Quote/s of the Day – 18 September – Wednesday of the Twenty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 7:31-35
“To what then shall I compare
the men of this generation
and what are they like?”
“God is good but He is also just…
So don’t underestimate God –
His love for men
should not become a pretext,
for negligence on our part.”
One Minute Reflection – 1 September – Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C,Gospel: Luke 14:7–14 and the Memorial of St Fiacre (Died 670)
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” … Luke 14:11
REFLECTION – “[Christ:] See [My] devotion to men and consider what your own should be. See that humility for man’s good and learn to humble yourself to do good… to make yourself small to win others, not to fear to go lower or lose your rights when it is a matter of doing good, not to believe that in descending you make yourself powerless to do good. To the contrary, by descending you imitate Me, by descending you make use of the same means, for the love of humankind, that I Myself employed, by descending you walk in My way and, therefore, in the truth and you are in the best place to lay hold of life and give it to others… By my incarnation I place Myself on a level with creatures, by My baptism …on that of sinners, descent, humility… Always descend, always humble yourself.
Let those who are first always stand in the last place, through humility and in disposition of spirit, with an attitude of descent and service. Love of men, humility, the last place, in the last place, so long as the divine will does not call you to another, since then you must obey. Obedience before all else, conformity to God’s will. In the first place, be spiritually in the last, through humility, occupy it in the spirit of service, telling yourself, that you are only there, to serve others and lead them to salvation.” … Blessed Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916) – Hermit and Missionary in the Sahara – Retreat, Holy Land, Lent 1898
PRAYER – Lord God, teach us by Your Grace, lead us by Your Hand and turn our hearts to love. Your Son took the last place and became the servant of all. By our obedience, may we grow in humility and follow in His way. May the prayers of St Fiacre help us on our way. We make our prayer through Jesus our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
One Minute Reflection – 21 August – Tuesday of the Twentieth week in Ordinary Time, Year C – Today’s Gospel: Matthew 19:23–30 and the Memorial of St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) “Doctor of Light”
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life...Matthew 19:29
REFLECTION – “Abraham became “the friend of God” (Jam 2,23) because he freely and generously followed the Word of God, his call. It was not due to any lack on His part that God’s Word gained Abraham’s friendship. He is perfect from the beginning; “Before Abraham was, I am” (Jn 5,58). But it was that He, who is good, might give Abraham eternal life… Likewise, in the beginning, it was not because He had any need of man that God formed Adam but that He might have someone on whom to bestow His blessings.
Still less was it because He needed our service that He commanded us to follow Him but to win salvation for us. For to follow our Saviour is to have a share in His salvation, just as following the light is to participate in the light. When we stand in the light it is not we who illumine the light and cause it to shine but we are illuminated and made shining by the light… God grants His blessings on those who serve Him because they are serving Him and on those who follow Him because they are following Him but He receives no blessing from them because He is perfect and without need.
If God asks for our service it is that He who is good and merciful might bestow His blessings on those who persevere in His service. Because, if God has no need of anything, yet we have need of communion with God. The glory of man is to persevere in the service of God. That is why our Lord said to His disciples: “You did not choose me, it was I who chose you” (Jn 15,16), thus indicating that… for having followed the Son of God they had been glorified by Him: “Father, I will that where I am they also may be, that they may see my glory” (Jn 17,24). … St Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-c.208) Bishop, theologian and Martyr – Against the heresies, IV, 14,1 ; SC 100
PRAYER – All-knowing God, let me be able to stand in Your presence with a good conscience. Help me to avoid anything that would sully my conscience and do all I can to remain united with You . You made St Bernard burn with zeal for Your house and gave him the grace to enkindle and enlighten others in Your Church. Grant that by his prayer, we may be filled with the same spirit and always live as children of the Light. Through Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen. 
Quote of the Day – 16 August – Friday of the Nineteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year C and The Memorial of St Stephen of Hungary (c 975- 1038)
“We are ever but beginning,
the most perfect Christian,
is to himself but a beginner,
a penitent prodigal
who has squandered God’s gifts
and comes to Him,
to be tried over again,
not as a son
but as a hired servant.”
Thought for the Day – 14 August – Memorial of Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe OFM Conv (1894 -1941) “Martyr of Charity”
“The burning zeal for God’s glory that motivates you fills my heart with joy. It is sad for us to see in our own time that indifferentism in its many forms is spreading like an epidemic not only among the laity but also among religious. But God is worthy of glory beyond measure and, therefore, it is of absolute and supreme importance, to seek that glory with all the power of our feeble resources. Since we are mere creatures we can never return to Him all that is His due.
The most resplendent manifestation of God’s glory is the salvation of souls, whom Christ redeemed by shedding His blood. To work for the salvation and sanctification of as many souls as possible, therefore, is the preeminent purpose of the apostolic life. Let me, then, say a few words that may show the way toward achieving God’s glory and the sanctification of many souls.
God, who is all-knowing and all-wise, knows best what we should do to increase His glory. Through hHs representatives on earth, He continually reveals His will to us, thus it is obedience and obedience alone, that is the sure sign to us of the divine will. A superior may, it is true, make a mistake but it is impossible for us to be mistaken in obeying a superior’s command. The only exception to this rule is the case of a superior commanding something, that in even the slightest way, would contravene God’s law. Such a superior would not be conveying God’s will.
