Quote of the Day – 28 November – The Memorial of St Catherine Labouré DC (1806-1876)
“If you listen to Him,
He will speak to you also
because with the good God,
it is necessary to speak
and to listen.”
Category: QUOTES on SILENCE
Quote/s of the Day – 14 November – ‘There is One very near you …’
Quote/s of the Day – 14 November – Thursday of the Thirty Second week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 17:20–25
” … For behold,
the kingdom of God,
is in the midst of you.”
Luke 17:21
” …[The Kingdom of God] … is within you.
That is, it depends on your own wills
and is in your own power,
whether or not you receive it.
Everyone, that has attained
to justification, by means of faith in Christ
and decorated by every virtue,
is counted worthy,
of the kingdom of heaven.”
St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444)
(Commentary on Luke, 117)
Known as “The Pillar of Faith”
Archbishop of Alexandria, Father & Doctor of the Church
“Pray to God:
‘You are the Spirit
and I am only the trumpet
and without Your breath
I can give no sound.’”
St Joseph of Cupurtino (1603-1663)
“There is One very near you
Who knocks at your door every hour of the day,
Who begs you to listen to Him
and to keep silence in order to hear Him.”
St Simon-Marie-Just Ranfer de Bretenières (1838-1866) Martyr
Thought for the Day – 8 November – To Surrender To Love
Thought for the Day – 8 November – The Memorial of St Elizabeth of the Trinity O.Carm (1880-1906)
To Surrender To Love
By St Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906)
Oh how good it is in silence
To listen to Him over and over,
To enjoy the peace of His presence
and then to surrender, wholly to His love.
O Lamb, so pure and so meek,
You my All, my only One,
How well You know that Your fiancée,
Your little one, hungers greatly for You.
She hungers to feed upon her Master,
Above all to be consumed by Him,
To surrender fully to Him her whole being
So she may be totally taken.
Oh, that I may be possessed by You;
One who lives by You alone,
Yours, Your living host,
Consumed by You on the Cross.
Thought for the Day – 6 October – ‘A Secret Harbour’
Thought for the Day – 6 October – Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 17:5–10 and the Memorial of St Bruno O.Cart. (c 1030-1101)
This saint has the honour of having founded a religious order which, as the saying goes, has never had to be reformed because it was never deformed. No doubt, both the founder and the members would reject such high praise but it is an indication of the saint’s intense love of a penitential life in solitude.
Bruno was born in Cologne, Germany, became a famous teacher at Rheims and was appointed Chancellor of the Archdiocese at the age of 45. He supported Pope Gregory VII in his fight against the decadence of the clergy and took part in the removal of his own scandalous Archbishop, Manasses. Bruno suffered the plundering of his house for his pains.
He had a dream of living in solitude and prayer and persuaded a few friends to join him in a hermitage. After a while, he felt the place unsuitable and through a friend, was given some land which was to become famous for his foundation “in the Chartreuse”—from which comes the word Carthusians. The climate, desert, mountainous terrain and inaccessibility guaranteed silence, poverty and small numbers.
Bruno and his friends built an oratory with small individual cells at a distance from each other. They met for Matins and Vespers each day and spent the rest of the time in solitude, eating together only on great feasts. Their chief work was copying manuscripts.
Hearing of Bruno’s holiness, the pope called for his assistance in Rome. When the pope had to flee Rome, Bruno pulled up stakes again and after refusing a bishopric, spent his last years in the wilderness of Calabria.
Bruno was never formally Canonised, because the Carthusians were averse to all occasions of publicity. However, Pope Clement X extended his feast to the whole Church in 1674.
If there is always a certain uneasy questioning of the contemplative life, there is an even greater puzzlement about the extremely penitential combination of community and hermit life lived by the Carthusians, but this ‘into the silence and solitude’ is the perfect environment to touch God.
