Posted in GOOD FRIDAY, HOLY WEEK, LENT 2026, Quotes on SALVATION, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The MOST HOLY REDEEMER, Our SAVIOUR, The PASSION, The REDEMPTION, Thomas Aquinas

Good Friday – 3 April – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – The Death of Christ

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Good Friday – 3 April – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church The Death of Christ

Good Friday
The Death of Christ

The Expediency of the Death of Christ:

  1. To complete our Redemption.
    For, although any Suffering of Christ had an Infinite Value because of its union with His Divinity, it was not, by no matter which of His Sufferings that the Redemption of mankind was completed but only, by His Death.
    So the Holy Ghost declared, speaking through the mouth of Caiaphas, “It is expedient for you that One Man shall Die for the people” (John xi. 50).
    Whence, St Augustine says, “Let us stand in wonder, rejoice, be glad, love, praise and adore, since it is by the Death of our Redeemer, we have been called from death to life, from exile to our own land, from mourning to joy.”
  2. To increase our faith, our hope and our charity.
    With regard to faith, the Psalm says (Ps cxl. 10), “I am alone until I pass from this world, that is, to the Father. When I shall have passed to the Father, then shall I be multiplied.”
    “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground and die itself, it remaineth alone” (John xii. 24).

As to the increase of hope, St Paul writes, “He Who spared not even His Own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how hath He not also, with Him, given us all things?“ (Rom viii. 32).
God cannot deny us this, for to give us all things is less than to give His Own Son to Death for us.
St Bernard says, “Who is not carried away to hope and confidence in prayer, when he looks upon the Crucifix and sees how Our Lord hangs there, His Head bent as though to kiss, His Arms outstretched in an embrace, His Hands pierced to give, His Side opened to love, His Feet nailed to remain with us.”

“Come, my dove, in the clefts of the rock” (Cant ii. 14). It is in the Wounds of Christ where the Church builds its nest and waits, for it is in the Passion of Our Lord she places her hope of Salvation and thereby trusts to be protected from the craft of the falcon, that is, of the devil.

With regard to the increase of charity, Holy Scripture says, “At noon he burneth the earth” (Ecclus xliii. 3), that is to say, in the fervour of His Passion, He burns up all mankind with His Love.
So St Bernard says, “The chalice Thou didst drink, O good Jesus, maketh Thee lovable above all things.”
The Work of our Redemption easily, brushing aside all hindrances, calls out in return the whole of our love. This it is which more gently draws our devotion, builds it more straightly, guards it more closely and fires it with greater ardour.

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, GOOD FRIDAY, HOLY WEEK, JUNE-THE SACRED HEART, POETRY, Quote on SELF-ABANDONMENT, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PURITY, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, Quotes Self-Oblation, The HEART, The HOLY CROSS

Quote of the Day – 3 April – GOOD FRIDAY The Word of the Cross (Christ,What am I to Give Thee for my life?)

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Quote of the Day – 3 April – Good Friday – The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

GOOD FRIDAY
The Word of the Cross
(Christ,What am I to Give Thee for my life?)

St Paulinus of Nola (c 354-431)
Father of the Church

“Look on thy God, Christ hidden in our flesh.
A bitter word, the Cross and bitter sight –
Hard rind without, to hold the Heart of Heaven.
Yet, sweet it is, for God upon that tree
Did offer up His Life upon that rood –
My Life hung, that my Life might stand in God.
Christ, what am I to give Thee for my life?
Unless, take from Thy Hands, the cup they hold,
To cleanse me with the precious draught of death.
What shall I do? My body to be burned?
Make myself vile? The debt is not paid out yet.
Whate’er I do, it is but I and Thou,
And still do I come short, still must Thou pay
My debts, O Christ, for debts Thyself had’st none.
What love may balance Thine? My Lord was found
In fashion like a slave that so His slave
Might find himself in fashion like his Lord.
Think you the bargain’s hard, to have exchanged
The transient for the eternal, to have sold,
Earth to buy Heaven? More dearly God bought me!”

Posted in GOD ALONE!, GOOD FRIDAY, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION

One Minute Reflection – 3 April – There they crucified Him – John 19:18

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One Minute Reflection – 3 April – Good Friday – The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to St John 18:1-40.19:1-42 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“There they Crucified Him and with Him two others, one on either side and Jesus between them. ” – John 19:18

REFLECTION – “Truly, you are a hidden God!” (Is 45:15).   Why hidden?   Because He had neither form nor beauty, yet Power was in His Hands.   It was there His fortitude was hidden.

Was He not hidden when He submitted His Hands to brutes and His Palms received the nails?   The print of the nails gleamed on His Hands and His innocent Side received the Wound.   They shackled His Feet in fetters, the iron pierced His soles and His Feet were fastened to the tree.   These wounds did God suffer on our behalf, at the hands of His own people, in His own home.   O how marvellous are His Wounds by which the wounds of the world were healed!   How victorious His Wounds, by which He slew death and stung hell! … Therefore, O Church, O dove, You have coverts in the rock and a hollow in the wall in which to rest (cf. Sg 2:14). …

And what will you do … when He comes in the clouds with great power and majesty? (cf Mt 24:30)   He will come down with Heaven and earth ablaze and by the terror of His coming, He will dissolve the elements.   When He has come, the Sign of the Cross will be seen in the sky and the beloved One will show the scars of His Wounds and the prints of the nails, by which He was transfixed in His own home!” … St Amadeus of Lausanne (1108-1159) – Cistercian Monk, Bishop

PRAYER – Deliver us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, from all evils, past, present and to come and by the intercession of the blessed and glorious ever Virgin Mary, Mother of God and of the Holy Apostles, Peter and Paul and of all the Saints, mercifully grant peace in our days, that through the assistance of Thy mercy we may be always free from sin and secure from all disturbance. 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.
Faithful Cross! above all other, One and only noble Tree!
None in foliage, none in blossom, None in fruit thy peer may be.
Sweetest wood and sweetest iron,
Sweetest weight is hung on thee. (Antiphons).

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, PRAYERS for SEASONS, PRAYERS of PETITION, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRAYERS on the CROSS of CHRIST, PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYERS, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, The PASSION, The SEVEN PASSION Feasts

Our Morning Offering – 3 April – A Prayer of the Passion

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Our Morning Offering – 3 April – Good Friday

A Prayer of the Passion
By St Melito of Sardis (Died 180)
Bishop of Sardis, Apologist, Father

Lord Jesus Christ,
Thou were bound as a ram,
Thou were shorn like a lamb,
Thou were led to the slaughter like a sheep,
Thou bore the wood of the Cross on Thy shoulders,
Thou were led up the hill of Calvary,
Thou were displayed naked on the Cross,
Thou were nailed to the bitter Cross by three spikes,
Thou delivered Thy last Seven Words from the Cross
Thou died on the Cross, with a shout of victory,
Thou were buried in noble Joseph’s rock-hewn tomb,
By Thy boundless suffering on our behalf,
fix our eyes unceasingly on Thy broken Body
and the Blood which poured
from Thine Hands, Feet and Side.
By the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
which each day renews Thy Sacrifice
of the Cross on our Altars,
apply the merits of the Cross to all humanity
and, especially to those, who worship it daily
and who offer themselves back to Thee,
our great High Priest
and perpetual Intercessor,
before the Eternal Throne of God.
Thou livest and reigns,
throughout all the ages of ages.
Amen

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 3 April – Saint Vulpian (Died c306) Martyr of Tyre

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Saint of the Day – 3 April – Saint Vulpian (Died c306) Martyr of Tyre, Phoenicia, Syria. Born and Martyred as a teenager in Syria. Also known as – Ulfianus, Ulpian, Ulpiano, Ulpianus, Vulpianus.

The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Tyre, the Martyr, St Vulpian, who was sewn in a sack with a serpent and a dog and drowned in the sea during the persecutions of Maximian Galerius.”

The Martyrdom of St Vulpian of Tyre, who lived during the persecution of Maximinu, has come down to us through the Roman Martyrology which celebrates his memory today.

