Quote of the Day – 11 December – The Memorial of St Pope Damasus I (c 305-384)
The arrangement of the names of Christ, however, is manifold:
LORD, because He is Spirit. WORD, because He is God. SON, because He is the only-begotten son of the Father. MAN, because He was born of the Virgin. PRIEST, because He offered Himself as a sacrifice. SHEPHERD, because He is a guardian. WORM, because He rose again. MOUNTAIN, because He is strong. WAY, because there is a straight path through Him to life. LAMB, because He suffered. CORNER-STONE, because instruction is His. TEACHER, because He demonstrates how to live. SUN, because He is the illuminator. TRUTH, because He is from the Fathe. LIFE, because He is the creator. BREAD, because He is flesh. SAMARITAN, because He is the merciful protector. CHRIST, because He is anointed. JESUS, because He is a mediator. VINE, because we are redeemed by His blood. LION, because He is King. ROCK, because He is firm. FLOWER, because He is the chosen one. PROPHET, because He has revealed what is to come.
Our Morning Offering – 11 December – Wednesday of the Second week of Advent, Year A
Grant us Your Light, O Lord By The Venerable St Bede (673-735) Father and Doctor of the Church
Grant us Your light, O Lord,
so that the darkness of our hearts,
may wholly pass away
and we may come at last,
to the light of Christ.
For Christ is that morning star,
who, when the night of this world has passed,
brings to His saints,
the promised light of life
and opens to them,
everlasting day.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 11 December – Blessed Francesco Lippi O.Carm (1211-1291) also known as Blessed Franco of Siena – Carmelite Hermit, Mystic, Penitent, with the gift of prophesy. Born in c 1211 at Grotti-Siena, Italy and died on 11 December 1291 in Siena, Italy of natural causes, aged 80.
Blessed Francesco was born at Grotti, Italy of the noble parents, Matteo and Dorotea Lippi.
He spent his dissolute adolescence as a soldier who indulged in many vices. His military unit captured Sarteano from the Orvientani but, during the fighting, he was blinded in 1261. In his supplication in prayer, he promised to change his life if he was healed and regained his sight. After praying fervently to Saint James for his intercession, his sight was indeed restored.
He travelled on a pilgrimage to Campostella and to the Basilica di San Nicola in Bari to visit the tomb of Saint Nicholas. He also travelled to Loreto, Rome and Siena, where he heard the preaching of Blessed Ambrose Sansedoni OP, a renowned preacher whose oratory, simple rather than elegant, was most convincing and effective. Thereafter, Blessed Francesco resolved to live the remainder of his life as a hermit and to do penance for his earlier life. He shut himself in a small cell and remained there from 1261 to 1266.
Painting in San Martino in Bologna. This depiction includes a chain and a ball indicating the penitential nature of Blessed Francesco’s life.
Then he entered the Carmelite Order and continued to live as a hermit. He experienced visions of Jesus Christ and the Madonna as well as seeing angels and experiencing the temptations of demons. He became well-known for his prophetic gifts.
He died on 11 December 1291. Part of his relics were relocated to a Carmelite convent in Cremona in 1341.
The confirmation of the late Lippi’s ‘cultus’ (or popular devotion) allowed for Pope Clement X to approve his Beatification in 1670.
St Aithalas of Arbela
St Apseus of Arbela
Bl Arthur Bell
Barsabas of Persia
St Cian
St Daniel the Stylite
Bl David of Himmerod
Bl Dominic Yanez
St Eutychius the Martyr
St Fidweten Bl Francesco Lippi O.Carm (1211-1291)
Bl Hugolinus Magalotti
Bl Jean Laurens
Bl Kazimierz Tomasz Sykulski St María Maravillas de Jesús OCD (1891-1974) St Maria’s Story: https://anastpaul.com/2018/12/11/saint-of-the-day-11-december-st-maria-maravillas-de-jesus-ocd-1891-1974/
Bl Martín Lumbreras Peralta
Bl Martino de Melgar
Bl Melchor Sánchez PérezPens
Bl Pilar Villalonga Villalba
Bl Severin Ott
Martyrs of Saint Aux-Bois – (3 saints): Two Christian missionaries and one of their local defenders who faith in the persecutions of governor Rictiovarus – Fuscian, Gentian and Victoricus. They were beheaded in 287 in Saint Aux-Bois, Gaul (in modern France).
