QUOTES of the SAINTS – Page 47

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Quote of the Day – 11 April – “Make me feel Your passion…”

Posted on April 11, 2019April 11, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 11 April – Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent, Year C and the Memorial of St Gemma Galgani (1878–1903) “Daughter of the Passion”

Do grant, oh my God,
that when my lips
approach Yours to kiss You,
I may taste the gall that was given to You;
when my shoulders lean against Yours,
make me feel Your scourging;
when my flesh is united with Yours,
in the Holy Eucharist,
make me feel Your passion;
when my head comes near Yours,
make me feel Your thorns;
when my heart is close to Yours,
make me feel Your spear.

St Gemma Galgani

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One Minute Reflection – 11 April – So they took up stones

Posted on April 11, 2019April 10, 2019 by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 11 April – Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent, Year C, Gospel: John 8:51–59

“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am. ” So they took up stones to throw at him but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple…John 8:58-59

REFLECTION – “The angry Jews replied, “Thou art not yet fifty years old and hast thou seen Abraham?” And the Lord: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was made, I am.” Weigh the words and get a knowledge of the mystery. “Before Abraham was made.” Understand, that “was made” refers to human formation but “am” to the Divine essence. “He was made,” because Abraham was a Creature. He did not say, Before Abraham was, I was but, “Before Abraham was made,” who was not made save by me, “I am.” Nor did He say this, Before Abraham was made I was made, for “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth;” and “in the beginning was the Word.” “Before Abraham was made, I am.” Recognise the Creator-distinguish the creature. He who spoke was made the seed of Abraham and that Abraham might be made, He Himself was before Abraham.
Hence, as if by the most open of all insults thrown at Abraham, they were now excited to greater bitterness. Of a certainty it seemed to them, that Christ the Lord had uttered blasphemy in saying, “Before Abraham was made, I am.” “Therefore took they up stones to cast at Him.” To what could so great hardness have recourse, save to its like? “But Jesus” [acts] as man, as one in the form of a servant, as lowly, as about to suffer, about to die, about to redeem us with His blood, not as He who is-not as the Word in the beginning and the Word with God. For when they took up stones to cast at Him, what great thing were it had they been instantly swallowed up in the gaping earth and found the inhabitants of hell in place of stones? It were not a great thing to God but better was it that patience should be commended than power exerted. Therefore “He hid Himself” from them, that He might not be stoned. As man, He fled from the stones but woe to those from whose stony hearts God has fled?”…St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor

PRAYER – Lord God, break the bonds of our sin which our weakness have forged to enchain us and in Your loving mercy, forgive Your people’s guilt. Never flee from us in our weakness O Lord and grant us Your salvation. Help us Holy Mother to be the imitators of your Son. Through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God for all time and eternity, amen. help us holy mother ora pro nobis pray for us 11 april 2019.jpg

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Jesus Christ Prays For Us and In Us and IS the Object of Our Prayers – St Augustine

Posted on April 10, 2019April 10, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Thoughts – 10 April – Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent, Year C

Jesus Christ Prays For Us and In Us and IS the Object of Our Prayers

Saint Augustine (354-430)
Bishop and Great Western Father of the Church

An excerpt from his Commentary on the Psalms (Psalm 85)

God could give no greater gift to men than to make His Word, through whom He created all things, their head and to join them to Him as His members, so that the Word might be both Son of God and son of man, one God with the Father and one man with all men. The result is that when we speak with God in prayer we do not separate the Son from Him and when the body of the Son prays, it does not separate its head from itself, it is the one Saviour of His body, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who prays for us and in us and is Himself the object of our prayers.

He prays for us as our priest, He prays in us as our head, He is the object of our prayers as our God.

Let us then recognise both our voice in His and His voice in ours. When something is said, especially in prophecy, about the Lord Jesus Christ that seems to belong to a condition of lowliness unworthy of God, we must not hesitate to ascribe this condition to one who did not hesitate to unite Himself with us. Every creature is His servant, for it was through Him that every creature came to be.

We contemplate His glory and divinity when we listen to these words: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made. Here we gaze on the divinity of the Son of God, something supremely great and surpassing all the greatness of His creatures. Yet in other parts of Scripture we hear Him as one sighing, praying, giving praise and thanks.

We hesitate to attribute these words to Him because our minds are slow to come down to His humble level when we have just been contemplating Him in His divinity. It is as though we were doing Him an injustice, in acknowledging in a man the words of one, with whom we spoke, when we prayed to God; we are usually at a loss and try to change the meaning. Yet our minds find nothing in Scripture that does not go back to Him, nothing that will allow us to stray from Him.

Our thoughts must then be awakened to keep their vigil of faith. We must realise that the one whom we were contemplating, a short time before, in his nature as God took to Himself the nature of a servant, He was made in the likeness of men and found to be a man like others, He humbled Himself by being obedient even to accepting death, as He hung on the cross He made the psalmist’s words His own: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

We pray to Him as God, He prays for us as a servant. In the first case, He is the Creator, in the second a creature. Himself unchanged, He took to Himself our created nature in order to change it and made us one man, with Himself, head and body. We pray then to Him, through Him, in Him and we speak along with Him and He along with us. we pray then to him and in him and with him 10 april 2019 st augustine lenten thoughts.jpg

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Quote of the Day – 10 April – “…though we may be punished”

Posted on April 10, 2019April 10, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 10 April – Wednesday of the Fifth week of Lent, Year C

“It is the greatest punishment to commit sin,
though we may remain unpunished –
it is the greatest honour and repose to live virtuously,
though we may be punished.”

St John Chrysostom (345-407)
Father & Doctor of the Church

(Homilies Concerning the Statues, 6)

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Lenten Reflection – 10 April – Do as Abraham did

Posted on April 10, 2019April 10, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 10 April – Wednesday of the Fifth week of Lent, Year C

The Readings:
Deuteronomy 3:14-20, 91-92, 95; Daniel 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56; John 8:31-42

Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do as Abraham did but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God, this is not what Abraham did....John 8:39-40 john 8 39-40 if you were abrahams children - wedfifthweeklent 10 april 2019.jpg

Do as Abraham did

St John Chrysostom (345-407)
Doctor of the Church

Looking wholly to God’s promise and setting aside all human ways of looking at things, knowing God to be capable of accomplishments beyond nature to achieve, Abraham put his trust in the words addressed to him, he let no shadow of doubt cross his mind and did not waver as to the meaning he should give God’s words. For, it is in the nature of faith to put its trust in the power of the one who promises… God had promised Abraham that a posterity without number would be born of him. This promise exceeded the possibilities of nature and all purely human forms of perception and that is why his faith towards God “was credited him as righteousness” (Gn 15:6; Gal 3:6).