His life and death, although brief and tragic, offers food for thought on the unwavering faith of a young Christian in the face of such violent adversity.

Unfortunately, information on St Vulpian is scant. We know only that he was a teenager from Tyre, a City in Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon), who lived in the early 4th Century. His Martyrdom occurred during the period of Christian persecution under Emperor Maximinus (305-313), known for his ferocity against the Church.

Vulpian, still a young man, was arrested for his faith in Christ. The authorities attempted to make him recant but he remained steadfast in his great love for Christ and His Church. Faced with his steadfast resistance, his persecutors devised a particularly cruel Martyrdom by sewing him into a sack with a dog and a snake and then throwing him into the sea.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, GOOD FRIDAY, HOLY WEEK, INCORRUPTIBLES, SAINT of the DAY

GOOD FRIDAY – FAST and ABSTINENCE, Tre Ore (The Three Hours Devotion) abd thge Saints for 3 April

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GOOD FRIDAY – FAST and ABSTINENCE

Tre Ore (The Three Hours Devotion)
The Three Hours’ Agony on Good Friday from Noon until 3 o’clock to commemorate the three hours of Christ’s Hanging on the Cross.
It includes sermons on the Seven Last Words from the Cross and usually occurs between Noon and 3PM, the latter being the time when Jesus Died on the Cross and the time the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion begins.
In 1815, Pope Pius VII decreed a Plenary Indulgence to those who practice this devotion on Good Friday.

It is a fine tradition to keep silent
from Noon to 3:00 PM today.

The Office of Tenebrae
The public singing of part of the Divine Office, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings in Holy Week, anticipating Matins and Lauds of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
This custom goes back centuries and acquired the name because of the mourning ritual surrounding the ceremony which includes a triangular candlabra bearing fifteen candles. These are extinguishedt one by one until, after the last candle is extinguished, a prayer is said in darkness, one candle is lit and the assembly dispersed in silence.

St Attala of Taormina

St Benedict of Palermo OFM (1526-1589) Lay Friar of the Order of Friars Minor of the Observance, Confessor, spiritual counsellor, Apostle of the poor and needy, graced with the gift of healing the sick.
St Benedict’s gifts for prayer, his love for the Blessed Virgin and the Infant Jesus and the wisdom displayed in his guidance of souls, earned him, a reputation for holiness, throughout Sicily.   Following the example of St Francis, Benedict kept seven 40-day fasts throughout the year. He also slept only a few hours each night.
His body is incorrupt.
Kind and Holy Benedict:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/04/03/saint-of-the-day-3-april-st-benedict-of-palermo-ofm-1526-1589-lay-friar/

St Burgundofara / more commonly known as Fara (c595-c 643) Virgin, Nun, Abbess, Founder of the famous Evoriacum Monastery, near Paris which after her death was renamed in her honour, Faremoutiers Abbey (Fara’s Monastery). She is celebrated on 7 December in France.
Her Pious and Zealous Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/12/07/saint-of-the-day-7-december-st-burgundofara-c-595-c-643-virgin/

St Chrestus
St Comman
St Evagrius of Tomi

Blessed Gandulphus OFM (c1200-1260) Priest, Friar of the First Order of St Francis. He was a renowned Preacher mainly in Sicily, Hermit, Miracle-worker . He was one of those who entered the Order while the Seraphic Father was still alive and the life he led was one of great self-abnegation. He was Beatified on 10 March 1881 by Pope Leo XIII.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/04/03/saint-of-the-day-3-april-blessed-gandulphus-of-binasco-ofm-c-1200-1260/

Blessed John of Penna OFM (c1193-1271) Priest, Friar of the First Order of St Francis and became a Franciscan during St Francis’ lifetime. Founder of the Order in France, Mystic and gifted with the charism of prophecy. He was Beatified on 20 December 1806 by Pope Pius VII.
His Ardent Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/03/saint-of-the-day-3-april-blessed-john-of-penna-ofm-c-1193-1271/

St Liutberga (Died c870) Virgin, Recluse.
Her Holy Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2025/04/03/saint-of-the-day-3-april-saint-liutberga-died-c870-virgin/

St Nicetas (c760-824) Abbot of Medicion Abbey in Bithynia (in modern Turkey).
The Roman Martyrology reads: “In the Monastery of Medicion, in the East, the Abbot, St Nicetas, who suffered much for the worship of holy images, in the time of Leo the Armenian.”
Courageous St Nicetas:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/04/03/saint-of-the-day-3-april-saint-nicetas-of-medicion-c760-824-abbot/

St Papo

St Richard (1197-1253) Bishop of Chichester , Teacher, Reformer, Apostle of charity, Writer, Miracle Worker.
Great St Richard:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/04/03/saint-of-the-day-3-april-st-richard-of-chichester-1197-1253/`

St Urbicius of Clermont

St Vulpian (Died c306) Martyr of Tyre, Syria

Martyrs of Greece – 4 Saints: A group of young Christian men who protested to City authorities that gifts to temples of pagan gods should be used to feed the poor during a regional famine. When the officials refused, the group went to local temples, broke up the idols and fixtures and gave the gold and silver bits to the poor to use to buy food. The group was imprisoned and executed. The only other thing we know about these Martyrs are the names – Bythonius, Elpideforus, Dius and Galycus. They Died in the 3rd Century at an unknown location in Greece.

Martyrs of Tomi (Romania) – 9 Saints who were Martyred together. We know nothing else about them but the names – Arestus, Benignus, Chrestus, Evagrius, Papo, Patricius, Rufus, Sinnidia and Zosimus. They Died at Tomi, Scythia (modern Constanta, Romania).

Posted in HOLY COMMUNION, LENT 2026, MAUNDY THURSDAY, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The PASSION, Thomas Aquinas

Maundy Thursday – 2 April – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – The Last Supper

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Maundy Thursday – 2 April – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

Maundy Thursday
The Last Supper

It was most fitting that the Sacrament of the Body of the Lord should have been instituted at the Last Supper.

  1. Because of what that Sacrament contains.
    For that which is contained in it, is Christ Himself. When Christ in His natural appearance was about to depart from His disciples, He left Himself to them in a Sacramental appearance, just as in the absence of the Emperor there is exhibited the Emperor’s image. Whence, St Eusebius says, “Since the Body He had assumed was about to be taken away from their bodily sight and was about to be carried to the stars, it was necessary that, on the day of His Last Supper, He should Consecrate for us, the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, so that which, as a Price was offered Once, should, through a Mystery, be worshipped unceasingly.”
  2. Because, without faith in the Passion, there can never be Salvation.
    Therefore, it is necessary that there should be forever among men, something which would represent the Lord’s Passion and the chief of such representationd in the Old Testament, was the Paschal Lamb.
    To this there succeeded in the New Testament, the Sacrament of the Eucharist which is commemorative of the past Passion of the Lord, as the Paschal Lamb was a foreshadowing of the Passion to come.

And, therefore, was it most fitting that, on the very eve of the Passion, the old sacrament of the Paschal Lamb having been celebrated, Our Lord should institute the new Sacrament.

  1. Because the last words of departing friends remain longest in the memory, our love being at such moments most tenderly alert.
    Nothing can be greater in the realm of sacrifice than that of the Body and Blood of Christ, no offering can be more effective.
    And hence, in order that the Sacrament might be held more securely in all veneration, it was in His last leave-taking of the Apostles, when Our Lord instituted it.

Hence, St Augustine says, “Our Saviour, to bring before our minds with all His Power, the heights and the depths of this Sacrament willed, ere He left the disciples to go forth to His Passion, to fix it in their hearts and their memories as His last Act.”

