Quote/s of the Day – 1 August – Memorials of St Alphonsus Liquori and of St Peter Faber S.J.
“Know also that you will probably gain more by praying fifteen minutes before the Blessed Sacrament than by all the other spiritual exercises of the day. True, Our Lord hears our prayers anywhere, for He has made the promise, ‘Ask, and you shall receive,’ but He has revealed to His servants, that those who visit Him in the Blessed Sacrament will obtain a more abundant measure of grace.”
“Your God is ever beside you – indeed, He is even within you.”
“St Augustine and St Thomas define mortal sin to be a turning away from God: that is, the turning of one’s back upon God, leaving the Creator for the sake of the creature. What punishment would that subject deserve who, while his king was giving him a command, contemptuously turned his back upon him to go and transgress his orders? This is what the sinner does; and this is punished in hell with the pain of loss, that is, the loss of God, a punishment richly deserved by him who in this life turns his back upon his sovereign good.”
“Let us thank God for having called us to His holy faith. It is a great gift and the number of those, who thank God for it is small.”
St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) Doctor of the Church
“Seek grace in the smallest things and you will find also grace, to accomplish, to believe in and to hope for the greatest things.”
May the Lord…make you overflow with love for one another and for all.1 Thessalonians 3:12
REFLECTION – “The means for attaining perfect love is to accomplish frequent acts of love.
Fire is kindled by the wood that we cast into it and love is enkindled by acts of love.”….St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – Loving Father, grant me the grace to strive after perfect love. Help me to bring forth frequent acts of love, to all and sundry, to each of my neighbours, so that I may grow in this greatest of virtues. St Alphonsus Liguori pray for us, amen.
“Be generous to the poor orphans and those in need. The man to whom our Lord has been liberal ought not to be stingy. We shall one day find in Heaven as much rest and joy as we ourselves have dispensed in this life.”
“If our church is not marked by caring for the poor, the oppressed, the hungry, we are guilty of heresy.”
“If God gives you an abundant harvest of trials, it is a sign of great holiness which He desires you to attain. Do you want to become a great saint? Ask God to send you many sufferings. The flame of Divine Love never rises higher than when fed with the wood of the Cross, which the infinite charity of the Saviour used to finish His sacrifice. All the pleasures of the world are nothing compared with the sweetness found in the gall and vinegar offered to Jesus Christ. That is, hard and painful things endured for Jesus Christ and with Jesus Christ…..If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that He certainly intends to make you a saint.”
Quote/s of the Day – 30 July – Memorial of St Peter Chrysologus
“He (Christ) really made His body a living sacrifice, because, though slain, He continues to live. In such a victim death receives its ransom but the victim remains alive. Death itself suffers the punishment. This is why death for the martyrs is actually a birth and their end a beginning. Their execution is the door to life and those who were thought to have been blotted out from the earth shine brilliantly in heaven.”
“He is The Bread sown in the virgin, leavened in the Flesh, molded in His Passion, baked in the furnace of the Sepulchre, placed in the Churches and set upon the Altars, which daily supplies Heavenly Food to the faithful.”
“For he who touches the Body of Christ unworthily, receives his damnation.”
“Anyone who wishes to frolic with the devil cannot rejoice with Christ.”
“The poor stretch out the hand but God receives what is offered.”
“Now that we are reborn,… in the likeness of our Lord and have indeed been adopted by God as his children, let us put on the complete image of our Creator so as to be wholly like Him, not in the glory that He alone possesses but in innocence, simplicity, gentleness, patience, humility, mercy, harmony, those qualities in which He chose to become and to be, one with us.”
St Peter Chrysologus (400-450) Doctor of the Church
On the way of duty I walk, along the paths of justice, granting wealth to those who love me…..Proverbs 8:20-21
REFLECTION – “Mary’s grace has given glory to heaven; a God to earth and faith to the nations.Sh has conferred death on vices, order on life and a rule on morals.”….St Peter Chrysologus (c400-450) Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – Heavenly Father, grant me the grace to have Mary as my constant intercessor. In all difficulties let me call on her aid, for she is Your beloved Daughter. St Peter, you who so loved our Holy Mother, pray that we too may love her with total abandon and trust. Amen
Quote of the Day – 29 July – Memorial of St Martha
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” – Luke 10:42
“Our Lord’s words teach us that though we labour among the many distractions of this world, we should have but one goal. For we are but travelers on a journey without as yet a fixed abode; we are on our way, not yet in our native land; we are in a state of longing, not yet of enjoyment. But let us continue on our way and continue without sloth or respite, so that we may ultimately arrive at our destination.”
