Category: FATHERS of the Church

Posted in CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, HOLY WEEK, LENT 2022, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on PATIENCE, Quotes on SALVATION, The PASSION, The WORD

Tuesday of Holy Week – 12 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – ‘… If we put Him on, if He is the Way of our salvation …’

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Tuesday of Holy Week – 12 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Jeremias 11:18-20, Mark 14:32-72; 15, 1-46

“May God have mercy on us and bless us; may He cause the Light of His Countenance to shine upon us and may He have mercy on us.” – Psalm 66:2

“And some began to spit on Him
and to cover His face
and to buffet Him
and to say unto Him: Prophesy;
and the servants struck Him
with the palms of their hands.”

Mark 14:65

“HE RECEIVED the spittings of insulters, who with His spittle had a little before made eyes for a blind man.
And He in Whose Name the devil and his angels is now scourged by His servants, Himself suffered scourgings!
He was crowned with thorns, Who crowns Martyrs with eternal flowers.
He was smitten on the Face with palms, Who gives the true palms to those who overcome.
He was despoiled of His earthly garment, Who clothes others in the vesture of immortality.
He was fed with gall, Who gave heavenly food.
He was given to drink of vinegar, Who appointed the cup of salvation.
That guiltless, that just One—nay, He who is Innocency itself and Justice itself—is counted among transgressors and Truth is oppressed with false witnesses.

HE, WHO SHALL JUDGE, is judged and the Word of God is led silently to the slaughter.
And when, at the Cross, of the Lord the stars are confounded, the elements are disturbed, the earth quakes, night shuts out the day, the sun… He speaks not, nor is moved, nor declares His Majesty even in His very Passion itself.
Even to the end, all things are borne perseveringly and constantly, in order that in Christ, a full and perfect patience may be consummated.

AND AFTER ALL THESE THINGS, He still receives His murderers, if they will be converted and come to Him.
And with a saving patience, He who is benignant to preserve, closes His Church to none.
Those adversaries…, if they repent of their sin, if they acknowledge the crime committed, He receives, not only to the pardon of their sin but to the reward of the Heavenly Kingdom.

WHAT CAN BE SAID, more Patient, what more Merciful? Even he is made alive by Christ’s Blood, who has shed Christ’s Blood!
Such and so great is the Patience of Christ and had it not been such and so great, the Church would never have possessed Paul as an Apostle.

BUT IF WE ALSO, beloved brethren, are in Christ.
If we put Him on, if He is the Way of our salvation, who follow Christ in the footsteps of salvation, let us walk by the example of Christ, as the Apostle John instructs us, saying, He who says, he abides in Christ, ought himself also, to walk even as He walked.
Peter also, upon whom by the Lord’s condescension the Church was founded, lays it down in his epistle and says:

CHRIST SUFFERED FOR US, leaving you an example, that ye should follow His Steps, Who did no sin, neither was deceit found in His Mouth; Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, threatened not but gave Himself up to him that judged Him unjustly.” – St Cyprian of Carthage (200-258) Bishop of Carthage and Martyr, Father of the Church (On Patience, 7-9).

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, St PETER!, The PASSION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 12 April – Tuesday of Holy Week – Jesus looked at him

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One Minute Reflection – 12 April – Tuesday of Holy Week – Jeremias 11:18-20, Mark 14:32-72; 15, 1-46

“ I know not this man of whom you speak. And immediately the cock crew again. And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said unto him: Before the cock crows twice, thou shalt thrice deny me. And he began to weep.” – Mark 14:71-72

REFLECTION – “The first time Peter denied, he did not weep because the Lord had not looked at him. He denied a second time and did not weep because the Lord still did not look at him. He denied a third time; Jesus looked at him and he wept very bitterly (Lk 22:62). Look at us, Lord Jesus, so that we might know how to weep for our sins. This shows us that even the fall of the Saints may be useful to us. Peter’s denial has done me no wrong, on the contrary, I have gained from his repentance – I have learned to be beware of faithless companions. …

So Peter wept and wept bitterly; he wept so hard that he washed away his offence with his tears. And you, too, if you would win pardon, wipe out your guilt with tears. At that very moment, in that same hour, Christ will look at you. If some kind of fall happens to you, then He, the ever-present witness of your intimate life, looks at you to call you back and cause you to confess your lapse. Then do as Peter did, who thrice said: “Lord, you know that I love you” (Jn 21:15). He denied three times and three times he also confessed. But he denied by night; he confessed in broad daylight.

All this has been written, to make us understand, that no-one should be puffed up. If Peter fell for having said: “Though all may have their faith in you shaken, mine will never be” (Mt 26:33), who is there to count on himself? … From whence then, Peter, shall I call you to mind, to teach me your thoughts as you wept? From heaven where you have already taken your place among the choirs of angels, or from the grave? For that death, from which the Lord was raised, did not reject you in your turn. Teach us what use your tears were to you. But you taught it without delay for having fallen before you wept, your tears caused you to be chosen to guide others, you who, to begin with, did not know how to guide yourself.” – St Ambrose (340-397) Bishop of Milan, Father and Doctor of the Church – Commentary on St Luke’s Gospel, 10,89f.

PRAYER – Almighty and eternal God, grant us so to celebrate thy mysteries of our Lord’s Passion, that we may deserve to obtain forgiveness. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2022, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on the CHURCH, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The PASSION, The WORD

Monday of Holy Week – 11 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Judas

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Monday of Holy Week – 11 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Isaias 50:5-10, John 12:1-9

“Help us, O God, our saviour and for the glory of thy name, O Lord, deliver us and forgive us our sins, for Thy name’s sake” – Psalm 78:9

“He (Judas Iscariot) said this,
not because he cared about the poor
but because, he was a thief
and held the money bag
and used to steal the contributions.”

John 12:6

“LOOK NOW AND LEARN that this Judas did not become perverted, only at the time when he yielded to the bribery of the Jews and betrayed his Lord. For not a few, inattentive to the Gospel, suppose, that Judas only perished, when he accepted money from the Jews, to betray the Lord. It was not then that he perished but he was already a thief and a reprobate, when following the Lord;,for it was with his body and not with his heart, that he followed. He made up the apostolic number of twelve but had no part in the apostolic blessedness. He had been made the twelfth in semblance and on his departure and the succession of another, the apostolic reality was completed and the entirety of the number conserved.

WHAT LESSON THEN, my brethren, did our Lord Jesus Christ wish to impress on His Church, when it pleased Him, to have one castaway among the twelve – but this – that we should bear with the wicked and refrain from dividing the body of Christ? Here you have Judas among the saints,- that Judas, mark you! who was a thief, yes – do not overlook it – not a thief of any ordinary type but a thief and a sacrilegis – a robber of money bags,but of such as were the Lord’s; of money bags but of such as were sacred! . … How much more severe ought to be, the sentence on the sacrilegious thief, who has dared to steal, not from places of any ordinary kind but, to steal from the Church!?

HE WHO THIEVES from the Church, stands side by side with the castaway Judas. Such was this man Judas and yet, he went in and out with the eleven holy disciples. With them, he came even to the table of the Lord, he was permitted to have intercourse with them but he could not contaminate them.

