Category: ONE Minute REFLECTION

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2020, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES of the SAINTS, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 2 April – “Before Abraham was made, I am.” 

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 2 April – Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent, Readings: Genesis 17:3-9, Psalm 105:4-9, John 8:51-59

“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was made, I AM. ”   So they took up stones to throw at him but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. … John 8:58-59

REFLECTION – “Before Abraham was made, I am.”   Recognise the Creator-distinguish the creature.   He who spoke was made the seed of Abraham and that Abraham might be made, He Himself was before Abraham.
Hence, as if by the most open of all insults thrown at Abraham, they were now excited to greater bitterness.   Of a certainty it seemed to them, that Christ the Lord had uttered blasphemy in saying, “Before Abraham was made, I am.”   “Therefore took they up stones to cast at Him.”   To what could so great hardness have recourse, save to its like?   “But Jesus” [acts] as man, as one in the form of a servant, as lowly, as about to suffer, about to die, about to redeem us with His blood, not as He who is-not as the Word in the beginning and the Word with God.   For when they took up stones to cast at Him, what great thing were it had they been instantly swallowed up in the gaping earth and found the inhabitants of hell in place of stones?   It were not a great thing to God but better was it that patience should be commended than power exerted.   Therefore “He hid Himself” from them, that He might not be stoned.   As man, He fled from the stones but woe to those from whose stony hearts God has fled?”… St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctorjohn-8-58-59-and-they-picked-up-stones-as-a-man-jesus-fled-st-augustine-11-april-2019 and 2 april 2020

PRAYER – Lord God, break the bonds of our sin which our weakness have forged to enchain us and in Your loving mercy, forgive Your people’s guilt.   Never flee from us in our weakness O Lord and grant us Your salvation.   Help us Holy Mother to be the imitators of your Son.   Through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God for all time and eternity, amen.blessed-virgin-mary-mother-of-god-pray-for-us-26-nov-2018 and 26 nov 2019

Posted in CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, QUOTES on TRUTH, SAINT of the DAY, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 1 April – ‘By faith we adhere to Christ …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 1 April – Wednesday of the Fifth week of Lent, Readings:  Daniel 3:14-20, 91-92, 95, Responsorial psalm Daniel 3:52-56, John 8:31-42 and the Memorial of St Lodovico Pavoni FMI (1784-1849)

“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.”...John 8:31-32

REFLECTION – “By faith we adhere to Christ and the edifice of our spiritual life becomes thereby firm and stable.   Christ makes us share in the stability of the divine rock against which even hell’s fury cannot prevail (Mt 16:18).

Thus divinely sustained, we are conquerors over the assaults and temptations of the world and of the devil, the prince of this world (1 Jn 5:4).   The devil and the world, which the devil uses as an accomplice, offer violence to us or solicit us;  by faith in the word of Jesus we come out victorious from these attacks.   …Now, the devil is “the father of lies and the prince of darkness” (cf. Eph 6:12) while God is ” the Truth” and “in Him is no darkness” (cf. Jn 14:6; 1 Jn 1:5).   If we always listen to God, we shall always be victorious. When our Lord, who is our model in all things, was tempted, He repulsed temptation by placing the authority of God’s Word in opposition to each solicitation of the Evil One.   We ought to do the same and repulse hell’s attacks by faith in Jesus’ word. (…)

What is true of the devil is true of the world – it is by faith that we overcome it.   When people have a living faith in Christ, they fear neither difficulties nor opposition, nor the world’s judgement,s because they know that Christ abides in us, by faith and because they rely on Him.” … Blessed Columba Marmion (1858-1923) Abbot – Our faith, the victory over the world (Christ, the Ideal of the Monk, rev.)

john 8 31-32 if you continue in my word - if we always listen to god - bl columba marmion 1 april 2020

PRAYER – God of mercy, shed Your light on our hearts that are being purified by penance and in Your goodness, give us a favourable hearing. Teach us to work with You and for You and thus fill the world with Your Spirit.   In Christ our Saviour, we become a new creation and Your adopted children, therefore, all things are renewed.   May the prayers of St Lodovico Pavoni, who gave himself completely to You and Your little ones, assist us to do the same.   Through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.

st lodovico pavoni pray for us 1 april 2020

Posted in LENT 2020, ONE Minute REFLECTION, Pope BENEDICT XVI, QUOTES on HYPROCRISY, QUOTES on JUSTICE, QUOTES on SIN, SAINT of the DAY, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 30 March – “Go and do not sin again.”