Martyrs of Rome – (3 saints): Three Christians murdered in the persecutions of Diocletian for giving aid to Christian prisoners – Pontian, Practextatus and Trason. They were imperial Roman citizens. They were martyred in c 303 in Rome, Italy.
Thought for the Day – 10 December – The First Universal Memorial of Our Lady of Loreto
In the liturgy of the Western Church the word litany is derived from litania, meaning prayer of invocation or intercession. It also meant, up to the twelfth century, a procession with intercessory character, also known under the designation of rogation. Speaking of litanies in the classical sense, the Church has approved for official use the following ones: The Litanies of All Saints, probably the oldest, the Litanies of the Names of Jesus (1886), the Litanies of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1899), those in honour of Saint Joseph (1909) and the Precious Blood (1960) as well as the Litanies of Loreto.
THE LITANY OF LORETO
The Litany of Loreto, so called because of its use in the sanctuary of Loreto (Italy) since at least as far back as 1531, was officially approved in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V. Its origin is believed to be a medieval rhymed litany influenced by Eastern Marian devotion, in particular by the famous Hymnos Akathistos. Contrasting with the older Litany of All Saints, the components of the Loreto Litany are purely ad- or invocational prayers. It is the only approved Marian litany. As can be observed, for example, in the so called Officia Mariana, many more Marian litanies were and are in use but designated for private devotion.
MODERN ADVOCATIONS
The 1587 version of the Litany of Loreto was subsequently enriched with new advocations.
1675 Queen of the most Holy Rosary (for the confraternities of the Holy Rosary) 1883 Queen Conceived without Original Sin (Leo XIII for the whole Church) 1903 Mother of Good Counsel (Leo XIII) 1917 Queen of Peace (Benedict XV) 1950 Queen Assumed into Heaven (Pius XII) 1980 Mother of the Church (John Paul II) 1995 Queen of Families (John Paul II)
On 24 March 1920, Pope Benedict XV (1854-1922) approved the Patronage of Aviation, air passengers, pilots, etc to Our Lady of Loreto.
The reason for this is the reference to the Holy House. According to ancient tradition, the Holy House–that of Mary and Jesus, where the Word of God became flesh–arrived by sky or sea, on the hill of Loreto at the end of the thirteenth century. It reached Loreto, Italy after a brief stay at Tersato, Dalmatia, 1291 and landed 1294 at a location called Recanati (today’s Loreto) in a wooded area belonging to a nobleman named Loreta. The dimensions of the House of Loreto are identical to those of the House of the Holy Family that is missing from its enshrinement place at the Nazareth Basilica. The Church of Mary of Loreto was first mentioned in 1315. Construction of a large church is cited in 1468. In 1586, Loreto was granted city status and the church was raised to a Cathedral, only to become a Basilica in 1728. It has been an episcopal cathedral since 1965.
Loreto is one of the most famous Marian shrines in Italy. It is a worldwide centre of Marian prayer (Litany of Loreto), celebrating the “ineffable mystery of the Incarnation of the Word” (John Paul II) and inviting all Christian families to take as their model the Family of Nazareth.
Pope Benedict XV approved a special blessing for the Patronage of aviation, in 1920:
“O merciful God, You have consecrated the house of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the mystery of the Word Incarnate and placed it in the midst of Your children. Pour forth Your blessing on this vehicle so that those who take an aerial trip in it, may happily reach their destination and return safely home under Mary’s protection.”
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God, the Father of heaven, Have mercy on us. God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us. God the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on us. Holy Trinity, one God. Have mercy on us.
Response for the following: Pray for us.