OF ONE BREAD did both Peter and Judas partake and yet, what communion had the believer with the infidel? Peter’s partaking was unto life but that of Judas unto death. For that good bread was just like the sweet savour. For as the sweet savour, so also does the good bread give life to the good and bring death to the wicked. “For he that eateth unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgement to himself:” – “judgment to himself,” not to thee. If, then, it is judgement to himself, not to thee, bear as one that is good, with him that is evil, that you may attain the rewards of the good,and be not hurled into the punishment of the wicked.” – St Augustine (354-430) Bishop of Hippo, Great Western Father and Doctor of the Church (On John 12:1-9 Monday of Holy Week).

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, JANUARY month of THE MOST HOLY NAME of JESUS, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on BLASPHEMY, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on the CHURCH, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS, The HOLY NAME, The WORD

“Quote/s of the Day – 11 April – ‘ … We are the aroma of Christ.’

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Quote/s of the Day – 11 April – Monday of Holy Week – Isaias 50:5-10, John 12:1-9

“However, in the allegorical
or mystical sense,
this woman prefigured the Church,
which offered the full and entire devotion
of it’s faith to Christ …
There are twelve ounces to a pound
and this is the amount of perfume
the Church possesses, having received
the teaching of the twelve Apostles,
as if it were a precious perfume.
Indeed, what more precious
is there than the Apostles’ teaching,
which contains both faith in Christ
and the glory of the Kingdom of heaven? ”

St Chromatius of Aquilaea (Died c 407)

“People who associate the name of Christian
with a dishonest life, injure Christ! …
If God’s Name, is blasphemed by bad Christians,
it is praised and honoured,
on the other hand,
by the good:
“For in every place, we are the aroma of Christ”
(2 Cor,14-15).
And it is said in the Song of Songs:
“Your name is oil poured out” (1,3).”

St Augustine (354-430)
Father and Doctor of Grace

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2022, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION, The WORD

Palm Sunday – 10 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – The Power of the Cross

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Palm Sunday – 10 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Philippians 2:5-11, The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew 26:36-75; 27:1-60

“My God, my God, look upon me, why have You forsaken me?” – Psalm 21:2

“Behold the hour is at hand
and the Son of man shall be betrayed
into the hands of sinners.”

Matthew 26:45

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

HOW MARVELLOUS the Power of the Cross, how great beyond all telling, the glory of the Passion – here is the Judgement-Seat of the Lord, the condemnation of the world, the supremacy of Christ Crucified. LORD, You drew all things to Yourself so that the devotion of all peoples, everywhere, might celebrate, in a Sacrament made perfect and visible, what was carried out in the one temple of Judea, under obscure foreshadowings. …

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

THE POWER OF HIS DEATH, once confronted our death. In the words of Hosea, the prophet: Death, I shall be your death; grave, I shall swallow you up. By dying He submitted to the laws of the underworld; by rising again, He destroyed them. He did away with the everlasting character of death, so as to make death a thing of time, not of eternity. As all die in Adam, so all will be brought to life in Christ.” – St Leo the Great (400-461) Great Father and Doctor of the Church (Excerpt from his “On the Lord’s Passion” Sermon 8).

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, The PASSION, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 10 April – Palm Sunday

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Quote/s of the Day – 10 April – Palm Sunday – Philippians 2:5-11, he Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew 26:36-75; 27:1-60

“Could you not watch one hour with Me?”

Matthew 26:40

“Behold the hour is at hand
and the Son of man shall be betrayed
into the hands of sinners.”

Matthew 26:45

“Yesterday, Christ raised Lazarus from the dead;
today, He is going to His own death.
Yesterday, He tore off the strips of cloth which bound Lazarus;
today, He is stretching out His Hand,
to those who want to bind Him.
Yesterday, He tore that man away from darkness;
today, for humankind,
He is going down into darkness
and the shadow of death.
And the Church is celebrating.
She is beginning the feast of Feasts,
for she is receiving her King as a Spouse,
for her King is in her midst.”

St Ephrem (306-373) (Attri)
Father ad Doctor of the Church

“Hosanna!”—which means : “Save!”
“Hosanna to You Who are in the highest.
O Almighty, save those who are humbled.
Have mercy on us,
in consideration of our palms,
may the palms we wave move Your Heart,
You who come to call Adam”…

St Romanus the Melodist (c 490-c 556)

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, FATHERS of the Church, HOLY WEEK, ONE Minute REFLECTION, POETRY, The PASSION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 10 April – “Behold the hour is at hand … ” – Matthew 26:45

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One Minute Reflection – 10 April – Palm Sunday – Philippians 2:5-11, The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew 26:36-75; 27:1-60

“Behold the hour is at hand and the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners.” – Matthew 26:45

REFLECTION – By St Nerses Chnorhali (1102-1173) Armenian Bishop (Jesus, Only Son of the Father, § 708-724)

“Because of sin, O innocent One,
You were set before the criminal’s judgement seat;
When You return in the Father’s glory
Do not judge me together with him.

You were put to scorn with sacrilegious spittle
On account of the first created man’s shame;
Wipe away the dishonour of the impudent man’s sins,
With which my face is covered…

You have put on crimson,
Set the scarlet cloak over You
As a dishonour and an affront,
As Pontius Pilate’s soldiers thought it to be (Mt 27:28).

Remove sin’s shirt of hair from me,
Crimson red, colour of blood,
Reclothe me in the garment of joy
With which You clothed the first man.

Kneeling, they made sport,
Acting ridicule, they mocked;
When they saw it, Heaven’s armies
Worshipped in fear.

This You underwent that You might remove
The shame, of being sin’s accomplice, from Adam’s nature in us
That, from my soul and my conscience,
You might suppress my sorrowing shame…

Following the judge’s verdict,
You received the terrible blows of flagellation
Over Your whole body
And on Your limbs’ every part.

As for me who, from foot to head
Suffer unbearable pain:
Be pleased to heal me once again
As through the grace of Baptism’s fount.

In exchange for the thorns of sin
That the curse caused to grow up for us (Gn 3,18)
A Crown of Thorns was set on Your Head
By the labourers in Jerusalem’s vineyard (Mt 21,33f.).

Pull out the thorns of sin from me,
Which my enemy planted within me,
And heal in me the bite of the wound
That the marks of sin might be erased.”

PRAYER – Almighty, eternal God, Who, to provide mankind an example of humility for it to imitate, willed that the Saviour should assume our flesh and suffer death upon the Cross, mercifully grant that we may be found worthy of the lesson of His endurance and the fellowship of His Resurrection. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2022, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, QUOTES on THE WORLD, QUOTES on WILL (Reasonable or Superior), The KINGDOM of GOD / HEAVEN, The LORD'S PRAYER, The WILL of GOD

Saturday in Passion Week – 9 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – ‘… What is the point …?’

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Saturday in Passion Week – 9 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Jeremias 18:18-23, John 12:10-36

“In You, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. In Your justice rescue me. – Psalm 30:2”

“He who loves his life, loses it
and he who hates his life
in this world,
keeps it unto life everlasting.
If anyone serves Me,
let him follow Me
and where I am,
there also shall My servant be.”

