One Minute Reflection – 27 September – Friday of the Twenty Fifth week in Ordinary Tim, Year C, Gospel: Luke 9:18–22 and the Memorial of St Vincent de Paul (1581-1660)
“The Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.”... Luke 9:22
REFLECTION – “The scene found n the Gospel reading forms a climax of the Synoptic Gospels. It constitutes the watershed in Jesus’ life. To this point, in accord with the mission given Him by the Father, He has acted messianically and has aroused a sense of who He is, especially in His disciples. Because the shift that takes place in this scene is so important, Luke places it in the context of a prayer of Jesus in solitude. By asking His disciples about His identity, He takes the opportunity to reveal the core of His mission.
Yet, the people’s perception of who He is, is so imperfect, that He cannot use it as a point of departure. Peter’s statement, “you are the Messiah of God” hits the target, yet Peter’s image of the Messiah remains an Old Testament and contemporary one – the Messiah as Israel’s liberator. That is why Jesus forbids them to use the title and, more profoundly, that is why He lays out clearly, what is the true task of the Messiah – to be rejected, to die, to rise again. So that this will not be received as some sort of incomprehensible, mythological event, He immediately explains it’s implications for anyone who wishes to be His disciple – “Take up your cross daily” and “follow” the Messiah in this way.
The required faith embraces the act it includes – discipleship – but not by scheming to gain something – rather, by unconditional loss: “Whoever loses his life for my sake … ” … Cardinal Han Urs von Bathasar (1905-1988)
PRAYER – Lord God, You hold out the Light of Your Word to those who do not know You. Strengthen in our hearts, the faith You have given us and the Credo we profess, so that no trials may quench the fire Your Spirit has kindled in us. May the intercession of St Vincent de Paul, grant us the grace of following the way of the Cross, to stand beneath it with our Mother, the Mother of God, Ave Maria! We make our prayer through Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Quote/s of the Day – 24 September – Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 8:19-21
But he said to them, “My mother and my brethren, are those, who hear the word of God and do it.”
Luke 8:21
“We recognise a tree by its fruit and we ought to be able to recognise a Christian by his action. The fruit of faith should be evident in our lives, for being a Christian is more than making sound professions of faith. It should reveal itself in practical and visible ways. Indeed it is better to keep quiet about our beliefs and live them out, than to talk eloquently about what we believe but fail to live by it.”
“A Christian is not his own master, since all his time belongs to God.”
St Ignatius of Antioch (c 35-c 108) Martyr
Father of the Church
“Look upon the face of the Crucified, who invites you to follow Him. He will be a Father, Mother– everything to you.”
Our Morning Offering – 15 September – Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
As we celebrate today the holy mystery of the Sacrifice of the Mass,
let us contemplate our Lord Crucified.
Sonnet to our Lord Crucified Anonymous
I am not moved to love You, O my God,
That I might hope in promised heaven to dwell,
Nor am I moved by fear of pain in hell,
To turn from sin and follow where You trod.
You move me, Lord, broken beneath the rod,
Or stretched out on the cross, as nails compel
Your hand to twitch. It moves me that we sell,
To mockery and death, Your precious blood.
It is, O Christ, Your love which moves me so,
That my love rests not on a promised prize,
Nor holy fear on threat of endless woe,
It is not milk and honey but the flow
Of blood from blessed wounds before my eyes,
That waters my buried soul and makes it grow.
Amen
Thought for the Day – 14 September – Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
“Exalt – glorify, extol, praise, acclaim, pay homage to, pay tribute to, revere, reverence, venerate, worship, raise on high”
The one symbol most often identified with Jesus and His Church is the Cross.
Today we celebrate The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This feast traces its beginning to Jerusalem and the dedication of the church built on the site of Mount Calvary in 335. But the meaning of the Cross is deeper than any city, any celebration, any building. The Cross is a sign of suffering, a sign of human cruelty at its worst. But by Christ’s love shown in the Paschal Mystery, it has become the sign of triumph and victory, the sign of God, who is love itself.
Believers have always looked to the Cross in times of suffering. People in concentration camps, in prisons, in hospitals, in any place of suffering and loneliness, have been known to draw, trace, or form crosses and focus their eyes and hearts on them. The Cross does not explain pain and misery. It does not give us any easy answers. But it does help us to see our lives united with Christ’s.
We often make the Sign of the Cross over ourselves. We make it before prayer to help fix our minds and hearts on God. We make it after prayer, hoping to stay close to God. In trials and temptations, the Cross is a sign of strength and protection. The Cross is the sign of the fullness of life that is ours. At Baptism, too, the Sign of the Cross is used, the priest, parents, and godparents make the sign on the forehead of the child. A sign made on the forehead is a sign of belonging. By the Sign of the Cross in Baptism, Jesus takes us as His own in a unique way. Today, let us look to the Cross often. Let us make the Sign of the Cross and realise we bring our whole selves to God—our minds, souls, bodies, wills, thoughts, hearts—everything we are and will become.
