The TEN COMMANDMENTS

CATECHESIS, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on THANKSGIVING, The TEN COMMANDMENTS, The WORD

One Minute Reflection –20 May – ‘… How can we be called “cursed if you dishonour your father” (Dt 27:16) yet fervent, if we abandon him?!

Posted on May 20, 2023May 19, 2023 by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection –20 May – “The Month of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – The Memorial of St Bernadine of Siena OFM (1380-1444) “Apostle of the Most Holy Name of Jesus” Confessor – Ecclesiasticus 31:8-11, Matthew 19:27-29 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“And everyone who has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold and shall possess life everlasting.” – Matthew 19:29

REFLECTION – “In almost every passage of Scripture, the spiritual meaning plays an important part. But in this passage especially, we must look for spiritual depth within the thread of its meaning. … How is it that He Himself can say: “Peace I leave with you, My own peace I give you” (Jn 14:27) if He has come to divide fathers from their sons, sons from their fathers, breaking their relationship? How can we be called “cursed if you dishonour your father” (Dt 27:16) yet fervent, if we abandon him?!

If we understand that religion comes first and filial devotion second, then we will understand, this question to be clarified – for we have to pass onto the human, after the Divine. For if we have duties towards our parents, how much more to the Father of our parents, to Whom we owe thanksgiving for our parents? … He does not say, then that we must give up those we love but that, we must prefer God before all else. Besides, do we not find in another book: “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Mt 10:37). What is forbidden is not to love your parents but to prefer them to God. For our blood relations are among God’s blessings and no-one is to love the good things they have received, more than the God Who conserves the blessings He has given!” – St Ambrose (340-397) Father and Doctor of the Church (Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, 7)

PRAYER – O Lord Jesus, Who bestowed on blessed Bernardine, T Thy Confessor, an unusual love for Thine Holy Name, we beseech Thee, by his merits and intercession, graciously pour upon us the spirit of Thy love. Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

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One Minute Reflection – 23 March – ‘But why did the first Law, written with the Finger of God (Ex 31:18), not give us the essential assistance of grace?’ – St Augustine

Posted on March 23, 2022March 22, 2022 by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 23 March – Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent – Exodus 20:12-24, Matthew 15:1-20

“Hypocrites, well did Isaias prophesy of you, saying, ‘This people honours me with their lips but their heart is far from Me and in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrine, the precepts of men.’ ” – Matthew 15:7

REFLECTION – “The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death” (Rm 8:2) … Saint Paul says that the Law of Moses has been given to prove our weakness and not just to prove it but, to increase it and thus force us to find the Doctor. … “Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more” (Rm 5:20; cf. 3:20) … But why did the first Law, written with the Finger of God (Ex 31:18), not give us the essential assistance of grace? Because it was written on tablets of stone, not the tablets of flesh, that are our hearts (2 Cor 3:3) ….

It is the Holy Spirit Who writes “the Law of the Spirit of life” not on stone but in the heart; this Law of the Spirit of life that is in Jesus Christ in Whom the Passover has been celebrated in truth (1 Cor 5:7-8), has delivered you from the law of sin and death. Do you want to have proof of the manifest and certain difference separating the Old Testament from the New? … Hear what the Lord spoke by the mouth of one of the prophets. … ”I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts” (Jr 31:33). So if God’s Law is written in your heart, it does not bring forth fear [as at Sinai] but pours a secret sweetness into your soul.” – St Augustine (354-430) Bishop of Hippo, Father and Doctor of the Church (Sermon 155, 6 ).

