Category: The PASSION

Posted in CHRIST the KING, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HOLY SATURDAY, HOLY WEEK, I BELIEVE!, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES of the SAINTS, The PASSION, The RESURRECTION

Quote/s of the Day – 11 April – Sabbatum Sanctum – I am the Christ.

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 11 April – Sabbatum Sanctum – Holy Saturday –

Easter Vigil in the Holy Night

“Darkness is not dark for you and night shines as the day” (Ps 138:12)

“…He slept so that we might be awakened,
He died so that we might live.”

St Augustine (354-430)
Father & Doctor of the Church

psalm 138 12 darkness is not dark - he slept so that we might be awakend - st augustine holy sat 20 april 2019

In Praise of Christ

Born as a son,
led forth as a lamb,
sacrificed as a sheep,
buried as a man,
He rose from the dead as a God,
for He was by nature God and man.

He is all things:
He judges and so He is Law,
He teaches and so He is Wisdom,
He saves and so He is Grace,
He begets and so He is Father,
He is begotten and so He is Son,
He suffers and so He is Sacrifice,
He is buried and so He is man,
He rises again and so He is God.
This is Jesus Christ,
to whom belongs glory for all ages.

in praise of christ born as a son led forth as a lamb st melito of sardis 11 april 2020

“The Lord, though He was God, became man.
He suffered for the sake of whose who suffer,
He was bound for those in bonds,
condemned for the guilty,
buried for those who lie in the grave
but He rose from the dead and cried aloud:
“Who will contend with me? Let him confront me.”
I have freed the condemned, brought the dead back to life,
raised men from their graves.
Who has anything to say against me?
I, He said, am the Christ, I have destroyed death,
triumphed over the enemy, trampled hell underfoot,
bound the strong one and taken men up to the heights of heaven.
I am the Christ.
Come, then, all you nations of men, receive forgiveness for the sins that defile you.
I am your forgiveness.
I am the Passover that brings salvation.
I am the lamb who was immolated for you.
I am your Ransom, your Life, your Resurrection, your Light, I am your Salvation and your King.
I will bring you to the heights of heaven.
With my own right hand I will raise you up
and I will show you the eternal Father.”

– from a letter by Saint Melito of Sardis

Saint Melito, Bishop of Sardis (Died c 180)
Early Church Father

 

Posted in HOLY SATURDAY, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 11 April – Beautiful and Glorious

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Our Morning Offering – 11 April – Sabbatum Sanctum – Holy Saturday – Easter Vigil in the Holy Night

Beautiful and Glorious
By St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

I look at You, my Lord Jesus
and think of Your most holy Body
and I keep it before me
as the pledge of my own resurrection.
Though I die, as die I certainly shall,
nevertheless, I shall not forever die,
for I shall rise again.
O You, who are the Truth,
I know and believe,
with my whole heart,
that this very flesh of mine will rise again.
I know, base and odious as it is at present,
that it will one day, if I be worthy,
be raised incorruptible
and altogether beautiful and glorious.
This I know, this by Your grace,
I will ever keep before me.
Amenbeautiful and glorious - bl john henry newman - holy sat 10 april 2020

Posted in HOLY SATURDAY, MARIAN QUOTES, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, MARIAN Saturdays, MARY, MATER ECCLESIAE, MATER DOLOROSA - Mother of SORROWS, The PASSION

Sabbatum Sanctum – Holy Saturday, The “Second Sabbath”- 11 April

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Sabbatum Sanctum – Holy Saturday, The “Second Sabbath” – 11 April

Holy Saturday (from Sabbatum Sanctum, its official liturgical name) is sacred as the day of the Lord’s rest.   It has been called the “Second Sabbath” after creation.
The day is and should be, the most calm and quiet day of the entire Church year, a day broken by no liturgical function.Descent-from-the-Cross-Pieter-van-Mol-838x1102 deposition

Christ lies in the grave, the Church sits near and mourns.
After the great battle He is resting in peace but upon Him we see the scars of intense suffering…
The mortal wounds on His Body remain visible…Jesus’ enemies are still furious, attempting to obliterate the very memory of the Lord by lies and slander.jesus-burial-tomb-1083559-wallpaper-copy-1024x769

Mary and the disciples are grief-stricken, while the Church must mournfully admit that too many of her children return home from Calvary cold and hard of heart.
When Mother Church reflects upon all of this, it seems as if the wounds of her dearly Beloved were again beginning to bleed.

We are tempted to rush from Good Friday to Easter.   Mother Church with wisdom, separates the two with Holy Saturday – a day of peace and rest – a day to quietly ponder and pray – a day to sit in silence at the tomb of Jesus.   “What is happening?   Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence and stillness, a great silence, because the King sleeps, the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages.”   We do not need words to express our misery.   We need silence to ponder the mystery.   Silence is the best expression of what is deepest in us, for silence alone, can express what words cannot.

Christ-Descending-from-the-Cross-Nicolas-Tournier

According to tradition, the entire body of the Church is represented in Mary – she is the “credentium collectio universa” (the gathering of the universal Church) (Congregation for Divine Worship, Lettera circolare sulla preparazione e celebrazione delle feste pasquali, 73).
Thus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, as she waits near the Lord’s tomb, as she is represented in Christian tradition, is an icon of the Virgin Church keeping vigil at the tomb of her Spouse while awaiting the celebration of His Resurrection.james tissot - 2 marys watch at the tomb
The pious exercise of the Ora di Maria is inspired by this intuition of the relationship between the Virgin Mary and the Church – while the body of her Son lies in the tomb and His soul has descended to the dead to announce liberation, from the shadow of darkness to His ancestors, the Blessed Virgin Mary, foreshadowing and representing the Church, awaits, in faith, the victorious triumph of her Son over death. — Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgysorrowful mother with apostle peter maybe

Posted in CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOOD FRIDAY, HYMNS, I BELIEVE!, POETRY, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION, The SIGN of the CROSS

Quote/s of the Day – 10 April – The Sign of the Cross

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Quote/s of the Day – 10 April – Friday of the Passion of the Lord

“Great thing is the knowledge of the crucified Christ.
How many things are enclosed inside this treasure!
Christ crucified!
Such is the hidden treasure of wisdom and science.
Do not be deceived, then, under the pretext of wisdom.
Gather before the covering and pray, that it may be uncovered.
Foolish philosopher of this world, what you are looking for is worthless…
What is the advantage of being thirsty, if you despise the source? …
And what is His precept but that we believe in Him and love each other?
In whom? In Christ crucified.
This is His commandment – that we believe in Christ crucified …
But where humility is, there is also majesty,
where weakness is, there shall one find power,
where death is, there shall be life as well.
If you wish to arrive at the second part, do not despise the first!“

St Augustine (354-430)
Father & Doctor of the Church

Sermon 160, 3-4

this is his commandment that we believe - st augustine good friday 10 april 2020

“Come, kneel before the Lord:
He shed for us His Blood.
He died the victim of pure love,
To make us one with God.”