John 12:25-26

“OUR OBLIGATION is to do God’s will and not our own. We must remember this, if the praye that our Lord commanded us to say daily, is to have any meaning on our lips. How unreasonable it is to pray that God’s will be done and then not promptly obey it, when He calls us from this world!
Instead, we struggle and resist like self-willed slaves and are brought into the Lord’s presence, with sorrow and lamentation, not freely consenting to our departure but constrained by necessity.

AND YET, WE EXPECT to be rewarded with heavenly honours by Him to Whom we come, against our will!
Why then do we pray for the Kingdom of Heaven to come, if this earthly bondage pleases us?

WHAT IS THE POINT of praying so often for its early arrival, if we would rather serve the devil here than reign with Christ!?” – St Cyprian of Carthage (200-258) Bishop of Carthage, Martyr, Great Father of the Church (Excerpt from On Man’s Mortality).

Posted in "Follow Me", CONFESSION/PENANCE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on HAPPINESS, QUOTES on PERSEVERANCE, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 9 April – He who loves his life, loses it …

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Quote/s of the Day – 9 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Jeremias 18:18-23, John 12:10-36

“He who loves his life, loses it
and he who hates his life
in this world,
keeps it unto life everlasting.
If anyone serves Me,
let him follow Me
and where I am,
there also shall My servant be.”

John 12:25-26

“This is the time for Confession.
Confess the sins you have committed
in word or deed,
by day or by night.
Confess during this “favourable time”
and on “the day of salvation,”
receive Heaven’s treasure… ”

St Cyril of Jerusalem (313-350),
Father & Doctor of the Church

“To do penance is to bewail
the evil we have done
and to do no evil to bewail.”

St Gregory the Great (540-604)
Pope, Confessor, Father and Doctor

“Rejoice and be happy!
Persevere to the end
and prefer to die
rather than abandon the post,
to which God has called you!”

St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
Doctor of the Church

Posted in "Follow Me", ASPIRATIONS and EJACULATIONS, CHRIST the JUDGE, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2022, LENTEN THOUGHTS, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on MERCY, The LAST THINGS, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 9 April – “He who loves his life, loses it and he who hates his life in this world, keeps it unto life everlasting.” – John 12:25

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One Minute Reflection – 9 April – Saturday in Passion Week, the Fifth Week in Lent – Jeremias 18:18-23, John 12:10-36

“He who loves his life, loses it and he who hates his life in this world, keeps it unto life everlasting. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me and where I Am ,there also shall My servant be.” – John 12:25-26

REFLECTION – “… We are being towed along by a world that passes away, forgetting the world to come. We are greedy for present things but do not take into account the coming judgement. We will not run to meet the Lord as He comes…

Let us turn back, brethren, let us turn back… By the very fact of His delay, of His still waiting, our Lord proves His desire to see us come back to Him, His desire that we should not perish. In His great goodness, He continues addressing these words to us: “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked but would rather he would change his ways and live ”(Ez 33,11). So let us turn back to Him, brethren, not fearing that time is running short. The time that belongs to time’s Author cannot be shortened. The proof of it lies in the criminal in the Gospel, who, at the moment of dying on the cross, got away with his pardon, grabbed hold of life and, breaking into paradise like a burglar, managed to make his way into the Kingdom (cf. Lk 23,43)!” – St Peter Chrysologus (c 400-450) Bishop of Ravenna, Father and “Doctor of Sermons” of the Church (Excerpt from Sermon 167).

PRAYER – O Lord, may the people dedicated to You, desire to serve You more and more, that, taught by these sacred rites, they may be enriched by more precious gifts, as they grow in favour with Your majesty. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
Amen (Collect).

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2022, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on SIN, The MOST HOLY REDEEMER, Our SAVIOUR, The PASSION, The REDEMPTION, The WORD

Friday of Passion Week – 8 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – “THE DARKENING OF ONE makes many bright… “

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Friday of Passion Week – 8 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Jeremiah 17:13-18, John 11:47-54

“O Lord, deal with us not according to our sins, nor requite us according to our crimes.” – Psalm 102:10

“ … It is expedient for us,
that one man die for the people,
instead of the whole nation perishing.”

John 11:50

“THE DARKENING OF ONE makes many bright… “It is better,” said Caiaphas, “for one man to die for the people, than for the whole nation to be destroyed.” It is better that One be darkened “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” (Rm 8:3) for the sake of all, than for the whole of mankind to be lost by the darkness of sin; that the splendour and image of the substance of God, should be shrouded in the form of a Slave, in order that a slave might live; that the brightness of eternal Light should become dimmed in the flesh, for the purifying of the flesh; that He, Who surpasses all mankind in beauty (Ps 44:2), should be eclipsed by the darkness of the Passion, for the enlightening of mankind; that He should suffer the ignominy of the Cross, grow pale in death, be totally deprived of beauty and comeliness, that He might gain the Church as a beautiful and comely Bride, without spot or wrinkle (Ep 5:27).

BUT UNDER HIS DARK COVERING (Sg 1:5), I recognise the King… I recognise Him and I embrace Him. For, although He presents this dark exterior… within, is the brightness of Divine life, the beauty of His strength, the splendour of grace, the purity of innocence. But covering it all, is the abject hue of infirmity, His Face, as it were, hidden and despised – “one tempted in every respect, as we are, yet without sinning” (Heb 4:15).

I RECOGNISE HERE ,the image of our sin-darkened nature; I recognise the garments that clothed our first parents after their sin (Gen 3:21). My God has clothed Himself in them by assuming the condition of a Slave and becoming, as men are, He was seen in their likeness (Phil 2:7). Under the skin that Jacob wore (Gen 27:16), symbol of sin, I recognise, both the Hand that committed no sin and the Neck which never bowed to evil; no word of treachery was found in His Mouth. I know, Lord, that You are gentle by nature, meek and humble of heart, pleasing in appearance and lovable in Your ways, “anointed with the oil of gladness above Your companions” (Mt 11:29; Ps 44:8). Why then this disfigured likeness to Esau? Whose haggard image this?… Ah! It is mine! He has taken my likeness, taken on my sin… And beneath the rough skin of my sinfulness, I recognise my God and my Saviour.!” – St Bernard (1091-1153) Cistercian Monk, Great Father and Doctor of the Church (28th Homily on the Song of Songs).

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, MATER DOLOROSA - Mother of SORROWS, QUOTES on DEATH, The LAST THINGS, The MOST HOLY REDEEMER, Our SAVIOUR, The PASSION, The REDEMPTION, The RESURRECTION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 8 April – ‘ … No longer, then, do we die as men condemned …’

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One Minute Reflection – 8 April – Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows – Friday of Passion Week, the Fifth Week in Lent – Jeremiah 17:13-18, John 11:47-54

“ … It is expedient for us, that one man die for the people, instead of the whole nation perishing.” – John 11:50

REFLECTION – “God, the Word of the all-good Father, did not disregard the human race, His own creation, when it was sinking back into corruption but rather, by the offering of His own Body, He destroyed the death men had incurred and by His teaching, He corrected their negligence. So, He restored by His power, all that belongs to man’s estate.

