Quote/s of the Day – 15 July – Monday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Matthew 10:34-11,1 and The Memorial of St Bonaventure (1221-1274) Doctor of the Church
“Every creature is a divine word because it proclaims God.”
“In all your deeds and words, you should look upon this Jesus, as your model. Do so, whether you are walking or keeping silence, or speaking, whether you are alone or with others. He is perfect and thus, you will be, not only irreprehensible but praiseworthy.”
“Christ has something in common with all creatures. With the stone He shares existence, with the plants He shares life, with the animals He shares sensation and with the angels He shares intelligence. Thus all things are transformed in Christ since in the fullness of His nature, He embraces some part of every creature.”
“We must beg the Holy Spirit, with ardent longing, to give us these fruits. The Holy Spirit alone, knows how to bring to light, the sweetness hidden away under the rugged exterior of the words of the Law. We must go to the Holy Spirit for interior guidance.”
“Since happiness is nothing else than the enjoyment of the Supreme Good and the Supreme Good is above us, no-one can enjoy happiness, unless he rises above himself.”
“God might have created a more beautiful world, He might have made heaven more glorious but it was impossible for Him, to exalt a creature, higher than Mary, in making her His Mother.”
Our Morning Offering – 15 July – Monday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year C
Prayer for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit By St Bonaventure (1221-1274) – Seraphic Doctor of the Church
We beg the all-merciful Father through You,
His only-begotten Son made man for our sake,
crucified and glorified for us,
to send upon us, from His treasure-house,
the Spirit of sevenfold grace,
Who rested upon You in all His fullness.
The spirit of wisdom,
enabling us to relish the fruit of the tree of life,
which is indeed Yourself.
The gift of understanding:
to enlighten our perceptions.
The gift of prudence,
enabling us to follow in Your footsteps.
The gift of strength:
to withstand our adversary’s onslaught.
The gift of knowledge,
to distinguish good from evil
by the light of Your holy teaching.
The gift of piety,
to clothe ourselves with charity and mercy.
The gift of fear,
to withdraw from all ill-doing
and live quietly in awe
of Your eternal majesty.
These are the things for which we petition.
Grant them for the honour of Your Holy Name,
to which, with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
be all honour and glory, thanksgiving, renown
and Lordship forever and ever.
Amen
Quote/s of the Day – 27 June – Thursday of the Twelfth week in Ordinary Time, Year C and The Memorial of St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) Father and Doctor
“He who receives Communion is made holy and divinised in soul and body in the same way that water, set over a fire, becomes boiling… Communion works like yeast that has been mixed into dough so that it leavens the whole mass; …Just as by melting two candles together, you get one piece of wax, so, I think, one who receives the Flesh and Blood of Jesus is fused together with Him by this Communion and the soul finds that he is in Christ and Christ is in him.”
“We have passed over the waves of this present life like a sea, with its commotion and insane bustle. We have eaten spiritual manna, the bread that came down from heaven giving life to the world.”
“If the touch alone of His sacred flesh, restores life to a corrupting body, what profit shall we not discover, in His life-giving Eucharist, when we make of it our food? It will wholly transform into its own property, which is immortality, those who participate in it.”
“Our Saviour went to the wedding feast to make holy the origins of human life.”
“From Christ and in Christ, we have been reborn through the Spirit, in order to bear the fruit of life, not the fruit of our old, sinful life but the fruit of a new life founded upon our faith in Him and our love for Him. Like branches growing from a vine, we now draw our life from Christ and we cling to His holy commandment, in order to preserve this life.”
“That anyone could doubt, the right of the holy Virgin to be called the Mother of God, fills me with astonishment. Surely, she must be the Mother of God, if our Lord Jesus Christ is God and she gave birth to Him!”
St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) Father and Doctor
Thought for the Day – The Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua OFM (1195-1231) Doctor of the Church, 13 June
Actions Speak Louder than Words
Saint Anthony of Padua
Priest and Doctor of the Church
An excerpt from Sermon, I #226
The man who is filled with the Holy Spirit speaks in different languages. These different languages are different ways of witnessing to Christ, such as humility, poverty, patience and obedience, we speak in those languages, when we reveal in ourselves, these virtues to others. Actions speak louder than words, let your words teach and your actions speak. We are full of words but empty of actions and, therefore, are cursed by the Lord, since He Himself cursed the fig tree when He found no fruit but only leaves. Gregory says: “A law is laid upon the preacher to practice what he preaches.” It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law, if he undermines its teaching by his actions.
But the apostles spoke as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech. Happy the man, whose words issue from the Holy Spirit and not from himself! ,,For some men speak as their own character dictates but steal the words of others and present them as their own and claim the credit for them. The Lord refers to such men and others like them in Jeremiah – So, then, I have a quarrel with the prophets that steal my words from each other. I have a quarrel with the prophets, says the Lord, who have only to move their tongues to utter oracles. I have a quarrel with the prophets who make prophecies out of lying dreams, who recount them and lead my people astray with their lies and their pretensions. I certainly never sent them or commissioned them and they serve no good purpose for this people, says the Lord.
We should speak, then, as the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of speech. Our humble and sincere request to the Spirit for ourselves, should be that we may bring the day of Pentecost to fulfilment, insofar, as He infuses us with His grace, by using our bodily senses in a perfect manner and by keeping the commandments. Likewise, we shall request, that we may be filled with a keen sense of sorrow and with fiery tongues for confessing the faith, so that our deserved reward may be to stand in the blazing splendour of the saints and to look upon the triune God.