God alone is infinitely wise, holy, merciful, our Lord, Creator and Father; He is beginning and end, wisdom and power and love, He is all. Everything other than God, has value to the degree, that it is referred to Him, the maker of all and our own redeemer, the final end of all things. It is He who, declaring His adorable will to us through His representatives on earth, draws us to Himself and whose plan is, to draw others to Himself through us and to join us all to Himself in an ever-deepening love.
Look, then, at the high dignity that by God’s mercy belongs to our state in life. Obedience raises us beyond the limits of our littleness and puts us in harmony with God’s will. In boundless wisdom and care, His will guides us to act rightly. Holding fast to that will, which no creature can thwart, we are filled with unsurpassable strength.
Obedience is the one and the only way of wisdom and prudence, for us to offer glory to God . If there were another, Christ would certainly have shown it to us by word and example. Scripture, however, summed up His entire life at Nazareth in the words: He was subject to them, Scripture set obedience as the theme of the rest of His life, repeatedly declaring that He came into the world, to do His Father’s will.
Let us love our loving Father with all our hearts. Let our obedience increase that love, above all, when it requires us to surrender our own will. Jesus Christ crucified is our sublime guide toward growth in God’s love.
We will learn this lesson more quickly through the Immaculate Virgin, whom God has made the dispenser of His mercy. It is beyond all doubt, that Mary’s will represents to us, the will of God Himself. By dedicating ourselves to her, we become in her hands, instruments of God’s mercy even as she was such an instrument in God’s hands. We should let ourselves be guided and led by Mary and rest quiet and secure in her hands. She will watch out for us, provide for us, answer our needs of body and spirit, she will dissolve all our difficulties and worries.”
Quote/s of the Day – 28 July – The Memorial of St Pedro Poveda (1874-1936) Martyr
“Lord, may I think, what you want me to think.
May I desire, what you want me to desire.
May I speak, as you want me to speak.
May I work, as you want me to work.”
When the Civil War broke out, he was identified as an enemy by those who wished to dechristianse the schools. A few days before his death he wrote:
“Now more than ever,
we must study the lives of the first Christians
so as to learn from them, how to behave
in times of persecution.
See how they obeyed the Church,
how they confessed Christ,
how they prepared for martyrdom,
how they prayed for their persecutors
and forgave them…”
his last words:
“I am a priest of Christ”
One Minute Reflection – 24 July – Wednesday of the Sixteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year C – Today’s Gospel: Matthew 13:1-9 and the Memorial of St Charbel Makhluf (1828-1898)
“A sower went out to sow” … Matthew 13:3
REFLECTION – “Now if you ask me what Jesus Christ means by the sower who goes out early to sow seed in his field, my dear brethren, that sower is the good God Himself! He began His work for our salvation from the beginning of the world by sending His prophets to us before the coming of the Messiah to teach us what we had to do to be saved. And, not satisfied with sending His servants, He came Himself, marked out for us the way we should take and came to preach His holy word.
Do you know what those people are like who aren’t sustained by that holy word or who abuse it? They are like the sick without a doctor, like a traveller who has gone astray without a guide, like a poor man without means. Let us rather say, my brethren, that it is altogether impossible to love God and please Him without being nourished by this divine word. What is there that can draw us to attach ourselves to Him if not because we know Him? And what enables us to know Him with all His perfections, beauty and love for us if not God’s word, which teaches us all He has done for us and the good things He is preparing for us in the life to come, if we try hard to please Him?” … St John-Marie Baptiste Vianney (1786-1859) Priest, Curé of Ars – Sermons
PRAYER – Holy, almighty God, You sent Your prophets and then Your only Son to teach us and lead us to eternal life. Remember Lord, Your solemn covenant, renewed and consecrated by the blood of the Lamb, so that Your people may obtain forgiveness for their sins and a continued growth in grace. Send us Your Spirit, to enlighten our hearts and minds and grow in love for You and the Word made flesh. Guide us in our understanding and living, by the Words of the Word. Saint Charbel Makhluf intercede for us, that we may merit to be co-heirs of His Kingdom. Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever, amen.
Quote/s of the Day – 24 July – Tuesday of the Sixteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Matthew 12:46-50 and the Memorial of St Bridget of Sweden (c 1303 – 1373)
“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven,
is my brother and sister and mother.”
“His mother is the whole Church,
since it is she, who, by God’s grace,
gives birth to Christ’s members,
that is to say, those who are faithful to Him.
Again, His mother is every holy soul,
who does the Father’s will
and whose fruitful charity
is made known in those,
to whom she gives birth for Him,
“until he has been formed in them”
(cf Gal 4:19).
“O Lord, make haste and illumine the night.
Say to my soul, that nothing happens,
without You permitting it
and that nothing of what You permit,
is without comfort.”
“It is a matter of real sorrow when God has given us strength to break stronger fetters, those of vanity and sin, that we neglect our own progress and the attainment of such great blessings, because we will not detach ourselves from trifles.
Not only do we not advance, we fall back.
For it is well known, that on the spiritual road, not to go on, overcoming self, is to go backwards and not to increase our gain, is to lose.
As wood can never be transformed into fire, if one necessary degree of heat is missing, so the soul, that has even one imperfection, can never be perfectly transformed in God.”
One Minute Reflection – 13 July – Saturday of the Fourteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Matthew 10:24–33 and the Memorial of Blessed Carlos Rodriguez Santiago
“So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father, who is in heaven…”… Matthew 10:32
REFLECTION – “You can be a witness to Christ every day. You were tempted by the spirit of impurity but… you considered that chastity of spirit and body should not be soiled – you are a martyr or, in other words, a witness to Christ… You were tempted by the spirit of pride but, seeing the poor and needy, you were seized by tender compassion and preferred humility to arrogance – you are a witness to Christ. Better still – you have not given your witness in word alone but in deed as well.