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 30 March – Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent, Readings: Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62, Psalm 23, John 8:1-11 and the Memorial of St Antoine Daveluy MEP (1818-1866) Martyr

“Neither do I condemn you;   go and do not sin again.” … John 8:11

REFLECTION – “The scene is full with drama – the life of that person and also His own life depend on Jesus.   Indeed, the hypocritical accusers pretend to entrust the judgement to Him whereas it is actually He, Himself, whom they wish to accuse and judge.   Jesus, on the other hand, is “full of grace and truth” (Jn 1: 14) – He can read every human heart, He wants to condemn the sin but save the sinner and unmask hypocrisy.   St John the Evangelist highlights one detail – while His accusers are insistently interrogating Him, Jesus bends down and starts writing with His finger on the ground.   St Augustine notes that this gesture portrays Christ as the divine legislator, in fact, God wrote the law with His finger on tablets of stone (cf. Commentary on John’s Gospel, 33,5).   Thus Jesus is the Legislator, He is Justice in person.   And what is His sentence? “Let him who is without sin among you, be the first to throw a stone at her.”   These words are full of the disarming power of truth that pulls down the wall of hypocrisy and opens consciences to a greater justice, that of love, in which consists the fulfilment of every precept (cf. Rom 13: 8-10). This is the justice that also saved Saul of Tarsus, transforming him into St Paul (cf. Phil 3: 8-14).
When His accusers “went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest,” Jesus, absolving the woman of her sin, ushers her into a new life oriented to good.   “Neither do I condemn you; go and do not sin again.” … Pope Benedict XVI – 21 March 2010john 8 11 neither do i condemn you - jesus bends down and start writing pope benedict 30 march 2020

PRAYER – Lord God, Your abounding grace has enriched us with every blessing. Transform us from our sinful condition to newness of life and prepare us for the glory of Your kingdom.   Open our eyes to see by the light of Your Son, who always walks with us. Let us lift our eyes to Him, for even now He is preparing for us a place, in His Father’s house.   Listen, we pray, to the prayers of all the angels and saints, St Antoine Daveluy a Martyr for Christ, who petition on our behalf and may our Mother Mary, keep ever close to our path.   Through Christ, our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for always and forever, amen. st antoine daveluy martyr for christ pray for us 30 march 2020

Posted in CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on DISCIPLESHIP, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 29 March – ‘So let the Lord’s call resound in your ears!’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 29 March – The Fifth Sunday of Lent, Readings: Ezekiel 37:12-14, Psalm 130:1-8, Romans 8:8-11, John 11:1-45

“Lazarus, come out!” … John 11:43

REFLECTION – “Lazarus, come out!”   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 it’s entirety, then you focus onto your soul all the power of Christ, who heals and restores to life …. Don’t 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.” … Saint Gregory Nazianzen (330-390) Bishop, Father and Doctor of the Church – Sermon on Holy Baptism.john 11 43 -so let the lords call resound in your ears! st gregory of nazianzen 29 march 2020

PRAYER – Give us good God, a heart of flesh, that we might resemble the heart of Your love.   For truly following the steps of Your divine Son, we would make peace in the world and give glory to Your kingdom.   Help us Lord, to see with Your eyes and hear with Your ears, that the Word may dwell in us all and bring us to rise with You.   May the immaculate heart of Mary, our Mother dwell in us and help us to reach our eternal home.   We make our prayer through Christ, our Lord, with You and the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.mary-mother-of-god-pray-for-us-27-july-2018 and 29 march 2020

Posted in LENT 2020, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES of the SAINTS, St JOHN HENRY Cardinal NEWMAN!, The HOLY NAME, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 28 March – One Name that Lives

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 28 March – Saturday of the Fourth week of Lent, Readings: Jeremiah 11:18-20, Psalm 7:2-3, 9-12, John 7:40-53

Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?… John 7:41john 7 41 - others said this is the christ but some said, is the christ to come from galilee 28 march 2020

REFLECTION – “There is just one Name in the whole world that lives – it is the Name of One who passed His years in obscurity and who died a malefactor’s death. (Two thousand years) have gone by since that time but still It has It’s hold upon the human mind. It has possessed the world and It maintains possession.   Amid the most various nations, under the most diversified circumstances, in the most cultivated, in the rudest races and intellects, in all classes of society, the Owner of that great Name reigns.   High and low, rich and poor, acknowledge Him.   Millions of souls are conversing with Him, are venturing at His word, are looking for His presence.
Palaces, sumptuous, innumerable, are raised to His honour.   His image, in it’s deepest humiliations, is triumphantly displayed in the proud city, in the open country, at the corners of streets, on the tops of mountains.   It sanctifies the ancestral hall, the closet and the bedchamber, it is the subject for the exercise of the highest genius in the imitative arts.   It is worn next to the heart in life, it is held before the failing eyes in death.
Here, then, is One who is not mere name, He is no empty fiction, He is substance, He is dead and gone but still He lives – as the living, energetic, thought of successive generations and as the awful motive power of a thousand great events ….
O my own Saviour, now in the tomb but soon to arise, You have paid the price – it is done – consummatum est – it is secured.
O fulfil Your Resurrection in us and as You have purchased us, claim us, take possession of us, make us Thine.”  Amen   Holy God, we praise Thy Name! – Saint John Henry Newman (1801-1890) – One Name That Livesone name that lives st john henry newman 28 march 2020