Saint of the Day – 13 June – St Anthony of Padua OFM (1195-1231) Doctor of the Church
The gospel call, to leave everything and follow Christ, was the rule of Saint Anthony of Padua’s life. Over and over again, God called him to something new in his plan. Every time, Anthony responded with renewed zeal and self-sacrificing to serve his Lord Jesus more completely.
His journey as the servant of God began as a very young man when he decided to join the Augustinians in Lisbon, giving up a future of wealth and power, to be a servant of God. Later, when the bodies of the first Franciscan martyrs went through the Portuguese city where he was stationed, he was again filled with an intense longing to be one of those closest to Jesus Himself: those who die for the Good News.
So Anthony entered the Franciscan Order and set out to preach to the Moors. But an illness prevented him from achieving that goal. He went to Italy and was stationed in a small hermitage where he spent most of his time praying, reading the Scriptures and doing menial tasks.
The call of God came again at an general chapter where no one was prepared to speak. The humble and obedient Anthon,y hesitantly accepted the task. The years of searching for Jesus in prayer, of reading sacred Scripture and of serving Him in poverty, chastity and obedience, had prepared Anthony to allow the Spirit to use his talents. Anthony’s sermon was astounding to those who expected an unprepared speech and knew not the Spirit’s power to give people words.
Recognised as a great man of prayer and a great Scripture and theology scholar, Anthony became the first friar to teach theology to the other friars. Soon he was called from that post to preach to the Albigensians in France, using his profound knowledge of Scripture and theology, to convert and reassure those, who had been misled by their denial of Christ’s divinity and of the sacraments..
After he led the friars in northern Italy for three years, he made his headquarters in the city of Padua. He resumed his preaching and began writing sermon notes to help other preachers. In the spring of 1231, Anthony withdrew to a friary at Camposampiero, where he had a sort of treehouse built as a hermitage. There he prayed and prepared for death.
On 13 June, he became very ill and asked to be taken back to Padua, where he died after receiving the last sacraments. Anthony was Canonised less than a year later and named a Doctor of the Church in 1946.
Anthony should be the patron of those, who find their lives completely uprooted and set in a new and unexpected direction. Like all saints, he is a perfect example of turning one’s life completely over to Christ. God did with Anthony as God pleased—and what God pleased was a life of spiritual power and brilliance that still attracts admiration today heaping miracle upon miracle during Anthony’s lifetime. He whom popular devotion has nominated as finder of lost objects, found himself by losing himself totally, to the providence of God.
St Anthony writes: “Christ, who is your life, is hanging before you, so that you may look at the Cross, as in a mirror. There you will be able to know, how mortal were your wounds, that no medicine other, than the Blood of the Son of God, could heal. If you look closely, you will be able to realise, how great your human dignity and your value are…. Nowhere other than looking at himself, in the mirror of the Cross, can man better understand how much he is worth”(Sermones Dominicales et Festivi III, pp. 213-214).
In meditating on these words we are better able to understand the importance of the image of the Crucified One for our culture, for our humanity that is born from the Christian faith. Precisely by looking at the Crucified One we see, as St Anthony says, how great are the dignity and worth of the human being. At no other point can we understand how much the human person is worth, precisely because, God makes us so important, considers us so important that, in His opinion, we are worthy of His suffering, thus, all human dignity appears in the mirror of the Crucified One and our gazing upon Him is ever a source of acknowledgement of human dignity…..Pope Benedict XVI (General Audience – February 10, 2010)
St Anthony of Padua, pray for us!
Wonderful St Anthony the miracle worker: https://anastpaul.com/2018/06/13/saint-of-the-day-13-june-st-anthony-of-padua-o-f-m-evangelical-doctor-hammer-of-heretics-professor-of-miracles-wonder-worker-ark-of-the-tes/
Celebrating St Anthony: https://anastpaul.com/2017/06/13/celebrating-the-life-and-miracles-of-st-anthony-of-padua-on-his-memorial-today-13-june/
O God, send forth Your Holy Spirit By St Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) Doctor of the Church
O God,
send forth Your Holy Spirit
into my heart
that I may perceive,
into my mind,
that I may remember,
and into my soul,
that I may meditate.
Inspire me to speak
with piety,
holiness,
tenderness
and mercy.
Teach, guide and direct my thoughts
and senses, from beginning to end.
May Your grace,
ever help and correct me,
and may I be strengthened now
with wisdom from on high,
for the sake of Your infinite mercy.
Amen
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the heart of Your servant and enkindle in us the fire of Your gifts! Be with us, in us and lead us to the light, amen.
“…We have only to say “yes” to let Him take us there.“
St John Vianney (1786-1859)
“If the damned were asked – Why are you in Hell? they would answer: ‘For having resisted the Holy Spirit.’
And if the saints were asked – Why are you in Heaven? they would answer: ‘For having listened to the Holy Spirit.’
When good thoughts come into our minds, it is the Holy Spirit who is visiting us.
The Holy Spirit is a power.
The Holy Spirit …. sustained the martyrs. Without the Holy Spirit, the martyrs would have fallen like the leaves from the trees. When the fires were lighted under them, the Holy Spirit extinguished the heat of the fire by the heat of divine love.