Well then, if we are on the watch, yet more wonderful promises have been made to us and we will be satisfied to an even greater extent, than human thought can dream. And for this we have only to put our trust in the power of Him who has made these promises to us, so as to merit the righteousness, that comes from faith and obtain the promised reward. For all those good things we are hoping for, far exceed all human conception and thought, so exceedingly wonderful is what we have been promised!

Indeed, these promises do not concern only the present, the flourishing of our lives and the enjoyment of visible goods but they are even more, about the time, when we have left this earth, when our bodies have become subject to corruption, when our remains have been reduced to dust. God promises us, that He will then raise them up and establish them in glorious splendour, “for that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility,” Saint Paul assures us (1Cor 15:53). More than this, after the resurrection of our bodies, we have received the promise, of enjoying the Kingdom and of obtaining, throughout endless ages, in the company of the saints, those ineffable goods that “eye has not seen and ear has not heard nor has it not entered the human heart” (1Cor 2:9). Do you grasp the superabundance of the promises? Do you grasp the greatness of these gifts?

Daily Meditation:
Enlighten our minds and sanctify our hearts.
In our reflection, Jesus is about to face a fiery furnace,
which represents the full rejection of all our sins,
and the crushing defeat of death itself.
Praying the Stations again,
might help us grow in a sense that this is all “for me,” for my freedom.

We grow in a sense of repentance and deep sorrow.
We grow in a desire to celebrate
the glorious Light in the midst of all darkness.

Rid yourself of all your sins
and make a new heart and a new spirit.
Gospel antiphon, based upon Ezekiel 18:31

Closing Prayer:
Loving Creator,
I know in Your great love for me,
You see the deep sorrow in my heart.
Hear my prayers which are offered with such trust in You.

Be with me in both mind and heart
as I renew my life in Your spirit.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen

DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2019, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION, The RESURRECTION, The SIGN of the CROSS

The Cross of Christ is the source of all blessings, the cause of all graces – St Pope Leo the Great

Posted on April 9, 2019April 9, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Thoughts – 9 April – Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent, Year C

The Cross of Christ

is the source of all blessings,

the cause of all graces

St Pope Leo the Great (c 400-461)
Bishop of Rome and Great Western Father & Doctor of the Church

An excerpt from his On the Lord’s Passion

Sermon 8

Our understanding, which is enlightened by the Spirit of truth, should receive with purity and freedom of heart the glory of the Cross as it shines in heaven and on earth. It should see with inner vision the meaning of the Lord’s words when He spoke of the imminence of His passion – The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Afterwards, He said – Now my soul is troubled and what am I to say? Father, save me from this hour. But it was for this that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your Son. When the voice of the Father came from heaven, saying, I have glorified him and will glorify him again, Jesus said in reply to those around him: It was not for me that this voice spoke but for you. Now is the judgement of the world, now will the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself.

How marvellous the power of the Cross, how great beyond all telling the glory of the passion, here is the judgement-seat of the Lord, the condemnation of the world, the supremacy of Christ crucified.

Lord, you drew all things to Yourself so that the devotion of all peoples everywhere might celebrate, in a sacrament made perfect and visible, what was carried out in the one temple of Judea under obscure foreshadowings.

Now there is a more distinguished order of Levites, a greater dignity for the rank of elders, a more sacred anointing for the priesthood, because Your Cross is the source of all blessings, the cause of all graces. Through the Cross the faithful receive strength from weakness, glory from dishonour, life from death.

The different sacrifices of animals are no more – the one offering of Your body and blood is the fulfilment of all the different sacrificial offerings, for You are the true Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world. In Yourself, You bring to perfection all mysteries, so that, as there is one sacrifice in place of all other sacrificial offerings, there is also one kingdom gathered from all peoples.

Dearly beloved, let us then acknowledge what Saint Paul, the teacher of the nations, acknowledged so exultantly. This is a saying worthy of trust, worthy of complete acceptance – Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. God’s compassion for us is all the more wonderful because Christ died, not for the righteous or the holy but for the wicked and the sinful and, though the divine nature could not be touched by the sting of death, He took to Himself, through His birth as one of us, something He could offer on our behalf.

The power of His death once confronted our death. In the words of Hosea the prophet, Death, I shall be your death; grave, I shall swallow you up. By dying He submitted to the laws of the underworld, by rising again, He destroyed them. He did away with the everlasting character of death, so as to make death a thing of time, not of eternity. As all die in Adam, so all, will be brought to life in Christ.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever.
Amen he did away with the everlasting character of deth - st pope leo the great 9 april 2019.jpg

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Quote/s of the Day – 9 April – “Speaking of the Cross of Christ”

Posted on April 9, 2019April 9, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 9 April – Tuesday of the Fifth week of Lent

“Speaking of the Cross of Christ”

“Jesus never sinned, yet He was crucified for you.
Will you refuse to be crucified for Him, who for your sake was nailed to the cross?
You are not the one who gives the favour, you have received one first.
For your sake He was crucified on Golgotha.
Now you are returning His favour, you are fulfilling your debt to Him.”

St Cyril of Jerusalem (315-387)

Father & Doctor of the Church

“By Baptism we are made flesh of the Crucified.”

“The cross of Christ is the true ground
and chief cause of Christian hope.”

“Let no one be ashamed of the cross
by which Christ has redeemed the world.
None of us must be afraid to suffer
for the sake of justice or doubt the
fulfilment of the promises,
for it is through toil that we come to rest
and through death that we pass to life.”

St Pope Leo the Great (c 400-461) Doctor of the Church

“O Blessed Cross,
You are venerated, preached
and honoured by the faith of the Patriarchs,
the predictions of the Prophets,
the senate that judges the Apostles,
the victorious army of Martyrs
and the throngs of all the Saints”
(Sermo XLVII, 14, p. 304)

St Peter Damian (1007-1072) Doctor of the Church

“This is that enviable and blessed cross of Christ . . .
the cross in which alone we must make our boast,
as Paul, God’s chosen instrument, has told us.”

St Raymond of Peñafort (1175-1275)
“Father of Canon Law”

this-is-that-enviable-st-raymond-of-penafort-7 jan 2019.jpg

“And if He gave His life for us,
then it should not be difficult
to bear whatever hardships arise for His sake.
If you seek patience,
you will find no better example than the cross.
Christ endured much on the cross and did so patiently,
because “when he suffered he did not threaten,
he was led like a sheep to the slaughter
and he did not open his mouth.”

St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

“The Cross is God’s chair in the world.”

St Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)

FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2019, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 9 April – “You will know that I Am He”

Posted on April 9, 2019April 9, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 9 April – Tuesday of the Fifth week of Lent, First Reading: Numbers 21:4-9, Gospel: John 8:21–30

The Readings:
Numbers 21:4-9; Psalms 102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21; John 8:21-30

“Accordingly Moses made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole and whenever the serpent bit someone, the person looked at the bronze serpent and recovered.”…Numbers 21:9

St Justin Martyr (100-165) Father of the Church and Martyr
comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

“Tell me, did not God, through Moses, forbid the making of an image or likeness of anything in the heavens or on earth? Yet didn’t He Himself have Moses construct the brazen serpent in the desert? Moses set it up as a sign by which those who had been bitten by the serpents were healed. In doing so, was Moses not free of any sin? By this, as I stated above, God through Moses announced a mystery by which He proclaimed that He would break the power of the serpent, who prompted the sin of Adam. He promises that He would deliver from the bites of the serpent (that is, evil actions, idolatries and other sins) all those who believe in Him who was to be put to death by this sign, namely, the Cross.”

(Dialogue with Trypho, 94)

“When you have lifted up the Son of man,
then you will know that I Am He…”… John 8:28

Daily Meditation:
Enlighten our minds and sanctify our hearts.
In our reflection, Jesus is about to face a fiery furnace,
which represents the full onslaught of all our sins
and the crushing defeat of death itself.
Praying the Stations again,
might help us grow in a sense
that this is all “for me,” for my freedom.

We grow in a sense of repentance and deep sorrow.
We grow in a desire to celebrate
the glorious Light in the midst of all darkness.

Rid yourself of all your sins
and make a new heart and a new spirit.
Gospel antiphon, based upon Ezekiel 18:31

Closing Prayer:
Loving God,
You have heard my complaints, my impatience.
Sometimes I become frightened when I move away from You.
Guide my heart back to You.
Help me to think beyond my own wants
and to desire only to do You will.

Thank You for the many blessings in my life
and for the ways I feel Your presence.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen. john 8 28 when yu have lifted up the son of man - tuesdayfifthweeklent 9 april 2019.jpg

QUOTES of the SAINTS, SAINT of the DAY, The WORD

Quote of the Day – 8 April – “How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, God of hosts.”

Posted on April 8, 2019April 8, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 8 April – Monday of the Fifth week of Lent, Year C and the Memorial of Blessed Augustus Czartoryski SDB (1858-1893)

“How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, God of hosts. My soul is longing and yearning, is yearning for the courts of the Lord…. One day within your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere” …Psalm 84[83]: 2, 11

“Blessed Augusto Czartoryski wrote these words of the Psalm, his motto of life, on the holy card of his first Mass. In them is contained the rapture of a man who, following the voice of the call, discovers the beauty of the ministerial priesthood. In them resounds the echo of the different choices that the person who is discerning God’s will and wishes to fulfil it must make. Augustus Czartoryski, a young prince, carefully prepared an effective method to discern the divine plan. In prayer, he presented to God all questions and deep perplexities and then in the spirit of obedience he followed the counsel given by his spiritual guides. In this way he came to understand his vocation and to take up the life of poverty to serve the “least”. The same method enabled him throughout the course of his life to make decisions, so that today we can say that he accomplished the designs of Divine Providence in a heroic way. I would like to leave this example of holiness especially to young people, who today search out the way to decipher God’s will relating to their own lives and desire to faithfully forge ahead each day according to the divine word. My dear young friends, learn from Blessed Augustus to ask ardently in prayer for the light of the Holy Spirit and wise guides, so that you may understand the divine plan in your lives and are able to walk constantly on the path of holiness.”…St Pope John Paul on the Beatification of Blessed Augustus on Sunday, 25 April 2004

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One Minute Reflection – 8 April – “I am the Light of the world”

Posted on April 8, 2019April 8, 2019 by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 8 April – Monday of the Fifth week of Lent, Year C, Gospel: John 8:12–20

“I am the light of the world, he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”...John 8:12

REFLECTION – “It would seem to me that the Lord’s words: “I am the light of the world” are clear enough for those with eyes that enable them to have a share in that light. But those who only have bodily eyes are astonished to hear it said by our Lord Jesus Christ – “I am the light of the world.” There may even be those who say: “Would Christ be the sun that determines the day by its rising and setting?”… No, Christ is not that. The Lord is not the created sun but Him by whom the sun was created. For “all things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be” (Jn 1:3). Therefore, He is the light who created the light we see. Let us love this light, understand it, desire it, that led by it we may in due course attain it and may live in it so as never to die…

So you see, my brethren, you see, if you have eyes that see spiritual things, what kind of light this is of which the Lord says: “Whoever follows me does not walk in darkness.” Follow that sun and let us see whether or not you walk in darkness. Behold how He arises and comes towards you. Following His course He makes His way westwards but you on your part, must walk towards the rising sun, the Christ.”…St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor of the Church

PRAYER – Lord God, Your abounding grace has enriched us with every blessing. Transform us from our sinful condition to newness of life and prepare us for the glory of Your kingdom. Open our eyes to see by the light of Your Son, who always walks with us. Let us lift our eyes to Him, for even now He is preparing for us a place, in His Father’s house .Listen, we pray, to the prayers of all the angels and saints, who petition on our behalf and may our Mother Mary, keep ever close to our path. Through Christ, our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for always and forever, amen. mater misericordiae mother of merct pray for us 8 april 2019.jpg

DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2019, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION, The RESURRECTION

Lenten Thoughts – 7 April – “If you wish to arrive at the second part, do not despise the first”

Posted on April 7, 2019April 7, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Thoughts – 7 April – The Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year C

“Great thing is the knowledge of the crucified Christ. How many things are enclosed inside this treasure! Christ crucified! Such is the hidden treasure of wisdom and science. Do not be deceived, then, under the pretext of wisdom. Gather before the covering and pray that it may be uncovered. Foolish philosopher of this world, what you are looking for is worthless… What is the advantage of being thirsty, if you despise the source? … And what is His precept but that we believe in Him and love each other? In whom? In Christ crucified. This is His commandment – that we believe in Christ crucified … But where humility is, there is also majesty, where weakness is, there shall one find power, where death is, there shall be life as well. If you wish to arrive at the second part, do not despise the first”

St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor
(Sermon 160, 3-4)

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Quote of the Day – 7 April – “Be driven by the love of God”

Posted on April 7, 2019April 7, 2021 by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 7 April – The Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year C, Gospel: John 8:1–11 and the Memorial of St John Baptiste de La Salle (1651-1719)

“Be driven by the love of God
because Jesus Christ died for all,
that those who live.
may live not for themselves but for Him,
who died and rose for them.
Above all, let your charity and zeal
show how you love the Church.
Your work is for the Church,
which is the body of Christ.”