Anyone can find confirmation of this from the Saviour’s own disciples who spoke of Him, for in their writings one reads: The charity of Christ constrains us as we judge that if one died on behalf of all, then all died and He died for all, in order that we may live, no longer for ourselves but for Him Who died for us and rose from the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ. And again: We see Jesus, Who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honour because He suffered death, that by God’s grace He might taste death for everyone. Then the writer goes onto show why it had to be God, the Word and no other Who became Man: Indeed it was fitting that in bringing many sons to glory, God, for Whom and through Whom all things exist, should make perfect the One Who leads them to salvation. By this He means, that the task of bringing men back from the corruption into which they had fallen, belonged to no other save God the Word, Who had made them in the beginning. Further, Scripture shows, that the Word assumed a Body for the purpose of offering It in sacrifice on behalf of other bodies like His own, for the writer continues: Since the children have blood and flesh in common, He likewise, shared in them Himself ,so that, by His own Death, He might destroy the one who had power over death, that is, the devil and might deliver those, who all their life long, were enslaved by fear of death.

For by the sacrifice of His own Body, He both put an end to the law that stood against us and made a new beginning of life for us, by giving us the hope of resurrection. Hence Paul, the Christbearer, declares: As through a man came death, so through a Man has come the Resurrection of the dead. For as all died in Adam, so also in Christ all shall be made to live.

No longer, then, do we die as men condemned but as men being raised even now, we await the general resurrection of all, which God, Whose work and gift it is, will reveal at the appointed time. – St Athanasius (297-373) Archbishop of Alexandria, Great Father and Doctor of the Church (An excerpt from his “On the Incarnation of the Word” 10).

PRAYER – O God, in Whose Passion the sword, according to the prophecy of blessed Simeon, pierced through the soul of Mary, the glorious Virgin and Mother, mercifully grant that we, who reverently commemorate her piercing through and her suffering, may, by the interceding glorious merits of all the saints faithfully standing by the Cross, obtain the abundant fruit of Your Passion. Who lives and reigns with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on GOOD WORKS, QUOTES on the CHURCH

Thursday in Passion Week – 7 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – ‘ … She did for the feet what you refused to the Head. …’

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Thursday in Passion Week, the Fifth Week of Lent – 7 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Daniel 3:25, 34-45, Luke 7:36-50

“Happy are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.” – Psalm 118:1

“… She began to bathe His feet with her tears
and wiped them with the hair of her head
and kissed His feet
and anointed them with ointment.”

Luke 7:38

“WITH HER HANDS OF GOOD WORKS, she holds the feet of those who preach His Kingdom. She washes them with tears of charity, kisses them with praising lips and pours out the whole ointment of mercy, until He will turn to her. This means that He will come back to her and say to Simon, to the Pharisees, to those who deny, to the nation of the Jews, “I came into your house. You gave me no water for my feet.”

WHEN WILL HE SPEAK these words? He will speak them when He will come in the Majesty of His Father and separate the righteous from the unrighteous, like a Shepherd, Who separates the sheep from the goats. He will say, “I was hungry and you did not give me to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not take me in.” This is equivalent to saying, “But this woman, while she was bathing My Feet, anointing them and kissing them, did to the servants what you did not do for the Master.” She did for the feet what you refused to the Head. She expended upon the lowliest members, what you refused to your Creator. Then He will say to the Church, “Your sins, many as they are, are forgiven you because you have loved much.” – St Peter Chrysologus (c 400-450) Bishop of Ravenna, Father and “Doctor of Homilies” of the Church (Sermon 95)

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, JESUIT SJ, MODESTY, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on PRIDE, QUOTES on PURITY, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on the CHURCH, QUOTES on VIRTUE, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 7 April – ‘We are under an obligation …’

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Quote/s of the Day – 7 April – Thursday in Passion Week, the Fifth Week of Lent

“Many sins are forgiven her
because she has loved much.”

Luke 7:42

“The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement
with this generation and condemn it, for they repented …”

Matthew 12:41

“… In the conceitedness of our souls,
without taking the least trouble
to obey the Lord’s commandments,
we think ourselves worthy
to receive the same reward
as those who have resisted sin to the death!”

St Basil the Great (329-379)
Father and Doctor of the Church

“And when I hear it said,
that God is good and He will pardon us
and then see, that men cease not from evil-doing,
oh, how it grieves me!
The infinite goodness
with which God communicates with us,
sinners as we are,
should constantly make us love and serve Him better
but we, on the contrary,
instead of seeing in His goodness
an obligation to please Him,
convert it into an excuse for sin,
which will, of a certainty,
lead in the end,
to our deeper condemnation.”

St Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510)

“We … are under an obligation
to be the light of the world
by the modesty of our behaviour,
the fervour of our charity,
the innocence of our lives
and the example of our virtues.
Thus shall we be able
to raise the lowered prestige
of the Catholic Church
and, to build up again,
the ruins that others by their vices have caused.
Others, by their wickedness,
have branded the Catholic Faith
with a mark of shame,
we must strive,
with all our strength, to cleanse it
from its ignominy
and to restore it
to its pristine glory!”

“The path to Heaven is narrow,
rough and full of wearisome
and trying ascents,
nor can it be trodden without great toil
and, therefore, wrong is their way,
gross their error
and assured their ruin,
who, after the testimony
of so many thousands of Saints,
will not learn where to settle their footing!”

St Robert Southwell SJ (1561-1595)
Priest and Martyr

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOOD FRIDAY, LENT 2022, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, The WORD

Wednesday of Passion Week – 6 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – ‘The mark of Christ’s sheep …’

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Wednesday of Passion Week, the Fifth Week of Lent – 6 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-19, 25, John 10:22-38

“O Lord, deal with us not according to our sins, nor requite us according to our crimes.” – Psalm 102:10

“My sheep hear My Voice;
I know them and they follow Me.”

John 10:27

“THE MARK OF CHRIST’S SHEEP is their willingness to hear and obey, just as the sign of those who are not His, is their disobedience. We take the word “Hear” to imply obedience to what has been said. People who hear God are known by Him. No-one is entirely unknown by God but to be known in this way, is to become His Kin. Thus, when Christ says, “I know mine,” He means, “I will receive them and give them permanent Mystical Kinship with Myself.” It might be said, that inasmuch as He has become man, He has made all human beings His Kin, since all are members of the same race; we are all united to Christ in a Mystical relationship because of His Incarnation. Yet, those who do not preserve the likeness of His holiness are alienated from Him… .

“MY SHEEP FOLLOW ME,” says Christ. By a certain God-given grace, believers follow in the footsteps of Christ. No longer subject to the shadows of the Law, they obey the commands of Christ and, guided by His Words rise, through grace, to His own dignity, for they are called children of God. When Christ ascends into Heaven, they also follow Him.” – St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) Bishop, Father & Doctor of the Church (Commentary on Saint John’s Gospel, 7, 10, 26).

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, I BELIEVE!, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES on DIVINE PROVIDENCE, QUOTES on GOOD WORKS, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on THE VOICE OF GOD, St Louis-Marie Grignion de MONTFORT, The WILL of GOD, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 6 April – Obedience

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Quote/s of the Day – 6 April – Wednesday of Passion Week, the Fifth Week of Lent Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-19, 25, John 10:22-38

“My sheep hear My Voice;
I know them and they follow Me.”