PRAYER – Breathe in Me, O Holy Spirit By St Augustine (354-420)

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit,
that my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit,
that my work, too, may be holy.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit,
that I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit,
to defend all that is holy.
Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit,
that I always may be holy.
Amen

MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, The TEN COMMANDMENTS

Thought for the Day – 23 June – Progress in the Love of God

Posted on June 23, 2021June 23, 2021 by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 23 June – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

Progress in the Love of God

“The entire Christian system is based on the love of God.
This, is “the greatest and first commandment” (Mt 22:38) of Jesus, from which the second commandment, to love our neighbour, naturally flows.
A man who does not observe this first commandment is not a Christian, whereas a man who endeavours to increase, everyday, his love for God, is a saint.
There are may grades of ascent in this love but, the basic step is indicated in the words of our Divine Master: “He who has my commandments and keeps them, he is is who loves me” (Jn 14:15,21).

The love of God should not consist of an empty and ineffective sentimentality but, should comprise, a sincere determinations to please God by carrying out His will, without reserve and by becoming more closely united to Him, by the help of His holy grace.
Progress in the love of God is divided by the masters of the spiritual lfe into three stages:
(1) the period of purification;
(2) the period of illuminations and;
(3) the period of union with God.
We may have advanced no farther than the first stage because there is still so much to be purified in our souls.
Nevertheless, let us ask God’s grace, to help us to begin this work immediately!”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, The HEART, The LAMB of GOD, The REDEMPTION, The TEN COMMANDMENTS, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 10 March – New in Old, Old through New Matthew 5:17-19

Posted on March 10, 2021 by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 10 March – Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent, Readings: Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9, Psalms 147:12-13,15-16, 19-20, Matthew 5:17-19

“I have come, not to abolish but to fulfil.”

Matthew 5:17

“The sacrifice of the lamb,
the Passover rite and the letter of the Law,
have reached their term in Jesus Christ,
in view of Whom, everything in the ancient Law took place –
and, even more so, in the new dispensation.
For the Law became the Word;
from being old it became new …
the commandments have been transformed into Grace
and the foreshadowing into truth;
the lamb has become the Son,
the sheep has become man
and man has become God. …”

St Melito of Sardis (Died c 180)
Bishop, Apologist – Paschal Homily

“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).”

“The New Testament lies hidden, in the Old;
the Old is made accessible, by the New.”

St Augustine (354-430)
Father and Doctor of Grace

“When it comes to obeying the commandments
or enduring adversity,
the words uttered by the Father
should always echo in our ears –
“This is my Son, the beloved,
in whom I am well pleased,
listen to Him.”

St Pope Leo the Great (400-461)
Father and Doctor of the Church

"Follow Me", CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, GOD ALONE!, GOD is LOVE, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on DISCIPLESHIP, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, The LISTS of the CHURCH, The TEN COMMANDMENTS, The WILL of GOD

Thought for the Day – 17 September – The Commandments and the Desires of Jesus Christ

Posted on September 17, 2020September 11, 2021 by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 17 September – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

The Commandments and the Desires of Jesus Christ

“Sanctity consists, in doing the will of God, in all things.
We can become perfect by doing His will, from the motive of love alone.
“He who has my commandments and keeps them,” said Jesus, “he it is who loves me. But he who loves me, will be loved by my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him. If anyone love me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him” (Jn 14:21-23).

Do we wish to know if we love God sincerely?
The proof is this.
If we do His will and obey His precepts, it is a sign that we love him but, if we do not observe His commandments, we lie when we say we love Him.
We must, therefore, show our love, by observing in all things, the commandments of God.
He gave us these commandments our of love for us, so that, by observing them, we should be saved and should be happy with Him.
Even as He has given them out of love, we should observe them out of love, for He is our supreme and only good.
Just as Jesus lovingly did the will of His heavenly Father, from Bethlehem to Nazareth, from Nazareth to Calvary and from Calvary to Heaven, so we should follow in His footsteps, by doing the adorable will of God in all the circumstances of our lives, both joyful and sorrowful.
But, we must obey the divine will out of love, that is, because we love God whole-heartedly and above all created things.

Everything is easy to him who loves.
“When we love him who gives us orders,” says St Francis de Sales, “even the hardest of actions becomes easy.”

