsini O.Carm (1302-1373) Bishop of Fiesole from 1349 until his death,Confessor, known as the “Apostle of Florence” Carmelite Friar – Ecclesiasticus Sir 44:16-27; 45:3-20; Matthew 25:14-23– Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“Well done, good and faithful servant … Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”- Matthew 25:21
REFLECTION – “The Word of the Father, Only-begotten Son of God, Sun of Justice (Mal 3:20), is the great Merchant Who has brought us the price of our redemption. It is a truly precious exchange which we can never value sufficiently, when a King, Son of the King Most High, has become the Coin, the Gold has paid our dues, the Just Man is given for the sinner. Truly unmerited mercy, perfectly disinterested love, astonishing goodness…, it is a completely disproportionate purchase, in which the Son of God is delivered up for the servant, the Creator is put to death for the one He has created, the Lord is condemned for His slave.
O Christ, these are Thine Works, Thou Who descended from Heaven’s brightness into our hellish darkness, to bring Light to our gloomy prison. Thou came down from the Right Hand of the Divine Majesty, into our human misery, to redeem the human race, Thou Who descended from the Father’s glory to death on the Cross, to triumph over death and its author. Thou art the only One and there is no other but Thee, Who could have been drawn to redeem us through Thine Own Goodness…
Let all the merchants of Teman (Bar 3:23) withdraw from this place … it is not they but Israel [Thy] beloved whom [Thou hast] chosen, Thou Who hide these mysteries from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to those babes and humble servants of Thine (Lk 10:21) … O Lord, I willingly embrace this purchase since it concerns me! … I remember all the things Thou hast done, Thou Who desire that I should keep them alive … Therefore, I shall profit by this talent which Thou hast lent to me until Thy return and will stand before Thee with great joy. O God, grant that I may then hear these sweet words: “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Mt 25:21).” – St Bernard O.Cist. (1091-1153) Cistercian Monk, known as the Last Father and the Mellifluous Doctor of the Church (Selected sermons, no 42: The Five Purchases).
PRAYER – O God, Who establishes ever new examples of virtue in Thy Church, grant that Thy people may follow the footsteps of blessed Andrew, Thy Confessor and Bishop, so that they may also obtain his reward. 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 – 4 February – “The Month of the Blessed Trinity”
Morning Prayer To Be Conformed to the Divine Will Unknown Author Breviary Prayer
Most Holy Trinity, Godhead IndIvisible, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, our first beginning and our last end, Thou hast made us in accord with Thine Own Image and likeness.
Grant that all the thoughts of our minds, all the words of our tongues, all the affections of our hearts and all the actions of our being may always be conformed to Thine Holy Will.
So may we, having seen Thee veiled in appearance here below, by means of faith, come at last to contemplate Thee face-to-face, in the perfect possession of Thee, forever in Heaven. Amen
Saint of the Day – 4 February – St Fingen (Died c1005) Abbot, Missionary, builder/restorer of Monastery buildings and Reformer of the practices of the communities living therein. Born in Ireland in the 8th Century and died in c1005 in Metz, France. Also known as – Fingen of Metz.
An image of an ancient Abbot
Fingen, a celebrated Irish Monk and Abbot, migrated to the Kingdom of Lothaire as a Missionary, where he acquired a reputation for restoring old Monastery buildings. Lothaire was a medieval successor Kingdom of the Carolingian Empire. It comprised present-day Lorraine (France), Luxembourg, Saarland (Germany).
In around 991, one of the Monasteries restored by Fingen, Saint Symphorien’s, was placed under Fingen’s care as the Abbot by Bishop Saint Adalbero.
At the insistence of the dowager Empress Saint Adelaide Pope John XVII issued a charter which declared that only Irish Monks would administer the Abbey as long as they could be found. She obtained a similar charter from King Otto III in 992.
Fingen’s final work, with the help of seven of his Irish Monks, was the restoration of Saint-Vannes in Verdun. By 1001, Saint-Vannes was attracting distinguished applicants, such as Blessed Frederick of Arras, Count of Verdun and his friend Blessed Richard, the Vicar of the Diocese of Rheims, who later became the Abbot of Saint-Vannes.
Fingen’s Relics can be found in Saint-Clement’s Church in Metz, (SEE BELOW) where the Epitah highly praises him.
St Isidore of Pelusium Martyr. No other information has survived.
St Jane de Valois O.Ann.M and TOSF (1464-1505) Princess, Queen, Founder, Religious Sister, Mystic, Teacher. Founded the monastic Order of the Sisters of the Annunciation of Mary. From this Order later sprang the religious congregation of the Apostolic Sisters of the Annunciation, founded in 1787 to teach the children of the poor. She was Canonised on 28 May 1950 by Pope Pius XII. Biography: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/02/04/saint-of-the-day-4-february-saint-jane-of-valois-o-ann-m-1464-1505/
St Themoius St Theophilus the Penitent St Vincent of Troyes St Vulgis of Lobbes
Jesuit Martyrs of Japan: A collective memorial of all members of the Jesuits who have died as Martyrs for the faith in Japan.
Martyrs of Perga – 4 Saints: A group of shepherds Martyred in the persecutions of Decius. The only details we have about them are the names – Claudian, Conon, Diodorus and Papias. They were Martyred in c 250 in Perga, Asia Minor (in modern Turkey).
AnaStpaul 
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