St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor (Sermo 103, 1-2, 6: PL 38, 613, 615)
“From early in her life, Sister Alphonsa experienced great suffering. With the passing of the years, the heavenly Father gave her an ever fuller share in the Passion of His beloved Son. We recall how she experienced not only physical pain of great intensity but also the spiritual suffering of being misunderstood and misjudged by others. But she constantly accepted all her sufferings with serenity and trust in God, being firmly convinced that they would purify her motives, help her to overcome all selfishness and unite her more closely with her beloved divine Spouse. She wrote to her spiritual director: “Dear Father, as my good Lord Jesus loves me so very much, I sincerely desire to remain on this sick bed and suffer not only this but anything else besides, even to the end of the world. I feel now that God has intended my life to be an oblation, a sacrifice of suffering” (20 November 1944). She came to love suffering because she loved the suffering Christ. She learned to love the Cross through her love of the crucified Lord.
…Every one who has been baptised into Christ has discovered a pearl of “great value” and a “treasure” worth all that one has in life . For all the baptised share in the very life of the Blessed Trinity and are called to be “light” and “salt” for the world .”…St Pope John Paul at the Beatification of St Alphonsa, 8 February 1986.
Let us be that “light” and that “salt”!
St Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception, pray for us!
“Jesus Christ is very little known by those who claim to be His friends. We observe them seeking in Him, not His sorrows but their own consolation.”
“The road is narrow. He who wishes to travel it more easily, must cast off all things and use the cross as his cane. In other words, he must be truly resolved. to suffer willingly for the love of God in all things.”
“I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church” ….Colossians1:24
REFLECTION – “I have given myself up completely to Jesus. Let Him please Himself in His dealings with me. My only desire in this world is to suffer for love of God and to rejoice in doing it” …St Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception (Memorial today 28 July)
PRAYER – Lord God, as You offer us each year the joy of the feast of St Alphonsa, grant that as we celebrate her memory, we may imitate her in holiness and courage. St Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception, pray for us, amen.
“The way Jesus shows you is not easy. Rather, it is like a path winding up a mountain. Do not lose heart! The steeper the road, the faster it rises towards ever wider horizons.”
Today is the feast of Blessed Rudolf Aquaviva S.J. (1550-1583), who laboured for four years at the court of the Muslim king at Agra, India, seeking converts to Christ. The mission failed. Shortly after, Bl Rudolf and four associates were martyred by a Hindu mob. He wrote movingly of patient hope in the face of apparent failure:
“You know how I longed for this mission and how delighted I was when it was granted me. I have been able to do what I wished for—to bear witness to the name of Jesus Christ before the kings and rulers of this world.
We cannot speak out the truth for fear that if we go too far we endanger the life of King Akbar. So we neither die because they do not kill us and yet we do not live for our zeal wears us out. Or we live only by hope, though that is very uncertain whether it may not turn out rather evil than good. Ours is a very uncertain outlook as far as the King’s conversion goes.
Still, the Lord makes us realise that our labours are just as pleasing and acceptable to His divine majesty as if we were to obtain that for which we are striving, for God is a witness of inmost feelings and a searcher of the heart (see Wisdom 1:6). For day and night we are toiling at a work of great service to God, the planting of his faith in a barbarous nation at such peril of our lives.”
….For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond alll measure…2 Corinthians 4:17
We do NOT give up – ever, for the Lord is with us and blesses our zealous hearts! Blessed Aquaviva please pray for us!
So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day……2 Corinthians 4:16
REFLECTION – “We live only by hope…Still the Lord makes us realise that our labours are just as pleasing and acceptable to His divine majesty as if we were to obtain that for which we are striving, for God is a witness of inmost feelings and a searcher of the heart!”……Blessed Rudolf Aquaviva S.J. -Martyr – Memorial today 27 July
PRAYER – Almighty God, You give Your Martyrs the grace to lay down thei lives for Christ. Help our weakness, give us strength to do all for and to live only for You, for You know the inmost meaning of our hearts. Blessed Rudolf and St Panteleon, pray for us! Amen
“This world and the world to come, are two enemies. We cannot therefore be friends to both; but we must decide which we will forsake and which we will enjoy.”
