Lenten Reflection – 13 March – Tuesday of the 4th Week of Lent
Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12, Psalms 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9, John 5:1-16
Ezekiel 47:9 – And wherever the river goes every living creature which swarms will live, and there will be very many fish; for this water goes there, that the waters of the seak may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.
John 5:6-9 – When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked.
The theme of life-giving water again dominates the readings of today’s Mass. “Come to the waters, all who thirst, though you have no money, come and drink with joy” (Entrance Antiphon). The time for the prospective converts’ baptism is drawing near.
We need to be reminded that we don’t have to imagine ourselves as catechumens to share their desire and thirst. We can and do, always long for greater and greater union in love “All who thirst, come to the waters.” The Opening Prayer is not just for catechumens but for us all – “Father, may our lenten observance prepare us to embrace the paschal mystery and proclaim Your salvation with joyful praise.”
To embrace the paschal mystery is to die and rise with Jesus. It is the ultimate glory of every human, baptised or not. If we do not yet experience the fullness of the thirst for God signified by the living waters of baptism, it may well be that our thirst has been dulled by our personal alienation from Christ. Conversion to Christ is ongoing, it never ends! This conversion we claim to be working at, is it for real and for how long? We don’t have to tell our Lord that we have no-one to put us into the water, we KNOW where the pool is – it is the Sacrament of Confession, it is in Confession where He heals us just as He healed the man at the pool! The healing pool is also the Eucharist and certainly, it will be the grace-filled moment of our baptismal renewal on Holy Saturday night and Easter.
What the catechumens longed for, we possess now – Baptism, the Eucharist, Confession and these are always available. We don’t even have to wait for Easter!
In our Easter encounter with Him who is our Good Shepherd and who says, “I lay down my life for my sheep”, satisfies all our wants and desires and needs. “In green pastures He will give us rest, He will lead us along the waters of peace” (Communion Antiphon). In the Eucharist, in Confession, God is and always will be in our midst! Run to Him, praise Him!…(Fr E Lawrence OSB- Daily Meditations for Lent)
When has God been most present to you? How often to I attend Daily Mass and Confession? Could I change this practise – today and for the rest of my life?
“Ah, who would not be touched? …. A God who weeps with so many tears at the loss of one soul and Who cries unceasingly: My friend, my friend, why proceedest thou thus to lose thy soul and thy God? Stop! Stop! Ah! Look at my tears, my Blood which flows yet. Must I die a second time to save thee? Look at me. Ah! Angels from Heaven descend upon earth, come and weep with me for the loss of this soul! Oh, that a Christian should be so unfortunate as to persevere still in running towards the abyss despite the voice which his God causes him to hear continually! But, you may say to me, no one says these things to us. Oh my friends, unless you want to stop up your ears, you will hear the voice of God, which follows you unceasingly.
Tell me, my friends, then, what is this remorse of conscience which overwhelms you in the midst of sin? Why do these anxieties and storms agitate you? Why this fear, this dread that you are in, when you seem to be forever expecting to be crushed by the thunders of Heaven? How many times, even when you were sinning, have you not experienced the touch of an invisible hand which seemed to push you away, as if someone were saying: Unhappy man, what are you doing? Unhappy man, where are you going? Ah my son, why do you wish to damn yourself? ….
Would you not agree with me that a Christian who despises so many graces deserves to be abandoned and rejected because he has not listened to the voice of God or profited by His graces? On the contrary, my dear brethren, it is God Himself Who is scorned by this ungrateful soul who would seem to wish to put Him to death again. All creation demands vengeance and it is, in fact, God alone Who wishes to save this soul and Who is opposed to all that could be prejudicial to it.
He watches over its salvation as if it were the only soul in the world.”...St John Vianney (1786-1859)
For a small teardrop from the eye can cause an entire evil platoon of the Tempter’s army to shrink away, like the squirming of centipedes or earthworms, drowning in a puddle of oil or a drop of some lethal potion. And the faint groan of a sighing heart, rising from the soul, is like a warm southerly breeze, mixed with sun, that melts the fiercest blizzard, for like storms, they are easily born and when opposed, quickly die.
St Gregory of Narek (c951-c1010) Doctor of the Church
Quote/s of the Day – 13 March – “Speaking of Confession”
“In failing to confess, Lord, I would only hide You from myself, not myself from You.”
St Augustine (354-430) Doctor of the Church
“Confession is like a bridle that keeps the soul which reflects on it from committing sin but anything left unconfessed we continue to do without fear as if in the dark.”
St John Climacus (579-649)
“Confession is an act of honesty and courage – an act of entrusting ourselves, beyond sin, to the mercy of a loving and forgiving God.”
St Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)
“Each one must confess his sin so that God’s forgiveness, already granted on the Cross, may have an effect in his heart and in his life.
St Augustine writes further: “God accuses your sins and if you also accuse them, you are united to God…. When your own deeds will begin to displease you, from that time your good works begin, as you find fault with your evil works. The confession of evil works is the beginning of good works” (ibid., 13: PL 35, 1191).
Sometimes men and women prefer the darkness to the light because they are attached to their sins. Nevertheless it is only by opening oneself to the light and only by sincerely confessing one’s sins to God that one finds true peace and true joy. It is therefore important to receive the Sacrament of Penance regularly, especially during Lent, in order to receive the Lord’s forgiveness and to intensify our process of conversion.”
One Minute Reflection – 13 March – The Memorial of St Leander (c 534-c 600)
For his sake I have forfeited everything….so that Christ may be my wealth and I may be in him....Philippians 3:8-9
REFLECTION – “This man of suave eloquence and eminent talent shone as brightly by his virtues as by his doctrine. By his faith and zeal the Gothic people have been converted from Arianism to the Catholic faith”…St Isidore of Seville speaking of his brother St Leander, whom we celebrate today.
PRAYER – Help me to discern through prayer and meditation what You truly want of me. Then enable me to offer it to You – and indeed to offer myself and all I have to You. St Leander, you were and are an example to all of total and complete commitment to the Glory of the Kingdom and the One, True Faith. Grant Holy Father, that by the prayers of St Leander we may too be filled with zeal and love, amen!
Lenten Reflection – 27 February 2018 – Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent, Year B and the Memorial of St Gregory of Narek (950-1003) – Doctor of the Church
Isaiah 1:10, 16-20, Psalms 50:8-9, 16-17, 21, 23, Matthew 23:1-12
Isaiah 1:10 – Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
Psalm 50:8-9 – I do not reprove you for your sacrifices; your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will accept no bull from your house, nor he-goat from your folds.
Matthew 23:2-3 – “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice… All their actions are done to be seen by others, for they broaden their CLERICAL COLLARS and lengthen their CHASUBLES.”
