Thought for the Day – 28 August – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
The Creation
“Dante describes the Creation beautifully as “Eternal Love expanded into new loves.” Heaven and earth, Angels and men and all created beings, are nothing more than an expansion of this Eternal Love, into new loves. Love unites and fills everything. Everywhere in Heaven and on earth, there is love, there is need of love. But whom shall we love? The creatures who surround us? Yes. We may and should love them. They are rays of the Light and Beauty of God. We should love them because they reflect the Power and Glory of God. But, we must not become attached to them. We must not try to find, happiness and peace of mind in them. They cannot give us contentment, for our hearts are made for something greater. God made creatures for Himself, as St Augustine says and, therefore, our hearts will not rest until they rest in Him.”
Quote/s of the Day – 28 August – “The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” – The Feast of St Augustine (354-430) Bishop, Confessor, Father and Doctor of Grace
“Behold, thy mother” John 19:27
“His Mother is the entire Church because by God’s grace, she brings forth the members of Jesus Christ, that is to say, those who are faithful to Him. His Mother is also every holy soul who does the Will of His Father and whose fruitful charity is made manifest in those whom it brings forth for Him until He Himself is formed in them (Gal 4:19)…”
“Be you then also ready, for at what hour you think not, the Son of man will come.” Luke 12:40
“The more unsure the day of our death is, the more painful are the trials of life and the more too, we should fast and pray since, to all intents and purposes, tomorrow we die. Even now, the hope we thus put in the One Who is faithful to His promise, will not leave us without some joy, until we are filled with overwhelming joy on the day when “we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is” (1Jn 3:2), when “no-one shall take our joy away from us”
“Give of your earthly goods and receive eternal ones; give earth and receive Heaven!”
“Judge your own conscience. Demand an account from it. Dig deep and rend it apart. Discover all the evil thoughts and intentions of the day … and punish yourself for them!” (Expos in Ps 4 n 8).
“To arrive at the knowledge of the Truth, there are many paths – the first is humility, the second is humility and the third is humility!”
“Humility is a very strange entity. The moment we think we have it, we have already lost it!”
Late Have I Loved Thee! By St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of Grace
Late have I loved Thee, Beauty ever ancient and ever new, late have I loved Thee! Lo, Thou were within but I outside, seeking there for Thee and upon the shapely things Thou hast made I rushed headlong – I, misshapen. Thou wast with me but I was tnot with Thee. They held me back far from Thee, those things which would have no being, were they not in Thee. Thou called, shouted, broke through my deafness. Thou flared, blazed, banished my blindness. Thou lavished Thy fragrance, I gasped and now I pant for Thee. I tasted Thee and now I hunger and thirst. Thou touched me and I burned for Thy peace. Amen
“May we listen too, to the Voice of the Lord which, from on high, exhorts and consoles us. … For He has heard our groaning, He has seen our sighs, He has sounded the desires of our hearts for “the one thing we ask” (v.4). Thanks to Christ’s intercession, He has favourably received our one prayer, our one request. And while we are completing our pilgrimage in this world, even as the road is a long one, He will not refuse what He has promised. He says to us: “Hope in the Lord.” He Who has promised is all powerful, He is trustworthy, He is faithful. … Therefore, do not let yourself be troubled.”
One Minute Reflection – 28 August – “The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” – St Augustine (354-430) Bishop, Confessor, Great Western Father and Doctor of the Church – 2 Timothy 4:1-8, Matthew 5:13-19 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but upon a candlestick …” – Matthew 5:15
REFLECTION – “What sort of candlestick is this which bears such a light? I will teach you. Be lamps yourselves and you will have a place on this lampstand. Christ’s Cross is one great lampstand. Whoever wants to shine out should not be ashamed of this wooden candlestick. Listen to me and you will get the point – the candlestick is the Cross of Christ …
“So will your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and glorify” Glorify Whom? Not yourself, since to seek your own glory is to want to be extinguished! “Glorify your heavenly Father.” Yes, that they may glorify Him, your heavenly Father, when they see your good works…
Listen to the Apostle Paul: “May I never glory except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world” (Gal 6:14).” – St Augustine (354-430) Bishop, Confessor, Father and Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – Give heed to our humble prayers, Almighty God and through the intercession of blessed Augustine, Thy Confessor and Bishop, kindly grant Thy oft-given mercy to those upon whom Thou bestows great hope in Thy forgiveness. 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 – 28 August – “The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” – The Feast of St Augustine (354-430) – Bishop, Confessor, Father and Doctor of Grace
Blessed Virgin Mary, Holy Mary! By St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor of the Church
Blessed Virgin Mary, who can worthily repay thee with praise and thanksgiving for having rescued a fallen world by thy generous consent! Receive our gratitude and by thy prayers, obtain the pardon of our sins. Take our prayers into the sanctuary of Heaven and enable them to make our peace with God. Holy Mary, help the miserable, strengthen the discouraged, comfort the sorrowful, pray for thy people, plead for the clergy, intercede for all women consecrated to God. May all who venerate thee, feel now, thy help and protection. Be ready to help us when we pray and bring back to us, the answers to our prayers. Make it thy continual concern, to pray for the people of God, for thou were blessed by God and were made worthy to bear the Redeemer of the world, Who lives and reigns forever. Amen
Saint of the Day – 28 August – St Eustochium (c368-c419) Virgin, daughter of St Paula a noble matron of Rome. Guided by the teachings of St Jerome, Eustochium practiced asceticism and committed her life to perpetual virginity. Also known as – Julia Eustochium
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “The holy virgin, Eustochium the daughter of blessed Paula, who was brought up at the manger of our Lord, with other virgins and being celebrated for merits, went to our Lord.”
