Our Morning Offering – 4 August – The Memorial of St John Vianney (1786-1859)
St John Vianney’s prayer which is quoted in the CCC
I Love You, O My God By St John Vianney (1786-1859)
I love You,
O my God
and my only desire is to love You
until the last breath of my life.
I love You,
O my infinitely lovable God,
and I would rather die loving You,
than live without loving You.
I love You, Lord
and the only grace I ask,
is to love You eternally
My God,
if my tongue cannot say
in every moment that I love You,
I want my heart to repeat it to You
as often as I draw breath.
Amen
Thought for the Day – 3 August – The Gift of Every Day
THE GIFT OF EVERY DAY
by St John Vianney (1786-1859)
“Before beginning your work, my dear brethren, never fail to make the Sign of the Cross. Do not imitate those people without religion who dare not do this because they are in company. Offer quite simply all your difficulties to God and renew from time to time this offering, for by that means you will have the happiness of drawing down the blessing of Heaven on yourself and on all you do. Just think, my dear brethren, how many acts of virtue you can practice by behaving in this way, without making any change in what you are actually doing.
If you work with the object of pleasing God and obeying His Commandments, which order you to earn your bread by the sweat of your brow, that is an act of obedience. If you want to expiate your sins, you are making an act of penance. If you want to obtain some grace for yourself or for others, it is an act of hope and of charity. Oh, how we could merit Heaven every day, my dear brethren, by doing just our ordinary duties but by doing them for God and the salvation of our souls!
Who stops you, when you hear the chimes striking, from thinking on the shortness of time and of saying in your minds: “Time passes and death comes closer. I am hastening towards eternity. Am I really ready to appear before the tribunal of God? Am I not in a state of sin?”
“My God, I give you my heart and since You are so good as to give me another day, give me the grace that everything I do will be for Your honour and for the salvation of my soul.”
Our Morning Offering – 31 July – The Memorial of St Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556)
Teach Us Good Lord By St Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556)
Teach us, good Lord, to serve Thee as Thou deserves to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labour and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do Thy Will. Amen
Thought for the Day – 26 July – The Memorial of Blessed Titus Brandsma O.C.D. (1881-1942) Martyr of the Faith
Titus’ teachings on peace and forgiveness were probably put to the most radical test during his seven months as a prisoner of the Nazis. He was subjected, not only to loss of freedom and appalling prison conditions but to brutal mistreatment by his captors, including medical experimentation. Two particular incidents stand out as concrete examples of his response to these extreme conditions of suffering.
Once, another Dutch prisoner challenged him about his admonition that the prisoners should pray for their Nazi captors. How could they be expected to do that, the other Dutchman asked, when they were being mishandled and terrorised by the guards? With typical humour and realism, Titus replied, “You don’t have to pray for them the whole day! The good Lord will be happy with one prayer”.
Always lovingly cognisant of the gap between the human ideal and the reality of human limitations, Titus counselled a practical, achievable goal.
Secondly, the nurse, who administered the fatal injection in the “hospital” at Dachau, testified at his beatification process that he had given her his rosary at the end and said “What an unfortunate girl you are. I shall pray for you”. His response, the nurse said, was instrumental in bringing her back to the practice of her faith (she was a Catholic).
Question for contemplation: Who are the persons in my life that I see as equivalent to Titus’ Nazi captors and how can I find realistic ways to be more accepting of them as human beings?
Blessed Titus Brandsma, Pray for us!
On 13 December 2017 an event took place in the United States of America that may take the cause of Carmelite martyr Blessed Titus Brandsma a step closer to canonisation.
The Bishop of Palm Beach Diocese in Florida, Bishop Gerald Barbarito and other officials signed, witnessed and sealed, the papers relating to an investigation of a medically unexplained healing attributed to God through the intercession of Blessed Titus.
The recipient of this grace is Father Michael Driscoll, a Carmelite friar working in Palm Beach Diocese. In 2004 he was diagnosed with a severe stage of metastatic melanoma cancer that was attacking his neck area behind the ear and spreading to other parts of his body. Some areas of the cancer were in the critical fourth and fifth stages. A sincere devotee of Blessed Titus, Father Michael prayed to God for healing through the intercession of the Carmelite martyr and his prayers were joined by fellow Carmelites, parishioners, friends and family. Undergoing more than 30 treatments including surgery, Father Michael said with determination, “I am okay because Titus is going to take care of me.”
