Category: LENT

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, LENT 2024, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on THE VOICE OF GOD, QUOTES on THE WORLD, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, The GOOD SHEPHERD, The WORD

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 16 March – Faithful Sheep or Foolish Travellers?

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 16 March – Saturday of the Fourth Week in Lent – Ferial Day – Isaias 49:8-15; John 8:12-20 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“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

Faithful Sheep or Foolish Travellers?

St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604)
Father and Doctor of the Church

“… . 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.

… 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 onto 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!” – (An excerpt from his Homily 14).

Posted in BAPTISM, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, LENT 2024, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on PURITY, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on THE VOICE OF GOD, The RESURRECTION, The WORD

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 15 March – Do Not Fall Back Again Into Death!

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 15 March – Friday of the Fourth Week in Lent – 3 Kings 17:17-24; John 11:1-45 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Now, by this I know t
hat thou art a man of God
and the Word of the Lord
in thy mouth is true.”
3 Kings 17:24

“ Lazarus, come forth!”
John 11:43

Do Not Fall Back Again Into Death!

St Gregory Nazianzen (330-390)
Father & Doctor of the Church

“Laid to rest in the tomb, you heard the resounding call.
Is there any Voice greater than that of the Word?
Then you came out, you who were dead not merely for four days but for a very long time indeed.
You were raised with Christ … your burial bands fell to the ground.
Do not fall back again now into death; do not rejoin those who dwell in the tombs; do not allow yourself to be stifled by the burial bands of your sins.
For would you be able to come back to life once again?
Would you be able to bring out, from the death of here below, the resurrection of all men at the end of time? …

So let the Lord’s call resound in your ears!
Do not close them today to the teaching and admonitions of the Lord.
If you used to be blind, without light in your tomb, open your eyes lest you sink into the sleep of death.
In the Light of the Lord, behold light! in the Spirit of God, fix your eyes on the Son.
If you take to yourself the Word, in its entirety, then you focus onto your soul, all the power of Christ Who heals and restores to life ….
Do not be afraid to put some work into preserving your Baptismal purity and set the ways that lead to the Lord, within your heart.
Take care to preserve the act of acquittal which you received through pure grace ….

Let us be Light, as the disciples learned, from He Who is the Great Light: “You are the light of the world” (Mt 5:14).
Let us be lamps in this world by holding up on high the Word of Life, by being a life force for others.
Let us set out in search of God, in search of the One Who is the First and Purest of Lights.” – (Sermon on Holy Baptism).

Posted in CATECHESIS, CHRIST the PHYSICIAN, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HOLY COMMUNION, LENT 2024, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The WORD

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 14 March – His Life-giving Eucharist

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 14 March – Thursday of the Fourth Week in Lent – 4 Kings 4:25-38, Luke 7:11-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Seek the Lord and be strengthened,
seek His Face evermore.”
Psalm 104:4

“Young man, I say to thee, arise!”
Luke 7:14

His Life-giving Eucharist

St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444)
Father & Doctor of the Church

“Even for restoring the dead to life, the Saviour did not stop at acting by Word alone, although it was the bearer of Divine Commands.
For such a surpassing work, He took His own Flesh as His assistant – if one might put it that way – that He might show, that it has the power to give life and, that He might cause it to be seen that it is entirely One with Him.
For, it is indeed His very own Flesh and not an alien body.

This is what happened when He restored life to the synagogue leader’s daughter, saying to her: “My child, arise!” (Mk 5:41).
He took her by the hand, as it is written.
As God, He gave her back her life, by His all-powerful command and animated her too, by contact with His Holy Flesh.
Thus, He bore witness that, in Flesh as in His Word, one and the same Divine energy was at work.
In the same way, too, when he came to a Town called Nain, where the widow’s only son was being buried, He touched the coffin, saying: “Young man, I say to thee, arise!” (Lk 7:14).

Thus, He not only conferred to His Word the power to raise the dead but He even touched the dead, to show that His Body is Life-giving and, through His Flesh, He caused life to pass into their corpses.
If the touch alone of His Sacred Flesh restores life to a corrupting body, what profit shall we not discover in His Life-giving Eucharist when we make of it our food?
It will wholly transform into its own property which is immortality, those who participate in it.” – (Commentary on the Gospel of John Ch 4).

Posted in "Follow Me", AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, LENT 2024, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on TRUTH, The WORD

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 13 March – A Command and A Promise

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 13 March – Wednesday of the Fourth Week in Lent – Isaias 1:16-19, John 9:1-38 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Wash yourselves, be clean,
take away the evil of your deeds
from my eyes …”
Isaias 1:16

“And Jesus passing by, saw a man
who was blind from his birth. …
As long as I Am in the world,
I Am the Light of the world.
When He had said these things,
He spat on the ground
and made clay of the spittle
and spread the clay upon his eyes,”
John 9:1,5-6

A Command and A Promise

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

“The Lord tells us – I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me, will not walk in darkness but will have the Light of life.
In these few words He gives a COMMAND and makes a PROMISE.
Let us do what He commands, so that we may not blush to covet what He promises and to hear Him say on the Day of Judgement:
“I laid down certain conditions for obtaining My Promises. Have you fulfilled them?”
If you say: “What did you command, Lord our God?”
He will tell you: “I commanded you to follow Me.
You asked for advice on how to enter into life. What life, if not the life about which it is written: With Thee is the fountain of life?”

Let us do now what He commands!
Let us follow in the footsteps of the Lord!
Let us throw off the chains which prevent us from following Him.
Who can throw off these shackles without the aid of the One addressed in these words: You have broken my chains?
Another psalm says of Him: The Lord frees those in chains, the Lord raises up the downcast.

Those who have been freed and raised up follow the Light.
The Light they follow speaks to them: I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me, will not walk in darkness.
The Lord gives Light to the blind.
Brethren, that Light shines on us now, for we have had our eyes anointed with the eye-salve of faith.
His saliva was mixed with earth to anoint the man born blind.
We are of Adam’s stock, blind from our birth, we need Him to give us Light.
He mixed saliva with earth and so it was prophesied: Truth has sprung up from the earth.
He Himself has said: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. …

If you love Me, follow Me. “I do love you,” you protest “but how do I follow you?”
If the Lord your God said to you: “I am the Truth and the Life,” in your desire for truth, in your love for life, you would certainly ask Him to show you the way to reach them.
You would say to yourself: “Truth is a great reality, life is a great reality – if only it were possible for my soul to find them!” – (An excerpt from: On John [Treatise 34]).

Posted in ArchAngels and Angels, CHRIST the PHYSICIAN, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2024, QUOTES on PRIDE, QUOTES on STRENGTH, SAINT of the DAY

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 12 March – Pride, Strength, That I May See!

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 12 March – Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Lent – St Gregory the Great (540-604), Pope, Confessor, Father & Doctor of the Church, “Father of the Fathers” “The Apostle of England”

Pride, Strength, That I May See!