God often works by shocking us (otherwise we should drift into comfortable complacency). Today’s readings are very shocking indeed.
First of all you have Isaiah calling the religious leaders of his time and place “rulers of Sodom” and his compatriots, ‘peoples of Gomorrah” and as they digest this he bellows at them: “Wash! Make yourselves clean!” and reminds them – that is us of course, of how much they have got wrong and how much they have still to put right.
But there is hope, nevertheless, ‘come now, let us reason together’, says God disarmingly.
And the Psalm today offers another shock. Suddenly, it is the sacrificial system that is thrown into doubt. God is apparently bored by all these sacrifices – unless they are accompanied by internal reform, they are of not value. And this Lent, the same applies to all of us, of course!
Finally, the Gospel brings yet another shock, as Jesus lays into the Pharisees and scribes. Now, we must be beware of nodding wisely as we listen and saying ‘quite right Jesus, they had it coming to them’, for the scribes and the Pharisees are you and me, anyone who exercises any kind of Christian leadership and so ‘I have translated the word ‘phylactery’ as ‘clerical collar’ and ‘hem’ as ‘chasuble’. For all these criticisms can be laid against us all and this Lent we need to look closely at this fact! (Fr Nicholas King S.J. – Daily Meditations for Lent)
Our task, by contrast, is to ‘humble ourselves’ as Jesus did in the awfulness of the Cross and from that plight it is possible for God to rescue us.
Sometimes we need to be reminded of our failings in order to start that turn back toward God. Many of us are unaware that we are in the pig pen like the prodigal before he realised his state and sought his father’s house.
Where in my life could I be more humble? Where do I seek recognition, honour or positions of power, perhaps to the detriment of my neighbour? Has power gone to my head?
YOU HAVE NOT THE TIME!
“We can only find our happiness on earth in loving God and we can only love Him in prayer to Him. We see that Jesus Christ, to encourage us often to have recourse to Him through prayer, promises never to refuse us anything if we pray for it as we should. But there is no need to go looking for elaborate and roundabout ways of showing you that we should pray often, for you have only to open your catechism and you will see there that the duty of every good Christian is to pray morning and evening and often during the day — that is to say, always….
Which of us, my dear brethren, could, without tears of compassion, listen to those poor Christians who dare to say that they have not time to pray? You have not the time! Poor blind creatures, which is the more precious action: to strive to please God and to save your soul, or to go out to feed your animals in the stable or to call your children or your servants in order to send them out to till the earth or to tidy up the stable? Dear God! How blind man is! …. You have not the time! But tell me, ungrateful creatures, if God had called you to die that night, would you have exerted yourselves? If He had sent you three or four months of illness, would you have exerted yourselves? Go away, you miserable creatures; you deserve to have God abandon you in your blindness and leave you thus to perish. We find that it is too much to give Him a few minutes to thank Him for the graces which He is giving us at every instant! ….
You must get on with your work, you say.
That, my dear people, is where you are greatly mistaken. You have no other work to do except to please God and to save your souls. All the rest is not your work. If you do not do it, others will, but if you lose your soul, who will save it?”
St John Vianney (1786-1859)
And now, my heavy laden soul, what will you do? You call with your lips and voice to God most high, God, who cares only for deeds and is not taken in by words. You, my soul, with a heart always turned toward Egypt, how can I describe you?
Am I a Sodom, to be punished likewise with destruction, or the prosecutor of Ninevah, who was struck dumb?
Am I more cowardly and barbarous than the queen of the south, lower than Canaan, more stubborn than Amalek, incurable as the city of idols, a relic left behind from the rebellion of Israel, a reminder of the broken covenant of Judah, more reproachable than Tyre, more shunned than Zidon, more immoral than Galilee, more unpardonable than faithless Capernaum, maligned like Korazin, slandered like Bethsaida?
Or am I immodest as Ephraim as he grayed, or a dove, whose gentleness seems due to feeblemindedness and not to inner calm, or an evil serpent born of lion’s cubs, or the serpent’s egg filled with decay, or like the last blow against Jerusalem?
Or am I in the words of our Lord and the sayings of the prophets, an abandoned tabernacle about to collapse, the unlatched doors of the stronghold, my speaking edifice stained again, having given up my rightful inheritance, my home built by God, as Moses, David and Jeremiah prophesied? My thinking body now consumed by disease, afflicted with carping counsel, rehabilitated by the law, anointed with the clay of mildness, incapable of finding my own salvation, torn away from the maker’s hand, expelled as just punishment by order of the Almighty, to an unholy place, rejected, exiled, greatly shunned, nothing spared, having buried my gift in the ground, like the one chastised in the Gospel by losing his inheritance.
But you, God, Lord of souls and all flesh, in the words of one divinely graced, You are long-suffering and abounding in mercy. In the voice of blessed Jonah, grant that I finish to Your delight this book of prayers, now begun. And having sown these words with tears and set forth on this journey toward the dwellings You have prepared, may I return joyfully in the time of harvest with the bounty of atonement, with sheaves of goodness and the fruits of delight.
St Gregory of Narek (950-1003) – Doctor of the Church
Thought for the Day – 27 February – The Memorial of St Gregory of Narek (950-1003) – Doctor of the Church and Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent, Year B 2018
We welcome you, St Gregory of Narek, as our newest Doctor of the Universal Church, with gratitude and joy!
Gregory’s Book of Lamentations was the source of consolation and guidance for generations in times of immense suffering. His monastery survived for a thousand years but was destroyed by the Turks during the genocide.
Armenians lost Narek but they still have the book they call by that name “Narek”, in his honour and many Armenians have traditionally slept with a copy of the work under their pillows.
The words of Gregory, too, are consonant with Pope Francis’ call on all Catholics to reach out to God in our brokenness with humble and contrite hearts.
Perhaps we should allow St Gregory to help us through our Lenten journey this year?
As Gregory wrote in the Lamentations, “Hear the prayers of my embattled heart for mercy, when I cry out to you, ‘Lord,’ in my time of need.”
St Gregory of Narek- Doctor of the Universal Church, pray for us!
All you Holy Martyrs and Saints of Armenia, pray for us!
Quote of the Day – 27 February – The Memorial of St Gregory of Narek (950-1003) – Doctor of the Church
“You found me, a sinner, lost in darkness crying like the psalmist in prayer, and because of Your willing care you were called Shepherd, for not only did You care but You sought, not only did You find, O worker of miracles but with the goodness of Your love, a love that defies description, You rescued me, lifting me upon Your shoulders, to set me down alongside Your heavenly army, the heirs to Your fatherly legacy. ”
One Minute Reflection – 27 February – The Memorial of St Gregory of Narek (950-1003) – Doctor of the Church
“I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgement for every empty word they have spoken…“…Matthew 12:36.