What is the surest kind of witness? “Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus Christ came among us in the flesh” (cf. 1Jn 4,2) and who keeps the commands of the Gospel… How many there are each day of these hidden martyrs of Christ who confess the Lord Jesus! The apostle Paul knew that kind of martyrdom and witness of faith rendered to Christ, he who said: “Our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience” (2Cor 1,12). For how many people have made a confession of faith exteriorly but denied it interiorly!… So be faithful and courageous in interior persecutions so that you may also win the victory in exterior persecutions. There are “kings and rulers,” judges of formidable power, in the persecutions within, likewise. You have an example of these in the temptations undergone by our Lord (Mt 4,1ff.)”… St Ambrose (340-397) Father & Doctor of the Church -Sermon 20 on Psalm 118
PRAYER – Come to help us in our weakness, God of mercy, forgive the sins of Your people and as nothing we can do is worthy in Your sight, save us through the intercession of the Mother of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Listen too to the prayers of a fellow pilgrim Blessed Carlos, who has, by his love for You and passion to proclaim Christ Your Son, reached his eternal destination with You. We make our prayer through Jesus with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
The Vatican announces the date of the Canonisation of Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890), along with four others on Sunday 13 October 2019, the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C.
“Praise to the Holiest in the height
And in the the depth be praise.
In all His words most wonderful,
Most sure in all His ways!”
Blessed John Henry Newman
In February, the Pope signed a decree recognising a second miracle attributed to Blessed John Henry Newman, the inexplicable healing of a woman with a “life-threatening pregnancy”.
Ordained a Catholic priest in 1847, he was made a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in 1879, although he was not a bishop. Newman’s conversion to the Catholic faith was controversial in England and resulted in him losing many friends, including his own sister who never spoke to him again.
The British cardinal founded the Oratory of St Philip Neri in England and was particularly dedicated to education, founding two schools for boys. He died in Birmingham in 1890 at the age of 89.
In October, Cardinal Newman will become Britain’s first new saint since the Canonisation of St John Ogilvie (1579-1615) Martyr, Memorial 10 March, in 1976.
At Newman’s beatification Mass in Birmingham, England in September 2010, Pope Benedict XVI said that Newman’s “insights into the relationship between faith and reason, into the vital place of revealed religion in civilised society and into the need for a broadly-based and wide-ranging approach to education, were not only of profound importance for Victorian England but continue today, to inspire and enlighten many all over the world. “What better goal could teachers of religion set themselves than Blessed John Henry’s famous appeal for an intelligent, well-instructed laity: ‘I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it…..”
As Blessed, John Henry’s Memorial is 9 October, the date he was received into the Catholic Church.
“God has created me to do Him some definite service.
He has committed some work to me
which He has not committed to another.
I have my mission.
I may never know it in this life
but I shall be told it in the next.
I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.
He has not created me for naught.
I shall do good, I shall do His work.
I shall be an angel of peace,
a preacher of truth in my own place,
while not intending it,
if I do but keep His commandments.
Therefore, I will trust Him…
If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him,
in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him…
He does nothing in vain…
He may take away my friends.
He may throw me among strangers.
He may make me feel desolate,
make my spirits sink,
hide the future from me.
Still, He knows what He is about.”
The Others to be Canonised on the same day are:
Sister Mariam Thresia of India is the founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family.
Italian Sister Giuseppina Vannini is the founder of the Daughters of Saint Camillus.
Brazilian Sister Dulce Lopes Pontes of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God.
Marguerite Bays of Switzerland, of the Third Order of Saint Francis of Assisi.
Quote/s of the Day- 24 June – The Solemnity of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist Year C, Gospel: Luke 1:57–66 and the Memorial of St Maria Guadalupe García Zavala (1878-1963) “Mother Lupuita”
“The true secret of love consists in this:
we must forget self
like St John the Baptist
and exalt and glorify the Lord Jesus.”
“Look today to John the Baptist,
an enduring model of fidelity to God and His Law.
John prepared the way for Christ,
by the testimony of his word and his life.
Imitate him with docile and trusting generosity.”
“With deep faith, unlimited hope
and great love for Christ, Mother “Lupita”
sought her own sanctification,
beginning with love for the Heart of Christ
and fidelity to the Church.
In this way she lived the motto
which she left to her daughters:
“Charity to the point of sacrifice
and perseverance until death”.
On the Beatification of
St Maria Guadalupe García Zavala (1878-1963)
“Mother Lupuita”
One Minute Reflection – 17 June – Monday of the Eleventh week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel : Matthew 5:38–42 and the Memorial of Blessed Joseph-Marie Cassant OCSO (1878-1903)
“Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles.”… Matthew 5:41
REFLECTION – “Do you grasp the excellence of a Christian disposition? After you give your coat and your cloak, even if your enemy should wish to subject your naked body to hardships and labours, not even then, Jesus says, must you forbid him. For He would have us possess all things in common, both our bodies and our goods, as with them that are in need, so with them that insult us. For the latter response comes from a courageous spirit, the former from mercy. Because of this, Jesus said, “If any one shall compel you to go one mile, go with him two.” Again He leads you to higher ground and commands you to manifest the same type of aspiration. For if the lesser things He spoke of at the beginning receive such great blessings, consider what sort of reward awaits those who duly perform these and what they become even before we hear of receiving rewards. You are winning full freedom from unworthy passions in a human and passible body.” … Saint John Chrysostom (347-407) Bishop, Father & Doctor (The Gospel of Matthew: Homily 18)
PRAYER – King of heaven and earth, Lord God, rule over or hearts and bodies this day. Sanctify us and guide our every thought, word and deed according to the commandments of Your law, so that now and forever, Your grace may free and save us. Teach us Lord to walk in the ways of the Cross of Your Son, our Saviour, as Blessed Joseph-Marie Cassant so lovingly and willingly inspires us to do. Through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God, forever, amen.