St Gregory the Great (540-604),
Pope, Confessor, Father & Doctor of the Church

“Whenever something is to be done needing great power,
Michael is sent forth, so that from his action
and from his name, we can understand
that no-one can do what God can do.
Hence that old enemy, who through pride,
desired to be like God, saying,
“I will scale the heavens,
I will set up my throne,
I will be like the Most High,”
is shown at the end of the world,
left to his own strength and about to undergo
the final punishment, as destined to fight
with Michael the Archangel.
Similarly, Gabriel was sent to Mary;
he who is called “strength of God” came to announce Him,
Who deigned to appear in humility
to conquer the powers of the air.
And Raphael is interpreted, as we said,
“Medicine of God,” for when he touched the eyes of Tobias
to do the work of healing, he dispelled the night of his blindness.”

Practice: If I am tempted to pride today I will ask St Michael to help me conquer my pride. I will have great confidence in his prayers for this intention since it was he who brought down Lucifer, the very spirit of pride. “Who is like unto God!”
And to St Gabriel, in my weakness, I may ask prayers for strength and of St Raphael, his prayers to cure my many hurts, both physical and spiritual.

Posted in CHRIST the LIGHT, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HYMNS, LENT 2024, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS

Our Morning Offering – 12 March – Lucis Creator Optime, O Blest Creator of the Light By St Gregory the Great

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Our Morning Offering – 12 March – Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Lent and the Memorial of St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) – Father & Doctor

Lucis Creator Optime
O Blest Creator of the Light
By St Gregory the Great (540-604)
Pope, Father & Doctor
“Father of the Fathers”

O blest Creator of the light,
Who mak’st the day with radiance bright,
And o’er the forming world did’st call
The Light from Chaos First of all.

Whose wisdom join’d in meet array
The morn and eve and nam’d them day;
Night comes with all its darkling fears;
Regard Thy people’s pray’rs and tears.

Lest, sunk in sin and whelm’d with strife,
They lose the gift of endless life;
While thinking but the thoughts of time,
They weave new chains of woe and crime.

But grant them grace that they may strain
The heav’nly gate and prize to gain;
Each harmful lure, aside to cast,
And purge away each error past.

O Father, that we ask be done,
Through Jesus Christ, Thine only Son;
Who, with the Holy Ghost and Thee,
Shall live and reign eternally.
Amen

This hymn is used for Vespers (II) on Sundays throughout the year in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Breviary.
Trans John M Neale (1818-1866), 1851.
Tune: “Lucis Creator Optime” Gregorian Chant, Mode VIII, traditional.

Posted in CATECHESIS, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, GOD is LOVE, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, LENT 2024, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on HELL, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, REDEMPTORISTS CSSR, The GOOD SHEPHERD, The HOLY CROSS, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, The PASSION

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 10 March – On the Tender Compassion which Jesus Christ entertains towards Sinners

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 10 March – Laetare Sunday / The Fourth Sunday in Lent – Galatians 4:22-31, John 6:1-15 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“They who trust in the Lord
are like Mount Sion
which is immovable;
which forever stands.”
Psalm 124:1-2

“Make the men sit down.”
John 6:10

On the Tender Compassion which Jesus Christ
Entertains Towards Sinners

St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)
Most Zealous Doctor

“WE read in this day’s Gospel that, having gone up into a mountain with His disciples and seeing a multitude of five thousand persons, who followed Him because they saw the miracles which He wrought on them that were diseased, the Redeemer said to St Philip: “Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat ?” “Lord,” answered St Philip, “two-hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient that every one may take a little.” St Andrew then said: There is a boy here that has five barley loaves and two fishes but what are these among so many? But Jesus Christ said: “Make the men sit down.” And he distributed the loaves and fishes among them. “The multitude were satisfied and the fragments of bread which remained, filled twelve baskets.”
The Lord wrought this miracle through compassion for the bodily wants of these poor people but, far more tender is His compassion, for the necessities of the souls of the poor that is, of sinners, who are deprived of the Divine Grace.

But, my Lord, since Thou hast resolved to take human flesh, would not a single prayer offered by Thee be sufficient for the redemption of all men? What need, then, was there of leading a life of poverty, humiliation and contempt, for thirty- three years, of suffering a cruel and shameful death on an infamous gibbet and of shedding all Thy Blood by dint of torments?
I know well, answers Jesus Christ, that One Drop of My Blood, or a simple prayer, would be sufficient for the salvation of the world but neither,would be sufficient to show the love which I bear to men and, therefore, to be loved by men when they should see me dead on the Cross, for the love of them, I have resolved to submit to so many torments and to so painful a death.
This, He says, is the duty of a good Shepherd “I Am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth His Life for His sheep… I lay down My Life for My sheep.” (John 10:11, 15) …

This tenderness of Jesus Christ was experienced by the sinful woman (according to St Gregory, — Mary Magdalene) who cast herself at the feet of Jesus and washed them with her tears. (Luke 7:47 and 50) The Lord, turning to her with sweetness, consoled her by saying: “Thy sins are forgiven … thy faith hath made thee safe; go in peace.” (Luke 7:48 and 50.) Child, thy sins are pardoned; thy confidence in Me has saved thee; go in peace.
It was also felt by the man who was sick for thirty- eight years and who was infirm, both in body and soul. The Lord cured his malady and pardoned his sins. … We have also a proof of the tender compassion of the Son of God for sinners, in his conduct towards the woman caught in adultery.

… Jesus Christ has come, not to condemn,but to deliver sinners from hell, as soon as they resolve to amend their lives. And when He sees them obstinately bent on their own perdition, He addresses them with tears in the words of Ezechiel:
“Why will you die, O house of Israel?” (18:31). My children, why will you die? Why do you voluntarily rush into hell, when I have come from Heaven to deliver you from it by death?”
He adds: you are already dead to the grace of God.
But I will not allow your death — return to Me and I will restore to you the life which you have lost.

Let us then, sinners, return instantly to Jesus Christ.
If we have left Him, let us immediately return, before death overtakes us in sin and sends us to hell, where the mercies and graces of the Lord shall, if we do not amend, be so many swords which shall lacerate the heart for all eternity!” – (Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent – Intro, 3,8,9,11,12).

Posted in CATECHESIS, CHRIST the SUN of JUSTICE, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, LENT 2024, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on HELL, St Francis de Sales, The KINGDOM of GOD / HEAVEN, The SECOND COMING

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 9 March – Heaven or Hell?

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 9 March – Saturday of the Third Week in Lent – Proverbs 31:10-31, Matthew 13:44-52 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Thou hast loved justice
and hated iniquity;
therefore God, thy God,
hath anointed thee
with the oil of gladness,
above thy fellows.”
Psalm 44:8

“So shall it be at the end of the world.
The Angels shall go out
and shall separate the wicked
from among the just.
And shall cast them into the furnace of fire:
there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 13:49-50

HEAVEN or HELL?

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritas

“CONSIDER THAT THE CHOICE you make in this life will last forever in the next!
Consider too, that while both are open to receive you, according to your choice, yet God, Who is prepared to give the one by reason of His Justice, the other by reason of His Mercy, all the while desires, unspeakably that you should select Paradise. offering you countless graces on God’s part, countless assistance to attain to it.
Consider that Jesus Christ, enthroned in Heaven, looks down upon you in loving invitation – ‘O beloved one, come unto Me and joy forever in the eternal blessedness of My Love!’
Behold His mother yearning over you with maternal tenderness, ‘Courage, my child, do not despise the Goodness of my Son, or my earnest prayers for thy salvation.‘ …

O Hell, I abhor thee now and forever; I abhor thy griefs and torments, thine endless misery, the unceasing blasphemies and maledictions which thou pourest out upon my God and turning to thee, O blessed Paradise, eternal glory, unfading happiness, I choose thee forever as my abode, thy glorious mansions, thy precious and abiding tabernacles.

