Day: June 20, 2025

Posted in GOD ALONE!, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, SACRED HEART REFLECTIONS

Thought for the Day – 20 June – The Worship of the Sacred Heart in Relation to the Love of God and of Our Neighbour

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 20 June – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

The Worship of the Sacred Heart
in Relation to the Love of God and of Our Neighbour

“The cult of the Sacred Heart demands, especially, the practice of the two great fundamental precepts of our Catholic Faith, namely, that we should love God above all things and our neighbour as ourselves.
The implementation of this teaching will transform our lives.

Do we love God above all things and more than we love ourselves?
What is the predominant concept in our minds?
Is it the concept of God?
What is the first love in our hearts?
Is it the love of God?
What is our main desire in life?
Is it the glory of God?
Or is it our own glory or our own pleasure?

We have still, a long way to go in the way of love of God which is the way of perfectiuon.
We can only really be said to be ourselves moreover, when we love God above all things and more than ourselves.
If a man does not love God above all things, neither does he love himself in the way in which he ought to love himself because, God is our only true to happiness.

Do we love our neighbour as ourselves?
How much moral and physical wretchedness do we see around us?
But do we try to remedy it by every means in our power, no matter what the sacrifice?
Or are we cold and disinterested?
Let us remember the words of St John the Apostle of Charity.
“In this we have come to know His love that He laid down His life for us and we likewise, ought to lay down our life for the brethren” (1 Jn 3:16).
Are we prepared to do this?
Are we at least prepared to give away whatever do do not need ourselves, in order to relieve poverty and want?

Anyone who is lacking in an effective love for God and for his neighbours, has no real devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus!”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/06/06/thought-for-the-day-6-june-the-worship-of-the-sacred-heart-in-relation-to-the-love-of-god-and-of-our-neighbour/

Posted in CATECHESIS, EUCHARISTIC, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, St Francis de Sales, The COMMUNION of SAINTS

Quote/s of the Day – 20 June – Visiting Jesus

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 20 June – “The Month of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus” – Within the Corpus Christi Octave

“Nowhere do we find our Saviour
more tender or more loving,
than here [in Adoration]
where He, so to speak,
annihilates Himself and reduces Himself
to Food, in order to penetrate our souls
and to unite Himself
to the hearts of His friends.”

“The Holy Eucharist
is the perfect Communion of Saints,
for it is the food common to Angels
and Sainted souls in Paradise
and ourselves – it is the true Bread
of which all Christians participate.
The forgiveness of sins,
the Author of forgiveness being there, is confirmed;
the seed of our resurrection sown,
life everlasting bestowed. …
This very belief in the Most Holy Sacrament,
which, in truth, reality and substance,
contains the true and natural
Body of Our Lord,
is actually the abridgment of our Faith,
according to that of the Psalmist:
“He had made a memory of His wonderful works.”

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritatis

“When I go to the Chapel,
I place myself before the good God and I say to Him:
‘Lord, I am here.
Tell me what Thou would have me do.’
If He gives me some task I am content and I thank Him.
If He gives me nothing, I still thank Him
Since I do not deserve to receive anything more than that,
and then, I tell God everything that is in my heart.
I tell hIm about my pains and my joys and then I listen.
… God always speaks to you
when you approach Him plainly and simply.”

St Catherine Labouré (1806-1876)
The Visionary of the Miraculous Medal

Posted in EUCHARISTIC Adoration, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, SACRED HEART ASPIRATIONS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 20 June – The “bread of life” …

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 20 June – “The Month of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus” – Within the Corpus Christi Octave – St Pope Silverius (Died 538) Martyr – 1 Corinthians 23-29 – John 6:56-59 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“This is the Bread which has come down from Heaven; not as your fathers ate the manna and died. He who eats this Bread shall live forever.” – John 6:59

REFLECTION – Christ is “the bread of life” for those who believe in Him: to believe in Christ is to eat the bread of life, to possess Christ within one, is to possess eternal life…
“I am the bread of life,” He says; “your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and they are dead” (Jn 6,48f). By this is to be understood spiritual death. Why are they dead? Because they believed in what they saw and did not understand what they could not see… Moses ate manna, Aaron ate it and many others, too, who pleased God and are not dead. Why are they not dead? Because they understood, in a spiritual fashion, they were spiritually hungry, they tasted the manna spiritually, so that they might be spiritually satisfied. “This is the bread that came down from heaven: whoever eats it will never die” (v.50).
This manna – that is to say, Christ, who Himself spoke like this…, was prefigured by the manna but was able to do more than manna could. For manna could not, of itself, prevent dying spiritually… But the righteous saw Christ in the manna, they believed in His coming and Christ, of whom manna was the symbol, grants to all who believe in Him that they should not spiritually die. Hence He says: “This is the bread come down from heaven; whoever eats it will never see death.” Here on earth, here now, before your eyes, your eyes of flesh: here is to be found the “bread from heaven” (v.51). The “bread of life” we spoke of a moment ago is now called “living bread.” Living bread because it contains, within itself, the life that abides and can deliver from spiritual death and bestow life. First He said: “Whoever eats it will never die” now he speaks clearly, concerning the life He gives: “Whoever eats this bread will live for ever” (v.58). Archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury (c 1125-1190) Cistercian – The Sacrament of the Altar II