Thought for the Day – The Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua OFM (1195-1231) Doctor of the Church, 13 June
The man who is filled with the Holy Spirit speaks in different languages. These different languages are different ways of witnessing to Christ, such as humility, poverty, patience and obedience, we speak in those languages, when we reveal in ourselves, these virtues to others. Actions speak louder than words, let your words teach and your actions speak. We are full of words but empty of actions and, therefore, are cursed by the Lord, since He Himself cursed the fig tree when He found no fruit but only leaves. Gregory says: “A law is laid upon the preacher to practice what he preaches.” It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law, if he undermines its teaching by his actions.
But the apostles spoke as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech. Happy the man, whose words issue from the Holy Spirit and not from himself! ,,For some men speak as their own character dictates but steal the words of others and present them as their own and claim the credit for them. The Lord refers to such men and others like them in Jeremiah – So, then, I have a quarrel with the prophets that steal my words from each other. I have a quarrel with the prophets, says the Lord, who have only to move their tongues to utter oracles. I have a quarrel with the prophets who make prophecies out of lying dreams, who recount them and lead my people astray with their lies and their pretensions. I certainly never sent them or commissioned them and they serve no good purpose for this people, says the Lord.
We should speak, then, as the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of speech. Our humble and sincere request to the Spirit for ourselves, should be that we may bring the day of Pentecost to fulfilment, insofar, as He infuses us with His grace, by using our bodily senses in a perfect manner and by keeping the commandments. Likewise, we shall request, that we may be filled with a keen sense of sorrow and with fiery tongues for confessing the faith, so that our deserved reward may be to stand in the blazing splendour of the saints and to look upon the triune God.
Quote/s of the Day – 23 May – The Memorial of St John Baptist de Rossi (1698-1764)
“Ignorance is the leprosy of the soul.”
“Courage! We are not in the world
to follow our own will and pleasure
but to imitate the Lord.”
Thought for the Day – 27 April – Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter C, – Gospel: John 14:1-6
“And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”...John 14:3
An excerpt from his Letter to the Corinthians
Beloved, Jesus Christ is our salvation, He is the high priest through whom we present our offerings and the Helper, who supports us in our weakness. Through Him, our gaze penetrates the heights of heaven and we see as in a mirror, the most holy face of God. Through Christ, the eyes of our hearts are opened and our weak and clouded understanding, reaches up toward the light. Through Him, the Lord God willed, that we should taste eternal knowledge, for Christ is the radiance of God’s glory and as much greater than the angels, as the name God has given Him is superior to theirs.
So then, my brothers, let us do battle with all our might, under His unerring command. Think of the men serving under our military commanders. How well disciplined they are! How readily and submissively they carry out orders! Not everyone can be a prefect, a tribune, a centurion, or a captain of fifty but each man, in his own rank, executes the orders of the emperor and the officers in command. The great, cannot exist, without those of humble condition, nor can those of humble condition, exist without the great. Always, it is the harmonious working together, of its various parts, that insures the well-being of the whole. Take our own body as an example – the head is helpless without the feet and the feet can do nothing without the heart. Even our least important members, are useful and necessary, to the whole body and all work together for its well-being in harmonious subordination.
Let us, then, preserve the unity of the body that we form in Christ Jesus and let everyone give his neighbour the deference, to which his particular gifts, entitle him. Let the strong care for the weak and the weak respect the strong. Let the wealthy assist the poor and the poor man thank God for giving him someone to supply his needs. The wise man should show his wisdom, not by his eloquence but by good works, the humble man should not proclaim his own humility but leave others to do so, nor must the man who preserves his chastity, ever boast of it but recognise that the ability to control his desires has been given him by another.
Think, my brothers, of how we first came into being, of what we were at the first moment of our existence. Think of the dark tomb, out of which our Creator brought us into His world, where He had His gifts prepared for us, even before we were born. All this we owe to Him and for everything, we must give Him thanks. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen
Thought for the Day – 13 May – Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter, C – Gospel: John 10:1-10
A Pastor’s Prayer to the Good Shepherd
St John Damascene (675-749)
Monk, Theologian, Doctor of the Church
O Christ, my God, You stooped down to me, poor straying sheep, to take me on Your shoulders (Lk 15:5) and have set me down in green pastures (Ps 23[22]:2). You have quenched my thirst at the springs of true doctrine, through the mediation of Your pastors, whose shepherd You were, before entrusting to them Your flock… And now, O Lord, You have called me… to serve Your disciples, by what design of Your Providence I know not, only You know.
But, Lord, lighten the heavy burden of those sins of mine that have so gravely offended You, purify my mind and heart. Lead me by the right way (Ps 23[22]:3) as by a light enlightening me. Enable me to proclaim Your word boldly, may Your Spirit’s tongue of flame (Acts 2:3) give perfect freedom to my tongue and make me constantly attentive to Your presence.
Be a shepherd to me, O Lord and together with me, be the shepherd of Your sheep, that my heart may not cause me to swerve either to right or to left. Let Your good Spirit lead me in the right way, that my actions may be carried out, according to Your will – even to the end.”