O cross, you are the glorious sign of our victory.
Through your power may we share in the triumph of Christ Jesus.
O Wisdom, what a game you bring to perfection, what a joke you play on my Jesus. You lay bare the King of Glory, making Him a spectacle of abuse. You affix to the trunk of a tree the price of the entire world. You alone weigh and mark out how much value this mystery has in paying the debt for all transgressions From the earth you lift up on the Cross the life of all that He, drawing everything to Himself in His death, (cf Jn 12:32) might make them live.
O wise Love, what a remedy you prepare so that universal ruin be filled. Oh, what a plaster you apply to cure the wound of all. O Love, your counsel is help for those who are lost. You condemn the blameless man to save the miserable culprit. You pour out innocent blood to be able to placate enraged justice and to ransom the motto is relief for those who are miserable. You plead the cause of peace. You heed the importuning mercy. By your prudent counsel you bring help for the anxiety of all through the most gracious will of your clemency. You impose an end to universal misery through the glorious work of your mercy. O Love, what you have devised is the opportunity for salvation for those who are lost.
Behold, O Wisdom, your pantry full of loving-kindness is already open. Ah, look upon me, the culprit, standing outside the door of your charity. Ah, fill the little cloak of my poverty with the blessing of your gentleness. Behold, before you is the empty little cup of my desire.” (cf Ps 37[38]:10) Ah, lay the latch of your fullness open.… Ah, do not treat me according to my sins nor repay me according to my iniquities (Ps 102[103]:10), my Jesus. Ah, just as You have truly been favourable to me with Your blood, so also by virtue of Your precious Cross, make restitution to me for all the wastefulness of my life.
Quote/s of the Day – 14 September – Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Gospel: John 3:13–17
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us, who are being saved, it is the power of God…
1 Corinthians 1:18
“We give glory to You, Lord, who raised up Your Cross to span the jaws of death like a bridge by which souls might pass from the region of the dead to the land of the living. .. You are incontestably alive. Your murderers sowed Your living body in the earth as farmers sow grain but it sprang up and yielded an abundant harvest of men raised from the dead.”
St Ephrem the Syrian (306-373) Father & Doctor of the Church
“The Cross is the hope of Christians, the staff of the lame, the comfort of the poor, the destruction of all pride, the victory over devils, the guide of youth, the pilot of mariners, the refuge of those who are in danger, the counsellor of the just, the rest of the afflicted, the physician of the sick, the glory of Martyrs.”
St John Chrysostom (347-407)
Father & Doctor of the Church
“Christ, who is your life, is hanging before you, so that you may look at the Cross, as in a mirror. There you will be able to know, how mortal were your wounds, that no medicine other than. the Blood of the Son of God, could heal. If you look closely, you will be able to realise, how great your human dignity and your value are…. Nowhere other than looking at himself, in the mirror of the Cross, can man better understand how much he is worth”
St Anthony of Padua OFM (1195-1231) Doctor of the Church
“Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven.“
St Rose of Lima (1586-1617)
We have always seen, that those who were closest to Christ our Lord, were those with the greatest trials. Let us look at what His glorious Mother suffered and the glorious apostles. Take up the Cross of Jesus. Help your Spouse to carry the burden that weighs Him down and pay no attention to what they may say about you. If you should happen to stumble and fall like your Spouse, do not withdraw from the Cross or abandon it. No matter how great your trials may be, you will see, that they are quite small, in comparison to His.
Blessed Teresa Maria of the Cross OCD (1846–1910)
“One ounce of a Cross is much better than a ton of books of prayer.”
“Anyone who seeks heaven but without suffering, is like someone who wants to buy goods, without paying.”
Blessed Jacques Ghazir Haddad (1875-1954)
“…only the Cross of Christ sheds light on the path of this life…. God is in the detached heart, in the silence of prayer, in the voluntary sacrifice to pain, in the emptiness of the world and its creatures. God is in the Cross and, as long as we do not love the Cross, we will not see Him, or feel Him…. If the world and men knew…. But they will not know, they are very busy in their interests, their hearts are very full of things that are not God.”
St Rafael Arnáiz Barón (1911-1938)
“The life of each and every one of us has been written. The crucifix is my autobiography. The blood is the ink. The nails the pen. The skin the parchment. On every line of that body, I can trace my life. In the crown of thorns I can read my pride.In the hands that are dug with nails, I can read avarice and greed. In the flesh hanging from him like purple rags, I can read my lust. In feet that are fettered, I can find the times that I ran away and would not let Him follow. Any sin that you can think of is written there.”