O my God, I bless Thy Mercy which gives me the power to choose, O Jesus, Saviour, I accept Thine Eternal Love and praise Thee for the promise Thou hast given me, of a place prepared for me, in that blessed New Jerusalem, where I shall love and bless Thee forever. ” (Excerpt – ‘Introduction to the Devout Life’ 9th Meditation).

Posted in CARMELITES, DOCTORS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, LENT 2024, LENTEN THOUGHTS, LOVE of NEIGHBOUR, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, The WORD

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 8 March – The Lord Asks of Us Only Two Things

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 8 March – Friday in the Second Week of Lent – Ecclesiasticus Sirach 31:8-11, Matthew 22:34-46 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
he shall delight exceedingly
in His commandments. …”
Psalm 111:3

“‘You shall love the Lord your God
with your whole heart
and with your whole soul
and your whole mind.’
This is the greatest and first commandment.
And the second is like it,
‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ ”
Matthew 22:37-39

The Lord Asks of Us Only Two Things

St Teresa of Jesus of Avila (1515-1582)
Carmelite, Doctor of the Church

“The Lord asks of us only two things – love of His Majesty and love of our neighbour. These are what we must work for. By observing them with perfection, we do His will and so, will be united with Him. But how far, as I have said, we are from doing these two things, as we ought, for so great a God! May it please His Majesty to give us His grace, so that we might merit, if we wish to reach this state that lies within our power.

The most certain sign, in my opinion, as to whether or not we are observing these two laws, is whether we observe well, the love of neighbour. We cannot know whether or not we love God, although there are strong indications for recognising that we do love Him but, we can know, whether we love our neighbour. And be certain that the more advanced you see you are, in love for your neighbour, the more advanced you will be in the love of God, for the love His Majesty has for us, is so great that to repay us for our love of neighbour, He will, in a thousand ways, increase the love we have for Him. I cannot doubt this. That is why, it is important for us to walk, with careful attention, to how we are proceeding in this matter, for if we practice love of neighbour with great perfection, we shall have done everything. I believe that, since our nature is bad, we will not reach perfection in the love of neighbour, if that love does not rise from love of God, as its root.” – (Interior Castle, Fifth Dwelling Places Ch 3).

Posted in CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2024, LENTEN THOUGHTS, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES on PRAYER, QUOTES on WISDOM, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, The WORD

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 7 March – Exercise your Soul

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 7 March – Wisdom 7:7-14; Matthew 5:13-19 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“For she is an infinite treasure to men!
which they that use,
become the friends of God”
Wisdom 7:14

“Neither do men light a candle
and put it under a bushel
but upon a candlestick …”
Matthew 5:15

Exercise Your Soul

St Clement of Alexandria (c150-c215)
Father of the Church

“A well, when pumped regularly, produces purer water.
If neglected and no-one uses it, it changes into a source of pollution.
Use keeps metal brighter but disuse produces rust.

For, in a word, exercise produces a healthy condition, both in souls and bodies.

So “No-one lights a candle and puts it under a bushel but upon a candlestick that it may give light.”

For of what use is wisdom, if it fails to make those who hear it wise?” (Stromateis 1)

Posted in ArchAngels and Angels, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, GOD ALONE!, GUARDIAN ANGELS - Prayers etc, HYMNS, LENT 2024, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on MERCY, QUOTES on SIN, The KINGDOM of GOD / HEAVEN, The LAST THINGS, The WORD

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 6 March – Sweet Angel of Mercy!

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 6 March – Wednesday of the Third Week in Lent – Ecclesiasticus Sirach 51:13-17; Matthew 13:44-52 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Nor then do thou leave me,
Angelical friend!
But at the tribunal
Of Judgement attend
And cease not to plead
For my soul, till, forgiven,
Thou bear it aloft
To the Palace of Heaven!”

“The Kingdom of Heaven
is like a treasure hidden in a field.”
Matthew 13:44

Sweet Angel of Mercy!
By Fr Edward Caswell C.Orat. (1814-1878)

Sweet Angel of mercy!
By Heaven’s decree
Benignly appointed
To watch over me!
Without thy protection,
So constant and nigh,
I could not well live;
I should tremble to die.

All thanks for thy love,
Dear companion and friend!
Oh may it continue
With me to the end!
Oh cease not to keep me,
Blest guide of my youth,
In the ways of religion
And virtue and truth.

Support me in weakness,
My spirit inflame;
Defend me in danger,
Secure me from shame,
That safe from temptation,
Or sudden surprise,
I may mount the straight path
That ascends to the skies.

When Satan his snares
For my ruin shall lay,
Be thou, gentle comrade,
My comfort and stay
And in every event
Which may happen to me,
Make all my desires
With thine to agree.

When I wander in error,
My footsteps recall,
Remove from my path
What might cause me to fall.
Preserve me from sin
And in all that I do,
May God and His glory
Be ever in view.

O thou who didst witness
My earliest breath,
Be with me, I pray,
In the hour of death.
Console me in sadness,
Refresh me in pain
And teach me how best
I may mercy obtain.

That, cleansed by confession
Complete and sincere,
From every defilement
Afflicting me here,
All glowing with love,
I may gladly depart.
With faith on my lips
And with hope in my heart.

Nor then do thou leave me,
Angelical friend!
But at the tribunal
Of Judgement attend
And cease not to plead
For my soul, till, forgiven,
Thou bear it aloft
To the Palace of Heaven!

Posted in CATECHESIS, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, GOOD FRIDAY, LENT 2024, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, St Francis de Sales, The HOLY CROSS, The LORD'S PRAYER, The PASSION, The SEVEN PASSION Feasts

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 5 March – Forgiving Our Brother With All Our Heart

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 5 March – Tuesday of the Third Week in Lent – 4 Kings 4:1-7; Matthew 18:15-22 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“And forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone
who is indebted to us.”
Luke 11:4

“Then Peter came up to him and said,
“Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me
and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times
but seventy times seven.”
Matthew 18:21-22

Forgiving Our Brother With All Our Heart

By St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor of the Church

“The first word our Lord spoke on the Cross was a prayer for those who were Crucifying Him; thus, He carried out what Saint Paul wrote: “In the days of His flesh, He offered prayer and sacrifice” (Heb 5:7). It is true that those who were Crucifying our Divine Saviour did not know Him … for, if they had known Him, they would not have Crucified Him (1 Cor 2:8). Therefore, our Lord, seeing the ignorance and weakness of those torturing Him, began to make excuses for them and offer this Sacrifice to His heavenly Father for them – for prayer is a sacrifice: … “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).
How great was the flame of love burning in our sweet Saviour’s heart, since amidst the strongest of His pains, at the time when the strength of His sufferings seemed to take from Him even the ability to pray for Himself, He came, through the strength of charity, to forget Himself but not those He had created …

By this He wanted to make us understand the love He bore for us, a love which could not be lessened by any kind of suffering and, to teach us, too, what our hearts ought to be feeling with regard to our neighbour …

Now, since this Divine Lord had been occupying Himself in asking forgiveness for us, it is absolutely certain that His request was granted. For His Divine Father honoured Him too much to refuse Him anything He asked.” – (Sermon for Good Friday 25/03/1622).