How wonderful is God among his saints; come, let us adore him…..Psalm 94
REFLECTION – “Joachim and Anne, how blessed a couple! All creation is indebted to you. For at your hands the Creator was offered a gift excelling all other gifts: a chaste mother, who alone was worthy of Him. Joachim and Anne, how blessed and spotless a couple! You will be known by the fruit you have borne, as the Lord says: “By their fruits you will know them.” The conduct of your life pleased God and was worthy of your daughter. For by the chaste and holy life you led together, you have fashioned a jewel of virginity: she who remained a virgin before, during and after giving birth. She alone for all time would maintain her virginity in mind and soul as well as in body. Joachim and Anne, how chaste a couple! While leading a devout and holy life in your human nature, you gave birth to a daughter nobler than the angels, whose queen she now is.” – from a sermon by Saint John Damascene (675-749) – Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – O Lord, God of our Fathers, who bestowed on Saints Joachim and Anne this grace, that of them should be born the Mother of your incarnate Son, grant, through the prayers of both, that we may attain the salvation you have promised to your people. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Sts Joachim and Anne, pray for us! Amen
“Considering that when the Saints lived in this world, they were at liberty to roam the earth, do you really think that in Heaven, God would have them tied to a post?”
Thought for the Day – 24 July – The Memorial of St Charbel of Makhluf
In 1950, Father George Webby, a Maronite priest from Scranton, visited Lebanon, took a photo of monks outside the wall of the monastery in which St. Charbel had lived and upon development of the picture saw that St. Charbel miraculously appeared with the monks, according to information provided by St. Anthony’s Church.
Art work for holy pictures of this saint is now taken from this photo. Can you see him? (Hint: smack dab in the middle) click on the picture and then zoom in….
St. Charbel is listed among The Incorruptibles, saints whose bodies were found intact years after burial. His body kept pouring oil and blood until the year before his canonization in 1977.
“…a hermit of the Lebanese mountain is inscribed in the number of the blessed, a new eminent member of monastic sanctity is enriching, by his example and his intercession, the entire Christian people. May he make us understand, in a world largely fascinated by wealth and comfort, the paramount value of poverty, penance and asceticism, to liberate the soul in its ascent to God…” ……….Pope Paul VI, October 9, 1977
St Charbel Makhluf, Pray for us!
Watch – “The Saint Charble Song” …it’s special…
A beautiful ode to Saint Charbel, written by J. Michael Thompson- (a Catholic Composer, professor of ecclesiastical chant):
The mountain heights of Lebanon Resound with songs of joy; The cedars of that ancient land Stand tall as we employ Our hymns of praise and thankfulness For Sharbel’s saintly ways, Lived out in strict humility That guided all his days.
True monk and hermit of the hills, Saint Maron’s modest son Scorned wealth and comfort in his life That heaven’s crown be won. Of Mary, heaven’s Queen and Gate, Devoted son was he, Who cherished all the ancient rites With great humility.
Fierce lover of the lowly life, True father of the poor, As you have done, so help us all To struggle and endure, That Christ be praised in ev’ry life, That riches not ensnare Or rule us in our daily walk; That strong may be our prayer!
O Father, Son, and Spirit blest, One God in persons three, Receive this hymn we offer now, And keep your Church e’er free To follow, as Saint Sharbel did, Enflamed with love so bright That we, with eyes fixed firm on Christ, May vanquish sin’s dark night.
“Those in the Catholic Church, whom some rebuke for praying to Saints and going on pilgrimages, do not seek any Saint as their saviour. Instead, they seek saints as those whom their Saviour loves and whose intercession and prayer for the seeker He will be content to hear. For His Own sake, He would have those He loves honoured. And when they are thus honoured for His sake, then the honour that is given them for His sake ‘ overflows especially to Himself.”
“There is no sinner in the world, however much at enmity with God, who cannot recover God’s grace, by recourse to Mary and by asking her assistance.”
“True wisdom, then, consists in works, not in great talents, which the world admires; for the wise in the world’s estimation . . . are the foolish who set at naught the will of God and know not how to control their passions.”
You have heard that it was said:
“You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.”
But I say to you: ‘ love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you.’…..Matthew 5:43-44
REFLECTION – “We must show love for those who do evil to us and pray for them.