Holy Mary Holy Mother of God Holy Virgin of virgins, Mother of Christ Mother of the Church Mother of divine grace Mother most pure Mother most chaste Mother inviolate Mother undefiled Mother most amiable Mother most admirable Mother of good counsel Mother of our Creator Mother of our Saviour Virgin most prudent Virgin most venerable Virgin most renowned Virgin most powerful Virgin most merciful Virgin most faithful Mirror of justice Seat of wisdom Cause of our joy Spiritual vessel Vessel of honour Singular vessel of devotion Mystical rose Tower of David Tower of ivory House of gold, Ark of the covenant Gate of heaven Morning star Health of the sick Refuge of sinners Comforter of the afflicted Help of Christians Queen of angels Queen of patriarchs Queen of prophets Queen of apostles Queen of martyrs Queen of confessors Queen of virgins Queen of all saints Queen conceived without original sin Queen assumed into heaven Queen of the most holy Rosary Queen of families Queen of peace
Lamb of God, You take away sins of the world; Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world; Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world; Have mercy on us.
V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray:
Grant, we beg You, O Lord God, that we Your servants may enjoy lasting health of mind and body and by the glorious intercession of the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, be delivered from present sorrow and enter into the joy of eternal happiness. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen
During Advent:
Let us pray: O God, You willed that, at the message of an angel, Your word should take flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary; grant to Your suppliant people, that we, who believe her to be truly the Mother of God, may be helped by her intercession with You. Through the same Christ our Lord. R. Amen
Advent Reflection – 10 December – Tuesday of the Second Week in Advent, Year A – Readings: Isaiah 40:1-11, Psalm 96:1-3, 10-13, Matthew 18:12-14
Let us adore the Lord, the king who is to come.
“So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” … Matthew 18:14
REFLECTION – “You brought me forth, O Lord, from my father’s loins and formed me in my mother’s womb (Ps 138:13). You brought me, a naked babe, into the light of day, for nature’s laws always obey Your commands. By the blessing of the Holy Spirit, You prepared my creation and my existence, not because man willed it, or flesh desired it (Jn 1:13) but by Your ineffable grace. The birth You prepared for me was such, that it surpassed the laws of our nature. You sent me forth into the light by adopting me as Your son (Gal 4:5) and You enrolled me among the children of Your holy and spotless Church.
You nursed me with the spiritual milk of Your divine utterances. You kept me alive with the solid food of the body of Jesus Christ, Your only begotten Son and our God and You let me drink from the chalice of His life-giving blood, poured out to save the whole world.
You loved us, O Lord and gave up Your only-begotten Son for our redemption. And He undertook the task, willingly and did not shrink away from it. (…) Thus You humbled Yourself, Christ my God, so that You might carry me, Your stray sheep, on Your shoulders. You let me graze in green pastures, refreshing me with the waters of orthodox teaching at the hands of Your shepherds. You pastured those shepherds and now, they in turn, tend Your chosen and special flock.” … St John Damascene (675-749) Monk, Theologian, Father & Doctor of the Church
MEDITATION – The mould in which a key is made, would be a strange thing if you had never seen a key and the key itself a strange thing, if you had never seen a lock. Your soul has a curious shape because it is a hollow made to fit a particular swelling the in the infinite contours of the divine substance, or a key to unlock one of the doors in the house with many mansions. For it is not humanity in the abstract that is to be saved but you – you, individual reader, John Stubbs or Janet Smith. Blessed and fortunate creature, your eyes shall behold Him and not another’s. All that you are, sins apart, is destined, if you will let God have His good way, to utter satisfaction!” … C S Lewis (1898-1963)
ADVENT ACTION – Will I run halfway to meet Him? Will I seek to at least repair what I can before He reaches me? Are we in trouble, lost, confused and overwhelmed? Tell Jesus! He fulfils His promise to rescue us.
PRAYER – Thank You, my Lord, for looking for me.
Thank You, my Lord, for finding me.
Thank You, my Lord, for telling me
“it is never the will of my Father,
that one of these little ones should perish.”
This explains why
You assumed our human nature
and suffered so much for us.
Thank You, my Lord,
for Your reckless love.
Thank You, my Lord,
for saving me!
