Category: LENT 2026

Posted in GOD is LOVE, GOD the FATHER, LENT 2026, The PASSION, The WILL of GOD, Thomas Aquinas

The Second Sunday of Lent – 1 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – God the Father Delivered Christ to His Passion

Posted on by AnaStpaul

The Second Sunday of Lent – 1 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

The Second Sunday
God the Father Delivered Christ to His Passion

“God spared not even His own Son but delivered Him up for us all.”
Rom viii. 32.

Christ suffered willingly, moved by obedience to His Father. Wherefore, God the Father delivered Christ to His Passion and this, in three ways:

  1. Because the Father, of His Eternal Will, preordained the Passion of Christ as the means whereby to free the human race. So it is said in Isaias, “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa liii. 6) and again, “The Lord was pleased to bruise Him in infirmity” (ibid liii. 10).
  2. Because He inspired Our Lord with the willingness to suffer for us, pouring into His Soul the Love which produced the will to suffer. Whence the Prophet goes on to say, “He was offered because it was His Own Will” (Isa liii. 7).
  3. Because He did not protect Our Lord from the Passion but exposed Him to His persecutors. Whence we read in St Matthew’s Gospel: as He hung on the cross Christ said, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me” (Matt xxvii. 46). For God the Father, that is to say, had left Him at the mercy of His torturers.

To hand over an innocent man to suffering and to death, against his will, compelling him to die as it were, would indeed be cruel and wicked.
But it was not in this way God the Father delivered Christ. He delivered Christ by inspiring Him with the Will to suffer for us. By so doing, the severity of God is made clear – no sin is forgiven without punishment! which St Paul again teaches when he says, God spared not His Own Son.

At the same time God’s kindness and goodness is exhibited in the fact that whereas man could not, no matter what his punishment, sufficiently make satisfaction, God has given man someone Who is able to make that satisfaction for him. Which is what St Paul means by, He delivered Him up for us all and again when he says, God hath proposed Christ to be an appeasement through faith in His Blood (Rom iii. 25).
The same activity in a good man and in a bad man is differently judged, inasmuch as the root from which it proceeds is different.
The Father, for example, delivered Christ and Christ delivered Himself and this from love and, therefore, They are praised.

Judas delivered Him from love of gain, the Jews from hatred, Pilate from the worldly fear with which he feared Caesar and these are rightly regarded with horror.
Christ, therefore, did not owe to death the debt of necessity but of Charity – the Charity to men by which He willed their Salvation and the Charity to God, by which He willed to fulfil God’s Will, as it says in the Gospel, “Not as I Will but as Thou Wilt (Matt xx vi. 39).

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in GOD is LOVE, LENT 2026, The PASSION, Thomas Aquinas

Saturday of the First Week of Lent – 28 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – The Love of God Exhibited in the Passion of Christ

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Saturday of the First Week of Lent – 28 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

Saturday of the First Week
The Love of God
Exhibited in the Passion of Christ

“God commendeth His charity towards us because when, as yet we were sinners, according to the time, Christ died for us.”
Rom v 8, 9

  1. “Christ died for the ungodly” (ibid 6
    This is a great thing if we consider Who it is Who died, a great thing too if we consider on whose behalf He died.
    For scarcely for a just man, will one die (ibid 6), that is to say that you will not find anyone who will die even to set free a man who is innocent, nay even, it is said, “The just perisheth and no man layeth it to heart” (Isaias l vii).

Rightly, therefore, does St.Paul say scarcely will one die. There might perhaps be found one, someone rare person, who out of sa uperabundance of courage, would be so bold as to die for a good man. But this is rare, for the simple reason that so to act is the greatest of all things. “Greater love than this, no man hath, says Our Lord Himself, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John xv. 13).

But the like of that which Christ Himself did, to die for evildoers and the wicked, has never been seen.
Wherefore rightly do we ask in wonderment, why Christ did this.

  1. If in fact it be asked, why Christ died for the wicked, the answer is that God, in this way, commendeth His Charity towards us. He exhibits to us in this way that He Loves us with a Love which knows no limits, for while we were as yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The very death of Christ for us, depicts the Love of God, for it was His Son Whom He gave to die that satisfaction might be made for us. God so Loved the world, as to give His Only Begotten Son (John iii. 16).
And thus, as the Love of God the Father for us is proved in His giving us His Holy Spirit, so also is it proved in this way, by His Gift of His Only Son.

The Apostle says, God commendeth, signifying thereby that the Love of God cannot be measured. This is exhibited by the very fact of the matter, namely the fact that He gave His Son to die for us and it is proved too by reason of the kind of people we are, for whom He died.
“Christ was not stirred up to die for us by any merits of ours, when as yet we were sinners. God (who is rich in mercy) for His exceeding Charity wherewith He Loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ ” (Eph ii. 4).

  1. All this is almost too much to be believed.
    “A work is done in your days which no man will believe when it shall be told” (Habac i. 5).
    This Truth that Christ died for us is so difficult a Truth that scarcely can our intellect grasp it. Nay it is a Truth which our intellect can, in no way understand.
    And St Paul preaching, makes echo to Habacuc, I work a work in your days, a work which you will not believe, if any man shall tell it to you (Acts xiii 14).

So great is God’s Love for us and His Grace towards us that He does more for us than we can believe or understand.

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in BLESSED TRINITY PRAYERS, Holy Name PRAYERS, JANUARY month of THE MOST HOLY NAME of JESUS, LENT 2026, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, QUOTES on BLASPHEMY, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION

Our Morning Offering – 28 February – The Golden Arrow

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 28 February – “The Month of the Most Holy and Blessed Trinity” – Saturday of the First Week of Lent

The Golden Arrow

This prayer was revealed by Jesus Himself to a Carmelite Nun of Tours in 1843 as a Reparation for Blasphemy. “This Golden Arrow will wound My Heart delightfully” He said “and heal the wounds, inflicted by blasphemy.”

May the Most Holy,
Most Sacred,
Most Adorable,
Most Mysterious
and Unutterable Name of God
be always praised,
blessed, loved, adored
and glorified in Heaven.
on earth and under the earth,
by all the creatures of God
and by the Sacred Heart
of our Lord Jesus Christ
in the most Holy Sacrament
of the Altar.
Amen

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, LENT 2026, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, The PASSION, The SEVEN PASSION Feasts, Thomas Aquinas

Friday of the First Week of Lent – 27 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – The Feast of the Holy Lance and Nails of Our Lord

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Friday of the First Week of Lent – 27 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

Friday After First Sunday
The Feast of the Holy Lance Lance
and the Nails of Our Lord

“One of the soldiers opened His side with a spear and immediately there came forth Blood and Water.”
John xix. 34.

  1. The Gospel deliberately says opened and not wounded because, through Our Lord’s Side, there was opened to us the Gate of Eternal Life.
    “ After these things I looked and behold, a gate was opened in heaven,” (Apoc iv. i). This is the door opened in the ark, through which enter the animals who will not perish in the flood.
  2. But this door is the cause of our salvation.
    Immediately there came forth Blood and Water a thing truly miraculous that, from a dead body, in which the blood congeals, Blood should come forth!

This was done to show that by the Passion of Christ we receive a full absolution, an absolution from every sin and every stain. We receive this absolution from sin through that Blood which is the price of our redemption. You were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver, from your vain conversation with the tradition of your fathers but with the Precious Blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled (i Pet i. 18).

We were absolved from every stain by the Water which is the laver of our redemption.
In the Prophet Ezechiel, it is said, “I will pour upon you clean water and you shall be cleaned from all your
filthiness” (Ezech xxxvi. 28) and in Zacharias,
“There shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for the washing of the sinner and the unclean woman” (Zach xiii. i).