Edward Caswall (1814-1878)

(15 July 1814 – 2 January 1878) was an Anglican clergyman and hymn writer
who converted to Roman Catholicism and became a Oratorian under St John Henry Newman.

come kneel before the lord - edward caswall - orat st john henry - good friday 10 april 2020

The Sign of the Cross

WHENE’ER across this sinful flesh of mine
I draw the Holy Sign,
All good thoughts stir within me and renew
Their slumbering strength divine,
Till there springs up a courage high and true
To suffer and to do.

And who shall say but hateful spirits around,
For their brief hour unbound,
Shudder to see and wail their overthrow?
While on far heathen ground
Some lonely Saint hails the fresh odour, though
Its source he cannot know.

St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Oxford – 25 November 1832

the sign of the cross st john henry newman poem 10 april 2020 good friday

Posted in GOOD FRIDAY, ONE Minute REFLECTION, PRAYERS for SEASONS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, The PASSION, The SECOND COMING, The SIGN of the CROSS, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – Friday of the Passion of the Lord – 10 April – Jesu!

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One Minute Reflection – Friday of the Passion of the Lord – 10 April, Readings:  Isaiah 52:13–53:12, Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-17, 25, Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9, John 18:1-19:42

There they crucified him and with him two others, one on either side and Jesus between them … John 18:18

REFLECTION – “Truly, you are a hidden God!” (Is 45:15).   Why hidden?   Because He had neither form nor beauty, yet power was in His hands.   It was there His fortitude was hidden.

Was He not hidden when he submitted His hands to brutes and His palms received the nails?   The print of the nails gleamed on His hands and His innocent side received the wound.   They shackled His feet in fetters, the iron pierced His soles and His feet were fastened to the tree.   These wounds did God suffer on our behalf at the hands of His own people, in His own home.   O how marvellous are His wounds by which the wounds of the world were healed!   How victorious His wounds, by which He slew death and stung hell! (…) Therefore, O Church, O dove, you have coverts in the rock and a hollow in the wall in which to rest (cf. Sg 2:14). (…)

And what will you do (…) when He comes in the clouds with great power and majesty? (cf. Mt 24:30)   He will come down with heaven and earth ablaze and by the terror of His coming He will dissolve the elements.   When He has come, the Sign of the Cross will be seen in the sky and the beloved one will show the scars of His wounds and the prints of the nails by which He was transfixed in His own home.” … St Amadeus of Lausanne (1108-1159) – Cistercian Monk, Bishop

PRAYER – The Angel of the Agony
Saint John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Jesu! by that shuddering dread which fell on Thee.
Jesu! by that cold dismay which sicken’d Thee.
Jesu! by that pang of heart which thrill’d in Thee.
Jesu! by that mount of sins which crippled Thee.
Jesu! by that sense of guilt which stifled Thee.
Jesu! by that innocence that girded Thee.
Jesu! by that sanctity that reign’d in Thee.
Jesu! by that Godhead which was one with Thee.
Jesu! spare those souls which are so dear to Thee.
Who in prison, calm and patient, wait for Thee.
Hasten, Lord, their hour and bid them come to Thee.
To that glorious Home, where they shall ever gaze on Thee.
Amen

jesu the angel of the agony st john henry newman good friday 10 april 2020
Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, GOOD FRIDAY, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS for SEASONS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 10 April – St Bernard’s Our Lord’s Passion

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Our Morning Offering – 10 April – Friday of the Passion of the Lord

Our Lord’s Passion
St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) Doctor of the Church

In Your hour of holy sadness
could I share with You, what gladness
should Your Cross to me be showing.
Gladness past all thought of knowing,
bowed beneath Your Cross to die!

Blessed Jesus, thanks I render
that in bitter death, so tender,
You now hear Your supplicant calling,
Save me Lord and keep from falling
from You,
when my hour is night.

our-lords-passion-st-bernard-17-march-2018

Posted in CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, MAUNDY THURSDAY, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES of the SAINTS, The PASSION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 9 April – ‘… Walk in Him …’

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One Minute Reflection – 9 April – Maundy Thursday, Evening Vigil Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Readings: Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14, Psalms 116:12-13, 15-18, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, John 13:1-15

Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not know now but afterward, you will understand.”   Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.”   Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part in me.” … John 12:7-8

john 13 8 if i do not wash you you have no part in me - maundy thursday holy 9 april 2020

REFLECTION – “Jesus, fully aware that the Father had put everything into His power and that He had come from God and was returning to God, rose from supper.”   That which had not been in Jesus’s hands before is put into His hands by the Father – not just some things and not others but everything.

David had said:  “The Lord says to my lord:  Sit at my right hand while I make your enemies your footstool” (Ps 109[110]:1).   The enemies of Jesus shared out, as it were, that ‘all’ which He knew His Father was giving Him. (…)   On account of those who were far away from God, He was separated from God who, by nature, did not wish to leave the Father.   He left God, so that all who have been separated from God, should return to God with Him, in His hands, according to His eternal design. (…)

So what was Jesus doing in washing the feet of His disciples?   By washing them and wiping them with the towel around His waist wasn’t Jesus making their feet beautiful at the moment when they were going to have to proclaim the good news?   It was then, in my opinion, that the prophetic word was fulfilled:  “How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good news!” (Is 52:7; Rm 10:15).   But if, by washing the feet of His disciples, Jesus makes them beautiful, how can we express the genuine beauty in those whom He immerses fully “in the Holy Spirit and in fire” (Mt 3:11)?   The feet of the apostles were made beautiful so that (…) they might set out along the holy road and walk in Him who said:  “I am the Way” (Jn 14:6).   For whoever has had his feet washed by Jesus and he alone, follows that living way that leads to the Father.   That way has no room for dirty feet! (…)   In order to follow this living, spiritual way (Heb 10:20) (…) they had to have their feet washed by Jesus who set aside His garments (…) so as to take upon His own body, the dirtiness of their feet with the towel which was His only garment, for “he bears our infirmities” (Is 53:4). … Origen (c 185-253) Father of Church, Priest, Theologian – Commentary on St John’s Gospel

the feet of the apostles were made beautiful -origen 9 april 2020

PRAYER – Love of You, with our whole heart, Lord God, is holiness. Increase then Your gifts of divine grace in us, so that, as in Your Son’s Death, You made us hope for what we believe, You may likewise, in His Resurrection, make us come to You, our final end. Listen we beg, to the prayers of Your holy ones and may the Blessed Mother walk along with us and keep our hand, ever in hers.   Through Jesus Himself, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God with You, forever and ever, amen.