Amen
Our Morning Offering – 10 December – The Second Sunday of Advent and the First Universal Memorial of Our Lady of Loreto
Maiden yet a Mother By Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Tr Msgr Ronald A Knox (1888-1957)
Maiden yet a mother,
daughter of thy Son,
high beyond all other,
lowlier is none;
thou the consummation
planned by God’s decree,
when our lost creation
nobler rose in thee!
Thus His place prepared,
he who all things made
‘mid his creatures tarried,
in thy bosom laid;
there His love He nourished,
warmth that gave increase
to the root whence flourished
our eternal peace.
Nor alone thou hearest
When thy name we hail;
Often thou art nearest
When our voices fail;
Mirrored in thy fashion
All creation’s gird,
Mercy, might compassion
Grace thy womanhood.
Lady, let our vision
Striving heavenward, fail,
Still let thy petition
With thy Son prevail,
Unto whom all merit,
prayer and majesty,
With the Holy Spirit
And the Father be.
Maiden Yet A Mother is a translation of a poem by Durante (Dante) degli Alighieri (c 1265–1321). It is based upon the opening verses of Canto 33 of the Paradiso from his Divine Comedy in which St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) praises and prays to the Virgin Mother on behalf of Dante. It was translated from the original Italian into English by the Catholic convert, Monsignior Ronald A Knox (1888-1957).
Saint of the Day – 10 December – The First Universal Memorial of Our Lady of Loreto
The Holy House of Loreto – The feast is so named from the tradition that the house where the Holy Family lived in Nazareth, was transported by angels to the city of Loreto, Italy. The Holy House is now encased by a basilica. It has been one of the famous shrines of the Blessed Virgin since the 13th century.
A complete background here: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/12/10/the-feast-of-the-our-lady-of-loreto-and-the-holy-house-10-december/
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
DECREE
on the celebration of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto to be inscribed in the General Roman Calendar
Since the Middle Ages veneration for the Holy House of Loreto has been the origin of that particular shrine which still today is visited by many faithful pilgrims in order to nourish their faith in the Word of God made flesh for us.
This shrine recalls the mystery of the Incarnation, leading all those who visit it to consider “the fullness of time,” when God sent His Son, born of a woman, as well as to meditate, both on the words of the Angel announcing the Good News and on the words of the Virgin in response to the divine call. Overshadowed by the Spirit, the humble handmaid of the Lord so became the dwelling-place of divinity, the purist image of the holy Church.
Closely bound to the Apostolic See this shrine, praised by Popes and known throughout the world, has, over the years and no less than Nazareth in the Holy Land, been able to illustrate powerfully the evangelical virtues of the Holy Family.
In the Holy House, before the image of the Mother of the Redeemer and of the Church, Saints and Blesseds have responded to their vocation, the sick have invoked consolation in suffering, the people of God have begun to praise and plead with Mary using the Litany of Loreto, which is known throughout the world . In a particular way, all those who travel via aircraft have found in her their heavenly patron.
In light of this, Pope Francis has decreed, by his own authority, that the optional memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto should be inscribed in the Roman Calendar on 10 December, the day on which the feast falls in Loreto and celebrated every year. This celebration will help all people, especially families, youth and religious to imitate the virtues of that perfect disciple of the Gospel, the Virgin Mother, who, in conceiving the Head of the Church also accepted us, as her own.
Therefore, the new Memorial must appear in all Calendars and Liturgical Books for the celebration of Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, the relative texts are attached to this decree and their translations, approved by the Episcopal Conferences, will be published after confirmation by this Dicastery.
Anything to the contrary nothwithstanding.
From the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 7 October 2019, the memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary.
Robert Cardinal Sarah Prefect
The shrine of Our Lady of Loreto is located on the Adriatic coast of Italy, three hours from Rome. It is the third largest shrine to Mary in Europe, next to Lourdes and Fatima. The ministry of the shrine is the hospitality shown to pilgrims especially through the Sacrament of Penance.
Basilica of Loreto in which the Holy House resides
The tradition of the shrine at Loreto goes back to the year 1291. As the last of the crusaders returned to Western Europe they brought with them a number of relics, objects of devotion and remembrances of holy shrines. It happened that the dwelling of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the house which both tradition and Christian devotion had maintained, as the site of the appearance of the archangel Gabriel and, therefore, the Incarnation of our Saviour, was moved from Nazareth to Christian Europe. The house arrived at Loreto on 10 December 1294.