John 10:27

“The mark of Christ’s sheep
is their willingness to hear and obey,
just as disobedience
is the mark of those who are not His.
We take the word ‘hear’
to imply obedience
to what has been said.”

“My sheep follow me,” says Christ.
By a certain God-given grace,
believers follow in the footsteps of Christ.
No longer subject to the shadows of the Law ,
they obey the commands of Christ,
and guided by His words,
rise through grace,
to His own dignity,
for they are called children of God.
When Christ ascends into heaven,
they also follow Him.”

St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444)

“Chosen soul, how will you bring this about?
What steps will you take to reach the high level
to which God is calling you?
The means of holiness and salvation,
are known to everybody,
since they are found in the Gospel,
the masters of the spiritual life have explained them,
the Saints have practised them…
These means are –
sincere Humility,
unceasing Prayer,
complete Self-denial,
abandonment to Divine Providence
and obedience to the Will of God.”

St Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716)

“Peace in us is the result
of two kinds of necessary obedience,
the obedience to right reason
of the lower faculties
and the obedience of right reason
to God, our Creator.
“This is the peace which God
gives on earth to men of goodwill;
this is the most perfect wisdom,”
St Augustine.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on THE WORLD, The WORD

Tuesday in Passion Week – 5 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – ‘ … We are living here now, as aliens …’

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Tuesday in Passion Week – 5 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Daniel 14:27-42, John 7:1-13

“Fight my fight, O Lord; from the deceitful and impious man rescue me Send forth Your light and Your fidelity; they shall lead me on and bring me to Your holy mountain.” – Psalm 42:1,3

“The world … hates Me
because I bear witness concerning it,
that its works are evil.”

John 7:7

“ … THE WORLD HATES Christians, so why give your love to it, instead of following Christ, Who loves you and has redeemed you? John is most urgent in his epistle when he tells us, not to love the world by yielding to sensual desires. Never give your love to the world, he warns, or to anything in it. A man cannot love the Father and love the world at the same time. All that the world offers is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and earthly ambition. The world and its allurements will pass away but the man who has done the will of God shall live forever. Our part, my dear brothers, is to be single-minded, firm in faith and steadfast in courage, ready for God’s will, whatever it may be. Banish the fear of death and think of the eternal life which follows it. That will show people that we really live our faith.

WE OUGHT NEVER TO FORGET, beloved, that we have renounced the world. We are living here now, as aliens and only for a time. When the day of our homecoming puts an end to our exile, frees us from the bonds of the world and restores us to paradise and to the Kingdom, we should welcome it. What man, stationed in a foreign land, would not want to return to his own country, as soon as possible? Well, we look upon paradise as our country and a great crowd of our loved ones awaits us there, a countless throng of parents, brothers and children, longs for us to join them. Assured though they are of their own salvation, they are still concerned about ours. What joy both for them and for us, to see one another and embrace! O the delight of that Heavenly Kingdom where there is no fear of death! O the supreme and endless bliss of everlasting life!

MY DEAR BROTHERS, let all our longing be to join them as soon as we may. May God see our desire, may Christ see this resolve, that springs from faith, for He will give the rewards of His love, more abundantly, to those who have longed for Him more fervently.” – St Cyprian of Carthage (200-258) Bishop of Carthage, Father of the Church and Martyr (An excerpt from On Man’s Mortality).

Posted in BAPTISM, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on THE WORLD, The MOST HOLY & BLESSED TRINITY, The WORD

Monday in Passion Week – 4 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – “If anyone thirst, let himcome to Me and drink.”

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Monday in Passion Week – 4 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Jonas 3:1-10, John 7:32-39

“O God, by Your Name save me and by your might deliver me.” – Psalm 53:3

“If anyone thirst, let him
come to Me and drink.
He who believes in Me,
as the Scripture says,
‘From within Him
there shall flow
rivers of living waters.’ ”

John 7:37-38

“AS THE DEER LONGS for running water, so my soul longs for You, my God. Just as the deer longs for running water, so do our newly baptised members, our young deer, so to speak, also yearn for God. By leaving Egypt and the world, they have put Pharaoh and his entire army to death in the waters of Baptism. After slaying the devil, their hearts long for the springs of running water in the Church. These springs, are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jeremiah testifies, that the Father is like a Fountain when He says: They have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living water, to dig for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. In another passage we read about the Son: They have forsaken the Fountain of Wisdom. And again, John says of the Holy Spirit: Whoever drinks the water I will give him, that water shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life. The Evangelist explains that the Saviour said this of the Holy Spirit. The testimony of these texts, establishes beyond doubt, the Three Fountains of the Church constitute the mystery of the Trinity.

THESE ARE THE WATERS that the heart of the believer longs for, these are the waters that the heart of the newly baptised yearns for when he says: My heart thirsts for God, the living Fountain. This is not a weak, faint desire to see God, rather the newly baptised actually burn with desire and thirst for God. Before they received Baptism, they used to ask one another: When shall I go and see the face of God? Now their quest has been answered. they have come forward and they stand in the presence of God. They have come before the Altar and have looked upon the Mystery of the Saviour.

HAVING RECEIVED the Body of Christ and being reborn in the life-giving waters, they speak up boldly and say: I shall go into God’s marvellous dwelling place, His house. The house of God is the Church, his marveLlous dwelling place ….

… BY THE WORD OF GOD you have been lifted out of the dangerous waters of this world, like so many little fish. In us, the nature of things has been changed. Fish taken out of the sea die but the Apostles have fished for us and have taken us out of the sea of this world, so we could be brought from death to life. As long as we were in the world, our eyes looked down into the abyss and we lived in filth. After we were rescued from the waves, we began to look upon the Sun and look up at the True Light. Confused in the presence of so much joy, we say: Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, in the presence of my Saviour and my God.” – St Jerome (343-420) Bishop and Great Western Father and Doctor of the Church (An excerpt from his Sermon on Psalm 41 addressed to the Newly Baptised).

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on MERCY, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on SACRED SCRIPTURE, SAINT of the DAY

Quote/s of the Day – 4 April – St Isidore of Seville

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Quote/s of the Day – 4 April – The Memorial of St Isidore of Seville (c 560-636) Father & Doctor of the Church

“… Every excess brings, not health but danger.”

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever.”

“War with vices
but peace, with individuals.”

“The more you devote yourself,
to study of the sacred utterances,
the richer will be your understanding of them,
just as the more the soil is tilled,,
the richer is the harvest.”