PRAYER – In Your gentle mercy Lord, guide our wayward hearts, for we know that left to ourselves, we cannot do Your will. Almighty God, turn our hearts to Yourself, so that we, seeking the one thing necessary, may worship You in spirit and in truth. We give You thanks for our faith, increase our faith O our God! May the prayers of all your saints and the Virgin Mary, Queen of All Saints, obtain the gift of humility and fidelity for us and for every believer, so that our prayer may always be genuine and pleasing to the Lord. Through Christ our Lord and Redeemer, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.virgin mother pray for us 28 march 2020

Posted in HYMNS, I BELIEVE!, LENT 2020, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, ONE Minute REFLECTION, POETRY, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRAYERS on FAITH, St JOHN HENRY Cardinal NEWMAN!, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 27 March – The Two Worlds by St John Henry Newman

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 27 March – Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Readings: Wisdom 2:1, 12-22, Psalm 34:17-21, 23, John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

“You know me and you know where I come from?
But I have not come of my own accord, he who sent me is true and him you do not know.
I know him, for I come from him and he sent me.” … John 7:28-29

REFLECTION – The Two Worlds by St John Henry Newman (1801-1890) – The Oratory, 1862.
“UNVEIL, O Lord and on us shine
In glory and in grace.
This gaudy world grows pale before
The beauty of Thy face.

Till Thou art seen, it seems to be
A sort of fairy ground,
Where suns unsetting light the sky,
And flowers and fruits abound.

But when Thy keener, purer beam
Is pour’d upon our sight,
It loses all its power to charm,
And what was day is night.

Its noblest toils are then the scourge
Which made Thy blood to flow.
Its joys are but the treacherous thorns
Which circled round Thy brow.

And thus, when we renounce for Thee
Its restless aims and fears,
The tender memories of the past,
The hopes of coming years,

Poor is our sacrifice, whose eyes
Are lighted from above.
We offer what we cannot keep,
What we have ceased to love.”the two worlds - unveil o lord and shine on us - st john henry newman 27 march 2020

PRAYER – Loving God and Father, open our eyes and ears and our hearts. Help us to recognise the Light of Christ in the world around us. Too often we are hard of heart and closed up in our ‘rites’ – He is there but He is not only there and we are blind. May the prayers of the saints and angels help us to be open to Him. Mary, the Mother He gave us, pray for us. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God for all eternity, amen.mother-mary-pray-for-us-5-oct-2018 and 27 march 2020

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD the FATHER, I BELIEVE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on HOLY SCRIPTURE, SAINT of the DAY, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 26 March – ‘Let us receive the Word of God with thankful and humble hearts.’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 26 March – Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Readings: Exodus 32:7-14, Psalms 106:19-23, John 5:31-47 and the Blessed Maddalena Caterina Morano (1847-1908)

“If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me.   But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”… John 5:46-47

REFLECTION – “In the beginning, the Lord, who had created humankind, used to talk to man Himself, in such a way, that man could hear Him.   That is how He used to talk to Adam (…) and, later, with Noah and Abraham.   So too, even when humankind had thrown itself into the abyss of sin, God did not break His relationship with them, even though it was, necessarily, less familiar since they had made themselves unworthy of it. He consented to renew His kindly feelings towards them, although, as by letters, as with an absent friend.   Thus, in His goodness, He could bind all humankind to Himself again. Moses was he, who was the bearer of the letters God sent us.
Let us open these letters – what are their first words?   “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”   Isn’t that wonderful? …   Moses, who came into the world many centuries afterwards, was truly inspired from above, to give us an account of the wonders God made at the world’s creation….   Doesn’t he appear to tell us clearly:  “Did men teach me what I’m about to make known?   Not at all.   The Creator alone, who wrought all these marvels, is the One who guides my tongue, to teach you them.   From now on, I beg you, put to silence every argument of human reasoning.   Don’t just listen to this account as though it were only Moses’ word.   It is God Himself who speaks to you, Moses is only His interpreter.” …
So, brethren, let us receive the Word of God with thankful and humble hearts. …   For God is He, who created all things, He it is, who prepares everything and sets it wisely in order. …   He it is, who leads man by what can be seen, to a knowledge of the Creator of the universe.   He it is, who teaches man to contemplate the supreme Worker in His works, in such a way, that He might be able to worship His Creator.” … Saint John Chrysostom (347-407) – Priest at Antioch then Bishop of Constantinople, Father & Doctor of the Church – 2nd Homily on Genesisjohn 5 46-47 if you believe moses - moses was he who was the bearer of the letters of god - 26 march 2020

PRAYER – Father almighty, grant us Your good grace to trust completely in the Word made Flesh whom You sent to lead us to our heavenly home and save us from our evil ways.   As we proceed by penance and prayer, grant us now, perseverance in listening to Him and learning from Him.   May the prayers of Bl Maddalena, assist us on our journey. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God with You, now and forever, amen.bl maddalena morano pray for us 26 march 2020