Category: CATHOLIC Quotes

Posted in LENT 2026, Quotes on SALVATION, The PASSION, Thomas Aquinas

Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent – 3 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – The Passion of Christ brought about our Salvationbecause it was a Meritorious Act

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Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent – 3 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

Tuesday of the Second Week
The Passion of Christ brought about our Salvation
because it was a Meritorious Act

“They shall deliver Him to the Gentiles
to be Mocked and Scourged and Crucified.”
Matt xx. 19

Grace was given to Christ not only as to a particular person but also, as far as He is the Head of the Church, in order that the Grace might pass from Him to His Members. And the good works Christ performed, therefore, stand in this same way in relationship to Him and to His Members, as the good works of any other man in a State of Grace relate to himself.

Now it is evident that any man who, in a State of Grace, suffers for justice, merits for himself, by this very fact alone, salvation.
As is said in the Gospel, “Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake” (Matt v. 10).
Whence Christ, by His Passion, merited Salvation, not only for Himself but for all His Members.

Christ, indeed, from the very instant of His conception, merited eternal Salvation for us.
But there still remained certain obstacles on our part, obstacles which kept us from possessing ourselves of the effect of what Christ had merited. Wherefore, in order to remove these obstacles, it behoved Christ to Suffer (Luke xxiv. 46).

Now although the love of Christ for us was not increased in the Passion and was not greater in the Passion than before it, the Passion of Christ had a certain effect which His previous meritorious activity did not.
The Passion produced this effect, not on account of any greater Love shown thereby but because, it was an action designed to produce that effect, as is evident from what has already been said on the fitness of the Passion of Christ.

Head and Members belong to One and the same Person. Now Christ is our Head, according to His Divinity and to the fullness of His Grace which overflows upon others too. We are His Members.
What Christ then meritoriously acquires, is not something external and foreign to us but, by virtue of the unity of the Mystical Body, it overflows upon us too.

We should know too, that although Christ, by His Death acquired merit sufficient for the whole human race, there are special elements needed for the particular Salvation of each individual soul and these each soul must itself seek out. The Death of Christ is, as it were, the cause of all Salvation, as the sin of the first man was the cause of all condemnation. But if each individual man is to share in the effect of a universal cause, the universal cause needs to be specially applied to each individual man.

Now the effect of the sin of the first parents is transmitted to each individual through his bodily origin (i.e., through his being a bodily descendant of the first man).
The effect of the Death of Christ is transmitted to each man through a spiritual rebirth, a re-birth in which man is, as it were, conjoined to Christ and incorporated with Him.

Therefore, it is that each individual must seek to be born again through Christ and to receive those other elements in which works the power of the Death of Christ.

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, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on PEACE, St Francis de Sales, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 3 March – Humility

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Quote/s of the Day – 3 March – Tuesday in the Second Week of Lent – Feruial Day – 3 Kings 17:8-16; Matthew 23:1-12 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled
and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Matthew 23:12

“The one sole thing, in myself,
in which I glory,
is that I see in myself,
nothing, in which I can glory.”

St Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510)

“Humility is not just about self-mistrust
but about the entrusting of ourselves to God.
Distrusting ourselves and our own strength
produces trust in God
and from that trust,
generosity of soul is born.”

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor of Charity

“Keep your heart in peace
and let nothing trouble you,
not even your faults.
You must humble yourself
and amend them peacefully,
without being discouraged or cast down,
for God’s dwelling, is in peace.”

St Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690)
“Visionary and Apostle of the Sacred Heart“

Posted in CHRIST the PHYSICIAN, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, Holy Name PRAYERS, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS for VARIOUS NEEDS, PRAYERS of PETITION, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYERS, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on STRENGTH, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The MOST HOLY REDEEMER, Our SAVIOUR, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Our Morning Offering – 3 March – Merciful Jesus! Stretch Forth Thy Hand of Mercy

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Our Morning Offering – 3 March – Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent –

Merciful Jesus!
Stretch Forth Thy Hand of Mercy
(Excerpt – Prayer in a Time of Anguish)
By St Jerome (347-419)
Father and Doctor of the Church

Merciful Jesus!
Thou art my strength, my refuge and my deliverer;
in Thee I have believed and hoped;
in Thee have I loved.
Call me now, I beseech Thee and I will answer.
Stretch forth Thy Hand of mercy, to the work of Thy Hands
and let me not perish, whom Thou hast redeemed
with Thy Precious Blood.
It is now time for dust to return to dust
and my spirit to Thee Who gavest it.
Open then, Lord, the Gate of Life and receive me.
Receive me most merciful Lord,
according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies,
Who receivedst the thief on the cross
and now prepare my soul for hearing
the same promise of mercy which he did.
I am ill, O Lord and Thee my Physician.
Heal me then, my God and I shall be healed,
let me not be confounded, for I put my trust in Thee.
In Thee have I hoped – let me not be cast off forever!
… Deal not with me, according to what I deserve,
nor chastise me, according to my iniquities
but help me, O God, my Saviour
and for the glory of Thy Name deliver me.
Now, at this hour, show mercy to me
and whenever I depart, receive me
into the number of Thy family that I, may be one of those,
who are to praise Thee forever.
Amen

Posted in CHRIST the LIGHT, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2026, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on PURITY