REFLECTION – “But so that I do not become tedious and long-winded, let me compress my words, words I say echoing the blessed David in his inspired voice, “I seek you with all my heart.”…St Gregory of Narek
PRAYER – God of goodness, teach us Your ways. Do not let us waste a moment in futile and worthless words and deeds but help us to seek and to find You. Grant that by the prayers of St Gregory, we may follow the steps of Your Son, so that we may be found worthy to stand with him and with all the saints, praising You with our hearts and words, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 27 February – The Memorial of St Gregory of Narek (950-1003) – Doctor of the Church
I Long Not so Much for the Gifts as for the Giver By St Gregory of Narek (950-1003)
I long not so much for the gifts
as for the Giver.
I yearn not so much for the glory
as the Glorified.
I burn not so much with the desire for life
as in memory of the Giver of Life.
I sigh not so much with the rapture of splendour
as with the heartfelt fervour for its Maker.
I seek not so much for rest
as for the Face of our Comforter.
I pine not so much for the bridal feast
as for the distress of the Groom,
through whose strength I wait with certain
expectation believing with unwavering hope
that in spite of the weight of my transgressions
I shall be saved by the Lord’s mighty hand and
that I will not only receive remission of sins
but that I will see the Lord Himself
in His mercy and compassion.
Saint of Day – 27 February – St Gregory of Narek (950-1003) – Doctor of the Church – Armenian monk, poet, mystical philosopher, theologian, writer and saint of the Armenian Apostolic Church and Catholic Church, born into a family of writers. Based in the monastery of Narek (Narekavank), he was “Armenia’s first great poet”and as “the watchful angel in human form”.
Born circa 950 to a family of scholarly churchmen, St Gregory entered Narek Monastery on the south-east shore of Lake Van at a young age. Shortly before the first millennium of Christianity, Narek Monastery was a thriving centre of learning. These were the relatively quiet, creative times before the Turkic and Mongol invasions that changed Armenian life forever. Armenia was experiencing a renaissance in literature, painting, architecture and theology, of which St Gregory was a leading figure. The Prayer Book is the work of his mature years. He called it his last testament: “its letters like my body, its message like my soul.” His best-known writings include a commentary on the Song of Songs and his “Book of Lamentations,” more commonly known as “Narek.” St Gregory left this world in 1003 but his voice continues to speak to us for all earthly time.
Pope Francis named the tenth century Armenian monk, St Gregory Narek, the 36th Doctor of the Church on 21 Feb 2015. I love the writing of St Gregory! He’s a poet to the core and demonstrated amply, like the Hebrew prophets, that beauty is the truest form of divine discourse. Many of his theological and mystical-ascetical works are written as a colloquy — a dialogue with God — as was St Augustine’s autobiography, the Confessions. Theological colloquy offers such a deep insight into the nature of theological discourse which must always be, in the first instance, a dialogue with the revealing God Himself. God reveals to us not mere data for speculative consideration but Himself for consummating union.
And, true to Pope Francis’ pastoral style, this doctor is chosen from the “margins” of the suffering church. (Incidentally, in 2012 Pope Benedict named a “marginal” medieval woman as Doctor of the Church, the twelfth century Abbess Saint Hildegard of Bingen. A genius. Sadly, so little fuss was made subsequently.
The Armenian Apostolic Church (great documentary here), that traces its origins back to the first century, has a rich monastic, liturgical and theological tradition and a rich history of saints and culture. But Armenian Christians also have a long history of oppression, climaxing in the horrors of the “Armenian Holocaust” genocide of 1915, carried out by the Ottoman Turks who slaughtered more than one million Armenian Christians.
The Armenian Divine Liturgy is magnificent in its poetry, sense of mystery, and theological depth. One of the most cherished hymns of the Liturgy is called Khorhoort Khoreen, “O Mystery Deep.” (Dr Tom Neal)
O Mystery deep, inscrutable, without beginning. Thou hast decked Thy supernatural realm as a chamber unto the light unapproachable and hast adorned with splendid glory the ranks of Thy fiery spirits.
St Gregory has shown up a couple of times in Magisterial writings. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, for instance, contains a reference to him:
Medieval piety in the West developed the prayer of the rosary as a popular substitute for the Liturgy of the Hours. In the East, the litany called the Akathistos and the Paraclesis remained closer to the choral office in the Byzantine churches, while the Armenian, Coptic, and Syriac traditions preferred popular hymns and songs to the Mother of God. But in the Ave Maria, the theotokia, the hymns of St Ephrem or St Gregory of Narek, the tradition of prayer is basically the same. (§2678)
St Pope John Paul II also referred to him in his encyclical, Redemptoris Mater:
In his panegyric of the Theotokos, Saint Gregory of Narek, one of the outstanding glories of Armenia, with powerful poetic inspiration ponders the different aspects of the mystery of the Incarnation, and each of them is for him an occasion to sing and extol the extraordinary dignity and magnificent beauty of the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Word made flesh.
With the formation of the Armenian Catholic Church St Gregory received his first liturgical veneration within the Catholic Church. He has not been officially canonised by the pope. Some have speculated that the declaration of Gregory as a Doctor of the Church might have served as an equipollent canonization (see more on this below). Others have simply stated that the recognition of the Armenian liturgy and liturgical calendar by the Catholic Church served as a confirmation of the cultus of saints in that rite. Though it appears that he was placed in the Roman Martyrology, prior to the declaration on 12 April 2015.
St. Gregory’s proclamation as a Doctor of the Church was commemorated by the Vatican City state with a postage stamp issued 2 September 2015.
Equipollent or equivalent canonisation
It should be noted that when Pope Benedict XVI declared St. Hildegard von Bingen as a Doctor of Church he used the process of equipollent or equivalent canonisation, as she also had not been formally canonised. Even St Albert the Great was canonised in this fashion when he was declared a doctor of the Church in 1931 by Pope Pius XI. Pope Benedict used this process of canonisation a few other times and Pope Francis has also done so.
‘When there is strong devotion among the faithful toward holy men and women who have not been canonised, the Pope can choose to authorise their veneration as saints without going through that whole process. … This is often done when the saints lived so long ago that fulfilling all the requirements of canonisation would be exceedingly difficult.’
One Minute Reflection – 25 February 2018 – Second Sunday of Lent, Year B and the Memorial of Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani (1806-1855)
Work with anxious concern to achieve your salvation….Philippians 2:12
REFLECTION – “You have been created for the glory of God
and your own eternal salvation….this is your goal;
this is the centre of your life;
this is the treasure of your heart.
If your reach this goal, you will find happiness.
If you fail to reach it, you will find misery.”….St Robert Bellarmine
PRAYER – Heavenly Father, teach me to do everything for Your honour and glory.