Let us examine ourselves.
Are we always ready to obey the commandments of God at any cost and would we die rather than offend Him?
Let us examine ourselves also, to see, if we do all this out of love for Jesus.
“He who does not love,” writes St John, “abides in death” (1 Jn 3:14).”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, FRANCISCAN OFM, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on ANGELS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on HOPE, QUOTES on HUMAN DIGNITY, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on SACRED SCRIPTURE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, SAINT of the DAY, The HOLY EUCHARIST, The HOLY SPIRIT, The TEN COMMANDMENTS

Quote/s of the Day – 21 July – St Lawrence of Brindisi

Posted on July 21, 2020July 21, 2021 by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 21 July – The Memorial of St Lawrence of Brindisi OFM Cap (1559-1619) Doctor of the Church

“God is love
and all His operations
proceed
from
LOVE…”

“For Him all things were created
and to Him all things must be subject
and God loves all creature,
in and because of Christ.”

“Christ is the first-born of every creature
and the whole of humanity.
as well as the created world,
finds its foundation and meaning in Him.”

“My dear souls, let us recognise, I pray you,
Christ’s infinite charity towards us
in the institution of this Sacrament of the Eucharist.
In order that our love be a spiritual love,
He wills a new heart, a new love, a new spirit for us.
It is not with a carnal heart but with a spiritual one,
that Christ has loved us with a gratuitous love,
a supreme and most ardent love,
by way of pure grace and charity.
Ah! One needs to love Him back
with one’s whole, whole, whole,
living, living, living and true, true, true heart!!”

“The Angels in Heaven were created,
to be servants of Christ;
man was formed from the earth,
in order to be the image of Christ.”

“The Holy Spirit sweetens the yoke
of the divine law and lightens its weight,
so that we may observe God’s commandments
with the greatest of ease and even with pleasure.”

“…The word of God
is a light to the mind
and a fire to the will.”

“All things are possible for him who believes,
more to him who hopes,
even more to him who loves.”

St Lawrence of Brindisi(1559-1619)

Apostolic Doctor of the Church

DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on DISCIPLESHIP, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, The TEN COMMANDMENTS, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 14 May – “Do what I command you” – John 15:14 and St Augustine

Posted on May 14, 2020May 14, 2020 by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 14 May – Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter, Readings: Acts 1:15-17, 20-26, Psalm 113:1-8, John 15:9-17

“You are my friends if you do what I command you. “

John 15:14

“It is not that we keep His commandments first
and that then He loves
but that He loves us
and then we keep His commandments.
This is that grace which is revealed to the humble
but hidden from the proud.”

“God provides the wind
but man must raise the sails.”

“A man may lose the good things of this life against his will
but, if he loses the eternal blessings,
he does so with his own consent.”

“Christ is not valued at all,
unless He is valued above all.”

“He who created you, without you,
will not justify you, without you.”

“If we live good lives, the times are also good.
As we are, such are the times.”

St Augustine (354-430)
Doctor of Grace

CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES on DIVINE PROVIDENCE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on MISSION, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on PEACE, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, The TEN COMMANDMENTS, The WORD

Quote of the Day – 11 May – Obeying God

Posted on May 11, 2020 by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 11 May – “Mary’s Month” – Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter, Readings: Acts 14:5-18, Psalm 115:1-2.3-4.15-16, John 14:21-26.

“Whoever does not love me, does not keep my words.”

John 14:24

“If some rich and powerful friend were to enter your home,
you would quickly clean the entire house,
for fear something there, might offend your friend’s eyes, when he entered.
Let anyone then who is preparing his inner house for God,
cleanse away the dirt of his evil deeds.
… The Lord comes into the heart
and makes His home in one,
who truly loves God
and observes His commandments…”

St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604)
Doctor of the Church

Homilies on the Gospels no 30

“There is absolutely nothing
that gives us more peace,
or does more to make us holy,
than obeying the will of God.”