Our Morning Offering – 2 March – Lord Jesus, Think on Me By St Synesius

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Our Morning Offering – 2 March – Monday of the Second Week of Lent

Lord Jesus, Think on Me
By St Synesius of Cyrene (375-430)
Bishop of Ptolemais, Father

Lord Jesus, think on me
and purge away my sin,
from earth-born passions set me free,
and make me pure within.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
With care and woe oppressed,
let me Thy loving servant be
and taste Thy promised rest.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
nor let me go astray,
through darkness and perplexity
point Thou the heav’nly way.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
that, when the flood is past,
I may eternal brightness see
and share Thy joy at last.
Amen

Posted in GOD ALONE!, GOD is LOVE, GOD the FATHER, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on SUFFERING, St Francis de Sales, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, The WILL of GOD

Quote of the Day – 1 March – ‘A foretaste of eternal life …’

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Quote of the Day – 1 March – The Second Sunday in Lent – Thessalonians 5:14-23, Matthew 17:1-9 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“You will begin to taste, even in this life,
a foretaste of eternal life,
for the principal beatitude of the soul in Heaven,
is to be confirmed forever in the Will of the Father.
Thus, it tastes the Divine sweetness.
But it will never taste it in Heaven,
if it is not clothed with it on earth,
where we are pilgrims and travellers.
When it is clothed with it, it tastes God
by grace in its troubles; its memory will be full
of the Blood of the Lamb without blemish;
its mind will be opened and contemplate
the ineffable Love that God has made known
in the Wisdom of His Son and the love it finds,
in the Holy Spirit’s goodness, casts out self-love
and love for created things, to love only God.
So do not be afraid … but suffer with joy,
so as to conform yourself to the Will of God.””

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritatis

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, JANUARY month of THE MOST HOLY NAME of JESUS, JESUIT SJ, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The HOLY NAME, The REDEMPTION

Our Morning Offering – 1 March– Glory, Honour and Praise, To Our Lord Jesus Christ!

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Our Morning Offering – 1 March– “The Month of the St Joseph” – The Second Sunday of Lent

Glory, Honour and Praise,
To Our Lord Jesus Christ!
A devout Prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ,
to be said both Morning and Evening
By St Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621)
Doctor of the Church
(From His “A Brief Christian Doctrine”)

GLory, Honour and Praise Be,
May all the world adore Thee,
blessed be Thy Holy Name,
Who for us sinners,
vouchsafest to be born of a humble Virgin
and blessed be Thine Infinite Goodness,
Who died upon the Cross for our Redemption.
O Jesu, Son of God
and Saviour of mankind,
have mercy upon us
and so dispose our lives here,
by Thy Grace
that we may, hereafter,
rejoice with Thee forever
in Thy Heavenly Kingdom,
Amen.

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on HUMILITY

Quote of the Day – 28 February – If you wish to reach high, then begin at the lowest level.

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Quote of the Day – 28 February – Ember Saturday

“If you wish to reach high, then begin at the lowest level.
If you are trying to construct some mighty edifice in height,
you will begin with the lowest foundation.
This is humility.
However great the mass of the building
you may wish to design or erect,
the taller the building is to be,
the deeper you will dig the foundation.
The building in the course of its erection,
rises up high but he who digs its foundation,
must first go down very low.
So then, you see even a building is low
before it is high and the tower is raised,
only after humiliation.”

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

Posted in BLESSED TRINITY PRAYERS, Holy Name PRAYERS, JANUARY month of THE MOST HOLY NAME of JESUS, LENT 2026, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, QUOTES on BLASPHEMY, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION

Our Morning Offering – 28 February – The Golden Arrow

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Our Morning Offering – 28 February – “The Month of the Most Holy and Blessed Trinity” – Saturday of the First Week of Lent

The Golden Arrow

This prayer was revealed by Jesus Himself to a Carmelite Nun of Tours in 1843 as a Reparation for Blasphemy. “This Golden Arrow will wound My Heart delightfully” He said “and heal the wounds, inflicted by blasphemy.”

May the Most Holy,
Most Sacred,
Most Adorable,
Most Mysterious
and Unutterable Name of God
be always praised,
blessed, loved, adored
and glorified in Heaven.
on earth and under the earth,
by all the creatures of God
and by the Sacred Heart
of our Lord Jesus Christ
in the most Holy Sacrament
of the Altar.
Amen

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, MATER DOLOROSA - Mother of SORROWS, QUOTES on DIVINE PROVIDENCE, QUOTES on MERCY, QUOTES on THE WORLD, QUOTES on VOCATIONS, The PASSION

Quote/s of the Day – 27 February – St Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin/Gabriel Possenti

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Quote/s of the Day – 27 February – St Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin/Gabriel Possenti CP (1838-1862) Confessor

“The Infinite Mercy of God
has been able to arrange all things sweetly
and today, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows,
our Protectress and our Mother,
I have put on, with unutterable joy,
this holy religious Habit and taken the name
of Confrater Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.”

(Letter to his Father,
From Morrovalle on
21 September 1856)

“What caution, in fact, does it not require,
to live as a good Christian in the world!”

(Letter to his Father,
From Morrovalle on
21 September 1856)

“Oh, be assured, he whom God
calls to the religious life
receives a very great favour,
a favour which is impossible to estimate
at its real value.”