And so, these two things may be thought of in relation to two of the Sacraments, the Water to Baptism and the Blood to the Holy Eucharist.
Or both may be referred to the Holy Eucharist since, in the Mass, water is mixed with the wine. Although the water is not of the substance of the Sacrament.

Again, as from the side of Christ asleep in death on the Cross there flowed that Blood and Water in which the Church is consecrated, so from the side of the sleeping Adam was formed the first woman, who herself foreshadowed the Church.

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in EMBER DAYS, LENT 2026, SAINT of the DAY, The PASSION, The SEVEN PASSION Feasts

The Feast of the Sacred Lance and Nails, EMBER FRIDAY of the FIRST WEEK of LENT – Fast & Abstinence, Nostra Signora della Luce / Our Lady of Light, Palermo, Italy, (18th Century), St Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows and the Saints for 27 February

Posted on by AnaStpaul

EMBER FRIDAY
of the FIRST WEEK of LENT – Fast & Abstinence
https://anastpaul.com/2020/12/16/today-is-an-ember-day-did-you-remember/

The Feast of the Sacred Lance and Nails – Friday after the 1st Sunday in Lent:
The Supreme Pontiff, Innocent VI, in his Decree establishing the Feast and Office of the Lance and Nails which pierced the Body of our Crucified Lord Jesus Christ, exhorts all the faithful to have a special veneration for and devotion to, all the Sacred Instruments of our Saviour’s Passion.
The following are the Holy Father’s words:
“We should honour the most holy Passion of our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, in such manner that, meditating on all the mysteries and merits of the same Passion, we venerate also each Sacred Instrument thereof.”
Then this holy and zealous Pontiff, coming more directly to the honour due to the Lance and Nails, says:
“Although the Lance and Nails and the other Sacred Instruments of the Passion, should be enerated everywhere, by the faithful of Christ and although every year the Church celebrates the Solemn Offices of the same Passion, yet, we deem it proper and fitting, that a special Solemn Feast should be instituted and celebrated in honour of those particular Instruments of the Passion, more especially, in those places wherein these salutary Instruments are preserved. Hence, we wish to encourage this devotion by a special Office and privileges.” (Innocent VI in Decret. de Fest. Lane, et Clav. Domini).

The Lance, also known as “The Spear of Longinus” is kept in the Vatican Basilica, given to Innocent VIII in 1492. The Nails were kept with the Crown of Thorns, along with a small piece of the Lance of Longinus at Saint Chapelle, France and were subsequently lost during the French Revolution. The Crown of Thorns was the only Relic saved and is now kept at Notre Dame Cathedral.

Nostra Signora della Luce / Our Lady of Light, Palermo, Italy, (18th Century) – 27 February:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/02/27/our-lady-of-light-palermo-italy-18th-century-and-memorials-of-the-saints-27-february/

St Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin/Gabriel Possenti CP (1838-1862) Confessor, Passionist Religious and student preparing for the Priesthood. Gabriel was known for his great devotion to the Sorrows of the Virgin Mary. St Gabriel was Canonised on 13 May 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.
Loving St Gabriel:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/02/27/saint-of-the-day-27-february-st-gabriel-of-our-lady-of-sorrows-cp-1838-1862/

St Abundius of Rome
St Alexander of Rome
St Alnoth
St Antigonus of Rome

St Baldomerus of Saint Just (Died c650) SubDeacon, Lay Brother, Blacksmith.
His Devoted Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/27/saint-of-the-day-27-february-saint-baldomerus-of-saint-just-died-c650-subdeacon/

St Basil (8th Century) Monk of Constantinople AND St Procopius (8th Century) Monk of Decapolis
St Comgan
Bl Emmanuel of Cremona Bishop
St Fortunatus of Rome
St Herefrith of Lindsey
St Honorina

St John (c900-976) Abbot of Gorze Monastery, Penitent, Reformer, Diplomat, Apostle of the needy and sick.
His Penitent Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2025/02/27/saint-of-the-day-27-february-saint-john-c900-976-abbot-of-gorze/

St John with the White hair and beard before the Caliph

St Luke of Messina

Blessed Mark Barkworth OSB (c 1572–1601) Priest Martyr – one of the English Martyrs. Mark was Beatified by Pope Pius XI on 15 December 1929.
His Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/02/27/saint-of-the-day-27-february-blessed-mark-barkworth-osb-c-1572-1601-priest-martyr/
St Thalilaeus

Blessed William Richardson (1572–1603) English Priest, Martyr. He was Beatified on 15 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI. Born in Yorkshire and died by being hanged, drawn and quartered on 27 February 1603 at Tyburn, London, aged just 31. William owns the dubious honour of being the last Martyr under Elizabeth I’s barbaric policy of murdering Catholics and especially Priests, in this manner.
His Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/02/27/saint-of-the-day-27-february-blessed-william-richardson-1572-1603-english-priest-martyr/

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2026, The PASSION, Thomas Aquinas

Thursday of the First Week of Lent – 26 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – It was fitting that Christ should be Crucified with the Thieves

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thursday of the First Week of Lent – 26 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

Thursday of the First Week of Lent
It was fitting that Christ
should be Crucified with the Thieves

Christ was Crucified between the thieves because such was the will of the Jews and also because, this was part of God’s Design.
But the reasons why this was appointed, were not the same in each of these cases.

  1. As far as the Jews were concerned, Our Lord was Crucified with the thieves on either side to encourage the suspicion that He too was a criminal.
    But it transpired otherwise!
    The thieves themselves have left not a trace in the remembrance of man, while His Cross is everywhere held in honour. Kings lying their crowns aside, have embroidered the Cross on their Royal robes. They have placed it on their crowns; on their armiur. It has its place on the very Altars. Everywhere, throughout the world, we behold the splendour of the Cross.

In God’s Plan, Christ was Crucified with the thieves in order, for our sakes, He became accursed of the Cross, so, for our salvation, He is Cucified like an evil Man amongst evil men.

  1. The Pope, St Leo the Great, says that the thieves were crucified, one on either side of Our Lord, so that, in the very appearance of the scene of His Suffering, there might be set forth that distinction which should be made in the judgement of each one of us.
    St Augustine has the same thought. “The Cross itself,” he says, “was a tribunal. In the centre was the Judge. To the one side a man who believed and was set free, to the other side, a scoffer and he was condemned.”
    Already there was made clear the final fate of the living and the dead, the one class placed at His Right, the other on His Left.
  2. According to St Hilary, the two thieves, placed to right and to left, typify that the whole of mankind is called to the mystery of Our Lord’s Passion. And, since division of things, according to right and left is made with reference to believers and those who will not believe, one of the two, placed on the right, is saved by justifying faith.
  3. As St Bede says, the thieves who were crucified with Our Lord, represent those who, for the faith and to confess Christ, undergo the agony of martyrdom or the severe discipline of a more perfect life.
    Those who do this for the sake of eternal glory are typified by the thief on the Right Hand.
    Those whose motive is the admiration of whoever beholds them, imitate the spirit and the act of the thief on the Left Hand.

As Christ owed no debt in payment for which a man must die but submitted to death of His Own Will, in order to overcome death, so also, He had not done anything on account of which He deserved to be put with the thieves.
But of His Own Will, He chose to be reckoned among the wicked that by His Power, He might destroy wickedness itself.
Which is why St John Chrysostom says, to convert the thief on the cross and to turn him to Paradise, was as great a miracle as the earthquake!

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in LENT 2026, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The PASSION, Thomas a Kempis

Wednesday of the First Week of Lent – 25 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – How Great was the Sorrowo of Our Lord in His Passion?

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Wednesday of the First Week of Lent – 25 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

Wednesday of the First Week of Lent
How Great was the Sorrow
of Our Lord in His Passion?

