Quote/s of the Day – 14 June – “Month of the Sacred Heart” – Corpus Christi, The Solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Readings: Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16, Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20, 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, John 6:51-58
“Since we are talking about the Body, know that we, as many of us as partake of the Body, as many as partake of that Blood, we partake of something which is in no way different or separate from that which is enthroned on high, which is adored by the angels, which is next to Uncorrupt Power.”
St John Chrysostom (347-407)
Father & Doctor of the Church
“Source of all we have or know, feed and lead us here below. Grant that with Your saints above, Sitting at the feast of love, We may see You face to face.
Amen Alleluia!
St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Doctor angelicus/Doctor communis
(Last verse of the Lauda Sion)
Lord Jesus Christ, in the Most Blessed Sacrament,
we Adore and Love You!
“Perfect God and perfect man, Lord of heaven and earth, He offers Himself to us as nourishment in the most natural and ordinary way. Love has been awaiting us for two thousand years. That’s a long time and yet it’s not, for when you are in love time flies.”
St Josemaria Escrivá (1902-1975)
“Christ is PassingBy”
“Make every Mass your FIRST Mass, your LAST Mass your ONLY Mass.”
Quote/s of the Day – 12 June – “Month of the Sacred Heart” – Friday of the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year A, Readings: 1 Kings 19:9, 11-16, Psalm 27:7-9, 13-14, Matthew 5:27-32
Speaking of: Sin
” It is better for you to lose one of your members, than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.”
Matthew 5:29
“The dragon sits by the side of the road, watching those who pass. Beware lest he devour you. We go to the Father of Souls but it is necessary to pass by the dragon.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem (315-387)
Father and Doctor of the Church
“Virtue is nothing without the trial of temptation, for there is no conflict without an enemy, no victory without strife.”
St Pope Leo the Great (400-461)
Father and Doctor of the Church
“When God forgives a sinner who humbly confesses his sin, the devil loses his dominion over the heart he had taken.”
St Bernard (1090-1153)
Mellifluous Doctor
“Let the enemy rage at the gate; let him knock, pound, scream, howl; let him do his worst. We know for certain, that he cannot enter our soul, except by the door of our consent.”
St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor of Charity
“We are generally, the carpenters of our own crosses.”
St Philip Neri (1515-1595)
“The power of evil men lives on the cowardice of the good.”
“Do not try to excuse your faults, try to correct them.”
“Fly from bad companions as from the bite of a poisonous snake.”
“Act today in such a way, that you need not blush tomorrow.”
St John Bosco (1815-1888)
“That conversation… was as dirty as a sewer! It is not enough for you to take no part in it. You must show your repugnance for it strongly!”
St Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975)
“For the sinner, hell begins on this earth!”
“The Sacrament of Penance, is our plank of salvation in the shipwreck of sin.”
Quote/s of the Day – 26 April – Third Sunday of Easter
“…He certainly meets us where we are in life – and – He will never leave us where He found us!”
Fr Mark J Hunt STD
“Spiritual Communion is an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Holy Sacrament and a loving embrace, as though we had already received Him.”
St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Doctor of the Church
“In the morning let your first act be to greet My Heart and to offer Me your own. Whoever, breathes a sigh toward Me, draws Me to himself.”
Jesus to St Matilda/Mechtilde of Hackeborn
(c 1241-1298)
“O blessed Jesus, give me stillness of soul in You. Let Your mighty calmness reign in me. Rule me, O King of Gentleness, King of Peace.”
St John of the Cross (1542-1591)
Doctor of the Church
“There are some who make a spiritual communion everyday … If we are deprived of Sacramental Communion, let us replace it, as far as we can, by spiritual communion, which we can make every moment; for we ought to have always, a burning desire to receive the good God. Communion is to the soul, like blowing a fire that is beginning to go out but that has still plenty of hot embers; we blow and the fire burns again. After the reception of the Sacraments, when we feel ourselves slacken in the love of God, let us have recourse at once, to spiritual communion. When we cannot go to the church, let us turn towards the tabernacle; no wall can shut us out from the good God.”
St John Vianney (1786-1859)
“Do not neglect to say, ‘Jesus, I love You’ and make one Spiritual Communion, at least, each day, in atonement for all the profanations and sacrileges He suffers because He wants to be with us.”
St Josemaria Escrivá (1902-1975)
“…Let us continue Immaculate Mary’s mission. All is included in it. May [we].. follow her example and be the handmaid of the Lord in everything, everywhere and always.”
Solemnity of Solemnities
Easter Sunday – 12 April – The Solemnity of the Resurrection of the Lord
A Blessed and Holy Easter to you all!
Alleluia!
Christós anésti.
Jesus Christ is risen! He is truly risen!
Alleluia!
Amen
Today we forget the troubles of the world, for we have reached our goal, today is Easter, the day we celebrate Christ’s Resurrection. This is the single most important feast day of the Church. With Christ’s Death and Resurrection, Christ has conquered sin and death, the gates of heaven are now open to man.
Yes, Lord, make us Easter people, men and women of light, filled with the fire of Your love. Amen
Pope Francis
Fr Francis Fernandez from his ‘In Conversation with God: Daily Meditations, Volume Two.’ explains why this feast is so pivotal:
“The glorious Resurrection of the Lord is the key to interpreting His whole life and the ground of our faith. Without this victory over death, says St Paul, all our preaching would be useless and our faith in vain.
Furthermore, the guarantee of our future resurrection is secured upon the Resurrection of Christ, because although we were dead through sin, God, full of mercy, moved by the infinite compassion with which He loved, gave us Christ…and He raised us with Him. Easter is the celebration of our Redemption and, therefore, the celebration of thanksgiving and joy.
The Resurrection of the Lord is a central reality of the Catholic faith and has been preached as such since the beginning of Christianity. The importance of this miracle is so great that the Apostles are, above all else, witnesses of Jesus’ Resurrection (cf. Acts 1:22; 2:43; 3:15; etc.). They announce that Christ is alive and this becomes the nucleus of all their preaching. After twenty centuries this is what we announce to the world – Christ lives! The fact of the resurrection is the supreme argument for the divinity of Our Lord….”
“And Jesus Christ lives. And this crowns us with happiness. This is the great truth which fills our faith with meaning. Jesus, who died on the cross, has risen. He has triumphed over death, He has overcome sorrow, anguish and the power of darkness… In Him we find everything. Outside of Him our life is empty “
Advent Reflection – Saturday of Advent 21 December, Readings: Isaiah 7:10-14, Psalm 24:1-6, Luke 1:26-38
The Lord is at hand, come let us adore Him.
“Mary set out… in haste” … Luke 1:26
REFLECTION – “Our Lady’s strength was her gaiety and joy. This is what made her God, her son’s attentive servant, because as soon as He came to her she “set out in haste.” Joy alone could have given her the strength to set out in all haste across the hill country of Judah to become the servant of her cousin. It is just the same for us. Like her, we must be true servants of the Lord and after holy communion each day we must hurry over the mountains of the difficulties we encounter, offering our service to the poor with all our heart. Give to Jesus in the poor, as a servant of the Lord.