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2024, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, The WILL of GOD

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 4 March – The Precept of Hospitality

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 4 March – St Casimir (1458-1484) Confessor, Prince – 4 Kings 5:1-15; Luke 12:35-40 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“The just shall flourish like the palm tree,
he shall grow up, like the cedar of Lebanon.”
Psalm 91:13

“There were many widows in Israel”
Luke 4:25

The Precept of Hospitality

St Ambrose (340-397)
Father and Doctor of the Church

“At that time, when the whole human race was afflicted by famine, Elias was sent to a widow?
And see how, for each is reserved her own special grace. An Angel is sent to the Virgin, a Prophet to the widow. In the one case it is Gabriel, in the other Elisha. The most excellent chiefs of the number of Angels and Prophet,s are seen to be chosen!
But there is no praise, simply in widowhood, unless there be added the virtues of widowhood. For, indeed, there were many widows but one is preferred to all, by whose example of virtue, they are stimulated … The grace of hospitality is not lost sight of by God, Who, as He hHmself relates in the Gospel, rewards a cup of cold water with the exceeding recompense of eternity (Mt 10:42) and compensates the small measure of meal and oil, by an unfailing abundance of plenty …

Why consider the fruits of the earth are private, when the earth itself is common property? … But we turn aside the warnings of a general utterance to our private advantage.
God says: “Every tree which has in it the fruit of a tree yielding seed, shall be to you for food and, to every beast and to every bird and to everything that creeps on the earth.” (Gn 1:29-30).
By heaping up, we come to want and need. For we cannot hope for the promise if we do not keep God’s will.
It is also good for us to attend to the precept of hospitality, to be ready to give to strangers, for we, too, are strangers in the world.

How holy was that widow, who, when pinched by extreme hunger, observed the reverence due to God! She was not using the food for herself alone but was dividing it with her son. A beautiful example of tenderness but, even more of faith! She should not have set anyone before her son, yet, she set the Prophet of God before her own preservation.
You may well believe she not only gave him a little food but all she had to live on. She kept nothing back for herself.
So hospitable was she that she gave all she had, so full of faith that her trust was total.” – (On Widows).

Posted in CARMELITES, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, IMMACULATE HEART PRAYERS, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, The WILL of GOD

Our Morning Offering – 4 March – Morning Offering By St Thérèse

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Our Morning Offering – 4 March – Monday of the Third Week in Lent

Morning Offering
By St Thérèse of the Child Jesus (1873 – 1897)

O my God!
I offer Thee all my actions of this day
for the intentions and for the glory
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
I desire to sanctify every beat of my heart,
my every thought,
my simplest works,
by uniting them to It’s infinite merits
and I wish to make reparation for my sins,
by casting them into the furnace
of It’s Merciful Love.
O my God!
I ask Thee for myself
and for those whom I hold dear,
the grace to fulfil perfectly Thy Holy Will,
to accept for love of Thee,
the joys and sorrows of this passing life,
so that we may one day be united together
in Heaven for all Eternity.
Amen.

Posted in CATECHESIS, CHRIST the LIGHT, CONFESSION/PENANCE, DOCTORS of the Church, LENT 2024, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on HELL, QUOTES on SACRILEGE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, REDEMPTORISTS CSSR, The WORD

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 3 March – On Concealing Sins in Confession

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 3 March – The Third Sunday in Lent – Ephesians 5:1-9; Luke 11:14-28 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Walk then, as children of the Light.
For the fruit of the Light is in all goodness
and justice and truth.”
Ephesians 5:8-9

“And He was casting out a devil
and the same was dumb.”
Luke 11:14

On Concealing Sins in Confession

St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)
Most Zealous Doctor

“THE devil does not bring sinners to hell with their eyes open — he first blinds them with the malice of their own sins. “For their own malice blinded them.” (Wis 2:21) He thus leads them to eternal perdition.
Before we fall into sin, the enemy labours to blind us that, we may not see the evil we do and, the ruin we bring upon ourselves, by offending God.
After we commit sin, he seeks to make us dumb that, through shame, we may conceal our guilt in Confession.
Thus, he leads us to hell by a double chain, inducing us, after our transgressions, to consent to a still greater sin the sin of sacrilege!

… St Augustine says that, to prevent the sheep from seeking assistance by there cries, the wolf seizes them by the throat and thus securely carries them away and devours them.
The devil acts in a similar manner with the sheep of Jesus Christ.
After having induced them to yield to sin, he seizes them by the throat that they may not confess their guilt and thus, he securely brings them to hell.
For those who have sinned grievously, there is no means of salvation but the confession of their sins!
But, what hope of salvation can he have who goes to Confession and conceals his sins and makes use of the tribunal of penance to offend God and to make himself doubly the slave of Satan?
What hope would you entertain of the recovery of the man, who, instead of taking the medicine prescribed by his physician, drank a cup of poison instead?
God! What can the Sacrament of Penance be to those who conceal their sins but a deadly poison which adds to their guilt, the malice of Sacrilege?
In giving Absolution, the Confessor dispenses to his patient the Blood of Jesus Christ; for it is through the merits of that Blood that he absolves from sin.

What, then, does the sinner do, when he conceals his sins in Confession?
He tramples underfoot, the Blood of Jesus Christ.
And should he afterwards receive the Holy Communion in a state of sin, he is, according to St Chrysostom, as guilty as if he threw the Consecrated Host into a sink …
Accursed shame! how many poor souls do you bring to hell?
… Unhappy souls! they think only of the shame of confessing their sins and do not reflect that, if they conceal them, they shall be certainly damned!” (Extract from the Sermon for the Third Sunday of Lent, 1 and 5).

