“Everyone who breathes, high and low,
educated and ignorant, young and old,
man and woman, has a mission, has a work.
We are not sent into this world for nothing;
we are not born at random;
we are not here, that we may go to bed at night
and get up in the morning, toil for our bread,
eat and drink, laugh and joke,
sin when we have a mind
and reform when we are tired of sinning,
rear a family and die.
God sees every one of us; He creates every soul, . . .
FOR A PURPOSE.
He needs, He deigns to need, every one of us.
He has an end for each of us;
we are all equal in His sight and we are placed
in our different ranks and stations,
not to get what we can out of them for ourselves
but to labour in them for Him.
As Christ has His work, we too have ours;
as He rejoiced to do His work, we must rejoice in ours also.”
“God is love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him……1 John 4:16
REFLECTION – “0 my God, I thank Thee for the love Thou hast planted in my heart. I will cultivate this precious flower. I will guard it night and day that nothing may injure it. Do Thou, 0 Lord, water it with the dew of Thy grace.”……..St John Neumann (Saint of the Day)
PRAYER – Heavenly Father, pour forth Your love into my heart and help me always to act in accord with it. Let me be ruled by Your love in all things so that I may experience it completely with You in heaven. St John Neumann, Pray for us, amen!
My God, how great Thou art,
how wonderful in all Thy works!
Teach me Thy will that I may begin
and end all my actions for Thy greater glory.
Speak to me, 0 my God, let me know Thy will,
for behold I am ready to fulfill Thy
every command. The difficult, the irksome,
I will patiently endure for love of Thee.
When the Shepherd appears
you will win for yourselves
the unfading crown of glory………1 Pt 5:4
REFLECTION – You are children of eternity. Your immortal crown awaits you and the best of Fathers waits there to reward your duty and love. You may indeed sow here in tears but you may be sure there to reap in joy……St Elizabeth Ann Seton (Saint of the Day)
PRAYER – Heavenly Father, thank You for making me a child of eternity. Help me to live each day in such a way that I may deserve to be a child of Yours forever. St Elizabeth Ann Seton Pray for us, amen.
Mother Elizabeth Seton had no extraordinary gifts, she seems almost like the neighbour down the street. She was not a mystic or stigmatic. She did not prophesy or speak in tongues. She had two great devotions: abandonment to the will of God and an ardent love for the Blessed Sacrament. She wrote to a friend, Julia Scott, that she would prefer to exchange the world for a “cave or a desert.” “But God has given me a great deal to do and I have always and hope always to prefer His will to every wish of my own.” Her brand of sanctity is open to everyone if we love God and do his will.
Our Morning Offering – 4 January PRAYER of ST ELIZABETH ANN SETON
O Father, the first rule of Our dear
Saviour’s life was to do Your Will.
Let His Will of the present moment
be the first rule of our daily life and work,
with no other desire but for its most full
and complete accomplishment.
Help us to follow it faithfully,
so that doing what You wish
we will be pleasing to You,
amen.
I planted the seed and Apollos watered it but God made it grow…………1 Cor 3:6
REFLECTION – We must work as if success depended upon us alone.
At the same time, we must be wholeheartedly convinced that we are doing nothing – it is God Who is doing everything………St Ignatius Loyola
PRAYER – All-powerful God, let me realise that no matter what I do, it is only through You that I do it. Help me to work as if all depended on me and pray as if all depended on You. St Genevieve you were a sure example of working as if all dependd on you, please pray for us. St Ignatius and all the great saints of the Society of Jesus, pray for us unceasingly, amen!
Learning of these two great Doctors of the Church, St Basil the Great and St Gregory of Nazianzen and their lifelong friendship, their collaboration, most especially against the battle against Arianism, cannot help but call to our minds a similar and immensely brilliant collaboration and personal friendship, which yielded endless fruit for the life of the Church.
Do you know of whom I speak? Of course – St Pope John Paul and Pope Benedict XVI – one already in the Halls of Heaven. Both these great modern fathers are “Doctors” of the Church – whether yet recognised officially or not and the one blessedly still with us is a saint amongst the faithful.