“Attend and see if there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow.”
Lam i. 12.

Our Lord as He suffered felt in reality and in His Senses, that pain which is caused by some harmful bodily injuries.
He also felt that interior pain which is caused by the fear of something harmful and, which we call sadness.
In both these respects, the pain suffered by Our Lord was the greatest pain possible in this present life.
There are four reasons why this was so.

  1. The causes of the pain.
    The cause of the pain in the senses was the catastrophic injuries to the body, a pain whose bitterness derived partly from the fact that the sufferings attacked every part of His Body and partly, from the fact that, of all species of torture , death by Crucifixion is undoubtedly the most bitter.
    The nails are driven through the most sensitive of all places, the hands and the feet, the weight of the body itself increases the pain every moment.
    Add to this the long extentuated agony, for the Crucified do not die immediately as do those who are beheaded. The cause of the internal pain was:
    (i) All the sins of all mankind for which, by suffering, He was making satisfaction, so that, in a sense, He took them to Himself as though they were His own. The words of my sins, it says in the Psalms (Ps xxi. 2).

(ii) The special case of the Jews and the others who had had a share in the sin of His death and especially, the case of His disciples for whom His death had been a thing to be ashamed of.

(iii) The loss of His Bodily Life which, by the nature of things, is something from which human nature turns away in horror.

  1. We may consider the greatness of the pain according to the capacity, bodily and spiritual, for suffering of Him Who suffered. In
    His Body He was most admirably formed, for it was formed by the miraculous operation of the Holy Ghost and, therefore, Iits Sense of Touch, the sense through which we experience pain, was of the keenest.
    His Soul likewise, from Its interior powers, had a knowledge as from experience of all the causes of sorrow.
  2. The greatness of Our Lord’s Suffering can be considered in regard to this that the pain and sadness were without any alleviation. For, in the case of no matter what other sufferer, the sadness of mind and even the bodily pain, is lessened through a certain kind of reasoning, by means of which there is brought about a distraction of the sorrow from the higher powers to the lower.
    But when Our Lord suffered this did not happen, for He allowed each of His Powers to act and suffer to the fullness of its special capacity.
  3. We may consider the greatness of the suffering of Christ in the Passion, in relationship to this fact, that the Passion and the pain it brought with it, were deliberately undertaken by Christ with the object of freeing man from sin.
    And, therefore, He undertook to suffer an amount of pain proportionately equal to the extent of the fruit which was to follow from the Passion.

From all these causes, if we consider them together, it will be evident that the pain suffered by Christ was the greatest pain ever suffered.

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HYMNS, LENT 2026, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on FASTING, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS

Our Morning Offering – 25 February – Ex More Docti Mystico, The Fast, As Taught by Holy Lore

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 25 February – “Wednesday of The First Week of Lent

Ex More Docti Mystico
The Fast, As Taught by Holy Lore
By St Gregory the Great (540-604)
Pope, Father, Doctor of the Church
Trans. John Mason Neale

The fast, as taught by holy lore,
We keep in solemn course once more.
The fast to all men known and bound
In forty days of yearly round.

The law and seers that were of old
In divers ways this Lent foretold,
Which Christ, all seasons’ King and Guide,
In after ages sanctified.

More sparing, therefore, let us make
The words we speak, the good we take,
Our sleep and mirth – and closer barred
Be every sense in holy guard.

Avoid the evil thoughts that roll
Like water o’er the heedless soul;
Nor let the foe occasion find
Our souls in slavery to bind.

In prayer together let us fall,
And cry for mercy, one and all,
And weep before the Judge’s Feet,
And His avenging wrath entreat.

The grace have we offended sore,
By sins, O God, which we deplore;
But pour upon us, from on high,
O pardoning One, Thy clemency.

Remember Thou, though frail we be,
That yet Thine handiwork are we;
Nor let the honour of Thy Name
Be by another put to shame.

Forgive the sin that we have wrought;
Increase the good that we have sought
That we at length, our wanderings o’er,
May please Thee here and evermore.

Grant, O Thou Blessed Trinity,
Grant, O Essential Unity,
That this our fast of forty days
May work our profit and Thy praise.

There are twelve translations of this lovely Lenten Hymn.
This one by L M Neale
Liturgical Use: Matins Hymn on Sundays
and week-days during Lent.

Posted in LENT 2026, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The PASSION, Thomas Aquinas

Tuesday of the First Week of Lent – 24 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – Christ underwent every kind of suffering

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Tuesday of the First Week of Lent – 24 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

Tuesday of the First Week :
Christ underwent every kind of suffering

“Every kind of suffering.”
The things men suffer may be understood in two ways.
By “kind” we may mean a particular, individual suffering and in this sense, there was no reason why Christ should suffer every kind of suffering, for many kinds of sufferings are contrary, one to the other, as for example, to be burnt and to be drowned.
We are of course, speaking of Our Lord as suffering from causes outside Himself, for to suffer the suffering effected by internal causes, such as bodily illness, would not have become Him.
But, if by “kind” we mean, the class, then Our Lord did suffer by every kind of suffering, as we can show in three ways:

  1. By considering the men through whom He suffered.
    For He suffered something at the hands of Gentiles and of Jews, of men and even of women as the story of the servant girl who accused St.Peter goes to show.
    He suffered, again, at the hands of Rulers, of their Ministers, and of the people, as was prophesied, Why have the Gentiles raged and the people devised vain things? The Kings of the earth stood up and the Princes met together against the Lord and against His Christ (Ps ii. i, 2).
    He suffered, too, from His friends, the men He knew best, for Peter denied Him and Judas betrayed Him.
  2. If we consider the things through which suffering is possible. Christ suffered in the friends who deserted Him and in His good name through the blasphemies uttered against Him.
    He suffered in the respect, in the glory, due to Him through the derision and contempt bestowed upon Him.
    He suffered in all things, for He was stripped even of His clothing; in His soul, through sadness, through weariness and through fear; in His body through wounds and the scourging.
  3. If we consider what He underwent in His various members. His head suffered through the Crown of piercing Thorns, His hands and feet, through the nails driven through them, His face from the blows and the defiling spittle and His whole body through the scourging.

He suffered in every sense of His body.
Touch was afflicted by the scourging and the nailing, taste by the vinegar and gall, smell by the stench of corpses as He hung on the Cross in that place of the dead which is called Calvary.
His hearing was torn with the voices of mockers and blasphemers and He saw the tears of His Mother and of the disciple whom He loved.
If we only consider the amount of suffering required, it is true that one suffering alone, the least indeed of all, would have sufficed to redeem the human race from all its sins. But if we look at the fitness of the matter, it had to be that Christ should suffer in all the kinds of sufferings.

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in LENT 2026, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, Thomas Aquinas

Monday of the First Week of Lent – 23 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Monday of the First Week of Lent – 23 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church

Monday of the First Week :
Christ had to be tempted in the desert

“He was in the desert 40 days and 40 nights and was tempted by satan.”
Mark i. 13.

  1. It was by Christ’s Own Will that He was exposed to the temptation by the devil, as it was also, by His Own Will that He was exposed to be slain by the limbs of the devil. Had He not so willed, the devil would never have dared to approach Him.

The devil is always more disposed to attack those who are alone because, as is said in Sacred Scripture: “If a man shall prevail against one, two shall withstand him easily (Eccles iv. 12).
This is why Christ went out into the desert, as one going out to a battleground, that there, He might be tempted by the devil. Whereupon St Ambrose says, Christ went into the desert for the express purpose of provoking the devil. For unless the devil had fought, Christ would never have overcome him for me!

St Ambrose gives other reasons too. He says Christ chose the desert as the place to be tempted for a hidden reason, namely, that He might free Adam from his exile who, from Paradise, was driven into the desert and again, that He did it for a reason in which there is no mystery, namely, to show us that the devil envies those who are tending towards a better life.