Joy is prayer, joy is strength, joy is love. It is love’s net with which to catch souls. “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9:7). Those who give with joy give twice over. If you meet up with difficulties and accept them with joy, with a big smile, in this, as in many other things, people will realise that your works are good and the Father will be glorified in them. The best way, of showing God and others your gratitude, is to accept everything with joy. A joyful heart comes from a heart that is burning with love.” … St Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) – Founder of the Missionary Sisters of Charity – Jesus, the Word to Be Spoken
MEDITATION –“A soul united to Jesus, is a living smile that radiates Him and, gives Him.” … St Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906)
ADVENT ACTION – “God is interested in even the smallest events in the lives of His creatures – in your affairs and mine — and He calls each of us by name. This certainty that the faith gives, enables us to look at everything in a new light. And everything, while remaining exactly the same, becomes different, because it is an expression of God’s love. Our life is turned into a continuous prayer, we find ourselves with good humour and a peace that never ends and everything we do is an act of thanksgiving, running through all our day. ‘My soul magnifies the Lord,’ Mary sang, ‘and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.’” …St Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975) – “To Jesus through Mary,” Christ is Passing By, 144
PRAYER
O Radiant Dawn,
splendour of eternal light, sun of justice!
Come and shine on those
who dwell in darkness and in the
shadow of death.
One Minute Reflection – 16 November – Saturday of the Thirty Second week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 18:1–8 and The Memorial of St Edmund Rich of Abingdon (1175-1240) Archbishop of Canterbury
“And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night?” … Luke 18:7
REFLECTION – “ Pray at all times ” commands the apostle Paul (1 Th 5:17). Calling to mind this precept, Clement of Alexandria writes: “We have been commanded to praise and honour the Word, which we know to be our Savior and King and through Him, the Father, not on certain select days as others do but continually, our whole lives long and in every possible way.”
Amidst our daily occupations, at times when we overcome our egoistical tendencies, when we experience the joy of friendship towards others, at all such times, Christians must discover God. Through Christ and in the Holy Spirit, Christians gain intimacy with God the Father and run along the way, as they seek that kingdom which, although it is not of this world (Jn 18:36), is prepared for, in this world and begins in this world.
We need to go regularly to Christ in the Word and the Bread, in the Eucharist and prayer. And stay with Him frequently, as one stays with a friend, a truly alive person – just as Christ is, being risen… Christ, the risen Christ is our companion, our Friend. A companion who is only to be seen in the semi-darkness but whose reality fills our lives and makes us want His company permanently. “The Spirit and the Bride say: ‘Come!’ Let those who hear say: ‘Come!’ Let anyone who thirsts come forward and let those who desire it receive the gift of life-giving water… He who gives this testimony says: ‘Yes, I am coming soon!’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rv 22:17.20).” … St Josémaria Escriva de Balaguer (1902-1975) – Sermon of 26/03/67 in ‘Es Cristo que pasa’
PRAYER – Holy Father, grant us a strong Faith! Poor Your graces into our hearts that we may believe with all our hearts, minds and souls and that in believing, we may constantly raise our entire being to You in prayer and supplication, in prayer and adoration, in prayer and love. May the intercession of St Edmund Rich of Abingdon, a man of deep prayer from his youth, strengthen our perseverance. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever, amen.
Quote/s of the Day – 2 October – The Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels
“Be ever more convinced, that your guardian angel is really present, that he is ever at your side. St Frances of Rome always saw him standing before her, his arms clasped at his breast, his eyes uplifted to Heaven but at the slightest failing, he would cover his face as if in shame and at times, turn his back to her.”
St John Bosco (1815-1888)
“Do you not greet warmly, all the people you love and speak to them cordially? — Well, you and I are going to greet Jesus, Mary and Joseph and our Guardian Angels, many times a day. “
Sunday Reflection – 22 September – The Twenty Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Jesus’ Sacrifice on Calvary
In the book “Padre Pio’s Mass” written by Fr Tarcisio of Cervinara, we again are given proof that the Holy Mass is the unbloody Holy Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, offered once and for all on Calvary. At the Council of Trent in the 22nd. session it states:
“Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, when he was about to offer himself once on the altar of the Cross to God the Father, making intercession by means of his death, so that he might gain there an eternal redemption, since his priesthood was not to be extinguished by death, at the last Supper, ‘on the night that he was handed over’, left to his beloved Spouse the Church a visible sacrifice, such as the nature of man requires, by which the bloody sacrifice achieved once upon the Cross might be represented and its memory endure until the end of the age and its saving power be applied to the remission of those sins which are daily committed by us.”
St Padre Pio is the first priest to have received the “stigmata,” the wounds of Jesus in his body (hands, feet and side). St Francis received them but only as a deacon. This is important because Padre Pio offered the sacrifice of the Holy Mass and St Francis was only able to assist.
St Padre Pio’s Holy Masses would last from 3 to 4 hours. People came from all over the world to be present. They would have to get there very early to be able to get a place in the church. No-one complained about it being so long and quiet. The only person for whom it was excruciating long was St Padre Pio. During the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, he would actually re-live the passion and crucifixion of Jesus.
First we need to be reminded, that at every Holy Mass, Jesus is, in an un-bloody form, offering His life on the Cross for the salvation of sinners. Then that the priest is truly an Alter Christus, which means the priest actually becomes the victim with Jesus Christ at the Holy Mass. This is shown by the priest saying: “This is My Body” and “This is My Blood”. The priest does not say: This is Jesus‘ Body or This is Jesus‘ Blood.
So when St Padre Pio would offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, he would become literally this Alter Christus in suffering the crucifixion and bleeding in his wounds. One priest who was next to the altar during Padre Pio’s Mass, said he could never do that again, because he could not stand to see Padre Pio go through that agony again.
Cleonice Morcaldi, one of the spiritual daughters of Padre Pio, asked him several times what he felt and lived in each of his Masses. She wrote carefully each of his answers and thanks to her, we have a unique testimony from the Father himself about his Mass.
– Father, what is your Mass?
– A sacred accomplishment of the Passion of Jesus.
– What should I comprehend in your Holy Mass?
– All of Calvary.
– Father, tell me all that you suffer at the Holy Mass.
– All that Jesus suffered in His Passion, I inadequately suffer to the extent a human creature can possibly suffer. All of it, at no merit of my own and only because of His Goodness.
Father, is it true that you suffer the torment of the crowning of thorns during the Holy Mass?
– And you doubt it?
– During the whole Mass?
– And also before and after it. The crown is never taken away.
Saint Padre Pio’s Feast Day is tomorrow, 23 September.
Our Morning Offering – 10 September – Tuesday of the Twenty third week in Ordinary Time, Year C
Come, O Holy Spirit By St Josemaria Escrivá (1902-1975)
Come, O Holy Spirit,
enlighten my understanding
to know Your commands,
strengthen my heart
against the wiles of the enemy,
inflame my will…
I have heard Your voice,
and I don’t want to
harden my heart to resisting,
by saying ‘later… tomorrow.’
Nunc coepi! Now!
Lest there be no tomorrow for me!
O, Spirit of truth and wisdom,
Spirit of understanding and counsel,
Spirit of joy and peace!
I want what You want,
I want it because You want it,
I want it as You want it,
I want it when You want it.
Amen
Quote of the Day – 30 June – Thirteenth Sunday of the Year in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 9:51–62
Another said, “I will follow you, Lord but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No-one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:61-62
“You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves.”
“The Lord delights in every little step you take.”
St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor of the Church
“You cannot be half a saint. You must be a whole saint or no saint at all.”
“Detach the heart from creatures and you shall find God.”
St Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897)
Doctor of the Church
“Why don’t you give yourself to God once and for all… really… NOW!”
St Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975)
“Holiness is heroism.”
Bishop Robert Barron
“If you aren’t changing your schedule to follow Jesus, you are not a disciple of Jesus.”
Blessed Virgin of Potente del Trompone:
Visionary: Domenica di Miglianotto on 26 June 1562
Title: Blessed Virgin of Potente del Trompone
2nd Visionary: Visionary: St Peter of Alcantara (1499-1562) – seen below: Our Lady of Longing:Matka Boża Tęskniąca / Longing Mother of God, Warsaw, Poland – One of the oldest churches in the Archdiocese of Warsaw is St Elizabeth Powsin Located on the main altar is a painting of Our Lady of Longing – artist unknown – from the first half of the seventeenth century. At either side, the image is surrounded by statues of Saints Adalbert and Stanislaus – Polish bishops and martyrs . The testimony of miracles and graces relating to the Our Lady of Longing icon have been collected at least since the mid-seventeenth century. On 28 June 1998, the image became the fourth image of Mary in the Archdiocese of Warsaw to be canonically crowned.
St Acteie of Rome
St Albinus of Rome
Bl Andrea Giacinto Longhin
Bl Andrii Ischak
St Anthelm of Belley
St Babolenus of Stavelot-Malmédy
St Barbolenus of Fossés
Bl Bartholomew of Vir
St Corbican
St David of Thessalonica
St Deodatus of Nola
St Dionysius of Bulgaria
St Edburga of Gloucester
St Hermogius of Tuy
St Iosephus Ma Taishun
St John of Rome
St John of the Goths
St José Maria Robles Hurtado St Josemaria Escriva (1902-1975) Biography: https://anastpaul.com/2018/06/26/saint-of-the-day-26-june-st-josemaria-escriva-de-balaguer-y-albas-1902-1975-the-saint-of-ordinary-life/
Bl Jacques Ghazir Haddad OFM Cap (1875-1954)
St Maxentius of Poitou
St Medico of Otricoli
Bl Mykola Konrad
St Paul of Rome
St Pelagius of Oviedo
St Perseveranda of Poitiers
Bl Raymond Petiniaud de Jourgnac
St Salvius
Bl Sebastian de Burgherre
St Soadbair
St Superius
St Terence of Rome
St Vigilius of Trent
Bl Volodymyr Ivanovych Pryima
—
Martyrs of Africa – 4 saints: Four Christians who were martyred together – Agapitus, Emerita, Felix and Gaudentius at an unknown location in Africa, date unknown.
Martyrs of Alexandria – 3 saints: Three Christians who were martyred together, but we really know little more that the names – Agatho, Diogenes and Luceja. They were martyred in Alexandria, Egypt, date unknown.
Martyrs of Cambrai – 4 beati: Four Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul nuns at Arras, France. Imprisoned together in 1792 and executed together two years later in the anti-Catholic excesses of the French Revolution. They were:
• Jeanne Gerard
• Marie-Françoise Lanel
• Marie-Madeleine Fontaine
• Thérèse-Madeleine Fantou
They were guillotined on 26 June 1794 at Cambrai, Nord, France and Beatified in June 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.
Our Morning Offering – 23 June – The Solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ 2019
“MAY WE ALL BE LIVING MONSTRANCES.” By St Josemaria Escrivá (1902-1975)
May we be monstrances
wrought of pure gold,
free from all worldly influence,
studded with rubies,
which are like the stains of blood
from our sorrow and our sacrifice;
monstrances adorned with emeralds,
which signify,
our unshakeable hope
and embedded with
many other small stones –
that are barely noticed
but that You behold always,
delighting in their brilliance—
and which are our small mortifications,
our self-denial at every moment.
May these living monstrances
illumine those around them
by their apostolic charity.
Deign, my God,
living in each one of them,
to vivify with the rays of Your Love
all those who come
into contact with us.
Mother of ours,
Mother of Eucharistic Love:
this is our petition today.
Present it, we beseech you,
at your Son’s feet.
Obtain for us a life
imbued with a Eucharistic spirit,
so that love for the Holy Eucharist
fills our heart.
Amen
Sunday Reflection – 5 May – Third Sunday of Easter, Year C
Pope Benedict XVI
” The Eucharist, the privileged place in which the Church recognises “the Author of life” (Acts 3: 15) is “the breaking of the bread”, as it is called in the Acts of the Apostles. In it, through faith, we enter into communion with Christ, who is “the priest, the altar and the lamb of sacrifice” (see Preface for Easter, 5) and is among us.
Let us gather round Him to cherish the memory of His words and of the events contained in Scripture, let us relive His Passion, death and Resurrection. In celebrating the Eucharist, we communicate with Christ, the victim of expiation and from Him we draw forgiveness and life.
What would our lives as Christians be without the Eucharist? The Eucharist is the perpetual, living inheritance which the Lord has bequeathed to us in the Sacrament of His Body and His Blood and which we must constantly rethink and deepen so that, as venerable Pope Paul VI said, it may “impress its inexhaustible effectiveness on all the days of our earthly life.” – (Insegnamenti, V [1967], p. 779)
Many Christians take their time and have leisure enough in their social life (no hurry here). They are leisurely, too, in their professional activities, at table and recreation (no hurry here either). But isn’t it strange, how those same Christians. find themselves in such a rush and want to hurry the priest, in their anxiety to shorten the time devoted to the most holy sacrifice of the altar?“
Thought for the Day – 1 May – Devotion for May – the Month of Mary
“God wills that all his gifts should come to us through Mary” (St Bernard)
It was in Rome, towards the end of the eighteenth century, one fine evening in May. A child of the poor gathered his companions around him and led them to a statue of Mary, before which a lamp was burning, as is the custom in that holy city. There, these fresh young voices sang the Litany of our Lady. The next day, the little group, followed by other children, again gathered at the feet of the Mother of God. Next came their mothers, to join the little assembly. Soon, other groups were formed and the devotion rapidly became popular. Holy souls, troubled by the disorderly conduct which always increases and becomes graver at the return of the pleasant springtime, saw in these growing practices the hand of God and they co-operated with the designs of Providence by approving and promoting this new devotion, as a public and solemn act of reparation. The Month of Mary was founded….A Carthusian, A Month with Mary
“This is the month in which, in the churches and individual homes, the most affectionate and fervent homage of prayers and devotions from the hearts of Christians are raised to Mary. It is also the month in which from His throne descend upon us the most generous and abundant gifts of the Divine Mercy.”….St Pope Paul VI, The Month of Mary,1967.
In our own times, we Catholics, wanting to be close to her always, offer her special presents in May – pilgrimages, visits to churches dedicated to her, little sacrifices in her honour, periods of study and well-finished work offered up to her and a more attentive recitation of the rosary….
MARY: THE MOTHER OF GOD
“When the Blessed Virgin said yes, freely, to the plans revealed to her by the Creator, the divine Word assumed a human nature — a rational soul and a body — which was formed in the most pure womb of Mary. The divine nature and the human were united in a single Person – Jesus Christ, true God and, thenceforth, true man, the only begotten and eternal son of the Father and from that moment on, as man, the true son of Mary. This is why our Lady is the mother of the Incarnate Word, of the second person of the Blessed Trinity, who has united our human nature to Himself forever, without any confusion of the two natures. The greatest praise we can give to the Blessed Virgin is to address her loudly and clearly by the name that expresses her very highest dignity: ‘Mother of God’.”