mother of sorrows pray for us 16 nov 2019

Posted in MAUNDY THURSDAY, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES on CONSCIENCE, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on GRATITUDE, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, The PASSION

Thought for the Day – 9 April – The Betrayal of Judas

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Thought for the Day – 9 April – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

The Betrayal of Judas

“Ingratitude is a very cruel thing.
It imprints a deep wound on the human heart and the heart of Jesus, was infinitely more sensitive than ours.
He had raised Judas to the high rank of the Apostolate;  He had made him one of His closest friends and had entrusted him with the secrets of His infinite love.
Now Judas betrays Him for the wretched sum of thirty pieces of silver.
Worse is to follow, however.
While Jesus is praying and perspiring blood at the thought of the ingratitude of men and of the nearness of His passion and death, the garden of Gethsemane becomes suddenly aglow with torches and reverberates with the shouting of the hired ruffians, whom Judas has brought with him to arrest Jesus.
The treacherous Apostle comes forward.
He embraces our divine Redeemer, hails Him as his Master and greets Him with a sacrilegious kiss upon the cheek.
Jesus neither repulses nor rebukes him but, with a gesture of infinite mercy, He addresses him as a friend.
“Friend,” He says, “for what purpose hast thou come?” (Mt 26:50).
“Dost thou betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Lk 22:28).
If only Judas could have heeded this last appeal and begged for forgiveness at Jesus’ feet with tears of repentance!
Jesus would certainly have taken him to His heart and returned his kiss with a kiss of pardon and divine friendship.
Perhaps, we have also stood at times on the brink of sin and have been aware of a higher appeal to go back!
But, have we heeded it?
If ever we are in danger again, let us listen to this quiet voice which speaks to our conscience.
Let us fall on our knees before Jesus and earnestly implore Him: “Be not silent, Lord, be not far from me!” (Ps 34:22).
Let us ask Him to have pity on our weakness and to come to our assistance.“

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

Posted in MAUNDY THURSDAY, The PASSION

Maundy or Holy Thursday of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and The Seven Churches Visitation – 9 April

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Maundy or Holy Thursday of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ 
Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper and The Seven Churches Visitation 

last supper 1600 - 1700s jesus eucharist mass maundy thursday

Maundy Thursday begins theSsacred Triduum—the holiest days of the Church year.  The liturgy reflects the beauty of the Paschal mystery and the Passover Feast of Christ.   The Triduum is a time that we walk in Jesus’ footsteps for His final hours on earth.   Personal devotions always spring up to unite the faithful’s domestic church with the Liturgy of the Church but even more so during the holiest week of the year and in particular in this year of Covid19 when we are all locked down in our homes and are unable to accompany our Lord on His journey to the Cross.

At the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, the Gospel is John 13:1-15, Christ washing the feet of the Apostles.   The word Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum (commandment) which is the first word of the Gospel acclamation: Mandátum novum do vobis dicit Dóminus, ut diligátis ínvicem, sicut diléxi vos.   “I give you a new commandment – Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13:34).   At the Mass the priest washes feet of several people in imitation of Christ.maundy thursdayHoly-Thursday-For-I-Have-Set-You-An-Example-That-You-Also-Should-Do-As-I-Have-Done-To-You

The Seven Churches Visitation

seven churches

In metropolitan areas where there are more Catholic Churches, there is the popular tradition of visiting the Altar of Repose in seven local Churches.   This custom began in Rome (often credited to St Philip Neri) with visiting the seven major Basilicas of the City on Holy Thursday: St Peter’s in the Vatican, St Paul’s outside the Walls, St John Lateran, St Mary Major, St Sebastian’s, St Lawrence Outside the Walls and Holy Cross in Jerusalem.   See them all below.

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1280px-Seven_Churches_of_Rome_-_Giacomo_Lauro_-_1599

This Holy Thursday pilgrimage reflects the seven stops or “stations” during the night of Jesus’ arrest:

Jesus in the Garden in Gethsemane where He was arrested (Luke 22:39-46)
Jesus taken before Annas (John 18:19-22)
Jesus bound and taken before Caiaphas, the High Priest (Matthew 26:63-65)
Jesus taken before Pilate, the Roman governor (John 18:35-37)
Jesus goes before Herod (Luke 23:8-9, 11)
Jesus returns to Pilate (Matthew 27:22-26)
Jesus is scourged, crowned with thorns and led to His crucifixion (John 19:1-16)

The book of Indulgences, the Raccolta, included this practice.   The suggested prayers were an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be, five times before the Altar of Repose of the Blessed Sacrament and then some private adoration and personal prayer (reflection on the scripture passages related to the “station”) before moving on to the next church.

The final Church stop can also include prayers for the Holy Father’s intentions and a longer time of adoration with Jesus in the altar of repose.   In some regions the number of churches expanded to 14 to include the entire Stations of the Cross.  Some other traditions of prayers, with the Seven Churches, is praying along with the Seven Last Words of Christ.   This year there will be many online resources and we can pray the Liturgy together in our home,s as well as, make the Seven Churches pilgrimage by reading each Gospel reading aloud and praying the prayers suggested.

May we all accompany Our Lord tonight and not leave Him alone!

Posted in PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, QUOTES on PATIENCE, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on REPARATION/EXPIATION, QUOTES on VIOLENCE, SAINT of the DAY, The PASSION

Quote/s of the Day – 2 April – St Francis of Paola

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Quote/s of the Day – 2 April – The Memorial of St Francis of Paola OM (1416-1507)

“Fix your minds on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Inflamed with love for us, He came down from heaven to redeem us.
For our sake He endured every torment of body and soul
and shrank from no bodily pain.
He Himself gave us an example of perfect patience and love.
We, then, are to be patient in adversity.”

“See to it that you refrain from harsh words.
But if you do speak them,
do not be ashamed to apply the remedy
from the same lips, that inflicted the wounds.”