Let us note that this Sacrament has a threefold meaning:
(i) In regard to the past, it is commemorative of the Lord’s Passion which was a true Sacrifice and because of this, the Sacrament is called a Sacrifice.
(ii) In regard to a fact of our own time, i.e. to the unity of the Church and that through this Sacrament, mankind should be gathered together.
Because of this, the Sacrament is called Communion.
St John Damascene says, the sacrament is called Communion because, by means of it, we communicate with Christ and this because we hereby share in His Body and in His Divinity and because by it, we are communicated to and united with one another.
(iii) In regard to the future, the Sacrament foreshadows that enjoyment of God which shall be ours in our Fatherland.
On this account, the Sacrament is called “Viaticum” since it provides us with the means of journeying to that Fatherland.

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in "Follow Me", AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, GOD is LOVE, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, REDEMPTORISTS CSSR, St Francis de Sales, St PAUL!, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 2 April – Maundy Thursday

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Quote/s of the Day – 2 April – Maundy Thursday

“Be imitators of God, as very dear children
and walk in love, as Christ also Loved us
and delivered Himself up for us …”

St Paul … Ephesians 5:1-2

“But I say to you,
Love your enemies …”

Matthew 5:44

“But the wise took oil
in their vessels”

Matthew 25:4

“The wise ones’ lamps were burning,
from the oil inside them,
from the assurance of their consciences,
from their inner boast,
from their deepest charity.”

St Augustine (354-430)
Father & Doctor of Grace

“Father, forgive them.”
With this prayer, He wanted to make us understand
the Love He bore us, undiminished
by any suffering and to teach us how
our heart should be toward our neighbour.”

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritas

“He Loves you as though He had
no-one else to love but you alone.
You, too, should love Him alone
and all others for His Sake.
Of Him you may say and, indeed, you should say:
My Beloved to me and I to Him (Cant, 2:16).
My God has given Himself all to me
and I give myself all to Him;
He has chosen me for His beloved
and I choose Him, above all others,
for my only Love.”

“How to Pray at All Times”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, GOD ALONE!, GOD is LOVE, HOLY WEEK, MAUNDY THURSDAY, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES for CHRIST, The PASSION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 2 April – ‘ … Not for His benefit but only for their own!’

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One Minute Reflection – 2 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – Maundy Thursday – 1 Corinthians 11:20-32 – John 13:1-15 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“He Loved them unto the end.” – John 13:1

REFLECTION – “Before the feast of the Pasch, Jesus, knowing His hour had come to leave this world and go unto His Father, “having loved those who were His Own, unto the end, He Loved them”… In the Gospel John was epecially called “the disciple whom Jesus Loved.” This disciple declares here what manner of faithful Lover our holy Saviour was, of Whom he, himself, was so Beloved.

For unto these words, he straightaway joins, the rehearsing of Christ’s bitter Passion, beginning with the Last Supper and therein, His humble washing of His disciples’ feet, the sending forth of the traitor and after that, His teaching, His prayer, His capture, His judging, His scourging, His crucifying andH all the whole piteous tragedy of His most bitter Passion.

Before which things, St John sets the aforesaid words to declare all these things which Christ did, in all this, He did it for very Love. Which Love He declared well unto his disciples in many ways, at the time of His Last Supper, giving them charge that, in loving each other they should follow His example (Jn 13:34). For those whom He Loved, He Loved unto the end and this He wished, they too should do. He was not an inconstant Lover Who does as many do, Love for a while and then, upon some light occasion, leave His Love and turn from being a friend to an enemy, as the false traitor, Judas did. But He, still so persevered in Love unto the very end, so that, for very Love, He came to that painful end and that, not only for His friends who were already His but too, for His enemies, to make them His friends and not for His benefit but only for their own!” – St Thomas More (1478-1535) Martyr, Lord Chancellor of England (Treatise on the Passion, 1).

PRAYER – O God, from Whom Judas received the punishment of his guilt and the thief the reward of his confession: grant unto us the full fruit of Thy clemency, that even as in His Passion, our Lord Jesus Christ gave to each a retribution according to his merits, so having taken away our old sins, He may bestow upon us the grace of His Resurrection. Who with Thee lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in HYMNS, MAUNDY THURSDAY, PRAYERS on the CROSS of CHRIST, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, SEPTEMBER-The SEVEN SORROWS of MARY and The HOLY CROSS, STATIONS of the CROSS, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 2 April – Maundy Thursday – Man of Sorrows—Wrapt in Grief

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Our Morning Offering – 2 April – Maundy Thursday in Holy Week

Man of Sorrows—Wrapt in Grief
From an old French Hymn
Author Unknown

Man of Sorrows—wrapt in grief,
Bow Thine ear to our relief;
Thou for us the path hast trod
Of the dreadful wrath of God.
Thou the cup of fire hast drain’d
Till its light alone remain’d:
Lamb of Love!—we look to Thee,
Hear our mournful litany!

By the garden—fraught with woe,
Whither Thou full oft wouldst go:
By Thine Agony of prayer
In the desolation there!
By the chains of sleep, which bound
Watchers in their trance profound;
Lord!—behold our bended knee,—
Listen to our litany!

By the conflict foul and fell
With the loosen’d fiends of hell,
By the darkness of the hour
Shadow’d with the tempter’s power,
By the dire and deep distress
Of that mystery fathomless;—
Lord! our tears in mercy see
Mingling with our litany!

By the vision then, which stole
Looming o’er Thy spotless soul,
Of the pride and guilt of man,
Since his fall from grace began,—
Seas of sin, with billowy waves,
Yawning into countless graves;—
Lord! ourselves from shipwreck free,
Hear our solemn litany!

By the Chalice, when it came
Pregnant with a hell of flame:
By those Lips—which fain would pray
That it might but pass away:
By the Heart, which drank it dry,
Lest a rebel race should die;—
Let Thy Pity be our plea,
Hear our solemn litany!

Man of Sorrows! —let Thy grief
Purchase for us our relief—
Lord of Mercy—bow Thine ear,
Slow to anger—swift to hear:
Let the garden Thou hast trod
Draw us to the throne of God;
So Gethsemane shall be
Sweet in every litany!

This translation by Matthew Bridges (1800-1894)
(The Passion of Jesus 1852) Hymnist, Poet, Writer
Converted to Catholicism in 1848, by the influence of
John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Posted in DYING / LAST WORDS, SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 2 April – Blessed John Payne (c1550-1582) Priest Martyr

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Saint of the Day – 2 April – Blessed John Payne (c1550-1582) Priest Martyr, Born in c1532 in Peterborough, Huntingdonshire, Cambridge, England and died on 2 April 1582 in Chelmsford, Essex by being hung, drawn and quartered, Also known as – Pain, Paine. Blessed John was Beatified on 29 December 1885 by Pope Leo XIII.

John Payne was born around 1550 near Peterborough in Huntingdonshire. Nothing is known of his youth, except that he was raised a Protestant. Only later did he convert to Catholicism and in 1574, he entered the new college in Douai to prepare for the Priesthood. There he was entrusted with the task of Bursar and in 1576 he was Ordained a Priest, although this suggests Blessed John had already undertaken Theological studies elsewhere.

He then returned home with Blessed Cuthbert Mayne, to exercise his ministry, settling in Essex at Ingatestone Hall, a guest of the Petres family, who were strongly opposed to the religious policies of the English Government. This facilitated his pastoral activity among the local Catholics, even though these were still difficult times for Catholics in communion with the Holy See.

In 1577 he was arrested and briefly imprisoned. Once released, he returned to Douai but by mid-1578 he was back at Ingatestone Hall.

In 1581, while working in Warwickshire, John Payne was betrayed, arrested and taken to the Tower of London. Accused of treason against the Queen, he was tortured on the wheel and sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered.

He refused the assistance offered him by a certain George Elliott, reiterating instead “he had always, in mind or word, honoured her Majesty the Queen more than any other woman in the world; that he would always happily obey every civil duty; that he prayed for her as for his own soul; that he had never thought or plotted any treason against her Majesty or any nobleman of England.”

On 2 April 1582, the sad event occurred near Chelmsford in Essex which earned John Payne the Martyr’s Ccrown. Those who witnessed his execution, struck by the Priest’s upright conduct, asked that his body be left hanging until death, thus waiting to perform the gruesome procedures prescribed.