One Minute Reflection – 14 September – Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Gospel: John 3:13–17
“…And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”…John 3:14-15
REFLECTION – “We are celebrating the feast of the cross which drove away darkness and brought in the light… Had there been no cross, Christ could not have been crucified. Had there been no cross, Life Itself could not have been nailed to the tree. And if Life had not been nailed to it, they would be no streams of immortality pouring from Christ’s side, blood and water for the world’s cleansing. The legal bond of our sin would not be cancelled, we should not have obtained our freedom, we should not have enjoyed the fruit of the tree of life and the gates of paradise would not stand open. Had there been no cross, death would not have been trodden underfoot, nor hell despoiled… The cross is called Christ’s glory, it is saluted as His triumph.”….St Andrew of Crete (650-740)
PRAYER – O God, who willed that Your Only Begotten Son should undergo the Cross to save the human race, grant, we pray, that we, who have known His mystery on earth, may merit the grace of His redemption in heaven. For You placed the salvation of the human race on the wood of the Cross, so that, where death arose, life might again spring forth and the evil one, who conquered on a tree, might likewise on a tree be conquered through Christ. O cross, You are the glorious sign of victory. Through your power may we share in the triumph of Christ Jesus. We adore you Christ and we praise you, for by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world. Amen
Quote/s of the Day – 3 September – The Memorial of Saint Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) “Father of the Fathers” and Blessed Brigida of Jesus Morello (1610-1679)
“Holy Scripture presents a kind of mirror to the eyes of the mind, so that our inner face may be seen in it. There we learn our own ugliness, there our own beauty. And there too we discover the progress we are making and how far we are from perfection.”
“When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.”
St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604)
Father & Doctor of the Church
“Father of the Fathers”
Thought for the Day – 30 August – the Memorial of Blessed Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster OSB (1880-1954)
Today is the anniversary of the death of the Blessed Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, who passed to his reward in heaven in 1954, after serving the church of Milan as her shepherd for just over 25 years and was Beatified in 1996.
Blessed Alfredo had several difficult years as the Shepherd of Milan with rise of Fascism and then advent of WWII. What is keenly recalled of Schuster as Bishop, is his solicitude for the people. He visited every parish of the diocese five times, holding several diocesan synods, writing many pastoral letters and founding a Seminary in Venegono. Monk or not, he was a true apostle for the good of the Church’s holiness and engagement in the world.
The funeral Mass was offered by the Cardinal Roncalli, now St John XXIII. In 1985, the cardinal’s tomb was opened and his mortal remains were found to be intact, the monk-bishop-cardinal-man of God was beatified by Saint John Paul II on 12 May 1996. The relics were given for the veneration of the faithful in one of the side-altars of the Duomo in Milan.
A treasure of Blessed Schuster is his scholarship in the Liber Sacramentorum, known in its English translation as The Sacramentary. It was written while he was Benedictine monk with the supreme reverence for tradition, adoration and intellect. In some ways, the volumes are dated, yet the work remains an invaluable reference point for liturgical scholarship today.
To the seminarians of Milan he taught in a characteristically Benedictine manner of the futility of ministry without personal holiness:
“I have no memento to give you, apart from an invitation to holiness. It would seem that people are no longer convinced by our preaching but faced with holiness, they still believe, they still fall to their knees and pray. People seem to live ignorant of supernatural realities, indifferent to the problems of salvation. But when an authentic saint, living or dead passes by, all run to be there. Do not forget that the devil is not afraid of our [parish] sports fields and of our movie halls – he is afraid, on the other hand, of our holiness.
Prayer on the occasion of the Beatification of Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster
Father, origin and source of all good,
we praise You and thank You
because, in the Blessed Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster
You have given us and made known
a gentle and tireless pastor,
“all-prayerful” man,
witness to the peace that only You can give.
Lord Jesus, Son of God,
You have been for the Cardinal Schuster, a model of life,
for Your love, he was a passionate servant of all.
Lord of life, peace and joy, grant that
his example may inspire us
and his prayer accompany us,
as we also give our lives
to the service of every human being.
Spirit of love, that makes us saints,
grant us to remember
his constant invitation to holiness.
Make us capable, as he was,
to love the poor, the forgotten, the persecuted;
give us the strength to dialogue with everyone,
with the confidence, to discover in every heart,
the seed of God.
Amen
May we not forget, the devil is afraid of our active striving for holiness.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.
Blessed Alfredo, Pray for our Seminarians and Priests, Pray for us All!
Quote/s of the Day – 28 August – The Memorial of St Augustine (354-430)
Father and Doctor of Grace
“God in his omnipotence could not give more, in His wisdom – He knew not how to give more, in His riches: – He had not more to give, than the EUCHARIST!”
“I will suggest a means whereby you can praise God all day long, if you wish. Whatever you do, do it well and you have praised God.”
“One of the holiest works, one of the best exercises of piety which we can practice in this world, is to offer sacrifices, alms and prayer for the dead.”
“It was pride, that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”
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“He need not fear anything nor be ashamed of anything, who bears the Sign of the Cross on his brow.”
