Thought for the Day – 13 July – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
Following Jesus, the Divine Model
“When we have renounced ourselves and have embraced our cross with resignation and love, we must follow Jesus. We must follow Him in a special way as the Infallible Teacher of tTuth. The teachings of men cannot satisfy our intellects. Still less, can they satisfy our hearts. What they teach is either incomplete or false. This is proved by the fact that the doctrines of men have succeeded and replaced one another, down through the Centuries while “the Word of the Lord endures forever” (1 Peter 1:25).
The teaching of Christ produces an extraordinary renovation in the individual, in the family and in society. It is this renewal which we call Christianity and Christian civilisation. There is a wide chasm between paganism and Christianity. This gulf would be even wider, only for the fact that Christianity has not yet been fully put into practice throughout the universe. There is only one reform necessary. This is to realise the Christian ideal everywhere. We must begin by carrying it out ourselves. Let us follow Jesus, Who is saying to us: “I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life” (Jn 14:6). “He who follows Me does not walk in darkness” (Jn 8:12).
Let us follow our Divine Master and we shall be sure that we are travelling towards Heaven!”
Quote/s of the Day – 13 July – “The Month of the Most Precious Blood” – –
“Leave there thy offering before the Altar and go first to be reconciled to thy brother and then, coming, thou shalt offer thy gift.”
Matthew 5:24
“Lord, do not hold this sin against them”
Acts 7:60
“No-one heals himself by wounding another.”
St Ambrose (340-397) Father and Doctor of the Church
“… Every man is both debtor and creditor… A beggar asks you for alms but you, too, are God’s beggar, for when we pray we are all beggars of God. We stand – or rather, prostrate ourselves – at our Father’s door (cf Lk 11:5); we beseech Him with groans, anxious to receive a grace from Him and this grace is God Himself! What does the beggar ask of you? Bread. And what is it that you are asking of God but Christ, Who said: “I am the Living Bread come down from Heaven” (Jn 6:51).”
St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of Grace
“To the extent that you pray, with all your soul, for the person who slanders you, God will make the truth known to those who have been scandalised by the slander.”
One Minute Reflection – 13 July – “The Month of the Most Precious Blood” –Pentecost V – St Anacletus (c25-c89) 3rd Bishop of Rome and Martyr – 1 Petet 3:8-15; 5:10-11 – Matthew 5:20-24 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“Leave there thy offering before the Altar and go first to be reconciled to thy brother and then, coming, thou shalt offer thy gift.” – Matthew 5:24
REFLECTION – “The measure with which you measure shall be measured out to you” (Mt 7:2). And the servant who, after having had all his debt forgiven him by his master, would not forgive his fellow-servant, is confined to prison. Because he was unwilling to forgive his fellow-servant, he lost the forgiveness which had been granted him by the Lord (Mt 18:23f). And these things Christ sets forth still more strongly in his precepts by the greater force of his censure. He says: “When you stand praying, forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance, so that your heavenly Father may in turn forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your transgressions” (Mk 11:25) …
For God commands us to be peacemakers and of one heart and of one mind, in His House. And such as He has made us by a second birth, so by a second birth He wishes to preserve us that we, who are the children of God, may abide in the peace of God and that we ,who have one spirit, may have one heart and mind. Thus God does not receive the sacrifice of a person who is in disagreement but commands him to go back from the Altar and first be reconciled to his brother that so God also, may be appeased by the prayers of the peacemaker. The greater sacrifice to God is our peace and fraternal concord and a people united in the unity of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” – St Cyprian of Carthage (200-258) Bishop of Carthage, Martyr, Father of the Church (The Lord’s Prayer, 23).
PRAYER – Look forgivingly on thy flock, Eternal Shepherd, and keep it in thy constant protection, by the intercession of blessed Anacletus thy Martyr and Sovereign Pontiff, whom thou didst constitute Shepherd of the whole Church.Through the same 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 – 13 July – “The Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Pentecost V
I Love Thee, O My God By St John Marie Baptiste Vianney (1786-1859)
I love Thee, O my God and my only desire is to love Thee until the last breath of my life. I love Thee, O my infinitely lovable God and I would rather die loving Thee than live without loving Thee. I love Thee, Lord and the only grace I ask, is to love Thee eternally. My God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love Thee, I wish my heart to repeat it to Thee as often as I draw breath! Amen
Saint of the Day – 13 July – St Eugenius (Died 505) Bishop and Confessor of Carthage, in North Africa, a zealous and learned shepjerd, apostle of the poor and needy, pious and devout, Patronage – of Albi in Calabria, Italy. Also known as – Eugene.