The good God, in sending us the Holy Spirit, has treated us like a great king who should send his minister to guide one of his subjects, saying, “You will accompany this man everywhere and you will bring him back to me safe and sound.”
How beautiful it is, my children, to be accompanied by the Holy Spirit!
He is indeed a good Guide; and to think that there are some who will not follow Him!
The Holy Spirit is like a man with a carriage and horse, who should want to take us to Pans. We should only have to say “yes,” and to get into it. It is indeed an easy matter to say “yes”!… Well, the Holy Spirit wants to take us to Heaven, we have only to say “yes,” and to let Him take us there.“
“O Divine Spirit, draw us to the highest heaven where Jesus lives forever, interceding for us. Come, fill our hearts with Your fire, show us the way to the Lord, that we may find Him shining with beauty and love. Amen”
“Accordingly, in the Church, one God is preached, one God who is above all things and through all things and in all things. God is above all things as Father, for He is principle and source; He is through all things through the Word; and He is in all things in the Holy Spirit.”
St Athanasius (c295-373)
Father and Doctor of the Church
The Church, a communion living in the faith of the apostles
which she transmits, is the place where we know the Holy Spirit:
– in the Scriptures He inspired;
– in the Tradition, to which the Church Fathers are always timely witnesses;
– in the Church’s Magisterium, which He assists;
– in the sacramental liturgy, through its words and symbols,
in which the Holy Spirit puts us into communion with Christ;
– in prayer, wherein He intercedes for us;
– in the charisms and ministries, by which the Church is built up;
– in the signs of apostolic and missionary life;
– in the witness of saints, through whom
He manifests His holiness
and continues the work of salvation.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Section Two – Article 8 “I believe in the Holy Spirit” #688
++++++++++++++++++++
“We receive the Spirit of truth so that we can know the things of God. In order to grasp this, consider how useless the faculties of the human body would becom, if they were denied their exercise. Our eyes cannot fulfil their task without light, either natural or artificial, our ears cannot react without sound vibrations and in the absence of any odour, our nostrils are ignorant of their function. Not that these senses would lose their own nature, if they were not used. rather, they demand objects of experience in order to function. It is the same with the human soul. Unless it absorbs the gift of the Spirit through faith, the mind has the ability to know God but lacks the light necessary for that knowledge.”
St Hilary of Poitiers (315-368)
Father & Doctor of the Church
O Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler!
I adore You as my True God.
I offer You my whole heart
and I render You heartfelt thanks
for all the benefits You have bestowed upon the world.
You are the author of all supernatural gifts
and enriched the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the Mother of God,
with all favours,
I ask You to visit me by Your grace and Your love,
and grant me the favour
I so earnestly seek…
…………………………………. State your request here…
O Holy Spirit,
spirit of truth, come into our hearts.
Let us Pray:
O Lord, Holy Spirit,
grant me sight to see the wondrous promise of divine love,
insight to see my own weakness,
delight in Your divine presence in my soul
which You have made Your temple, through sanctifying grace.
I pray, O Holy Spirit,
that I may be not doubting;
that I be spared the pain of being alone
without trust or hope in Christ,
that my prayer may always be “My Lord and my God!”
I pray that I may acquire a sense of retreat
to prayer and recollection at various times in my daily life,
for prayer is the bond that joins us to Christ.
I pray that I may be aware of the physical needs of the poor
and that I may share what I can with them
in the charitable works of the Church.
I pray, O Holy Spirit,
that You will, in Your mercy
grant me the favour, I have sought in this novena.
Come, O Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of Your faithful,
and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
“We can study the whole history of salvation, we can study the whole of Theology but without the Spirit we cannot understand. It is the Spirit that makes us realise the truth or – in the words of Our Lord – it is the Spirit that makes us know the voice of Jesus.”
O Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler!
I adore You as my True God.
I offer You my whole heart,
and I render You heartfelt thanks
for all the benefits You have bestowed upon the world.
You are the author of all supernatural gifts
and enriched the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the Mother of God,
with all favours,
I ask You to visit me by Your grace and Your love,
and grant me the favour
I so earnestly seek…
…………………………………. State your request here…
O Holy Spirit,
spirit of truth, come into our hearts.
Let us Pray:
O Holy Spirit,
life and light of the Church,
give us thoughts,
higher than our own thoughts
and prayers,
better than our own prayers
and powers,
beyond our own powers,
that we may love and live,
imitating Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Saviour.
Come to us, Holy Spirit,
come with the Father
and the Son
and grant me the favour I so earnestly request in this novena…
Vouchsafe to dwell within our souls
and quickly make our hearts Your own.
Quench in us the fires of hate and strife,
the wasting fever of the heart.
From perils guard our feeble life
and to our souls Your peace impart.
Let voice and mind and heart
and strength confess
and glorify Your name
and let the fire of charity burn bright
and other hearts inflame.
Come, O Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of Your faithful,
and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
Amen
O Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler!
I adore You as my True God.
I offer You my whole heart,
and I render You heartfelt thanks
for all the benefits You have bestowed upon the world.
You are the author of all supernatural gifts
and enriched the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the Mother of God,
with all favours,
I ask You to visit me by Your grace and Your love,
and grant me the favour
I so earnestly seek…
…………………………………. State your request here…
O Holy Spirit,
spirit of truth, come into our hearts.