“My sole merit lies in Thy Wounds”

MORE:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/28/quote-s-of-the-day-28-february-st-gabriel-of-the-sorrowful-virgin-gabriel-possenti-cp-1838-1862/

St Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin
/Gabriel Possenti CP (1838-1862)

Posted in Against ICONOCLASM, SAINT of the DAY

Saint/s of the Day – 27 February – St Basil and St Procopius (8th Century) Monks and Defenders of Sacred Images

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Saint/s of the Day – 27 February – St Basil (8th Century) Monk of Constantinople AND St Procopius (8th Century) Monk of Decapolis defenders of Sacred images. Both struggled against and were tortured and imprisoned in their fight against those who denied the veneration of Sared images. Some sources declare them as Martyrs but the Martyrology quoted below does not. Basil did probably die of his sufferings, having survived only a short time after their cessation but Procopius survived to carry on his work as a servant of Christ.

The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Constantinople, in the time of the Emperor Leo, the holy Confessors Basil and Procoppius, who fought courageously for the worship of holy images.”

Saints Basil and Procopius were Monks, who lived in Constantinople in the 8th Century, during the reign of Emperor Leo III the Isaurian.

Basil was from a noble family, while Procopius was a Soldier who, after leaving the army, had retired to monastic life.

The two Monks were united by a deep devotion to Christ and the belief that the veneration of Sacred images was a fundamental tool and element in the growth of the Christian Faith.

In 726, Emperor Leo III issued an Edict prohibiting the veneration of Sacred images. This decision was strongly contested by the Church, which considered Sacred images a way to honour God and the Saints.

Basil and Procopius joined the fight against the Imperial Edict. They were arrested and subjected to harsh torture but never renounced their Faith. They were eventually imprisoned, where they spent several years.

Upon the death of Leo III in 741, Basil Procopius were freed. Basil died shortly thereafter, while Procopius continued to live and preach the Gospel of Christ.

In the 8th Century, the veneration of Sacred images was the subject of a controversy that divided the Church. Emperor Leo III and his supporters considered Sacred images a form of idolatry, while the Church maintained that they were a legitimate way to honour God and the Saints.

The controversy ended with the Second Council of Nicaea, which in 787 established that the veneration of Sacred images was devotional and in accordance with theteachings of Holy Church.

Posted in CONFESSION/PENANCE, GOD ALONE!, HOLY COMMUNION

Quote/s of the Day – 26 February – St Margaret of Cortona (

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Quote/s of the Day – 26 February – St Margaret of Cortona (1247–1297) Penitent

“This morning, my soul is greater
than the universe, since it possesses Thee,
Thou Whom Heaven and earth cannot contain!”

“Hide nothing from your Confessor …
a sick man can only be cured
by revealing his wounds.”

“In times of desolation,
God conceals Himself from us
so that we may discover, for ourselves,
what we are without Him.”

St Margaret of Cortona (1247–1297)
Penitent

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on HOPE, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL

Our Morning Offering – 26 February – To Thee, O Master

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Our Morning Offering – 26 February – Thursday of the First Week of Lent – Ferial Day

To Thee, O Master
Morning Offering
By St Macarius the Wonder-Worker (Died 850)

To Thee, O Master,
Who loves all mankind
I hasten Mn rising from sleep.
By Thy Mercy,
I go out to do Thy Work
and I make my prayer to Thee.
Help me at all times and in all things.
Deliver me from every evil thing of this world
and from pursuit by the devil.
Save me and bring me to Thy eternal Kingdom,
For Thou art my Creator,
Thou inspire all good thoughts in me.
In Thee is all my hope
and to Thee I give glory,
now and forever.
Amen

Posted in LENT 2026, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The PASSION, Thomas a Kempis

Wednesday of the First Week of Lent – 25 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – How Great was the Sorrowo of Our Lord in His Passion?

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Wednesday of the First Week of Lent – 25 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

Wednesday of the First Week of Lent
How Great was the Sorrow
of Our Lord in His Passion?

“Attend and see if there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow.”
Lam i. 12.

Our Lord as He suffered felt in reality and in His Senses, that pain which is caused by some harmful bodily injuries.
He also felt that interior pain which is caused by the fear of something harmful and, which we call sadness.
In both these respects, the pain suffered by Our Lord was the greatest pain possible in this present life.
There are four reasons why this was so.

  1. The causes of the pain.
    The cause of the pain in the senses was the catastrophic injuries to the body, a pain whose bitterness derived partly from the fact that the sufferings attacked every part of His Body and partly, from the fact that, of all species of torture , death by Crucifixion is undoubtedly the most bitter.
    The nails are driven through the most sensitive of all places, the hands and the feet, the weight of the body itself increases the pain every moment.
    Add to this the long extentuated agony, for the Crucified do not die immediately as do those who are beheaded. The cause of the internal pain was:
    (i) All the sins of all mankind for which, by suffering, He was making satisfaction, so that, in a sense, He took them to Himself as though they were His own. The words of my sins, it says in the Psalms (Ps xxi. 2).

(ii) The special case of the Jews and the others who had had a share in the sin of His death and especially, the case of His disciples for whom His death had been a thing to be ashamed of.