Amen
One Minute Reflection – 13 May – Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter, C – Gospel: John 10:1-10 and the 102nd Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima
“… the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”…John 10:3
REFLECTION – “The mark of Christ’s sheep is their willingness to hear and obey, just as disobedience is the mark of those who are not His.
We take the word ‘hear’ to imply obedience to what has been said. People who hear God are known by Him. No-one is entirely unknown by God but to be known in this way, is to become part of His family.
Therefore, when Christ says, “I know mine,” He means I will receive them and give them a permanent mystical relationship with Myself.
It might be said that inasmuch as He has become man, He has made all human beings His relatives, since all are members of the same race. We are all united to Christ in a mystical relationship because of His incarnation. Yet those who do not preserve the likeness of His holiness are alienated from Him. “My sheep follow me,” says Christ. By a certain God-given grace, believers follow in the footsteps of Christ. No longer subject to the shadows of the law, they obey the commands of Christ and guided by His words, rise through grace, to His own dignity, for they are called “children of God.”
When Christ ascends into heaven, they also follow Him.”… St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) Father & Doctor of the Church (Commentary on the Gospel of John)
PRAYER – Almighty God and Father, You have rescued Your faithful from enslavement to sin, by Your Son’s self-abasement. You have raised up the world through His suffering. Fill us now with holy joy at His rising and triumph. Let us hear His voice and follow Him to everlasting life. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us! Through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God now and forever, amen.
One Minute Reflection – 2 May – The Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year C, Gospel: John 10:27-30 – Good Shepherd/Vocations Sunday
“I give them eternal life”...John 10:27
REFLECTION – “The Lord says: “My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me; I give them eternal life”. A little earlier He said to them: “Anyone who enters by me will be saved, he will go in ou, and will find pasture”. (Jn 10:9) He will go into faith, he will go out from faith to vision, from belief to contemplation, will find pasture in eternal refreshment.
The Good Shepherd’s sheep will pasture because whoever follows Him with a guileless heart is nourished with a food of eternal freshness. What are the pastures of these sheep but the eternal joys of an evergreen paradise? The pasture of the elect, is the face of God always before us. When we see Him perfectly, our hearts are endlessly satisfied with the food of life…
Let us seek these pastures, dearly beloved! There we may enjoy the celebration of so many citizens. Let the festival of those who rejoice attract us… Let us enkindle our hearts, my friends, let our faith grow warm again for what it believes, let our desire for heavenly things take fire. To love thus, is to be already on the way. Let no adversity recall us from the joy of inner festivity, no difficulty on his journey, alters the desire, of a person wanting to go to some particular place. Let no seductive good fortune lead us astray, he is a foolish traveller who sees pleasant meadows on his journey and forgets where he is going.”… St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) Father & Doctor of the Church – Homilies on the Gospel, no15[14]
PRAYER – Almighty, ever-living God, bring us to the joy of Your heavenly city, so that we, Your little flock, may follow where Christ, our Good Shepherd, has gone before us, by the power of His Resurrection. May the prayers of the Blessed Virgin, guide us, that we may always follow our Shepherd and thus reach our heavenly home, to praise Him forever. We make our prayer through Christ, our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God now and for all eternity, amen.
One Minute Reflection – 6 May – Monday of the Third week of Easter, Gospel: John 6:22–29
“Do not labour for the food which perishes but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you...”John 6:27
REFLECTION – “Someone who works frenziedly on Sundays, thinking he is going to earn more money or get more done, is making a mistake in his calculations! Can two or three dollars ever compensate for the harm he does himself by violating the law of God? You imagine everything depends on your work, but then an illness, an accident…! It takes so little: a storm, hail, frost… Do not work for food that perishes but for that which dwells in eternal life. What will you gain by having worked on Sunday? You leave the land just as it is when you depart; you do not carry anything away. Our first aim is to go to God, we are not on earth for anything but this! My brethren, we should die on Sundays and come back to life again on Mondays. Sunday belongs to God – it is His day, the Day of the Lord. He made all the days of the week and could have kept them all. He has given you six of them and has only held back the seventh for himself!”…St John Vianney (1786-1859)
PRAYER – King of heaven and earth, Lord God, rule over our hearts and bodies this day. Sanctify us and guide our every thought, word and deed, according to the commandments of Your law, so that now and forever, Your grace may free and save us. Let us walk in Your ways and be your lights and thus by our lives, help others to follow You. Grant that the prayers of our blessed Mother, the Mother of Jesus Your Son and St Francois Laval, who always lived for You alone, may help us, as we work through each day to reach our heavenly home. Through Jesus the Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God now and forever, amen.
Quote of the Day – 4 May – Saturday of the Second Week of Easter,Gospel: John 6:16–21 and the Memorial of St José Maria Rubio y Peralta SJ (1864-1929)
Marian Thoughts – May, the Month of Mary – 2 May 2019
Finally, insofar as it may be necessary, we would like to repeat that the ultimate purpose of devotion to the Blessed Virgin is to glorify God and to lead Christians, to commit themselves, to a life which is in absolute conformity with His will. When the children of the Church unite their voices, with the voice of the unknown woman, in the Gospel and glorify the Mother of Jesus, by saying to Him: “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that you sucked” (Lk. 11:27), they will be led to ponder the Divine Master’s serious reply: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Lk. 11:28) While it is true, that this reply is, in itself, lively praise of Mary, as various Fathers of the Church interpreted it and the Second Vatican Council has confirmed, it is also an admonition to us, to live our lives in accordance with God’s commandments. It is also an echo of other words of the Saviour: “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 7:21); and again: “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (Jn. 15:14).