A Statue pf St Eugenius at Albi
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “In Africa, the holy Confessor, Eugenius, the faithful and virtuous Bishop of Carthabe and to all the Clergy of the Church, to the number of about 500 or more, among whom were many small children amployed as Lectors. In the persecution of the Vandals under the Arian King Hunneric, they were subjected to scourging and starvation and driven into a most painful banishment whicle they bore, with joy for God’s sake. In their number were also 2 distinguished persons, the Archdeacon Salutaris and Murtta, occupying the 2nd rank among the ministers of the Church. Both had confessed the Faith 3 times and were illustrious by their sturdy perseverance in Christianity.” (As printed in the Roman Martyrology 1914).
The Episcopal See of Carthage had remained vacant for 24 years, when, in 481, Huneric permitted the Catholics, on certain conditions, to choose one who should fill the Seat.
The faithful, impatient to enjoy the comfort of a shepherd, chose Eugenius, a citizen of Carthage, eminent for his learning, zeal, piety and prudence. His loving care to the distressed were excessive and he refused himself everything in order to give more to the poor.
His virtue gained him the respect and esteem even of the Arians but at length envy overcame them and the King sent an order to Eugenius, never to sit on the Episcopal Throne, preach to the people, or admit into his Chapel any Vandals, among whom several were Catholics. The Saint boldly answered that the laws of God commanded him not to shut the door of His Church to any who desired to serve Him therein. Huneric, enraged at this response, persecuted the Catholics in various ways. Many nuns were so cruelly tortured that they died on the rack. Great numbers of Bishops, Priests, Deacons and eminent Catholic laymen, were banished to a desert, filled with scorpions and venomous serpents. The faithful followed their Bishops and Priests with lighted tapers in their hands and mothers carried their little babes in their arms and laid them at the feet of the Confessors, all crying out with tears: “Going yourselves to your crowns, to whom do you leave us? Who will baptise our children? Who will impart to us the benefit of penance and discharge us from the bonds of sin by the favour of Absolution? Who will bury us with solemn supplications at our death? By whom will the Divine Sacrifice be made?”
The Bishop Eugenius was spared in the first storm but afterwards was carried into the uninhabited desert country in the province of Tripolis and committed to the guard of Antony, an inhuman Arian bishop, who treated him with the utmost barbarity.
Gontamund, who succeeded Huneric, recalled our Saint to Carthage, opened the Catholic Churches and allowed all the exiled Priests to return.
After reigning for a further 12 years, Gontamund died,and his brother Thrasimund was called to the crown. Under this Prince, St Eugenius was again banished and died in exile, on the 13th of July 505, in a Monastery which he had built and governed, near Albi in which City he is highly honoured to this day.
A Statue portraying Saint Eugenius, in the Church museum in Sant’Eustorgio (Milan).
Bl Berthold of Scheide St Dogfan Bl Élisabeth Verchière St Esdras the Prophet St Eugenius (Died 505) Bishop and Confessor of Carthage St Giustina of Arzano
St Josephus Wang Kuiju
Blessed James OP (c1226 – 3 or 16 July 1298) Italian Archbishop of Genoa, Author of the ‘Golden Legend’ (a collection of lives of Saints and treatises on Christian festivals, one of the most popular religious works of the Middle Ages and is still published and referred to today – completed 1265), Priest and Friar of the Order of Preachers of St Dominic, Writer, Scholar of great genius, Prior and Provincial General of the Order. Blessed James was Beatified on 11 May 1816 by Pope Pius VII. His Holy Life: https://anastpaul.com/2021/07/13/saint-of-the-day-13-july-blessed-james-of-voragine-op-c-1226-1298-author-of-the-golden-legend/
Bl Jean of France St Joel the Prophet Bl Marie-Anastasie de Roquard Bl Marie-Anne Depeyre Bl Marie-Anne Lambert
St Muritta of Carthage St Myrope St Salutaris of Carthage St Sarra of Egypt St Serapion of Alexandria Serapion of Macedonia St Silas (1st Century) Disciple of Sts Paul and Barnabas Bl Thérèse-Henriette Faurie Bl Thomas Tunstal
Martyrs of Cyprus – 300 Saints: 300 Christians who retired to Cyprus to live as cave Hermits, devoting themselves to prayer and an ascetic life devoted to God. Tortured and Martyred for their faith and their bodies thrown into the various caves in which they had lived. We know the names of five of them but no other details even about them – Ammon, Choulélaios, Epaphroditus, Eusthénios and Héliophotos. They were beheaded in the 12th century on Cyprus and their bodies dumped in the cave where they had lived and only rediscovered long afterwards.
Martyrs of Philomelio – 31 Saints: 31 soldiers Martyred for their faith in the persecutions of prefect Magno, date unknown. The only name that has come down to us is Alexander. In Philomelio, Phrygia (in modern Turkey).
AnaStpaul 
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