St John Baptist de La Salle

more quotes by St John Baptiste here: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/04/07/quote-s-of-the-day-7-april-easter-saturday-and-the-memorial-of-st-john-baptiste-de-la-salle-1651-1719/

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Lenten Thoughts – 6 April – THE BELOVED CROSSES

Posted on April 6, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Thoughts – 6 April – Saturday of the Fourth week of Lent, Year C

THE BELOVED CROSSES
“Not for a day, not for a week, not for a year but all our lives.”
St John Vianney (1786-1859)

The saints, my dear brethren, all loved the Cross and found in it their strength and their consolation.

But, you will say to me, is it necessary, then, always to have something to suffer? …. Now sickness or poverty, or again scandal or calumny, or possibly loss of money or an infirmity?

Have you been calumniated, my friends? Have you been loaded with insults? Have you been wronged? So much the better! That is a good sign, do not worry, you are on the road that leads to Heaven. Do you know when you ought to be really upset? I do not know if you understand it but it should be precisely for the opposite reason — when you have nothing to endure, when everyone esteems and respects you. Then you should feel envious of those who have the happiness of passing their lives in suffering, or contempt, or poverty.

Are you forgetting, then, that at your Baptism you accepted the Cross, which you must never abandon until death and that it is the key that you will use to open the door of Heaven? Are you forgetting the words of our Saviour: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Not for a day, not for a week, not for a year but all our lives. The saints had a great fear of passing any time without suffering, for they looked upon it as time lost.

According to St Teresa, man is only in this world to suffer and when he ceases to suffer, he should cease to live. St John of the Cross asks God, with tears, to give him the grace to suffer more as a reward for all his labours.

What should we conclude, my dear children, from all that?

Just this – Let us make a resolution to have a great respect for all the crosses, which are blessed and which represent to us in a small way all that our God Suffered for us. Let us recall that from the Cross flow all the graces that are bestowed upon us and that as a consequence, a cross which is blessed is a source of blessings, that we should often make the Sign of the Cross on ourselves and always with great respect and, finally, that our houses should never remain without this symbol of salvation.

“Everything is a reminder of the Cross.
We ourselves are made in the shape of a cross.”

Fill your children, my dear brethren, with the greatest respect for the Cross and always have a blessed cross on yourselves, it will protect you against the Devil, from the vengeance of Heaven and from all danger. This is what I desire for you. everything is a reminder of the cross - st jon vianney 2018.jpg

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Quote of the Day – 6 April – Do not be dismayed

Posted on April 6, 2019April 6, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 6 April – Saturday of the Fourth week of Lent, Year C and the Memorial of Blessed Zefirino Agostini (1813-1896)

“Do not be dismayed by toil or suffering,
nor by the meagre fruit of your labours.
Remember that God rewards,
not according to results but effort.”

Blessed Zefirino, 1874

CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2019, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on FAITH, The RESURRECTION, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 6 April – “No one laid hands on him” Origen

Posted on April 6, 2019November 10, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 6 April – Saturday of the Fourth week of Lent, Year C

The Readings: Jeremiah 11:18-20; Psalm 7:2-3,9BC-10, 11-12; John 7:40-53

Daily Meditation:
Apart from You we can do nothing.

The conflict around Jesus grows.
And all the while, we are turning to God for mercy.
What Jesus went through is for me,
that I might have mercy and the gift of everlasting life.

We call upon the Lord for help, for strength, for trust.

My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
Psalm 7:10 john 7 44 and 7 41 - satfourthweeklent 6 april 2019.jpg

“No one laid hands on him”...John 7:44

Origen (c 185-253)
Father, Priest and Theologian

In Christ we encounter such human characteristics that they have nothing to distinguish them from the weakness common to us mortals. At the same time, we encounter characteristics so divine, that they can only be appropriate to the sovereign and ineffable divine nature. Too small to comprehend this, the human mind is so dumbfounded, that it does not know what to take its stand on, nor which path to follow. Is it aware of God in Christ? Yet it sees Him die. Does it take Him to be a man? But see Him coming back from the dead with the prize of His victory, having destroyed the reign of death. In the same way our contemplation needs to be practised with such reverence and fear that, in the same Jesus, it considers the truth of the two natures, avoiding attributing to the divine essence those things that are nor worthy of it or do not belong to it but also avoiding seeing only an illusory appearance in historical events.

In truth, causing such things as these to be heard by human ears, trying to express them in words considerably surpasses our ability, talent and language. I even think it surpasses the capability of the apostles. More still, the explanation of this mystery probably transcends the entire order of angelic powers.

but see him coming back from the dead - 6 april 2019 - origen.jpg

Closing Prayer:
Lord,
what You ask of my life seems so right.
It is how I want to live,
following Your Son, Jesus, so closely.
And yet I fail so often to stay on that path.
I cannot do it alone, loving Lord.
I need Your help and guidance.
I need to remember Your love for me
and I want to remember
how very much I need You in my life.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen

DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2019, LENTEN THOUGHTS, POETRY, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on REPENTANCE

Lenten Thoughts – 5 April ‘ But You God”

Posted on April 5, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Thoughts – 5 April – Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C

And now, my heavy laden soul,
what will you do?
You call with your lips and voice to
God most high,
God, who cares only for deeds and
is not taken in by words.
You, my soul, with a heart always turned toward Egypt,
how can I describe you?

Am I
a Sodom, to be punished likewise with destruction,
or the prosecutor of Ninevah, who was struck dumb?

Am I
more cowardly and barbarous than the
queen of the south,
lower than Canaan,
more stubborn than Amalek,
incurable as the city of idols,
a relic left behind from the rebellion of Israel,
a reminder of the broken covenant of Judah,
more reproachable than Tyre,
more shunned than Zidon,
more immoral than Galilee,
more unpardonable than faithless Capernaum,
maligned like Korazin,
slandered like Bethsaida?

Or am I
immodest as Ephraim as he prayed,
or a dove, whose gentleness seems due to
feeblemindedness and not to inner calm,
or an evil serpent born of lion’s cubs,
or the serpent’s egg filled with decay,
or like the last blow against Jerusalem?