(iii) The loss of His Bodily Life which, by the nature of things, is something from which human nature turns away in horror.

  1. We may consider the greatness of the pain according to the capacity, bodily and spiritual, for suffering of Him Who suffered. In
    His Body He was most admirably formed, for it was formed by the miraculous operation of the Holy Ghost and, therefore, Iits Sense of Touch, the sense through which we experience pain, was of the keenest.
    His Soul likewise, from Its interior powers, had a knowledge as from experience of all the causes of sorrow.
  2. The greatness of Our Lord’s Suffering can be considered in regard to this that the pain and sadness were without any alleviation. For, in the case of no matter what other sufferer, the sadness of mind and even the bodily pain, is lessened through a certain kind of reasoning, by means of which there is brought about a distraction of the sorrow from the higher powers to the lower.
    But when Our Lord suffered this did not happen, for He allowed each of His Powers to act and suffer to the fullness of its special capacity.
  3. We may consider the greatness of the suffering of Christ in the Passion, in relationship to this fact, that the Passion and the pain it brought with it, were deliberately undertaken by Christ with the object of freeing man from sin.
    And, therefore, He undertook to suffer an amount of pain proportionately equal to the extent of the fruit which was to follow from the Passion.

From all these causes, if we consider them together, it will be evident that the pain suffered by Christ was the greatest pain ever suffered.

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 WORD and WISDOM, CONFESSION/PENANCE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD is LOVE, JUNE-THE SACRED HEART, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SACRIFICE, SACRED and IMMACULATE HEARTS, SACRED HEART QUOTES, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 25 February – Repent

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Quote/s of the Day – 25 February –– Ember Wednesday – 3 Kings 19:3-8; Matthew 12:38-50 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“The sign of Jonah”

Matthew 12:39

“It was, too, to lead the Ninevites
to firm repentance and to convert them
to Him, Who would deliver them from death,
amazed as they were by the sign accomplished in Jonah …
In the same way, God permitted man
to be swallowed by that great monster,
the author of disobedience,
not so that he should altogether vanish away
and die but because God, had prepared beforehand,
the salvation fulfilled by His Word
by means of the “sign of Jonah.”

St Irenaeus (130-208)
Bishop of Lyons, Martyr and Father

“To do penance is to bewail
the evil we have done
and to do no evil to bewail.”

“But He still follows behind us and counsels us,
although we have despised Him,
He still does not cease to call us.
We turn our backs on His face, so to speak,
when we reject His Words,
when we trample His Commandments underfoot
but He, Who sees that we reject Him,
still calls out to us by His Commandments
and waits for us by His patience,
stands behind us and calls us back
when we have turned away.”

St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604)
Father & Doctor of the Church

“What are we doing?
If we really love the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
we should offer penance and sacrifices
in order to make reparation for our sins
and the sins of others
and, to propitiate this adorable Heart,
Which ardently desires to bestow
new favours upon us.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HYMNS, LENT 2026, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on FASTING, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS

Our Morning Offering – 25 February – Ex More Docti Mystico, The Fast, As Taught by Holy Lore

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Our Morning Offering – 25 February – “Wednesday of The First Week of Lent

Ex More Docti Mystico
The Fast, As Taught by Holy Lore
By St Gregory the Great (540-604)
Pope, Father, Doctor of the Church
Trans. John Mason Neale

The fast, as taught by holy lore,
We keep in solemn course once more.
The fast to all men known and bound
In forty days of yearly round.

The law and seers that were of old
In divers ways this Lent foretold,
Which Christ, all seasons’ King and Guide,
In after ages sanctified.

More sparing, therefore, let us make
The words we speak, the good we take,
Our sleep and mirth – and closer barred
Be every sense in holy guard.

Avoid the evil thoughts that roll
Like water o’er the heedless soul;
Nor let the foe occasion find
Our souls in slavery to bind.

In prayer together let us fall,
And cry for mercy, one and all,
And weep before the Judge’s Feet,
And His avenging wrath entreat.

The grace have we offended sore,
By sins, O God, which we deplore;
But pour upon us, from on high,
O pardoning One, Thy clemency.

Remember Thou, though frail we be,
That yet Thine handiwork are we;
Nor let the honour of Thy Name
Be by another put to shame.

Forgive the sin that we have wrought;
Increase the good that we have sought
That we at length, our wanderings o’er,
May please Thee here and evermore.

Grant, O Thou Blessed Trinity,
Grant, O Essential Unity,
That this our fast of forty days
May work our profit and Thy praise.

There are twelve translations of this lovely Lenten Hymn.
This one by L M Neale
Liturgical Use: Matins Hymn on Sundays
and week-days during Lent.