PRAYER – Look forgivingly on Thy flock, Eternal Shepherd and keep it in Thy constant protection, by the intercession of blessed Sylverius Thy Martyr and Sovereign Pontiff, whom Thou didst constitute Shepherd of the whole Church. 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).

ALL PRAISE, honour and glory to the Divine Heart of JESUS. Indulgenced– 50 Days, once a day. 168 Pope Leo XIII, 14 June 1901.

Posted in CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, INDULGENCES, JUNE-THE SACRED HEART, Our MORNING Offering, PAPAL PRAYERS, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, SACRED HEART PRAYERS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS

Our Morning Offering – 20 June – O Divine Jesus! Lonely in So Many Tabernacles Indulgenced Prayer By St Pius X

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 20 June – “The Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” – Within the Corpus Christi Octave

O Divine Jesus!
Lonely in So Many Tabernacles
By St Pope Pius X (1835-1914)
“Pope of the Blessed Sacrament”

O Divine Jesus!
Lonely today in so many Tabernacles,
without visitor or worshipper,
I offer Thee my lonely heart.
May it’s every beat be a prayer of love to Thee.
Thou are ever watching under the Sacramental Veils,
in Thou love, Thou never sleeps
and Thou are never weary of Thy vigils for sinners.
O Loving Jesus!
O Lonely Jesus!
may my heart be a lamp,
the light of which shall burn and beam
for Thee alone.
Watch, Sacramental Sentinel!
Watch for the weary world,
for the erring soul
and for Thy poor lonely child.

O Jesus, my God, I adore Thee,
here present in the Sacrament of Thy love.
Amen

Indulgences:
100 days each time before the Tabernacle
300 days each time before the Blessed Sacrament Exposed
(St Pope Pius X – 3 July 1908)
Prayers to the Sacred Heart
15th Ed 1936

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 20 June – Saint Florentia (Died c612) Virgin,

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Saint of the Day – 20 June – Saint Florentia (Died c612) Virgin, Nun, sister of Saints Leander, Isidore and Fulgentius. Born towards the middle of the 6th Century in Cartagena, Spain and died in c612. Florentia was younger than her brother Leander, later Archbishop of Seville but older than St Isidore, who succeeded Leander as the Archbishop. Patron of – the Diocese of Plasencia. Also known as – Florentyna, Florentina.

The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Seville, in Spain, the holy virgin Florentia, sister of the Holy Bishops Leander, Isidore and Fulgentius.”

Statue of St Florentia at the Church of Santa María de Gracia in Cartagena

Florentia’s family supplies us with an example of lives of total service to God and active engagement in furthering the best interests of the Church of Christ.

Florentina was the sister of three renowned and Sainted Bishops in the time of the Visigothic dominion, Leander, Isidore and Fulgentius, St Isidore also being a Doctor of the Church.

She consecrated her virginity to God. Before his elevation to the Episcopal dignity, Leander had been a Monk and it was through his influence that Florentia embraced the ascetic life. She, together with a number of virgins, who also desired to forsake the world, formed themselves into a religious community. Later sources declare their residence to have been the Convent of St Maria de Valle near Ecija (Astigis), where her brother Fulgentius, was the Bishop.

In any case, it is certain that she had consecrated herself to God before the year 600, as her brother Leander, who died either in the year 600 or 601, wrote for her guidance an extant work dealing with a Nun’s Rule of Life and with contempt for the world.

St Leander expresses the Rules according to which cloistered virgins, consecrated to God, should regulate their lives. He strongly advises them to avoid communication with women living in the world and with men, especially youths; recommends strict temperance in eating and drinking, gives advice concerning the reading of and meditation on Holy Scripture, enjoins equal love and friendship for all those living together in community and earnestly exhorts his sister to remain true to her holy state.

Florentia regulated her life according to the advice of her brother, entered with fervour into the spirit of the Rule in Religious life and was honoured as a Saint after her death.

Her younger brother Isidore dedicated his work “De fide catholica contra Judeos” to her which he wrote at her request.

Florentia died early in the 7th Century and is venerated as the patron of the Diocese of Plasencia. Below from the eldest Leander, then Isidore, then Fulgentius.