O God and Lord of the Powers and Maker of all creation,
Who, because of Your clemency and incomparable mercy,
sent Yoour Only-Begotten Son and our Lord Jesus Christ
for the salvation of mankind and with His venerable Cross
He tore asunder the record of our sins and thereby
conquers the rulers and powers of darkness;
receive from us sinful people, O merciful Master,
these prayers of gratitude and supplication
and deliver us from every destructive and gloomy transgression
and from all visible and invisible enemies who seek to injure us.
Nail down our flesh with fear of Youself and let not our hearts be
inclined to words or thoughts of evil but pierce our souls
with Your love,
that ever contemplating You,
being enlightened by You
and discerning You,
the unapproachable and everlasting Light,
we may unceasingly render confession and gratitude to You:
The eternal Father, with Your Only-Begotten Son
and with Your All-Holy, Gracious and Life-Giving Spirit,
now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen.
PRAYER OF ST. GREGORY OF NAZIANZEN
To The All-Transcendent God
O All-Transcendent God
(and what other name could describe You?),
what words can hymn Your praises?
No word does You justice.
What mind can probe Your secret?
No mind can encompass You.
You are alone are beyond the power of speech,
yet all that we speak stems from You.
You are alone are beyond the power of thought,
yet all that we can conceive springs from You.
All things proclaim You,
those endowed with reason and those bereft of it.
All the expectation and pain of the world
coalesces in You.
All things utter a prayer to You,
a silent hymn composed by You.
You sustain everything that exists,
and all things move together to Your orders.
You are the goal of all that exists.
You are one and You are all,
yet You are none of the things that exist,
neither a part nor the whole.
You can avail Yourself of any name;
how shall I call You,
the only unnameable?
All-transcendent God!
Many themes come together at today’s celebration. It is the Octave of Christmas: Our remembrance of Mary’s divine motherhood injects a further note of Christmas joy. It is a day of prayer for world peace: Mary is the mother of the Prince of Peace. It is the first day of a new year: Mary continues to bring new life to her children—who are also God’s children
JANUARY is the Month of THE MOST HOLY NAME OF JESUS
DAILY PRAYER TO THE MOST HOLY NAME by St. Bernardine of Siena
Jesus, Name full of glory, grace, love and strength!
You are the refuge of those who repent,
our banner of warfare in this life,
the medicine of souls,
the comfort of those who morn,
the delight of those who believe,
the light of those who preach the true faith,
the wages of those who toil,
the healing of the sick.
To You our devotion aspires;
by You our prayers are received;
we delight in contemplating You.
O Name of Jesus, You are the glory
of all the saints for eternity. Amen.
Starting in 2017 the Pope will present only one prepared prayer intention per month, rather than the two presented before this year. He plans, however, to add a second prayer intention each month related to current events or urgent needs, like disaster relief. The urgent prayer request will help mobilize prayer and action related to the urgent situation. The Apostleship of Prayer will publish these urgent prayer intentions on this website as soon as we receive them from the Vatican.
What is the process in the preparation of the prepared prayer intentions? The faithful from around the world suggest papal prayer intentions to the international office of the Apostleship of Prayer in Rome. Through prayerful discernment the Apostleship selects a large number of them and submits them to the Vatican for further selection, with the Pope making the final selection. The Vatican then entrusts to the Apostleship of Prayer the official set of monthly prayer intentions, which the Apostleship then translates into the major world languages and publishes in print and digital formats.
JANUARY: – Christian Unity
That all Christians may be faithful to the Lord’s teaching by striving with prayer and fraternal charity to restore ecclesial communion and by collaborating to meet the challenges facing humanity.
St Pope Sylvester I faced a whole new world with the victory of Constantine and saw a greater expansion of Christianity than there had been for the previous three centuries. He was faced with something entirely new and had to adapt the Church to a totally new age. As we face the New Year, we should pray to St Sylvester to help us make a new beginning too. As our lives and the world around us are never static, so too is the place of the Church and our own sanctification within the Mystical Body of Christ never still either – we rush forward to our home.
Let us go forward under the Banner of Christ’s Church!
St Pope Sylvester I Pray for us and for universal Church!
O my God, infinitely deserving of love,
I love You above all things.
Inspired by this love,
I offer to You all the actions of this day.
Accept every beat of my heart
as a fervent prayer,
as an act of perfect love:
for Your sole honour,
for the conversion of sinners,
for the perseverance of the just,
for the deliverance of the Holy Souls in Purgatory,
for the sanctification of our Priests
and for all who have asked for our prayers
and for whom we have a special obligation to pray;
also for the propagation of all holy works
and for deliverance from all evil.