Nothing is dearer or more pleasing to God than this.”…St Bridget of Sweden
PRAYER – God of love, grant me the great grace to show love and forgiveness for those who do evil to me. Let me at least be able to pray for their salvation, won for them too, by your Divine Son, Jesus th Christ. St Bridget of Swden, pray for us, amen.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” …….John 20: 13-15
REFLECTION – “When Mary Magdalen came to the tomb and did not find the Lord’s body, she thought it had been taken away and so informed the disciples. After they came and saw the tomb, they too believed what Mary had told them. The text then says: “The disciples went back home,” and it adds: “but Mary wept and remained standing outside the tomb.” We should reflect on Mary’s attitude and the great love she felt for Christ; for though the disciples had left the tomb, she remained. She was still seeking the one she had not found and while she sought she wept; burning with the fire of love, she longed for Him who she thought had been taken away. And so it happened that the woman who stayed behind to seek Christ was the only one to see Him. For perseverance is essential to any good deed, as the voice of truth tell us: “Whoever perseveres to the end will be saved….Jesus says to her: Mary. Jesus is not recognised when He calls her “woman”; so He calls her by name, as though He were saying: ‘Recognise me as I recognise you; for I do not know you as I know others; I know you as yourself.’ And so Mary, once addressed by name, recognises who is speaking. She immediately calls Him ‘Rabboni’, that is to say, teacher, because the one whom she sought outwardly was the one who inwardly taught her to keep on searching.” – from a homily by St Pope Gregory the Great
PRAYER – Almighty, ever-living God, Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ made Mary of Magdala the first herald of Easter joy. Grant that, following her example and helped by her prayers, we may, in this life, proclaimn he living Christ and come to se Him reigning with You in glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever, amen.
Thought for the Day – 21 July – The Memorial of St Lawrence of Brindisi (1559-1619) Apostolic Doctor
“It is surprising that St Lawrence of Brindisi was able to continue without interruption his work as an appreciated and unflagging preacher in many cities of Italy and in different countries, in spite of holding other burdensome offices of great responsibility. Indeed, within the Order of Capuchins he was professor of theology, novice master, for several mandates minister provincial and definitor general, and finally, from 1602 to 1605, minister general. In the midst of this mountain of work, Lawrence cultivated an exceptionally fervent spiritual life. He devoted much time to prayer and, especially, to the celebration of Holy Mass — often protracted for hours — caught up in and moved by the memorial of the Passion, death and Resurrection of the Lord.
Moreover, with the unmistakable ardour of his style, Lawrence urged everyone and not only priests, to cultivate a life of prayer, for it is through prayer that we speak to God and that God speaks to us: “Oh, if we were to consider this reality!”, he exclaimed. “In other words that God is truly present to us when we speak to Him in prayer; that He truly listens to our prayers, even if we pray only with our hearts and minds. And that not only is He present and hears us, indeed He willingly and with the greatest of pleasure wishes to grant our requests”.
St Lawrence of Brindisi teaches us to love Sacred Scripture, to increase in familiarity with it, to cultivate daily relations of friendship with the Lord in prayer, so that our every action, our every activity, may have its beginning and its fulfilment in Him. This is the source from which to draw so that our Christian witness may be luminous and able to lead the people of our time to God.”…….Pope BENEDICT XVI (General Audience) – St. Peter’s Square, Wednesday, 23 March 2011
“The word of God is replete with manifold blessings, since it is, so to speak, a treasure of all goods. It is the source of faith, hope, charity, all virtue, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, all the beatitudes of the Gospel, all good works, all the rewards of life, all the glory of paradise…For the word of God is a light to the mind and a fire to the will. It enables man to know God and to love Him. And for the interior man who lives by the Spirit of God through grace, it is bread and water, but a bread sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, a water better than wine and milk. For the soul it is a spiritual treasure of merits yielding an abundance of gold and precious stones. Against the hardness of a heart that persists in wrongdoing, it acts like a hammer. Against the world, the flesh and the devil it serves as a sword that destroys all sin.”