The Saint died uttering the words “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.”

Posted in HOLY WEEK, MARIAN TITLES, MAUNDY THURSDAY, SAINT of the DAY

Maundy Thursday, The Office of Tenebrae, Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia / Our Lady of the Highest Grace, (1506), St Francis of Paola and the Saints for 2 April

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MAUNDY THURSDAY

The Office of Tenebrae
The public singing of part of the Divine Office, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings in Holy Week, anticipating Matins and Lauds of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
This custom goes back centuries and acquired the name because of the mourning ritual surrounding the ceremony which includes a triangular candlabra bearing fifteen candles. These are extinguishedt one by one until, after the last candle is extinguished, a prayer is said in darkness, one candle is lit and the assembly dispersed in silence.

Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia / Our Lady of the Highest Grace, Higuey, Dominican Republic (1506) Patron of Dominicans- 2 April:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/02/nuestra-senora-de-la-altagracia-our-lady-of-the-highest-grace-1506-and-memorials-of-the-saints-2-april/

St Francis of Paola O.M. (1416-1507) known as “Saint Francis the Fire Handler” – Confessor, Monk and Founder, inspired with the Gift of Prophecy and still called the “Miracle-Worker” Apostle of the poor, Peacemaker. He was an Italian mendicant Friar and the Founder of the Order of Minims. Unlike the majority of founders of men’s religious orders and like his Patron Saint, Francis was never ordained a priest. His Body was Incorrupt until destroyed in the French Revolution. He was Canonised in 1519 by Pope Leo X.
St Francis’s Life:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/04/02/saint-of-the-day-2-april-st-francis-of-paola-o-m-1416-1507/

St Abundius (Died c489) Bishop and Confessor of of Como, Italy, wonder Miracle-worker.
Devout and Devoted St Abundius:
https://anastpaul.com/2025/04/02/saint-of-the-day-2-april-st-abundius-died-c489-bishop-and-confessor/

St Agnofleda of Maine
St Appian of Caesarea (c287-306) Martyr, Layman

Blessed Arnulf O.Cist. (c1200-1276) Abbot of the Cistercian Abbey in Villers-la-Ville, in Leuven, France, Poet, Writer. After serving in this office for ten years, he abdicated, hoping to pursue a life devoted to study and asceticism but he died within a year thereafter.
His Holy Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/04/02/saint-of-the-day-2-april-blessed-arnulf-of-leuven-o-cist-c1200-1276-abbot/

St Bronach of Glen-Seichis
St Constantine of Scotland
St Ebbe the Younger
St Eustace of Luxeuil
St Gregory of Nicomedia
Blessed John Payne (c1550-1582) Priest Martyr

Blessed Leopold of Gaiche OFM Cap (1732-1815) Priest and Friar of the Order of Friars Minor of the Capuchin branch, Missionary Preacher in Italy, called “The Apostle of Umbria.” He became renowned for wearing a crown of thorns. He served in a position of power in the Franciscan Order in the Umbrian region in which he supported strong adherence to the Rule of Saint Francis.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/04/02/saint-of-the-day-2-april-blessed-leopold-of-gaiche-ofm-cap-1732-1815/

St Lonochilus of Maine
St Musa of Rome

St Nizier (c513-573) Bishop of Lyon. Nizier was a man of ascetic lifestyle, his care for the poor and his promotion of Church music have since been remembered and praised.
The Roman Martyrology reads: “At Lyon, St Nizier, renowned for his saintly life and miracles.”
His Life of Grace:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/04/02/saint-of-the-day-2-april-saint-nizier-of-lyon-c513-573-archbishop-of-lyon/

St Rufus of Glendalough
St Theodora of Tiria

St Urban (c 327-c 390) Bishop, the sixth Bishop of Autun and Langres, in Burgundy, France from 374 until his death, Confessor.
About St Urban:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/02/saint-of-the-day-2-april-saint-urban-of-langres-c-327-c-390/

Martyrs of Africa – 10 Saints: A group of ten Christians Martyred together in Africa, date unknown. We have six of their names – Marcellinus, Procula, Quiriacus, Regina, Satullus and Saturnin but no other information has survived.

Martyrs of Thessalonica – 16 Saints: Sixteen Christians who were Martyred together in Thessalonica in Greece, date unknown. We know nothing else about them but 13 of their names – Agapitus, Agatophus, Cyriacus, Dionysius, Gagus, Julianus, Mastisius, Proculus, Publius, Theodoulus, Urbanus, Valerius and Zonisus.

Posted in "Follow Me", APRIL -MONTH of the RESURRECTION and the BLESSED SACAMENT, AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, FATHERS of the Church, HOLY COMMUNION, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on THE MYSTICAL BODY, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The RESURRECTION, The WORD

Devotions for the Month of April – The Resurrection and The Blessed Sacrament

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Devotions for the Month of April

The Resurrection and The Blessed Sacrament

The Month of April is dedicated both to devotion to the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Holy Eucharist – the proof of the promise of the love of God and of ETERNAL LIFE.

“My brethren, when was it that the Lord made Himself recognised? — When He broke the bread. — So, we ourselves are convinced, too, that when we break the bread, we recognise the Lord. — If He had not wanted to be recognised until that moment, it was for our sakes, we, who were not to see Him in the flesh but who were yet to eat Him in the flesh. ” – St Augustine (354-430) Father, Doctor of Grace

“I am the Resurrection and the Life,
he who believes in Me,
although he be dead, shall live.”

John 11:25

“I am the Living Bread
Who came down from Heaven.
If any man eat of this Bread,
he shall live forever
and the Bread that I will give,
is My Flesh, for the Life of the world.”

John 6:51-52

“For His Body, has been given to you
under the appearance of bread
and His Blood, under the appearance of wine,
so that, when you have partaken
of the Body and Blood of Christ,
you might be One Body and One Blood with Him.
So shall we become Christ-bearers [“Christophers”].
His Body and Blood are diffused through all our members – see, then,
how we become participants
in the Divine Nature!”

St Cyril of Jerusalem (c 313-386)
Father and Doctor of theChurch

Posted in LENT 2026, The PASSION, Thomas Aquinas

Wednesday in Holy Week – 1 April – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas –

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Wednesday in Holy Week – 1 April – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

Wednesday in Holy Week
Three Elements are Symbolised
by the Washing of the Feet

“He putteth water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded”
John xiii. 5

There are three elements which this action may symbolise.

  1. The pouring of the water into the basin, is a Symbol of the pouring out of His Blood upon the earth.
    Since the Blood of Jesus has a Power of cleansing, it may in a sense, be called water.
    The reason why Water, as well as Blood, flowed from His Side, was to show that this Blood could wash away sin.

Again we might take the water as a figure of Christ’s Passion.
He putteth water into a basin, that is, by faith and devotion He stamped into the minds of faithful followers, the memory of His Passion.
“Remember My poverty and transgression, the wormwood and the gall” (Lam iii. 19).

  1. By the words, “and began to wash” it is human imperfection which is symbolised.
    For the Apostles, after their living with Christ, were certainly more perfect and yet, they needed to be washed, their souls were still stained.
    We are here made to understand that, no matter the degree of any man’s perfection, he still needs to be made more perfect; he is still contracting uncleanness of some kind, to some extent.
    So in the Book of Proverbs we read,“ Who can say My heart is clean I am pure from sin”(Prov. xx. 9).

Nevertheless, the Apostles and the just have this kind of uncleanness only in their feet.

There are, however, others who are infected, not only in their feet but wholly and entirely.
Those who make their bed upon the soiling attractions of the world, are made wholly unclean thereby.
Those who wholly, that is to say, with their senses and with their wills, cleave to their desire of earthly things, these are wholly unclean.

But they who do not thus lie down, they who stand, i.e. they who, in mind and in desire, are tending towards heavenly things, contract this uncleanness in their feet. Whoever stands must, necessarily, touch the earth at least with his feet.
And we too, in this life, where we must, to maintain life, make use of earthly things, cannot but contract a certain uncleanness, at least as far as those desires and inclinations are concerned which begin in our senses.