Let us Pray:
Come, Holy Spirit,
creator of all things:
come visit our hearts with Your power.
Fill with grace, friendly guest,
the hearts which You have created.
You are called the Consoler,
gift from the hand of God,
source of life,
light, love and flame, highest good.
You are the pledge of sevenfold grace,
finger of the Father’s hand,
promised us by Him,
and You make our tongues speak the truth.
Cast light on our senses,
pour love into our hearts.
Grant our weak bodies strength
that they may never grow weary of doing good
and grant me the favour I so earnestly seek in this novena…
Keep the enemy far from us,
give us peace always,
let us willingly follow in Your footsteps
that we may be far removed from sin.
Grant that through You
we may grow in knowledge
of the Father and of the Son
and that we may ever strongly believe in You,
the Spirit of both.
Praise and honour be forever
to the Father on the highest throne,
in the risen Son of God,
in the Consoler.
Come, O Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of Your faithful,
and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
Amen
“Remember, then, that you received a spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear. Keep safe what you received. God the Father sealed you, Christ the Lord strengthened you and sent the Spirit into your hearts as the pledge of what is to come.”
St Ambrose (340-397)
Father & Doctor of the Church
O Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler!
I adore You as my True God.
I offer You my whole heart,
and I render You heartfelt thanks
for all the benefits You have bestowed upon the world.
You are the author of all supernatural gifts
and enriched the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the Mother of God,
with all favours,
I ask You to visit me by Your grace and Your love,
and grant me the favour
I so earnestly seek…
…………………………………. State your request here…
O Holy Spirit,
spirit of truth, come into our hearts.
Let us Pray:
O Father in Heaven,
I beg You to send the Holy Spirit.
May Your Holy Spirit remind me
when I am apt to forget Your law.
Your love, Your promises.
May Your Holy Spirit strengthen my memory
to recall frequently Your sanctity,
omniscience, wisdom and goodness,
faithfulness and love.
May Your Holy Spirit encourage me,
when I am slothful,
strengthen me,
when I am weak,
enlighten me,
when I no longer can help myself.
Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit,
that I may do what is holy.
Stir me, that I may love what is holy.
Strengthen me, that I may preserve what is holy.
Protect me, Holy Spirit,
that I may never lose what is holy
and grant me the favour,
I so earnestly seek in this novena…
Come, O Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of Your faithful,
and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
Amen
O Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler!
I adore You as my True God.
I offer You my whole heart
and I render You heartfelt thanks
for all the benefits You have bestowed upon the world.
You are the author of all supernatural gifts
and enriched the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the Mother of God,
with all favours,
I ask You to visit me by Your grace and Your love
and grant me the favour
I so earnestly seek…
…………………………………. State your request here…
O Holy Spirit,
spirit of truth, come into our hearts.
Let us Pray:
Come, O Spirit of sanctity,
from the glory of heaven
and send forth the radiance of Your light.
Father of all the poor,
light and peace of all hearts,
come with Your countless gifts.
Consoler in desolation,
refreshment full of loveliness,
come dear friend of my soul.
In weariness send repose,
breath gently cool refreshing breeze,
console the desolate who weep alone.
Light of Beatitude,
make our hearts ready,
come enter our souls.
Without Your grace,
man stands alone;
he cannot be good or sure.
Cleanse what is soiled,
heal what is wounded,
moisten what is arid.
Bend the stubborn will,
warm the cold heart,
guide the wandering footstep.
O Holy Spirit,
we beg You to give us grace through Your seven-fold power
and grant me the favour I so earnestly seek in this novena…
Give us merit for the present
and one day beatitude, when we have finished our earthly journey.
Come, O Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of Your faithful,
and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
Amen
O Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler!
I adore You as my True God.
I offer You my whole heart
and I render You heartfelt thanks
for all the benefits You have bestowed upon the world.
You are the author of all supernatural gifts
and enriched the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the Mother of God,
with all favours,
I ask You to visit me by Your grace and Your love
and grant me the favour
I so earnestly seek…
…………………………………. State your request here…
O Holy Spirit,
spirit of truth, come into our hearts.
Let us Pray:
O God,
Who today, by the light of the Holy Spirit
did instruct the hearts of the faithful,
give us, by the light of the same Holy Spirit,
a love for what is right and just
and a constant enjoyment of His comforts.
Pray Holy Spirit,
that I may strive to learn more of my faith;
that I may ever be conscious
that reason, in all its human magnificence,
is capable of grasping but a glimpse of the reality that is God.
Pray that I may accept as the motto of my life:
“All for the greater glory of God”
and grant me the favour I so earnestly seek in this novena…
Come, O Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of Your faithful,
and kindle in them
the fire of Your love.
Amen
“As the soul is the life of the body, so the Holy Spirit is the life of our souls.”
St Peter Damian (1007-1072)
Doctor of the Church
DAY THREE Begin by reciting the following prayer…
O Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler!
I adore You as my True God.
I offer You my whole heart,
and I render You heartfelt thanks
for all the benefits You have bestowed upon the world.
You are the author of all supernatural gifts
and enriched the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the Mother of God,
with all favours,
I ask You to visit me by Your grace and Your love,
and grant me the favour
I so earnestly seek…
…………………………………. State your request here…
O Holy Spirit,
spirit of truth, come into our hearts.