St Isidore of Seville (c 560-636)
Father & Doctor of the Church

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on TRUTH, The HEART, The KINGDOM of GOD / HEAVEN, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 4 April ‘ … As long as we keep the seed of Truth … and His commandments …’

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One Minute Reflection – 4 April – Monday in Passion Week – Jonas 3:1-10, John 7:32-39 and the Memorial of St Isidore of Seville (c 560-636) Father & Doctor of the Church

“You shall seek me and shall not find me …” – John 7:34

REFLECTION – “To seek Jesus is often something good, for it is the same as to seek the Word, the Truth and Wisdom. But you will say, that the words “to seek Jesus” are sometimes said about those who want to harm Him. For example: “They tried to seize Him but no-one laid a finger on Him because His hour had not yet come.” … He knows from whom He distances Himself and with whom He remains, without being found yet, so that if someone seeks Him, that person will find Him at the favourable time. The Apostle Paul said to those, who did not yet possess Jesus in this way and, who did not contemplate Him: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who shall go up into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘Who shall go down into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). What is it He does say? ‘The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.” (Rom 6:6-8)

When in His love for humankind, the Saviour said: “You will look for me,” (Jn 8:21) He let us glimpse the things pertaining to the reign of God, so that those, who look for Him, do not do so outside of themselves saying: “’Here, He is here’, or ‘He is there.’ The Gospel tells them: “The reign of God is already in your midst.” (Lk 17:21) As long as we keep the seed of Truth that has been placed in our soul and His commandments, the Word will not distance Himself from us. But if evil spreads in us to corrupt us, Jesus will tell us: “I am going away. You will look for me but you will die in your sins.” – Origen (c 185-253) Priest, Theologian, Father (Commentary on Saint John, 19,12).

PRAYER – O God, Who granted to Your people blessed Isidore, as a minister of salvation, grant, we beseech You, that we who cherished him on earth as a teacher of life, may be found worthy to have him as an intercessor in Heaven. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in CHRIST the PHYSICIAN, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2022, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, The WORD

Passion Sunday – 3 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – What does “Christ” mean but to die in the body and receive the Breath of Life?

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Passion Sunday – 3 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Hebrews 9:11-15, John 8:46-59.

“Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord; teach me to do Your will.” – Psalm 142:9-10

“Amen, amen, I say to you,
if anyone keep My word,
he will never see death.”

John 8:51

WE SEE THAT DEATH is gain, life is loss. Paul says: For me life is Christ and death a gain. What does “Christ” mean but to die in the body and receive the Breath of Life? Let us then die with Christ, to live with Christ. We should have a daily familiarity with death, a daily desire for death. By this kind of detachment our soul must learn to free itself from the desires of the body. It must soar above earthly lusts to a place where they cannot come near, to hold it fast. It must take on the likeness of death, to avoid the punishment of death. The law of our fallen nature is at war with the law of our reason and subjects the law of reason, to the law of error. What is the remedy? Who will set me free from this body of death? The grace of God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

WE HAVE A DOCTOR to heal us; let us use the remedy He prescribes. The remedy is the grace of Christ, the dead body, our own. Let us then be exiles from our body, so as not to be exiles from Christ. Although we are still in the body, let us not give ourselves to the things of the body. We must not reject the natural rights of the body but, we must desire, before all else, the gifts of grace.

WHAT MORE need be said? It was by the death of One Man that the world was Redeemed. Christ did not need to die, if He did not wish to but He did not look on death as something to be despised, something to be avoided and He could have found no better means to save us, than by dying. Thus His Death is Life for all. We are sealed with the Sign of His Death – when we pray, we preach His Death, when we offer Sacrifice we proclaim His Death. His Death is Victory; His Death is a Sacred Sign; each year His Death is celebrated with solemnity by the whole world.” – St Ambrose (340-397) Bishop of Milan, Great Father and Doctor of the Church (An excerpt from his work, On the death of Satyrus [Saint Ambrose’s brother])

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on FAITH, The RESURRECTION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 3 April – “Abraham ..rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it and was glad.” – John 56

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One Minute Reflection – 3 April – Passion Sunday – Hebrews 9:11-15, John 8:46-59.

“Abraham your father rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it and was glad.” – John 8:56

REFLECTION – “God put Abraham to the test and said to him: ‘Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love and offer him up as a sacrifice on a height that I will show to you’ ” (Gn 22,2). Notice how that same son, on whom great and wonderful promises rested… Abraham received the command to offer, in holocaust on a mountain to the Lord!

What do you feel about this command, Abraham?… The Apostle Paul, to whom, I think, the Spirit had revealed Abraham’s thoughts and feelings, said: “Abraham did not doubt God’s promises in unbelief, when he offered up his only son Isaac, on whom rested the promises for he reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead” (Rm 4,20; Heb 11,17.19)… This, then, was the first time when faith in the resurrection was shown. Yes, Abraham hoped Isaac would rise again and believed in the realisation of something that had never happened before… Abraham knew, that in him, the prefiguration of a coming reality was already taking shape; he knew the Messiah, the true Victim offered on behalf of the whole world, Who was to triumph over death, through His Resurrection, would be born from his descendants.

“So early the next morning Abraham rose and… on the third day… came to the place of which God had told him.” The third day is always associated with mystery and… the Lord’s Resurrection, in particular, took place on the third day… “Abraham got sight of the place from afar. Then he said to his servants: ‘Both of you stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go over yonder. We will worship and then come back to you.’”… Now tell me, Abraham, were you speaking the truth to your servants when you stated you were going to worship and then return with the boy; or did you want to deceive them?… “I am telling the truth,” Abraham answers. “I am offering the boy in sacrifice , which is why I am bringing the wood with me. Then I am coming back to you with the boy. Truly, I believe with all my heart that ‘God is sufficiently powerful to raise the dead.’” – Origen (c 185-253) Priest, Theologian, Father (Homilies on the book of Genesis no 8).

PRAYER – Look graciously upon Your household, Almighty God, we beseech You, that by Your grace we may be governed in body and by Your protection safeguarded in mind. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.Amen (Collect).

Posted in CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2021, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The GOOD SHEPHERD, The WORD

Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – 2 April – ‘ … Anyone who is determined to reach his destination, is not deterred by the roughness of the road …’

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Saturday of the Fourth Week in Lent – 2 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Isaias 49:8-15, John 8:12-20

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” – Psalm 22:1

“I am the light of the world.
He who follows Me
does not walk in the darkness
but will have the light of life. .”

John 8:12

“… . I KNOW MY OWN—by which I mean, I love them—and My own know Me. In plain words, those who love Me are willing to follow Me, for anyone who does not love the Truth has not yet come to know it.

MY DEAR BRETHREN, you have heard the test we pastors have to undergo. Turn now to consider how these words of our Lord, imply a test for yourselves also. Ask yourselves whether you belong to His flock, whether you know Him, whether the Light of His Truth shines in your minds. I assure you, that it is not by faith that you will come to know Him but by love; not by mere conviction but by action. John the evangelist is my authority for this statement. He tells us that anyone who claims to know God without keeping His commandments is a liar. …

AGAIN HE SAYS: My sheep hear My Voice and I know them; they follow Me and I give them eternal life. Shortly before this He had declared – If anyone enters the sheepfold through Me he shall be saved; he shall go freely in and out and shall find good pasture. He will enter into a life of faith; from faith he will go out to vision, from belief to contemplation and will graze in the good pastures of everlasting life.

SO OUR LORD’S SHEEP, will finally reach their grazing ground where all who follow Him, in simplicity of heart, will feed on the green pastures of eternity. These pastures are the spiritual joys of Heaven. There, the elect look upon the face of God with unclouded vision and feast at the Banquet of Life for evermore.