On 13 December the diocese held the Official Closing Session of its investigation into the alleged miraculous healing. After a period of prayer, the papers were signed, witnessed, sealed and then sent to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints. If the case is deemed to be a credible miracle and Pope Francis approves, the canonisation of Titus Brandsma will be declared. (http://www.carmelite.org/news/hopeful-step-canonisation-blessed-titus-brandsma – with pics)
Prayer for the Canonisation of Blessed Titus Brandsma
Loving God, Your servant, Titus Brandsma, laboured zealously in Your vineyard and gave his life freely because of his faith in You. Through his intercession I ask for Your mercy and help. Father, Titus never refused, when he was asked for help by Your people. By his intercession, I come to You with my needs: ………………………………………… (mention requests) Lord, help me always to imitate the great faith, generous love and burning zeal of Titus Brandsma. Glorify Your servant as he wished to glorify You. Amen. Mary, Mother of Carmel, pray for us. Titus Brandsma, Carmelite and Martyr, pray for us. Amen.
Thought for the Day – 25 July – The Memorial of St Christopher (died c 251) One of the Fourteen Holy Helpers
The Fourteen “Auxiliary Saints” or “Holy Helpers” are a group of saints invoked because they have been efficacious in assisting in trials and sufferings. Each saint has a separate feast or memorial day and the group was collectively venerated on 8 August until the 1969 reform of the Roman calendar, when the feast was dropped. These saints were often represented together. Popular devotion to these saints often began in some monastery that held their relics. All of the saints except Giles were martyrs. Devotion to some of the saints, such as St George, St Margaret, St Christopher, St Barbara and St Catherine became so widespread that customs and festivals still are popular today.
The Fourteen Holy Helpers are invoked as a group mainly because of the Black Plague which devastated Europe from 1346 to 1349. Among its symptoms were the black tongue, a parched throat, violent headache, fever and boils on the abdomen. The victims were attacked without warning, robbing them of their reason and killed within a few hours; many died without the last Sacraments. No one was immune and the disease wreaked havoc in villages and family circles. The epidemic appeared incurable. The pious turned to Heaven, begging the intervention of the saints, praying to be spared or cured. Each of these fourteen saints had been efficacious in interceding in some aspect for the stricken during the Black Plague. The dates are the traditional feast days; not all the saints are on the Universal Roman Calendar.
The Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers (also Basilika Vierzehnheiligen) is a church located near the town of Bad Staffelstein near Bamberg, in Bavaria, southern Germany. The late Baroque-Rococo basilica, designed by Balthasar Neumann, was constructed between 1743 and 1772.
The altar depicts statues of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
The Legend of Building the Basilica
On 24 September 1445, Hermann Leicht, the young shepherd of a nearby Franciscan monastery, saw a crying child in a field that belonged to the nearby Cistercian monastery of Langheim . As he bent down to pick up the child, it abruptly disappeared. A short time later, the child reappeared in the same spot. This time, two candles were burning next to it. In June 1446, the Leicht saw the child a third time. This time, the child bore a red cross on its chest and was accompanied by thirteen other children. The child said: “We are the fourteen helpers and wish to erect a chapel here, where we can rest. If you will be our servant, we will be yours!” Shortly after, Leicht saw two burning candles descending to this spot. It is alleged that miraculous healings soon began, through the intervention of the fourteen saints.
The Cistercian brothers to whom the land belonged erected a chapel, which immediately attracted pilgrims. An altar was consecrated as early as 1448. Pilgrimages to the Vierzehnheiligen continue to the present day between May and October.
One of the most famous group depictions of the “Fourteen Saints” is a 1503 altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald for the monastery in Lichtenfels in Upper Franconia, unfortunately, I cannot find a complete image of this, below are Panels one and two.
The “fourteen angels” of the lost children’s prayer in the Composer, Engelbert Humperdinck’s (1854-1921) fairy opera, ‘Hansel and Gretel’, are the Fourteen Holy Helpers. The English words are familiar and very beautiful:
When at night I go to sleep, Fourteen angels watch do keep, Two my head are guarding, Two my feet are guiding; Two upon my right hand, Two upon my left hand. Two who warmly cover Two who o’er me hover, Two to whom ’tis given To guide my steps to heaven.
