Month: September 2026

Posted in SEPTEMBER-The SEVEN SORROWS of MARY and The HOLY CROSS

September Devotion – The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary and The Holy Cross

Posted on by AnaStpaul

The Seven Sorrows of
the Blessed Virgin Mary

1, The prophecy of Simeon
2. The Flight to Egypt
3. Loss of Child Jesus for 3 days
4. Meeting Jesus carrying His Cross
5. The Crucifixion of Jesus
6. The Pieta – receiving Jesus’ Body
7. The Burial of Jesus

During this month of September, we are drawn into the spiritual Martyrdom which the Blessed Mother experienced during the physical Martyrdom of Jesus. The evils of sin are manifest but conquered through intense suffering. The Blessed Mother’s tears of anguish reflect God’s washing away of sin.

We see this theme of joy followed by affliction mirrored in the liturgical calendar in two September Feasts – the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on 14 September and the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows on 15 September. Happy the heart of the blessed Virgin Mary! She, without dying, earned the treasure of Martyrdom beneath the Cross of our Lord for her anguish.

The name of Our Lady of Sorrows centres on the extraordinary and bittersweet suffering the Blessed Mother experienced during Christ’s Passion. As seen in the artwork above, her agony is composed of “The Seven Dolors,” that pierced the Heart of Mary. Dürer’s portrayal of each event encompasses the central figure of Christ’s sorrowful Mother.

Bid me bear, O Mother Blest,
On my heart, the wounds imprest,
Suffered by the Crucified!

An Indulgence of 50 days each time.
Plenary Indulgence once a month under the usual conditions.

Posted in Uncategorized

Saint of the Day – 1 September – St Joshua the Patriarch

Posted on by AnaStpaul
Joshua commanding the sun to stand still

Joshua (‘God is salvation’) – also known Joshua the Prophet, Joshua, son of Nun, Giosuè, Hosea, Hoshea, Jehoshua, Jesus, Josua, Josue, Josuë, Jozua, Jozuë, Osee, Yehoshu’a, Yehoshúa, Yeshua – was Moses’ assistant and later succeeded him as the leader of the Israelites.

Joshua was charged by Moses with selecting and commanding a militia group for their first battle after exiting Egypt, against the Amalekites in Rephidim. He later accompanied Moses when he ascended Mount Sinai to commune with God, and he was with Moses when he descended from the mountain, heard the Israelites’ celebrations around the Golden Calf. Joshua was one of the twelve spies sent by Moses to scout out the land of Canaan. 

Joshua and Caleb were the only two who had confidence in God and would recommended a direct attack. Because of their faith and trust they were exempt from the condemnation of their generation to death in the wilderness outside the Promised Land. The book of Joshua recounts his victories at Jericho, Ai, and other places.

Just before he died at the age of 110, he convened the elders and chiefs of the Israelites and exhorted them to have no fellowship with the native population, because it could lead them to be unfaithful to God.

No man shall be able to resist you all the days of thy life: as I have been with Moses, so will I be with thee: I will not leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Joshua 1:5

Joshua’s Tomb in Jordan

Posted in MARIAN TITLES

Collection of all the Feasts of Our Lady, celebrated at Louvain -and Memorials of the Saints – 1 September

Posted on by AnaStpaul

“Month of the Seven Sorrows of Mary”

Collection of all the Feasts of Our Lady, celebrated at Louvain – 1 September:

The Abbot Orsini writes that “A feast is kept in honour of the Blessed Virgin, called the Collection of all the Feasts of Our Lady.”

Louvain refers to Leuven, the capital of the Province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. There was once a Chapel called Our Lady of Louvain, which had stood near the Church tower of a separate Church dedicated to Saint Peter. The Chapel owed its origin to an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary that was given by a group of Monks from Abbey Park as a sign of brotherhood in 1132. According to tradition, the wooden statue, which depicted the Blessed Virgin seated with the Divine Child in her lap, was a gift from heaven deposited on the earth by heavenly Angels. The image excited a lively religious fervour upon its reception and there are numerous miracles credited to pious devotion to the image of Our Lady of Louvain.