  1. We say with St Chrysostom that Christ exposed Himself to the temptation because the devil, most of all, tempts those whom he sees alone.
    So in the very beginning of things, he tempted the woman, when he found her away from her husband. It does not however follow from this that a man ought to throw himself into any occasion of temptation which presents itself.

Occasions of temptation are of two kinds.
One kind arises from man’s own action, when, for example, man himself goes near to sin, not avoiding the occasion of sin.
That such occasions are to be avoided we know and Holy Scripture reminds us of it. “Stay not in any part of the country round about Sodom” (Gen xix. 17).
The second kind of occasion arises from the devil’s constant envy of those who are tending to better things, as St Ambrose says and this occasion of temptation is not one we must avoid.
So, according to St John Chrysostom, not only Christ was led into the desert by the Holy Ghost but all the children of God who possess the Holy Ghost are led in like manner. For God’s children are never content to sit down with idle hands but the Holy Ghost ever urges them to undertake for God some great work. And this, as far as the devil is concerned, is to go into the desert, for in the desert, there is none of that wickedness in which the devil’s delight.
Every good work is, as it were, a desert to the eye of the world and of our flesh, for good works are contrary to the desire of the world.

To give the devil such an opportunity of temptation as this is not dangerous, for it is much more the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, Who is the promoter of every perfect work which prompts us, than the working of the devil, who hates them all.

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the HIGH PRIEST, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, LENT 2026, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, The WORD, Thomas Aquinas

The First Sunday of Lent – 22 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – Christ willed to be tempted

Posted on by AnaStpaul

The First Sunday of Lent – 22 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Doctor of the Church

The First Week of Lent – Sunday

It was fitting that Christ should be tempted

“Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert,
to be tempted by the devil.”
Matt iv. i

Christ willed to be tempted:

  1. That He might assist us against our own temptations.
    St Gregory says: “That our Redeemer, Who had come to earth to be killed, should will to be tempted, was not unworthy of Him. It was. indeed but just that He should overcome our temptations by His own, in the same way that He had come to overcome our death by His death.”
  2. To warn us that no man, however holy he be, should think himself safe and free from temptation.
    Whence again, His choosing to be tempted after His Baptism, about which St Hilary says: “The devil’s wiles are especially directed to trap us at times when we have recently been made holy because the devil desires no victory as much as a victory over the world of Grace.”
    Whence too, the Scripture warns us, “Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear and prepare thy soul for temptation” (Ecclus ii. i).
  3. To give us an example of how we should overcome the temptations of the devil, St Augustine says: “Christ gave Himself to the devil to be tempted that, in the matter of our overcoming those same temptations, He might be of service, not only by His assistance but too, by His example.”
  4. To fill and saturate our minds with confidence in His Mercy.
    “For we have not a High Priest Who cannot have compassion on our infirmities but One , without sin but ttempted in all things, like as we are, (Heb iv. 15).

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, GOD ALONE!, GUARDIAN ANGELS - Prayers etc, In the PRESENCE of GOD, LENT 2026, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 22 February – Begone, Satan!

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 22 February – The First Sunday of Lent – 2 Corinthians 6:1-10, Matthew 4:1-11

“Begone, Satan!
for it is written:
The Lord thy God shalt thou adore
and Him only shalt thou serve.”

Matthew 4:10

“Do not, therefore, lose your confidence,
which has a great reward.
For you have need of patience that,
doing the Will of God,
you may receive the promise.
For yet a very little while
and He Who is to come,
will come
and will not delay.”

Hebrews 10:35-37

“It might even be said that we are fortunate
to have temptations, for these are the times
of spiritual harvest when we gather up for Heaven. …
If we were thoroughly saturated
with God’s Holy Presence,
it would be easy for us to resist the enemy.
With the thought ‘God sees you!’ we would never sin!

There was a Saint who complained to our Lord
after being tempted and said to Him:
“Where were Thou, my most loveable Jesus,
during that awful storm?”
Our Lord answered:
“I was in the centre of thou heart…”

St John-Marie Baptiste Vianney (1786-1859)
The Curé of Ars

“When tempted,
turn immediately to your
Guardian Angel and ask him,
with all your heart,
“My Guardian Angel help me now.
Do not let me offend my God!”

St John Bosco (1815-1888)

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, LENT 2026, The SACRED PASSION - Meditations for LENT, The WORD, Thomas Aquinas

Saturday after Ash Wednesday – 21 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – Saturday : The Grain of Wheat

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Saturday after Ash Wednesday – 21 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Doctor of the Church

Saturday : The Grain of Wheat

“Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone.”
John xii. 24

We use the grain of wheat in two ways, for bread and for seed. Here the Word is to be taken in the second sense, grain of wheat meaning seed and not the matter out of which we make bread. For in this sense it never increases, so as to bear fruit.
When it is said that the grain must die, this does not mean that it loses its value as seed but that it is changed into another kind of thing. So St Paul (i Cor xv. 36) says, “That which then thou sowest is not quickened, except it die first.”

The Word of God is a seed in the soul of man, insofar as it is a thing introduced into man’s soul, by words spoken and heard, in order to produce the fruit of good works.
The seed is the Word of God (Luke viii. II). So also the Word of God garbed in Flesh is a Seed placed in the world, a Seed from which great crops should grow, whence it is compared in St Matthew’s Gospel (xiii. 31, 32) to a grain of mustard seed.

Our Lord, therefore, says to us, “I came as Seed, something meant to bear fruit and, therefore, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone” which is, as much as to say, “Unless I die, the fruit of the conversion of the Gentiles, will not follow.”
He compares Himself to a grain of wheat because He came to nourish and to sustain the minds of men and to nourish and sustain are precisely what wheaten bread does for men. In the Psalms it is written, That bread may strengthen man’s heart (Ps ciii. 15) and in St John, The bread that I will give is My Flesh for the life of the world(John vi. 52).

  1. “But if it die it bringeth forth much fruit” (John xii. 25). What is here explained is the usefulness of the Passion. It is as though the Gospel said, Unless the grain fall into the earth through the humiliations of the Passion, no useful result will follow, for the grain itself remaineth alone. But if it shall die, done to death and slain by the Jews, it bringeth forth much fruit, for example:

(i) The remission of sin.
This is the whole fruit, that the sin thereby should be taken away (Isaias xxvii. 9). And this is the fruit of the Passion of Christ as is declared by St Peter – Christ died once for our sins, the just for the unjust that He might offer us to God (i Pet iii. 18).

(ii) The conversion of the Gentiles to God.
“ I have appointed you that you shall go forth and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain” (John xv. 16). This fruit the Passion of Christ bore, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all things to myself (John xii. 32).

(iii) The fruit of Glory.
The fruit of good labours is glorious (Wis. iii. 15).
And this fruit too, the Passion of Christ brough forth; We have, therefore, a confidence in the entering into the Holies by the Blood of Christ – a new and living way which He hath dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, His Flesh (Hebr x. 19).

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, LENT 2026, The WORD

Quote of the Day – 21 February – Isaias 58:9-11

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 21 February – The First Saturday of Lent – Isaiah 58:9-14, Mark 6:47-56

“Thus says the Lord God:
If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation
and malicious speech.
if you bestow your bread
on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
then light shall rise
for you in the darkness
and the gloom
shall become for you,like midday;
then the Lord will guide you always
and give you plenty,
even on the parched land.
He will renew your strength
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.”