Quote/s of the Day – 25 August – 21st Sunday of the Year in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 13:22–30
“The Narrow Door”
“In the difficulties which are placed before me, why should I not act like a donkey? When one speaks ill of him – the donkey says nothing. When he is mistreated – he says nothing. When he is forgotten – he says nothing. When no food is given him – he says nothing. When he is made to advance – he says nothing. When he is despised – he says nothing. When he is overburdened – he says nothing. The true servant of God must do likewise and say with David: “Before Thee I have become like a beast of burden.”
St Alphonsus Rodriguez SJ (1532-1617)
“All, can enter eternal life but for everyone, the door is narrow. They are not privileged. The path to the eternal life is open to all but it is narrow because it’s demanding, asks for commitment, abnegation and the mortification of selfishness.”
“To pass through the narrow gate, means we must commit ourselves to being small, that is humble of heart like Jesus, like Mary, His and our mother.”
“True friendship with Jesus is expressed in how one lives, in the goodness of one’s heart, in one’s humility, kindness and mercy, in one’s love for justice and truth, in one’s sincere commitment to peace and reconciliation. This, we might say, is the ‘identity card’ that qualifies us as true ‘friends,’ it is the ‘passport’ that will let us enter eternal life.”
Pope Benedict XVI
Angelus, 26 August 2007
“The whole of our life must pass through the narrow door which is Christ.”
Quote/s of the Day – 14 August – The Memorial of St Maximillian Kolbe OFM Conv (1894 -1941) “Martyr of Charity”
“A man cannot rise any higher than this. The Immaculate is the highest degree of perfection and sanctity of a creature. No man will ever attain this celestial summit of grace, for the Mother of God is unique. However, he who gives himself without limits, to the Immaculate, will in a short time, attain a very high degree of perfection and procure for God, a very great glory.”
“We do not limit ourselves in love. We want to love the Lord Jesus, with her heart, or rather, that she would love the Lord, with our heart.”
“Let us not forget, that Jesus not only suffered but also rose in glory; so, too, we go to the glory of the Resurrection, by way of suffering and the Cross.”
“The most deadly poison of our times is indifference. And this happens, although the praise of God should know no limits. Let us strive, therefore, to praise Him to the greatest extent of our powers!”
“Be a Catholic! When you kneel before an altar, do it in such a way that others may be able to recognise that you know before Whom you kneel.”
One Minute Reflection – 10 August – Feast of Saint Lawrence (Died 258), Deacon and Martyr, Gospel: John 12:24–26
“Whoever loves his life loses it and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life” … John 12:25
REFLECTION – “The Roman Church commends this day to us as the blessed Laurence’s day of triumph, on which he trod down the world as it roared and raged against him, spurned it as it coaxed and wheedled him and in each case, conquered the devil as he persecuted him. … The blessed Lawrence carried out the office of deacon in the Church of Rome. In that office he administered Christ’s sacred blood to the faithful and for Christ’s sake he shed his own blood. The blessed apostle John clearly expounded the mystery of the Lord’s Supper when he said: “Just as Christ laid down his life for us, so should we lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 Jn 3:16). Saint Lawrence understood this and acted accordingly. His self-sacrifice was similar in kind to that which he received at the altar. He loved Christ in his life and imitated Him in death.
Brethren, let us imitate Lawrence if we truly love Christ. We cannot show a better proof of our love than by imitating Him. “Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that we might follow his footsteps” (1 Pt 2:21)… Indeed the garden of the Lord contains not only the roses of martyrdom but also the lilies of virginity, the ivy of marriage and the violets of widowhood. So no-one, my dear brethren, need despair of his vocation. Christ suffered for all… Therefore we must try to understand how the Christian ought to imitate Christ other than by shedding his blood or enduring martyrdom.
The apostle Paul says of our Lord Jesus Christ: “His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God.” What majesty was His! Paul adds: “He emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave and became as men are” (Phil 2,6f.). What humility He showed! Christ humbled Himsel,; the Christian has His example to imitate. “Christ became obedient” (v.8). Why then should a Christian be proud? It was after enduring this humility and defeating death that Christ ascended into heaven, let us follow Him.” … St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor of the Church (From a sermon delivered by St Augustine in about 400 AD on the occasion of the Feast of St Lawrence.)
PRAYER – Lord God, You inspired St Lawrence with so ardent a love that his life was renowned for the service of Your people and his death for the splendour of his martyrdom. Help us to love what he loved and to live as he showed us. St Lawrence, Martyr for Christ and His Church, pray for us. Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, in union with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever amen.
One Minute Reflection – 6 August – Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord – Today’s Gospel: Luke 9:28-36
“This is my beloved Son. listen to him.”...Luke 9:35
REFLECTION – “Jesus is the Son-made-Servant, sent into the world to save us all through the Cross, fulfilling the plan of salvation. His full adherence to God’s will renders His humanity transparent to the glory of God, who is love. He is the fulfilment of revelation, that is why, beside Him appear transfigured, Moses and Elijah appear, they represent the Law and the Prophets, so as to signify that everything finishes and begins in Jesus. Their instructions for the disciples and for us, is this: “Listen to Him!”.