I will pray daily, to the Fourteen Holy Helpers, to Pray for us all, for the world is indeed suffering from a ‘Plague’ of a new kind!
Prayer to the Fourteen Holy Helpers By St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) Doctor of the Church
Great princes of heaven, Holy Helpers,
who sacrificed to God all your earthly possessions,
wealth, preferment and even life
and who now are crowned in heaven
in the secure enjoyment of eternal bliss and glory;
have compassion on me,
a poor sinner in this vale of tears
and obtain for me from God,
for Whom you gave up all things
and Who loves you as His servants,
the strength to bear patiently all the trials of this life,
to overcome all temptations
and to persevere in God’s service to the end,
that one day I too may be received into your company,
to praise and glorify Him, the supreme Lord,
Whose beatific vision you enjoy
and Whom you praise and glorify forever.
Amen
Our Morning Offering – 21 July – The Memorial of St Lawrence of Brindisi OFM Cap (1559-1619) Doctor of the Church – Today’s Readings: Micah 2:1-5, Psalm 10:1-4, 7-8, 14, Matthew 12:14-21
“Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil upon their beds!”…Micah 2:1
The Peace Prayer
By St Francis of Assisi (c 1181-1226)
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace, where there is hatred, let me sow love, where there is injury, pardon, where there is doubt, faith, where there is despair, hope, where there is darkness, light and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love, for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Thought for the Day – 17 July – Tuesday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time, B – Today’s Gospel: Matthew 11:20-24
To be converted and return to the Lord
Verse Homily of
Saint Jacob of Sarug (c 449-521)
Syrian monk and Bishop
I will go back to my Father’s house like the prodigal son (Lk 15:18) and He will welcome me. For I was dead through sin as though by sickness; raise me up from my distress that I may praise Your name! O Lord of heaven and earth, come to my help and show me Your way, that I may come to You. Draw me to You, Son of the Most Good and bring Your compassion to completion. I will set out towards You and there be filled with joy. Knead for me now the grain of life at this time when I am crushed.
I set out in search of You and the Evil One spied on me like a thief (cf. Lk 10:30). He bound and chained me in the pleasures of this wicked world: he imprisoned me in its pleasures and slammed the door in my face. There was no one to free me, so that I might set out in search of You, O Lord, my good!… O Lord, I long to be Yours and walk Your way. See how I meditate Your commandments by day and by night (Ps 1:2). Grant my request and accept my prayer, O merciful one! Do not cast off the hope of Your servant, for he is waiting for you.
Our Morning Offering – 10 July – Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year B
A Prayer for Fulfilling the Will of God Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)
O most merciful Jesus,
grant me Your grace,
that it may remain with me always
and persevere with me to the end.
Grant me always to will and desire,
what is more pleasing and acceptable to You.
Let Your will be mind
and let my will always follow Yours
in perfect conformity with it.
Let my will and desires always be one with Yours
and let me be unable to will or not to will,
except as You will or do not will.
Grant that I may die to all worldly things
and that I may be despised and unknown
for love of You.
Grant, above all things to be desired,
that I may find rest in You
and that in Your Heart alone may be my peace.
You, O Lord, give true peace to the heart
and perfect rest to body and soul.
Apart from You, all is difficult and never still.
In that peace, in You Who are the one,
supreme and eternal Good,
I will sleep and take my rest.
Amen
One Minute Reflection – 8 July – – Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – “He was not able to perform any mighty deed there because of their lack of faith”...Mark 6:4
And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands upon a few sick people and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief...Mark 6:5-6
REFLECTION – “Father, Almighty God, keep, I pray, my faith undefiled and till my last breath, grant that I may always confess my deepest convictions. May I ever hold fast to everything which I professed in the creed of my new birth, when I was baptised in the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. May I always adore You our Father and your Son who is one with You; give me always Your Holy Spirit, who proceeds from You, through Your Only-begotten Son.