Let us offer to our Mother today:
Brief but frequent prayers of love, such as:
“Mother of God, your petitions are most powerful.”
St Josemaria Escriva – “Mother of God and Our Mother,” Friends of God, 274.
May Magnificat
Poem by Fr Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ (1844-1889)
May is Mary’s month and I Muse at that and wonder why: Her feasts follow reason, Dated due to season—
Candlemas, Lady Day But the Lady Month, May, Why fasten that upon her, With a feasting in her honour?
Is it only its being brighter Than the most are must delight her? Is it opportunest And flowers finds soonest?
Ask of her, the mighty mother: Her reply puts this other Question: What is Spring?— Growth in every thing—
Flesh and fleece, fur and feather, Grass and greenworld all together, Star-eyed strawberry-breasted Throstle above her nested
Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin Forms and warms the life within, And bird and blossom swell In sod or sheath or shell.
All things rising, all things sizing Mary sees, sympathising With that world of good, Nature’s motherhood.
Their magnifying of each its kind With delight calls to mind How she did in her stored Magnify the Lord.
Well but there was more than this: Spring’s universal bliss Much, had much to say To offering Mary May.
When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple Bloom lights the orchard-apple And thicket and thorp are merry With silver-surfed cherry
And azuring-over greybell makes Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes And magic cuckoocall Caps, clears, and clinches all—
This ecstasy all through mothering earth Tells Mary her mirth till Christ’s birth To remember and exultation In God who was her salvation.
Quote/s of the Day – 1 May – Wednesday of the Second week of Easter, the first day of Mary’s Month and the Memorial of St Joseph the Worker, Gospel: John 3:16–21
“Sanctity, for the vast majority of people, implies sanctifying their work, sanctifying themselves in it and sanctifying others through it.”
“It is no good offering to God, something that is less perfect than our poor human limitations permit. The work that we offer, must be without blemish and it must be done as carefully as possible, even in its smallest details, for God will not accept shoddy workmanship. ‘Thou shalt not offer anything that is faulty,’ Holy Scripture warns us, ‘because it would not be worthy of him.’ For that reason, the work of each one of us, the activities that take up our time and energy, must be an offering worthy of our Creator. It must be operatio Dei, a work of God, that is done for God – in short, a task that is complete and faultless.”
St Josemaria Escrivá (1902-1975)
“A spirituality must be lived that will help believers to sanctify themselves through their work, imitating St Joseph, who everyday, had to provide for the needs of the Holy Family with his hands and who because of this, the Church indicates as patron of workers.”
“But thanks be to God,who always leads us in triumph in Christ..”
2 Corinthians 2:14
Holy Mass will be offered on Thursday 14 March for:
Marna Fisher
Sherry Potenziano
Patrick Orlando
Anne Marie Hennigan
“Get used to lifting your heart to God,
in acts of thanksgiving, many times a day.
Because He gives you this and that.
Because you have been despised.
Because you haven’t what you need
or because you have.
Because He made His Mother so beautiful,
His Mother who is also your Mother.
Because He created the sun and the moon
and this animal and that plant.
Because He made that man eloquent
and you He left tongue-tied …
Thank Him for everything,
because everything is good.”
The English term provides the best meaning for this period – “To shrive” meant to hear confessions. In the Anglo-Saxon “Ecclesiastical Institutes,” recorded by Theodulphus and translated by Abbot Aelfric about 1000, Shrovetide was described as follows: “In the week immediately before Lent, everyone shall go to his confessor and confess his deeds and the confessor, shall so “shrive him,” as he then may hear by his deeds, what he is to do in the way of penance.”
To highlight the point and motivate the people, special plays or masques were performed which portrayed the passion of our Lord or final judgement. Clearly, this Shrovetide preparation for Lent, included the confessing of sin and the reception of absolution. As such, Lent then would become a time for penance and renewal of faith.
Who needs pancakes, we have far more important things to do!
Beginning of Lent: A Time of Penance, Purification and Conversion
We are at the beginning of Lent, a time of penance, purification and conversion. It is not an easy program but then Christianity is not an easy way of life. It is not enough just to be in the Church, letting the years roll by. In our life, in the life of Christians, our first conversion — that unique moment which each of us remembers, when we clearly understood everything the Lord was asking of us — is certainly very significant. But the later conversions are even more important and they are increasingly demanding. To facilitate the work of grace in these conversions, we need to keep our soul young, we have to call upon our Lord, know how to listen to Him and, having found out what has gone wrong, know how to ask His pardon.
“’If you call upon me, I will listen to you,’ we read in holy scripture. Isn’t it wonderful how God cares for us and is always ready to listen to us — waiting for man to speak? He hears us at all times but particularly now. Our heart is ready and we have made up our minds to purify ourselves. He hears us and will not disregard the petition of a ‘humble and contrite heart.’
The Lord listens to us. He wants to intervene and enter our lives to free us from evil and fill us with good. ‘I will rescue him and honour him,’ he says of man. So we must hope for glory. Here again we have the beginning of the interior movement that makes up our spiritual life. Hope of glory increases our faith and fosters our charity, the three theological virtues, godly virtues which make us like our Father God, have been set in motion.
What better way to begin Lent? Let’s renew our faith, hope and love. The spirit of penance and the desire for purification come from these virtues. Lent is not only an opportunity for increasing our external practices of self-denial. If we thought it were only that, we would miss the deep meaning it has in Christian living, for these external practices are — as I have said — the result of faith, hope and charity.”
St Josemaria Escrivá (1902-1975) Christ is Passing By No 57
One Minute Reflection – 6 February – Wednesday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Mark 6:1–6 and the Memorial of St Dorothy of Caesarea (Died 311) and St Paul Miki SJ (c 1564-1597) & Companions/Martyrs of Nagasaki – Martyrs
“Is not this the carpenter?”…Mark 6:3
REFLECTION – “Joseph loved Jesus as a father loves his son and he cared for Him, giving Him the best he had. Joseph took charge of this child as he had been commanded and turned Jesus into a workman, passing on his craft to Him. That is why their neighbours in Nazareth, when they spoke of Jesus, called Him, roughly speaking, a “carpenter” or “the son of a carpenter” (Mt 13:55)…
Jesus must have resembled Joseph in His traits of character and ways of working and talking. His realism, His powers of observation, His way of sitting at table and breaking bread, His attraction for explaining His teaching in a concrete way by taking His examples from everyday things, reflect what Jesus’ childhood and youth were like and therefore His relationship with Joseph. What depths there are in this mystery! This Jesus, who is a man, who speaks with the accent of a particular region of Israel, who resembles a workman named Joseph, is indeed the Son of God. And who can teach God anything? Nevertheless, He is truly man and His life is a normal one – first a child, then a young man who helps Joseph in the workshop and finally, a mature man in the fullness of age: “Jesus advanced in wisdom and grace before God and men” (Lk 2:52).
At the human level Joseph was Jesus’ master. Day by day he surrounded Him with tender affection and cared for Him with joyful self-denial. Is this not a very good reason for thinking this man to be just (Mt 1:19) – this saintly patriarch in whom the Old Testament faith reaches its climax as a master of the interior life?”…St Josémaria Escriva de Balaguer (1902-1975)
“According to the people of Nazareth, God is too great to humble Himself to speak through such a simple man! It is the scandal of the Incarnation – the unsettling event of a God made flesh, who thinks with the mind of a man, works and acts with the hands of a man, loves with a human heart, a God who struggles, eats and sleeps like one of us.