Listen to Jesus. He is the Saviour – follow Him.
To listen to Christ, in fact, entails taking up the logic of his Pascal Mystery, setting out on the journey with Him to make of oneself a gift of love to others, in docile obedience to the will of God, with an attitude of detachment from worldly things and of interior freedom. One must, in other words, be willing to “lose one’s very life” (cf. Mk 8:35), by giving it up so that all men might be saved, thus, we will meet in eternal happiness. The path to Jesus always leads us to happiness, don’t forget it!” … Pope Francis (Angelus, 1 March 2015)
PRAYER – Father, at the Transfiguration in glory of Your only-begotten Son, You confirmed the mysteries of faith by the witness to Jesus of the prophets Moses and Elijah. You foreshadowed what we shall be when You bring our sonship to its perfection. Grant that by listening to the voice of Jesus, we may become heirs with Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, God forever and may Mary, our tender and caring Mother, help us to be bright rays of the saving light of her Son Jesus. Amen
Quote/s of the Day – 30 July – The Memorial of St Peter Chrysologus “Golden Words” (c 400-450) Father & Doctor and St Maria de Jesus Sacramentado(1868-1959)
“A gentle maiden having lodged a God in her womb, asks as its price, peace for the world, salvation for those who are lost and life for the dead.”
“He is The Bread sown in the virgin, leavened in the Flesh, moulded in His Passion, baked in the furnace of the Sepulchre, placed in the Churches and set upon the Altars, which daily supplies Heavenly Food to the faithful.”
“For he who touches the Body of Christ unworthily, receives his damnation.”
“We exhort you, in every respect, honourable brother, to heed obediently what has been written by the Most Blessed Pope of the City of Rome; for Blessed Peter, who lives and presides in his own see, provides the truth of faith to those who seek it.”
“The poor stretch out the hand but God receives what is offered.”
St Peter Chrysologus “Golden Words”
(c 400-450) Father & Doctor
“Those who are merciful with the needy of the world will not lack God’s mercy.”
“The weight of the cross is burdensome for those carrying it but not, for those, who embrace it.”
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…”
One Minute Reflection – 26 July – Friday of the Sixteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year C – Today’s Gospel: Matthew 13:18–23 and the Memorial of Sts Joachim and Anne
“As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty and in another thirty.”…Matthew 13:23
REFLECTION – “Indeed, you all know how land is cultivated. First of all you pull out the weeds and throw away the stones, then you work the ground itself. You do it again a second time, a third time and finally… you sow. Oh, let it be like this in our souls! First of all let us uproot the weeds, that is to say our evil thoughts, then take out the stones, in other words, all our malice and obstinacy. Finally, let us work our hearts with the plough of the Gospel and the ploughshare of the cross. Let us break it by repentance, turn over the soil with almsgiving and with charity, prepare it for the seed of Our Lord… that it may joyfully receive the seed of the divine word and bring forth fruit, not just thirty but sixty and a hundredfold.”...St Caesarius of Arles (470-543) Monk & Bishop (Sermons to the people, no.6 passim ; SC 175)
PRAYER – O Lord, God of our Fathers, who bestowed on Saints Joachim and Anne this grace, that of them should be born the Mother of Your incarnate Son, grant, through the prayers of both, that we may work hard to deserve the grace You send us and thus attain the salvation You have promised to Your people. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Sts Joachim and Anne, pray for us! Amen
One Minute Reflection – 25 July – Feast of St James, Apostle, Gospel: Matthew 20:20–28
Jesus said in reply, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” They said to him, “We can.”……Matthew 20:28
REFLECTION – “Christ laid down His life for us, so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1Jn 3,16)… Jesus said to Peter: “When you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted but when you grow old … someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go…” (Jn 21,18). It was the Cross, the Passion, He promised him. “Go even so far as to pasture my sheep, suffer for my sheep.” This is what a good bishop is to be like. If he is not, he is no bishop…
Now listen to this other testimony. Two of His disciples, the brothers John and James who were sons of Zebedee, were ambitious for the first place without consideration for the others… Our Lord answered them: “You do not know what you are asking”, for he added: “Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” What cup is this if not that… of the Passion?… And they, forgetting their weakness, immediately said: “We can”. Then He said to them: “My cup you will indeed drink. But to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father”… In this way He gave proof of His humility for, in fact, everything the Father prepares is prepared, too, for the Son… He came in humility – He, the Creator, was created amongst us, He made us but He was made for us. God before time began, man in time, He delivered man from time. This great physician has come to heal our cancer… by His example, He has come to heal pride itself.