Posted in LENT 2026, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The PASSION, Thomas Aquinas

Tuesday of the First Week of Lent – 24 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – Christ underwent every kind of suffering

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Tuesday of the First Week of Lent – 24 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

Tuesday of the First Week :
Christ underwent every kind of suffering

“Every kind of suffering.”
The things men suffer may be understood in two ways.
By “kind” we may mean a particular, individual suffering and in this sense, there was no reason why Christ should suffer every kind of suffering, for many kinds of sufferings are contrary, one to the other, as for example, to be burnt and to be drowned.
We are of course, speaking of Our Lord as suffering from causes outside Himself, for to suffer the suffering effected by internal causes, such as bodily illness, would not have become Him.
But, if by “kind” we mean, the class, then Our Lord did suffer by every kind of suffering, as we can show in three ways:

  1. By considering the men through whom He suffered.
    For He suffered something at the hands of Gentiles and of Jews, of men and even of women as the story of the servant girl who accused St.Peter goes to show.
    He suffered, again, at the hands of Rulers, of their Ministers, and of the people, as was prophesied, Why have the Gentiles raged and the people devised vain things? The Kings of the earth stood up and the Princes met together against the Lord and against His Christ (Ps ii. i, 2).
    He suffered, too, from His friends, the men He knew best, for Peter denied Him and Judas betrayed Him.
  2. If we consider the things through which suffering is possible. Christ suffered in the friends who deserted Him and in His good name through the blasphemies uttered against Him.
    He suffered in the respect, in the glory, due to Him through the derision and contempt bestowed upon Him.
    He suffered in all things, for He was stripped even of His clothing; in His soul, through sadness, through weariness and through fear; in His body through wounds and the scourging.
  3. If we consider what He underwent in His various members. His head suffered through the Crown of piercing Thorns, His hands and feet, through the nails driven through them, His face from the blows and the defiling spittle and His whole body through the scourging.

He suffered in every sense of His body.
Touch was afflicted by the scourging and the nailing, taste by the vinegar and gall, smell by the stench of corpses as He hung on the Cross in that place of the dead which is called Calvary.
His hearing was torn with the voices of mockers and blasphemers and He saw the tears of His Mother and of the disciple whom He loved.
If we only consider the amount of suffering required, it is true that one suffering alone, the least indeed of all, would have sufficed to redeem the human race from all its sins. But if we look at the fitness of the matter, it had to be that Christ should suffer in all the kinds of sufferings.

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, GOD ALONE!, I BELIEVE!, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on GOOD WORKS, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PURITY, QUOTES on SANCTITY, The BEATITUDES, The HEART, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 24 February – Feast of St Matthias “Thou has Chosen”

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Quote/s of the Day – 24 February – Feast of St Matthias, Apostle – Acts 1:15-26, Matthew 11:25-30 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“And praying, they said:
Thou, Lord, Who knows the hearts of all men,
show which of these two Thou hast chosen,
to take the place of this ministry and apostleship,
from which Judas hath, by transgression, fallen …”

Acts 1:24-25

“You did not choose Me
but I chose you…”

John 15:16

“That is amazing grace!
For what were we before Christ had chosen us
besides being wicked and lost?
What then has He chosen in those who are not good?
You cannot say, I am chosen because I believed.
For if you believed in Him,
you had already chosen Him.
Nor can you say, before I believed I did good works
and, therefore, was chosen.
For what good work is there
before faith when the Apostle says,
“Whatever is not of faith is sin?”
What is there for us to say, then
but that we were wicked and were chosen,
that by the grace of having been chosen,
we might become good?”

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

“Day by day follow God’s path,
keeping Him closely attached to you by His promise.
In fact, He Himself said, through the mediation of His Apostles,
to all those who seek His will and His testimonies
that He would be with them
until the end of the world (Mt 28:20)
where paths and footsteps
will be unknown (cf Ps 76:20),
as the divine David said in his songs.
Yet, in an invisible way,
He is present to the eyes of the mind,
making Himself seen by those
who have a pure heart
and conversing with them.
So pursue your path …. ”

St Theodore the Studite (759-826)
Abbot, Confessor, Father of the Church

Posted in LENT 2026, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, Thomas Aquinas

Monday of the First Week of Lent – 23 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas

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Monday of the First Week of Lent – 23 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

Monday of the First Week :
Christ had to be tempted in the desert

“He was in the desert 40 days and 40 nights and was tempted by satan.”
Mark i. 13.

  1. It was by Christ’s Own Will that He was exposed to the temptation by the devil, as it was also, by His Own Will that He was exposed to be slain by the limbs of the devil. Had He not so willed, the devil would never have dared to approach Him.

The devil is always more disposed to attack those who are alone because, as is said in Sacred Scripture: “If a man shall prevail against one, two shall withstand him easily (Eccles iv. 12).
This is why Christ went out into the desert, as one going out to a battleground, that there, He might be tempted by the devil. Whereupon St Ambrose says, Christ went into the desert for the express purpose of provoking the devil. For unless the devil had fought, Christ would never have overcome him for me!

St Ambrose gives other reasons too. He says Christ chose the desert as the place to be tempted for a hidden reason, namely, that He might free Adam from his exile who, from Paradise, was driven into the desert and again, that He did it for a reason in which there is no mystery, namely, to show us that the devil envies those who are tending towards a better life.

  1. We say with St Chrysostom that Christ exposed Himself to the temptation because the devil, most of all, tempts those whom he sees alone.
    So in the very beginning of things, he tempted the woman, when he found her away from her husband. It does not however follow from this that a man ought to throw himself into any occasion of temptation which presents itself.