Let us Pray:
Heavenly Father,
You have called me to be a member
of the mystical body of Your Son, Jesus Christ,
and to be a temple of the Holy Spirit.
I ask You to give me these gifts of the Holy Spirit –
wisdom, that I may understand the follies of this world;
understanding, that I may grasp more fully
the meaning of my existence
and the purpose of all things in the world;
counsel, that I may always choose the proper way;
fortitude, that I may remain faithful to You
under the pressure of temptatio.;
piety, that I may revere You in all I do, think or say;
fear of the Lord, that should the motive of love fail me,
I may quickly be awakened to the eternal consequences of my deeds.
Visit me by Your grace
and Your love
and grant me the favour I so earnestly seek in this novena…
Come, O Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of Your faithful,
and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
Amen
“Enrich your soul in the great goodness of God – The Father is your table, the Son is your food and the Holy Spirit waits on you and then makes His dwelling in you.”
St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
Doctor of the Church
O Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler!
I adore You as my True God.
I offer You my whole heart
and I render You heartfelt thanks
for all the benefits You have bestowed upon the world.
You are the author of all supernatural gifts
and enriched the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the Mother of God,
with all favours.
I ask You to visit me by Your grace and Your love,
and grant me the favour
I so earnestly seek…
…………………………………. State your request here…
O Holy Spirit,
spirit of truth, come into our hearts.
Let us Pray:
O Holy Spirit,
make me faithful in every thought,
and grant that I may always listen to Your voice
and watch for Your light
and follow Your gracious inspirations.
I cling to You
and give myself to You
and ask You, by Your compassion,
to watch over me in my weakness.
Holding the pierced feet of Jesus,
looking at His Five Wounds,
trusting in His Precious Blood,
adoring His opened side and stricken heart,
I implore You adorable Spirit,
helper of my infirmity,
to keep me in Your grace,
now and always,
and grant us the favour me ask in this novena…
Come, O Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of Your faithful,
and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
Amen
“We ought to pray and invoke the Holy Spirit, for each one of us greatly needs His protection and His help. The more we are lacking in wisdom, weak in strength, burdened with trouble, prone to sin, the more we should turn to Him, Who is the never-ceasing fount of light, strength, consolation and holiness.”
Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903)
The novena in honour of the Holy Spirit is the oldest of all novenas since it was first made at the direction of Our Lord Himself when He sent His apostles back to Jerusalem to await the coming of the Holy Ghost on the first Pentecost. It is still the only novena officially prescribed by the Church. Addressed to the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, it is a powerful plea for the light and strength and love so sorely needed by every Christian. Whilst this is often called the Pentecost Novena, it can be said at any time you wish. For the Traditional Novena, Day One here with the Act of Consecration:https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/05/11/pentecost-novena-to-the-holy-spirit-for-the-seven-gifts-day-one-11-may-2018/
Day One
Begin by reciting the following prayer…
O Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler!
I adore You as my True God.
I offer You my whole heart,
and I render You heartfelt thanks
for all the benefits You have bestowed upon the world.
You are the author of all supernatural gifts
and enriched the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the Mother of God,
with all favours,
I ask You to visit me by Your grace and Your love,
and grant me the favour
I so earnestly seek…
…………………………………. State your request here…
O Holy Spirit,
spirit of truth, come into our hearts.
Let us Pray:
O Holy Spirit,
bestow upon us Your seven holy gifts.
Enlighten our understanding, that we may know You.
Give us wisdom, that Your will may be clear to us
and that we may accept it.
Grant us the gift of counsel,
that we may always perceive what is right.
Fortify us, that we may always be capable
of fulfilling Your Divine Will.
Inspire us, with the spirit of learning
that we may be able to penetrate more deeply,
into the truths that You have revealed.
Let our hearts be steeped in the spirit of childlikeness
that we may bring You joy.
Let us have proper fear of God
that we may never grieve You,
or wander from the path of goodness.
Give us the fullness of Your gifts,
that we may glorify You.
Look with compassion upon us,
O Holy Spirit,
and grant us the favour we seek in this novena…
if it be in accordance with Your Holy Will.
Come, O Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of Your faithful,
and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
Amen
I think I am superwoman but have now realised I am not! I am so sorry but I have an imminent deadline for original work I am doing for my Diocese. It needs to be ready by Pentecost and I have done absolutely nothing as yet!
So no posts for a few weeks. I will be back as soon as I have made some progress and prepared at least 3 months of the 12 month-long programme.
I will be praying for you all! Please pray for me and keep on keeping on.
For those who would like to read about today’s Saints:
One Minute Reflection – 2 May – Thursday of the Second week of Easter, Gospel: John 3:31–36 and the Memorial of St Athanasius (297-373) – Father and Doctor of the Church and St Antoninus OP (1389-1459), Gospel: John 3:31–36
For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit…he who does not obey the Son shall not see life…John 3:34,36
REFLECTION – “The sanctification or, rather, the deification of the nature of man, is one main subject of St Athanasius’s theology. Christ, in rising, raises His Saints with Him to the right hand of power. They become instinct with His life, of one body with His flesh, divine sons, immortal kings, gods. He is in them, because He is in human nature and He communicates in them that nature, deified by becoming His, that them Itmay deify. He is in them by the Presence of His Spirit and in them He is seen.”…Bl John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
PRAYER – Lord God, whose name is holy and whose mercy is proclaimed in every generation, send forth Your Spirit into our hearts and grant that, faithfully pondering on all that is holy, we may ever live in the splendour of Your presence. Listen we beseech You, to the prayers we request from St Athanasius and St Antoninus, to help us on this earthly journey. We make our prayer through Christ, Your Son our Lord and Saviour, with the Holy Spirit, one God forever amen.