Over 350 years later, as the Chapel of Our Lady of Louvain was built on land that was needed for the construction of the new and larger Church of Saint Peter, it was necessary to demolish the Chapel. In a letter dated 28 March 1496, Bishop John Horne of Liege, authorised the transfer of materials from the Chapel of Our Lady of Louvain to the new Basilica of Saint Peter The old Chapel was demolished two years later in 1498 and the Statue of the Virgin was placed on a special Altar in the collegiate Church of Saint Peter. Every year, on the eve of the first Sunday in September, the miraculous image of Our Lady of Louvain had been carried in procession by the canons and members of the local council while bells tolled and musicians accompanied the image singing the Salve Regina.

Sometime later, the Statue became known by the title of Notre-Dame-sous-la-Tour. The original Church of Saint Peter was made entirely of wood and completed in about 986. It burned to the ground in 1176. It was rebuilt in Romanesque style with two west towers, and that image is still used as the ancient seal for the City. The Church was then enlarged in 1425 in the Brabantine Gothic style. The Church of Saint Peter was heavily damaged in both world wars but most importantly, the original Statue of Our Lady of Louvain was completely destroyed in 1944 by allied bombing during World War II and it is now only a replica that is on display at the Church.

Abigail the Matriarch

St Abdon the Judge
St Aegidius
St Agia
St Anea
St Arcanus
St Arealdo of Brescia
Bl Colomba of Mount Brancastello
St Constantius the Bishop
St Donatus of Sentianum
St Felix of Sentianum

St Giles (c 650 – c 710) Monk, Hermit, Abbot.- One of the 14 Holy Helpers

Blessed Giuliana of Collalto OSB (1186-1262) Benedictine Nun
Bl Giustino of Paris
Bl Giovanna Soderini

St Ibzan the Judge
St Jane Soderini
St Joshua the Patriarch
Bl Juliana of Collalto
St Laetus of Dax

St Lupus of Sens (Died 623) Bishop of Sens – France, Confessor, Monk, Missionary.

St Lythan
St Nivard of Rheims
St Priscus
St Regulus
St Sixtus of Rheims
St Terentian
St Verena
St Victorious
St Vincent of Xaintes
—
Exiles of Campania
Twelve Holy Brothers: Martyrs of the South –
A group of Martyrs who died c 303 at various places in southern Italy. In 760 their relics were brought together and enshrined in Benevento, Italy as a group.
• Saint Arontius of Potenza
• Saint Donatus of Sentianum
• Saint Felix of Sentianum
• Saint Felix of Venosa
• Saint Fortunatus of Potenza
• Saint Honoratus of Potenza
• Saint Januarius of Venosa
• Saint Repositus of Velleianum
• Saint Sabinian of Potenza
• Saint Sator of Velleianum
• Saint Septiminus of Venosa
• Saint Vitalis of Velleianum
One tradition describes Saint Boniface of Hadrumetum and Saint Thecla of Hadrumetum as their parents.

Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
Martyred Hospitallers of Saint John of God – (12 beati)
• Blessed Alejandro Cobos Celada
• Blessed Alfonso Sebastiá Viñals
• Blessed Amparo Carbonell Muñoz
• Blessed Antonio Villanueva Igual
• Blessed Carmen Moreno Benítez
• Blessed Crescencio Lasheras Aizcorbe
• Blessed Enrique López y López
• Blessed Francesc Trullen Gilisbarts
• Blessed Guillermo Rubio Alonso
• Blessed Isidro Gil Arano
• Blessed Joaquim Pallerola Feu
• Blessed Joaquín Ruiz Cascales
• Blessed José Franco Gómez
• Blessed José Prats Sanjuán
• Blessed Josep Samsó y Elias
• Blessed Manuel Mateo Calvo
• Blessed Mariano Niño Pérez
• Blessed Maximiano Fierro Pérez
• Blessed Miquel Roca Huguet
• Blessed Nicolás Aramendía García
• Blessed Pedro Rivera
• Blessed Pio Ruiz De La Torre

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 1 September – What Can I Say? By St Anselm

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 1 September – “Month of the Seven Sorrows of Mary”

As we enter the Month of our Sorrowful Mother, let us unite ourselves to her and offer her our meagre consolation.