St Francis of Paola

see to it that you refrain from harsh words - st francis of paola -2 april 2020

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2020, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS for SEASONS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRAYERS on FAITH, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on the CHURCH, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 2 April – O Saviour of the World

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Our Morning Offering – 2 April – Thursday of the Fifth week of Lent

O Saviour of the World
By St Ignatius of Antioch (c 35-c 108)
Father of the Church

Lord Jesus Christ,
on the human side
You are sprung from David’s line,
Son of God according to God’s will and power,
born of the Virgin Mary,
baptised by John
and actually Crucified for us in the flesh,
under Pontius Pilate and Herod the Tetrarch.
On the third day, You raised a standard
to rally Your saints and faithful forever
in the one body of Your Church.
By the grace and power of these mysteries,
fit us out with unshakeable faith,
nail us body and soul to Your Cross
and root us in love by Your Blood, shed for us,
O Saviour of the world,
living and reigning, now and forever,
amen.o saviour of the world - st ignatius of antioch prayer 2 april 2020

Posted in GOD is LOVE, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, The PASSION

Thought for the Day – 1 April – The Passion of Our Lord

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Thought for the Day – 1 April – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

The Passion of Our Lord

he came to bear the weight of our offences - bacci 1 april 2020

“The Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ is one of the most profound mysteries of our religion.
It is a mystery of infinite goodness and mercy, that, out of love for fallen humanity, the Eternal Word of God, should have assumed a human form and become man, in order to show us the way to Heaven and to enable us, to reach it.
Jesus came amongst us, to instruct us, to call us, to perfection and to give us, an example and the necessary help.
But He did much more than this.
He came also to bear the weight of our offences and to offer Himself, as a spotless victim of love and suffering in expiation of our sins.
All this, seems too great a mystery, almost inconceivable, in fact, until we consider that the charity of God is as infinite as His nature.
This is why, the Saints experienced hours of ecstasy contemplating the Passion and Death of our Divine Redeemer.
Whenever St Gertrude looked upon the figure of Jesus nailed to the Cross, she could not restrain her tears.
She was accustomed to say, that God was specially merciful towards those who meditated on the Passion and Death of Jesus.
St Bernard writes, that even as the rocks were rent asunder at the Death of Our Redeemer, so, our sin-hardened hearts, should feel as if they were breaking, when we meditate on His Sufferings.
Let us meditate, therefore, on the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
If we are sinners, as unfortunately, we all are, we shall we moved to weep for our sins.
If we are imperfect and lukewarm, we shall be set on fire with love and a determination, to requite, as far as possible, the infinite charity of Jesus Christ.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

Posted in CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2020, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, LENTEN THOUGHTS, POETRY, PRAYERS for SEASONS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 31 March – The Word of the Cross

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Lenten Reflection – 31 March – Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent, Readings: Numbers 21:4-9, Psalm 102:2-3, 16-21, John 8:21-30

“Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.”

“When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I Am He…”…John 8:28

john-8-28-when-yu-have-lifted-up-the-son-of-man-tuesdayfifthweeklent-9-april-2019 and 31 March 2020

Daily Meditation:
May we be lifted up with you.

“Jesus lifted up draws all to Himself.
Jesus lifted up on the Cross, reveals fully Whoe He really is.
Jesus is most Jesus, when He is on the Cross.
Even though at Calvary, Jesus was taunted and mocked
by the rabid rabble, to come down from the Cross,
He remained transfixed on it, till the very end.
We need to mount the Cross with Jesus!
We need to see the world from that vantage viewpoint.
Then, everything falls into proper perspective,
then we begin to see the world, as it is.
It is only when we are with Jesus on the Cross,
that we are stretched to our fullest dimensions!” … Msgr Alex Rebello

For my days pass away like smoke
and my bones burn like a furnace.
Psalm 102:3

Intercessions:
Praise to Christ, who has given us Himself as the bread from heaven.
Let us pray to Him, saying:
Jesus, You feed and heal our souls, come to strengthen us.

Lord, feed us at the banquet of the Eucharist,
– with all the gifts of Your Paschal Sacrifice.
Give us a perfect heart to receive Your word,
– that we may bring forth fruit in patience.
Make us eager to work with You in building a better world,
– so that it may listen to Your Church and its gospel of peace.
We confess, Lord, that we have sinned,
– wash us clean by Your gift of salvation.

Closing Prayer:

The Word of the Cross
by Saint Paulinus of Nola (c 354-431) 

Look on thy God, Christ hidden in our flesh.
A bitter word, the cross and bitter sight:
Hard rind without, to hold the heart of heaven.
Yet sweet it is, for God upon that tree
Did offer up His life upon that rood
My Life hung, that my life might stand in God.
Christ, what am I to give Thee for my life?
Unless take from Thy hands the cup they hold,
To cleanse me with the precious draught of death.
What shall I do? My body to be burned?
Make myself vile? The debt’s not paid out yet.
Whate’er I do, it is but I and Thou,
And still do I come short, still must Thou pay
My debts, O Christ, for debts Thyself hadst none.
What love may balance Thine? My Lord was found
In fashion like a slave, that so His slave
Might find himself in fashion like his Lord.
Think you the bargain’s hard, to have exchanged
The transient for the eternal, to have sold
Earth to buy Heaven? More dearly God bought me.

the word of the cross by st paulinus of nola - 31 march 2020

“Christ’s shoulders are the arms of the cross,
there it is, that I have laid down my sins,
on that gallows I have found my rest. “

St Ambrose (340-397)
Father & Doctor of the Church

christs-shoulders-are-the-arms-of-the-cross-st-ambrose-good-shepherd-luke-15-1-32-15-sept-2019 and 31 march 2020

Posted in CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, Our MORNING Offering, POETRY, PRAYERS for SEASONS, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 31 March – It is, O Christ, Your love which moves me so …

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 31 March – Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Sonnet to our Lord Crucified
Anonymous, of Spanish origen

I am not moved to love You, O my God,
That I might hope in promised heaven to dwell,
Nor am I moved by fear of pain in hell,
To turn from sin and follow where You trod.
You move me, Lord, broken beneath the rod,
Or stretched out on the cross, as nails compel
Your hand to twitch. It moves me that we sell,
To mockery and death, Your precious blood.
It is, O Christ, Your love which moves me so,
That my love rests not on a promised prize,
Nor holy fear on threat of endless woe,
It is not milk and honey but the flow
Of blood from blessed wounds before my eyes,
That waters my buried soul and makes it grow.
Amen

Spanish:
No me mueve, mi Dios, para quererte,
Elcielo que me tienes prometido,
Mi me mueve el infierno tan temido,
para dejar por eso de ofenderte.
Tu me mueves, Senor, mueveme el verte
Clavado en una cruz y escarnecido,
Mueveme el ver tu cuerpo tan herido,
Muevenme tus afrentas y tu muerte.
Mueveme, en fin, tu amor de tal manera,
que aunque no hubiera cielo, yo te amara,
Y aunque no hubiera infierno, te temiera.
No me tienes que dar porque Te quiera,
Porque, aunque lo que espero no esperara,
Lo mismo que te quiero Te quisiera.