Christ is the only way to the Father (cf. Jn. 14:4-11) and the ultimate example to whom the disciple must conform his own conduct (cf. Jn. 13:15), to the extent of sharing Christ’s sentiments (cf. Phil. 2:5), living His life and possessing His Spirit (cf. Gal. 2:20; Rom. 8:10-11). The Church has always taught this and nothing in pastoral activity should obscure this doctrine. But the Church, taught by the Holy Spirit and benefiting from centuries of experience, recognises, that devotion to the Blessed Virgin, subordinated to worship of the divine Saviour and in connection with it, also has a great pastoral effectiveness and constitutes, a force, for renewing Christian living.
It is easy to see the reason for this effectiveness. Mary’s many-sided mission to the People of God is a supernatural reality which operates and bears fruit within the body of the Church. One finds cause for joy, in considering, the different aspects of this mission and seeing how each of these aspects, with its individual effectiveness, is directed towards the same end, namely, producing in the children the spiritual characteristics of the first-born Son. The Virgin’s maternal intercession, her exemplary holiness and the divine grace which is in her, become, for the human race, a reason for divine hope.
Second Reading
The Little Office of Mary
Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday
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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
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
Quote/s of the Day – 28 March – Thursday of the Third Week of Lent, Year C
Dear Father, all that I do
I do it for You.
“I do as the Father
has commanded me, so that the world
may know that I love the Father.”
John 14:31
“God has created me to do Him some definite service.
He has committed some work to me,
which he has not committed to another.
I have my mission,
I never may know it in this life
but I shall be told it in the next.
I have a part in a great work,
I am a link in a chain,
a bond of connection between persons.
He has not created me for naught.
I shall do good,
I shall do His work,
I shall be an angel of peace,
a preacher of truth in my own place,
while not intending it,
if I do but keep His commandments
and serve Him in my calling.”
“Life passes,
riches fly away,
popularity is fickle,
the senses decay,
the world changes.
One alone is true to us.
One alone can be all things to us.
One alone can supply our need.”
“I sought to hear the voice of God
and climbed the topmost steeple
but God declared:
“Go down again –
I dwell among the people.”
“I will trust Him.
Whatever, wherever I am,
I can never be thrown away.
If I am in sickness,
my sickness may serve Him,
in perplexity,
my perplexity may serve Him,
if I am in sorrow,
my sorrow may serve Him.
My sickness,
or perplexity,
or sorrow,
may be necessary causes
of some great end,
which is quite beyond us.
He does nothing in vain!”
“Fear not that
thy life shall come
to an end
but rather fear,
that it shall never have
a beginning.”
Lenten Thoughts – 24 March – The Third Sunday of Lent, Year C, Gospel: Luke 13:1-9 (The fruitless vine) and The Memorial of Bl Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (1917–1980) Martyr
Every now and then it helps us to take a step back and to see things from a distance.
Every now and then it helps us to take a step back
and to see things from a distance.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is also beyond our visions.
In our lives, we manage to achieve only a small part
of the marvellous plan that is God’s work.
Nothing that we do is complete,
which is to say that the Kingdom is greater than ourselves.
No statement says everything that can be said.
No prayer completely expresses the faith.
No Creed brings perfection.
No pastoral visit solves every problem.
No programme fully accomplishes the mission of the Church.
No goal or purpose ever reaches completion.
This is what it is about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that others will watch over them.
We lay the foundations of something that will develop.
We add the yeast which will multiply our possibilities.
We cannot do everything,
yet it is liberating to begin.
This gives us the strength to do something and to do it well.
It may remain incomplete but it is a beginning, a step along the way.
It is an opportunity for the grace of God to enter and to do the rest.
It may be that we will never see its completion
but that is the difference between the master and the labourer.
We are labourers, not master builders,
servants, not the Messiah.
We are prophets of a future that does not belong to us.Saint Óscar Romero (1917–1980) Martyr, Pray for us!
Lenten Reflection – 22 March – Friday of the Second week of Lent, Year C
“Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God
will be taken away from you
and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.”...Matthew 21:43
Daily Meditation:
Help us open our hearts to you.
We hear of the vineyard owner whose tenants killed his servants and then his son.
Let us open our hearts and lives
to the challenge of Your Gospel.
“Let us serve God but let us do so according to His will.
He will then take the place of everything in our lives.
He will be our strength and the reward of our labours.”
“The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel” says the prophet (Is 5:7). We ourselves are this house… and, since we are His Israel, we are the vineyard. So let us take good care that grapes of wrath (Rv 14:19) rather than sweetness do not grow from our branches, so that no one may say to us: “I expected grapes but it yielded wild grapes” (Is 5:4). What fruitless soil! The soil that should have presented its master with fruits of sweetness, pierced Him with its sharp thorns. In the same way His enemies, who ought to have welcomed our Saviour with all the devotion of their faith, crowned Him with the thorns of His Passion. In their eyes this crown expressed insult and abuse but in the Lord’s eyes it was the crown of virtue…
My brethren, take good care that no one says with regard to you: “He expected it to yield grapes but it yielded wild grapes” (Is 5:2)… Let us be careful that our evil deeds do not rub against our Lord’s head like thorns. There are thorns in the heart that have even wounded the word of God, as our Lord says in the gospel when he relates how the sower’s seed fell among thorns that grew and choked what had been sown (Mt 13:7)… So take care that your vineyard does not bring forth thorns instead of grapes and your vintage produce vinegar instead of wine. Anyone who gathers in the grapes, without sharing them with the poor, is collecting vinegar instead of wine and anyone who stores his harvests, without sharing them with the needy, is not setting aside the fruit of almsgiving but the briars of greed.”