“The Holy Spirit sweetens the yoke of the divine law and lightens its weight, so that we may observe God’s commandments with the greatest of ease and even with pleasure”
St Lawrence of Brindisi (1559-1619) Apostolic Doctor
“I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.”………..Matthew 12:6
REFLECTION – “My dear souls, let us recognize, I pray you, Christ’s infinite charity towards us in the institution of this Sacrament of the Eucharist. In order that our love be a spiritual love, He wills a new heart, a new love, a new spirit for us. It is not with a carnal heart but with a spiritual one, that Christ has loved us with a gratuitous love, a supreme and most ardent love, by way of pure grace and charity. Ah! One needs to love Him back with one’s whole, whole, whole, living, living, living and true, true, true heart!!” …… St Lawrence of Brindisi (1559-1619) Apostolic Doctor
PRAYER – Lord God, You bestowed on St Lawrence of Brindisi the spirit of counsel and fortitude, so that Your name might be glorified and souls be saved. At the intercession of St Lawrence, grant that we may see what we have to do and, in Your mercy give us the strength to do it and the courage, love and charity to persevere. Grant above all, that by his prayers we may love You above all and with all we are. St Lawrence pray for us, amen.
“Let sleep find you holding your Bible and when you head nods let it be resting on the sacred page.”
St Jerome (343-420) One of the Original 4 Doctors
“The Holy Bible is like a mirror before our mind’s eye. In it we see our inner face. From the Scriptures we can learn our spiritual deformities and beauties. And there too we discover the progress we are making and how far we are from perfection.”
St Gregory the Great (540-604) One of the Original 4 Doctors
“The Old Testament is like a radio with its hidden voice announcing the One to come. The New Testament is like a television because the Word became both audible and visible.”
Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen
All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction and for training in righteousness,so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work……..2 Timothy 3:16-17
REFLECTION – “We therefore grossly deceive ourselves in not allotting more time to the study of divine truths. It is not enough barely to believe them and let our thoughts now and then glance upon them: that knowledge which shows us heaven, will not bring us to the possession of it and will deserve punishments, not rewards, if it remain slight, weak and superficial. By serious and frequent meditation it must be concocted, digested, and turned into the nourishment of our affections, before it can be powerful and operative enough to change them, and produce the necessary fruit in our lives. For this all the saints affected solitude and retreats from the noise and hurry of the world, as much as their circumstances allowed them.” – St. Apollinaris
PRAYER – Heavenly Father, St Apollinaris fought unto death for the law of his God. He was not afraid of the words of evil men, for he was like a house that is founded on rock. Grant that we too, may be founded on rock and be planted in good saoil to yield many fruits. St Apollinaris, please pray for us, amen.
Today is the Feast of St John Plessington, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, he was imprisoned for two months and then hung, drawn and quartered on 19 July 1679. Here are the words of the speech the saint gave before his martyrdom:
Stained glass window in St Winifrede’s Church Holywell depicting St John Plessington ministering to a kneeling woman and below with a group at his execution.
The scaffold speech of Fr John Plessington
The Scaffold Speech Page 1
The Scaffold Speech Page 2
Dear Countrymen.
I am here to be executed, neither for Theft, Murder, nor anything against the Law of God, nor any fact or Doctrine inconsistent with Monarchy or Civil Government. I suppose several now present heard my trial the last Assizes and can testify that nothing was laid to my charge but Priesthood and I am sure that you will find that Priesthood is neither against the Law of God nor Monarchy, or Civil Government. If you will consider either the Old or New Testament (for it is the Basis of Religion […], St Paul tells us in Hebrews 7:12 that the Priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change of the Law, and consequently the Priesthood being abolished, the Law and Religion is quite gone.
But I know it will be said that a Priest ordained by authority derived from the See of Rome is by the Law of Nation to die as a Traitor, but if that be so what must become of all the Clergymen or England, for the first Protestant Bishops had their Ordination from those of the Church of Rome, or none at all, as appears by their own writers, so that Ordination comes derivatively to those now living.
As in the Primitive times, Christians were esteemed Traitors and suffered as such by National Law, so are the Priests of the Roman Church here esteemed, and suffer such. But as Christianity then was not against the law of God, Monarchy or Civil Policy, so now there is not any one Point of the Roman Catholic Faith (of which Faith I am) that is inconsistent therewith, as is evident by induction in each several point.