One Minute Reflection – 29 April – Monday of the Second week of Easter, Year C, Gospel: John 3:1–8 and the Memorial of St Peter of Verona OP (1205–1252)
“…that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”...John 3:6
REFLECTION – “We read in Saint John – No one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. To be reborn in the Holy Spirit during this life is to become most like God in purity, without any mixture of imperfection. Accordingly, pure transformation can be effected – although not essentially – through the participation of union.
Here is an example that will provide a better understanding of this explanation. A ray of sunlight shining on a smudgy window, is unable to illumine that window completely and transform it into its own light. It could do this, if the window were cleaned and polished… The extent of illumination is not dependent on the ray of sunlight but on the window. If the window is totally clean and pure, the sunlight will so transform and illumine it, that to all appearances the window will be identical with the ray of sunlight and shine just as the sun’s ray. Although, obviously, the nature of the window is distinct from that of the sun’s ray, even if the two seem identical, we can assert, that the window is the ray or light of the sun by participation.
The soul on which the divine light of God’s being is ever shining, or better, in which it is ever dwelling by nature, is like this window. A soul makes room for God by wiping away all the smudges and smears of creatures, by uniting its will perfectly to God’s, for to love is to labour, to divest and deprive oneself for God, of all that is not God. When this is done, the soul will be illumined by and transformed in God.”…St John of the Cross (1542-1591) Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – Almighty God and Father, grant that Your faithful people who were buried with Your Son in baptism, may by His Resurrection and intercession at Your right hand, obtain for us eternal life. Send Your Spirit upon Your adopted children and lead us in Your way. Grant that by the intercession of St Peter of Verona, our path may be straightened and glow with Your light. Through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 29 April – Monday of the Second week of Easter, Year C and the Memorial of St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
Holy Trinity, Holy Love By St Catherine of Siena
Holy Spirit, come into my heart;
draw it to Thee by Thy power,
O my God,
and grant me charity with filial fear.
Preserve me,
O beautiful love,
from every evil thought,
warm me,
inflame me with Thy dear love
and every pain will seem light to me.
My Father,
my sweet Lord,
help me in all my actions.
Jesus, love, Jesus, love.
Amen
Thought for the Day – 28 April – Low Sunday the Octave Day of Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday, Gospel: John 20:19–31
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. “...John 20:21-22
Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Bishop of Geneva and Doctor of the Church
First Sermon for Pentecost
‘He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit” ‘
Lord Jesus Christ, once again grant that of us, too, there may be but “one heart and mind” (Acts 4:32) for then there will be “a great calm” (Mk 4:39). My dear listeners, I exhort you to good will and kindness to one another and peace with all. For were we to have charity among ourselves, we would have both peace and the Holy Spirit. Let us undertake to become devout and pray to God… since the apostles persevered in prayer… If we set ourselves to fervent prayer then the Holy Spirit will enter us and say: “Peace be with you! It is I; be not afraid” (cf. Mk 6:50)… And what ought we to ask God for, my brethren? For all that is for His honour and the salvation of your souls and, in a word, for the help of the Holy Spirit – “Send forth your Spirit and they will be created” (Ps 104[103]:30) – peace and tranquillity…
We are to ask for this peace so that the Spirit of peace may come down on us. We should give thanks to God, too, for all His blessings if we want Him to grant us those victories that are the beginning of peace. And to obtain the Holy Spirit we should give thanks to God the Father for having first of all sent Him upon our Head, Jesus Christ, who is our Lord and His Son… – for “from his fullness we have all received” (cf. Jn 1:16) – and for having sent Him upon His apostles that through their hands they might pass Him onto us. We should give thanks to the Son – as God, He sends the Spirit upon those who prepare themselves to receive Him. But, most especially, we should thank Him because, as man, He merited for us, the grace of receiving this divine Spirit…
And how has Jesus Christ merited the Holy Spirit’s coming? When “bowing his head, he gave up his spirit” (Jn 19:30), for, when He gave breathed His last and handed over His spirit to the Father, He merited the Father’s sending His Spirit upon His mystical body.
Thought for the Day – 26 April – Friday in the Octave of Easter
The Anointing with the Holy Spirit
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (315-387)
Bishop, Father & Doctor of the Church
An excerpt from his Mystagogical Catechesis 3
When we were baptised into Christ and clothed ourselves in Him, we were transformed into the likeness of the Son of God. Having destined us to be His adopted sons, God gave us a likeness to Christ in His glory and living as we do, in communion with Christ, God’s anointed, we ourselves are rightly called “the anointed ones.” When He said: Do not touch my anointed ones, God was speaking of us.
We became “the anointed ones” when we received the sign of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, everything took place in us by means of images, because we ourselves are images of Christ. Christ bathed in the river Jordan, imparting to its waters the fragrance of His divinity and, when He came up from them, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, like resting upon like. So we also, after coming up from the sacred waters of baptism, were anointed with chrism, which signifies the Holy Spirit, by whom Christ was anointed and of whom blessed Isaiah prophesied in the name of the Lord – The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor.