Or am I
in the words of our Lord
and the sayings of the prophets,
an abandoned tabernacle about to collapse,
the unlatched doors of the stronghold,
my speaking edifice stained again,
having given up my rightful inheritance,
my home built by God,
as Moses, David and Jeremiah prophesied?
My thinking body now consumed by disease,
afflicted with carping counsel, rehabilitated by the law,
anointed with the clay of mildness,
incapable of finding my own salvation,
torn away from the maker’s hand,
expelled as just punishment
by order of the Almighty, to an unholy place,
rejected, exiled, greatly shunned, nothing spared,
having buried my gift in the ground,
like the one chastised in the Gospel by
losing his inheritance.

But You, God,
Lord of souls and all flesh,
in the words of one divinely graced,
You are long-suffering and abounding in mercy.
In the voice of blessed Jonah,
grant that I finish to Your delight
this book of prayers, now begun.
And having sown these words with tears
and set forth on this journey toward the dwellings You have prepared,
may I return joyfully in the time of harvest
with the bounty of atonement,
with sheaves of goodness and the fruits of delight.

St Gregory of Narek (950-1003) – Fathe & Doctor of the Church

“If you elevate yourself,
God distances Himself from you.
If you humble yourself,
He leans towards you.”

St Augustine (354-430)

DOMINICAN OP, LENT 2019, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on LOVE, SAINT of the DAY

Quote of the Day – 5 April – “Humility”

Posted on April 5, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 5 April – Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C and the Memorial of St Vincent Ferrer OP (1350-1419)

“Once humility is acquired,
charity will come to life,
like a burning flame,
devouring the corruption of vice
and filling the heart so full,
that there is no place for vanity.”…

St Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419)

DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, LENT 2019, PAPAL ENCYLICALS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 5 April – “Love…more powerful than sin.”

Posted on April 5, 2019April 5, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 5 April – Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C

The Readings:
Wisdom 2:1A, 12-22; Psalm 34:17-18, 19-20, 21 and 23; John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

St Pope John Paul (1920-2005)

Encyclical « Dives in Misericordia » # 8

“You know me and you know where I come from?
But I have not come of my own accord;
he who sent me is true and him you do not know.”…John 7:28

The Paschal Mystery is Christ at the summit of the revelation of the inscrutable mystery of God. It is precisely then that the words pronounced in the Upper Room are completely fulfilled: “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9). In fact, Christ, whom the Father “did not spare” (Rm 8:32) for the sake of man and who in His passion and in the torment of the cross did not obtain human mercy, has revealed in His resurrection, the fullness of the love that the Father has for Him and, in Him, for all people. “He is not God of the dead, but of the living” (Mk 12:27).

In His resurrection Christ has revealed the God of merciful love, precisely because He accepted the cross as the way to the resurrection. And, it is for this reason, that, when we recall the cross of Christ, His passion and death, our faith and hope are centred on the Risen One – on that Christ who “on the evening of that day, the first day of the week, . . .stood among them” in the upper Room, “where the disciples were, …breathed on them, and said to them: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’ ” (Jn 20:19).

Here is the Son of God, who in His resurrection, experienced in a radical way, mercy shown to Himself, that is to say the love of the Father which is more powerful than death. And it is also the same Christ, the Son of God, who… reveals Himself as the inexhaustible source of mercy, of the same love… more powerful than sin.

Daily Meditation:
May we reach out with joy to grasp Your hand.

We keep acknowledging that God is the source of our life.
We realise that we have been seeking other sources of life.
We recognise our weakness and turn to God for help.
Though our hearts are being opened up to their depths,
though we cry out to God for help, we are not discouraged.

The Lord is near to broken hearts.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted,
and saves the crushed in spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
Psalm 34:18-19

Closing Prayer:
Loving God of forgiveness,
I come before You humbled and sad
in the face of my own repeated failings.
I hold out my hands as a petitioner would,
asking for mercy.
It is then that I feel You reach out and take my hand
in Your loving grasp.
Thank You for the love You pour out on me so lavishly.
Help me to follow more closely
in the path You have set for me,
the path of Your Son.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen john 7 28 you know me - fridayfourtheweeklent 5 april 2019

LENT 2019, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on HELL, QUOTES on HYPOCRISY, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 4 April – Fertile excuses and evasions

Posted on April 4, 2019April 4, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 4 April – Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C

The Readings:
Exodus 32:7-14; Psalms 106:19-20, 21-22, 23; John 5:31-47

“…you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe him whom he has sent.”...John 5:38 THURSDAYFOURTHERWEEKLENT - 4 APRIL 2018 JOHN 5 38.jpg

Fertile excuses and evasions
Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Next I observe that a civilised age is more exposed to subtle sins than a rude age. Why? For this simple reason- because it is more fertile in excuses and evasions. It can defend error and hence, can blind the eyes of those who have not very careful consciences. It can make error plausible, it can make vice look like virtue. It dignifies sin by fine names; it calls avarice proper care of one’s family, or industry, it calls pride independence, it calls ambition greatness of mind; resentment it calls proper spirit and sense of honour and so on.

…What all of us want more than anything else, what this age wants, is that its intellect and its will should be under a law. At present it is lawless, its will is its own law, its own reason is the standard of all truth . It does not bow to authority, it does not submit to the law of faith. It is wise in its own eyes and it relies on its own resources. And you, as living in the world, are in danger of being seduced by it and being a partner in its sin and so coming in, at the end, for its punishment. this-age-dignifies-sin-bljhnewman 10 march 2017.jpg

Daily Meditation:
Lead us to the joy of Easter.
We are still aware of our patterns.
We still are realigning our priorities.
We are still trying to simplify
and trying to eat in solidarity with others.
Most of all, we are still asking for a change of heart.

They made a calf in Horeb
and worshipped a molten image.
They exchanged the glory of God
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
Psalm 106:19-20

Closing Prayer:
Merciful Father, Loving Mother,
I know that the tiny sacrifices I make this Lent
can never serve as a real penance in my life.
But help me to make my whole life
one of following Your Son.
Listening to Him, seeking Him.
I am filled with Your love.
Let Your love shine out from within me
and guide my life in this sacred journey
toward the Easter joy You offer me.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen

LENT 2019, MORNING Prayers, QUOTES of the SAINTS, SAINT of the DAY, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 4 April – “A veil hid Him from their eyes”

Posted on April 4, 2019April 4, 2019 by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 4 April – Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C, Gospel: John 5:31–47 and the Memorial of St Isidore (c 560-636) Father & Doctor of the Church

“If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me.”…John 5:46

REFLECTION – “Moses face had become radiant while he conversed with the Lord. Aaron and the other Israelites saw (it)… and were afraid to come near him… When Moses had finished speaking with them, he would again put the veil over his face” (cf. Ex 34:29f.). The radiance lighting up Moses’ face was Christ shining within him but He was hidden from the eyes of the Hebrews who did not see him… The Old Testament as a whole is shown to us, veiled like Moses, the symbol of all prophecy. Underneath this veil, displayed by the lips of the prophets, Christ appears, a judge in majesty, seated on his throne of glory…