The Son of God overturns every human framework – it is not the disciples who washed the feet of the Lord but, it is the Lord who washed the feet of the disciples (cf. Jn 13:1-20). This is a reason for scandal and incredulity, not only in that period but in all ages, even today.”…Pope Francis – Angelus, 8 July 2018
PRAYER – Lord God, source of strength and grace, grant us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to love the Word of Your Son. Make us recognise Your Son in our daily lives and be generous in sharing our faith to all we meet. Grant, we pray, that the prayers of St Dorothy of Caesarea and St Paul Miki and companions, may help us to manifest zeal and courage. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, in unity with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Novena in Preparation for the Solemnity of The Immaculate Conception
By St Josemaria Escriva (1902-1975)
DAY NINE – 8 December
Our Lady Queen of Apostles
If we have this filial contact with Mary, we won’t be able to think just about ourselves and our problems. Selfish personal problems will find no place in our mind. Mary brings us to Jesus and Jesus is “the firstborn among many brothers.” And so, if we know Jesus, we realise that we can live only by giving ourselves to the service of others. Christians can’t be caught up in personal problems;they must be concerned about the universal Church and the salvation of all souls. (Christ is Passing By, 145)
If we are imbued with this spirit, our conversations with God eventually aid other people, even though they may begin on an apparently personal level. And if we take our Lady’s hand, she will make us realise more fully that all men and women are our brothers and sisters – because we are all children of that God whose daughter, spouse and mother she is. (Christ is Passing By, 145)
Be daring. Count on the help of Mary, Queen of Apostles. Without ceasing to be a mother, our Lady is able to get each of her children to face their own responsibilities.
Mary always does the immense favour of bringing to the Cross, of placing face to face with the example of the Son of God, those who come close to her and contemplate her life. It is in this confrontation that Christian life is decided. And here Mary intercedes for us so that our behaviour may lead to a reconciliation of the younger brother – you and me – with the firstborn Son of the Father.
Many conversions, many decisions to give oneself to the service of God have been preceded by an encounter with Mary. Our Lady has encouraged us to look for God, to desire to change, to lead a new life. And so her counsel “Do whatever he tells you” has turned into real self-giving, into a Christian vocation, which from then on enlightens all our personal life. (Christ is Passing By, 149)
Let us Pray
Mary, who brought Jesus up and accompanied Him through His life and is now beside Him in heaven, will help us recognise Jesus as He crosses our path and makes Himself present to us in the needs of our fellow men.
Our mother, you brought to earth Jesus, who reveals the love of our Father God. Help us to recognise Him in the midst of the cares of each day. Stir up our mind and will, so that we may listen to the voice of God, to the calls of grace.”
Sancta Maria, spes nostra, ancilla Domini, sedes sapientiæ, ora por nobis! Holy Mary, our hope, handmaid of the Lord, seat of wisdom, pray for us! Amen (Christ is Passing By, 149)
Novena in Preparation for the Solemnity of The Immaculate Conception
By St Josemaria Escriva (1902-1975)
DAY EIGHT – 7 December
Mary, our teacher in everyday life
We must imitate her natural and supernatural refinement. She is a privileged creature in the history of salvation, for in Mary “the Word became flesh and dwelled among us.”
But she is a reserved, quiet witness. She never wished to be praised, for she never sought her own glory. Mary is present at the mysteries surrounding the infancy of her Son but these are “normal” mysteries, so to speak. When the great miracles take place and the crowds acclaim them in amazement, she is nowhere to be found. In Jerusalem when Christ, riding a little donkey, is proclaimed king, we don’t catch a glimpse of Mary. But after all have fled, she reappears next to the Cross. This way of acting bespeaks personal greatness and depth, the sanctity of her soul….(Christ is Passing By, 173)
To become God-like, to be divinised, we must begin by being very human, accepting from God our condition as ordinary men and women, and sanctifying its apparent worthlessness. That is how Mary lived. She who is full of grace, the object of God’s pleasure, exalted above all the angels and the saints, lived an ordinary life.
Mary is as much a creature as we are, with a heart like ours, made for joy and mirth as well as suffering and tears. Before Gabriel communicates God’s plan to her, our Lady does not know she has been chosen from all eternity to be the Mother of the Messiah. She sees herself as a humble creature. That is why she can acknowledge, with full humility, that “he who is mighty has done great things” in her. (Christ is Passing By, 172)
We can’t forget that Mary spent nearly every day of her life just like millions of other women who look after their family, bring up their children and take care of the house. Mary sanctifies the ordinary everyday things – what some people wrongly regard as unimportant and insignificant: everyday work, looking after those closest to you, visits to friends and relatives. What a blessed ordinariness, that can be so full of love of God!
For that’s what explains Mary’s life – her love. A complete love, so complete that she forgets herself and is happy just to be there where God wants her, fulfilling with care what God wants her to do. That is why even her slightest action is never routine or vain but, rather, full of meaning. Mary, our mother, is for us both an example and a way. We have to try to be like her, in the specific circumstances in which God wants us to live. (Christ is Passing By, 148)
Let us Pray
We turn to Our Lady for protection, because we can be quite sure that each of us, in our own state in life – priest or lay-person, single, married or widowed – if we are faithful in the daily fulfilment of our duties, will achieve victory on this earth, the victory of being always loyal to Our Lord. And afterwards we will reach Heaven and rejoice for ever in the friendship and love of God, with the Blessed Virgin Mary. (Prayer before Our Lady of Guadalupe, 24 May 1970)
Hail Mary full of grace!
It’s fair, gentle Lady,
for me to ask you for a present,
a proof of your affection –
contrition, compunction for my sins,
sorrow of love.
Hear me, O Lady, my life, my hope.
Take me by the hand
and if there is anything in me now
that is displeasing to my Father God,
make me see it,
and between the two of us,
we’ll tear it out.
Amen
Again, all I can do is pray and beg of you all, your prayers too. My country is in chaos, power is being ‘loadshedded’ on and off all day across the land. Damage control is all we can do. Much trauma to many systems and appliances. The software I use to make my pics has also corrupted along with some other software. I know others who have lost their telephone connections due to corrupted and burnt out telephone cables, etc etc. Sorry! Mary, our refuge and our strength!
Novena in Preparation for the Solemnity of The Immaculate Conception
By St Josemaria Escriva (1902-1975)
DAY SEVEN – 6 December
Mary, our refuge and our strength
When it comes to the scandal of the Sacrifice of the Cross, Mary is there, hearing with sadness how “the passers-by blasphemed against him, tossing their heads, ‘Come now, they said, you would destroy the temple and build it up in three days, rescue yourself; come down from that cross, if you are the Son of God’.” Our Lady is there listening to the words of her Son, united to Him in His suffering, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” What could she do? She united herself fully with the redemptive love of her Son and offered to the Father her immense sorrow, which pierced her pure Heart like a sharp-edged sword.