Therefore, Our Lord commanded His disciples to shake the dust from their feet. The text says, “He began to wash” because this washing the affection for earthly things is only a beginning.
It is only in the life to come that it will be really complete.

Thus, by putting water into the basin, the pouring of His Blood, is signified and by His beginning to wash the feet of His disciples, the washing away of our sins.

  1. Finally, there is Symbolised Our Lord’s taking upon Himself the punishment due to our sins.
    Not only did He wash away our sins but, He took upon Himself the punishment they had earned.
    For our pains and our penances would not suffice were they not founded in the Merit and the Power of the Passion of Christ.
    And this is shown in His wiping the feet of the disciples with the linen towel, the towel which is His Body!

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HOLY WEEK, LENT 2026, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 1April – “Jesus remember me” Luke 23:42

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Quote/s of the Day – 1 April – Spy Wednesday in Holy Week – Isaias 53:1-12, Luke 22:39-71; 23:1-53

“Jesus remember me”

Luke 23:42

“Blessed are those who have not seen
and have believed.”
John 20:29

“Blessed, therefore, is everyone
who believes the message
of the holy Apostles who, as Saint Luke says,
were eyewitnesses of Christ’s actions
and “ministers of the word” (Lk 1,2).”

St Cyril of Alexandria (380-444)
Father and Doctor of the Church

“… He effected a wonderful exchange with us,
through mutual sharing –
we gave Him the power to die,
He will give us the power to Live!”

St Augustine (354-430)
Father and Doctor of Grace

“Because it is not by raising a dead man,
commanding the sea and wind,
or casting out demons that He is able
to change the thief’s sinful soul
but, by being Crucified,
pinned down by nails,
covered with insults, spitting, mockery and torture,
so that you might see the two sides
of His Sovereign Power.
He shook all creation,
split the rocks (Mt 27:51)
and drew to Himself the brigand’s soul,
hard as stone, to cover it with honour…”

St John Chrysostom (347-407)
Father & Doctor of the Church

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, HOLY COMMUNION, LENT 2026, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on MYSTERIES of our FAITH, Quotes on SALVATION, QUOTES on THE MYSTICAL BODY, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The PASSION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 1 April – – But Jesus he delivered up to their will. – Luke 23:25

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 1 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – Spy Wednesday in Holy Week – Isaias 53:1-12 – Luke 22:39-71; 23:1-53 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“But Jesus he delivered up to their will.” – Luke 23:25

REFLECTION – “Come, come, let us go up together to the Mount of Olives. Together let us meet Christ, Who is returning today from Bethany and going, of His own accord, to that Holy and Blessed Passion, to complete the Mystery of our Salvation. And so He comes, willingly taking the road to Jerusalem, He Who came down from the heights for us, to raise us who lie in the depths, to exaltation with Him, as the revealing Word says: “above all authority and rule and power and above every Name that is named” (Eph 1:21). He comes without display, without boast. For, as the Prophet says, “He will not contend or shout out and no-one will hear His Voice” (Is 42:2). He is gentle and lowly and His entrance is humble…

Then, let us run with Him as He presses on, to His Passion. Let us imitate those who have gone out to meet Him, not scattering olive branches or garments or palms in His path but spreading ourselves before Him as best we can, with humility of soul and upright purpose. So may we welcome the Word as He comes (Jn 1:9); so may God, Who cannot be contained within any bounds, be contained within us.

For He is pleased to have shown us this gentleness, He Who is gentle and Who “rides upon the setting sun” (Ps 56:12) which refers to our extreme lowliness. He is pleased to come and live with us and to raise us up, or bring us back to Himself through the Word which unites to God.” – St Andrew of Crete (660-740) Bishop and Father (Homily for Palm Sunday).

PRAYER – O God, Who to drive far from us, the power of the enemy, didst will that Thy Son should suffer for us on the gibbet of the Cross, grant us Thy servants, that we may obtain the grace of the resurrection. 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).

Posted in "Follow Me", DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRAYERS on the CROSS of CHRIST, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 1April – In Thine Hour of Holy Sadness

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Our Morning Offering – 1 April – “Spy” Wednesday in Holy Week

In Thine Hour of Holy Sadness
By St Bernard (1090-1153)
Father & Doctor of the Church

In Thine hour of holy sadness
could I share with Thee, what gladness
should Thine Cross to me be showing.
Gladness past all thought of knowing,
bowed beneath Thine Cross to die!
Blessed Jesus, thanks I render
that in bitter death, so tender,
Thou now hear Thy supplicant calling,
Save me Lord!
and keep from falling, from Thee,
when my hour is nigh.
Amen.

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 1 April – Saint Beherond (7th Century) Bishop and Confessor of Amiens

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Saint of the Day – 1 April – Saint Beherond (7th Century) Bishop and Confessor of Amiens. He was a friend and colleague of St Valéry of Leucone (c565-c619) also celebrated today. Also known as – Berchond.

Saints on Amiens Cathedral Facade

The story of this saintly Bishop of Amiens is limited to his relationship with Saint Valery regarding the donation of Leuconay Abbey to the latter by the King of the time.

A Statue on the Saint-Firmin portal of the Cathedral perpetuates his memory.

Posted in HOLY WEEK, MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

“Spy” Wednesday in Holy Week, The Office of Tenebrae, April Devotion, Nostra Signora delle Lacrime / Our Lady of Tears, Sicily (1953) and the Saints for 1 April

Posted on by AnaStpaul

“Spy” Wednesday in HOLY WEEK

The Office of Tenebrae
The public singing of part of the Divine Office, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings in Holy Week, anticipating Matins and Lauds of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
This custom goes back centuries and acquired the name because of the mourning ritual surrounding the ceremony which includes a triangular candlabra bearing fifteen candles. These are extinguishedt one by one until, after the last candle is extinguished, a prayer is said in darkness, one candle is lit and the assembly dispersed in silence.

Devotions for the Month of April
The Resurrection and The Blessed Sacrament
‘I am the Resurrection and the Life’

Nostra Signora delle Lacrime / Our Lady of Tears, Sicily (1953) – 1 April:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/01/maundy-thursday-2021-our-lady-of-tears-sicily-1953-and-memorials-of-the-saints-1-april/

Blessed Abraham of Bulgaria
Blessed Alexander of Sicily
Saint Anastasio
Blessed Antonius of Noto
Saint Beherond (7th Century) Bishop and Confessor of Amiens

Saint Celsus (c1080-1129) Archbishop of Armagh, Reformer. He was responsible for the change from lay control of the Church in Ireland, to a Clerical-Episcopal model. Himself a hereditary lay administrator, he decided to seek Priestly Ordination and be embraced celibacy in order that the reform introduced by Pope St Gregory VIII on the Continent, could take effect also in Ireland.
Holy and Brave St Celsus:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/04/01/saint-of-the-day-1-april-saint-celsus-of-armagh-c1080-1129-archbishop/

Saint Dodolinus of Vienne
Blessed Enrico Alfrieri OFM (1315-1405) Vicar General of the Friar’s Minor
Blessed Gerard of Sassoferrato
Saint Gilbert de Moray
Blessed Giuseppe Girott
Blessed Hugh of Bonnevaux

Saint Hugh (1053-1232) Bishop of Grenoble , Reformer, in the foundation of the Carthusian Order, founded a Monastery at Chalais.
The Roman Martyrology reads: “In Grenoble in Burgundia, in today’s France, St Hugh, Bishop, who worked for the reform of the customs of the clergy and the people and, during his Episcopate, ardently loving solitude, gave St Bruno at the time, his teacher and to his companions, the hermitage of Chartroux, of which he was also the first Abbot. He ruled his Church for about fifty years with the thoughtful example of his charity.”
This Wonderful Zealous St Hugh:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/04/01/saint-of-the-day-1-april-saint-hugh-of-grenoble-1053-1232/

