Thought for the Day – 19 December – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
Christmas Novena V The Swaddling Clothes of the Divine Infant
“The swaddling clothes of the Infant Jesus are, moreover, a symbol of the love which should bind us to Him. If we are not capable of loving Jesus, are we capable of love at all? Perhaps we love wealth, honour and pleasure? Some day, however, we shall have to leave all our wealth behind. Worldly honour and glory are also fleeting and can never satisfy us, while earthly pleasures leave behind a sense of emptiness and disgust.
Jesus Christ alone, can satisfy our hearts, for He alone, has words of everlasting life! “Lord,” let us say with St Peter, “to whom shall we go? Thou hast words of everlasting life” (Jn 6:69).”
Quote/s of the Day – 20 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary”
“Let us become like Christ, since Christ became like us. He assumed the worse that He might give us the better; He became poor that we, through His poverty, might be rich.”
“The very Son of God, Older than the ages, the Invisible, the Incomprehensible, the Incorporeal, the Beginning of beginning, the Light of light, the Fountain of Life and Immortality, the Image of the Archetype, the Immovable Seal, the Perfect Likeness, the Definition and Word of the Father: He it is, Who comes to His Own Image and takes our nature, for the Good of our nature and unites Himself to an intelligent soul for the good of the soul, to purify like by Like.”
St Gregory Nazianzen (330-390) Father and Doctor of the Church
One Minute Reflection – 20 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – The Vigil of St Thomas, Apostle – Ember Saturday – Isaias 19:20-22 – Luke 3:1-6 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“The voice of one crying in the desert, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, make straight His paths.‘” – Luke 3:4
REFLECTION – “Brethren, we prepare the way of the Lord, as we are bidden to do, by walking along it and, we can walk along it only, by preparing it. However far you journey along it, the way is always waiting to be prepared, so that you must start afresh, from the place you have reached and advance along what lies ahead. You are led to do so because, at every stage, you meet the Lord for Whose Coming you are preparing the way and, each time you see Him in a completely new manner and as a much greater figure than you have met before. The just man has the right prayer when he says: “Set your way which justifies as a law for me, Lord and I will always seek after it.” (Ps 118:33).It is, therefore, eternal life which is probably meant because, although a man can study his route, with foresight and determine just how far he can go, from the very nature of goodness, there is no limit to the way along which you travel. And so, when the wise and indefatigable traveller has reached his goal, he will begin again, forgetting, that is, what lies behind him, so that each day he can say to himself: “Now I begin!” (Phil 3:13; Ps 76:11) …
But, if only we, who speak of the course of this way, could understand, even the beginning of it. As far as I can see, a man who has begun, has already gone far, provided he begins properly and “finds the way to the inhabitable city” (Ps 106:4). “How few there are,” Truth says, “who find it” (Mt 7:14). And how many “go astray in the wilderness!” …
O Lord, Thou hast laid down guide-lines for us, if only we would walk properly according to them. Thou hast laid down a law for us, the way of Thy statutes, through Him Whom Thou hast given as the Legislator of this holy way of life. “This is the way,” Thou says, “walk along it, swerving neither to the right, nor to the left” (Is 30:21). Clearly this is the way the Prophet had promised: “A straight way for us, so that no fool can wander from it” (Is 35:8). I was young once, I am now old (Ps 36:25) and if I remember rightly, I have not seen a foolish man go astray because of it, though I have hardly seen any wise man, able to keep straight along it.” – Blessed Guerric of Igny (c1080-1157) Cistercian Abbot (5th sermon for Advent).
PRAYER – O God, Who, by the message of an Angel, willed to take flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, grant that we, Thy suppliants, who believe her to be truly the Mother of God, may be helped by her intercession with Thee. Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).
Our Morning Offering – 20 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary”
O Jesus, Dear Holy Child By St Thérèse of the Child Jesus (1873 – 1897)
O Jesus, dear Holy Child, my only treasure, I abandon myself to Thy every whim. I seek no other joy than that of calling forth Thy sweet Smile. Vouchsafe to me, the graces and the virtues of Thy Holy Childhood, so that, on the day of my birth into Heaven, the Angels and Saints may recognise in Thy Spouse, Thérèse of the Child Jesus. Amen
Saint of the Day – 20 December – St Paul (Died c956) Abbot, Hermit on Mount Latrus near the City of Miletus in Caria (now western Turkey). Born in Pergamon in modern Turkey and died in Samos, Greece in 956 .
van Staveren, Jan Adriaensz.; A Hermit at Prayer
Paul spent most of his religious life as a Hermit on Mount Latrus. He later founded a Monastery there and became its Abbot. He is regarded as the spiritual father of many Monks.
Paul generally avoided the powerful and preferred the company of the humble and meek who sought him out for spiritual counsel but he received letters from Tsar Peter I of Bulgaria and wrote to the Emperor urging the removal of Manichaeans heretics from the territories.
Paul was indefatigable in the exercise of holy prayer and having no other desire than to gain Heaven, laboured seriously to subdue his body by mortification. He never lay himself down to sleep but only leaned his head against a stone or tree. No unprofitable word was ever heard from his mouth and the sight of the fire, which put him in mind of hell, drew tears from his eyes without intermission whenever he was employed in the kitchen.
Towards the end of his life he drew up rules for his Monastery. On the 6th of December in 956, foreseeing his death draw near, he came down from his cell, said Holy Mass earlier than usual, then took to his bed, being seized with a violent fever. He spent his last moments in prayer and in repeating tender instructions to his Monks until his happy death.
St Attala of Strasbourg St Bajulus of Rome St Crescentius of Africa St Damian of Padua St Dominic Bishop and Confessor of Brescia
St Dominic de Silos OSB (1000-1073) Abbot. He was a Spanish Monk, to whom the Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos, where he served as the Abbot, is dedicated. The mother of the better-known Saint Dominic de Guzmán, the Blessed Joan of Aza, prayed at his Shrine before she was able to conceive the son she named for him. That son would grow up to found the Dominican Order. Dominic’s special patronage thus became connected with pregnancy and until the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, his abbatial crozier was used to bless the queens of Spain and was placed by their beds when they were in labour. His Namesake is more Renowned than he is: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/12/20/saint-of-the-day-20-december-st-dominic-de-silos-o-s-b-c1000-1073/
Bl John de Molina St Julius of Gelduba Bl Lorenzo Company St Liberatus of Rome St Macarius of Arabia St Malou Priest at Hautvillers, Marne, France. No other information has survived. St Paul (Died c956) Hermit of Latra, Greece Blessed Peter de la Cadireta
St Ursicinus of Saint-Ursanne (c552-c625) Abbot, Hermit, disciple of St Columban (543-615). Born in c552 in either France or Ireland and died on 20 December in c625 near modern St-Ursanne, Jura, Switzerland of natural causes. Patronages – against stiff neck, Besançon in France, in Switzerland – Basel, Saint-Ursanne. A Saint Patron against a Stiff Neck!: https://anastpaul.com/2023/12/20/saint-of-the-day-20-december-saint-ursicinus-of-saint-ursanne-c552-c625-abbot/
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