For I have a convincing witness to my faith, who says, “Father, everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine” (Jn 17:10). This witness is my Lord Jesus Christ, forever God in You and from You and with You, who are blessed forever and ever. Amen”…Saint Hilary (c315-367) Bishop of Poitiers, Father & Doctor of the Church (De Trinitate, XII, final prayer)
PRAYER – Lord Holy God and Father of all, hold us always in Your Heart, keep us near to Your Son, that our faith may never fail us! Grant that by the prayers of Sts Aquila and Priscilla, we may hold fast to our Saviour, even in times of distress, hardship, persecution and humiliation, when this world assails us. Through Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever amen.
Our Morning Offering – 8 July – Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Prayer before Holy Communion By Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
O my God, holiness becomes Your House,
and yet You make Your abode in my breast.
My Lord, my Saviour, to me You come,
hidden under the semblance of earthly things,
yet in that very flesh and blood
which You took from Mary,
You, who did first inhabit Mary’s breast,
come to me.
My God, You see me;
I cannot see myself…
You see how unworthy, so great a sinner is,
to receive the One Holy God,
whom the Seraphim adore with trembling…
My God, enable me to bear You,
for You alone can.
Cleanse my heart and mind from all that is past…
give me a true perception of things unseen,
and make me truly, practically,
and in the details of life,
prefer You to anything on earth,
and the future world,
to the present.
Amen
Our Morning Offering – 5 July 2018 – The Memorial of St Anthony Mary Zaccaria (1502-1539)
Prayer for the Intercession of St Anthony Mary Zaccaria
St Anthony Mary Zaccaria,
lover of the Cross and of the Eucharist,
helper of the poor and of the sick,
you who devoted your life
to promote the glory of God and
the salvation of souls, protect me,
and be my intercessor from heaven.
Obtain from Jesus,
true contrition for my sins;
inflame my heart
with sentiments of faith and love
to embrace my daily cross
and to lead others to Christ.
May your eyes follow me in every step,
your wise counsel enlighten me,
your hand uphold me,
your virtue make me holy.
May I follow your call
to holiness and renewal.
Help me to always keep
Jesus’ love and peace
with my brothers and sisters,
so that I may become worthy of Him
and receive eternal glory in heaven.
Amen
“May Day” has long been dedicated as a special day for labour and working people. The feast of St. Joseph the Worker was established by Pope Pius XII in 1955 to Christianise labour and give all workers a model and a protector.
By the daily labour in his shop, St. Joseph provided for the necessities of his holy spouse and of the Incarnate Son of God and thus became a role model for labourers. The liturgy for this feast celebrates the right to work and this is a message that needs to be heard and heeded in our modern society. How did this connection with St Joseph the Worker, which is nearly as old as Christianity, get made?
In an effort to keep Jesus from being removed from ordinary life, the Church has from the beginning proudly emphasised that Jesus was a carpenter, obviously trained by Joseph in the satisfaction and the drudgery of that vocation.
Humanity is like God, not only in thinking and loving but also in creating. Whether we make a table or a cathedral, we are called to bear fruit with our hands and mind, ultimately for the building up of the Body of Christ. In addition to this, there is a special dignity and value to the work of caring for the family.
An excerpt from the Vatican II document on the modern world said, “Where men and women, in the course of gaining a livelihood for themselves and their families, offer appropriate service to society, they can be confident that their personal efforts promote the work of the Creator, confer benefits on their fellowmen, and help to realise God’s plan in history.”
St Pope Pius X (1835-1914) composed this prayer to St Joseph, patron of working people, that expresses concisely the Christian attitude toward labour. It summarises also for us the lessons of the Holy Family’s work at Nazareth.
Let us Pray:
Glorious St Joseph,
model of all who devote their lives to labour,
obtain for me the grace to work,
in the spirit of penance, in order thereby,
to atone for my many sins;
to work conscientiously,
setting devotion to duty in preference to my own whims;
to work with thankfulness and joy,
deeming it an honour to employ
and to develop, by my labour,
the gifts I have received from God;
to work with order, peace, moderation and patience,
without ever shrinking from weariness and difficulties;
to work above all with a pure intention
and with detachment from self,
having always before my eyes,
the hour of death and the accounting
which I must then render of time ill spent,
of talents wasted, of good omitted
and of vain complacency in success,
which is so fatal to the work of God.
All for Jesus, all through Mary,
all in imitation of you, O Patriarch Joseph!
This shall be my motto in life and in death,
Amen.
AnaStpaul 
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