Occasions of temptation are of two kinds.
One kind arises from man’s own action, when, for example, man himself goes near to sin, not avoiding the occasion of sin.
That such occasions are to be avoided we know and Holy Scripture reminds us of it. “Stay not in any part of the country round about Sodom” (Gen xix. 17).
The second kind of occasion arises from the devil’s constant envy of those who are tending to better things, as St Ambrose says and this occasion of temptation is not one we must avoid.
So, according to St John Chrysostom, not only Christ was led into the desert by the Holy Ghost but all the children of God who possess the Holy Ghost are led in like manner. For God’s children are never content to sit down with idle hands but the Holy Ghost ever urges them to undertake for God some great work. And this, as far as the devil is concerned, is to go into the desert, for in the desert, there is none of that wickedness in which the devil’s delight.
Every good work is, as it were, a desert to the eye of the world and of our flesh, for good works are contrary to the desire of the world.

To give the devil such an opportunity of temptation as this is not dangerous, for it is much more the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, Who is the promoter of every perfect work which prompts us, than the working of the devil, who hates them all.

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 CONFESSION/PENANCE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, OUR Cross, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on SILENCE, QUOTES on SUFFERING, Quotes Self-Oblation

Quote/s of the Day – 23 February – St Peter Damian

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Quote/s of the Day – 23 February – Monday of the First Week of Lent – The Feast of St Peter Damian (1007-1072) Cardinal Bishop, Confessor, Father and Doctor of the Church

“Let us detach ourselves in spirit
from all that we see
and cling to that which we believe.
This is the Cross
which we must imprint
on all our daily actions and behaviour.”

“The best penance is to have patience
with the sorrows God permits.
A very good penance is to dedicate oneself
to fulfill the duties of everyday
with exactitude and to study and work
with all our strength.”

“We hold our tongues in check
because if they are undisciplined
they empty the soul of the strength
of heavenly grace
and weaken its healthful vigour.”

MORE:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/23/quote-s-of-the-day-23-february-st-peter-damian-3/

St Peter Damian (1007-1072)
Bishop, Father and Doctor of the Church

Posted in CONFESSION/PENANCE, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on MORTIFICATION, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, SAINT of the DAY

Our Morning Offering – 23 February – Have Mercy, LordBy St Peter Damian

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Our Morning Offering – 23 February – The Feast of St Peter Damian (1007-1072) Cardinal Bishop, Confessor, Father and Doctor of the Church

Have Mercy, Lord
By St Peter Damian (1007-1072)
Father & Doctor of the Church

Have mercy, Lord,
on all my friends and relatives,
on all my benefactors,
on all who pray to Thee for me
and on all who have asked me
to pray to Thee, for them.
Give them the spirit of fruitful penance,
mortify them in all vices
and make them flower
in all Thy virtues.
Amen

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the HIGH PRIEST, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, LENT 2026, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, The WORD, Thomas Aquinas

The First Sunday of Lent – 22 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – Christ willed to be tempted

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The First Sunday of Lent – 22 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Doctor of the Church

The First Week of Lent – Sunday

It was fitting that Christ should be tempted

“Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert,
to be tempted by the devil.”
Matt iv. i

Christ willed to be tempted:

  1. That He might assist us against our own temptations.
    St Gregory says: “That our Redeemer, Who had come to earth to be killed, should will to be tempted, was not unworthy of Him. It was. indeed but just that He should overcome our temptations by His own, in the same way that He had come to overcome our death by His death.”
  2. To warn us that no man, however holy he be, should think himself safe and free from temptation.
    Whence again, His choosing to be tempted after His Baptism, about which St Hilary says: “The devil’s wiles are especially directed to trap us at times when we have recently been made holy because the devil desires no victory as much as a victory over the world of Grace.”
    Whence too, the Scripture warns us, “Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear and prepare thy soul for temptation” (Ecclus ii. i).
  3. To give us an example of how we should overcome the temptations of the devil, St Augustine says: “Christ gave Himself to the devil to be tempted that, in the matter of our overcoming those same temptations, He might be of service, not only by His assistance but too, by His example.”
  4. To fill and saturate our minds with confidence in His Mercy.
    “For we have not a High Priest Who cannot have compassion on our infirmities but One , without sin but ttempted in all things, like as we are, (Heb iv. 15).

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 WORD and WISDOM, GOD ALONE!, GUARDIAN ANGELS - Prayers etc, In the PRESENCE of GOD, LENT 2026, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 22 February – Begone, Satan!

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Quote/s of the Day – 22 February – The First Sunday of Lent – 2 Corinthians 6:1-10, Matthew 4:1-11

“Begone, Satan!
for it is written:
The Lord thy God shalt thou adore
and Him only shalt thou serve.”

Matthew 4:10

“Do not, therefore, lose your confidence,
which has a great reward.
For you have need of patience that,
doing the Will of God,
you may receive the promise.
For yet a very little while
and He Who is to come,
will come
and will not delay.”

Hebrews 10:35-37

“It might even be said that we are fortunate
to have temptations, for these are the times
of spiritual harvest when we gather up for Heaven. …
If we were thoroughly saturated
with God’s Holy Presence,
it would be easy for us to resist the enemy.
With the thought ‘God sees you!’ we would never sin!

There was a Saint who complained to our Lord
after being tempted and said to Him:
“Where were Thou, my most loveable Jesus,
during that awful storm?”
Our Lord answered:
“I was in the centre of thou heart…”

St John-Marie Baptiste Vianney (1786-1859)
The Curé of Ars

“When tempted,
turn immediately to your
Guardian Angel and ask him,
with all your heart,
“My Guardian Angel help me now.
Do not let me offend my God!”