If Moses was veiled, what other prophet could have uncovered his face? All veiled their speech in imitation of him. They simultaneously heralded and veiled, they put forth their message and, at the same time, covered it with a veil… Because Jesus shone out in their books, a veil hid Him from their eyes, a veil that makes known to all the world how the words of Holy Scripture contain a hidden meaning…

Our Lord lifted this veil when He expounded His mysteries to the whole of creation. By His coming, the Son of God uncovered Moses’ face, the incomprehensible words, that up to then had been veiled. The new covenant has come to interpret the old, now, at last, the world is able to grasp those words that nothing covers any longer. The Lord, our Sun, has arisen over the world and illumined every living being, mysteries and enigmas are at last made clear. The veil that used to cover those books has been removed and the world beholds the Son of God with uncovered face.”…St Jacob of Sarug (c 451-521) Syrian Bishop and Monk

PRAYER – Father almighty, grant us Your good grace to trust completely in the Word made Flesh whom You sent to lead us to our heavenly home and save us from our evil ways. As we proceed by penance and prayer, grant us now perseverance in listening to Him and learning from Him. May the prayers of St Isidore, assist us on our journey. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God with You, now and forever, amen.

LENT 2019, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS

Our Morning Offering – 4 April – The Promise

Posted on April 4, 2019April 3, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 4 April – Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C

The Promise
Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

And lastly, O my dear Lord,
though I am so very weak
that I am not fit to ask You
for suffering as a gift
and have not strength to do so,
at least I will beg of You,
grace to meet suffering well,
when You, in Your love and wisdom,
brings it upon me,
knowing that in this way,
I shall gain the promise,
both of this life and of the next.
Amen the promise - bl john henry newman 4 april 2019.jpg

CATHOLIC DEVOTIONS of the Month, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES of the SAINTS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS

April Devotion – The Blessed Sacrament

Posted on April 3, 2019April 3, 2019 by AnaStpaul

April Devotion – The Blessed Sacrament

Other Christians, most notably the Eastern Orthodox, some Anglicans and some Lutherans, believe in the Real Presence, that is, they believe, as we Catholics do, that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ in the sacrament of the altar (though only Catholics define this change as transubstantiation).

However, only the Catholic Church has developed the practice of Eucharistic adoration. Every Catholic Church contains a Tabernacle in which the Body of Christ is reserved between Masses and the faithful are encouraged to come and pray before the Blessed Sacrament. Frequent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament is a path to spiritual growth. april-devotion

Eucharistic Adoration
The practice of Eucharistic adoration on earth not only brings us grace but prepares us for our life in Heaven. As Ven Pope Pius XII wrote in Mediator Dei (1947):

“These exercises of piety have brought a wonderful increase in faith and supernatural life to the Church militant upon earth and they are reechoed to a certain extent by the Church triumphant in heaven which sings continually a hymn of praise to God and to the Lamb “who was slain.”

This month, why not make a special effort to spend some time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament? It doesn’t need to be long or elaborate – You can start simply by making the Sign of the Cross and uttering a short profession of faith, such as “My Lord and my God!” as you pass a Catholic church. If you have the time to stop for five minutes, all the better.

“A thousand years of enjoying human glory is not worth even an hour spent
in sweetly communing with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”

“When you want to find me, come near the tabernacle.”

St Pio of Pietrelcina “Padre Pio” (1887-1968)

DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, LENT 2019, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on SANCTITY, Thomas a Kempis

Lenten Thoughts – 3 April – O Fountain of Everlasting Love

Posted on April 3, 2019April 3, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Thoughts – 3 April – Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Imitation of Christ, by Thomas á Kempis (1380-1471): Book 3, Chapter 10

That it is sweet to despise the world and to serve God.

Now, will I speak again, O Lord and will not be silent, I will say in the hearing of my God and my King Who is on high: Oh, how great is the abundance of Your sweetness, O Lord, which You have hidden for those that fear You!

But what are You, for those who love You? What, to those who serve You with their whole heart? Unspeakable indeed, is the sweetness of Your contemplation, which You bestow on those who love You. In this most of all, have You shown me the sweetness of Your love, that when I had no being, You did make me and when I was straying far from You, You brought me back again, that I might serve You and You have commanded me to serve You.

O Fountain of everlasting love, what shall I say of You? How can I forget You, Who have vouchsafed to remember me even after I was corrupted and lost?

Beyond all hope, You show mercy to Your servant and beyond all desert, have You manifested Your grace and friendship. What return shall I make to You for this favour? For it is granted to all who forsake these things, to renounce the world and to assume the monastic life . Is it much that I should serve You, Whom the whole creation is bound to serve? It ought not to seem much to me to serve You but this does rather appear great and wonderful to me, that You vouchsafe to receive one so wretched and unworthy as Your servant. It is a great honour, a great glory, to serve You and to despise all things for You for they who willingly subject themselves to Your holy service, shall have great grace. They shall experience the most sweet consolation of the Holy Spirit, Who for the love of You, have cast aside all carnal delight. o fountain of everlasting love - thomas a kempis 3 april 2019.jpg

QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on SACRIFICE, SAINT of the DAY

Quote of the Day – 3 April – I am unable to live a mere earthly life!

Posted on April 3, 2019April 3, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 3 April – Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C and the Memorial of Blessed Maria Teresa Casini (1864–1937)

“I feel within my soul an impulse
which spurs me onto God.
I am unable to live a mere earthly life!…
I must raise myself above all worldly things
in order to live for God alone,
to sacrifice myself for priests
and to console the Pierced Heart of Jesus.
Thus fulfilling His desire of love
toward me and toward souls.”

Blessed Maria Teresa Casini (1864–1937)

DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2019, QUOTES of the SAINTS, The LAMB of GOD, The LAST THINGS, The PASSION, The RESURRECTION

Lenten Reflection – 3 April – “The dead will hear his voice”

Posted on April 3, 2019April 3, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 3 April – Wednesday of the Fourth week of Lent, Year C

The Readings:
Isaiah 49:8-15; Psalms 145:8-9, 13CD-14, 17-18; John 5:17-30

Do not marvel at this for the hour is coming, when all who are in the tombs, will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgement.…John 5:28-29 wed of the fourth week lent - john 528-29 3 april 2019.jpg

Daily Meditation:
Grant us Your forgiveness.

We know that this whole journey is about our reconciliation.
We know that God wants to forgive us.
We know we are preparing to renew our Baptismal promises,
and “refuse to be mastered by sin.”
Today we hear the invitation and ask more earnestly.