Saint Jacoba of Rome
Blessed John Bretton
Saint Leucone of Troyes

Blessed Marcelle

Saint Mary (c344-c 421) Desert Mother in Egypt, Penitent, Recluse.
Her Devout Life of Solitude:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/01/saint-of-the-day-1-april-saint-mary-of-egypt-c-344-c-421/

Saint Melito (Died c 180) Early Church Father, Bishop of Sardis (Died c 180), ecclesiastical Writer, Confessor, Apologist, Defender of Christ’s dual nature. Saint Melito is believed to have been martyred around the time he wrote his apology to Marcus Aurelius circa 180.
Brilliant St Melito:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/04/01/saint-of-the-day-1-april-st-melito-died-c-180/

Blessed Nicolò of Noto
Saint Prudentius of Atina


Saint Tewdrig (5th-6th Century) Hermit, Martyr, Martyr, King of Gwent and Glywysing in Wales.
His Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2025/04/01/saint-of-the-day-1-april-saint-tewdrig-5th-6th-century-hermit-martyr/


Saint Theodora of Rome

Saint Valéry (c565-c619) Priest, Abbot, Founder of the Abbey of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, a man of Miracles and Visions. Born around 565 in the Auvergne in France and died on 1 April c619 (?) in Leuconay, today St-Valéry-sur-Somme. Patronages – of horticulturists and gardeners, of Death Row Prisoners,fishermen and of of Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme.
The Roman Martyrology reads: “At Amiens, the Abbot, St Valéry, whose Tomb is made illustrious by frequent miracles.”
Miraculous St Valéry:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/04/01/saint-of-the-day-1-april-saint-valery-of-leucone-c565-c619-priest-abbot/

Saint Venantius of Spalato
Blessed Vinebault

Apostles of Picardy – Martyrs:
Saint Caidoc
Saint Fricor

Martyrs of Thessalonica – 6 Saints: A group of Christians Martyred. We know nothing about them but the names Alexander, Dionysius, Ingenianus, Panterus, Parthenius and Saturninus. Martyred in Thessalonica, Greece, date unknown.

Posted in LENT 2026, QUOTES on HUMILITY, Thomas Aquinas

Tuesday in Holy Week – 31 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – Christ Preparing to Wash the Apostle’s Feet

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Tuesday in Holy Week – 31 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

Tuesday in Holy Week
Christ Preparing to Wash the Apostle’s Feet

“He riseth from supper and layeth aside His garments, and having taken a towel, girded Himself.”
John xiii. 4

  1. Christ, in His lowly office, shows Himself truly to be a Servant, in keeping with His Own Words, “The Son of Man is not come to be ministered to but to minister and to give His Life as a Redemption for many” (Matt. xx. 28).

Three things are looked for in a good servant or minister:
(i) He should be careful to keep before himself, the numerous details in which his serving may so easily fall short.
Now, for a servant to sit or to lie down during his service is to make this necessary supervision impossible.
Hence it is that servants stand.
And, therefore, the Gospel says of Our Lord, He riseth from supper. Our Lord himself also asks us, “For which is greater, he who sitteth at table or he who serveth?” (Luke xxii. 27).

(ii) He should show dexterity in performing, at the correct moment, all which his particular office calls for. Now, elaborate dress is a hindrance to this. Therefore, Our Lord layeth aside his garments. And this was foreshadowed in the Old Testament when Abraham chose servants who were well appointed (Gen xiv. 14).

(iii) He should be prompt, having ready to hand, all he needs.
St Luke (x. 40) says of Martha that she was busy about much serving. This is why Our Lord, having taken a towel, girded Himself with it. Thus, He was ready, not only to wash their feet but also to dry them.
So He (who came from God and goeth to God–John xiii. 3) as He washes their feet, crushes forever our swollen, human self-importance.

  1. “After that, He putteth water into a basin and began to wash their feet” (John xiii. 5).

We are given for our consideration this Service of Christ and in three ways His Humility is set for our example.
(i) The kind of service this was, for it was the lowest type f all!
The Lord of All Majesty bending to wash the feet of his slaves!
(ii) The number of services it contained, for, we are told, He put water into a basin, He washed their feet, He dried them and so forth.
(iii) The method of performing the Service, for He did not do it through others, nor even with others assisting Him.
He accomplished the Service Himself.
“The greater thou art, the more humble thyself in all things” (Ecclus iii. 20).

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in CATECHESIS, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, In the PRESENCE of GOD, Quote on SELF-ABANDONMENT, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, Quotes Self-Oblation, SELF-DISTRUST, St Francis de Sales, St PETER!

Quote/s of the Day – 31 March – Teach us St Peter!

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 30 March – Tuesday of Holy Week – Jeremias 11:18-20 – Mark 14:32-72; 15, 1-46– – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Before the cock crows twice,
thou shalt thrice deny Me.
And he began to weep …”

Mark 14:72

“The first time Peter denied,
he did not weep because the Lord
had not looked at him.
He denied a second time and did not weep
because the Lord still did not look at him.
He denied a third time;
Jesus looked at him
and he wept very bitterly (Lk 22:62).
… Teach us what use your tears were to you.
But you taught it without delay for,
having fallen before you wept,
your tears caused you to be chosen to guide others,
you who, to begin with, did not know
how to guide yourself!”

St Ambrose (340-397)
Father & Doctor

“ I am very certain,
it was our Lord’s Holy Look
which pierced his heart
and opened his eyes, to make him
recognise his sin (Lk 22:61)…
From that time on, he never stopped weeping,
above all when he heard the cock crow at night
and in the morning…
In this way, from being a great sinner,
he became a great Saint!”

“A person who is conscious of his misery,
can certainly have great confidence in God.
In fact, he cannot have true confidence in Him,
without this consciousness of his misery.
This knowledge and acknowledgement
of our misery, leads us to the Presence of God.”

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritatis

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, St PETER!, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 31 March – Tuesday of Holy Week – Jesus looked at him

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One Minute Reflection – 31 March – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” – Tuesday of Holy Week – Jeremias 11:18-20 – Mark 14:32-72; 15:1-46– Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“ I know not this man of whom you speak. And immediately the cock crew again. And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said unto him: Before the cock crows twice, thou shalt thrice deny me. And he began to weep.” – Mark 14:71-72

REFLECTION – “The first time Peter denied, he did not weep because the Lord had not looked at him. He denied a second time and did not weep because the Lord still did not look at him. He denied a third time; Jesus looked at him and he wept very bitterly (Lk 22:62).  Look at us, Lord Jesus, so that we might know how to weep for our sins.  This shows us that even the fall of the Saints may be useful to us. Peter’s denial has done me no wrong, on the contrary, I have gained from his repentance – I have learned to be beware of faithless companions. …

So Peter wept and wept bitterly; he wept so fiercely he washed away his offence with his tears. And you, too, if you would win pardon, wipe out your guilt with tears. At that very moment, in that same hour, Christ will look at you. If some kind of fall happens to you, then He, the ever-present Witness of your intimate life, looks at you to call you back and cause you to confess your lapse. Then do as Peter did, who thrice said: “Lord, Thou knowest I love Thee” (Jn 21:15). He denied three times and three times he also confessed. But he denied by night; he confessed in broad daylight!

All this has been written, to make us understand, that no-one should be puffed up. If Peter fell for having said: “Though all may have their faith in Thee shaken, mine will never be” (Mt 26:33), who is there to count on himself? … From whence then, Peter, shall I call you to mind, to teach me your thoughts as you wept? From Heaven where you have already taken your place among the choirs of Angels, or from the grave? For that death, from which the Lord was raised, did not reject you in your turn. Teach us what use your tears were to you. But you taught it without delay, for having fallen before you wept, your tears caused you to be chosen to guide others, you who, to begin with, did not know how to guide yourself!” – St Ambrose (340-397) Bishop of Milan, Father and Doctor of the Church – Commentary on St Luke’s Gospel, 10,89f.

PRAYER – Almighty and eternal God, grant us so to celebrate thy mysteries of our Lord’s Passion, that we may deserve to obtain forgiveness. 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).