Jose’ Montes de Oca and Pedro Duque Cornejo, St. Isidore of Seville, 17th century
Posted in MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

Notre-Dame-de-Grace / Our Lady of Grace also known as Our Lady of Consolation (1524), St Pope Silverius (Died 538) Martyr and the Saints for 20 June

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Notre-Dame-de-Grace / Our Lady of Grace in Equemauville, Honfleur, France – also known as Our Lady of Consolation (1524) 20 June (The Crowning) and 23 October:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/06/20/notre-dame-de-grace-our-lady-of-grace-our-lady-of-consolation-honfleur-france-1524-and-memorials-of-the-saints-20-june/

St Pope Silverius (Died 538) Martyr ruled the Holy See from 8 June 536 to his deposition in 538, a few months before his death.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/06/20/saint-of-the-day-20-june-st-pope-silverius-died-538-martyr/

St Adalbert of Magdeburg (910-981) “Apostle of the Slavs” – Bishop, Monk, Missionary.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/06/20/saint-of-the-day-20-june-st-adalbert-of-magdeburg-910-981-apostle-of-the-slavs/

St Bagne of Thérouanne (Died c706) the 5th Bishop of Thérouanne in northwest France (now St Omer) and then Abbot of Fontanelle, the Monastery of Saint Wandrille in Normandy, a disciple of *St Wandrille (c 605–668) Priest, Monk, Abbot. Died in c711 of natural causes Patronage – of Calais, France.
A Life of Grace:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/06/20/saint-of-the-day-20-june-saint-bagne-of-therouanne-died-c706-bishop/

Blessed Benignus of Breslau O,Cist. (13th-14th Century) Cistercian Monk and Martyr
St Edburga of CaistorFulgentius.
St Florentia (Died c612) Virgin, sister of Sts Leander, Isidore and Fulgentius.

Blessed Francisco Pacheco SJ (1566-1626) Martyr, Priest of the Society of Jesus, Missionary to India, China and Japan, Provincial Superior. Fr Pacheco and his eight Jesuit companions, together with the nine lay Christians, were included among the 205 Martyrs Beatified by Blessed Pope Pius IX on 7 May1867.
His Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/06/20/saint-of-th-day-20-june-blessed-francisco-pacheco-sj-1566-1626/

St Gemma of Saintonge
St Goban of Picardie
St Helen of Öehren

St John of Matera (c1070-1139) Monk, Abbot, Mystic, renowned Preacher, Miracle-worker, gifted with bilocation.
His Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/06/20/saint-of-the-day-20-june-saint-john-of-matera-c-1070-1139/

St Macarius (Died c350) Bishop of Petra and Confessor
St Methodius of Olympus

Blessed Michelina TOSF (1300-1356) Widow, Religious of the Third Order of the Friars Minor, Stigmatic, Penitent, Apostle of all in need, Founder of the Confraternity of the Annunciation, to care for the poor, nurse the sick and bury the dead. Patronages – Pesaro, widows, against mental illness, against death of children. Beatified on 13 April 1737 by Pope Clement XII.
Her Holy Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/06/20/saint-of-the-day-20-june-blessed-michelina-of-pesaro-tosf-1300-1356/

St Novatus of Rome (Died c151) Confessor, Layman.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Rome, the demise of St Novatus, son of the blessed Senator, Puden and brother of the saintly Priest, Timothy and of the Holy Virgins of Christ, Pudentiana and Praxedes, who were instructed in the Faith by the Apostles. Their house was converted into a Church and bore the title of Pastor.”
A Zealous Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/06/20/saint-of-the-day-20-june-saint-novatus-of-rome-died-c151-confessor/

Martyred in London:
Bl Anthony Turner
Bl John Fenwick
Bl John Gavan
BL Thomas Whitbread
Blessed William Harcourt

Irish Martyrs – 260 Beati – This is the collective title given to the 260 or more persons who are credited with dying for the Faith in Ireland between 1537 and 1714.

Martyrs of Lower Moesia:
Martyred on the Black Sea at Lower Moesia (in modern Bulgaria), date unknown.
St Cyriacus
St Paul

Martyred in Nagasaki: 9 Beati : burned alive on 20 June 1626 in Nagasaki, Japan. Their ashes were thrown into the sea and no relics remain. They were Beatified on 7 May 1867 by Pope Pius IX.
Blessed Baltasar de Torres Arias
Blessed Francisco Pacheco
Blessed Gaspar Sadamatsu
Blessed Giovanni Battista Zola
Blessed Ioannes Kisaku
Blessed Michaël Tozo
Blessed Paulus Shinsuke
Blessed Petrus Rinsei
Blessed Vincentius Kaun