“We must offer ourselves to God
like a clean, smooth canvas
and not worry ourselves about
what God may choose to paint on it
but at each moment,
feel only, the stroke of His brush.”

Fr Jean Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751)

‘Abandonment to Divine Providence’

MARTYRS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on FAITH, SAINT of the DAY, The TEN COMMANDMENTS

Quote of the Day – 2 September – We believe

Posted on September 2, 2019November 10, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 2 September – The Memorial of St Solomon Le Clercq FSC (1745-1792) Martyr

“As for us, we hold, to what we believed,
ten and twenty years ago,
to what our forefathers believed,
one hundred years ago
and one thousand years ago
and to that which,
the whole Catholic world,
has always believed.”

St Solomon le Clercq (1745-1792)

SAINT of the DAY, The TEN COMMANDMENTS

Saint of the Day – 20 August – Saint Philibert of Jumièges (c 608–684)

Posted on August 20, 2019August 19, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Saint of the Day – 20 August – Saint Philibert of Jumièges (c. 608–684) was an Abbot and Monastic Founder, particularly of Jumièges Abbey. Born in c 608 in Gascony, France and died in 684 on the island of Héri, France of natural causes. HEADER verriere_de_st_philbert_eglise_de_la_gueriniere__095077900_1555_04022013.jpg

He was born in Gascony as the only son of a Vic or Vic-Jour (now Vic-Fezensac) based courtier of Dagobert I and was educated by Saint Ouen. He later entered the monastery of Rebais as a monk and was promoted to abbot but his inexperience was too great for the position. He left and spent some time travelling round monasteries studying their Rules and constitutions.

In 654, Philibert received a gift of land from Clovis II on which he founded Jumièges Abbey. st philibert french He drew up a Rule based on his studies for this and for his later foundations, drawing on several earlier Rules, including those of Benedict, Macarius, Basil the Great and particularly the strict rule of Columbanus. The monks’ chief work was the reclaiming of waste lands.

st_philbert_supervisant_la_construction_dun_de_ses_monasteres__eglise_de_la_gueriniere__070446500_1555_04022013 — St Philibert overseeing the construction of one of
his monasteries – Guérinière church

For a time Philibert lost the favour of Ouen and the royal family and was exiled. He withdrew to Poitiers and near Heriou founded the monastery of Noirmoutier, whereupon Ansoald, bishop of Poitiers, put his own foundation of Luçon Abbey under Philibert’s charge as well. When he regained the favour of his patrons, he founded other houses, including the monastery of Cunaut and the nunnery at Pavilly.

398px-Abjumieg — Jumièges Abbey, as painted by John Sell Cotman in 1818

Philibert died and was buried at Heriou but in 836 the monks of Noirmoutier abandoned their home in the face of the Viking attacks to seek refuge on the mainland, in 875 finally settling with the relics of Philibert in the abbey at Tournus named in his honour, where the great church of St Philibert at Tournus still stands.

reliques_de_st_philbert_dans_la_crypte_de_leglise_de_noirmoutier__045647600_1555_04022013 — St Philibert’s Relics

tombeau_de_st_philbert__eglise_de_noirmoutier__036508400_1638_06022013 — St Philibert’s Tomb

The filbert, or hazelnut, is said to have been named after him, since it ripens about 20 August in England, on his feast day the first fruits appear. st_philbert__cathedrale_de_lucon__060572100_1555_04022013

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Thought for the Day – 24 March – An Incarnational Faith must be expressed publicly

Posted on March 24, 2019March 24, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 24 March – The Third Sunday of Lent, Year C and The Memorial of Bl Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (1917–1980) Martyr

The night before he was murdered while celebrating Mass, Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador said on the radio:

“I would like to appeal in a special way to the men of the army and in particular to the troops of the National Guard, the police and the garrisons. Brothers, you belong to our own people. You kill your own brother peasants and in the face of an order to kill that is given by a man, the law of God that says ‘Do not kill!’ should prevail.