I offer all my sufferings of this day
for the Holy Souls in Purgatory,
especially those for whom I should pray
and for those souls who are forgotten.
Through the Immaculate Heart of Your
Holy Mother Mary, I I offer You my all, amen.
The importance of “please”, “thank you”, and “sorry” in families
“And I want to repeat these three words: may I, please, thank you, sorry. Three essential words! We say please so as not to be forceful in family life: “May I please do this? Would you be happy if I did this?”. We do this with a language that seeks agreement. We say thank you, thank you for love! But be honest with me, how many times do you say thank you to your wife and you to your husband? How many days go by without uttering this word, thanks! And the last word: sorry. We all make mistakes and on occasion someone gets offended in the marriage, in the family and sometimes – I say – plates are smashed, harsh words are spoken but please listen to my advice:
“don’t ever let the sun set without reconciling.”
Peace is made each day in the family: “Please forgive me”, and then you start over. Please, thank you, sorry! Shall we say them together? [They reply “yes”] Please, thank you and sorry. Let us say these words in our families! To forgive one another each day!”
Pope Francis (2013)
God sets a father in honour over his children; a mother’s authority He confirms over her sons…………… Sir 3:2
REFLECTION – Today, in the joyful atmosphere of Christmas, the Church, reliving with fresh wonder the mystery of Emmanuel, God-with-us, leads us to contemplate the Holy Family of Nazareth. From contemplation of this admirable model, the Church draws the values to hold up to the women and men of all times and all cultures………St John Paul
PRAYER – Holy Family of Nazareth, we pray for your help, that we may be granted the strength and courage to stand against all those who seek to destroy the life of traditional families. St Joseph, we pray too for your special intercession, as the Protector of the Holy Catholic Church. Amen (St John Paul)
Our Morning Offering – 30 December JESUS, Son of God and Son of Mary, bless our family.
Graciously inspire in us the unity, peace and mutual love
that You found in Your own family in the little town of Nazareth. MARY, Mother of Jesus and Our Mother,
nourish our family with your faith and your love.
Keep us close to your Son, Jesus, in all our sorrows and joys. JOSEPH, Foster-father to Jesus, guardianand spouse of Mary, keep our family safe
from harm. Help us in all times of discouragement or anxiety. HOLY FAMILY OF NAZARETH,
make our family one with you. Help us to be instruments of peace. Grant that love,
strengthened by grace, may prove mightierthan all the weaknesses and trials through
which our families sometimes pass.
May we always have God at the centre of our hearts and homes until we are all one family,
happy and at peace in our true home with you.
Amen
The Feast of the Holy Family is a liturgical celebration in the Catholic Church in honour of Jesus of Nazareth, his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary and his foster father, Saint Joseph, as a family. The primary purpose of this feast is to present the Holy Family as a model for Christian families. Since the 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar, the feast is celebrated on the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, the Sunday between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day (both exclusive), or if both Christmas Day and the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God are Sundays, on 30 December (always a Friday in such years). It is a holy day of obligation only if it falls on a Sunday.
CorreggioThe Holy Family (Currier Museum in Manchester, New Hampshire ) by Joos van Cleve
The members of the Holy Family are the patrons of the Congregation of Holy Cross. The Holy Cross Sisters are dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Holy Cross Brothers to St. Joseph and the Priests of Holy Cross to the Sacred Heart. The Sons of the Holy Family is another religious congregation devoted to the Holy Family
A pious practice among Catholics is to write “J.M.J.” at the top of letters and personal notes as a reference to Jesus, Mary and Joseph as the Holy Family.
The feast was instituted by Pope Leo XIII in 1893
RubensMichelangelo The Doni Tondo, The Holy Family with the infant St. John the Baptist
There are few private devotions associated with this day, though the blessing of children by their parents, the renewal of marriage vows (even if just privately) and consecration of the family to the Holy Family are a few.
Consecration to the Holy Family
O Jesus, our most loving Redeemer, who having come to enlighten the world with Your teaching and example, willed to pass the greater part of Your life in humility and subjection to Mary and Joseph in the poor home of Nazareth, thus sanctifying the Family that was to be an example for all Christian families, graciously receive our family as it dedicates and consecrates itself to You this day. Please protect us, guard us and establish among us Your holy fear, true peace and concord in Christian love: in order that by living according to the divine pattern of Your holy family we may be able, all of us without exception, to attain to eternal happiness.