St John Bosco (1815-1888)

Posted in CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, LENT 2026, The WORD

Quote of the Day – 21 February – Isaias 58:9-11

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Quote of the Day – 21 February – The First Saturday of Lent – Isaiah 58:9-14, Mark 6:47-56

“Thus says the Lord God:
If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation
and malicious speech.
if you bestow your bread
on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
then light shall rise
for you in the darkness
and the gloom
shall become for you,like midday;
then the Lord will guide you always
and give you plenty,
even on the parched land.
He will renew your strength
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.”

Isaiah 58:9-11

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, GOD ALONE!, LENT 2026, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on THANKSGIVING, Quotes Self-Oblation

Our Morning Offering – 21 February – Lord be Blessed! By St John of God

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Our Morning Offering – 21 February – Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Lord be Blessed!
(A Prayer of Thanksgiving and Self-oblation)
By St John of God (1495-1550)

Lord be blessed!
for in Thy great kindness to me,
who art such a great sinner,
having performed so many wicked things,
yet Thou seest fit to set me free,
from such a tremendous temptation
and deception into which I fell,
through my own sinfulness.
Thou hast brought me into a safe harbour,
where I shall endeavour to serve Thee
with all my strength.
My Lord, I beg Thee, with all my might,
give me the strength of Thine grace
and always let me see Thine clemency.
I wish to be Thy slave,
so kindly show me what I should do.
Give peace and quiet to my soul
which greatly desires this.
O most worthy Lord,
may this creature of Thine,
serve and praise Thee.
May I give my whole heart
and mind, to Thee.
Amen

Posted in CONFESSION/PENANCE, LENT 2026, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION, Thomas Aquinas

Thursday – 19 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – Fasting

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Ash Thursday – 19 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Doctor of the Church

Thursday : Fasting

  1. We fast for three reasons.

(i) To check the desires of the flesh. So St Paul says in fastings, in chastity (2 Cor vi. 5), meaning that fasting is a safeguard for chastity. As St Jerome says, “Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus would freeze,” as much as to say, lust loses its heat through spareness of food and drink.

(ii) That the mind may more freely raise itself to contemplation of the heights. We read in the book of Daniel that it was after a fast of three weeks that he received the revelation from God (Dan x. 2-4).

(iii) To make satisfaction for sin. This is the reason given by the Prophet Joel, Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting and in weeping and in mourning (Joel ii. 12). And here is what St Augustine writes on the matter. “Fasting purifies the soul. It lifts up the mind and it brings the body into subjection to the spirit. It makes the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of desire, puts out the flames of lust and shines the true light of chastity.”

  1. There is a commandment laid on us to fast. For fasting helps to destroy sin and to raise the mind to thoughts of the spiritual world. Each man is then bound, by the natural law of the matter, to fast just as much as is necessary to help him in these matters. Which is to say, fasting in general is a matter of natural law. To determine, however, when we shall fast and how, according to what suits and is of use to the Catholic body, is a matter of positive law. To state the positive law is the business of the Bishops and what is thus stated by them is called Ecclesiastical fasting, in contradistinction with the natural fasting previously mentioned.

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, DOMINICAN OP, LENT 2026, QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on FASTING, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on PRAYER, The KINGDOM of GOD / HEAVEN

Quote/s of the Day – 19 February – Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving

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Quote/s of the Day – 19 February –Ash Thursday

“Fasting cleanses the soul,
raises the mind,
subjects one’s flesh to the spirit,
renders the heart contrite and humble,
scatters the clouds of concupiscence,
quenches the fire of lust
and kindles the true light of chastity.
Enter again into yourself!”

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

“Arm yourself with prayer
instead of a sword;
be clothed with humility
instead of fine raiment.”

St Dominic OP (1170-1221)

“What great profit you gain from God
when you are generous!
You give a coin
and receive a Kingdom;
you give bread from wheat
and receive the Bread of Life;
you give a transitory good
and receive an everlasting one.
You will receive it back,
a hundred times more
than you offered.”

St Thomas of Villanova (1488-1555)

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, LENT 2026, Our MORNING Offering, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on WATCHING, QUOTES on WISDOM, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, Thomas Aquinas

Our Morning Offering – 19 February – Grant Me, My God By St Thomas Aquinas

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Our Morning Offering – 19 February – Ash Thursday

Grant Me, My God
By St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Angelic Doctor, Common Doctor

Make my heart watchful, O God,
so that no vain thoughts may distract it from Thee.
Make it noble,
so that it may never be seduced by any base affection.
Make it steadfast,
so that troubles may not dismay it.
Make it free,
so that it may not yield to the onslaughts of passion.
Grant me, my God,
the intelligence, to understand Thee,
the love, to seek Thee,
the wisdom, to find Thee,
words, to please Thee,
the perseverance, to wait faithfully for Thee
and, the hope of embracing Thee, at last.
Grant that I, a repentant sinner,
may bear Thy chastisements with resignation.
Poor pilgrim which I am,
may I draw on the treasury of Thine grace
and may I one day,
be eternally happy with Thee in Heavenly glory!
Amen.