Sermon for the feast of Saint Cyprian – CC Sermon 11
Closing Prayer:
Loving God, caring parent,
I am a child who so often turns my back
on Your love.
Please accept my small acts of sorrow today
and help to release me from the self-absorption
that closes my heart to You.
As I journey through Lent,
let me remember the feast You have prepared for me
in the resurrection
and let me be filled with gratitude to You.
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
Lenten Thoughts – 17 March – The Second Sunday of Lent, Year C, Gospel: Luke 9:28-36
St Pope Leo the Great (400-461)
Bishop of Rome and Great Latin Father and Doctor of the Church
An excerpt from Sermo 51
The Lord reveals His glory in the presence of chosen witnesses. His body is like that of the rest of mankind but He makes it shine with such splendour that His Face becomes like the sun in glory and His garments as white as snow.
The great reason for this transfiguration was to remove the scandal of the cross from the hearts of His disciples and to prevent the humiliation of His voluntary suffering from disturbing the faith of those who had witnessed the surpassing glory that lay concealed.
With no less forethought He was also providing a firm foundation for the hope of holy Church. The whole body of Christ was to understand the kind of transformation that it would receive as His gift. The members of that body were to look forward to a share in that glory which first blazed out in Christ their head.
The Lord had himself spoken of this when He foretold the splendour of His coming – Then the just will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Saint Paul the apostle bore witness to this same truth when He said – I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not to be compared with the future glory that is to be revealed in us. In another place He says: You are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
This marvel of the transfiguration contains another lesson for the apostles, to strengthen them and lead them into the fullness of knowledge. Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets, appeared with the Lord in conversation with Him. This was in order to fulfil exactly, through the presence of these five men, the text which says – Before two or three witnesses every word is ratified. What word could be more firmly established, more securely based, than the word which is proclaimed by the trumpets of both old and new testaments, sounding in harmony and by the utterances of ancient prophecy and the teaching of the Gospel, in full agreement with each other?
The writings of the two testaments support each other. The radiance of the transfiguration reveals clearly and unmistakably the one who had been promised by signs foretelling Him under the veils of mystery. As Saint John says: The law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. In Him the promise made through the shadows of prophecy stands revealed, along with the full meaning of the precepts of the law. He is the one who teaches the truth of prophecy through His presence and makes obedience to the commandments possible through grace.
In the preaching of the holy Gospel all should receive a strengthening of their faith. No one should be ashamed of the cross of Christ, through which the world has been redeemed.
No-one should fear to suffer for the sake of justice, no-one should lose confidence in the reward that has been promised. The way to rest is through toil, the way to life is through death. Christ has taken on Himself the whole weakness of our lowly human nature. If then we are steadfast in our faith in Him and in our love for Him, we win the victory that He has won, we receive what He has promised.
When it comes to obeying the commandments or enduring adversity, the words uttered by the Father should always echo in our ears – This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased, listen to Him.
Lenten Thoughts – 14 March – Thursday of the First week of Lent, Year C, Today’s
Called on from grace to grace
All through our life Christ is calling us. He called us first in Baptism but afterwards also, whether we obey His voice or not, He graciously calls us still. If we fall from our Baptism, He calls us to repen,; if we are striving to fulfil our calling, He calls us on from grace to grace and from holiness to holiness, while life is given us.
Abraham was called from his home, Peter from his nets, Matthew from his office, Elisha from his farm, Nathanael from his retreat – we are all in course of calling, on and on, from one thing to another, having no resting-place but mounting towards our eternal rest and obeying one command only, to have another put upon us. He calls us again and again, in order to justify us, again and again—and again and again and more and more, to sanctify and glorify us.
Christ calls us right now!
It were well, if we understood this but we are slow to master the great truth, that Christ is, as it were, walking among us and by His hand, or eye, or voice, bidding us to follow Him.
We do not understand that His call is a thing which takes place now. We think it took place in the Apostles’ days but we do not believe in it, we do not look out for it in our own case. We have not eyes to see the Lord, far different from the beloved Apostle, who knew Christ even when the rest of the disciples knew Him not. When He stood on the shore after His resurrection and bade them cast the net into the sea, “that disciple whom Jesus loved said unto Peter, It is the Lord” (John 21:7).
Do you accept Christ’s’ call?
There is nothing miraculous or extraordinary in His dealings with us. He works through our natural faculties and circumstances of life. Still what happens to us in providence, is in all essential respects, what His voice was to those whom He addressed, when on earth – whether He commands by a visible presence, or by a voice, or by our consciences, it matters not, so that we feel it to be a command. If it is a command, it may be obeyed or disobeyed, it may be accepted as Samuel or St Paul accepted it, or put aside after the manner of the young man who had great possessions.
Thought for the Day – 29 January – Tuesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time, Year C – Gospel: Mark 3:31–35
31 And his mother and his brethren came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting about him and they said to him, “Your mother and your brethren are outside, asking for you.” 33 And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brethren?” 34 And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brethren! 35 Whoever does the will of God, is my brother and sister and mother.”
Whoever does the will of God,
is my brother and sister and mother.