Grant me the grace to work out my salvation with anxious concern each day of my life. Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani, you focused your whole life on achieving salvation and helping all those who came in contact with you to do the same, please pray for us, amen.
24 February 2018 – Saturday of the First Week of Lent
Deuteronomy 26:16-19, Psalms 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8, Matthew 5:43-48
Deuteronomy 28:16 – “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances; you shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Matthew 5:48 – “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The theme of today’s liturgy is law but not just any kind of law. The Law of the Lord rests on the single crucial fact of God’s having chosen the Jewish people as His very own. He made an agreement, a covenant with them. He never intended His covenant to be a burden on them. He chose them simply because He loved them. He Himself compared the covenant to marriage between a man and a woman. Marriage implies mutual respect, mutual obligation and above all, mutual love. Marriage cannot be static – if it does not evolve into deeper and deeper love and trust, it deteriorates and falls apart. Both parties have to be faithful to the obligations they freely have taken upon themselves. And that is what this law of the Lord is all about.
We Christians believe, that the Old Testament people of God has evolved into the Church, the Body of Christ, His Spouse. At the Last Supper, Jesus said “This cup … is the new Covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:29)
We, as the people of God are still responsible for fulfilling our part of the Covenant. But we, like the Old Testament people can and do grow careless. The marriage ‘cools off’, as it were. It needs renewal, it needs a ‘marriage encounter’ with our God. Lent is an extended ‘married couples retreat’ for us and for Him!
At the Last Supper, Jesus established the new Covenant and He also gave us a new law “a new commandment” that we love one another. Yesterday, He told us how much we need forgiving hearts. Today He gets tough: “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?” And He ends with the command that may seem impossible to fulfil – “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Fulfilling Jesus’ command is what our Christian life and above all LENT, it all about. It is a progressive process of co-operating with God in His will to make us a perfect spouse for Himself. We can fast, give alms, pray day and night but it is all a waste of time unless we at least try to fulfill this new commandment of the Lord. The ideal Jesus sets before us is not just tolerance of those who do not like us or whom we do not like, or the stranger who make us feel afraid and protective of our ‘patch’. Too often tolerance comes close to mindless indifference, which is the exact opposite of love!
Life with God, like any marriage, has to be worked at. Love is hard, it is a lifetime task that is never finished. Nor will Christ’s Bride, the Church, be the perfect bride until the end of time. BUT, we can be sure our God will do His part. It is only when we do all in our power to love and forgive that He will take over and love in us, with our hearts and then we will be perfected as our heavenly Father is perfect!…..Fr E Lawerence OSB
Is there someone who has hurt me or who is ‘an enemy’? Pray for them! Who are the groups in the world whom I hate or fear? Pray for them! Are there strangers in my neighbourhood of whom I am perhaps nervous or afraid, go to them and pray for them!
Prayer for the Gift of Prayer By St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) Doctor of the Church
O Incarnate Word, You have given Your Blood and Your Life to confer on our prayers that power by which, according to Your promise, they obtain for us all that we ask. And we, O God, are so careless of our salvation, that we will not even ask You for the graces that we must have, if we should be saved! In prayer You have given us the key of all Your Divine treasures; and we, rather than pray, choose to remain in our misery. Alas! O Lord, enlighten us, and make us know the value of prayers, offered in Your name and by Your merits, in the eyes of Your Eternal Father. Amen
Our Morning Offering – 24 February – The Memorial of Blessed Thomas Mary Fusco
The One Thing Necessary By St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) Doctor of the Church
O my God,
help me to remember,
that time is short, eternity long.
What good is all the greatness of this world
at the hour of death?
To love You, my God
and save my soul is the one thing necessary.
Without You, there is no peace of mind or soul.
My God, I need fear only sin
and nothing else in this life,
for to lose You, my God, is to lose all.
O my God, help me to remember,
that I came into this world with nothing,
and shall take nothing from it when I die.
To gain You, I must leave all.
But in loving You,
I already have all good things,
the infinite riches of Christ and His Church in life,
Mary’s motherly protection and perpetual help,
and the eternal dwelling place Jesus has prepared for me.
Eternal Father, Jesus has promised
that whatever we ask
in His Name will be granted us.
In His Name, I pray:
give me a burning faith,
a joyful hope,
a holy love for You.
Grant me perseverance in doing Your will
and never let me be separated from You.
My God and my All,
make me a saint.
Amen
23 February 2018 – Friday of the First Week of Lent – The Memorial of St Polycarp (c 69 – c 155) Martyr and Apostolic Father of the Church
Ezekiel 18:21-28, Psalms 130:1-8, Matthew 5:20-26
Ezekiel 18:21-22 – “But if a wicked man turns away from all his sins which he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness which he has done he shall live.”
Matthew 5:20 – “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Who wants to enter the Kingdom of Heaven? Certainly all of us do! That should be our primary goal in life. And, along with that goal, we should seek to bring as many people with us as possible.
Too often we fail to see this as an ultimate goal in life. We fail to keep our eyes on Heaven as the primary reason we are here on Earth. It’s very easy to get caught up in the day-to-day satisfactions of what we may call the “mini goals” of life. These are goals such as entertainment, money, success, and the like. And we can often make these mini goals our only goals at times.
So how about you? What is your goal? What is it you strive for and seek throughout your day? If you honestly examine your actions throughout each day you may be surprised that you are actually seeking unimportant and passing mini goals more than you realize.
Jesus gives us one bit of clear direction in this passage above on how to attain that ultimate goal of life – the Kingdom of Heaven. The path He points to is righteousness.
What is righteousness? It’s simply being real. Being authentic. Not fake. And most especially, it’s being real in our love of God. The Pharisees struggled with pretending they were holy and good followers of the will of God. But they were not very good at it. They may have been good at the acting job, and they may have convinced themselves and others, but they could not fool Jesus. Jesus could see through the fake veneer and perceive that which was underneath. He could see that their “righteousness” was only a show for themselves and others.
And a great part of this, is our relationship with our neighbour – with everyone we come into contact with! This is not easy – “whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift.” So we have been told – this is as clear as daylight – there can be no desenting or pretending – go and do it!
Reflect, today, upon your own righteousness – your honesty and sincerity in striving for holiness. If you want to daily keep Heaven as your ultimate goal, then you must also strive to make each daily mini goal an honest attempt at holiness. We must daily seek Christ with all sincerity and truth in all the small things of life. We must then let that sincerity shine through, showing what truly lies beneath. To be righteous, in the truest sense, means we sincerely seek God throughout our day and make that sincerity the constant goal of our life.
Is there someone I need to make peace with?