What Can I Say?
By St Anselm (1033-1109)
Magnificent Doctor
Marian Doctor

My most merciful Lady,
what can I say about the fountains
that flowed from your most pure eyes
when you saw your only Son before you,
bound, beaten and suffering?
What do I know of the flood
that drenched your matchless face,
when you beheld your Son,
your Lord and your God,
stretched on the Cross without guilt,
when the flesh of your flesh
was cruelly butchered by wicked men?
How can I judge, what sobs,
troubled your most pure breast,
when you heard, “Woman, behold your son,”
and the disciple, “Behold, your Mother,”
when you received as a son
the disciple in place of the Master,
the servant for the Lord?
Amen

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 1 September – “No servant can serve two masters”

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 1 September – “Month of the Seven Sorrows of Mary” – Readings: Ps 83:10-11, Ps 83:2-3, Gal 5:16-24, Matt 6:24-33

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: No man serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will stand by the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Matt 6:24-33

REFLECTION – To want to place one’s hope and trust in passing things is to want to set one’s foundations in running water! Everything passes, God abides. To be attached to what is transitory is to cut oneself off from what endures. For who, carried away by the angry whirling of a rapid, can stand firm in that roiling flood? So if you want to avoid being carried away by the current then flee from all that flows away. Otherwise, the object of our love will make us end up doing exactly what we wanted to avoid. Whoever attaches himself to transitory things will surely be dragged along to wherever the things he is clinging to are drifting.

So the first thing we must do is to keep ourselves from loving material goods; the second is not to put our trust in such of those goods as are entrusted for our use and not our enjoyment. The soul who is attached to goods that only pass away very soon loses its own stability. The current of this present life carries off whoever it bears, and it is a foolish delusion, for whoever this current carries, to try to stand upright in it.

St Gregory the Great

PRAYER – God our Father, Your rule is a rule of love, Your providence is full of mercy for Your people. Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, Mother of the Word made flesh and His sorrowful Mother, grant the spirit of wisdom and understanding in Your Word, Your Son Jesus Christ. Grant that by the healing Word our repentant hearts may know our way to our eternal home and strive to attain eternal joy there with You. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.

Posted in QUOTES on DIVINE PROVIDENCE

Quote/s of the Day – 1 September – Why are you anxious?

Posted on by AnaStpaul

And as for clothing, why are you anxious? Consider how the lilies of the field grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of those. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which flourishes today but tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more you, O you of little faith!

Matt 6:24-33

Let us place our trust in the Providence of God. Let us cut off all those anxieties which serve only to torture our minds uselessly, since, whether we make ourselves uneasy or not, it is God alone who sends us all these things, and who may increase them until He sees they disturb us less.

St John Chrysostom

Why fear? says St Augustine: you have a GOD for a protector and His Providence for a guide. What! says the holy doctor, you fear to perish under the guidance of God, and under the protection of His Providence? Times ergo ne pereas? Is it that you know not that a single hair can fall off without His approval? Cujus capillus non peribit. Ah! if He takes so much care of things that are of little or no consequence, how safe ought we not to feel when we know with what care He watches a soul which is so precious to Him?

La Pere Croiset (17th century)

He not only is their guide and protector, but He showers down His graces and even makes use of His angels to help them. He warns them, by secret inspirations, what they should do and what they should not do, so that one would say that God is solely occupied in caring for His creatures.

La Pere Croiset

Happy, indeed, is she
to whom it is given to share this sacred banquet,
to cling with all her heart to Him
whose beauty all the heavenly hosts admire unceasingly,
whose love inflames our love,
whose contemplation is our refreshment,
whose graciousness is our joy,
whose gentleness fills us to overflowing,
whose remembrance brings a gentle light,
whose fragrance will revive the dead,
whose glorious vision will be the happiness
of all the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem;

St Clare of Assisi

I determined to do the little that was in me – namely, to follow the evangelical counsels as perfectly as I could, and to see that these few nuns who are here shod do the same, confiding in the great goodness of God, Who never fails to help those who resolve to forsake everything for His sake.