BELOVED …, let us set out for these pastures where we shall keep joyful festival with so many of our fellow citizens. May the thought of their happiness urge us on! Let us stir up our hearts, rekindle our faith and long eagerly for what Heaven has in store for us. To love thus ,is to be already on our way. No matter what obstacles we encounter, we must not allow them to turn us aside from the joy of that Heavenly Feast. Anyone who is determined to reach his destination, is not deterred by the roughness of the road, that leads to it. Nor must we allow the charm of success to seduce us, or we shall be like a foolish traveller who is so distracted by the pleasant meadows through which he is passing, that he forgets where he is going.” St Gregory the Great (540-604) – Pope and Great Western Father and Doctor of the Church (An excerpt from his Homily 14).

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the BRIDEGROOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, franciscan OFM, GOD ALONE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, QUOTES on TRUTH, SAINT of the DAY, The LAST THINGS, The PASSION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 2 April – ‘I will be with those who love Me.’

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One Minute Reflection – 2 April – Saturday of the Fourth Week in Lent – Isaias 49:8-15, John 8:12-20 and the Memorial of St Francis of Paola OM (1416-1507)

“You know neither Me nor My Father. If you knew Me, you would then know My Father also.” – John 8:19

REFLECTION – “[Christ speaks:]
I became useless to those who knew Me not
because I shall hide Myself, from those who possessed Me not.
And I will be with those who love Me.
All my persecutors have died
and they, who trusted in Me, sought Me because I am living!
I arose and am with them and will speak by their mouths.
For they have rejected those who persecute them
and I threw over them, the yoke of My love.
Like the arm of the bridegroom over the bride (cf Sg 2,6),
so is My yoke over those who know Me.
And as the bridal feast is spread out by the bridal pair’s home,
So is My love, by those who believe in Me.

I was not rejected,
although I was considered to be so
and I did not perish,
although they thought it of Me.
Sheol saw Me and was shattered
and Death ejected Me and many with Me.
I have been vinegar and bitterness to it
and I went down with it as far as its depth.
Death was released
because it was not able to endure My Face.

And I made a congregation of living, among his dead (1P 3,19; 4,6)
and I spoke with them, by living lips;
in order that My word may not fail.
And those who had died ran toward Me
and they cried out and said, “Son of God, have pity on us.
And deal with us according to Your kindness
and bring us out from the chains of darkness.
And open for us, the door
by which we may go forth to You,
for we perceive, that our death does not approach You.
May we also be saved with You
because You are our Saviour.”

Then I heard their voice
and placed their faith in My Heart.
And I placed My Name upon their forehead (Rv 14,1)
because they are free and they are Mine! – Odes of Solomon (Hebrew Christian text from the beginning of the 2nd century) N° 42

PRAYER – O God, the greatness of the humble, Who raised blessed Francis, Your Confessor, to the glory of Your Saints, grant, we beseech You, that, by his merits and our imitation of his life, we may happily attain the rewards promised to the humble.
Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS for SEASONS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, The LAMB of GOD

Our Morning Offering – 2 April – O Lamb of God

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 2 April – Saturday of the Fourth Week in Lent

O Lamb of God
By St Irenaeus (c 130 – c 202)
Bishop & Martyr,
Father of the Church

O Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world,
look upon us and have mercy upon us,
You who art Yourself, both victim and Priest,
Yourself, both Reward and Redeemer,
keep safe from all evil
those whom You have redeemed,
O Saviour of the world.
Amen

Posted in APRIL -MONTH of the RESURRECTION and the BLESSED SACAMENT, BLESSED TRINITY PRAYERS, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The MOST HOLY & BLESSED TRINITY, The RESURRECTION

Devotions for the Month of April – The Resurrection and The Blessed Sacrament

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Devotions for the Month of April

The Resurrection and The Blessed Sacrament

“I am the Resurrection and the Life,
he who believes in Me,
although he be dead, shall live.”

John 11:25

“I am the Living Bread
Who came down from Heaven.
If any man eat of this Bread,
he shall live forever
and the Bread that I will give,
is My Flesh, for the Life of the world.”

John 6:51-52

The Month of April is dedicated both to devotion to the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Holy Eucharist – the proof of the promise of the love of God and of ETERNAL LIFE.
In the Holy Eucharist, the Sacrament of Love, Jesus gives us the sustenance needed in this life to help us on our pilgrimage to that Eternal Life with Him in Heaven.
This tradition has developed because Easter Sunday often falls in April and when it does fall in March, the Easter Season continues on through all of April.

In essence, April is a Month of Life and, during the Easter celebrations, we celebrate the Eucharistic Sacrifice Christ gave us and the destruction of death by that Sacrifice and by Jesus’ Resurrection. “Christ chose to foreshadow us, who are His Body, by means of His Body, in which He has died, risen and ascended into Heaven, so that the Members of His Body, may hope to follow where their Head has gone before.” – St Augustine (354-430) Father, Doctor of Grace

St Gregory the Great (540-604)
Father & Doctor

It is only right,
with all the powers of our heart and mind,
to praise You Father
and Your Only-Begotten Son,
Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear Father,
by Your wondrous condescension
of loving-kindness toward us, Your servants,
You gave up Your Son.
Dear Jesus,
You paid the debt of Adam for us
to the Eternal Father by Your Blood
poured forth in loving-kindness.
You cleared away the darkness of sin
by Your magnificent and radiant Resurrection.
You broke the bonds of death
and rose from the grave as a Conqueror.
You reconciled Heaven and earth.
Our life had no hope of eternal happiness
before You redeemed us.
Your Resurrection has washed away our sins,
restored our innocence and brought us joy.
How inestimable is the tenderness
of Your Love!
Amen

“For His Body, has been given to you
under the appearance of bread
and His Blood, under the appearance of wine,
so that, when you have partaken
of the Body and Blood of Christ,
you might be One Body and One Blood with Him.
So shall we become Christ-bearers [“Christophers”].
His Body and Blood are diffused through all our members – see, then,
how we become participants
in the Divine Nature!”

St Cyril of Jerusalem (c 313-386)
Father and Doctor of theChurch

Posted in APRIL -MONTH of the RESURRECTION and the BLESSED SACAMENT, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2021, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on THE VOICE OF GOD, The RESURRECTION, The WORD

Friday of the Fopurth Week of Lent – 1 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – ‘ … Death trembled at His Voice. …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Friday of the Fopurth Week of Lent – 1 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – 3 Kings 17:17-24, John 11:1-45

“O Lord, remember not, against u,s the iniquities of the past, may Your compassion, quickly come to us, for we are brought very low.” – Psalm 78:8-9

“I Am the Resurrection and the Life:
he that believes in Me,
although he be dead, shall live. ”

John 11:25

“WHEN HE ASKED: “Where have you laid him?” tears came to our Lord’s eyes. His tears were like rain, Lazarus was like seed and the tomb like the earth. He cried out in a Voice like thunder and death trembled at His Voice. Lazarus sprang up like the seed, came out and worshiped the Lord Who had raised him up.