Jesus is comforted anew by the quiet, loving presence of His Mother. Mary does not shout; she does not run about frantically. Stabat: she is there, standing next to her Son. It is then that Jesus looks at her and then turning His gaze to John He exclaims, “Woman, this is thy son.” Then He said to the disciple, “This is thy Mother.” In the person of John, Christ is entrusting all men to His Mother and especially His disciples: those who were to believe in Him. Felix culpa the Church sings. Happy fault, that has brought us so great and wonderful a Redeemer. Happy fault, we could add, which has merited that we should receive Mary as our Mother. Now we are safe. Nothing should worry us now, because Our Lady, the crowned Queen of heaven and earth, is omnipotent in her supplication before our Father God. Jesus cannot deny anything to Mary, nor to us, who are children of his own Mother. (Friends of God, 288)
Marvel at Mary’s courage: at the foot of the Cross, with the greatest of human sorrows – there is no sorrow like her sorrow – filled with fortitude. And ask her for that same strength, so that you too can remain beside the Cross. (The Way, 508)
Don’t let discouragement enter into your apostolate. You haven’t failed, just as Christ didn’t fail on the Cross. Take courage!… Keep going, against the tide, protected by Mary’s Immaculate and Motherly Heart: Sancta Maria, refugium nostrum et virtus!, you are my refuge and my strength. Hold your peace. Be calm… God has very few friends on earth. Don’t yearn to leave this world. Don’t shy away from the burden of the days, even though at times we find them very long. (The Way of the Cross, 13th Station, 3)
We can’t forget that Mary spent nearly every day of her life just like millions of other women who look after their family, bring up their children and take care of the house. Mary sanctifies the ordinary everyday things – what some people wrongly regard as unimportant and insignificant: everyday work, looking after those closest to you, visits to friends and relatives. What a blessed ordinariness, that can be so full of love of God!
For that’s what explains Mary’s life – her love. A complete love, so complete that she forgets herself and is happy just to be there where God wants her, fulfilling with care what God wants her to do. That is why even her slightest action is never routine or vain but, rather, full of meaning. Mary, our mother, is for us both an example and a way. We have to try to be like her, in the specific circumstances in which God wants us to live (Christ is Passing By, 148)
Let us Pray
Say to her:
Mother, my Mother – yours,
because you are hers on many counts –
may your love bind me to your Son’s Cross,
may I not lack the Faith,
nor the courage,
nor the daring,
to carry out the will of our Jesus.
Amen The Way, 497
Sincere apologies for the late arrival of today’s Novena – I have been unable to post anything due to a national electricity crises!
Novena in Preparation for the Solemnity of The Immaculate Conception
By St Josemaria Escriva (1902-1975)
DAY SIX – 5 December
Holy Mary, our hope
Mary teaches us to hope. She proclaimed: “All generations will call me blessed.” Humanly speaking, how could she hope for such a thing? Who was she, in the eyes of the men and women of her time? The great heroines of the Old Testament – Judith, Esther, Deborah – won a measure of human glory even here on earth, for they were acclaimed and exalted by the people. Mary’s throne, by contrast, like that of her Son, is the Cross. During the rest of her life, until she was taken body and soul into Heaven, what most impresses us about her is her quiet presence. St Luke, who knew her well, describes her as being close to the first disciples, in prayer. This was the way she lived to the end of her days on earth, she who was to be praised by all creatures for all eternity.
What a contrast between Our Lady’s hope and our own impatience! So often we call upon God to reward us at once for any little good we have done. No sooner does the first difficulty appear than we start to complain. Often we are incapable of sustaining our efforts, of keeping our hope alive. Why? Because we lack faith. “Blessed art thou for thy believing; the message that was brought to thee from the Lord shall have fulfilment.” (Friends of God, 286)
Let us be full of hope! This is the great thing about being a contemplative soul. We live by Faith, Hope and Love and Hope makes us powerful. Do you remember what St John says? “I am writing to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have conquered the evil one.” God is urging us on, for the sake of the eternal youthfulness of the Church and of all mankind. You have the power to transform everything human into something divine, just as King Midas turned everything he touched into gold!
Do not ever forget that after death you will be welcomed by Love itself. And in the love of God you will find as well all the noble loves which you had on earth. Our Lord has arranged for us to spend this brief day of our earthly existence working and, like His only-begotten Son, “doing good.” Meanwhile we have to be on our guard, alert to the call St Ignatius of Antioch felt within his soul as the hour of his martyrdom approached.
“Come to the Father,” come to your Father, who anxiously awaits you. (Friends of God, 221)
Let us Pray
Let us ask Holy Mary, Spes Nostra, our hope, to kindle in us a holy desire that we may all come together to dwell in the house of the Father. Nothing need disturb us if we make up our minds to anchor our hearts in a real longing for our true fatherland. Our Lord will lead us there with His grace and He will send a good wind to carry our ship to the bright shores of our destination. (Friends of God, 221)
Teach us Holy Mother Mary,
teach us your holy hope!
This virtue that comes from the grace of God.
Intercede on our behalf that we may
be always guided by hope
that the great love of our Father,
will be our strength and our stay.
Pray for us Holy Mother of Hope.
Grant us your guiding hand.
Amen
Novena in Preparation for the Solemnity of The Immaculate Conception
By St Josemaria Escriva (1902-1975)
DAY FIVE – 4 December
Mary, Mother of Fair Love
“I am the Mother of fair love and of fear and of knowledge and of holy hope.” These are he lessons which Mary reminds us of today. The lesson of fair love, of living a clean life, of having a sensitive and passionate heart, so that we may learn to be faithful in our service to the Church. This is no ordinary love. It is Love itself. There is no room here for betrayal, or calculation, or forgetfulness. It is a fair, a beautiful love, because its beginning and end is God, who is thrice Holy, who is all Beauty, all Goodness and all Greatness.
But there is also a reference to fear. For myself, the only fear I can imagine is that of turning away from Love. God Our Lord, certainly does not want us to be inhibited, timid or lukewarm about our dedication to Him. He wants us to be daring, courageous and refined. When the sacred text speaks of fear here I am reminded of a complaint we find elsewhere in Scripture, “I searched for my heart’s love but found him not.” This can happen, if one has not yet fully understood what it means to love God. Then our hearts can be swayed by things which do not lead to Our Lord and so we lose sight of Him. At other times it may be Our Lord who hides Himself. He knows the reason why. In such cases, He will be encouraging us to seek Him more earnestly and, when we find Him, we shall be able to cry out with joy, “I took hold of Him and I will never let Him go.” (Friends of God, 277)
The spotless purity of John’s whole life makes him strong before the Cross. The other apostles fly from Golgotha: he, with the Mother of Christ, remains. Don’t forget that purity strengthens and invigorates the character. (The Way, 144)
This heart of ours was born to love. But when it is not given something pure, clean and noble to love, it takes revenge and fills itself with squalor. True love of God and consequently purity of life, is as far removed from sensuality as it is from insensitivity and as far from sentimentality as it is from heartlessness or hard-heartedness. (Friends of God, 183)
Why don’t you give yourself to God once and for all… really…, now? (The Way, 902)
Mary, the holy Mother of our King, the Queen of our heart, looks after us as only she knows how. Mother of mercy, throne of grace, we ask you to help us compose, verse by verse, the simple poem of charity in our own life and the lives of the people around us; it is “like a river of peace.” For you are a sea of inexhaustible mercy: “ All streams run to the sea, but the sea is never full.” (Christ is Passing By, 187)
Let us Pray:
At this very moment, you should trustingly beg Our Lady, as you accompany her in the solitude of your heart, without saying anything out loud:
“Mother, this poor heart of mine rebels so foolishly! If you don’t protect me…” Holy Mother, come to my aid, help me here and now. Help me always to love with a pure heart, to love my Lord and my God, to seek Him always! For you, who I dearly love, are my Mother, amen.