Christ’s anointing was not by human hands, nor was it with ordinary oil. On the contrary, having destined Him to be the Saviour of the whole world, the Father Himself anointed Him with the Holy Spirit. The words of Peter bear witness to this – Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit. And David the prophet proclaimed: Your throne, O God, shall endure for ever; your royal sceptre is a sceptre of justice. You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above all your fellows.
The oil of gladness with which Christ was anointed was a spiritual oil, it was in fact the Holy Spirit Himself, who is called the oil of gladness, because He is the source of spiritual joy. But we too have been anointed with oil and by this anointing, we have entered into fellowship with Christ and have received a share in His life. Beware of thinking that this holy oil is simply ordinary oil and nothing else. After the invocation of the Spirit it is no longer ordinary oil but the gift of Christ and by the presence of His divinity, it becomes the instrument, through which we receive the Holy Spirit. While symbolically, on our foreheads and senses, our bodies are anointed with this oil that we see, our souls are sanctified by the holy and life-giving Spirit.
One Minute Reflection – 27 March – Wednesday of the Third week of Lent, Year C, Gospel: Matthew 5:17–19
“Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.”…Matthew 5:17
REFLECTION – “Grace, which was formerly veiled, so to speak, in the Old Testament, has been fully revealed in the Gospel of Christ by a harmonious disposition of the times, just as God usually disposes of everything with harmony… But within this wonderful harmony we notice a great difference between the two ages. On Sinai the people did not dare draw near the place where the Lord was giving His Law; in the Upper Room, the Holy Spirit comes down on all those assembled there, while waiting for the fulfilment of the promise (Ex 19:23; Acts 2:1). In the first instance, the finger of God inscribed the laws on tablets of stone but now, it is in human hearts, that He writes it (Ex 31:18; 2 Cor 3:3). Formerly the Law was written without and brought fear to sinners but now, it has been given to them within, to make them righteous…
Indeed, as the apostle Paul says, everything written on the stone tablets, “you shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill…, you shall not covet” and whatever other commandments there may be, are summed up in this saying: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself. Love does no evil to the neighbour, hence, love is the fulfilment of the Law” (Rm 13:9f.; Lv 19:18)… This charity has been “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rm 5:5)….St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor On the spirit and the letter, 28-30
PRAYER – Protect Your family, Lord and strengthen us with Your consoling presence. Help us in our way to follow Your commandments and live as disciples of love. Look now on Your chosen people, grant us the light of Your Spirit and bring us forever to eternal life. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Your Son and our Mother, be ever our protective shield. Through Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Thought for the Day – 21 March – Thursday of the Second week of Lent, Year C and the Memorial of St Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello (1791 – 1858)
“O most blessed Light, fill the interior of the hearts of your faithful.” The words of the Sequence are a beautiful summary of the life of Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello and explain its extraordinary spiritual richness.
Guided by divine grace, the new saint was concerned to accomplish God’s will with fidelity and coherence. With boundless confidence in the Lord’s goodness, she abandoned herself to his “loving Providence”, deeply convinced, as she liked to repeat, that one must “do everything for love of God and to please Him”.This is the precious inheritance that St Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello left to her spiritual daughters that today is offered to the entire Christian community.
Come Holy Spirit, enkindle the hearts of your faithful! Help us to spread the fire of your love in the world. Amen!
St Pope John Paul on the Canonisation of St Benedetta, Sunday, 19 May 2002
Quote/s of the Day – 21 February – the Memorial of St Peter Damian OSB (1007-1072) Doctor of the Church
“Let us faithfully transmit to posterity, the example of virtue, which we have received, from our forefathers.”
“He pours light into our minds, arouses our desire and gives us strength… As the soul is the life of the body, so the Holy Spirit, is the life of our souls.”
“When you are scorned by others and lashed by God, do not despair. God lashes us in this life, to shield us from the eternal lash, in the next.”
“May Christ be heard in our language, may Christ be seen in our life, may He be perceived in our hearts” (Sermo VIII, 5)
“O Blessed Cross, You are venerated, preached and honoured by the faith of the Patriarchs, the predictions of the Prophets, the senate that judges the Apostles, the victorious army of Martyrs and the throngs of all the Saints” (Sermo XLVII, 14, p. 304)
“Those, who do not love the Cross of Christ, do not love Christ” (Sermo XVIII, 11, p. 117)
Our Morning Offering – 19 February – Tuesday of the Sixth week in Ordinary Time, Year C
O Holy Spirit of God By Cardinal Henry Edward Manning (1806-1892)
O Holy Spirit of God,
take me as Your disciple;
guide me,
illuminate me,
sanctify me.
Bind my hands,
that they may do no evil;
cover my eyes,
that they may see it no more;
sanctify my heart,
that evil may not dwell within me.
Be You my God;
be You my guide.
Wherever You lead me I will go,
whatever You forbid me I will renounce,
whatever You command me,
in Your strength, I will do.
Lead me, then,
unto the fullness of Your truth.