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, DOMINICAN OP, LENT, LENT 2026, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on SUFFERING, Thomas Aquinas

Ash Wednesday – 18 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas Begins

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Ash Wednesday – 18 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Doctor of the Church

Ash Wednesday : Death

“By one man sin entered into this world and by sin death.” – Romans v. 12.

  1. If for some wrongdoing a man is deprived of some benefit once given to him, that he should lack that benefit is the punishment of his sin.

Now, in man’s first creation he was divinely endowed with this advantage that, as long as his mind remained subject to God, the lower powers of his soul were subjected to the reason and the body was subjected to the soul.

But because by sin man’s mind moved away from its subjection to God, it followed that the lower parts of his mind ceased to be wholly subjected to the reason. From this there followed such a rebellion of the bodily inclination against the reason, that the body was no longer wholly subject to the soul.

Whence followed death and all the bodily defects. For life and wholeness of body are bound up with this, that the body is wholly subject to the soul, as a thing which can be made perfect is subject to that which makes it perfect. So it comes about that, conversely, there are such things as death, sickness and every other bodily defect, for such misfortunes are bound up with an incomplete subjection of body to soul.

  1. The rational soul is of its nature immortal and, therefore, death is not natural to man insofar as man has a soul. It is natural to his body, for the body, since it is formed of things contrary to each other in nature, is necessarily liable to corruption and, it is in this respect, that death is natural to man.

But God who fashioned man is all powerful. And hence, by an advantage conferred on the first man, He took away that necessity of dying which was bound up with the matter of which man was made. This advantage was, however, withdrawn through the sin of our first parents.

Death is then natural, if we consider the matter of which man is made and it is a penalty, inasmuch as it happens through the loss of the privilege whereby man was preserved from dying.

  1. Sin – Original Sin and actual sin – is taken away by Christ, that is to say, by Him Who is also the remover of all bodily defects. He shall quicken also your mortal bodies because of His Spirit Who dwelleth in you (Romams viii. II).

But, according to the order appointed by a wisdom which is Divine, it is at the time which best suits, when Christ takes away both the one and the other, i.e., both sin and bodily defects.

Now it is only right that, before we arrive at that glory of impassibility and immortality which began in Christ and which was acquired for us through Christ, we should be shaped after the pattern of Christ’s sufferings.
It is then only right that Christ’s liability to suffer should remain in us too, for a time, as a means of our coming to the impassibility of glory in the way He himself came to it.

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, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on FASTING, QUOTES on MERCY, QUOTES on PRAYER

Quote/s of the Day – 18 Februaryr – Ash Wednesday – Prayer, Fasting and Mercy

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Quote/s of the Day – 18 Februaryr – Ash Wednesday

Prayer, Fasting and Mercy
St Peter Chrysologus (c400-450)
Bishop of Ravenna
“Doctor of Homilies”
Father and Doctor of the Church

“There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one and they give life to each other.

Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no-one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them, or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others you open God’s ear to yourself.

When you fast, see the fasting of others. If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself, that which you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.

Let this be the pattern for all men when they practice mercy – show mercy to others in the same way, with the same generosity, with the same promptness, as you wish others to show mercy to you.

Therefore, let prayer, mercy and fasting be one single plea to God on our behalf, one speech in our defence, a threefold united prayer in our favour.” – (An excerpt from his Sermon 43)

Posted in "Follow Me", ASPIRATIONS and EJACULATIONS, CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, ONE Minute REFLECTION, PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYERS, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION, The HOLY FACE, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 17 February – ‘Receive Christ, receive power to see …’

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One Minute Reflection – 17 February– “The Month of the Most Blessed Trinity” – Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus – Shrove Tuesday – Ferial Day –1 Corinthians 13:1-13 – Luke 18:31-43 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“And immediately he saw and followed him, glorifying God.” – Luke 18:43

REFLECTION – “The commandment of the Lord shines clearly, enlightening the eyes. Receive Christ, receive power to see, receive your Light, that you may plainly recognise both God and man. More delightful than gold and precious stones, more desirable than honey and the honeycomb is the Word that has enlightened us. How could He not be desirable, Who illumined minds buried in darkness and endowed, with clear vision “the light-bearing eyes” of the soul? Sing His praises, then, Lord and make known to me Your Father, Who is God. Your Word will save me, Your song instruct me. I have gone astray in my search for God but now that You light my path, Lord, I find God through You and receive the Father from You, I become co-heir with You, since You were not ashamed to own me as Your brother. Let us, then, shake off forgetfulness of Truth, shake off the mist of ignorance and darkness that dims our eyes and contemplate the true God, after first raising this song of praise to Him: “All hail, O light!” For upon us, buried in darkness, imprisoned in the shadow of death, a heavenly Light has shone, a Light of a clarity surpassing the sun’s and of a sweetness, exceeding any this earthly life can offer.” – St Clement of Alexandria (c150-c215) Theologian, Philosopher , Father (Exhortation to the Greeks, 11).

PRAYER – O Lord, we beseech Thee, mercifully hear our prayers; loose us from the chains of our sins and keep us from all adversity. 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).

An Aspiration to the Eternal Father
to be Frequently Recited During the Day …

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Holy Face of Jesus,
covered with blood, sweat, dust and spittle,
in reparation for our sins
and the sins of the whole world.