Our determination to follow God’s will in all things without exception is contained in the Lord’s prayer, in the words we say each day: “Your will be done on earth as in heaven.” In heaven there is no resistance to the divine will, everything is submitted to Him and obeys Him, we promise to do the same for Our Lord, never offering any resistance but always remaining very subject to this divine will in every circumstance. Now, the will of God can be understood in two ways: there is the will of God that is clearly stated and the will that is His good pleasure.
The will that is stated consists of four parts: His commandments, His counsels, the counsels of the Church and His inspirations. As regards the commandments of God and His Church, each of us must bow the neck and submit to obedience because in this, the will of God is absolute, willing that we should obey if we wish to be saved.
He wants us to observe the counsels by desire but not in an absolute manner, since some are so opposed to each other, that it would be altogether impossible to take on the practice of one of them, without taking away the means of practising the other. For example, it is a counsel to leave all one has in order to follow our Lord, stripped of everything and it is a counsel to lend and give alms. But how can someone lend who all at once has left all that he has, or how can he give alms, tell me, when he has nothing? So we have to follow the counsels God wants us to follow and not think He has given them all to us, so that we should embrace them all.
In addition there is the will of God’s good pleasure which we are to consider in every eventuality, I mean in all those things that happen to us – in sickness, death, affliction, consolation, in things that are adverse and things that are profitable, in brief in everything unforeseen. And to this will of God we should always be ready to submit in all that happens, in the agreeable as in the disagreeable, in affliction as in consolation, in death as in life and in all that is not clearly against the stated will of God, for that always comes first.
Thought for the Day – 28 January – The Memorial of St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Priest and Doctor of the Church
An excerpt from a Conference
Why did the Son of God have to suffer for us? There was a great need and it can be considered in a twofold way – in the first place, as a remedy for sin and secondly, as an example of how to act.
It is a remedy, for, in the face of all the evils which we incur on account of our sins, we have found relief through the passion of Christ. Yet, it is no less an example, for the passion of Christ completely suffices to fashion our lives. Whoever wishes to live perfectly should do nothing but disdain what Christ disdained on the cross and desire what He desired, for the cross exemplifies every virtue.
If you seek the example of love: Greater love than this no man has, than to lay down his life for his friends. Such a man was Christ on the cross. 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. Great patience occurs in two ways – either when one patiently suffers much, or when one suffers things which one is able to avoid and yet does not avoid. 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. Therefore, Christ’s patience on the cross, was great. In patience let us run for the prize set before us, looking upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who, for the joy set before Him, bore His cross and despised the shame.
If you seek an example of humility, look upon the crucified one, for God wished to be judged by Pontius Pilate and to die.
If you seek an example of obedience, follow Him who became obedient to the Father even unto death. For just as by the disobedience of one man, namely, Adam, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one man, many were made righteous.
If you seek an example of despising earthly things, follow Him who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Upon the cross He was stripped, mocked, spat upon, struck, crowned with thorns and given only vinegar and gall to drink.
Do not be attached, therefore, to clothing and riches because they divided my garments among themselves. Nor to honours, for He experienced harsh words and scourgings. Nor to greatness of rank, for weaving a crown of thorns, they placed it on my head. Nor to anything delightful, for in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Quote/s of the Day – 27 December – the Feast of St John the Apostle and Evangelist “The Disciple whom Jesus Loved” and the 3rd Octave Day and the Memorial of Blessed Sára Salkaházi (1899–1944) Martyr
Beloved:
What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life (for the life was made visible;
we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us.…
“Life itself was therefore revealed in the flesh.
In this way what was visible to the heart alone,
could become visible also to the eye
and so heal men’s hearts.
For the Word is visible to the heart alone,
while flesh is visible to bodily eyes as well.
We already possessed the means to see the flesh
but we had no means of seeing the Word.
The Word was made flesh so that we could see it,
to heal the part of us,
by which we could see the Word…”
“It is right and just, that someone, who was loved by Christ
more than any other, should be the object
of a very special love, by Christ’s friends,
all the more so, since John has shown such love for us that…
he has shared with us, the riches of eternal life, that he himself received.
Indeed, God gave him, the keys to wisdom and knowledge (cf Lk 11:52)…
John’s God-illumined mind, conceived the incomparable height of divine wisdom,
when he reclined on the Redeemer’s breast, during the holy Last Supper meal (Jn 13:25).
And because “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3)
are within the heart of Jesus, it is from there, that he drew
and from there, that he greatly enriched our wretchedness,
as people who are poor and generously distributed these goods,
taken from their source, for the salvation of the whole world.
And because this blessed John speaks about God
in a marvellous way, that cannot be compared to that of anyone else,
it is only right that the Greeks as well as the Latins
have given him the name of “Theologian”.
Mary is “Theotokos” because she has truly given birth to God;
John is “Theologos” because he saw in an indescribable way,
that the Word of God, was with the Father
before the beginning of time and was God (Jn 1:1)
and because, too, he spoke about this, with extraordinary depth.”
“To love, even when it is difficult,
even when my heart has complaints,
when, I feel rejected!
Yes, this is what God wants!
I will try; I want to start – even if I would fail –
until I will be able to love.
The Lord God gives me grace
and I have to work with that grace!”
“I want to follow You wherever You take me,
freely, willingly, joyfully.
Break my will!
Let Your will reign in me!
I do not want to make my own plans.
Let Your will be done in me and through me.
No matter how hard it might be,
I want to love Your will!
I want to be one with You,
my Beloved, my Spouse.”
Blessed Sára in her spiritual diary
AnaStpaul 
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