And she will help you, to keep it pure and to follow the way to which God has called you. (Friends of God, 180)
Novena in Preparation for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
By St Josemaria Escriva (1902-1975)
DAY THREE – 2 December
Mary, Teacher of Prayer
The Lord will grant you the ability to discover many other aspects of the faithful response to grace of the blessed Virgin. And to know these facets of her life is to want to imitate them: her purity, her humility, her fortitude, her generosity, her fidelity… But now I want to speak to you of an aspect that in a way encompasses all the others because it is a condition for spiritual growth. I’m speaking of her life of prayer.
To take advantage of the grace which our Mother offers us today and to follow up at anytime the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, the shepherd of our souls, we ought to be seriously committed to talking with God. We cannot take refuge in the anonymous crowd. If interior life doesn’t involve a personal encounter with God, it doesn’t exist – it’s as simple as that.
There are few things more at odds with Christianity than superficiality. To settle down to routine in our Christian life is to dismiss the possibility of becoming a contemplative soul.
God seeks us out, one by one. And we ought to answer Him, one by one: “Here I am, Lord, because you have called me.”
We are ordinary Christians. We work at the most varied professions. All our activity takes place amid everyday circumstances. Everything follows a customary rhythm in our lives.
The days seem the same, even monotonous . But don’t forget that our condition which is apparently so common has a divine value. God is interested in everything we do, because Christ wishes to become incarnate in our things, to vivify from within even our most insignificant actions.
Review these thoughts in your prayer. Take occasion of them to tell Jesus that you adore Him. And thus you have a formula to become contemplatives in the middle of the world, amid the noises of the street, at all times and in all places. This is the first lesson we should learn in the school of intimacy with Christ. And in this school, Mary is the best teacher, because the Virgin always kept this attitude of faith, of supernatural vision, regardless of what happened around her: “And his mother kept all these words in her heart.” (Christ is Passing By, 174)
Our Mother had meditated deep and long on the words of the holy men and women of the Old Testament who awaited the Saviour and on the events that they had taken part in. She must have marvelled at all the great things that God, in His boundless mercy, had done for His people, who were so often ungrateful. As she considers the tenderness shown time after time by God towards His people, Mary’s immaculate Heart breaks out in loving words, “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour, for he has looked graciously upon the lowliness of his handmaid.” The early Christians, children of this good Mother, learned from her; we can, and we ought to do likewise. (Friends of God, 241)
Let us Pray
Let us ask the blessed Virgin to make us contemplatives, to teach us to recognise the constant calls from God at the door of our heart. Let us ask her now:
Our mother, you brought to earth Jesus, who reveals the love of our Father God. Help us to recognise Him in the midst of the cares of each day. Stir up our mind and will, so that we may listen to the voice of God, to the calls of grace.” Amen
Novena in Preparation for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
By St Josemaria Escriva (1902-1975)
DAY TWO – 1 December
Mother of us all, Mother of each of us
The divine Motherhood of Mary is the source of all the perfections and privileges with
which she is endowed. Because of it, she was conceived immaculate and is full of
grace, because of it, she is ever virgin, she was taken up body and soul to heaven and
has been crowned Queen of all creation, above the angels and saints. Greater than she,
there is none but God. “The Blessed Virgin, from the fact that she is the Mother of God, has a certain infinite dignity which comes from the infinite good which is God.” There is no danger of exaggerating. We can never hope to fathom this inexpressible mystery; nor will we ever be able to give sufficient thanks to our Mother for bringing us into such intimacy with the Blessed Trinity. (Friends of God, 276)
There is no heart more human than that of a person overflowing with supernatural
sense. Think of Holy Mary, who is full of grace, daughter of God the Father, Mother of
God the Son, spouse of God the Holy Spirit. Her heart has room for all humanity and
makes no distinction or discrimination. Every person is her son or her daughter. (Furrow, 801)
John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, brought Mary into his home, into his life. Spiritual writers have seen these words of the Gospel as an invitation to all Christians to bring Mary into their lives. Mary certainly wants us to invoke her, to approach her confidently, to appeal to her as our mother, asking her to “show that you are our mother.”
But she is a mother who anticipates our requests. Knowing our needs, she comes quickly to our aid. If we recall that God’s mercies come to us through the hands of our Lady, each of us can find many reasons for feeling that Mary is our mother in a very special way. (Christ is Passing By, 140)
Because Mary is our mother, devotion to her teaches us to be authentic sons and daughters: to love truly, without limit; to be simple, without the complications which come from selfishly thinking only about ourselves; to be happy, knowing that nothing can destroy our hope. “The beginning of the way, at the end of which you will find yourself completely carried away by love for Jesus, is a trusting love for Mary.” I wrote that many years ago, in the introduction to a short book on the rosary and since then I have often experienced the truth of those words. I am not going to complete that thought here with all sorts of reasons. I invite you to discover it for yourself, showing your love for Mary, opening your heart to her, confiding to her your joys and sorrows, asking her to help you recognise and follow Jesus. (Christ is Passing By, 143)
Let us Pray
Mother, we thank you for your intercession before Jesus. Without you, we would not have been able to reach Him. How true it is that one always goes to Jesus and returns to Him through Mary! Amen
Novena in Preparation for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
By St Josemaria Escriva (1902-1975)
DAY ONE – 30 November
MARY FULL OF GRACE
She is the one who is full of grace and the sum of all perfections and she is also our
Mother. Her power before God is such that she can obtain anything we ask for and,
like any mother, she wants to answer our prayers. Like any mother also, she knows and understands our weaknesses. She encourages us and makes excuses for us. She makes the way easy for us and, even when we think there is no possible solution for our worry, she always has one ready to offer us.
Perhaps some of you might be thinking that the ordinary comings and goings, of your
working day, are not going to help you much to stay close to someone, as pure as Our
Lady. But I would just ask you to reflect a little. What are we looking for all the time
in things we do, even without thinking about it especially? If we are motivated by the love of God and we work with a right intention, then we are seeking whatever is good and clean, whatever brings peace to our conscience and happiness to our soul. Yes, you might say but don’t we still have our faults? Indeed, but it is precisely by acknowledging our faults that we are able to see, more clearly than ever, just what our goal has to be. What we are looking for is happiness, not a momentary happiness but one that is deep and lasting and both human and supernatural.
There is one creature who achieved such happiness here on earth, because she is God’s masterpiece, our most holy Mother Mary. She lives now and is protecting us. She is
there, body and soul, with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. (Friends of God, 292)
Holy Rosary, 4th joyful mystery:
When the days of the Mother’s purification are accomplished, according to the Law of
Moses, the Child must be taken to Jerusalem, to be presented to the Lord (Luke 2:22).
And this time it will be you, my friend, who will carry the cage with the doves (Luke
2:24). Just think: She – Mary Immaculate! – submits to the Law as if she were defiled.
Through this example, foolish child, will you learn to obey the Holy Law of God, regardless of any personal sacrifice?
Purification! You and I surely do need purification! Atonement and more than atonement, Love. Love as a searing iron to cauterise our souls’ uncleanness and as a fire to kindle with divine flames the wretched tinder of our hearts.