JESUS… RESTORED LIFE to Lazarus and died in his place, for, when He drew him out of the tomb and sat down at his table, He Himself was symbolically buried by the oil Mary poured over His head (Mt 26,7). The power of the death, which had overcome Him for four days, was wiped out… that death might know, how easy it was for the Lord to overcome it, on the Third Day… His Promise is truthful – He had promised that He Himself would come to life again, on the Third Day (Mt 16,21)… Therefore the Lord restored their joy to Mary and Martha by treading down death, to demonstrate, that He Himself would not be held by death forever… From now on, every time someone says that rising on the third day is impossible, let the,m consider him who was raised on the fourth day…

“GO AND TAKE AWAY THE STONE” What is this? He who raised a dead man and restored him to life, couldn’t he have opened the tomb and overturned the stone? He who said to his disciples: “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain: ‘Move from here to there’” (Mt 17,20), could He not move aside the stone, shutting the entrance to the tomb, with one word? Certainly He could! He whose Voice, when He hung on the cross, split rocks and sepulchers, could have taken away the stone with His Word (Mt 27,51-52). But because He was Lazarus’ friend, He said: “Open it that the smell of decay may hit you and you who wrapped him in his winding sheet, unbind him, that you may surely recognise the one you buried.” – St Ephrem (306-373) Deacon in Syria, Great Father & Doctor of the Church (Commentary on the Diatessaron, 17, 7-10 ; SC 121).

Posted in "Follow Me", APRIL -MONTH of the RESURRECTION and the BLESSED SACAMENT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, JESUIT SJ, QUOTES on DEATH, The RESURRECTION, The WORD, Thomas a Kempis

Quote/s of the Day – 1 April – I Am the Resurrection and the Life – John 11:25

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 1 April – Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent – 3 Kings 17:17-24, John 11:1-45

“I Am
the Resurrection
and the
Life”

John 11:25

“We have had Your treasure
hidden within us,
ever since we received baptismal grace,
it grows ever richer
at Your sacramental table.”

St Ephrem (306-373)
Father and Doctor of the Church

“Love Him, then, keep Him as a friend.
He will not leave you as others do,
or let you suffer lasting death.
Sometime, whether you will or not,
you will have to part with everything.
Cling, therefore, to Jesus in life and death,
trust yourself to the glory of Him,
Who alone can help you
when all others fail.“

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)

“This death … has already levelled
his bow to strike me.
Is it not prudent to prevent its stroke,
by dying now to the world,
that at my death,
I may live to God?”

St Francis Borgia (1510-1572)

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, The LAST THINGS, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 1 April – Lazarus, come forth!

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 1 April – Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent – 3 Kings 17:17-24, John 11:1-45

“Lazarus, come forth! And at once he who had been dead came forth, bound feet and hands with bandages and his face was tied up with a cloth. ”- John 11:43-44

REFLECTION – “Here we have a man past the prime of life, a corpse, decaying, swollen, in fact, already in a state of dissolution, so that even his own relatives did not want the Lord to draw near the tomb because the decayed body enclosed there, was so offensive . And yet, he is brought into life by a single call, confirming the proclamation of the resurrection, that is to say, that expectation of it, as universal, that we learn by a particular experience to entertain. For as in the regeneration of the universe, the Apostle tells us that “the Lord himself will descend with a shout, with the voice of the archangel” and by a trumpet sound, raise up the dead to incorruption — so now too, he who is in the tomb, at the Voice of command, shakes off death as if it were only sleep. He rids himself of the corruption that had come on his condition of a corpse, leaps forth from the tomb whole and sound, not even hindered as he leaves by the bonds of the grave cloths round his feet and hands.” … St Gregory of Nyssa (c 335–c 395) Father of the Church (On the Making of Man, 25).

PRAYER – O God, Who by Your wondrous sacraments renew the world, grant that Your Church may benefit from Your eternal decrees and not be deprived of temporal help. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Nostra Signora delle Lacrime / Our Lady of Tears, Sicily (1953) and Memorials of the Saints – 1 April

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent +2022

Nostra Signora delle Lacrime / Our Lady of Tears, Sicily (1953) – 1 April:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/01/maundy-thursday-2021-our-lady-of-tears-sicily-1953-and-memorials-of-the-saints-1-april/

Blessed Abraham of Bulgaria
Blessed Alexander of Sicily
Saint Anastasio
Blessed Antonius of Noto
Saint Berhard of Amiens
Blessed Bernhardin of Noto
Saint Celsus of Armagh
Saint Dodolinus of Vienne
Blessed Gerard of Sassoferrato
Saint Gilbert de Moray
Blessed Giuseppe Girotti
Blessed Hugh of Bonnevaux
Saint Hugh of Grenoble (1053-1232) Bishop,
Saint Jacoba of Rome
Blessed John Bretton
Saint Leucone of Troyes

Saint Lodovico Pavoni FMI (1784-1849) Priest, Founder of the Sons of Mary Immaculate which came to be known also as the “Pavoniani, “ Pioneer in vocational schools, known as the “Forerunner of St John Bosco.”
His Lifestory:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/04/01/saint-of-the-day-1-april-saint-lodovico-pavoni-fmi-1784-1849/

Blessed Marcelle

Saint Mary of Egypt (c 344-c 421) Desert Mother, Penitent, Recluse.
Her Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/01/saint-of-the-day-1-april-saint-mary-of-egypt-c-344-c-421/

Saint Melito Sardis (Died c 180) Early Church Father, Bishop of Sardis (Died c 180), ecclesiastical Writer, Confessor, Apologist, Defender of Christ’s dual nature. Saint Melito is believed to have been martyred around the time he wrote his apology to Marcus Aurelius circa 180.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/04/01/saint-of-the-day-1-april-st-melito-died-c-180/

Blessed Nicolò of Noto
Saint Prudentius of Atina
Saint Tewdrig ap Teithfallt
Saint Theodora of Rome
Saint Valery of Leucone
Saint Venantius of Spalato
Blessed Vinebault
Blessed Zofia Czeska-Maciejowska

Apostles of Picardy – Martyrs:
Saint Caidoc
Saint Fricor –

Martyrs of Dalmatia and Istria – 9 Saints: A group of Christians Martyrs who died at various locations in Dalamtia and Istria (in modern Croatia, whose relics were later taken to Rome, Italy, and who are remembered together. We know the names Anastasio, Antiochiano, Asterius, Gaiano, Mauro, Paoliniano, Septimius, Telio and Venantius.
Died
• on the Adriatic coast of modern Croatia
• relics translated to Rome, Italy

Martyrs of Thessalonica – 6 saints: A group of Christians martyred. We know nothing about them but the names Alexander, Dionysius, Ingenianus, Panterus, Parthenius and Saturninus.
Died
Thessalonica, Greece, date unknown

Martyred Sisters of Thessalonica:
Saint Agape
Saint Chionia

Martyred in Alexandria:
Saint Stephen
Saint Victor

Martyred in Armenia:
Saint Irenaeus
Saint Quintian

Martyred in Heraclea:
Saint Castus
Saint Victor

Martyred in the Mexican Revolution
Blessed Anacleto González Flores
Blessed Jorge Vargas González
Blessed Luis Padilla Gómez
Blessed Ramón Vargas González