Mary, dear Mother of Jesus, Mother of God and Mother of us all, by the kindly intercession make this our humble offering acceptable in the sight of your Son and obtain for us His graces and blessings.
O Saint Joseph, most holy Guardian of Jesus and Mary, help us by your prayers in all our spiritual and temporal needs; that so we may be enabled to praise our divine Saviour Jesus the Christ, together with Mary and yourself, for all eternity. Amen.
Say an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be three times.
Unknown Flemish Artist 1601Giulio Romano (Giulio Pippi) 1499
Thomas was a strong man who wavered for a moment but then learned one cannot come to terms with evil and so became a strong churchman, a martyr and a saint—that was Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, murdered in his cathedral on December 29, 1170.
No one becomes a saint without struggle, especially with himself. Thomas knew he must stand firm in defense of truth and right, even at the cost of his life. We also must take a stand in the face of pressures—against dishonesty, deceit, destruction of life—at the cost of popularity, convenience, promotion and even greater material comforts!
St. Thomas, pray that we have the courage to stand for what is right!
“If all the swords in England were pointed
against my head, your threats would not move me.
I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the
Church may obtain liberty and peace.”
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kep the faith. From now on a merited crown awaits me….2 Tm 4:7
REFLECTION – “Remember then how our fathers worked out their salvation; remember the sufferings through which the Church has grown and the storms the ship of Peter has weathered because it has Christ on board. Remember how the crown was attained by those whose sufferings gave new radiance to their faith. The whole company of saints bears witness to the unfailing truth that without real effort no one wins the crown.”……….St Thomas a Becket (Saint of the Day)
PRAYER – Lord of glory, help me to attain the crown of glory You hold out to me. Grant me the grace to make a continuous and dedicated effort to lead a good life until the very end. St Thomas a Becket Pray for us! Amen
Father,
throughout the ages You inspire
heroic men and women
to preach Your gospel
and proclaim the truth of Your love.
We pray that the example
of St Thomas a Becket
may encourage us to stand up
for what it right;
to hold to what is true;
and to love even those who persecute us,
for the sake of He
who is love, light and truth
in union with the Holy Spirit, amen.
The Holy Innocents are few, in comparison to the genocide and abortion of our day. But even if there had been only one, we recognize the greatest treasure God put on the earth—a human person, destined for eternity and graced by Jesus’ death and resurrection.
We praise you, O God,
we acclaim you as Lord;
the white-robed army of martyrs praise you. (from the Te Deum)
REFLECTION – “These then, whom Herod’s cruelty tore as sucklings from their mothers’ bosom, are justly hailed as “infant martyr flowers”; they were the Church’s first blossoms, matured by the frost of persecution during the cold winter of unbelief.”… St. Augustine
PRAYER – O God, whom the Holy Innocents confessed and proclaimed on this day, not by speaking but by dying, grant, we pray, that the faith in You which we confess with our lips may also speak through our manner of life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Holy Innocents Pray for us! amen
O God,
Whose praise the martyred Innocents
did this day proclaim, not by speaking
but by dying.
Destroy in us all the malice
of sinfulness, that our lives
may loudly proclaim our faith
which our tongues profess.
Through the Christ Child, Your Divine Son,
whom You sent to save us
and for Whom the Holy Innocents’
shed their blood Amen.
It is a long way from being eager to sit on a throne of power or to call down fire from heaven to becoming the man who could write: “The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3:16).
After the Resurrection and Pentecost, St John spent his life in bearing witness to Jesus and saw in the Incarnation the very foundation of his existence, all that he was. There is really no other way – and if we love Him we have no choice but to prove it in word and deed, in our love for everyone!
We have seen his glory.
The glory of an only Son
coming from the Father,
filled with enduring love………Jn 1:14
REFLECTION – The Word is visible to the heart alone, whereas flesh is visible to bodily eyes as well.
The Word was made flesh so that we could see it, to heal the part of us by which we could see the Word………….St Augustine
PRAYER – Invisible God, help me to see Jesus made flesh as a visible reflection of You. Let me thus come to know You, be filled with love for You and desire to be with You forever. St John, you who so loved the Lord, please pray for us! Amen
AnaStpaul 
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