Pray for the grace of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Am I keeping my eyes on my ultimate goal or do I allow this daily life to become the goal?
Fr Nicholas King S.J.
Learn the kindness of the Crucified. His enemies said, “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” Not so Christ, but supplicating the Father, He said: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” For if His blood had indeed fallen upon them and upon their children, the apostles would not have been made out of their children, neither three thousand nor five thousand would have believed on the spot. See how barbarous and cruel those were towards their descendants – they ignored even nature itself, while God was more loving than all the fathers put together, and tenderer than any mother.
He did not at once let the chastisement and penalty fall upon them, but He allowed forty years and more to pass after the cross. Our Lord Himself was crucified under Tiberius, and their city was destroyed under Vespasian and Titus. Now why did He allow so long a time to elapse after all these things? Because He wished to give them time for repentance, so that they might put off their impieties and be quit of their crimes. As, having a respite for conversion, they remained in their impenitence, He at last inflicted punishment upon them, and destroying their city, sent them out wanderers over the, face of the earth. And this He did through love. He dispersed them that they might everywhere see that Christ whom they had crucified adored, and that seeing Him adored by all they might learn His power and acknowledge their own exceeding wickedness, and in acknowledging might come to the truth….St John Chrysostom
Support us all the Day Long Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
O Lord, support us all the day long of this troublous life, until the shades lengthen and the evening comes and the busy world is hushed, the fever of life is over and our work is done. Then, Lord, in Your mercy, grant us a safe lodging, a holy rest and peace at the last, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
One Minute Reflection – 22 February – The Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter
“On this rock I will build my Church”…Matthew 16:18
REFLECTION – “How blessed is the Church of Rome, on which the Apostles poured forth all their doctrine along with their blood!” (De Praescriptione Hereticorum, 36)…….Tertullian
“I decided to consult the Chair of Peter, where that faith is found exalted by the lips of an Apostle; I now come to ask for nourishment for my soul there, where once I received the garment of Christ. I follow no leader save Christ, so I enter into communion with Your beatitude, that is, with the Chair of Peter, for this I know is the rock upon which the Church is built.” (cf. Le lettere I, 15, 1-2)…………..St Jerome (343-420) Father & Doctor
PRAYER – Holy Father, send Your Divine Enlightener into the hearts of all Your faithful, filling us with the strength to fulfil our mission as the followers of the Chair of St Peter. And most of all, we pray Lord Holy God to inspire and light the way of our Holy Father, Francis. Sustain and guide him, keep him in health and strength, to lead Your people by the Light of the Way and the Truth. Holy Father, have mercy on us, Holy Spirit guide and lead us, Lord Jesus Christ be our intercessor and teacher, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 22 February – Thursday of the First Week of Lent
Penitential Prayer St Jerome (343-420) Father & Doctor of the Church
Show me, O Lord, Your mercy
and delight my heart with it.
Let me find You whom I so longingly seek.
Behold, here is the man
whom the robbers seized, manhandled
and left half dead on the road to Jericho.
Kind-hearted Samaritan,
come to my aid!
I am the sheep who wandered into the wilderness.
Seek after me
and bring me home again to Your fold.
Do with me according to Your Will,
that I may abide with You,
all the days of my life
and praise You with all those
who are with You
in heaven for all eternity.
Amen
Thought for the Day – 21 February – The Memorial of St Peter Damian O.S.B. (1007-1072) Doctor of the Church
Born in Ravenna, Italy, in 1007, Peter Damian knew hardship as a child. He became a successful teacher professor but only for a short time. He was ordained to the priesthood and in 1035, he entered a Benedictine monastery. The monks lived in small hermitages, with two monks in each. Peter was known for his fasting, penance and long hours of prayer. In 1043, he was elected abbot. Peter began re-organising the rules of the order to return to the original spirit and purpose of the order. Men were drawn to the monastery and Peter started five other foundations.
In 1057, Peter was made cardinal and bishop of Ostia. Soon he was called upon by the Church to settle disputes, attend synods and fight abuses. He devoted much energy to helping the clergy, as well as the leaders of the empire. With his letters, biographies, sermons, stories and poems, he encouraged others to restore discipline to their lives. He wrote many letters. Some 170 are extant. We also have 53 of his sermons and seven lives, or biographies, that he wrote. He preferred examples and stories rather than theory in his writings. The liturgical offices he wrote are evidence of his talent as a stylist in Latin .Through all his diplomatic missions, Peter Damian remained a monk at heart. He served the Church as he was asked, however and as best he could. He died February 22, 1072, and in 1828, was declared a Doctor of the Church.
Peter was a reformer and if he were alive today, would no doubt encourage the renewal started by Vatican II. He would also applaud the greater emphasis on prayer, that is shown by the growing number of priests, religious and laypersons who gather regularly for prayer, as well as the special houses of prayer recently established by many religious communities.
St Peter Damian, intercede for us that we may learn to pray!
Quote/s of the Day – 21 February – The Memorial of St Peter Damian O.S.B. (1007-1072) and St Robert Southwell S.J. (1561-1595)
“He pours light into our minds, arouses our desire and gives us strength… As the soul is the life of the body, so the Holy Spirit is the life of our souls.”
“Through a woman [Eve] a curse fell upon the earth; through a woman [Mary] as well, there returned to the earth a blessing.”
“When you are scorned by others and lashed by God, do not despair. God lashes us in this life, to shield us from the eternal lash in the next.”
St Peter Damian (1007-1072) Doctor of the Church
“God gave Himself to you: give yourself to God.”
“Where sin was hatched, let tears now wash the nest.”
“Christianity is warfare and Christians are spiritual soldiers.”
“Not where I breathe but where I love, I live.”
“When Fortune smiles, I smile to think, how quickly she will frown.”
St Peter Damian (1007-1072) Doctor of the Church (Optional Memorial)
St Avitus II of Clermont
Bl Caterina Dominici
Bl Claudio di Portaceli
St Daniel of Persia
Bl Eleanora
St Ercongotha
St Eustathius of Antioch
St Felix of Metz
St George of Amastris
St Germanus of Granfield
St Gundebert of Sens
Bl Noel Pinot
St Paterius of Brescia
St Pepin of Landen
St Peter Mavimenus
St Randoald of Granfield
St Robert Southwell S.J. (1561-1595)
St Severian of Scythopolis
St Severus of Syrmium
Bl Thomas Pormort
St Valerius of San Pedro de Montes
St Verda of Persia
—
Martyrs of Sicily – 79 saints – Seventy-nine Christians martyred together in the persecutions of Diocletian. They were martyred in c 303 on Sicily.