Who wrote it? Who knows?
The names fell from the pages,
Lost and never
To return to where
The eyes of the reader
Might ever see them.
‘I am no-one,
Constructing eternity so,
I can live forever’

sonnet to our lord crucified anonymous of spanish origen 31 march 2020

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2020, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on DISCIPLESHIP, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on HYPOCRISY, QUOTES on SELF-DENIAL, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The PASSION

Quote of the Day – 28 March – ‘… Do you get upset?’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 28 March – Saturday of the Fourth week of Lent

“Your Master is not disturbed by mockery and do you get upset?
He bears spittle, blows, strokes of the lash
and can you not take a harsh word?
He accepts the cross, a humiliating death,
the torture of the nails
and can you not undertake to carry out the lowliest of tasks?
How can you become a sharer in His glory (1 Pt 5:1)
if you will not consent to become a sharer in His humiliating death?”

St Simeon the New Theologian (949-1022)

Catechesis 27

how-can-you-become-a-sharer-in-his-glory-28-march-2019-st-simeon-the-new-theologian-28-march-2019 and 28 march 2020

Posted in CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, I BELIEVE!, LENT 2020, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, LENTEN THOUGHTS, MARIAN PRAYERS, PRAYERS for SEASONS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES of the SAINTS, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION, The RESURRECTION, The WORD, To JESUS through MARY

Lenten Reflection – 28 March – “This is the Christ.”

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

“Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.”

Others said, “This is the Christ.” ... John 7:41

Daily Meditation:
Apart from You we can do nothing.

“In Christ we encounter such human characteristics that they have nothing to distinguish them from the weakness common to us mortals.   At the same time, we encounter characteristics so divine, that they can only be appropriate to the sovereign and ineffable divine nature.   Too small to comprehend this, the human mind is so dumbfounded, that it does not know what to take its stand on, nor which path to follow. Is it aware of God in Christ?   Yet it sees Him die.   Does it take Him to be a man?   But see Him coming back from the dead with the prize of His victory, having destroyed the reign of death.   In the same way our contemplation needs to be practised with such reverence and fear that, in the same Jesus, it considers the truth of the two natures, avoiding attributing to the divine essence those things that are not worthy of it or do not belong to it but also avoiding seeing only an illusory appearance in historical events.

In truth, causing such things as these to be heard by human ears, trying to express them in words considerably surpasses our ability, talent and language.   I even think it surpasses the capability of the apostles.   More still, the explanation of this mystery probably transcends the entire order of angelic powers.” … Origen (c 185-253) Father, Priest and Theologian

My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
Psalm 7:10

but-see-him-coming-back-from-the-dead-6-april-2019-origen and 28 march 2020

Intercessions:
Let us always and everywhere give thanks to Christ our Saviour
and ask Him with confidence:
Lord, help us with Your grace.

May we keep our bodies pure,
– as temples of the Holy Spirit.
May we offer ourselves this day to the service of others
– and do Your will in all things throughout the day.
Teach us to seek the bread of everlasting life,
– the bread that is Your gift.
May Your Mother, the refuge of sinners, pray for us,
– and gain for us your loving forgiveness.

john-7-44-and-7-41-satfourthweeklent-6-april-2019 and 28 march 2020

Closing Prayer:

O Jesus, Mary’s Son!
By St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Doctor Angelicus, Doctor communis

Hail to Thee! True body sprung
From the Virgin Mary’s womb!
The same that on the cross was hung
And bore for man the bitter doom.
Thou Whose side was pierced and flowed
Both with water and with blood.
Suffer us to taste of Thee
In our life’s last agony.
O kind, O loving One!
O Jesus, Mary’s Son!
Ameno jesus mary's son st thomas aquinas 28 march 2020

Posted in ACT of CONTRITION, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, LENT 2020, LENTEN THOUGHTS, PAPAL ENCYLICALS, PRAYERS for VARIOUS NEEDS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION, The RESURRECTION

Lenten Reflection – 27 March – ‘Here is the Son of God …’

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

“Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.”

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

Daily Meditation:
May we reach out with joy to grasp Your hand.

“In His Resurrection Christ has revealed the God of merciful love, precisely because He accepted the Cross as the way to the Resurrection.   And, it is for this reason, that, when we recall the Cross of Christ, His passion and death, our faith and hope are centred on the Risen One – on that Christ who “on the evening of that day, the first day of the week, . . .stood among them” in the upper Room, “where the disciples were, …breathed on them and said to them: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.   If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’ ” (Jn 20:19).
Here is the Son of God, who in His Resurrection, experienced in a radical way, mercy shown to Himself, that is to say the love of the Father which is more powerful than death.   And it is also the same Christ, the Son of God, who… reveals Himself as the inexhaustible source of mercy, of the same love… more powerful than sin.” … St Pope John Paul (1920-2005) – Encyclical « Dives in Misericordia » # 8

and-it-is-also-the-same-christ-st-john-paul-encyclical-frifourtheweeklent-5-april-2019 AND 27 MARCH 2020

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears,
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:17-18

friday of the fourth week 27 march 2020

Intercessions:
Let us pray to Christ our Saviour,
who redeemed us by His Death and Resurrection:
Lord, have mercy on us.

You went up to Jerusalem to suffer and so enter into Your glory,
– bring Your Church to the Passover feast of heaven.
You were lifted high on the cross and pierced by the soldier’s lance,
– heal our wounds.
You made the Cross the Tree of Life,
– give its fruit to those reborn in baptism.
On the Cross You forgave the repentant thief,
– forgive us our sins.

Closing Prayer:

Act of Contrition
By St Alphonsus Mary Liguori (1696-1787)
Doctor of the Church

My Lord Jesus Christ,
You have made this journey
to die for me, with love unutterable
and I have so many times unworthily abandoned You
but now I love You with my whole heart
and because I love You,
I repent sincerely for having ever offended You.
Pardon me, my God
and permit me to accompany You on this journey.
You go to die for love of me,
I wish also, my beloved Redeemer,
to die for love of Thee.
My Jesus, I will live
and die always united to You.
Amenact-of-contrition-st-alphonsus-13-april-2019 and 27 march 2020

Posted in ACT of CONTRITION, DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2020, PRAYERS for VARIOUS NEEDS, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The PASSION, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 24 March – By your blood, forgive my sins.

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Lenten Reflection – 24 March – Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent, Readings: Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12, Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9, John 5:1-16 and the Memorial of Blessed Didacus Joseph of Cadiz OFM Cap (1743–1801)

“Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.”