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CONFESSION/PENANCE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, I BELIEVE!, LENT 2024, LENTEN THOUGHTS, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on the CHURCH, QUOTES on TRUTH, QUOTES on WISDOM, The WORD

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 2 March – a Robe, a Ring and Sandals …

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 2 March – Saturday of the Second Week in Lent – Ferial Day – Genesis 27:6-40; Luke 15:11-32 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“ It is good to give praise to the Lord
and to sing to Thy Name, O most High.
To shew forth Thy mercy in the morning
and Thy truth in the night.”
Psalm 91:2-3

“I shall arise and shall go to my Father”
Luke 15:18

A Robe, a Ring and Sandals
“Awake, O Sleeper and Rise from the Dead”
(Ephesians 5:14)

St Ambrose (340-397)
Father and Doctor of the Church

“I shall go to my father and say: ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven and against you.’” Such is our first confession to our Creator, our merciful Lord, the Judge of our sins. For although He knows all things, God is waiting for an expression of our confession. For “if you confess with your mouth… you will be saved” (Rm 10:10)…

This is how the younger son spoke to himself. But it is not enough just to speak, unless you come to the Father. Where are we to look for Him? Where will we find Him? “He got up.” Get up first of all, you who have hitherto been sitting down asleep. This is what the Apostle Paul says: “Awake, O sleeper and rise from the dead” (Eph 5:14) … Up you get, then and hurry along to the Church — there is the Father, there the Son, there the Holy Ghost. He, Who hears you speaking in the intimate depths of your soul, is coming to meet you and, when you are still far off, He sees you and starts running. He sees your heart; he runs up lest anyone delay you and embraces you … He flings His arms around your neck to raise you up, you who were prostrate, burdened with sins, face to the ground. He turns you over to face Heaven, so that you can seek your Creator there. Christ flings His Arms around you, so as to free your neck from slavery’s yoke and set His gentle yoke upon you… He is embracing you when He says: “Come to me, all you who labour and are burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you” (Mt 11:28). Such is His manner of embrace if you repent.

He causes a Robe, a Ring and Sandals to be brought. The Robe is the garment of wisdom… spiritual clothing — the wedding garment. What is the Ring if not the seal of a genuine faith and the imprint of truth? And as for the Sandals — these are the preaching of the Gospel.” – (Commentary on Saint Luke’s Gospel VII).

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CONFESSION/PENANCE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2024, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on MYSTERIES of our FAITH, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on the CHURCH, The WORD

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 1 March – Faith, Love, Obedience, Penance …

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 1 March – Friday of the Second Week in Lent and the Feast of the Holy Shroud – – Genesis 37:6-22; Matthew 21:33-46.– Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“He has not dealt with us
according to our sins,
nor rewarded us
according to our iniquities.”
Psalm 102:10

“They seized Him,
threw Him out of the vineyard
and killed Him.”
Matthew 21:39

The Mystery of God’s Vineyard
Faith, Love, Obedience, Penance …

St Bernard O.Cist. (1090-1153)
Father and Doctor of the Church

“Brethren, if we understand the Lord’s Vineyard to be the Church … it seems to me that we here encounter a significant prerogative.
Note,, in a special way, how the Church extended her boundaries all over the world …

By this I understand that company of believers, who were described as “of one heart and soul.” (Acts 4:32) …
For during the persecution it had not been so uprooted that it could not be elsewhere replanted and leased “to other tenants, who will deliver the produce … when the season arrives.”
No indeed, it did not perish, it changed in a new location; it even increased and spread further afield under the blessing of the Lord.
So, brethren, lift up your eyes round about and see if “the mountains were not covered with its shade, the cedars of God with its branches; if its tendrils did not extend to the sea and its offshoots all the way to the river” (Ps 79:11-12).

No wonder this, for it is God’s building, God’s farm (1 Cor 3:9).
He waters it, he propagates it, prunes and cleanses it that it may bear even more fruit.
When did He ever deprive, of His care and labour that which His right Hand planted? (Ps 79:15).
There can be no question of neglect, where the Apostles are the branches, the Lord is the Vine and His Father is the Vinedresser (Jn 15:1-5).
Planted in faith, its roots are grounded in love, dug in with the hoe of discipline, fertilised with penitential tears, watered with the words of preachers and so, it abounds with the wine which inspires joy, rather than debauchery, wine full of the pleasure which is never licentious. This is the wine which gladdens the heart (Ps 103:15) …
Be consoled, daughter of Sion!
Yours is to wonder at the Mystery, rather than bewail the harm — let your heart be expanded to gather together, the fullness of the pagans!” — (Extract from Sermon 30 on the Song of Songs)

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the BRIDEGROOM, DOCTORS of the Church, franciscan OFM, GOD ALONE!, JUNE-THE SACRED HEART, LENT, LENTEN THOUGHTS, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, SACRED HEART QUOTES, SACRED HEART REFLECTIONS, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION, The RESURRECTION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 1 March – “They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”- Matthew 21:39

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One Minute Reflection – 1 March – Friday of the Second Week in Lent and the Feast of the Holy Shroud – Genesis 37:6-22; Matthew 21:33-46 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”– Matthew 21:39

REFLECTION – “I am the true vine,” Jesus says (Jn 15:1)… People dig trenches around this Vine, that is to say, cunningly dig traps. When they plot to make someone fall into a snare, it is as if they dug a pit in front of him. That is why He mourns about it, saying: “They have dug a pit before Me” (Ps 56:7)… Here is one example of these snares: “They brought a woman who had been caught in adultery” to our Lord Jesus, “saying: ‘Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?’ ” (Jn 8:3f)… And here is another: “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to the Emperor or not?” (cf. Mt 22:17)…

However, they discovered that these traps caused no harm to the Vine. To the contrary, in digging these pits, they themselves fell into them (Ps 56:7) … Then they kept on digging, not just His Hands and His Feet (Ps 21:17) but they pierced His Side with a lance (Jn 19:34) and uncovered the interior of that Sacred Heart, which had already been wounded by the spear of love. The Bridegroom says in the song of His love that: “You have wounded My heart, My sister, My spouse” (Sg 4:9). O Lord Jesus, Your Heart has been wounded with love by Your spouse, Your friend, Your sister. Why, then, was it necessary for Your enemies to wound You again? O you enemies, what are you doing?… Do you not know that this Heart of Our Lord Jesus, already pierced, is already dead, already open and cannot be touched by any other suffering? The Heart of the Bridegroom, Our Lord Jesus, has already received the wound of love, the death of love. What other death could touch Him?… The Martyrs also laugh when they are threatened, rejoice when they are struck, triumph when they are killed. Why? Because they have already died through love in their hearts, “dead to sin” (Rm 6:2) and to the world…

Thus Jesus’ Heart has been wounded and put to death for our sake… Physical death triumphed for a moment but only to be conquered forever. It was blotted out when Christ rose from the dead because “death has no power over Him anymore” (Rm 6:9). – St Bonaventure (1221-1274), Franciscan, Doctor of the Church (The Mystical Vine, ch. 3, § 5-10)

PRAYER – O God, Who hast left us a Relic of Thy passion in the Holy Shroud in which Thy body, taken down from the Cross, was wrapped by Joseph [of Arimathea], grant, we beseech Thee that through Thy Death and Burial, we may be brought to the glory of resurrection. Thou who livest and reignests with The Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, LENT, MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY, The SEVEN PASSION Feasts

The First Friday of month, March Devotion, Friday of the Second Week in Lent – FAST and ABSTINENCE, The Feast of the Holy Shroud of Jesus, Madonna Della Croce, “Holy Mary of the Cross,” Italy (1490), St David and all the Saints for 1 March

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March Devotion – The Month of St Joseph

The First Friday of March

Friday of the Second Week in Lent – FAST and ABSTINENCE

The Feast of the Holy Shroud of Jesus
Celebrated on Friday after the Second Sunday of Lent

Madonna Della Croce, “Holy Mary of the Cross,” Crema, Italy (1490) – 1 March:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/03/01/our-lady-della-croce-holy-mary-of-the-cross-crema-italy-1490/

