Day: February 17, 2025

Posted in QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on HELL, The GREAT TRUTHS

Thought for the Day – 17 February – The Eternity of Hell

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Thought for the Day – 17 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)

17th Day – The Eternity of Hell

This is my rest forever and ever.
(Ps cxxxi:14)

+1. The worst aggravation of the sufferings of hell is that, they will never end.
If only they would cease, or be alleviated, after a thousand or a million years, the day of hope would shine on the inmates of that prison-house, even though far away in the dim distance. It is the knowledge that, at the end of countless millions of years, they will still be suffering as they are now which makes the agony of the lost so intolerable.
Forever, never! Forever, never!

+2. Add to this, the frightful monotony of their torments. How wearily the time drags on through a night, sleepless on account of acute pain!
But what will be the monotony of anguish which will make those endless ages drag along in unchanging misery? Nothing to vary the blackness of darkness around them; nothing to vary the worm of remorse ever gnawing at their heart nothing to vary the excruciating agony of the fire which will never be quenched.

+3. All this is the necessary result of their being fixed in an unchanging enmity with God.
If only they could receive in their souls, one spark of the Love of God, hell would at once cease to be hell. One thought of love would turn their agony of despair into joyful hope.
But no such thought will ever come to them.
Make many Acts of Love of God and ask Him that you may never be separated from Him by sin.

Posted in CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, DOMINICAN OP, FATHERS of the Church, franciscan OFM, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on CONSCIENCE, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on COURAGE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PERSECUTION, QUOTES on PURITY, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, The GOOD SHEPHERD, The SECOND COMING, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 17 February – Septuagesima

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Quote/s of the Day – 17 February – Septuagesima

“Why stand you here idle, all the day?”

Matthew 20:6

“Prepare the way of the Lord
make His paths straight” …

Luke 3:4

“What is the surest kind of witness?
“Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus Christ
came among us in the flesh” (cf 1 Jn 4:2)
and who keeps the commands of the Gospel…
How many there are, each day,
of these hidden martyrs of Christ
who confess the Lord Jesus!
… So be faithful and courageous
in interior persecutions,
so that you may also win
the victory in exterior persecutions.”

St Ambrose (340-397)
Father & Doctor of the Church

“We are to become vessels
of God’s compassionate love for others.”

“Never forget that the way
which leads to Heaven is narrow
that the gate leading to Life,
is narrow and low
that there are but few who find it
and enter by it and if, there be some,
who go in and tread the narrow path,
for some time, there are but very few,
who persevere therein.”

St Clare (1194-1253)

“The surest and quickest way
to attain perfection, is to strive
for purity of heart.
Once the obstacles have been removed,
God finds a clear path and does wonders,
both in and through, the soul.”

Guide Me Lord
By St Albert the Great (1200-1280)
Doctor of the Church

O Lord Jesus Christ,
Who seeks those who stray
and receives them when returning,
make me approach Thee
through the frequent hearing of Thy Word,
lest I sin against my neighbour,
by the blindness of human judgement,
through the austerity of false justice,
through comparing his inferior status,
through too much trust in my merits
or through ignorance of the Divine Judgement.
Guide me to search diligently,
each corner of my conscience,
lest the flesh dominate the spirit!
Amen

St Albert the Great (1200-1280)
Universal Doctor of the Church

Posted in CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on TIME

One Minute Reflection – 17 February – “Why stand you here idle, all the day?”

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One Minute Reflection – 17 February – “The Month of the Blessed Trinity” – Ferial Day – Septuagesima – 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 10:1-5 – Matthew 20:1-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing and he saith to them: Why stand you here idle, all the day?” – Matthew 20:6

REFLECTION – “We can apply these hourly periods to each individual person’s life. Morning is the childhood of our understanding. The third hour can be taken as our youth because, the sun is advancing on high, as the impetuosity of age increases. The sixth hour is that of young adulthood because, when we reach our full strength, it is as if the sun is in the centre of the heavens. The ninth hour we take to be old age because, like the sun descending from its zenith, this age lacks the warmth of youth. The eleventh hour is the age which is called infirm, or old … Since then, one person is brought to a good life in childhood, another in youth, another in young adulthood, another in old age, another at the age of infirmity, it is as if workmen are being called to the vineyard at different hours.

Look at your conduct, my friends and see if you are still God’s workmen. Let everyone reflect on what he is doing and consider whether he is labouring in the Lord’s vineyard … One who has neglected to live for God, up to the last period of his life, has stood idle, as it were, up to the eleventh hour! … “Why stand you here idle, all the day?” meaning, “Even though you have not been willing to live for God in your childhood and young adulthood, at least come to your right mind in the final time of your life. Come to the Ways of Life!”…

Did not the thief come at the eleventh hour? (Lk 23:39) He possessed nothing by the length of his life but he had something, coming late … He confessed God on the cross and he gave forth his last breath, almost as he spoke. The Householder began paying the denarius beginning with the last because, He called the thief to the repose of Paradise before he called Peter!” – St Gregory the Great (540-604) Pope, Father and Doctor (Sermons on the Gospel no 11).