That the Pope hath power to depose or give licence to Murder Princes is no point of our Belief. And I protest in the sight of God and the Court of Heaven that I am absolutely innocent of the Plot so much discoursed of, and abhor such bloody and damnable designs. And although it be Nine Weeks since I was sentenced to die, there is not anything of that laid to my charge, so that I may take comfort in St. Peter’s words, 1 Peter 14-16, “Let none of you suffer as a Murderer, or as a Thief, or as an Evil doer, or as a Busy Body in other men’s matters, yet if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed or Sorry”. I have deserved a worse death, for though I have been a faithful and true Subject to my King, I have been a grievous sinner against God; [others would have lived] in a greater perfection [than] I have done had they received so many favours and graces from him as I have.
But as there was never sinner who truly repented and heartily called to Jesus for mercy, to whom he did not show mercy, so I hope by the merits of His Passion, He will have mercy on me, who am heartily sorry that ever I offended him.
Bear witness, good hearers, that I profess that I undoubtedly and firmly believe all the Articles of the Roman Catholic Faith, and for the truth of any of them (by the assistance of God) I am willing to die, and I had rather die than doubt of any Point of Faith, taught by our Holy Mother the Roman Catholic Church.
In what condition Margaret Plat one of the chiefest witnesses against me was before and after she was with me, let her nearest relations declare. George Massey, another witness, swore falsely when he swore I gave him the Sacrament, and said Mass at the time and place he mentioned, and [I] verily think that he never spoke to me, or I to him, or saw each other but at the Assizes week. The third witness, Robert Wood, was suddenly killed but of the Dead why should I speak? These were all the witnesses against me, unless those that only declared what they heard from others. I heartily and freely forgive all that have been or are any way instrumental to my Death, and heartily desire that those that are living may heartily repent.
God bless the King and the Royal Family and grant his Majesty a prosperous Reign here and a crown of glory hereafter, God grant peace to the Subjects and that they live and die in true Faith, Hope, and Charity.
That which remains is that I recommend my self to the mercy of Jesus, by whose merits, I hope for mercy. O Jesus, be to me a Jesus.
FINIS
And we too, recommend ourselves to the mercy of Jesus, now and at the hour of our death, amen. St John Plessington, pray for us!
“But I know it will be said that a Priest ordained by authority derived from the See of Rome is by the Law of Nation to die as a Traitor but if that be so, what must become of all the Clergymen or England, for the first Protestant Bishops had their Ordination from those of the Church of Rome….?”
“Bear witness, good hearers, that I profess that I undoubtedly and firmly believe all the Articles of the Roman Catholic Faith and for the truth of any of them (by the assistance of God) I am willing to die and I had rather die than doubt of any Point of Faith, taught by our Holy Mother the Roman Catholic Church.”
St John Plessington Martyred because he was a Priest by Elizabeth I of England
The Lord said to the Eleven: “These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents in their hands and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover”. ..Mark 16:17-18
In the primitive Church all the signs the Lord lists here were fulfilled to the letter, not only by the apostles but many other of the saints. The Gentiles would not have abandoned the worship of idols if the gospel preaching had not been confirmed with so many signs and wonders. Indeed, did not the disciples preach “a crucified Christ, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,” according to Saint Paul’s saying? (1Cor 1,23)…
As for us, from now on signs and wonders are no longer needed: it is enough for us to read or hear an account of those that have happened. For we believe in the Gospel, we believe in the Scriptures that relate them. And yet signs still take place daily and, if we would mark them well, we would acknowledge that they have far more worth than the concrete miracles of former times:
Every day priests administer baptism and call to conversion: isn’t this to cast out demons?
Every day they speak a new language when they explain holy Scripture by replacing the old letter with the newness of its spiritual sense.
They put serpents to flight when they free sinners’ hearts from their attachment to evil with gentle exhortation…
They heal the sick when they reconcile weak souls to God with their prayers.
Such are the signs the Lord had promised his saints – it is these they accomplish even today.
Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age……Matthew 28:20
REFLECTION – “For the most holy Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ Himself, our Passover and living bread. Through His own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, He offers life to men………The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice.”…….St John Paul (Ecclesia de Eucharistia 1 &12)
PRAYER – Lord, let me live each day in joy – for You are with us to end of time. We have the joy of receiving Your Body and thus we live in You and You in us. Help us to give thanks and praise for the Holy Mass and Your saving Passion. St Bruno of Segni, your great love of the Holy Sacrament, led you to zealous efforts to spend your life in growing in others, understanding of the great Eucharistic grace we receive, please pray for us, amen.
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