St David of Wales (c542-c601) Bishop, Prince, Monk, Confessor, Missionary, Founder of Monasteries. Uncle of King Arthur. David studied under Saint Paul Aurelian. Worked with Saint Columbanus, Saint Gildas the Wise and Saint Finnigan. He was officially Canonised in 1120 by Pope Callistus II.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2017/03/01/saint-of-the-day-1-march-st-david-of-wales/

St Abdalong of Marseilles
St Adrian of Numidia
St Agapios of Vatopedi
St Agnes Cao Guiying

St Albinus of Angers (469-549) Bishop, Confessor, Monk, Abbot, miracle-worker.
His Life
https://anastpaul.com/2021/03/01/saint-of-the-day-1-march-saint-albinus-of-angers-469-549-bishop/

St Albinus of Vercelli
St Amandus of Boixe
St Antonina of Bithynia
Bl Aurelia of Wirberg
Bl Bonavita of Lugo
St Bono of Cagliari
Bl Christopher of Milan
Bl Claudius Gabriel Faber
St Domnina of Syria
St Domnina of Syria
St Donatus of Carthage
St Eudocia of Heliopolis
St Felix III, Pope
Bl George Biandrate
Bl Giovanna Maria Bonomo
Bl Gonzalo de Ubeda
St Hermes of Numidia
St Jared the Patriarch
St Leo of Rouen

St Leolucas of Corleone OBas (c815-c915) Abbot of the Basilian Order, Mystic, Ascetic, Miracle-worker. He lived as a Monk for more than 80 years.
The Roman Martyrology reads: “In the Monastery of Avena between the slopes of Mount Mercurio in Calabria, St Leone Luca, Abbot of Monte Mula, who shone in the hermitic life, as in the cenobitic life, following the rules of the oriental Monks.”
His Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/03/01/saint-of-the-day-1-march-saint-leolucas-of-corleone-obas-c815-c915-abbot/

St Lupercus
St Marnock
St Monan
Bl Pietro Ernandez
Bl Roger Lefort
St Rudesind
St Seth the Patriarch
St Simplicius of Bourges
St Siviard
St Swithbert
St Venerius of Eichstätt

Martyrs of Africa – A group of 13 Christians executed together for their faith in Africa. The only details about them to survive are ten names – Abundantius, Adrastus, Agapius, Charisius, Donatilla, Donatus, Fortunus, Leo, Nicephorus and Polocronius. c290

Martyrs of Antwerp – A group of 14 Christians Martyred together, buried together and whose Relics were transferred and enshrined together. We know nothing else but their names – Benignus, Donatus, Felician, Fidelis, Filemon, Herculanus, Julius, Justus, Maximus, Pelagius, Pius, Primus, Procopius and Silvius. Died in the 2nd Century in Rome. They are buried in the St Callixtus Catacombs and their Relics were enshrined in the Jesuit Church in Antwerp on 28 February 1600.

Martyrs of the Salarian Way – A group of 260 Christians who, for their faith, were condemned to road work on the Salarian Way in Rome, Italy during the persecutions of Claudius II. When they were no longer needed for work, they were publicly murdered in the amphitheatre. Martyrs. c269 in Rome.

Martyrs Under Alexander – A large but unspecified number of Christians Martyred in the persecutions of Emperor Alexander Severus and the praefect Ulpian who saw any non-state religion to be a dangerous treason. c 19.

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2024, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on GREED, WEALTH, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on POVERTY, QUOTES on PRIDE, QUOTES on the POOR, QUOTES on WEALTH/RICHES, The WORD

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 29 February – True Wealth, True Poverty

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 29 February – Thursday in the Second Week of Lent – Jeremias 17:5-10, Luke 16:19-31 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“ I am the Lord Who search the heart
and prove the reins:
Who give to everyone according to his way
and according to the fruit of his devices.”
Jeremias 17:10

“The poor man died and was carried
by the Angels to Abraham’s bosom.
The rich man also died and was buried
and in Hades, being in torment,
he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham, far off
and Lazarus in his bosom. …”
Luke 16:22-23

True Wealth, True Poverty

St Augustine (354-430)
Father & Doctor of the Church

“When I say that God does not incline His ear to the rich man, do not go so far as to think, my friends that God fails to answer those who have gold and silver, servants and lands.
If they were born in that state and occupy that class of society, let them call to mind the saying of the Apostle Paul:
“Tell the rich in the present world, not to yield to pride” (1Tm 6:17).
People who do not yield to pride are poor before God, Who inclines His ear to the poor and needy (Ps 85:1).
Indeed, they know their hope does not lie in gold or silver, or in those things, of which they have an abundance, for a time.
It suffices that possessions are not causing their loss and that, if they do nothing for their salvation, at least they are not an obstacle to it … Therefore, when someone despises those things that feed one’s pride, he is one of God’s poor and God inclines His ear towards him, for He knows the troubles of his heart.

It is true, my brethren that the poor man Lazarus, covered with sores, who lay at the rich man’s door, was carried by Angels into the bosom of Abraham.
This is what we read and believe.
Whereas ,the rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted splendidly everyday, was thrown down to the torments of hell.

But was it really the merit of his destitution which won for the poor man, his being carried away by Angels?
And was the rich man delivered up to torment because of his lavish lifestyle?
We need to acknowledge that it was humility which was honoured in that poor man and pride which was punished in the rich man!” – (Discourses on the Psalms 85,3).

Posted in BLESSED TRINITY PRAYERS, DOCTORS of the Church, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRAYERS on the CROSS of CHRIST, St Francis de Sales, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 29 February – Daily Morning Prayer Of St Francis de Sales

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Our Morning Offering – 29 February –“The Month of the Most Holy and Blessed Trinity” – Thursday of the Second Week in Lent

Daily Morning Prayer
Of St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritatis

Lord, I lay before Thee my weak heart,
which Thou fills with good desires.
Thou knows that I am unable
to bring the same to good effect,
unless Thou bless and prosper them
and, therefore, O Loving Father,
I entreat Thee to help me
by the merits and Passion of Thy dear Son,
to Whose honour I would devote this day
and my whole life.
Amen

Posted in "Follow Me", AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, LENT 2024, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on THE WORLD, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, QUOTES on WATCHING, SELF-DISTRUST, The SECOND COMING, The WORD

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 28 February – ‘…Let Us Hate Our Sins and Love Him Who, Will Exact Punishment for Them …’

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 28 February – St Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin/Gabriel Possenti CP (1838-1862) Confessor, – 1 John 2:14-17; Mark 10:13-21 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“He will not deprive, of good things,
those who walk in innocence.
O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man
who trusts in Thee!”
Psalm 83:13

“One thing is lacking to thee;
go, sell whatever thou has
and give to the poor
and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven
and come, follow Me.”
Mark 10:21

Let Us Hate Our Sins and Love Him
Who Will Exact Punishment for Them.

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

“What then should the Christian do?
He ought to use the world, not become its slave.
And what does this mean?
It means having, as though not having.

So says the Apostle: “My brethren, the appointed time is short — from now on, let those who have wives, live as though they had none and those who mourn, as though they were not mourning and those who rejoice, as though they were not rejoicing and those who buy, as though they had no goods and those who deal with this world, as though they had no dealings with it.”