Isaiah 58:9-11

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, GOD ALONE!, LENT 2026, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on THANKSGIVING, Quotes Self-Oblation

Our Morning Offering – 21 February – Lord be Blessed! By St John of God

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 21 February – Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Lord be Blessed!
(A Prayer of Thanksgiving and Self-oblation)
By St John of God (1495-1550)

Lord be blessed!
for in Thy great kindness to me,
who art such a great sinner,
having performed so many wicked things,
yet Thou seest fit to set me free,
from such a tremendous temptation
and deception into which I fell,
through my own sinfulness.
Thou hast brought me into a safe harbour,
where I shall endeavour to serve Thee
with all my strength.
My Lord, I beg Thee, with all my might,
give me the strength of Thine grace
and always let me see Thine clemency.
I wish to be Thy slave,
so kindly show me what I should do.
Give peace and quiet to my soul
which greatly desires this.
O most worthy Lord,
may this creature of Thine,
serve and praise Thee.
May I give my whole heart
and mind, to Thee.
Amen

Posted in LENT 2026, The SEVEN PASSION Feasts, Thomas Aquinas

Friday – 20 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – 

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Ash Friday – 20 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Doctor of the Church

Friday : The Crown of Thorns

“Go forth, ye daughters of Sion and see King Solomon in the diadem, wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals and in the day of the joy of his heart.”
Cant iii. n.

This is the voice of the Church inviting the souls of the faithful to behold the marvellous beauty of her Spouse. For the daughters of Sion, who are they but the daughters of Jerusalem, holy souls, the citizens of that City which is above, who with the Angels enjoy the peace which knows no end and, in consequence, look upon the glory of the Lord?

  1. Go forth, shake off the disturbing commerce of this world so that, with minds set free, you may be able to contemplate Him Whom you love. And see King Solomon, the true Peacemaker, that is to say, Christ Our Lord.

In the diadem wherewith his mother crowned him, as though the Church said, “Look on Christ garbed with Flesh for us, the Flesh He took from the flesh of His Mother.” For it is His Flesh which is here called a Diadem, the Flesh which Christ assumed for us, the Flesh in which He died and destroyed the reign of death, the Flesh in which, rising once again, He brought to us the hope of resurrection.

This is the Diadem of which St.Paul speaks, We see Jesus for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour (Heb ii. 9). His Mother is spoken of as crowning Him because Mary the Virgin it was, who from her own flesh gave Him Flesh.

In the day of His espousals, that is, in the hour of His Incarnation, when He took to Himself the Church not having spot or wrinkle (Eph v. 27), the hour again when God was joined with man.
And in the day of the joy of His heart. For the joy and the gaiety of Christ, is for the human race, salvation and redemption. And coming home, He calls together His friends and neighbours saying to them, Rejoice with Me because I have found My sheep which was lost (Luke xv. 6).

  1. We can, however, refer the whole of this text simply and literally, to the Passion of Christ. For Solomon, foreseeing through the centuries the Passion of Christ, was uttering a warning for the daughters of Sion, that is, for the Jewish people.

Go forth and see King Solomon, that is, Christ, in His Diadem, that is to say, the Crown of Thorns, with which His Mother, the Synagogue has crowned Him; in the day of His espousals, the day when He joined to Himself the Church and in the day of the joy of His heart, the day in which He rejoiced that by His Passion, He was delivering the world from the power of the devil.
Go forth, therefore, and leave behind the darkness of unbelief and see, understand with your minds, He Who suffers as Man is really God!

Go forth, beyond the gates of your City, that you may see Him, on Mount Calvary, Crucified.

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in LENT 2026

Quote/s of the Day – 20 February – Planting a Lenten Garden (Last minute Ideas)

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 20 February – Ash Friday

Planting a Lenten Garden

Five Rows of Squash:

  1. Squash gossip
  2. Squash indifference
  3. Squash unkindness
  4. Squash temper
  5. Squash the idols of greed and lust

Six Rows of Peas:

  1. Prayer
  2. Penance
  3. Perseverance
  4. Purity
  5. Patience
  6. Politeness

Seven Heads of Lettuce:

  1. Let us be unselfish
  2. Let us be charitable
  3. Let us be obedient
  4. Let us be truthful
  5. Let us be gentle and kind
  6. Let us be repentant
  7. Let us be renewed

No garden is complete without Turnips:

  1. Turn up for Daily Mass
  2. Turn up for Special Devotions and The Rosary
  3. Turn up for Daily Morning and Night Prayer

Conclude with Thyme:

Thyme with God, thyme for fasting, thyme for generosity and care of the poor, the sick, the suffering.

Water daily with patience
Feed with love
The Beloved Saviour will provide the growth.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, CATHOLIC DEVOTIONS of the Month, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, HYMNS, LENT 2026, Our MORNING Offering, The SEVEN PASSION Feasts

Our Morning Offering – 20 February – Christ’s Peerless Crown – The Feast of the Sacred Crown of Thorns

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 20 February – Friday after Ash Wednesday – The Feast of the Sacred Crown of Thorns of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Christ’s Peerless Crown
Unknown Latin Author
Trans. Fr Edward Caswell CO (1814–1878)

Christ’s peerless crown is pictured in
The figures of the Law.
The Ram entangled in the Thorns;
The Bush which Moses saw.

The rainbow girding round the ark,
The table’s crown of gold;
The incense that in waving wreaths
Around the Altar rolled.

Hail! Circlet dear! that did’st the pangs
Of dying Jesus feel,
Thou dost the brightest gems outshine.
And all the stars excel.

Praise honour, to the Father be
And sole begotten Son;
Praise to the Spirit Paraclete
While endless ages run.
Amen

Posted in CONFESSION/PENANCE, LENT 2026, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION, Thomas Aquinas

Thursday – 19 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – Fasting

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Ash Thursday – 19 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Doctor of the Church

Thursday : Fasting

  1. We fast for three reasons.

(i) To check the desires of the flesh. So St Paul says in fastings, in chastity (2 Cor vi. 5), meaning that fasting is a safeguard for chastity. As St Jerome says, “Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus would freeze,” as much as to say, lust loses its heat through spareness of food and drink.

(ii) That the mind may more freely raise itself to contemplation of the heights. We read in the book of Daniel that it was after a fast of three weeks that he received the revelation from God (Dan x. 2-4).

(iii) To make satisfaction for sin. This is the reason given by the Prophet Joel, Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting and in weeping and in mourning (Joel ii. 12). And here is what St Augustine writes on the matter. “Fasting purifies the soul. It lifts up the mind and it brings the body into subjection to the spirit. It makes the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of desire, puts out the flames of lust and shines the true light of chastity.”

  1. There is a commandment laid on us to fast. For fasting helps to destroy sin and to raise the mind to thoughts of the spiritual world. Each man is then bound, by the natural law of the matter, to fast just as much as is necessary to help him in these matters. Which is to say, fasting in general is a matter of natural law. To determine, however, when we shall fast and how, according to what suits and is of use to the Catholic body, is a matter of positive law. To state the positive law is the business of the Bishops and what is thus stated by them is called Ecclesiastical fasting, in contradistinction with the natural fasting previously mentioned.

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, DOMINICAN OP, LENT 2026, QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on FASTING, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on PRAYER, The KINGDOM of GOD / HEAVEN

Quote/s of the Day – 19 February – Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 19 February –Ash Thursday

“Fasting cleanses the soul,
raises the mind,
subjects one’s flesh to the spirit,
renders the heart contrite and humble,
scatters the clouds of concupiscence,
quenches the fire of lust
and kindles the true light of chastity.
Enter again into yourself!”

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

“Arm yourself with prayer
instead of a sword;
be clothed with humility
instead of fine raiment.”

St Dominic OP (1170-1221)

“What great profit you gain from God
when you are generous!
You give a coin
and receive a Kingdom;
you give bread from wheat
and receive the Bread of Life;
you give a transitory good
and receive an everlasting one.
You will receive it back,
a hundred times more
than you offered.”