Posted in "Follow Me", GOD ALONE!, JESUIT SJ, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS on the CROSS of CHRIST, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 31 March – My God, I Love Thee By St Francis Xavier

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Our Morning Offering – 31 March – Tuesday in Holy Week

My God, I Love Thee
By St Francis Xavier (1506-1552) (Attri)
Transr: Fr Edward Caswall CO (1814-1878)

My God, I love Thee, not because
I hope for heav’n thereby,
nor yet for fear, that loving not,
I might forever die
but for that Thou didst all mankind
upon the Cross embrace;
for us didst bear the nails and spear
and manifold disgrace.

And griefs and torments numberless
and sweat of agony;
e’en death itself and all for man,
who was Thine enemy.
Then why, most loving Jesus Christ,
should I not love Thee well?
Not for the sake of winning heav’n,
nor any fear of hell.

Not with the hope of gaining aught,
nor seeking a reward
but as Thyself hast loved me,
O ever loving Lord!
E’en so I love Thee and will love
and in Thy praise will sing,
solely because Thou art my God
and my eternal King!
Amen

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 31 March – St Machabeus (Died 1174) Abbot

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Saint of the Day – 31 March – St Machabeus (Died 1174) Abbot of the Monastery of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Armagh. Also known by his Irish name of Gilla Mo Chaidbeo.

St Machabeus served in his office as the Abbot for over thirty years.

His death is the last to be commemorated in the Martyrology of Gorman, which was written by his contemporary, Máel Muire Ua Gormáin (Marianus Gorman) sometime in the 2nd half of the 12th Century.

The notes to the Martyrology provide him with this most praiseworthyEulogy:

“Gilla mo-Chaidbeo, Abbot of the Monastery of Paul and Peter in Armagh. The tower of piety and firmness, wisdom and knowledge, labour and prudence of his time.”

Details of our Saint are also to be found in the Irish Annals which give the year of his death:

“THE AGE OF CHRIST, 1174.

Gilla Mochaibeus, Abbot of the Monastery of Sts Peter and Paul at Armagh, a diligent and faithful servant of the Lord, died on the 31st day of March, in the seventieth year of his age.”

Posted in MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

Tuesday in Holy Week, Our Lady of the Holy Cross, Basilica di Santa Croce, Rome and the Saints for 31 March

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TUESDAY in HOLY WEEK

Our Lady of the Holy Cross, Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome – 31 March:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/03/31/our-lady-of-the-holy-cross-basilica-di-santa-croce-in-gerusalemme-rome-and-memorials-of-the-saints-31-march/

St Abda
St Acacius Agathangelos of Melitene

St Agigulf (Died 751) Martyr, Monk, Abbot of Stavelot, Archbishop of Cologne, Died by being murdered in 751 in Cologne, Austrasia (in modern Germany).
His Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/03/31/saint-of-the-day-31-march-st-agigulf-died-751-martyr-bishop/

St Aldo of Hasnon

St Amos the Prophet

St Balbina (Died c130) Virgin and Martyr of Rome. Patronage – against Throat Diseases, goitor diseases. Also known as – Balbina the Virgin, Balbine.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Rome, the holy virgin Balbina, daughter of the blessed Martyr Quirinus, who was Baptised by Pope St Alexander and after overcoming the world, was buried on the Appian Road at ther father’s side.”
A Most Efficacious Saint:
https://anastpaul.com/2025/03/31/saint-of-the-day-31-march-st-balbina-died-c130-virgin-and-martyr/

St Benjamin the Deacon (Died c424) Deaco and Martyr. Benjamin was executed during a period of persecution of Christians that lasted forty years and through the reign of two Persian kings: Isdegerd I, who died in 421 and his son and successor, Varanes V. King Varanes carried on the persecution with such great fury, that Christians were submitted to the most cruel tortures.
His Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/03/31/saint-of-the-day-31-march-st-benjamin-the-deacon-died-c-424-martyr/

Blessed Bonaventure Tornielli OSM (1411-1491) Priest of the Servite Order, called the “Apostolic Preacher”, Confessor, Biblical expert, Missionary Preacher. His cult was confirmed by Pope Pius X in 1911.
His Devoted Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/03/31/saint-of-the-day-31-march-blessed-bonaventure-tornielli-osm-1411-1491/

Blessed Daniel of Venice ECMC (1344-1411) Martyr, Layman, Husband, Father, Entrepreneur, Politician, Diplomat, Peace-maker, Apostle of the poor, part-time Monk and Hermit.
His Holy Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/03/31/saint-of-the-day-31-march-blessed-daniel-of-venice-ecmc-1344-1411-martyr/

St Guy (Died 1046) Monk, Abbot, Hermit, Spiritual Adviser, Ascetic in Pomposa, Italy.
His Life of Penance:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/03/31/saint-of-the-day-31-march-st-guy-of-pomposa-died-1046/

Blessed Jane O.Carm. (Died 1286?) possibly the first Carmelite Tertiary or a fully professed Nun of Toulousand it is believed, that she received the Veil from the hands of St Simon Stock
Blessed Jane:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/03/31/saint-of-the-day-31-march-blessed-jane-of-toulouse-o-carm-died-1286/

St Machabeus (Died 1174) Abbot of Armagh
St Mella of Doire-Melle
St Renovatus of Merida

Martyrs of Africa – 4 Saints: A group of Christians Martyred together for their faith. No details have survived except for of their names – Anesius, Cornelia, Felix and Theodulus. They were martyred in Roman pro-consular Africa.

Posted in CONFESSION/PENANCE, HOLY WEEK, LENT 2026, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on PURITY, QUOTES on WILL (Reasonable or Superior), QUOTES on Will (Sensual or Inferior), Thomas Aquinas

Monday in Holy Week – 30 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – It is Necessary that We be Wholly Clean

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Monday in Holy Week – 30 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

Monday in Holy Week
It is Necessary that We be Wholly Clean

“If I wash thee not, thou shaft have no part with me”
John xiii. 8

  1. “If I wash thee not, thou shaft have no part with me” (John xiii. 8).
    No-one can be made a sharer in the inheritance of eternity, a co-heir with Christ, unless he is spiritually cleansed, for in the Apocalypse it is so stated.
    “There shall not enter into it anything defiled” (Apoc xxi. 27) and in the Psalms we read, “Lord who shall dwell in Thy tabernacle?” (Ps xiv.) Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord; or who shall stand in His holy place?
    The innocent in hands and clean of heart (Ps xxiii. 3, 4).

It is, therefore, as though Our Lord said, If I wash thee not, thou shalt not be cleansed and if thou art not cleansed, thou shalt have no part with me.

  1. Simon Peter saith to Him: “Lord, not only my feet but also my hands and my head” (John xiii. 9).
    Peter, utterly stricken, offers his whole self to be washed, so confounded is he with love and with fear.
    We read, in fact, in the book called The Journeying of Clement that Peter used to be so overcome by the Physical Presence of Our Lord Whom he had most fervently loved that whenever, after Our Lord’s Ascension, the memory of that dearest Presence and most holy company came to him, he used so to melt into tears that his cheeks seemed all worn out with them.

We can consider three parts in man’s body, the head, which is the highest, the feet, which are the lowest part, and the hands which lie in-between.
In the interior man, i.e. in the soul, there are likewise three parts.
Corresponding to the head – there is the higher reason, the power by means of which the soul clings to God.
For the hands – there is the lower reason, by which the soul operates in good works.
For the feet –there are the senses and the feelings and desires arising from them.
Now Our Lord knew the disciples to be clean, as far as the head was concerned, for He knew they were joined to God by faith and by charity.
He knew their hands also were clean, for He knew their good works.
But as to their feet, He knew that the disciples were still somewhat entangled in those inclinations of earthly things which are derived from the life of the senses.

Peter, alarmed by Our Lord s warning (v. 8), not only consented that his feet should be washed but begged that his hands and his head should be washed too.