In the marvellous discourse that follows His sign of healing,
Jesus says, “I am not seeking my own will but the will of him who sent me.”
I am filled with a sense of sorrow and gratitude,
as I see what He did for me.

I tell you for certain that everyone who hears my message
and has faith in the one who sent me has eternal life
and will never be condemned.
They have already gone from death to life.
John 5:24

“The dead will hear his voice” – “Lazarus, come forth” (Jn 11:43)

Saint Peter Chrysologus (400-450) Father & Doctor of the Church

Our Lord had raised Jairus’s daughter but while the body was still warm and death was only halfway through its work (Mt 9:18f.)… He also raised the widow’s only son but by halting the stretcher and forestalling the tomb… before the dead man had fallen completely under the law of death (Lk 7:11f.). But the whole event that takes place with regard to Lazarus is unique.. Lazarus, in whom all death’s power had been completed and in whom, equally, a complete image of the resurrection shone out… Christ, indeed, returned as Lord on the third day; Lazarus, as servant, was called back to life on the fourth day…

The Lord said and repeated to His disciples: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified” (Mt 20:18f.). And when He said this, He saw them growing uncertain, sad, comfortless. He knew they had to be crushed by the weight of His Passion until nothing of their own life, their own faith, their own light would remain within them but, to the contrary, their hearts would be darkened with the almost total darkness of their lack of faith. That is the reason why He let Lazarus’s death continue for four days… From this follows what our Lord said to His disciples: “Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe” (vv.14-15). Therefore Lazarus’s death was necessary so that the disciples’ faith might rise from the tomb along with Lazarus.

“That I was not there.” Now was there anywhere where Christ was not?… My brethren, Christ as God was there but Christ the man was not. Christ God was there when Lazarus was dying but now Christ man was going to the dead man because Christ our Lord was going enter into death: “It is there, in death, in the tomb, in hell, that all the power of death is to be crushed through me and my death.”

Closing Prayer:
Loving and merciful God,
I am so aware of my sins and weaknesses.
But as painfully aware of my faults as I am,
Let me also remember Your tender love,
Your gentle and limitless forgiveness.
I come before You filled with pain and guilt
but look into Your eyes and see the forgiving love of my Father,
I so long for in my life.
Help me to forgive the same way.
Teach me to love as You love.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.

EUCHARISTIC Adoration, QUOTES of the SAINTS, SAINT of the DAY, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS

Saint of the Day – 3 April – Blessed Maria Teresa Casini (1864–1937)

Posted on April 3, 2019April 2, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Saint of the Day – 3 April – Blessed Maria Teresa Casini (1864–1937) – Religious Sister and Founder of the Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Priests known as Little Friends of Jesus , Apostle of Eucharistic Adoration, of Prayer especially for priests. Also known as Sister Maria Serafina of the Heart of Jesus Pierced and Mother Maria Teresa. Additional Memorial – 29 October (Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, diocese of Frascati, Italy, based on the date of her baptism). Born on 27 October 1864 in Frascati, Italy and died around 5am on 3 April 1937 at Oblate monastery on the via del Casaletto in Grottaferrata, Rome, Italy of natural causes, aged 72.

Maria Teresa Casini was born on 27 October 1864 to Tommaso Casini and Melania Rayner as their first born daughter, she was baptised on 29 October.

She travelled to Rome for her studies at the Santa Rufina boarding school that the nuns of the Madams of the Sacred Heart conducted. She received her First Communion on 7 May 1878 which solidified her vocation. Due to a period of ill health, she had to leave school and return home for recuperation. bl maria teresa casini young

Shortly after she turned eighteen, she responded to her vocation and met Father Arsenio Pellegrini who became her guide and her spiritual director and who served as the Abbot of the Basilian Monks of Grottaferrata. Despite entering the convent, ill health forced her to leave, though she attempted to enter once again yet failed due to the death of the foundress after which the institute she joined ceased to exist.

In due time, she became a nun after entering the monastery of Sepolte Vive in Rome on 2 February 1885. Casini only started to live in Grottaferrata with fellow entrants from 17 October 1892 onwards. On 2 February 1894, she founded the Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

It was not until 1925 that Casini started the special work of the “Little Friends of Jesus” in order to promote and to cultivate the vocations of prospective priests. The group’s special character came to life when Cardinal Francesco Satolli requested Casini and her congregation to take up new and vigorous apostolic work. This group also worked for the sanctification of all priests and so the group opened a boarding school for males in order to please the Lord’s request for good and wholesome priests.

Throughout her life, Casini offered “the oblation of herself, in faithful response to the Love that overflows from the open Heart of the Savior, and which she imparted to so many daughters and priests”. This even earned the praise of Pope Pius X in 1904 who wrote: “In order to bring about the reign of Jesus Christ, nothing is more necessary than the sanctity of the clergy. God bless these sisters for their selfless love for these men of God, for through them, through the sacraments, we are fortified and purified for the journey”.

Casini grew ill in the final years of her life and she died in 1937. Her final words were: “I am peaceful. I feel God is near me”.

Casini’s order continues to flourish on an international level in places such as Africa, the United States of America, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, India, Guinea Bissau. The Generalate is in Rome and the Motherhouse is in Grottaferrata, Italy.

The first of the males of the Little Friends of Jesus that Casini herself oversaw was ordained as a priest in 1938. bl maria teresa casini 2

Blessed Maria Teresa was buried in the chapel of the Zealots of the Sacred Heart in a nearby cemetery and her remains were re-interred at the Generalate of the Oblates of the Sacred Heart in Grottaferrata on 20 May 1965. She was Beatified on 31 October 2015 by Pope Francis. The Beatification recognition was celebrated at the Piazza San Pietro at the cathedral in Frascati, Italy, presided by Cardinal Angelo Amato. Her Beatification miracle involved the 25 – 27 June 2003 healing of the brain lesions and trauma of Jacob “Jack” Ronald Sebest, a five year old drowning victim in Youngstown, Ohio. canonisation bl maria teresa maxresdefault.jpg

The Oblate Sisters are called to live and to participate intimately in the Oblation of Jesus to the Father, to repair and console His Pierced Heart, with an intense life of prayer and unconditional gift of ourselves, so that Priests may be holy. They also care for retired and convalescent priests in special homes which they administer.

From their Constitution:
“The exclusive pursuit of God – which is the goal of our community life – is the foundation of that spirit of prayer that must characterise our whole existence as
Christians, religious and Oblates. From the spirit of prayer, springs prayer itself as the source and fundamental expression of our community and personal life because “the Oblate’s life is intimately tied to the altar.” In founding the Institute, Mother
Teresa wanted to root it in faith, prayer and that unconditional gift of herself to priests, which knew no limits in our first sisters, if not in the consummation of life itself.