No soldier is obliged to obey an order counter to the law of God. No-one has to comply with an immoral law. It is the time now that you recover your conscience and obey its dictates rather than the command of sin. . . . Therefore, in the name of God and in the name of this long-suffering people, whose laments rise to heaven every day more tumultuous, I beseech you, I beg you, I command you! In the name of God: ‘Cease the repression!’”

Simultaneously, Romero had eloquently upheld the gospel and effectively signed his own death warrant.

When a military junta seized control of the national government in 1979, Archbishop Romero publicly criticised the US government for backing the junta. His weekly radio sermons, broadcast throughout the country, were regarded by many as the most trustworthy source of news available.

Romero’s funeral was celebrated in the plaza outside the cathedral and drew an estimated 250,000 mourners.

His tomb in the cathedral crypt soon drew thousands of visitors each year. On 3 February 2015, Pope Francis authorised a decree recognising Oscar Romero as a martyr for the faith. His beatification took place in San Salvador on 23 May 2015. He was canonized on 14 October 2018. archbishop-romero-invites-us-to-good-sense-pope-francis-24-march-2019.jpg

Oscar Romero and many other Latin American martyrs for the faith were falsely accused of advocating a Marxist-inspired “theology of liberation.” Following Jesus always requires choices. Romero’s fiercest critics conveniently dismissed his choices as politically inspired. An incarnational faith must be expressed publicly.

St Oscar Romero, Pray for Us!

QUOTES of the SAINTS, SAINT of the DAY, The TEN COMMANDMENTS

Quote of the Day – 22 March – ‘Thou shalt not kill.’

Posted on March 22, 2019March 22, 2019 by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 22 March – Friday of the Second week of Lent, Year C

and the Memorial of Blessed Clemens August Count von Galen (1878-1946)

“The Lion of Munster”

Hitler’s order for the “Aktion T4” Euthanasia Programme was dated 1 September 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland. As word of the programme spread, protest grew, until finally, Bishop Galen delivered his famous August 1941 sermons denouncing the programme as “murder”. On 3 August 1941, in one of his series of denunciations, Blessed Galen declared:

“‘Thou shalt not kill.'”
God engraved this commandment on the souls of men,
long before any penal code…
God has engraved these commandments in our hearts…
They are the unchangeable
and fundamental truths of our social life…
Where in Germany and where, here,
is obedience to the precepts of God? …
As for the first commandment,
‘Thou shalt not have strange gods before me,’
instead of the One, True, Eternal God,
men have created at the dictates of their whim,
their own gods to adore –
Nature, the State, the Nation, or the Race.”

Blessed Clemens August Count von Galen (1878-1946)
“The Lion of Munster”

thou shalt not kill - bl clemens august von galen 22 march 2019.jpg

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Progress in the Love of God

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

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Matthew 5:17

St Melito of Sardis (Died c 180)Bishop, Apologist – Paschal Homily

St Augustine (354-430)Father and Doctor of Grace

St Pope Leo the Great (400-461)Father and Doctor of the Church

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St Lawrence of Brindisi(1559-1619)

Apostolic Doctor of the Church

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John 15:14

St Augustine (354-430) Doctor of Grace

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John 14:24

St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) Doctor of the Church

Fr Jean Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751)

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St Solomon le Clercq (1745-1792)

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St Oscar Romero, Pray for Us!

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Blessed Clemens August Count von Galen (1878-1946) “The Lion of Munster”

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St Melito of Sardis (Died c 180)
Bishop, Apologist – Paschal Homily

St Augustine (354-430)
Father and Doctor of Grace

St Pope Leo the Great (400-461)
Father and Doctor of the Church

St Augustine (354-430)
Doctor of Grace

St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604)
Doctor of the Church

Blessed Clemens August Count von Galen (1878-1946)
“The Lion of Munster”