This is what we must give our attention to, in the Lord – let us consider His humility, drink the cup of His humility, clasp Him, contemplate Him. How easy it is to have elevated thoughts, easy to take pleasure in honours, easy to give one’s ear to flatterers and people who praise us. But to bear with insult, patiently undergo humiliation, pray for those who persecute us (Mt 5,39.44) – that is the Lord’s cup, that is the Lord’s feast.“… Saint Augustine (354-430) FathEr & Doctor of the Church – Sermon for the ordination of a bishop, Guelferbytanus no.32
PRAYER – Almighty ever-living God, who consecrated the first fruits of Your Apostles by the blood of Saint James, grant, we pray, that Your Church may be strengthened by his confession of faith and constantly sustained by his protection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. St James the Greater, Apostle of Christ, Pray for us! Amen
Quote/s of the Day – 26 June – Wednesday of the Twelfth week in Ordinary Time and the Memorial of Blessed Jacques Ghazir Haddad OFM Cap (1875-1954) “The Apostle of Lebanon” “The Apostle of the Cross”
“How I would prefer to take You in procession throughout the streets, rather than closing You up n the tabernacle!”
“One ounce of a Cross is much better than a ton of books of prayer.”
“Anyone who seeks heaven but without suffering, is like someone who wants to buy goods, without paying.”
“Prayer without trust, is like a letter in one’s pocket. It never reaches its destination!”
“Honouring Mary, no matter how sacred, is only the door leading to Jesus. Mary is the means, Jesus is the end. Mary is the road, Jesus is the destination.”
Saint of the Day – 13 June – St Anthony of Padua OFM (1195-1231) Doctor of the Church
The gospel call, to leave everything and follow Christ, was the rule of Saint Anthony of Padua’s life. Over and over again, God called him to something new in his plan. Every time, Anthony responded with renewed zeal and self-sacrificing to serve his Lord Jesus more completely.
His journey as the servant of God began as a very young man when he decided to join the Augustinians in Lisbon, giving up a future of wealth and power, to be a servant of God. Later, when the bodies of the first Franciscan martyrs went through the Portuguese city where he was stationed, he was again filled with an intense longing to be one of those closest to Jesus Himself: those who die for the Good News.
So Anthony entered the Franciscan Order and set out to preach to the Moors. But an illness prevented him from achieving that goal. He went to Italy and was stationed in a small hermitage where he spent most of his time praying, reading the Scriptures and doing menial tasks.
The call of God came again at an general chapter where no one was prepared to speak. The humble and obedient Anthon,y hesitantly accepted the task. The years of searching for Jesus in prayer, of reading sacred Scripture and of serving Him in poverty, chastity and obedience, had prepared Anthony to allow the Spirit to use his talents. Anthony’s sermon was astounding to those who expected an unprepared speech and knew not the Spirit’s power to give people words.
Recognised as a great man of prayer and a great Scripture and theology scholar, Anthony became the first friar to teach theology to the other friars. Soon he was called from that post to preach to the Albigensians in France, using his profound knowledge of Scripture and theology, to convert and reassure those, who had been misled by their denial of Christ’s divinity and of the sacraments..
After he led the friars in northern Italy for three years, he made his headquarters in the city of Padua. He resumed his preaching and began writing sermon notes to help other preachers. In the spring of 1231, Anthony withdrew to a friary at Camposampiero, where he had a sort of treehouse built as a hermitage. There he prayed and prepared for death.
On 13 June, he became very ill and asked to be taken back to Padua, where he died after receiving the last sacraments. Anthony was Canonised less than a year later and named a Doctor of the Church in 1946.
Anthony should be the patron of those, who find their lives completely uprooted and set in a new and unexpected direction. Like all saints, he is a perfect example of turning one’s life completely over to Christ. God did with Anthony as God pleased—and what God pleased was a life of spiritual power and brilliance that still attracts admiration today heaping miracle upon miracle during Anthony’s lifetime. He whom popular devotion has nominated as finder of lost objects, found himself by losing himself totally, to the providence of God.
St Anthony writes: “Christ, who is your life, is hanging before you, so that you may look at the Cross, as in a mirror. There you will be able to know, how mortal were your wounds, that no medicine other, than the Blood of the Son of God, could heal. If you look closely, you will be able to realise, how great your human dignity and your value are…. Nowhere other than looking at himself, in the mirror of the Cross, can man better understand how much he is worth”(Sermones Dominicales et Festivi III, pp. 213-214).
In meditating on these words we are better able to understand the importance of the image of the Crucified One for our culture, for our humanity that is born from the Christian faith. Precisely by looking at the Crucified One we see, as St Anthony says, how great are the dignity and worth of the human being. At no other point can we understand how much the human person is worth, precisely because, God makes us so important, considers us so important that, in His opinion, we are worthy of His suffering, thus, all human dignity appears in the mirror of the Crucified One and our gazing upon Him is ever a source of acknowledgement of human dignity…..Pope Benedict XVI (General Audience – February 10, 2010)
St Anthony of Padua, pray for us!