St Teresa of Avila

He who has given us life will give us wherewith to sustain it. He who feeds the thief, will He not feed the innocent? And if He takes care of His enemies, what will He not do for His friends? You cannot place yourself into better hands than He who made you what you are. He who has been so good to you before you were what you are, can He leave you uncared for, now that you are what He would wish you to be?

St Augustine

Posted in SEPTEMBER-The SEVEN SORROWS of MARY and The HOLY CROSS

Thought for the Day – 1 September – Letter to the Friends of the Cross by St Louis de Montfort

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Friends of the Cross, you are like crusaders united to fight against the world; not like Religious who retreat from the world lest they be overcome, but like brave and valiant warriors on the battle-field, who refuse to retreat or even yield an inch. Be brave and fight courageously.

You must be joined together in a close union of mind and heart, which is stronger and far more formidable to the world and to hell than are the armed forces of a great nation to its enemies. Evil spirits are united to destroy you; you must be united to crush them. The avaricious are united to make money and amass gold and silver; you must combine your efforts to acquire the eternal treasures hidden in the Cross. Pleasure- seekers unite to enjoy themselves; you must be united to suffer.

A. Greatness of Your Title


You call yourselves “Friends of the Cross.” What a glorious title! I must confess that I am charmed and captivated by it. It is brighter than the sun, higher than the heavens, more magnificent and resplendent than all the titles given to kings and emperors. It is the glorious title of Jesus Christ, true God and true man.

It is the genuine title of a Christian.

But, if I am captivated by its splendour, I am no less frightened by its responsibility, for it is a title that embraces difficult and inescapable obligations, summed up in the words of the Holy Spirit, “A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people set apart.”

A Friend of the Cross is one chosen by God, from among thousands who live only according to their reason and senses, to be wholly divine, raised above mere reason and completely opposed to material things, living in the light of pure faith, and inspired by a deep love of the Cross.

A Friend of the Cross is an all-powerful king, a champion who triumphs over the devil, the world and the flesh in their three-fold concupiscence. He crushes the pride of Satan by his love of humiliations; he overcomes the greed of the world by his love of poverty; he retrains the sensuality of the flesh by his love of suffering.

A Friend of the Cross is one who is holy and set apart from the things that are visible, for his heart is raised above all that is transient and perishable, and his homeland is in heaven; he travels through this world like a visitor and a pilgrim, and, far from setting his heart on it, he looks on it with indifference and tramples it underfoot with contempt.

A Friend of the Cross is a glorious trophy gained by the crucified Christ on Calvary, in union with his holy Mother. He is a Benoni or Benjamin, a child of sorrow and of the right hand, conceived in the suffering heart of Jesus, born from his pierced side, and baptised in his blood. True to his origin, his life embraces the cross, and death to the world, the flesh, and sin, so as to live here below a life hidden with Christ in God.

In short, a perfect Friend of the Cross is a true Christ-bearer, or rather another Christ, so that he can truly say, “I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me.”

My dear Friends of the Cross, do you live in accordance with the noble title you bear? Or, at least, have you a real desire and a sincere determination to do so with the help of God’s grace, under the shelter of Christ’s Cross and of our Lady of Sorrows? Are you taking the means necessary for this? Are you walking along the true way of life, which is the narrow and stony way of Calvary? Or are you, without perhaps realizing it, on the wide road of the world which leads to perdition? Are you aware that there is a highway which is to all appearances a straight and safe road, but which really leads to eternal death?

Do you clearly distinguish the voice of God and his grace from that of the world and of human nature? Do you listen to the voice of God, our heavenly Father, pronouncing his three- fold malediction on all who follow the desires of the world: “Woe, woe, woe to all the people on earth;” the Father who stretches out his arms to you in loving appeal, “Come out, my chosen people,” dear friends of my Son’s Cross, away from worldlings, who have been cursed by myself, rejected by my Son, and condemned by my Holy Spirit? Beware of following their counsels, of sitting in their company, or even lingering on the road they take. Hasten away from the infamous Babylon. Listen only to the voice of my beloved Son and follow only him, whom I have given you to be your way, your truth, your life, and your model. “Listen to him.”

Do you listen to the voice of Jesus who, burdened with his Cross, calls out to you, “Come after me; anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark; be brave; I have conquered the world.”