Let us turn to her, tota pulchra! – all beautiful!– taking to heart the advice I gave many years ago to those who felt uneasy in their daily struggle to be humble, pure, sincere, cheerful and generous. “All the sins of your life seem to be rising up against you. Don’t give up hope! On the contrary, call your holy Mother Mary, with the faith and abandonment of a child. She will bring peace to your soul.” (Friends of God, 189)
Let us Pray!
Hail Mary full of grace! It’s fair, gentle Lady, for me to ask you for a present, a proof of your affection – contrition, compunction for my sins, sorrow of love. Hear me, O Lady, my life, my hope. Take me by the hand and if there is anything in me now that is displeasing to my Father God, make me see it, and between the two of us, we’ll tear it out. Amen
One Minute Reflection – 24 September – Today’s Gospel: Luke 8:16–18 – Monday of the Twenty fifth week in Ordinary Time, Year B
“No one after lighting a lamp, covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed but puts it on a stand, that those who enter may see the light.”…Luke 8:16
REFLECTION – “Christ,” wrote a Father of the Church, (Saint John Chrysostom), “has left us in this world to be like lamps…, to act like leaven…, to become seed, to bear fruit.” If our lives were to have this kind of impact, we would not need to open our mouths. Words would be unnecessary if we could show our works. There wouldn’t be a single pagan left if we were truly christians.
We should avoid making the mistake of thinking that the apostolate consists, in the witness of a few pious practices. We are christians, you and I but at the same time and without resolution of continuity, we are citizens and fellow-workers at very clear obligations, which we are to carry out in an exemplary fashion if we want to become holy once and for all. It is Jesus Christ who urges us: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then set it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand , where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (Mt 5:14-16)….Saint Josémaria Escriva de Balaguer (1902-1975) Homily in Amigos de Dios
“All of us who have received Baptism, pray that the Holy Spirit help us not to fall into these bad habits that cover the light and that He help us to carry forward, the light we received freely, that light of God that does so much good – the light of friendship, the light of meekness, the light of faith, the light of hope, the light of patience, the light of goodness.”…Pope Francis – Santa Marta, 19 September 2016
PRAYER – Lord, be the beginning and the end of all that we do, all that we say, in every moment be our Light. Prompt our actions with Your grace and complete them with Your all-powerful love. May we always seek Your Face in every circumstance, in every moment, so that Your Light may become our life. Blessed Anton Martin Slomsek, you lived your life in the Presence of the Holy Face of Christ our Lord, please intercede for us and for all the world. We make our prayer through Christ, our Lord with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Quote/s of the Day – 17 August – Friday of the Nineteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year B – Today’s Gospel: Matthew 19:3–12
“Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” Matthew 19:4-6
“Speaking of Marriage”
“By their very nature, the institution of matrimony itself and conjugal love are ordained for the procreation and education of children and find in them their ultimate crown.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 48
“The obvious effect of frivolous divorce will be frivolous marriage. If people can be separated for no reason, they will feel it easier, to be united for no reason.”
G K Chesterton (1874-1936)
“To defend his purity, Saint Francis of Assisi rolled in the snow, Saint Benedict threw himself into a thorn bush and Saint Bernard plunged into an icy pond… You – what have you done?”
St Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975)
“Do not forget, that true love sets no conditions, it does not calculate or complain but simply loves.”
St John Paul the Great (1920-2005)
“No one justifies lying, cheating, betraying, promise breaking, devastating and harming strangers. But we expect and we tolerate doing this, to the one person in the world, we promised most seriously, to be faithful to forever – we justify divorce.”
Peter Kreeft
“Marriage is the real vocation crisis in the United States… We have a vocation crisis to life-long, life-giving, loving, faithful marriage. If we take care of that one, we’ll have all the priests and nuns we’ll need for the Church.”
Thought for the Day – 26 June – The Memorial of St Josemaria Escrivá (1902-1975)
Excerpt from St John Paul’s Homily
on the Canonisation of St Josemaria – 6 October 2002
“All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom 8,14). These words of the Apostle Paul, … help us understand better the significant message of today’s canonisation of Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer. With docility he allowed himself to be led by the Spirit, convinced that only in this way can one fully accomplish God’s will.
This fundamental Christian truth was a constant theme in his preaching. Indeed, he never stopped inviting his spiritual children to invoke the Holy Spirit to ensure that their interior life, namely, their life of relationship with God and their family, professional and social life, totally made up of small earthly realities, would not be separated but would form only one life that was “holy and full of God”. He wrote, “We find the invisible God in the most visible and material things” (Conversations with Josemaría Escrivá, n. 114).
This teaching of his is still timely and urgent today. In virtue of the Baptism that incorporates him into Christ, the believer is called to establish with the Lord an uninterrupted and vital relationship. He is called to be holy and to collaborate in the salvation of humanity.
To fulfil such a rigorous mission, one needs constant interior growth nourished by prayer. St Josemaría was a master in the practice of prayer, which he considered to be an extraordinary “weapon” to redeem the world. He always recommended: “in the first place prayer; then expiation; in the third place but very much in third place, action” (The Way, n. 82). It is not a paradox but a perennial truth: the fruitfulness of the apostolate lies above all in prayer and in intense and constant sacramental life. This, in essence, is the secret of the holiness and the true success of the saints.
May the Lord help you, dear brothers and sisters, to accept this challenging ascetical and missionary instruction. May Mary sustain you, whom the holy founder invoked as “Spes nostra, Sedes Sapientiae, Ancilla Domini!” (Our Hope, Seat of Wisdom, Handmaid of the Lord).
May Our Lady make everyone an authentic witness of the Gospel, ready everywhere to make a generous contribution to building the Kingdom of Christ! May the example and teaching of St Josemaría be an incentive to us, so that at the end of the earthly pilgrimage, we too may be able to share in the blessed inheritance of heaven! There, together with the angels and all the saints, we will contemplate the face of God and sing His glory for all eternity.”
Mary, Our Hope, Seat of Wisdom, Handmaid of the Lord, Pray for us!
One Minute Reflection – 26 June – The Memorial of St Josemaria Escrivá (1902-1975) – Today’s Gospel Matthew7:6.12-14.
“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.” “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.”…Matthew 7:12-14
REFLECTION – “Never say of anybody under you: he is no good. It is you who are no good, for you cannot find a place where he will be of use.”…The Furrow #975
“…He does not give us this standard as a distant target, as a crowning point of a whole lifetime of struggle. It is — it ought to be, I repeat so that you may turn it into specific resolutions — the starting point, for Our Lord presents it as a sign of Christianity: ‘By this shall all men know that you are my disciples.'”…Friends of God #223
“All the things of this world are no more than earth. Place them in a heap under your feet and you will be so much the nearer to heaven.”…The Way #676
PRAYER – Enable me loving Father, to live a life of purity that will make me live in You. Let me be so united with You that whatever I might ask will be in total accord with Your will for me. St Josemaria, your inspiration and teachings help and show us the way to sanctification, please intercede for us all, amen.
Our life is turned into a continuous prayer, we find ourselves with good humour and a peace that never ends and everything we do is an act of thanksgiving, running through all our day. ‘My soul magnifies the Lord,’ Mary sang, ‘and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.’” …St Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975) – “To Jesus through Mary,” Christ is Passing By, 144