In silent and adoring prayer we express the typical attitude of our consecration and
Oblate spirituality, because with it, we join our feelings to the feelings of Jesus Himself, which are an endless act of love and an unceasing supplication to the Father for the Church and for its priests. Our individual prayer finds its climax in daily adoration. It brings us close to the altar, seen as the true source of our specific mission in the Church: suppliant and atoning prayer for the holiness of priests.”

“The life Jesus leads in the Sacrament of His love and which the Oblate must imitate and make her own is this – a life of generous and limitless sacrifice… a life of incessant prayer …a life of obedience… a life of poverty…”….Blessed Mother Maria Teresa

CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, LENT 2019, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on PERSEVERANCE, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SACRIFICE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, Thomas a Kempis

Lenten Thoughts – 2 April – “If you wish…” Thomas à Kempis

Posted on April 2, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Thoughts – 2 April – Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C

On the Fervent Amendment of our Whole Life

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)

“When a certain anxious person, who often times wavered between hope and fear, once overcome with sadness, threw himself upon the ground in prayer, before one of the altars in the Church and thinking these things in his mind, said “Oh, if I only knew how to persevere,” that very instant he heard within him, this heavenly answer: “And if thou did know this, what would thou do? Do now what you would do and thou shall be perfectly secure.” And immediately being consoled and comforted, he committed himself to the Divine Will and his anxious thoughts ceased. He no longer wished for curious things, searching to find out what would happen to him but studied rather to learn what was the acceptable and perfect will of God for the beginning and the perfection of every good work.”

“If you wish to enter into life, keep My commandments.
If you will know the truth, believe in Me.
If you will be perfect, sell all.
If you will be My disciple, deny yourself.
If you will possess the blessed life, despise this present life.
If you will be exalted in heaven, humble yourself on earth.
If you wish to reign with Me, carry the Cross with Me.
For only the servants of the Cross find the life of blessedness and of true light.”

“MY CHILD, the more you depart from yourself,
the more you will be able to enter into Me.
As the giving up of exterior things, brings interior peace,
so the forsaking of self, unites you to God.
I will have you learn perfect surrender to My will,
without contradiction or complaint.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)
The Imitation of Christ

CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, SAINT of the DAY, The PASSION

Quote of the Day – 2 April – Fix on your minds on the Passion

Posted on April 2, 2019April 2, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 2 April – Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C and the Memorial of St Francis of Paola O.M. (1416-1507)

“Fix your minds on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Inflamed with love for us, He came down from heaven to redeem us.
For our sake He endured every torment of body and soul
and shrank from no bodily pain.
He Himself gave us an example of perfect patience and love.
We, then, are to be patient in adversity.”

St Francis of Paola O.M. (1416-1507)

LENT 2019, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, QUOTES on TRUTH, The WORD, Thomas a Kempis

Lenten Reflection – 2 April – For Me!

Posted on April 2, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 2 April – Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Year C

The Readings:
Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12; Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9; John 5:1-16

“Without the Way, there is no going,
Without the Truth, there is no knowing,
Without the Life, there is no living.”

“Follow Me. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Without the Way, there is no going.
Without the Truth, there is no knowing.
Without the Life, there is no living.
I am the Way which you must follow,
the Truth which you must believe,
the Life for which you must hope.
I am the inviolable Way,
the infallible Truth,
the unending Life.
I am the Way that is straight,
the supreme Truth,
the Life that is true,
the blessed, the uncreated Life.
If you abide in My Way you shall know the Truth
and the Truth shall make you free
and you shall attain life everlasting.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)
The Imitation of Christ

follow-me-the-imitation-of-christ-for-lent-12-feb-2018.jpg

Daily Meditation:
Our embrace leads to praise.

This is second part of Lent.
We begin to feel the power of the Fourth Gospel.
The “forces” that are opposed in the gospel
have everything to do with the forces at work in my heart.
He is clearly about to embrace His passage – His passover – from death to life.
This paschal mystery is what we are preparing to celebrate.

As we grow in love and compassion for what Jesus is facing for us,
we ask to be prepared to embrace His way, His path,
the pattern of His dying and rising.
We ask that we would be prepared to proclaim this gift to others, with great joy

“It was because Jesus did things such as this on the Sabbath that they began to persecute him.” …John 5:16
For me!

Closing Prayer:
Joyful praise in Lent?
I’m not sure I always feel that.
I ask you to help me prepare to understand
and embrace the paschal mystery in my life.
I don’t always see the beauty and mystery of this season
and often I run from the pain.
Help me to see how Your saving grace
and Your loving touch in my life
can fill me with joyful praise of the salvation
You have sent to me.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen lent tues of the fourth week john 5 16 it was because 2 april 2019.jpg

CHRIST the KING, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2019, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, SAINT of the DAY, The HOLY CROSS, The LAMB of GOD, The PASSION, The RESURRECTION

Quote/s of the Day – 1 April – St Melito Bishop of Sardis (Died c 180)

Posted on April 1, 2019April 1, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 1 April – Monday of the Fourth week of Lent, Year C – Saint Melito Bishop of Sardis (Died c 180) Early Church Father

Prayer in Praise of Christ

Born as a son,
led forth as a lamb,
sacrificed as a sheep,
buried as a man,
He rose from the dead as a God,
for He was by nature God and man.

He is all things:
He judges and so He is Law,
He teaches and so He is Wisdom,
He saves and so He is Grace,
He begets and so He is Father,
He is begotten and so He is Son,
He suffers and so He is Sacrifice,
He is buried and so He is man,
He rises again and so He is God.
This is Jesus Christ,
to whom belongs glory for all ages.

“The Lord, though He was God, became man. He suffered for the sake of whose who suffer, He was bound for those in bonds, condemned for the guilty, buried for those who lie in the grave but He rose from the dead and cried aloud: “Who will contend with me? Let him confront me.” I have freed the condemned, brought the dead back to life, raised men from their graves. Who has anything to say against me? I, He said, am the Christ, I have destroyed death, triumphed over the enemy, trampled hell underfoot, bound the strong one and taken men up to the heights of heaven. I am the Christ. Come, then, all you nations of men, receive forgiveness for the sins that defile you. I am your forgiveness. I am the Passover that brings salvation. I am the lamb who was immolated for you. I am your Ransom, your Life, your Resurrection, your Light, I am your Salvation and your King. I will bring you to the heights of heaven. With my own right hand I will raise you up and I will show you the eternal Father.”

– from a letter by Saint Melito of Sardis

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