PRAYER – O Lord, we beseech You, graciously hear the prayers of Your people, that we who are justly punished for our sins may be mercifully delivered for the glory of Your name. 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 DOCTORS of the Church, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS for VARIOUS NEEDS, PRAYERS of PETITION, REDEMPTORISTS CSSR, The DIVINE INFANT

Our Morning Offering – 17 February – My Beloved Redeemer, Prayer for the Flight into Egypt By St Alphonsus

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Our Morning Offering – 17 February – Feast of the Flight into Egypt

My Beloved Redeemer
Prayer for the Flight into Egypt (Excerpt)
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)
Doctor of the Church

My beloved Redeemer,
I have many times driven Thee out of my soul
but now I hope, that Thou
have again taken possession of it.
I beseech Thee,
do Thou bind it to Thyself
with the sweet chains of Thy love.
Oh, do Thou make Thyself loved,
make Thyself loved by all the sinners
who persecute Thee,
give them light,
make them know the love
Thou hast borne them
and the love Thou deserves,
since Thou goes wandering over the earth
as a poor Infant,
weeping and trembling with cold
and seeking souls to love Thee!
O Mary, most holy Virgin,
O dearest Mother
and companion of the sufferings of Jesus,
do thou help me always
to carry and preserve thy Son
in my heart,
in life and in death!
Amen.

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 17 February – Saint Silvinus (c650-c717) Bishop

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Saint of the Day – 17 February – Saint Silvinus (c650-c717) Bishop, Missionary evangeliser in north-eastern pagain regions of France, gifted with miracles. Born of Celtic origins and died on 15 February c717 at the Abbey of Auchy-les-Moines, Artois, in Belgium of natural causes. Also known as – Silvinus of Thérouanne, … of Toulouse, … of Auchy, Silvain…. Silvin …. Silvino…. Additional Memorial – 15 February in Auchy France.

The Roman Martyrology reads today: “In the territory of Thérouanne, St Silvinus, Bishop of Toulouse.”

Saint-Sylvain in the Church of Mazerolles

Born to a noble family, Sylvinus was of Celtic origins. He renounced a life of wealth and power, to embrace poverty and celibacy.

Ordained a Priest and then a Bishop, he devoted himself to evangelisation and charity, in north-eastern France, still largely pagan.

Silvinus was distinguished by his humility and austerity and was venerated during his life-time for his sanctity and his intercessory gifts of performing miracles.

He died in c717 and was buried in the Monastery of Auchy-les-Moines. Several Churches, Towns and Villages are named after him (Saint-Sylvain-d’Anjou or Saint-Sylvain [Calvados] ). The male first name, Sylvainm is very popular and common in France, Belgium and other French-speaking regions in Africa and, of course, Quebec, Canada.

L’Abbatiale St Sylvian, Auchy-lès-Hesdin
Posted in FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

The Flight into Egypt (Year 1), Our Lady of Constantinople, Bari, Turkey (566), Saturday after Ash Wednesday and the Saints for 17 February

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The Flight into Egypt (Year 1)- 17 February:

It was on the seventeenth of February, fifty five days after the Nativity of Jesus, when King Herod’s soldiers — sent to slaughter all little boys in Bethlehem and its neighbourhood who were two years old or under, in order to destroy a rival King, Jesus — were getting perilously near the cave at Bethlehem, where at first they little expected Our Lord to be. Saint Joseph received a message from God through an Angel, whereupon he took Our Lady and the Divine Infant and set off leaving the land of the Jews to travel to a land of the Gentiles. They took no-one with them, by way of servants or friends, as Saint Peter Chrysologus tells us.

The Town to which the Holy Family fled was called Fostat. It was three hundred miles from Bethlehem. A Church has been erected there, on the site of the house where the Holy Family lived during their exile. The little Town where the Holy Family lived in Egypt was not far from Heliopolis, a City in which — when Jesus, Mary and Joseph passed through it — statues of pagan gods crashed to the ground. Both Fostat and Heliopolis are not far from Cairo in Egypt.

Our Lady of Constantinople, Bari, Turkey (566) – 17 February:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/02/17/our-lady-of-constantinople-bari-turkey-566-and-memorials-of-the-saints-17-february/

St Alexis Falconieri OSM (Died 1310) – One of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servites.
His Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/02/17/saint-of-the-day-17-february-saint-alexis-falconieri-13th-century-1310/

St Benedict of Cagliari
St Bonosus of Trier

St Constabilis of Cava OSB (c 1070-1124) Abbot, Miracle-worker, known as “The Blanket of the Brothers” for his gentle kindness and caring humility for all the Monks in their trials and sorrows.
“The Blanket of the Brothers” :
https://anastpaul.com/2022/02/17/saint-of-the-day-17-february-saint-constabilis-of-cava-osb-c-1070-1124/

St Donatus the Martyr
St Evermod of Ratzeburg
St Faustinus the Martyr

St Finan of Iona (Died 661) the Second Bishop of Lindisfarne succeeding St Aidan.
About St Finan:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/17/saint-of-the-day-17-february-saint-finan-of-iona-or-lindisfarne-died-661/

St Fintan of Clonenagh (c 524 – 603) Abbot, “Father of the Irish Monks,” disciple of St Columba of Iona. Fintan was granted the gifts of prophecy and miracles.
“Father of the Irish Monks”:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/02/17/saint-of-the-day-17-february-saint-fintan-of-clonenagh-c-524-603-father-of-the-irish-monks/

St Flavian of Constantinople
St Fortchern of Trim
St Guevrock
St Habet-Deus
St Julian of Caesarea
St Loman of Trim

Blessed Luke Belludi OFM (c1200- c 1285) Friar of the Order of Friars Minor, companion of St Anthony of Padua on his travels, miracle-woker, founder of convents.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/02/17/saint-of-the-day-17-february-blessed-luke-belludi-ofm-c-1200-c-1285/

St Lupiano
St Mesrop the Teacher
St Polychronius of Babylon
St Romulus the Martyr
St Secundian the Martyr
St Silvinus (c650-c717) Bishop
St Theodulus of Caesarea