St Thomas of Villanova (1488-1555)

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, LENT 2026, Our MORNING Offering, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on WATCHING, QUOTES on WISDOM, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, Thomas Aquinas

Our Morning Offering – 19 February – Grant Me, My God By St Thomas Aquinas

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 19 February – Ash Thursday

Grant Me, My God
By St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Angelic Doctor, Common Doctor

Make my heart watchful, O God,
so that no vain thoughts may distract it from Thee.
Make it noble,
so that it may never be seduced by any base affection.
Make it steadfast,
so that troubles may not dismay it.
Make it free,
so that it may not yield to the onslaughts of passion.
Grant me, my God,
the intelligence, to understand Thee,
the love, to seek Thee,
the wisdom, to find Thee,
words, to please Thee,
the perseverance, to wait faithfully for Thee
and, the hope of embracing Thee, at last.
Grant that I, a repentant sinner,
may bear Thy chastisements with resignation.
Poor pilgrim which I am,
may I draw on the treasury of Thine grace
and may I one day,
be eternally happy with Thee in Heavenly glory!
Amen.

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, DOMINICAN OP, LENT, LENT 2026, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on SUFFERING, Thomas Aquinas

Ash Wednesday – 18 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas Begins

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Ash Wednesday – 18 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Doctor of the Church

Ash Wednesday : Death

“By one man sin entered into this world and by sin death.” – Romans v. 12.

  1. If for some wrongdoing a man is deprived of some benefit once given to him, that he should lack that benefit is the punishment of his sin.

Now, in man’s first creation he was divinely endowed with this advantage that, as long as his mind remained subject to God, the lower powers of his soul were subjected to the reason and the body was subjected to the soul.

But because by sin man’s mind moved away from its subjection to God, it followed that the lower parts of his mind ceased to be wholly subjected to the reason. From this there followed such a rebellion of the bodily inclination against the reason, that the body was no longer wholly subject to the soul.

Whence followed death and all the bodily defects. For life and wholeness of body are bound up with this, that the body is wholly subject to the soul, as a thing which can be made perfect is subject to that which makes it perfect. So it comes about that, conversely, there are such things as death, sickness and every other bodily defect, for such misfortunes are bound up with an incomplete subjection of body to soul.

  1. The rational soul is of its nature immortal and, therefore, death is not natural to man insofar as man has a soul. It is natural to his body, for the body, since it is formed of things contrary to each other in nature, is necessarily liable to corruption and, it is in this respect, that death is natural to man.

But God who fashioned man is all powerful. And hence, by an advantage conferred on the first man, He took away that necessity of dying which was bound up with the matter of which man was made. This advantage was, however, withdrawn through the sin of our first parents.

Death is then natural, if we consider the matter of which man is made and it is a penalty, inasmuch as it happens through the loss of the privilege whereby man was preserved from dying.

  1. Sin – Original Sin and actual sin – is taken away by Christ, that is to say, by Him Who is also the remover of all bodily defects. He shall quicken also your mortal bodies because of His Spirit Who dwelleth in you (Romams viii. II).

But, according to the order appointed by a wisdom which is Divine, it is at the time which best suits, when Christ takes away both the one and the other, i.e., both sin and bodily defects.

Now it is only right that, before we arrive at that glory of impassibility and immortality which began in Christ and which was acquired for us through Christ, we should be shaped after the pattern of Christ’s sufferings.
It is then only right that Christ’s liability to suffer should remain in us too, for a time, as a means of our coming to the impassibility of glory in the way He himself came to it.

ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274)
Priest, Theologian, Dominican
Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor)
Doctor Communis (Common Doctor)
Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Posted in CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HYMNS, LENT, LENT 2026, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, PRAYERS of the SAINTS

Our Morning Offering – 18 February – The Glory of These Forty Days By St Gregory the Great

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 18 February – Ash Wednesday

The Glory of These Forty Days
By St Gregory the Great (540-604)
Pope, Father and Doctor of the Church

The glory of these forty days
we celebrate with songs of praise,
for Christ, by Whom all things were made,
Himself has fasted and has prayed.

Alone and fasting Moses saw
the loving God Who gave the law.
And to Elijah, fasting, came
the steed and chariots of flame.

So Daniel trained his mystic sight,
delivered from the lion’s might.
And John, the Saviour’s friend, became
the herald of Messiah’s Name.

Then grant, O God, that we may, too,
return in fast and prayer to Thee.
Our spirits strengthen with Thy grace
and give us joy to see Thine Face.

( Translator: Maurice F Bell 1862-1947)

Posted in LENT 2026, MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

Ash Wednesday +2025 – Obligatory FAST and ABSTINENCE, Notre-Dame de Laon / Our Lady of Laon, Rheims, France (500), St Simeon of Jerusalem, Martyr, St Bernadette, Virgin and the Saints for 18 February

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Ash Wednesday +2025 – Obligatory FAST and ABSTINENCE,

Notre-Dame de Laon / Our Lady of Laon, Rheims, France (500), founded by St Remigius – 18 February:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/02/18/our-lady-of-laon-rheims-france-500-and-memorials-of-the-saints-18-february/

St Simeon of Jerusalem (Died c 106) Martyr, Bishop of Jerusalem, Cousin of Jesus. Son of Cleopas, was a Jewish Christian leader and the second Bishop of Jerusalem (62 or 70–106).
His Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/02/18/saint-of-the-day-18-february-st-simeon-died-c-106-martyr/

St Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879) of Lourdes – Virgin, The Visionary of Lourdes, Consecrated Religious. Born on 7 January 1844 at Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France and died on 16 April 1879, Nevers, Nièvre, France of natural causes, aged 35. Her Body is incorrupt and is on display in Nevers, France.
She was Canonised on 8 December 1933 by Pope Pius XI.
St Bernadette!
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/04/16/saint-of-the-day-16-april-saint-bernadette-soubirous-1844-1879/
AND:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/18/saint-of-the-day-18-february-st-bernadette-soubirous-1844-1879-virgin/

St Esuperia of Vercelli
St Ethelina

St Flavian (Died 449) Martyr, Archbishop of Constantinople, Confessor, Defender of the Christ’s two natures, both divine and human.
His Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/02/18/saint-of-the-day-18-february-st-flavian-of-constantinople-died-449-martyr/

Blessed John of Fiesole/Fra Angelico OP – The Angelic Friar Giovanni (1387-1455)
The Artist:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/02/18/saint-of-the-day-18-february-blessed-john-of-fiesole-fra-angelico-o-p-1387-1455/

Saint Angilbert (c750-814) Abbot Saint-Riquier at Centula

St Gertrude Caterina Comensoli

St Helladius (c566-633) Bishop and Confessor, Archbishop of Tiledo for 18 years, Abbot before that, Apostle of the poor and needy. Born in c566 in Toledo, Spain and died there in 632 of natural causes. For his charity towards the poor, he was called “A Sun which Illuminates the Darkness.” Also known as – Eladio, Eladius, Elladio, Heladio.
“A Sun which Illuminates the Darkness.”
https://anastpaul.com/2025/02/18/saint-of-the-day-18-february-st-helladius-c566-633-bishop-and-confessor-a-sun-which-illuminates-the-darkness/

Almsgiving of Saint Helladius (Eladius), oil painting by Francisco Bayeu c1770.

Bl John Pibush – one of the Martyrs of Douai
St Leo of Patera
St Paregorius of Patara
St Sadoth of Seleucia
St Tarasius of Constantinople

St Theotonius OSC (1082-1162) Priest of the Canons Regular, Reformer of religious life in Portugal, Royal Counsellor,, Apostle of the poor, Founder of the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross, now known as “The Crosiers.” He is the first Portuguese Saint.
His Life Story:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/02/18/saint-of-the-day-18-february-saint-theotinius-1082-1162/

Bl William Harrington

Martyrs of North Africa – 7 Saints: Group of Christians who were Martyred together, date unknown. We know nothing else but seven of their names – Classicus, Fructulus, Lucius, Maximus, Rutulus, Secundinus and Silvanus.
They were born and martyred in North Africa.