Lord, he said, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.
As though to say, “I know not whether hands and head need to be washed. For I am not conscious myself of anything, yet am I not hereby justified (i Cor iv. 4). Therefore, I am ready not only for my feet to be washed that is, those inclinations which arise out of the life of my senses but also my hands, that is, my works and my head too, that is, my higher reason.”

  1. “Jesus saith to him: He that is washed needeth not but to wash his feet but is clean wholly. And you are clean” (John xiii. 10).
    Origen, commenting on this text, says that the Apostles were clean but needed to be yet cleaner. For reason should ever desire gifts which are better still, should ever set itself to achieve the very heights of virtue, should aspire to shine with the brightness of justice itself. “He who is holy, let him be sanctified still” (Apoc xxii. 11).

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, franciscan OFM, GOD is LOVE, HOLY WEEK, LENT 2026, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on BLASPHEMY, QUOTES on COURAGE, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, St Francis de Sales, The MOST HOLY REDEEMER, Our SAVIOUR, The PASSION, The SECOND COMING

Quote/s of the Day – 30 March – ‘… For love of Thy Love …’

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Quote/s of the Day – 30 March – Monday of Holy Week

I Beg Thee, Lord
By St Francis of Assisi (c1181–1226)

I beg Thee, Lord,
let the fiery, gentle power
of Thy Love
take possession of my soul
and snatch it away,
from everything under Heaven,
that I may die,
for love of Thy Love,
as Thou saw fit, to die
for love of mine!
Amen

“Now it is that we are to show
an invincible courage towards our Saviour,
serving Him purely for the love of His Will,
not only without pleasure
but amid this deluge of sorrows,
horrors, distresses and assaults,
as did His glorious Mother and St John,
upon the day of His Passion.
Amongst so many blasphemies,
sorrows and deadly distresses,
they remained constant in love …”

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritatis

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on HOSPITALITY, QUOTES on MERCY, QUOTES on POVERTY, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, QUOTES on the POOR, SEPTEMBER-The SEVEN SORROWS of MARY and The HOLY CROSS, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 30 March – ‘ … You do not look at Him even when He faints with hunger …’

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One Minute Reflection – 30 March  – “The Month of Saint Joseph” – Monday in Holy Week – Isaias 50:5-10 – John 12:1-9 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“For the poor you have always with you but Me, you have not always.” – John 12:8

REFLECTION – “The Father did not spare Him for your sake and this, even though He was indeed His Son (Rom 8:32). And yet, you do not look at Him even when He faints with hunger and this too, when you have only to spend for your own food, which is His own! What could be worse than such a breach of law as this?! He was given up for you, slain for you; He lives in hunger for you. You have only to give that which belongs to Him and you, yourself, will get the gain and still, you do not give! What sort of stone is there in place of your heart, besides which these people are not more senseless and who, in spite of such great inducements, continue in this devilish hard-heartedness?

For He was not even satisfied with death and the Cross alone but also, assumed poverty, becoming a stranger and a beggar, naked and cast into prison, undergoing sickness (Mt 25:36) that so, at least, He might call upon you. If you wilt not requite Me, He says, as one Who suffered for your sake, show mercy upon Me for My poverty. And if you are not minded to pity Me for My poverty, at least be moved by My diseases, be softened by My imprisonment . And if, even these do not make you charitable, then for the easiness of the request, comply with Me. For it is no costly gift I ask but bread and lodging and words of comfort … Then I was bound for you, indeed I am so still, so that whether moved on grounds of the former or stirred by the latter, you might be minded to show Me some pity. I fasted for your sake and now, hunger for you; I thirsted when hanging on the Cross and now thirst in the poor, that just as by the former, so also by the latter I may draw you to Myself and make you charitable for your own salvation!..

Indeed, He says: “Whoever welcomes a child such as this, for My Sake, welcomes Me” (Mk 9:37) … For I am able indeed, to crown you even without all these things and yet, I would prefer to be your debtor, so that the crown may make you feel secure. That is why, although I am able to support Myself, yet, I come begging and stand at your door and stretch out My Hand, since My wish is to be supported by you. For I Love you exceedingly and desire to eat at your table!” – St John Chrysostom (347-407) Bishop of Constantinople, Father & Doctor of the Church (Sermon 15 on the Letter to the Romans).

PRAYER – In Thy mercy, O Lord, may this hallowing fast enlighten the hearts of Thy faithful people and since Thou have given them the desire to serve Thee, lend a gracious ear to their prayers.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).

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, GOOD FRIDAY, HOLY WEEK, HYMNS, LENT 2026, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRAYERS on the CROSS of CHRIST, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, SEPTEMBER-The SEVEN SORROWS of MARY and The HOLY CROSS, The HOLY CROSS, The LAMB of GOD, The MOST HOLY REDEEMER, Our SAVIOUR, The PASSION, The REDEMPTION

Our Morning Offering – 30 March – Sing, My Tongue, The Saviour’s Glory

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Our Morning Offering – 30 March – Monday in Holy Week

Sing, My Tongue, The Saviour’s Glory
By St Venantius Fortunatus (c530 – c609)
Bishop, Father of the Church
Trans. Fr Edward Caswell CO (1814-1878)

Sing, my tongue, the Saviour’s glory;
Tell His triumph far and wide;
Tell aloud the famous story
Of His Body Crucified;
How upon the Cross a Victim,
Vanquishing in death, He Died.

Thus did Christ to perfect manhood
In our mortal flesh attain:
Then of His free choice He goeth
To a death of bitter pain;
And as a Lamb, upon the altar
Of the Cross, for us is slain.

Lo, with gall His thirst He quenches!
See the thorns upon His Brow!
Nails His tender Flesh are rending!
See, His Side is open’d now!
Whence, to cleanse the whole creation,
Streams of Blood and Water flow.

Faithful Cross, O Tree all beauteous!
Tree all peerless and Divine!
Not a grove on earth can shew us
Such a flower and leaf as thine.
Sweet the nails and sweet the wood,
Laden with so sweet a load!

Lofty Tree, bend down thy branches,
To embrace thy Sacred load;
Oh, relax the native tension
Of that all too rigid wood;
Gently, gently bear the Members
Of thy dying King and God.

Tree, which solely wast found worthy
The world’s great Victim to sustain;
Harbour from the raging tempest!
Ark, which sav’d the world again!
Tree, with sacred Blood anointed
Of the Lamb for sinners slain.

Blessing, honour everlasting,
To the immortal Deity;
To the Father, Son, and Spirit,
Equal praises ever be:
Glory through the earth and Heaven
To Trinity in Unity.

This Hymn is used for Passiontide and on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (14 Sept) in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Breviary.
This is the original text as it appears in the Lyra Catholica (1849).
Part I is used for Matins and Part II is used for Lauds.
Tune (Church Hymns): “St Lawrence”

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 30 March – Saint Clinius (Died c1040) Abbot and Confessor

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Saint of the Day – 30 March – Saint Clinius (Died c1040) Abbot and Confessor of the Monastery of San Pietro della Foresta in Aquino, Italy, renowned Miracle-worker. Patronage – of Esperia, Italy. Also known as – Clinio, Clino.

The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Aquino, St Clinius, Confessor.”

Unknown Abbot or Bishop Saint

Clinius, a Greek Monk, became the Abbot of the Basilian Monastery of San Pietro della Foresta, located between Pontecorvo and Rocca Guillermo (now Esperia), in the early decades of the 11th Century.

His presence is attested in a signed Deed of Donation in 1030. In the second half of the Century, the Monastery came under the jurisdiction of Monte Cassinok.

At San Pietro della Foresta, St Clinoius, a man of great sanctity and miracles, died before 1050. His remains were transferred to the Church of Santa Maria di Rocca Guillermo (Esperia), where his memory is celebrated as the principal Patron Saint of that City.

The figure of Saint Clinius, shrouded in uncertainty due to the lack of contemporary sources, emerges as an example of a pious Abbot and miracle-worker, highly venerated in the community of Esperia which preserves his memory and cult.