For the form of this world is passing away.
But I wish you to be without anxiety.
He who is without anxiety waits without fear until his Lord comes.
For what sort of love of Christ is it to fear His coming?
Brothers, do we not have to blush for shame?
We love Him, yet we fear His coming!
Are we really certain that we love Him?
Or do we love our sins more?
Therefore, let us hate our sins and love Him Who, will exact punishment for them.
He will come whether we wish it or not.
Do not think that because He is not coming just now, He will not come at all. He will come, you know not when and provided He finds you prepared, your ignorance of the time of His coming, will not be held against you.” (A Discourse on Psalm 95)

Posted in ArchAngels and Angels, BREVIARY Prayers, CONFESSION/PENANCE, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, GUARDIAN ANGELS - Prayers etc, HYMNS, JESUIT SJ, LENT 2024, LENTEN THOUGHTS, OCTOBER - The HOLY ROSARY and The HOLY ANGELS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 27 February– “ … Come to Our Help, Watchful Ward of Our Lives”

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 27 February– Tuesday of the Second Week in Lent – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“The troubles of my heart are multiplied,
deliver me from my necessities.
See my abjection and my labour
and forgive me all my sins.”
Psalm 24:17-18

“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled
and whoever humbles himself
will be exalted.”
Matthew 23:12

PENANCE
“ … Come to Our Help,
Watchful Ward of Our Lives”

Custodes Hominum Psallimus Angelos
Praise We the Guardian Angels of Men
By St Robert Bellarmine SJ (1542-1621)
Archbishop of Capua, Theologian
Doctor of the Church

Angel-guardians of men,
spirits and powers we sing,
Whom our Father hath sent,
aids to our weakly frame,
Heavenly friends and guides,
help from on high to bring,
Lest we fail through the foeman’s wile.

He, the spoiler of souls,
Angel-traitor of old,
Cast in merited wrath
out of his honoured place,
Burns with envy and hate,
seeking their souls to gain
Whom God’s mercy invites to Heaven.

Therefore, come to our help,
watchful ward of our lives:
Turn aside from the land,
God to thy care confides
Sickness and woe of soul,
yea and what else of ill
Peace of heart to its folk denies.

Now to the Holy Three
praise evermore resound:
Under Whose Hand Divine
resteth the triple world
Governed in wondrous wise,
glory be Theirs and Might
While the ages unending run.
Amen

This Hymn/Prayer/Reflection by St Robert Bellarmine,was added to the Roman Breviary in 1608, by command of Pope Paul V. It is for Vespers in the Office for “the Holy Guardian Angels. Double of the second class, 2 October.

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, LENT 2024, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on ALMS, The HEART, The KINGDOM of GOD / HEAVEN, The WORD

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 26 February – ALMSGIVING

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 26 February – St Margaret of Cortona (1247–1297) Penitent – Sirach 51:13-17, Matthew 13:44-52 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“The Kingdom of Heaven
is like a treasure hidden in a field;
he who finds it, hides it
and in his joy,
goes and sells all that he has
and buys that field.”
Matthew 13:44

“For where your treasure is,
there also will your heart be.”
Luke 12:34

ALMSGIVING

St Peter Chrysologus (c400-450)
Bishop of Ravenna
Father and “Doctor of Homilies”

“All this is what that treasure brings about.
Either through almsgiving, it raises the heart of a man into Heaven, or through greed, it buries it in the earth!

That is why He said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
O man, send your treasure on, send it ahead into Heaven, or else your God-given soul will be buried in the earth.
Gold comes from the depth of the earth — the soul, from the highest Heaven.
Clearly, it is better to carry the gold to where the soul resides, than to bury the soul in the mine of the gold.
That is why God orders those, who will serve in His army here below, to fight as men stripped of concern for riches and unencumbered by anything.
To these he has granted the privilege of reigning in Heaven.” (Sermon 22)

Posted in BLESSED TRINITY PRAYERS, EUCHARISTIC, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, HOLY COMMUNION, Holy Name PRAYERS, JANUARY month of THE MOST HOLY NAME of JESUS, LENT 2024, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, QUOTES on BLASPHEMY, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION, SACRED HEART PRAYERS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The HOLY NAME, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 25 February – The Golden Arrow

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Our Morning Offering – 25 February – “The Month of the Most Holy and Blessed Trinity” – The Second Sunday in 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 CATECHESIS, GOD ALONE!, LENT 2024, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on FASTING, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on MORTIFICATION, QUOTES on VANITY, St Francis de Sales

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 24 February – Fasting … you should make all the members of your body and the powers of your soul fast …’

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 24 February – Ember Saturday – Acts 1:15-26, Matthew 11:25-30 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“ Lord, Thou hast proved me
and known me:
Thou hast known my sitting down
and my rising up.”
Psalm 138:1-2

“Take My yoke upon you
and learn from Me,
for I Am meek and humble of heart
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For My yoke is easy and My burden light.”
Matthew 11:29-30

ON FASTING
St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritas

This is all I wish to tell you regarding fasting and what must be observed in order to fast well.
The first thing is that your fast should be entire and universal – that is that you should make all the members of your body and the powers of your soul fast – keeping your eyes lowered … mortifying the hearing and the tongue, so that you will no longer hear or speak of anything vain or useless; … the memory, in filling it with the remembrance of bitter and sorrowful things and avoiding joyous and gracious thoughts; keeping your will in check and your spirit at the foot of the Crucifix, with some holy and sorrowful thought.
If you do this, your fast will be universal, interior and exterior, for you will mortify both your body and your spirit.
The second condition is that you do not observe your fast or perform your works, for the eyes of others and the third, is that you do all your actions and consequently, your fasting, to please God alone, to Whom be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.” – (Excerpt from the Sermon given for Ash Wednesday on 9 February 1622).

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, LENT 2024, LENTEN THOUGHTS, OUR Cross, QUOTES on DISCIPLESHIP, QUOTES on FEAR, QUOTES on MISSION, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, SEPTEMBER-The SEVEN SORROWS of MARY and The HOLY CROSS, The HOLY CROSS, The WORD

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 23 February – ‘Be Lamps Yourselves’

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 23 February – 2 Timothy 4:1-8; Matthew 5:13-19 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
he shall delight exceedingly
in His commandments.”
Psalm 111:1

“Neither do men light a candle
and put it under a bushel
but upon a candlestick …”
Matthew 5:15

Be Lamps Yourselves

St Augustine (354-430)
Father and Doctor of the Church

“What sort of candlestick is this which bears such a light?
I will teach you.
Be lamps yourselves and you will have a place on this lampstand.
Christ’s Cross is one great lampstand.
Whoever wants to shine out should not be ashamed of this wooden candlestick.
Listen to me and you will get the point – the candlestick is the Cross of Christ …

“So will your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and glorify” Glorify whom? Not yourself, since to seek your own glory is to want to be extinguished!
“Glorify your heavenly Father.” Yes, that they may glorify Him, your heavenly Father, when they see your good works…
Listen to the Apostle Paul: “May I never glory except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world” (Gal 6:14).”