St Bruno wrote to his Carthusians:
“Rejoice, my dearest brothers, because you are blessed and because of the bountiful hand of God’s grace upon you. Rejoice, because you have escaped the various dangers and shipwrecks of the stormy world. Rejoice, because you have reached the quiet and safe anchorage of a secret harbour. Many wish to come into this port and many make great efforts to do so, yet do not achieve it. Indeed many, after reaching it, have been thrust out, since it was not granted them from above. By your work you show what you love and what you know. When you observe true obedience with prudence and enthusiasm, it is clear, that you wisely pick the most delightful and nourishing fruit of divine Scripture.”
May we mirror Bruno’s quest for holiness and unity with God.
St Bruno, Pray for Us!
Quote of the Day – 6 October – Silence
Quote of the Day – 6 October – The Memorial of St Bruno O.Cart. (c 1030-1101)
“What benefits
What divine exultation
The solitude and silence of the desert
Hold in store for those who love it!”
(Saint Bruno to Raoul)
More St Bruno Quotes:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/10/06/quote-s-of-the-day-6-october-the-memorial-of-st-bruno-c-1030-1101/
St Bruno (c 1030-1101)
One Minute Reflection – 23 September The Light of the world
One Minute Reflection – 23 September – Monday of the Twenty Fifth Week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 8:16–18 and the Memorial of St Padre Pio (1887-1968)
“Take heed then how you hear…” … Luke 8:18
REFLECTION – “The lamp on the lampstand is our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Father’s true light “who enlightens everyone coming into the world” (Jn 1:9), in other words, the Father’s Wisdom and Word. having accepted our flesh, He truly became and was called, the “light of the world”. By our faith and devotion He is honoured and exalted in the Church. In this way He is made visible to all nations and shines out for “all the people in the house”, namely the whole world, as He said: “They do not light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket, it is set on a lampstand , where it gives light to all in the house” (Mt 5:15).
As we have seen, Christ calls Himself a lamp. God by nature, He became flesh according to the plan of salvation, a light held within the flesh as if in a vase… This is what David was thinking when he said: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Ps 119[118]:105). Since He causes the darkness of ignorance and the evil of men to vanish, my Saviour and my God is called a lamp in Scripture. And since He is the only one able, to obliterate the darkness of ignorance and disperse the shadows of sin, He has become the way of salvation for all. He leads towards the Father all those who, through understanding and virtue, walk with Him along the path of the commandments as on a road of righteousness.
The lampstand is holy Church because the Word of God shines out through her preaching. This is how the beams of its truth can enlighten the whole world… On one condition, however – so long as it is not hidden under the letter of the Law. Anyone who clings to Scripture according to the letter only is living according to the flesh, he is placing the lamp under a bushel basket. But when, to the contrary, the Church is set on the lampstand, it enlightens everyone.” … Saint Maximus the Confessor (c 580-662) – Abbot and Theologian – Question 63 to Thalassius
PRAYER – Holy God, teach me gratitude for Your love, teach me faithfulness no matter what difficulties I face. Jesus, my Lord, Your Church is my guide and my understanding, help me to always be true to her, my holy mother. St Padre Pio, pray for the Church and all God’s people. We make our prayer through Jesus Christ, our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God for all eternity, amen.
Quote/s of the Day – 10 September – Speaking of “Silence”
Quote/s of the Day – 10 September – Tuesday of the Twenty third week in Ordinary Time, Year C
Speaking of “Silence”
“Silence is God’s first language.”
Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)
Doctor of the Church
“Jesus is waiting for you in the chapel.
Go and find Him.”
St Jeanne Jugan (1792 – 1879)
“God speaks in the silence of the heart and we listen.
And then we speak to God from the fullness of our heart and God listens.
And this listening and this speaking, is what prayer is meant to be.”
St Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
“Friends, do not be afraid of silence or stillness.
Listen to God.
Adore Him in the Eucharist.”
Pope Benedict XVI
“Silence is a great magnifier.”