Martyrs of Rome – 5 Saints: A group of Christians Martyred together in the persecutions of Diocletian. We know nothing else but their names – Alexander, Claudius, Cutias, Maximus and Praepedigna. They were martyred in 295 in Rome, Italy.

Posted in CARMELITES, LENT 2026, NOVENAS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, The HOLY FACE

Lenten Preparation Novena to the Holy Face, The Ninth Day – 17 February, Shrove Tuesday

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Lenten Preparation Novena
in Reparation to the Holy Face
Day Nine

“All those who, attracted by My Love and venerating My Countenance, shall receive, by virtue of My Humanity, a brilliant and vivid impression of My Divinity. This splendour shall enlighten the depths of their souls, so that in eternal glory the celestial court shall marvel at the marked likeness of their features, with My Divine Countenance.” … Our Lord Jesus Christ to St Gertrude the Great (1256-1302)

(Console the Holy Face

and recite Daily Preparatory Prayer) below.

DAILY PREPARATORY PRAYER

O Most Holy and Blessed Trinity,
through the intercession of Holy Mary,
whose soul was pierced through
by a sword of sorrow
at the sight of the Passion of her Divine Son,
we ask Thy help,
in making a perfect Novena of Reparation with Jesus,
united with all His sorrows, love and total abandonment.
We now implore all the Angels and Saints
to intercede for us as we pray this Holy Novena
to the Most Holy Face of Jesus
and for the glory of the most Holy Trinity,
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen

THE NINTH DAY
Psalm 50:18-19:
For in sacrifice Thou take no delight,
burnt offering Thou wouldst refuse.
A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit,
a contrite and humble heart, O God,
Thou wilt not despise.

Sacred Face of our Lord and our God,
what words can we say
to express our gratitude?
How can we speak of our joy?
That Thou hast deigned to hear us,
that Thou hast chosen to answer us
in our hour of need.
We say this because we know,
that our prayers will be granted.
We know that Thou,
in Thy loving kindness,
listen to our pleading hearts
and will give, out of Thy fullness,
the answer to our prayers.

Mary, our Mother,
thank you for your intercession on our behalf.
Saint Joseph, thank you for your prayers.

Through the merits of your precious blood
and your Holy Face, O Jesus,
grant us our petition………………
Pardon and mercy.
Amen.

Prayer to the Holy Face
By St Thérèse of the Child Jesus
and the Holy Face (1873-1897)

O Jesus, Who, in Thy cruel Passion
didst become, the ‘reproach of men
and the Man of Sorrows,’
I worship Thy divine Face.
Once it shone with the beauty
and sweetness of the Divinity
but now, for my sake,
it is become as ‘the face of a leper.’
Yet, in that disfigured Countenance,
I recognise Thy infinite love
and I am consumed with the desire
of making Thee loved by all mankind.
The tears that flowed so abundantly
from Thy Eyes are, to me,
as precious pearls which I delight to gather,
that with their worth,
I may ransom the souls of poor sinners.
O Jesus, Whose Face is the sole beauty
which ravishes my heart,
I may not see, here below,
the sweetness of Thy glance,
nor feel the ineffable tenderness of Thy kiss,
I bow to Thy Will—but I pray Thee,
to imprint in me, Thy divine likeness
and I implore Thee,
so to inflame me with Thy love,
that it may quickly consume me
and that I may soon reach the vision
of Thy glorious Face in Heaven.
Amen.

Pray (1) Our Father, three (3) Hail Marys, one (1) Glory Be

O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine,
be every Adoration Thine
(Three times)

Posted in LENT 2026, MARIAN DEVOTIONS, MARIAN PRAYERS, MARIAN QUOTES, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, MARIAN TITLES, Our MORNING Offering, St Alphonsus de Liguori,, St JOSEPH

Our Morning Offering – 17 February – My Beloved Redeemer, Prayer for the Flight into Egypt By St Alphonsus

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 17 February – Feast of the Flight into Egypt

My Beloved Redeemer
Prayer for the Flight into Egypt (Excerpt)
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)
Doctor of the Church

My beloved Redeemer,
I have many times driven Thee out of my soul
but now I hope, that Thou
have again taken possession of it.
I beseech Thee,
do Thou bind it to Thyself
with the sweet chains of Thy love.
Oh, do Thou make Thyself loved,
make Thyself loved by all the sinners
who persecute Thee,
give them light,
make them know the love
Thou hast borne them
and the love Thou deserves,
since Thou goes wandering over the earth
as a poor Infant,
weeping and trembling with cold
and seeking souls to love Thee!
O Mary, most holy Virgin,
O dearest Mother
and companion of the sufferings of Jesus,
do thou help me always
to carry and preserve thy Son
in my heart,
in life and in death!
Amen.

Posted in LENT 2026, MARIAN DEVOTIONS, MARIAN TITLES, The HOLY FACE

The Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus, Shrove Tuesday,  The Flight into Egypt (Year 1), Our Lady of Constantinople, Bari, Turkey (566), Saturday after Ash Wednesday and the Saints for 17 February

Posted on by AnaStpaul

The Feast of the HOLY FACE of JESUS:


In the 19th Century Jesus expressed His wishes to Sister Mary of St Peter (1816-1848), a Carmelite Nun in Tours, France, that there be an actual Devotion to his Holy Face. Our Lord wanted this in reparation for blasphemies against Himself and His Holy Name as well, as for the profanation of Sunday (when people engage unnecessarily in commerce and other such labours and chores on Sunday, a day meant for rest and reflection on God). In August of 1843 He dictated to her the well-known Golden Arrow Prayer. He also gave her Promises for those who would honour His Holy Face.
The first Holy Medal of the Holy Face was given to Ven Pope Pius XII, who approved the Devotion and the Medal. In 1958 he formally declared the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus as Shrove Tuesday for all Catholics in perpetuity.
https://anastpaul.com/2022/03/01/feast-of-the-holy-face/

Shrove Tuesday: Shrove is the past tense of the word Shrive, which means “to hear a confession, assign penance and absolve from sin.”
In the Middle Ages, especially in Northern Europe and England, it became the custom to confess one’s sins on the day before Lent began in order to enter the penitential season in a repentant spirit.

The Flight into Egypt (Year 1)- 17 February:

It was on the seventeenth of February, fifty five days after the Nativity of Jesus, when King Herod’s soldiers — sent to slaughter all little boys in Bethlehem and its neighbourhood who were two years old or under, in order to destroy a rival King, Jesus — were getting perilously near the cave at Bethlehem, where at first they little expected Our Lord to be. Saint Joseph received a message from God through an Angel, whereupon he took Our Lady and the Divine Infant and set off leaving the land of the Jews to travel to a land of the Gentiles. They took no-one with them, by way of servants or friends, as Saint Peter Chrysologus tells us.

The Town to which the Holy Family fled was called Fostat. It was three hundred miles from Bethlehem. A Church has been erected there, on the site of the house where the Holy Family lived during their exile. The little Town where the Holy Family lived in Egypt was not far from Heliopolis, a City in which — when Jesus, Mary and Joseph passed through it — statues of pagan gods crashed to the ground. Both Fostat and Heliopolis are not far from Cairo in Egypt.