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, MORNING Prayers, PRAYERS for VARIOUS NEEDS, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, Quotes on SALVATION, The PASSION, The REDEMPTION

Our Morning Offering – 23 February – Rescue Me, Most Merciful God

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Our Morning Offering – 23 February – Ember Friday in the First Week of Lent

Rescue Me, Most Merciful God
By Father Martin von Cochem OSFC (c 1630-1712)

Most merciful God,
remember at how great a price
Thou didst purchase me
and how much Thou didst suffer for me.
For the sake of that inestimable price,
do not permit me to be lost,
rescue me,
number me amongst the sheep
of Thy fold.
With them, I will then
praise and magnify Thy loving kindness,
to all eternity.
Amen

Fr Martin von Cochem was a German Capuchin theologian, preacher and prolific ascetic writer. Father Martin’s works embrace a great variety of subjects – a huge volume of apologetics against Protestantism, the life of Christ, lives of the Saints, edifying narratives, the setting forth of certain points in Christian asceticism, forms of prayer, methods to be followed for the worthy reception of the sacraments, etc.
The prayer above is from the renowned “The Four Last Things.”

Posted in FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, LENT, LENT 2024, MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY, The PASSION

EMBER FRIDAY – FAST and ABSTINENCE, Nuestra Señora de la Peña / Our Lady of the Rock (1434), The Feast of the Sacred Lance and Nails – Friday after the 1st Sunday in Lent, St Peter Damian and the Saints for 23 February

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EMBER FRIDAY – FAST and ABSTINENCE
In case you have forgotten about Ember Days as they are not promoted or encouraged since Vatican II, here is a reminder:
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.

In a Leap Year, the Vigil of St Matthias, Apostel, is not announced today because it is transferred to the 24th.

St Peter Damian OSB (1007-1072) Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, Benedictine Monk, Confessor, Theologian, Reformer, Writer, Teacher, Preacher, Poet, Papal Envoy, Father and Doctor of the Church. Dante placed him in one of the highest circles of Paradiso as a great predecessor of Saint Francis of Assisi. Peter was acclaimed as “one of the most accomplished Latinists of his time, one of the greatest writers of medieval Latin.”
The wonderful St Peter here:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/02/21/saint-of-the-day-21-february-st-peter-damian/
AND:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/02/21/saint-of-the-day-21-february-st-peter-damian-osb-1007-1072-doctor-of-the-church/

Nuestra Señora de la Peña / Our Lady of the Rock, Pena de Francia, near Salamanca, Spain (1434) – 23 February:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/02/23/our-lady-of-the-rock-pena-de-francia-near-salamanca-spain-1434-and-memorials-of-the-saints-23-february/

St Alexander Akimetes
St Boswell
St Dositheus of Egypt
St Felix of Brescia
St Florentius of Seville
St Giovanni Theristi (1049–1129) Monk
Bl John of Hungary

St Lazarus Zographos (c810-c 867) Priest, Monk known as “the Painter and the Iconographer.” Lazarus lived before and during the second period of Byzantine Iconoclasm.
The Roman Martyrology states of him today: “St Lazarus, a Monk, whom the Iconoclast Emperor Theophilus ordered to be put to torture for having painted holy images. His hand was burned with a hot iron but, being healed by the power of God, he painted anew the holy images which had been defaced and finally rested in peace.”
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2022/02/23/saint-of-the-day-23-february-st-lazarus-zographos-810-865/

St Martha of Astorga
St Medrald

St Milburga (Died 715) Virgin, Prioress, Abbess, Miracle-worker.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/02/23/saint-of-the-day-23-february-saint-milburga-died-715-abbess/

St Milo of Benevento (Died c1077) Bishop
St Ordonius
St Polycarp of Rome
St Romana

St Serenus the Gardener (Died 307) Martyr. Serenus was by birth a Grecian. He left his family estate, friends and country to serve God in celibacy, penance and prayer. With this design he bought a garden in Sirmium in Pannonia, which he cultivated with his own hands and lived on the fruits and herbs it produced.
His Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/02/23/saint-of-the-day-23-february-st-serenus-the-gardener-died-307-martyr/

St Willigis of Mainz (c940-1011) Archbishop of Mainz, Reformer, builder of the Cathedral of Mainz and many Churches, bridges and roads throughout his Diocese, de facto Regent of Germany during the minority of Otto III, to whom he was Guardian.
About St Willigis:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/02/23/saint-of-the-day-23-february-saint-willigis-of-mainz-c-940-1011-archbishop/

St Zebinus of Syria

Martyrs of Syrmium – 73 Christians who were Martyred together in the persecutions of Diocletian. We know no details about them, and only six of their names – Antigonus, Libius, Rogatianus, Rutilus, Senerotas and Syncrotas.

Posted in "Follow Me", CATECHESIS, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, JANUARY month of THE MOST HOLY NAME of JESUS, LENT 2024, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on PURITY, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, The HEART, The HOLY NAME

Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 22 February – ‘ … What then must we do, we who have been found worthy of the Name of Christ? … ‘

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Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 22 February – The Feast of the Chair of St Peter at Antioch –1 Peter 1:1-7; Matthew 16:13-19 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Let the mercies of the Lord, give glory to Him
and his wonderful works to the children of men!”
Psalm 106:31

“But Whom do you say that I Am?
Simon Peter answered and said:
Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:15-16

On Christian Perfection
In Thought, Word and Deed

St Gregory of Nyssa (c335–c395)
Bishop and Father of the Church

(Brother of St Basil the Great)

“The life of the Christian has three distinguishing aspects – deeds, words and thought. Thought comes first, then words, since our words express openly the interior conclusions of the mind. Finally, after thoughts and words, comes action, for our deeds carry out what the mind has conceived. So when one of these results in our acting or speaking or thinking, we must make sure that all our thoughts, words and deeds are controlled by the Divine Ideal, the Revelation of Christ. For then, our thoughts, words and deeds will not fall short of the nobility of their implications.

What then must we do, we who have been found worthy of the Name of Christ? Each of us must examine his thoughts, words and deeds, to see whether they are directed toward Christ or are turned away from Him. This examination is carried out in various ways. Our deeds or our thoughts or our words are not in harmony with Christ if they issue from passion. They then bear the mark of the enemy who smears the pearl of the heart with the slime of passion, dimming and even destroying the luster of the precious stone.

On the other hand, if they are free from and untainted by every passionate inclination, they are directed toward Christ, the Author and Source of peace. He is like a pure, untainted stream. If you draw the thoughts in your mind and the inclinations of your heart from Him, you will show a likeness to Christ, your Source and Origin, as the gleaming water in a jar resembles the flowing water from which it was obtained.

For the purity of Christ and the purity which is manifest in our hearts are identical. Christ’s purity, however, is the Fountainhead; ours has its Source in Him and flows out of Him. Our life is stamped with the beauty of His thought. The inner and the outer man, are harmonised in a kind of music. The mind of Christ is the controlling influence which inspires us to moderation and goodness in our behaviour. As I see it, Christian perfection consists in this – sharing the title which expresses the meaning of Christ’s Name, we bring out this meaning in our minds, our prayers and our way of life.” – (Extract from his Treatise On Christian Perfection).