We firmly believe that by the power of the Holy Spirit, God has become man in Jesus Christ – a man like us in all things but sin. In His humanity the eternal Word was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in His humanity He died on the cross, at the foot of which stood the Blessed Virgin Mar, in His humanity He rose from the dead and appeared to the disciples and to Mary in the upper room. The holy house of Mary at Loreto has been preserved by our fathers and mothers in the faith, to serve for generations as a reminder of the faith of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of her love of God in Jesus Chris,t by the power of the Holy Spirit. We, too, are called to be homes, dwellings and tabernacles of the Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is our mission as Catholics now to recall for one another, for our neighbourhoods, our communities and our world, that Jesus Christ became man, that He rose from the dead and that He is alive. This we are called to do, above all, by showing to the world that Jesus Christ lives in us, that Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, has made His home in us, as He did in the womb of Mary and in the house of Nazareth. Amen
First Universal Memorial of Our Lady of Loreto +2019
The title Our Lady of Loreto refers to the Holy House of Loreto, the house in which Mary was born and where the Annunciation occurred and to an ancient statue of Our Lady which is found there. Tradition says that a band of angels scooped up the little house from the Holy Land and transported it first to Tersato, Dalmatia in 1291, then Recanati, Italy in 1294 and finally to Loreto, Italy where it has been for centuries. It was this flight that led to her patronage of people involved in aviation and the long life of the house that has led to the patronage of builders, construction workers, etc. It is the first shrine of international renown dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and has been known as a Marian center for centuries. Popes have always held the Shrine of Loreto in special esteem and it is under their direct authority and protection.
The Holy House of Loreto – The feast is so named from the tradition that the house where the Holy Family lived in Nazareth, was transported by angels to the city of Loreto, Italy. The Holy House is now encased by a basilica. It has been one of the famous shrines of the Blessed Virgin since the 13th century. A complete background here:
St Abundius
St Albert of Sassovivo
St Angelina of Serbia
Bl Brian Lacey
BL Bruno of Rommersdorf
St Caesarius of Epidamnus
St Carpophorus
St Deusdedit of Brescia
St Edmund Gennings
St Emérico Martín Rubio
St Florentius of Carracedo
St Fulgentius of Afflighem
St Gemellus of Ancyra
St Gonzalo Viñes Masip St Pope Gregory III (Died 741) Biography: https://anastpaul.com/2018/12/10/saint-of-the-day-10-december-st-pope-gregory-iii-died-741/
Bl Guglielmo de Carraria
St Guitmarus
St Hildemar of Beauvais
Bl Jerome Ranuzzi
Bl John Mason
St Julia of Merida
St Lucerius
Bl Marco Antonio Durando
St Maurus of Rome
St Mercury of Lentini
St Pope Miltiades
St Polydore Plasden
Bl Sebastian Montanol
Bl Sidney Hodgson
St Sindulf of Vienne
St Swithun Wells
St Thomas of Farfa
Bl Thomas Somers
St Valeria
Martyrs of Alexandria – 3 saints – A group of Christians murdered for their faith in the persecutions of Galerius Maximian – c312. The only details that have survived are three of the names – Eugraphus, Hermogenes and Mennas.
Thought for the Day – 9 December – The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Infallible Teaching of the Catholic Church
On the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception
of the Blessed Virgin Mary
“Wherefore, in humility and fasting, we unceasingly offered our private prayers as well as the public prayers of the Church, to God the Father through His Son, that He would deign to direct and strengthen our mind by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In like manner did we implore the help of the entire heavenly host as we ardently invoked the Paraclete.
Accordingly, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the honour of the Holy and undivided Trinity, for the glory and adornment of the Virgin Mother of God, for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith and for the furtherance of the Catholic religion, by the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and by our own:
We declare, pronounce and define, that the Doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her Conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a Doctrine revealed by God and, therefore, to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful. Hence, if anyone shall dare — which God forbid! — to think otherwise than as has been defined by us, let him know and understand that he is condemned by his own judgment, that he has suffered shipwreck in the faith, that he has separated from the unity of the Church and that, furthermore, by his own action, he incurs the penalties established by law if he should dare to express in words or writing, or by any other outward means, the errors he think in his heart.”