Wonderful St Anthony the miracle worker: https://anastpaul.com/2018/06/13/saint-of-the-day-13-june-st-anthony-of-padua-o-f-m-evangelical-doctor-hammer-of-heretics-professor-of-miracles-wonder-worker-ark-of-the-tes/
Celebrating St Anthony: https://anastpaul.com/2017/06/13/celebrating-the-life-and-miracles-of-st-anthony-of-padua-on-his-memorial-today-13-june/
O God, send forth Your Holy Spirit By St Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) Doctor of the Church
O God,
send forth Your Holy Spirit
into my heart
that I may perceive,
into my mind,
that I may remember,
and into my soul,
that I may meditate.
Inspire me to speak
with piety,
holiness,
tenderness
and mercy.
Teach, guide and direct my thoughts
and senses, from beginning to end.
May Your grace,
ever help and correct me,
and may I be strengthened now
with wisdom from on high,
for the sake of Your infinite mercy.
Amen
Thought for the Day – 5 May – Third Sunday of Easter, Year C, Gospel: John 21:1–19
“…Lead you where you do not wish to go.”…John 21:18
The Gospel of the appearance of the Lord at the Sea of Tiberias, ends with the installation of Peter in his pastoral office. Everything that precedes this, is preparatory -unsuccessful fishing, then the miraculous catch, after which Peter swims to the Lord and stands beside Him on the bedrock of eternity, while the rest of the Church brings her harvest to the two of them, at which point, Peter, himself, hauls the entire netfull ashore. Finally, the crucial question to Peter – “Do you love me more than these?” You, the Denier, do you love me more than the Beloved Disciple there, who stood under the Cross? Made conscious of his guilt by means of the threefold question, Peter answers with a repentant first ‘Yes’ (since he can, by no means say No), undoubtedly, gaining the strength to do so from John (in the communion of saints).
Without this confession of greater love, the Good Shepherd, who gives His life for his sheep, could not entrust His flock to Peter’s pasturing.
For the office Jesus has received from the Father, is identical, with His own loving sacrifice of His life, for His sheep.
Ever since Jesus bestowed this office on Peter, this unity of love and office has been unconditionally required. This unity is then sealed by the prediction of Peter’s crucifixion, the gift of completed discipleship. The cross will be bound up with the papacy, from this point onward, even when it is given to unworthy popes.
The more seriously a pope takes his office, the heavier the weight of the cross, on his shoulder becomes.
Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthasar
Light of the World
Pray for Pope Francis, amen!
Prayer for Pope Francis
O God, shepherd and ruler of all the faithful, look favourably on Your servant Francis, whom You have set at the head of Your Church as her shepherd; Grant, we pray, that by word and example he may be of service to those over whom he presides so that, together with the flock entrusted to his care, he may come to everlasting life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen
Quote of the Day – 27 April – Saturday of Easter week
“The life of each and every one of us has been written. The crucifix is my autobiography. The blood is the ink. The nails the pen. The skin the parchment. On every line of that body, I can trace my life. In the crown of thorns I can read my pride. In the hands that are dug with nails, I can read avarice and greed. In the flesh hanging from him like purple rags, I can read my lust. In feet that are fettered, I can find the times that I ran away and would not let Him follow. Any sin that you can think of is written there.”
Quote/s of the Day – 26 April – Friday of Easter week and the Memorial of St Rafael Arnáiz Barón OCSO (1911-1938)
“…only the Cross of Christ sheds light on the path of this life…. God is in the detached heart, in the silence of prayer, in the voluntary sacrifice to pain, in the emptiness of the world and its creatures. God is in the Cross and, as long as we do not love the Cross, we will not see Him, or feel Him…. If the world and men knew…. But they will not know, they are very busy in their interests, their hearts are very full of things that are not God.”
“How good God is, I thought! There is peace everywhere except in the human heart. …God is so good to me that, in the silence, He speaks to my heart and teaches me, little by little, sometimes in tears, always with the cross, to detach myself from creatures, not to look for perfection except in Him …”
St Rafael Arnáiz Barón (1911-1938)
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us, who are being saved, it is the power of God…
Quote/s of the Day – 24 April – Wednesday of Easter week and the Memorial of St Fidelis of Sigmaringen OFM.Cap. (1577-1622) and St Mary Euphrasia Pelletier (1796-1868)
“Woe to me if I should prove myself but a half-hearted soldier in the service of my thorn-crowned Captain.”
“What made the holy apostles and martyrs endure fierce agony and bitter torments, except faith and especially faith in the resurrection? What is it that today makes true followers of Christ cast luxuries aside, leave pleasures behind and endure difficulties and pain? It is a living faith that expresses itself through love. It is this that makes us put aside the goods of the present in the hope of future goods. It is because of faith that we exchange the present for the future.”
St Fidelis of Sigmaringen (1577-1622)
“May your heart be an altar, from which the bright flame, of unending thanksgiving ascends to heaven.”
“Draw near to our Lord, thoroughly aware of you own nothingness and you may hope all things from His Goodness and Mercy. Never forget that Jesus Christ is no less generous in the Blessed Sacrament than He was during His mortal life on earth.”