Martyrs of Hadrumetum – A group of 26 Christians martyred together by Vandals. We know little more than eight of their names – Alexander, Felix, Fortunatus, Saturninus, Secundinus, Servulus, Siricius and Verulus. c 434 at Hadrumetum (modern Sousse, Tunisia)
Martyrs Uchibori – Three Japanese laymen, all brothers, all sons of Paulus Uchibori Sakuemon, one a teenager, one only five years old and all martyred for their faith in the persecutions in Japan. 21 February 1627 in Shimabara, Nagasaki, Japan. Beatified 24 November 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Antonius
Balthasar
Ignatius
Saturday after Ash Wednesday – 17 February 2018 Isaiah 58:9-14, Psalms 86:1-6, Luke 5:27-32
Show me Lord, your way, so that I may walk in your truth.
Isaiah 58:9-10: “If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your darkest hour will be like noon.
Luke 5:32: “I have come to call not the upright but sinners to repentance.”
Isaiah makes it abundantly clear that it is our service to the poor and the weak that wins God’s favour, not lifeless religious practices. The message becomes most meaningful in modern society, marked by unfair distribution of resources, hatred, violence, abuse and mutual accusations. It is only when we strive against such evils that we win God’s approval. “You shall be like the watered garden” the prophet says. The image stands for the possession of every good thing that we desire.
The Gospel speaks of the call of Levi. His joy was so great that he could hardly contain it.
He organised a party for his fellow tax-collectors, which unfailingly earned the criticism of the Pharisees. Jesus’ answer was that His mission was precisely to wrongdoers, to the least and the lost. These words indeed offer us hope when we stray and urge us to reach out to others as Jesus did.
That is the Christian calling, that is the Christian ‘job’! (Archbishop Thomas Menamparanpil SDB – Gods Word)
Don’t you wonder what it was about Levi that moved Jesus to call him? And what was it that caused Levi to respond?
He must have been a pretty successful man in economic terms but as a tax collector, he was undoubtedly not popular in his own community and was seen as a collaborator with Rome. Perhaps he had a nagging sense of “there must be something more to life”. perhaps a sense of emptiness and sadness. Something touched him so deeply at Jesus call, that he let go of a previous way of life and opened himself instantly to the gift being offered. He was overjoyed, he was filled with joy, he was joyous, he bubbled over and threw a big party in order to share his joy! And Jesus attended the party! He was at the party! He is at our party too when we allow Him entrance to our hearts.
When asked who he is, Pope Francis responded “I am a sinner, whom the Lord has looked upon.” When we are able to see ourselves as Pope Francis does, as loved sinners, we are open to receive the forgiveness and help God longs to give us. When we are aware of ourselves as sinners, loved and called by God, we respond with a deep sense of repentance, gratitude and joy, we throw that party and invite other sinners to join us. We simply have to share the joy!
Where do I experience my own sinfulness? How is this awareness a gift? Spend some time with Jesus today sharing with Him your struggles and Your need of His help. Have a party with Him! (excerpt Fr Nicholas King S.J. ‘The Long Journey to the Resurrection’)
My soul, what have you done for God?
Look o’er your misspent years and see;
See first what you have done for God,
And then what God has done for thee!
Daily Lenten Prayer
Today Lord, I choose life,
I choose Your love
and the challenge to live it and share it,
I choose hope, even in moments of darkness,
I choose faith, accepting You as Lord and God,
I choose to let go of some part of my burdens,
day by day handing them over to You,
I choose to take hold of Your strength
and power ever more deeply in my life.
May this truly be for me a time of new life,
of change, challenge and growth.
May I come to Easter with a heart open to dying with You
and rising to Your new life, day by day.
Amen
Thought for the Day – – 16 February – The First Friday of Lent 2018
Alas, for our dearest Lord! up to this day what have we done for Him?
You see what He has done for us and the end of His doing it was to gain our love!
We look upon a crucifix and it hardly moves us.
We hear of His bittter passion but our eyes are dry and our hearts indifferent.
We kneel down to pray but we can hardly keep our thoughts fixed upon Him for a quarter of an hour together.
We go into His own most holy presence and we hardly bend the knee before the Tabernacle lest it should spoil our clothes.
We see others sin and what is it to us that Jesus is offended, so long as it is not we, who are risking our souls, by offending Him?
These are strange signs of love!
Surely Jesus cannot be much to us if this is the way we feel about Him.
Yet so it is.
We go our own way and do our own will.
The great thing is to please ourselves and to make things easy to ourselves.
Life must be taught to run smooth.
As to penance, it must be kept at arm’s length.
We must have our bodily comforts and worldly conveniences and our spiritual life must be nothing but a sufficiency of those inward consolations without which our souls give us pain, because they are not at rest.
If we worship God it is for self, if we do good to others, it is self we are seeking, even in our charity.
Poor Jesus Christ! as Saint Alphonsus used to say, “Poor Jesus Christ! Who thinks of Him? Who weds His interest?”
Father Faber – Remember Me: Daily Readings for Lent
Quote of the Day – 16 February – The First Friday of Lent 2018
“Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one and they give life to each other. Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them, they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast, if fast, show mercy, if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. When you fast, see the fasting of others. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give.”
St Peter Chrysologus (c 406 – c 450) Father & Doctor of the Church
One Minute Reflection – 14 February 2018 – Ash Wednesday
When you fast …groom your hair and wash your face ….Your father, who sees what is hidden will repay you.…Matthew 6:17-18
REFLECTION – “Fasting, when rightly practised, lifts the mind to God and mortifies the flesh. It makes virtue easy to attain and increases our merits.”…St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – Support us Lord, as with this Lenten fast we begin our Christian warfare, so that in doing battle against the spirit of evil, we may be armed with the weapon of self-denial. Heavenly Father, help us to fast for the right reasons. Teach us to fast to curb illicit desires and to obtain closer union with You. Help us Lord, during this Lenten season to cleave to You alone and grow in sanctity and charity. Create in me a clean heart O Lord! Through our Lord Jesus Christ in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 13 February – The Memorial of Blessed Jordan of Saxony O.P.
O Lord, King of all! By St Albert the Great O.P. (1200-1280) Doctor of the Church
We pray to You, O Lord,
who are the supreme Truth,
and all truth is from You.
We beseech You, O Lord,
who are the highest Wisdom,
and all the wise depend on You for their wisdom.
You are the supreme Joy,
and all who are happy owe it to You.
You are the Light of minds,
and all receive their understanding from You.
We love, we love You above all.
We seek You, we follow You,
and we are ready to serve You.
We desire to dwell under Your power
for You are the King of all.
Amen.
Only for You, in You, by You. By St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor of the Church
Lord Jesus,
let me know myself and know You
and desire nothing save only You.
Let me hate myself and love You.
Let me do everything, for the sake of You.
Let me humble myself and exalt You.
Let me think of nothing, except You.