Amen
Quote/s of the Day – 15 February – the Memorial of St Claude de la Colombiere (1641-1682) Apostle of the Sacred Heart and Blessed Michal Sopoćko (1888-1975) Apostle of Divine Mercy
“Lord, I am in this world to show Your mercy to others. Other people will glorify You, by making visible the power of Your grace, by their fidelity and constancy to You. For my part I will glorify You, by making known how good You are to sinners, that Your mercy is boundless and that no sinner, no matter how great his offences, should have reason to despair of pardon. If I have grievously offended You, My Redeemer, let me not offend You even more, by thinking that You are not kind enough to pardon me.”
“God is more honoured by a single Mass than He could be by all the actions of angels and men together, however fervent and heroic they might be. Yet, how FEW hear Mass with the intention of giving God this sublime honour! How FEW think with joy on the glory a Mass gives to God. How FEW rejoice to possess the means of honouring Him as He deserves! . . . If we only knew the treasure we hold in our hands!”
“When the Holy Spirit is in a soul, He communicates Himself in one way or another. We can say, that He makes virtue contagious and turns a simple faithful into an apostle!”
St Claude de la Colombiere (1641-1682)
“Prayer is necessary to receive the help of God, as grain is needed to harvest … a humble and trustful prayer, for what is necessary for salvation, is never lost. It is heard at least by the fact, that it begs for the grace, to abide in prayer.”
“The decisive factor in obtaining God’s Mercy is trust. Trust is the expectation of someone’s help. It does not constitute a separate virtue but is an essential condition of the virtue of hope and an integral part of the virtues of fortitude and generosity. Because trust springs from faith, it strengthens hope and love and is, moreover, linked up, in one way or another, with the moral virtues. It may, therefore, be called the basis on which, the theological virtues unite with the moral. The moral virtues, originally natural, become supernatural, if we practice them with trust in God’s help.”
Quote/s of the Day – 4 February – The Memorial of Blessed Rabanus Maurus OSB (776-856), St Joseph of Leonissa OFM CAP (1556-1612) and St John de Britto SJ (1647-1693) Martyr
Veni Creator Spiritus
Come, Creator, Spirit, come from Your bright heavenly throne, come take possession of our souls and make them all Your own. You who are called the Paraclete, best gift of God above, the living spring, the vital fire, sweet christ’ning and true love. . . . O guide our minds with Your best light, with love our hearts inflame and with Your strength, which ne’er decays, confirm our mortal frame. Far from us drive our deadly foe, true peace unto us bring and through all perils lead us safe beneath Your sacred wing. Through You may we the Father know, through You th’eternal Son and You the Spirit of them both, thrice-blessed Three in One. . . .
By Blessed Rabanus Maurus (776-856)
“Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel. This is what St Paul says to the Corinthians. Our heart is the parchment; through my ministry the Holy Spirit is the writer because ‘my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe’ (Psalm 45:1).”
St Joseph of Leonissa OFM CAP (1556-1612)
“God, Who called me from the world into religious life, now calls me from Portugal to India…. Not to answer the vocation as I ought, would be to provoke the justice of God.”
Our Morning Offering – 30 January – Wednesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time, Year C and the Memorial of the Salesian Priest Blessed Bronislaw Markiewicz SDB (1842-1912)
Invocation to the Holy Spirit Daily Salesian Prayer
If Thou does not light our way,
Ever from Thee must we stray,
Sinful man with grace inspire!
What is stained by sin, renew,
What is dry, with grace bedew,
Strength to wounded souls restore!
Coldness with Thy ardour burn,
Wilfulness to wisdom turn,
Crooked ways make straight once more!
To Thy people come in love,
All our hope is from above,
With Thy sevenfold grace descend!
Come with virtues high reward,
Come in death as living Lord,
Come with joy that knows no end!
Amen
One minute Reflection – 13 January – The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Gospel: Luke 3:15-22 and Memorial of St Hilary of Poitiers (315-368) Father & Doctor of the Church
“…when Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove and a voice came from heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son with thee I am well pleased.”…Luke 3:21-22
REFLECTION – “Jesus rises from the waters; the world rises with Him. The heavens like Paradise with its flaming sword, closed by Adam for himself and his descendants, are rent open. The Spirit comes to Him as to an equal, bearing witness to His Godhead. A voice bears witness to Him from heaven, His place of origin. The Spirit descends in bodily form like the dove that so long ago announced the ending of the flood and so gives honour to the body that is one with God.
Today, let us do honour to Christ’s baptism and celebrate this feast in holiness. Be cleansed entirely and continue to be cleansed. Nothing gives such pleasure to God as the conversion and salvation of men, for whom His every word and every revelation exist. He wants you to become a living force for all mankind, lights shining in the world. You are to be radiant lights as you stand beside Christ, the great light, bathed in the glory of Him who is the light of heaven. You are to enjoy, more and more, the pure and dazzling light of the Trinity, as now you have received—though not in its fullness—a ray of its splendour, proceeding from the one God, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen. “…St Gregory Nazianzen (330-390 – Father & Doctor of the Church (An excerpt from Oration 39: On Holy Light)
PRAYER – Father, keep us from vain strife of words.
Grant to us constant profession of the Truth!
Preserve us in a true and undefiled faith
so that we may hold fast to that
which we professed when we were baptised
in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
that we may have You for our Father,
that we may abide in Your Son
and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord.
Amen…St Hilary of Poitiers
AnaStpaul 
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