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Bethzatha, which has five porticoes.   In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed. One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. … John 5:2-5
“It was because Jesus did things such as this on the Sabbath
that they began to persecute him.” …John 5:16
For me!

lent-tues-of-the-fourth-week-john-5-16-it-was-because-2-april-2019 and 24 march 2020

Daily Meditation:
We begin to feel the power of the Fourth Gospel.
The “forces” that are opposed in the gospel
have everything to do with the forces at work in my heart.

“Go down, my brothers and put on the Holy Spirit in the waters of baptism;
be united with those spiritual beings who serve our God.
Blessed be He who instituted baptism for the forgiveness of Adam’s sons!
This water is the secret fire that marks His flock with a sign,
with the three spiritual names that confound the Evil one (cf. Rev 3:12). (…)
John bore witness concerning our Saviour:
“He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Mt 3:11).
Here, my brethren, in the true baptism, is that fire and that Spirit.
For baptism is more powerful than Jordan, that little stream,
its waves of water and oil wash away all human sin.
Elisha, by initiating it seven times, purified Naaman of his leprosy (2 Kgs 5:10);
whereas baptism purifies us of sins hidden in our souls.
Moses baptised the people in the sea (1 Cor 10:2)
yet could not cleanse their hearts from within,
Stained, as they were, by sin.
And now here is a Priest, like Moses, who cleanses the soul from its stains
and with oil He marks with a sign, lambs newborn for the Kingdom. (…)
With the water that flowed from the rock, the people’s thirst was quelled (Ex 17:1f.),
See how, through Christ and His spring, is quenched the thirst of nations. (…)
See how, from Christ’s side, there flows a life-giving stream (Jn 19:34),
peoples who thirst have drunk from it and there forgot their affliction.
Pour your dew on my weakness, Lord.
By your blood, forgive my sins.” … St Ephrem (306-373) Father & Doctor of the Church

pur your dew on my weakness lord by your blood forgive my sins - st ephrem 24 march 2020

Intercessions:
God the Father has given us His only Son, the Word made human,
to be our food and our life. Let us thank Him and pray:
May the word of Christ dwell among us in all its richness.

Help us this Lenten season to listen more frequently to Your word,
– that we may celebrate the solemnity of Easter
with greater love for Christ, our Paschal Sacrifice.
May Your Holy Spirit be our teacher,
– that we may encourage those in doubt and error to follow what is true and good.
Enable us to enter more deeply into the mystery of Your Anointed One,
– that our lives may reveal Him more effectively.
Purify and renew Your Church in this time of salvation,
– that it may give an ever greater witness to You.

Closing Prayer:

ACT OF CONTRITION

Forgive my sins, O my God, forgive my sins:
the sins of youth,
the sins of age,
the sins of my soul
and the sins of my body,
the sins which, through frailty, I have committed,
my deliberate and grievous sins,
the sins I know and the sins I do not know,
the sins I have laboured so long to hide from others,
that now they are hidden from my own memory,
let me be absolved from all these iniquities
and delivered from the bond of all these evils,
by the Life, Passion and Death
of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Amenact-of-contrition-7-march-thurs-after-ash-wed-2019 and 24 march 2020

Posted in QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on ETERNAL LIFE, QUOTES on FEAR, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, SAINT of the DAY, The PASSION

Quote/s of the Day – 23 March – St Rafqa

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Quote/s of the Day – 23 March – The Memorial of St Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès OLM (1832 – 1914)

“O Christ,
I unite my sufferings to Yours,
my pains with Your pains,
as I look at Your head,
crowned with thorns.”

o christ i unite my sufferings to yours - st rafqa 23 march 2020

“I am not afraid of death which I have waited for a long time.
God will let me live through my death.”

St Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès (1832 – 1914)

i am not afraid of death - god will let me live - st rafqa 23 march 2020

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2020, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The PASSION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 16 March – “No prophet is accepted in his own country”

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One Minute Reflection – 16 March – Monday of the Third week of Lent, Readings: 2 Kings 5:1-15, Psalm 42:2-3; 43:3-4, Luke 4:24-30

“Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.” … Luke 4:24luke 4 24 i say to you no prophet is accepted in his own country 16 march 2020

REFLECTION – “A doctor came amongst us to restore us to health – our Lord Jesus Christ. He discovered blindness in our hearts and promised the light that “eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered the heart of man” (1Cor 2:9).
The humility of Jesus Christ is the cure for your pride.   Don’t scorn what will bring you healing, be humble, you for whom God humbled Himself.   Indeed, He knew that the medicine of humility would cure you, He who well understood your sickness and knew how to cure it.   While you were unable to run to the doctor’s house, the doctor in person came to your house…  He is coming, He wants to help you, He knows what you need.
God has come with humility precisely in order that man might imitate Him. If He had remained above you, how would you have been able to imitate Him?   And, without imitating Him, how could you be healed?   He came with humility because He knew the nature of the remedy He had to administer – a little bitter, it is true but healing.   And do you continue to scorn Him?   He who holds out the cup to you and you say:  “But what sort of God is this God of mine?   He was born, suffered, was covered with spittle, crowned with thorns, nailed on the cross!”   O miserable soul!   You see the doctor’s humility and not the cancer of your pride.   That is why humility displeases you…
It often happens that mentally ill people end up by beating their doctor.   When that happens, the unfortunate doctor is not only not distressed by the one who beat him but attempts to treat him…   As for our doctor, He did not fear being killed by sick people afflicted with madness, He turned His own death into their remedy.   Indeed, He died and rose again.”…St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of the Churcha doctor came amongst us - st augustine 16 march 2020

PRAYER – Lord our God, make us love You above all things and all our fellow-men, with a love that is worthy of You. May we look to Your Divine Son in love and imitation.   Grant we pray, that by the prayers of the Mother of our Lord and our Mother, we too may be granted the grace to follow Your only Son, no matter our sufferings.  We make our prayer, through Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever amen.ianua caeli heaven's gate pray for us mary - 25 aug 2019

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on SUFFERING, The PASSION

Quote of the Day – 13 March – ‘O man, when the world hates you …’

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Quote of the Day – 13 March – Friday of the Second Week of Lent

“O man, when the world hates you and is faithless toward you,
think of your God, how He was struck and spat upon.
You should not accuse your neighbour of guilt
but pray to God, that He be merciful to you both.”

St Nicholas of Flue (1417-1487)o-man-when-the-world-hates-you-st-nicholas-of-flue-21march2019 and 13 march 2020

Posted in QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, SUNDAY REFLECTIONS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The INCARNATION, The PASSION

Sunday Reflection – 23 February – “Take and divide it among yourselves.”