Let me die to myself and live in You.
Let me accept whatever happens, as from You.
Let me banish self and follow You
and ever desire to follow You.
Let me fly from myself and take refuge in You,
That I may deserve, to be defended by You.
Let me fear for myself.
Let me fear You
and let me be among those, who are chosen by You.
Let me distrust myself and put my trust in You.
Let me be willing to obey, for the sake of You.
Let me cling to nothing, save only to You,
And let me be poor, because of You.
Look upon me, that I may love You.
Call me, that I may see You
and for ever enjoy You.
Amen
Our Morning Offering – 11 February – 6th Sunday of Year B
Your Sacred Table – A Prayer Before Holy Communion – By Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Doctor of the Church
Divine Saviour,
we come to Your sacred table
to nourish ourselves,
not with bread but with Yourself,
true Bread of eternal life.
Help us daily to make a good and perfect meal
of this divine food.
Let us be continually refreshed
by the perfume of Your kindness and goodness.
May the Holy Spirit fill us with His Love.
Meanwhile, let us prepare a place
for this holy food by emptying our hearts.
Amen.
Saint of the Day 7 February – Blessed Pope Pius IX (1792-1878) Bishop of Rome, Writer. The longest regining Pope. Bl Pius was born as Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti on 13 May 1792 in Senigallia, Italy and he died on 7 February 1878 in Vatican City of natural causes. He reigned from 16 June 1846 to the day of his death. He is the longest-reigning Pope in the history of the Church, serving for over 31 years. During his Pontificate, Pius IX convened the First Vatican Council (1869–70), which decreed Papal Infallibility and promulgated the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, thus articulating a long-held belief that Mary, the Mother of God, was conceived without original sin. He conferred the title Our Mother of Perpetual Succour on a famous Byzantine icon from Crete entrusted to the Redemptorists. Pope Pius IX named three new Doctors of the Church: Hilary of Poitiers (1851), Alphonsus Liguori (1871), and Francis de Sales (19 July 1877).Patronages – Pius Seminary of Rome, Senigallia, Diocese of Senigallia, First Vatican Council. His body is incorrupt.
Bl Pope Pius IX was born in Senigallia, Italy, on 13 May 1792, the son of Gerolamo of the Counts Mastai Ferretti and Caterina Solazzi, of the local nobility. He was baptised on the day of his birth with the name Giovanni Maria. Of delicate physical constitution but of very lively intelligence, his childhood was marked by little voluntary mortifications and an intense religious life.
In 1809 he moved to Rome for higher studies. A disease not well diagnosed, which some called epilepsy, forced him to interrupt his studies in 1812. He was accepted into the Pontifical Noble Guard in 1815 but because of his illness he was immediately discharged. It was at this time that St Vincent Pallotti predicted that he would become Pope and that the Virgin of Loreto would free him eventually from the disease.
After serving briefly in the Tata Giovanni Educational Institute, he participated as a catechist in 1816 in a memorable mission in Senigallia and, immediately thereafter, decided to enter the ecclesiastical state. He was ordained a priest in 1819. Conscious of his noble rank, he committed himself to avoiding a prelatial career in order to remain only at the service of the Church.
He celebrated his first Mass in the Church of St Anne of the Carpenters at the Tata Giovanni Institute, of which he was named rector, remaining there until 1823. He was immediately recognised as assiduous in prayer, in the ministry of the Word, in the celebration of the liturgy, in the confessional and above all in his daily ministry at the service of the humblest and neediest. He admirably united the active and the contemplative life: ready for pastoral needs but always interiorly recollected, with strong Eucharistic and Marian devotion and fidelity to daily meditation and the examination of conscience.
In 1823 he left the institute to serve the Apostolic Nuncio in Chile, Mons. Giovanni Muzi. There he remained until 1825, when he was elected President of St Michael’s Hospice, a grand but complex institution in need of effective reform. To it Mastai applied himself with more than gratifying results but without ever neglecting his priestly duties. Two years later, at the age of 35, he was consecrated Archbishop of Spoleto. In 1831 the revolution which had begun in Parma and Modena spread to Spoleto. The Archbishop did not want the shedding of blood and repaired, as much as possible, the deleterious effects of the violence. When calm was restored, he obtained a pardon for all, even for those who did not merit it.
Another turbulent see awaited Mastai in Imola, where he was transferred in 1832. He remained an eloquent preacher, prompt in charity toward everyone, zealous for the supernatural as well as the material well-being of his Diocese, devoted to his clergy and seminarians, a promoter of education for the young, sensitive to the needs of the contemplative life, devoted to the Sacred Heart and to Our Lady, benevolent towards all but firm in his principles. In 1840 he received the Cardinal’s hat at the age of 48.
Despite having shunned honours, on the evening of 16 June 1846 Mastai found himself burdened with the greatest of them: he was elected Pope and took the name Pius IX.
He had a difficult pontificate, but precisely because of that he was a great Pope, certainly one of the greatest. Thoroughly aware of being the “Vicar of Christ” and responsible for the rights of God and of the Church, he was clear, simple consistent. He combined firmness and understanding, fidelity and openness.
He began with an act of generosity and Christian sensitivity: amnesty for political crimes. His first Encyclical was a programmatic vision but anticipated the “Syllabus”: in it he condemned secret societies, freemasonry and communism. In 1847 he promulgated a decree granting extensive freedom of the press and instituted a civil guard, the municipal and communal council, the Council of State and the Council of Ministers. From then on his interventions as Father of all nations and temporal Prince continued unabated.
The question of Italian independence, which he sympathised with, did not set the Prince against the Pope, a fact that alienated the most intransigent liberals. The situation came to a head on 15 November when Pellegrino Rossi, the head of government, was killed and Pius IX had to take refuge in Gaeta. After the proclamation of the Roman Republic (9 February 1849), he moved to Portici and later returned to Rome (12 April 1850). He reorganised the Council of State, established the Council for Finances, granted a new amnesty, re-established the Catholic hierarchy in England and in Holland.
In 1853 he condemned Gallican doctrines and founded the well-known “Seminario Pio”. He established the Commission on Christian Archaeology, defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December 1854 and blessed the rebuilt St Paul’s Basilica which had been destroyed by fire in 1823.
In 1856 he approved the plan for railways in the Papal States and on 24 April 1859 inaugurated the first section between Rome and Civitavecchia. In 1857 he visited the Papal States and was welcomed everywhere with rejoicing. He sent missionaries to the North Pole, India, Burma, China and Japan.