Our Lady of Constantinople, Bari, Turkey (566) – 17 February:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/02/17/our-lady-of-constantinople-bari-turkey-566-and-memorials-of-the-saints-17-february/

St Alexis Falconieri OSM (Died 1310) – One of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servites.
His Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/02/17/saint-of-the-day-17-february-saint-alexis-falconieri-13th-century-1310/

St Benedict of Cagliari
St Bonosus of Trier

St Constabilis of Cava OSB (c 1070-1124) Abbot, Miracle-worker, known as “The Blanket of the Brothers” for his gentle kindness and caring humility for all the Monks in their trials and sorrows.
“The Blanket of the Brothers” :
https://anastpaul.com/2022/02/17/saint-of-the-day-17-february-saint-constabilis-of-cava-osb-c-1070-1124/

St Donatus the Martyr
St Evermod of Ratzeburg
St Faustinus the Martyr

St Finan of Iona (Died 661) the Second Bishop of Lindisfarne succeeding St Aidan.
About St Finan:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/17/saint-of-the-day-17-february-saint-finan-of-iona-or-lindisfarne-died-661/

St Fintan of Clonenagh (c 524 – 603) Abbot, “Father of the Irish Monks,” disciple of St Columba of Iona. Fintan was granted the gifts of prophecy and miracles.
“Father of the Irish Monks”:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/02/17/saint-of-the-day-17-february-saint-fintan-of-clonenagh-c-524-603-father-of-the-irish-monks/

St Flavian of Constantinople
St Fortchern of Trim
St Guevrock
St Habet-Deus
St Julian of Caesarea
St Loman of Trim

Blessed Luke Belludi OFM (c1200- c 1285) Friar of the Order of Friars Minor, companion of St Anthony of Padua on his travels, miracle-woker, founder of convents.
His Devoted Life
https://anastpaul.com/2019/02/17/saint-of-the-day-17-february-blessed-luke-belludi-ofm-c-1200-c-1285/

St Lupiano
St Mesrop the Teacher
St Polychronius of Babylon
St Romulus the Martyr
St Secundian the Martyr

St Silvinus (c650-c717) Bishop, Missionary evangeliser in north-eastern pagain regions of France, gifted with miracles. Born of Celtic origins and died on 15 February c717 at the Abbey of Auchy-les-Moines, Artois, in Belgium.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “In the territory of Thérouanne, St Silvinus, Bishop of Toulouse.”
His Holy Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2025/02/17/saint-of-the-day-17-february-saint-silvinus-c650-c717-bishop/


St Theodulus (Died 309) Martyr of Caesarea

Posted in BLESSED TRINITY PRAYERS, LENT 2026, NOVENAS, The HOLY FACE, The MOST HOLY & BLESSED TRINITY

Lenten Preparation Novena to the Holy Face,The Eighth Day – 16 February

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Lenten Preparation Novena
in Reparation to the Holy Face
Day Eight

“All those who, attracted by My Love and venerating My Countenance, shall receive, by virtue of My Humanity, a brilliant and vivid impression of My Divinity. This splendour shall enlighten the depths of their souls, so that in eternal glory the celestial court shall marvel at the marked likeness of their features, with My Divine Countenance.” … Our Lord Jesus Christ to St Gertrude the Great (1256-1302)

(Console the Holy Face

and recite Daily Preparatory Prayer) below.

THE EIGHTH DAY:
Psalm 50:16-17:
O rescue me, God of my salvation
and my tongue shall extol Thy justice.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall declare Thy praise.

DAILY PREPARATORY PRAYER

O Most Holy and Blessed Trinity,
through the intercession of Holy Mary,
whose soul was pierced through
by a sword of sorrow
at the sight of the Passion of her Divine Son,
we ask Thy help,
in making a perfect Novena of Reparation with Jesus,
united with all His sorrows, love and total abandonment.
We now implore all the Angels and Saints
to intercede for us as we pray this Holy Novena
to the Most Holy Face of Jesus
and for the glory of the most Holy Trinity,
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen

Most merciful Face of Jesus,
Who in this vale of tears,
was so moved by our misfortunes,
to call Thyself the healer of the sick
and the good Shepherd of the souls gone astray,
allow not Satan to draw us away from Thee
but keep us always under Thy loving protection,
together with all souls who endeavour
to console Thee.

Mary, our Mother, intercede for us.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Through the merits of Your Precious Blood
and Your Holy Face, O Jesus,
grant us our petition ………………
Pardon and mercy.
Amen

Omnipotentia Patris

O Omnipotence of the Father,
help my frailty
and save me from the depths of misery.

O Wisdom of the Son,
direct all my thoughts,
my words and my deeds.

O Love of the Holy Ghost,
be the source of all the actions of my mind,
that they may always be conformed
to God’s good pleasure.
Amen

Pray (1) Our Father, three (3) Hail Marys, one (1) Glory Be

O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine,
be every Adoration Thine
(Three times)

Posted in CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, LENT 2026, MIRACLES, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on MYSTERIES of our FAITH, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 16 February – ‘ … We must understand the miracles of our Lord …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

 One Minute Reflection – 16 February – “The Month of the Most Blessed Trinity” – Ferial Day – Quinquagesima Sunday –1 Corinthians 13:1-13 – Luke 18:31-43.– Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“And immediately he saw and followed Him, glorifying God.” – Luke 18:43

REFLECTION – “Our Redeemer foresaw that the hearts of His disciples would be greatly disturbed by His Passion. He foretold to them, far ahead, of both the agony of His Passion and the glory of His Resurrection (Lk 18:31-33). Then, when they beheld Him dying, as had been foretold, they would not doubt that He was to rise again. But since the disciples, still worldly as they were, were entirely unable to grasp, the Words of the Mystery (v.34), there was need of a miracle! A blind man received the Light before their eyes, so that a heavenly deed might strengthen the faith of those, who failed to grasp the Words of the heavenly Mystery.

We must understand the miracles of our Lord and Saviour, dearly beloved, so as to believe that they have been truly effected and that their meaning, nevertheless, still signifies something else too … We do not know the historical identity of the blind man but we do know whom he mystically denotes. The blind man is the human race. In our first parents it was driven from the joys of paradise and ignorant of the brightness of the Divine Light, it suffered the darkness of its condemnation. But yet, it is enlightened by the presence of its Redeemer, to see already, the joys of inward light, by desire and to direct the footsteps of its good works, in the way of Life.” – St Gregory the Great (540-604) Pope, Father and Doctor of the Church (Sermons on the Gospels).

PRAYER – O Lord, we beseech Thee, mercifully hear our prayers; loose us from the chains of our sins and keep us from all adversity. 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 DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, GOD is LOVE, LENT 2026, Our MORNING Offering, QUOTES on PERSECUTION, REDEMPTORISTS CSSR, SACRED and IMMACULATE HEARTS, SACRED HEART PRAYERS, St Alphonsus de Liguori,, The NINE FIRST FRIDAYS

Our Morning Offering – 16 February – O Adorable Heart of my Jesus!

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 16 February – “The Month of the Nost Blessed Trinity” – Ferial Day – Quinquagesima Week

O Adorable Heart of my Jesus!
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)
Most Zealous Doctor

O Adorable Heart of my Jesus,
Heart yearning expressly. for the love of men!
Until now, I have shown towards Thee
only ingratitude.
Pardon me, O my Jesus.
Heart of my Jesus,
Abyss of Love and of Mercy,
how is it possible,
that I do not die of sorrow,
when I reflect on Thy Goodness to me
and my ingratitude to Thee?
Thou, my Creator, after having created me,
hast given Thy Blood and Thy Life for me
and, not content with this,
Thou hast invented a means of offering
Thyself everyday for me,
in the Holy Eucharist,
exposing Thyself to a thousand insults and outrages!
Ah, Jesus, do Thou wound my heart
with a great contrition for my sins
and a lively love for Thee.
Through Thy Tears and Thy Blood,
give me the grace of perseverance
in Thy fervent love, until I breathe my last sigh.
Amen.