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Sunday Reflection – 23 February – Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

“Take and divide it among yourselves.”

St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

“Christ then took on our nature, when He would redeem it;
He redeemed it by making it suffer in His own Person;
He purified it, by making it pure in His own Person.
He first sanctified it in Himself, made it righteous, made it acceptable to God, submitted it to an expiatory passion and then He imparted it to us.   He took it, consecrated it, broke it and said, “Take and divide it among yourselves.”

Newman was convinced that no one “realises the mystery of the Incarnation but must feel disposed towards that of the Holy Communion.”   Both are mysteries of the coming of Christ, longed for as the hope of mankind for salvation.   If we accept that God unites Himself, His divinity and His spirit, to humanity, nature and matter in His birth as man, then we can also accept that He binds His presence to the species of bread and wine. When Jesus says, “This is my body, this is my blood,” this remains a mystery but our faith in it, is not against our reason.

Years later this Catholic priest wrote:

“O wisest love! That flesh and blood
Which did in Adam fail,
Should strive afresh against the foe,
Should strive and should prevail.”
“And that a higher gift than grace
Should flesh and blood refine,
God’s presence and His very Self,
And Essence all-divine.”

christ-then-took-on-our-nature-bl-john-henry-newman-no-2-25-feb-2018-sunday-reflection and 23 feb 2020

Posted in HOLY WEEK 2019, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 10 February – Prayer of Abandonment By Blessed Charles of Jesus de Foucauld

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Our Morning Offering – 10 February – Monday of the Fifth Week of Ordinary Time, Year A

Prayer of Abandonment
By Blessed Charles of Jesus de Foucauld (1858-1916) Martyr

Br Charles’ Meditation on the last words of Jesus

Father,
I abandon myself into Your hands.
Do with me what You will.
Whatever You may do,
I thank You.
I am ready for all,
I accept all.

Let only Your will be done in me
and in all Your creatures.
I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into Your hands
I commend my soul.
I offer it to You
with all the love of my heart.
For, I love you, Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into Your hands
without reserve
and with boundless confidence.

For You are my Father.
Amenfather, i abandon myself into your hands - bl charles de foucauld - 1 dec 2018

What we know as the ‘Prayer of Abandonment’ is not a prayer which Brother Charles wrote for any eventual companions, or even one he prayed himself.   Rather it came from one of his meditations on the Gospel in relation to the ‘cardinal virtues’.   These texts were written by Brother Charles in 1896 towards the end of his time with the Trappists at Akbes (Syria).   At that time he was still called by his monastic name Brother Marie-Alberic.   In fact it is a prayer which he puts on the lips of Jesus and which cannot be said by anyone but Jesus.   So it is only with Jesus that we can recite it.

If it has become such an important prayer for the members of his Spiritual Family, it is then, because they are aware that we can never say it alone.   We pray it with Jesus.  With Jesus’ help, let us grow in this spirit of abandonment uniting ourselves to Him in his trusting abandonment to the Father.

This prayer invites us to unite ourselves to Jesus.   It seeks to trace a path for our life’s journey with God and with humanity.   It is the path which Jesus travelled before us.   We are encouraged to give ourselves in confident abandonment to the Father.

Posted in CARMELITES, GOD ALONE!, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 14 January – Before Jesus Crucified (Sweet Jesus, please, abide with me!)

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Our Morning Offering – 14 January – Monday of the Second week in Ordinary Time, Year A

Before Jesus Crucified (Sweet Jesus, please, abide with me!)
By Blessed Titus Brandsma OCD (1881-1942) Martyr

Dear Lord, when looking up at Thee,
I see Thy loving eyes on me,
Love overflows my humble heart,
Knowing what a faithful friend Thou are.
A cup of sorrow I foresee,
Which I accept for love of Thee,
Thy painful way I wish to go,
The only way to God I know.
My soul is full of peace and light,
Although in pain, this light shines bright.
For here, Thou keepest to Thy breast.
My longing heart to find there rest.
Leave me here freely all alone,
In cell where never sunlight shone.
Should no-one ever speak to me,
This golden silence makes me free!
For though alone, I have no fear,
Never were Thou, O Lord, so near.
Sweet Jesus, please, abide with me!
My deepest peace I find in Thee.
Amenbefore jesus crucified bl titus brandsma 20 jan 2020

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES of the SAINTS, SUNDAY REFLECTIONS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The PASSION

Sunday Reflection – 12 January – This Body He gave to us

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Sunday Reflection – 12 January – Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

“When you see (the Most Blessed Sacrament) exposed, say to yourself –

‘Thanks to this Body, I am no longer dust and ashes, I am no more a captive but a freeman, hence, I hope to obtain heaven and the good things that are there in store for me… eternal life, the heritage of the angels, companionship with Christ; death has not destroyed this Body which was pierced by nails and scourged . . . this is that Body which was once covered with blood, pierced by a lance, from which issued saving fountains upon the world, one of blood and the other of water. . . This Body He gave to us to keep and eat, as a mark of His intense love’.”

St John Chrysostom (347 to 407)
Father & Doctor

this-bodty-he-gave-to-us-st-john-chrysostom-1-sept-2019 and 12 jan 2020.jpg

Posted in JESUIT SJ, MARIAN PRAYERS, MATER DOLOROSA - Mother of SORROWS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, The NATIVITY of JESUS, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 31 December – Let Me Spend My Life Near Thee, O Mother

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Our Morning Offering – 31 December – The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas

Let Me Spend My Life Near Thee, O Mother
Blessed Miguel Pro SJ
Martyr (1891-1927)

Let me spend my life near thee, O Mother
to keep thee company
in thy solitude and deepest grief.

Let me feel in my soul
the sadness of thine eyes
and the abandonment of thy heart.

On life’s highway I do not seek
the gladness of Bethlehem,
I do not wish to adore the infant God
in thy virginal hands,
nor to enjoy the winsome presence of Jesus
in thy humble home of Nazareth,
nor the mingle with the angelic choirs
in thy glorious Assumption.

My wish in life is for the jeers
and derision of Calvary,
for the slow agony of thy Son,
for the contempt, the disgrace
and infamy of the cross.