Meanwhile dark clouds gathered over him with the Italian “Risorgimento”, the Piedmontese annexations that were dismantling the Papal States and the expropriation of the Legations. Suffering but undaunted, he continued to show his charity and concern for all. In 1862 he established a dicastery to deal with the concerns of Eastern-rite Catholics; in 1864 he published his Syllabus condemning modern errors; in 1867 he celebrated the 18th centenary of the martyrdom of Peter and Paul; in 1869 he received the homage of the entire world for the golden jubilee of his priestly ordination. Later that year he opened the First Vatican Ecumenical Council, the pearl of his pontificate, and closed it on 18 July 1870.
With the fall of Rome (20 September 1870) and of the temporal power, the saddened Pontiff considered himself a prisoner of the Vatican, resisting the “Laws of Guarantees”, but approving the “Work of Congresses”. He consecrated the Church to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, disciplined the participation of Catholics in political life with the Non expedit and restored the Catholic hierarchy of Scotland. Suffering from poor health, he gave his last address to the parish priests of Rome on 2 February 1878. On 7 February the longest pontificate in history ended with his holy death. His body is incorrupt. He was Beatified on 3 September 2000 by St Pope John Paul II. (vatican.va).
Writings
• Amantissimi Redemptoris – On Priests and the Care of Souls, by Pope Pius IX, 3 May 1858 • Apostolicae Nostrae Caritatis – Urging Prayers For Peace, by Pope Pius IX, 1 August 1854 • Beneficia Dei – On The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of His Pontificate, by Pope Pius IX, 4 June 1871 • Cum Nuper – On Care for Clerics, by Pope Pius IX, 20 January 1858 • Cum Sancta Mater Ecclesia – Pleading for Public Prayer, by Pope Pius IX, 27 April 1859 • Etsi Multa – On the Church in Italy, Germany, and Switzerland, by Pope Pius IX, 21 November 1873 • Exultavit Cor Nostrum – On the Effects of the Jubilee, by Pope Pius IX, 21 November 1851 • Graves ac Diuturnae – On the Church in Switzerland, by Pope Pius IX, 23 March 1875 • Gravibus Ecclesiae – Proclaiming a Jubilee for 1875, by Pope Pius IX, 24 December 1874 • Incredibili – On Persecution in New Granada, by Pope Pius IX, 17 September 1863 • Ineffabilis Deus – The Immaculate Conception, by Pope Pius IX, 8 December 1854 • Levate – On the Afflictions of the Church, by Pope Pius IX, 21 October 1867 • Maximae Quidem – On the Church in Bavaria, by Pope Pius IX, 18 August 1864 • Meridionali Americae – On the Seminary for Native Clergy, by Pope Pius IX, 30 September 1865 • Neminem Vestrum – On The Persecution Of Armenians, by Pope Pius IX, 2 February 1854 • Nemo Certe Ignorat – On Discipline for Clergy, by Pope Pius IX, 25 March 1852 • Nostis et Nobiscum – On The Church In The Pontifical States, by Pope Pius IX, 8 December 1849 • Nullis Certe Verbis – On the Need for Civil Sovereignty, by Pope Pius IX, 19 January 1860 • Omnem Sollicitudinem – On The Greek-Ruthenian Rite, Pope Pius IX, 13 May 1874 • Optime Noscitis – On Episcopal Meetings, by Pope Pius IX, 5 November 1855 • Optime Noscitis – On The Proposed Catholic University Of Ireland, by Pope Pius IX, 20 March 1854 • Praedecessores Nostros – On Aid for Ireland, by Pope Pius IX, 25 March 1847 • Quae in Patriarchatu – On the Church in Chaldae, by Pope Pius IX, 16 November 1872 • Quanta Cura – Condemning Current Errors, by Pope Pius IX, 8 December 1864 • Quanto Conficiamur Moerore – On Promotion of False Doctrines, by Pope Pius IX, 10 August 1863 • Quartus Supra – On the Church in Armenia, by Pope Pius IX, 6 January 1873 • Qui Nuper – On Pontifical States, by Pope Pius IX, 18 June 1859 • Qui Pluribus – On Faith And Religion, by Pope Pius IX, 9 November 1846 • Quod Nunquam – On the Church in Prussia, by Pope Pius IX, 5 February 1875 • Respicientes – Protesting the Taking of the Pontifical States, by Pope Pius IX, 1 November 1870 • Saepe Venerabiles Fratres – On Thanksgiving For Twenty-Five Years Of Pontificate, by Pope Pius IX, 5 August 1871 • Singulari Quidem – On the Church in Austria, by Pope Pius IX, 17 March 1856 • Syllabus of Errors, by Pope Blessed Pius IX, 8 December 1864 • Ubi Nos – On Pontifical States, by Pope Pius IX, 15 May 1871 • Ubi Primum – On Discipline for Religious, by Pope Pius IX, 17 June 1847 • Ubi Primum – On The Immaculate Conception, by Pope Pius IX, 2 February 1849 • Vix Dum a Nobis – On the Church in Austria, by Pope Pius IX, 7 March 1874
Quote/s of the Day – 4 February – 5th Sunday of Year B
“Speaking of the Eucharist/the Holy Mass”
“When Mass is being celebrated, the sanctuary is filled, with countless angels, who adore the divine victim, immolated on the altar.”
St John Chrysostom (347-407) Father & Doctor of the Church
“The Holy Mass would be of greater profit, if people had it offered in their lifetime, rather than having it celebrated for the relief of their souls, after death.”
Pope Benedict XV (1854-1922)
“One merits more, by devoutly assisting at a Holy Mass, than by distributing, all of his goods to the poor and travelling, all over the world, on pilgrimage.”
St Bernard if Clairvaux (1090-1153) Doctor of the Church
“The celebration of Holy Mass has the same value as the Death of Jesus on the Cross.”
St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church
“When you have received Him, stir up your heart to do Him homage, speak to Him about your spiritual life, gazing upon Him in your soul, where He is present, for your happiness, welcome Him as warmly as possible and behave outwardly, in such a way, that your actions, may give proof to all, of His Presence.”
St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Doctor of the Church
“If someone said to us, “At such an hour a dead person is to be raised to life, ” we should run very quickly to see it. But is not the Consecration, which changes bread and wine into the Body and Blood of God, a much greater miracle than to raise a dead person to life? We ought always to devote at least a quarter of an hour to preparing ourselves to hear Mass well. We ought to annihilate ourselves before God, after the example of His profound annihilation in the Sacrament of the Eucharist and we should make our examination of conscience, for we must be in a state of grace. to be able to assist properly at Mass. If we knew the value of the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, or rather, if we had faith, we should be much more zealous to assist at it.”
A Morning Offering of St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
My God, I give You this day.
I offer You, now,
all of the good that I shall do
and I promise to accept,
for love of You,
all of the difficulty, that I shall meet.
Help me to conduct myself,
during this day
in a manner pleasing to You.
Amen
AnaStpaul 
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