O my God, may every beat of my heart, be a prayer, to obtain grace and pardon for sinners. May all my sighs, be so many appeals to Your infinite mercy. May each look, have the virtue, to gain to Your love, those souls, whom I shall look on. May the food of my life, be to work without ceasing for Your glory and the salvation of souls. Amen
Quote/s of the Day – 23 April – the Memorial of Bl Teresa Maria of the Cross OCD (1846–1910)
Do you know what it means to be truly spiritual? It means becoming the slaves of God. Marked with His brand, which is that of the Cross, spiritual persons, because now, they have given Him, their liberty, can be sold by Him, as slaves of everyone, as He was. In acting this way, He doesn’t do us any harm but rather He grants us, a not insignificant grace.
We have always seen, that those who were closest to Christ our Lord, were those with the greatest trials. Let us look at what His glorious Mother suffered and the glorious apostles. Take up the Cross of Jesus. Help your Spouse to carry the burden that weighs Him down and pay no attention to what they may say about you. If you should happen to stumble and fall like your Spouse, do not withdraw from the Cross or abandon it. No matter how great your trials may be, you will see, that they are quite small, in comparison to His.
If we never look at Him or reflect on what we owe Him and the death He suffered for us, I don’t know how we’ll be able to know Him or serve Him. And without these works in His service, what value will our faith have? And what value will our works have, if they are separated, from the inestimable merits of Jesus Christ, our Good. And then, who will bring us to love this Lord?”
One Minute Reflection – 23 April – Tuesday of Easter week, First Reading: Acts 2:36-41and the Memorial of Bl Teresa Maria of the Cross OCD (1846–1910)
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptised every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit...Acts 2:36-38
REFLECTION – “Fix your eyes on the Crucified and everything will become easy for you. If His Majesty showed us His love by means of such works and frightful torments, how is it you want to please Him only with words?”…Bl Teresa Maria of the Cross (1846–1910)
PRAYER – Almighty, ever-living God, we confidently call You Father, as well as Lord. Renew Your Spirit in our hearts, make us ever more perfectly Your children. Grant that all who have received the grace of Baptism may strive to be worthy of their Christian calling and reject everything opposed to it. May the prayers of Bl Teresa Maria of the Cross (1846–1910), help us to grow in perseverance and strength as we follow in the way of the Cross.. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, in union with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Quote/s of the Day – 20 April – Holy Saturday – Easter Vigil in the Holy Night
“We give glory to You, Lord, who raised up Your Cross to span the jaws of death like a bridge by which souls might pass from the region of the dead to the land of the living. .. You are incontestably alive. Your murderers sowed Your living body in the earth as farmers sow grain but it sprang up and yielded an abundant harvest of men raised from the dead.”
St Ephrem the Syrian (306-373) Father & Doctor of the Church
“Sursum corda” – lift up your hearts, high above the tangled web of our concerns, desires, anxieties and thoughtlessness – “Lift up your hearts, your inner selves!” In both exclamations we are summoned, as it were, to a renewal of our Baptism: “Conversi ad Dominum” – we must distance ourselves ever anew from taking false paths, onto which we stray so often in our thoughts and actions. We must turn ever anew towards Him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We must be converted ever anew, turning with our whole life towards the Lord. And ever anew we must allow our hearts to be withdrawn from the force of gravity, which pulls them down and inwardly we must raise them high,in truth and love. At this hour, let us thank the Lord, because through the power of His word and of the holy Sacraments, He points us in the right direction and draws our heart upwards.”
Pope Benedict
22 March 2008
Yes, Lord, make us Easter people, men and women of light, filled with the fire of Your love. Amen
The Stations of the Cross – 19 April – Friday of the Passion of the Lord, 3 p.m.
Meditations on the Stations of the Cross
By Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
Begin with an Act of Contrition
V. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi. R. Quia per sanctam Crucem tuam redemisti mundum. V. We adore You, O Christ and we bless You. R. Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.
The Twelfth Station
Lord Jesus, You die on the cross
You hang on a cross like a criminal, a few faithful gather at Your feet. Your mother is there as her Son drips to death for His human creatures.
Yet, even nailed to a cross and dying from the torture, there is no mercy for You.
You ask for a small compassion and are given gall to drink.
There is no mercy for You, yet You constantly plead for mercy for me.
You even give me the Mother that You chose for Yourself.
And in Your passion, without solace, alone in the midst of the crowd, cut off from everyone, You are utterly alone.
Defiled even as You die, cursed and ignored with no possibility of human comfort, You cry out Your agony from the cross and at that moment tear, any barrier, between Your Father and me.
I should be the one hanging on that cross, guilty with all my sin but out of love, You have taken my place.
You give your last drop of precious blood and then looking at me, You breathe Your last, bow Your head, and die…for me.
V. Have mercy on us, O Lord. R. Have mercy on us.
I love You, Lord Jesus,
my love above all things,
I repent with my
whole heart for having
offended You.
Never permit me
to separate myself
from You again
grant that I may love always
and then do with me
what You will.
(St Alphonsus Liguori)
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