My wish, O most sorrowful Virgin,
is to stand near thee,
to strengthen my soul through thy tears
to complete my offering
through thy martyrdom,
to temper my heart through thy solitude
and to love my God and thy God
through my self-sacrifice.
Amenlet me spend my life near thee o mother - 31 dec 2019 bl miguel pro

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES of the SAINTS, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The NATIVITY of JESUS, The PASSION

Quote of the Day – 22 December – In the Eucharist, He spans the centuries

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Quote of the Day – 22 December – The Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year A

“Jesus Christ, the God-Man,
was born in a manger
and is spiritually reborn on the altar.
He suffered on Calvary
and continues to offer Himself on the altar.
In His earthly life, He spread His teaching
and worked miracles among the crowds.
In the Eucharist, He spans the centuries
and communicates Himself to all.”

St John Chrysostom (347-407)

Father & Doctor of the Churchjesus-christ-the-god-man-st-john-chrysostom-23-dec-2017, 2018 and 2019.jpg

Posted in CHRIST the KING, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONSCIENCE, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on INDIFFERENCE, QUOTES on MORTAL SIN, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, SUNDAY REFLECTIONS, The HOLY CROSS, The LAMB of GOD, The PASSION

Sunday Reflection – 24 November – ‘He is in the hands of sinners once more’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Sunday Reflection – 24 November – The Solemnity of Christ the King, the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year C

He is in the hands of sinners once more

St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

He took bread and blessed and made it His Body.   He took wine and gave thanks and made it His Blood and He gave His priests the power to do what He had done. Henceforth, He is in the hands of sinners once more.   Frail, ignorant, sinful man, by the sacerdotal power given to him, compels the presence of the Highest;  he lays Him up in a small Tabernacle;  he dispenses Him to a sinful people.   Those who are only just now, cleansed from mortal sin, open their lips for Him;  those who are soon to return to mortal sin, receive Him into their breasts;  those who are polluted with vanity and selfishness and ambition and pride, presume to make Him their Guest;  the frivolous, the tepid, the worldly-minded, fear not to welcome Him.
Alas!  Alas!  even those who wish to be more in earnest, entertain Him with cold and wandering thoughts and quench that Love which would inflame them with It’s own fire, did they but open to It!   Such are the best of us and then for the worst?   What shall we of sacrilege?   of His reception to hearts polluted with mortal, unforsaken sin? of those further nameless profanations, which from time to time occur, when unbelief dares to present itself at the holy Altar and blasphemously gains possession of Him? ….he is in the hands of sinners once more st john henry newman sun ref christ the king.jpg
I place myself in the presence of Him, in whose Incarnate Presence I am, before I place myself there!
I adore Thee, O my Saviour, present here as God and man, in soul and body, in true flesh and blood.
I acknowledge and confess, that I kneel before that Sacred Humanity, which was conceived in Mary’s womb and lay in Mary’s bosom;  which grew up to man’s estate and by the Sea of Galilee, called the Twelve, wrought miracles and spoke words of wisdom and peace;  which in due season hung on the Cross, lay in the tomb, rose from the dead and now reigns in heaven.
I praise and bless and give myself wholly to Him, who is the true Bread of my soul and my everlasting joy.   Amen.i place myself in the presence of him - st john henry newman 24 nov 2019.jpg

Posted in CHRIST the KING, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 24 November – He shook all creation, split the rocks

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 24 November – The Solemnity of Christ the King, Year C – Gospel:  Luke 23:35–43

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” … Luke 23:42

REFLECTION – “Today paradise, closed for thousands of years, is opened to us.   On this day, at this very hour, God brings the brigand into it.   Thus He fulfils two wonders – He opens up paradise to us and causes a thief to enter in.   Today God has given us back our former homeland, today He has brought us into the city of our ancestors, today He has opened up a home to be shared by all humanity.   “This day,” He says, “you will be with me in paradise.”  What are You saying, Lord?   You are crucified, nailed down and do You promise paradise?   Yes, He says, so that through the Cross You may learn my power…

Because it isn’t by raising a dead man, commanding the sea and wind, or casting out demons that He is able to change the thief’s sinful soul but by being crucified, pinned down by nails, covered with insults, spitting, mockery and torture, so that you might see the two sides of His sovereign power.   He shook all creation, split the rocks (Mt 27:51) and drew to Himself the brigand’s soul, hard as stone, to cover it with honour…

Obviously, no king would ever allow a brigand or other of his subjects to be seated at his side when making his entry into his city.   Yet Christ did so, when entering His holy homeland.   He brings a brigand into it along with Him.   In so doing…  He does no dishonour to it by a brigand’s presence, for it is a glory for paradise, that it has a master, able to make a brigand worthy of the joys to be tasted there.

In the same way, when He brings publicans and prostitutes into the Kingdom of heaven (Mt 21:31)…, it is for the sake of the glory of that holy place.   Because He shows it, that the Lord of the heavenly Kingdom is so great, that He can restore all their dignity, to prostitutes and publicans, even to their being worthy of this honour and this gift.   We admire a doctor all the more when we see him heal people suffering from illnesses said to be incurable.   So it is only right to admire Christ…  when He restores publicans and prostitutes to such a state of spiritual health, that they become worthy of heaven.” … St John Chrysostom (345 407) Bishop of Constantinople, Father & Doctor of the Church – Homily 1 on the cross and the brigand, for Good Friday, 2luke 23 42 - lord remember me - because it isn't by raising a dead man - christ the king 24 nov 2019 st john chrysostom.jpg

PRAYER – Lord God, You gave the peoples of the world as the inheritance of Your only Son, You crowned Him as King of Zion, Your holy city and gave Him Your Church to be His Bride.   As He proclaims the law of Your eternal kingdom, may we serve Him faithfully and so share His royal power forever.   We make our prayer, through Him and with Him and in Him, our King and our Redeemer, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.our lord jesus christ king of the universe through him and with him and in him 24 nov 2019.jpg

Posted in MARIAN PRAYERS, MARIAN QUOTES, MARIAN TITLES, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, SAINT of the DAY, The BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The PASSION

Quote/s of the Day – 18 November – St Odo of Cluny (c 880–942)

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 18 November – The Memorial of Saint Odo of Cluny (c 880–942) Monk and Abbot

“My Lady, Mother of Mercy,
who on this night gave birth to the Saviour,
pray for me.
May your glorious and unique
experience of childbirth,
O Most Devout Mother,
be my refuge.”my lady mother of mercy who on this night gave birth - st odo of cluny's prayer to mary 18 nov 2019.jpg

“Jesus took upon Himself the scourging,
that would have been our due,
in order to save the creature,
He formed and loves.”jesus took upon himself the scourging - st odo of cluny 18 nov 2019.jpg

“]This is the] sacrosanct mystery
of the Lord’s Body,
in whom the whole salvation
of the world consists.”

St Odo of Cluny (c 880–942)this is the sacrosanct mystry of the lord's body - 18 nov 2019 st odo of cluny.jpg