Eustochium was the third of four daughters and one son of the Roman Senator Toxotius. The three sisters were named, Blaesilla, Paulina and Rufina, and a brother, named Toxotius. After the death of her husband in around 380, Paula and her daughter Eustochium, lived in Rome as austere a life as the fathers of the desert.
When Jerome came to Rome from Palestine in 382, they put themselves under his spiritual and educational guidance. Hymettius, an uncle and his wife, Praetextata, tried to persuade the youthful Eustochium to give up her austere life and enjoy the pleasures of the world but all their attempts were futile. About the year 384, she made a vow of perpetual virginity, on which occasion Jerome addressed his celebrated letter on virginity, to her “De Custodia Virginitatis.”
Eustochium and Paulahad known St Jerome ever since his arrival in Rome in 382.[3] In 386 they accompanied him on his journey to Egypt, where they visited the hermits of the Nitrian Desert in order to study and afterward imitate their mode of life. In the autumn of the same year, they returned to Palestine and settled permanently at Bethlehem. Paula and Eustochium at once began to erect four Monasteries and a Hospice near the spot where Jesus Christ was born. While the erection of the Monasteries was in process (386–389) they lived in a small builing in the neighbourhood.
St Eustochium by Juan de Valdés Leal
When completed, one of the Monasteries was occupied by Monks and put under the direction of St Jerome. The three others were taken by Paula and Eustochium and the numerous virgins who flocked around them. The three convents, which were under the supervision of Paula, had only one oratory, where all the virgins met several times daily for prayer and the liturgy of the hours. St Jerome testifies (Ep. 308) that Eustochium and Paula performed the most menial services. Much of their time they spent in the study of Sacred Scripture under the direction of St Jerome.
Eustochium spoke Latin and Classical Greek with equal ease and was able to read the Scriptures in the Hebrew text, thus afording great assistance to St Jerome in his works of translation and commentaries.
The letters which St Jerome wrote for her instruction and spiritual advancement are, according to his own testimony, very numerous.
St Jerome with Sts Paula and Eustochium
In 417, a crowd of ruffians attacked and pillaged the Monasteries of Bethlehem, destroyed one of them by fire, besides killing and maltreating some of the residents.Both St Jerome and Eustochium informed Pope Innocent I by letter of the occurrence, who severely reproved the patriarch for having permitted the outrage.
Eustochium died shortly after and was succeeded in the supervision of the Convents by her niece, the younger Paula. St Eustochius of Tour might have been her nephew and further lateral descendants may include Sts Perpetuus and Volusianus.
St Augustine (354-430) – Bishop of Hippo, Confessor, Doctor of Grace and one of the original Four Fathers & Doctors of the Latin Church, Theologian, Preacher, Writer a None of these titles, though accurate, would please him, however, as much as the simple one he used to describe himself: ‘Servant of God.’ For, whatever we achieve in life, whatever gifts and talents we have been given, are of little value unless they lead us, as they did Augustine, to know, love and serve God ever more deeply.
St Facundinus of Taino St Felix of Venosa St Fortunatus of Salerno St Gaius of Salerno St Gorman of Schleswig
Bl Hugh More Bl James Claxton St Januarius of Venosa
St Julian (Died c304) Martyrof Auvergne . The Roman Martyrology reads today : “At Brioude, in Auvergne, St Julian, Martyr, during the persecution of Diocletian. Being the companion of the blessed tribune, Ferreol and secretly serving Christ under a military garb, he was arrested by the soldiers and killed in a barbarous manner by having his throat cut.” His Life and Death: https://anastpaul.com/2024/08/28/saint-of-the-day-28-august-st-julian-of-auvergne-died-c304-martyr/
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