Blessed Pope Pius IX (1792-1878), Ineffabilis Deus, 8 December 1854
“That one woman is both Mother and Virgin, not in spirit only but even in body. In spirit she is mother, not of our Head, who is our Saviour Himself—of whom all, even she herself, are rightly called children of the bridegroom—but plainly she is the mother of us, who are His members, because by love, she has cooperated, so that the faithful, who are the members of that Head, might be born in the Church. In body, indeed, she is the Mother of that very Head”
Saint Augustine (354-430)
Father and Doctor of the Church
Act of Consecration By St Maximillian Kolbe (1894-1941)
O Immaculate, Queen of heaven and earth,
Refuge of sinners and our most loving Mother,
God has willed to entrust the entire order of mercy to You,
I, an unworthy sinner, cast myself at Your feet,
humbly imploring You
to take me with all that I am and have,
wholly to Yourself as Your possession and property.
Please make of me,
of all my powers of soul and body,
of my whole life, death and eternity,
whatever pleases You.
If it pleases You,
use all that I am and have without reserve,
wholly to accomplish what has been said of You:
“She will crush your head”,
and “You alone have destroyed all heresies in the whole world.”
Let me be a fit instrument in Your immaculate
and most merciful hands for introducing and increasing Your glory
to the maximum in all the many strayed and indifferent souls
and thus help extend as far as possible,
the blessed Kingdom of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
For, wherever You enter,
You obtain the grace of conversion and sanctification,
since it is through Your hands,
that all graces come to us.
from the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Quote/s of the Day – 9 December – The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
From the Fathers
“He was the Ark formed of incorruptible wood. For by this, is signified, that His Tabernacle was exempt from putridity and corruption.”
Saint Hippolytus (c 170-c 235)
Hippolytus was one of the most important
second-third century Christian theologians.
“This Virgin Mother of the Only begotten of God is called Mary, worthy of God, immaculate of the immaculate, one of the one.”
Origen (c 185-253)
Priest and Theologian
Origen of Alexandria, also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic and theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Alexandria.
“Thou alone and Thy Mother are in all things fair, there is no flaw in Thee and no stain in Thy Mother.”
Saint Ephrem of Syria (306-373)
Both Father and Doctor Deacon, Theologian, Hymnist
“Mary, a virgin not only undefiled but a virgin, whom grace has made inviolate, free of every stain of sin.”
Sermon 22, in the year 338
Saint Ambrose (340-397)
Both Father and Doctor – One of the original four Fathers of the Latin Church, Bishop of Milan
“A Virgin, innocent, spotless, free of all defect, untouched, unsullied, holy in soul and body, like a lily, sprouting among thorns.”
Saint Theodotus of Ancrya (Died c 446)
Bishop, Theologian
“The very fact that God has elected her, proves that none was ever holier than Mary, if any stain had disfigured her soul, if any other virgin had been purer and holier, God would have selected her and rejected Mary.”
Saint Jacob of Sarug (c 451-521)
Jacob of Sarug, also called Mar Jacob, was one of the foremost Syriac poet-theologians, perhaps only second in stature to Ephrem the Syrian and equal to Narsai. Where his predecessor Ephrem is known as the ‘Harp of the Spirit’, Jacob is the ‘Flute of the Spirit’.
“Today, humanity, in all the radiance of her immaculate nobility, receives its ancient beauty. The shame of sin had darkened the splendour and attraction of human nature but when the Mother of the Fair One par excellence is born, this nature again regains in her person. its ancient privileges and is fashioned according to a perfect model, truly worthy of God…. The reform of our nature begins today and the aged world, subjected to a wholly divine transformation, receives the first fruits of the second creation.”
Saint Andrew of Crete (650-740)
Bishop, Theologian
Saint Andrew of Crete, also known as Andrew of Jerusalem, was an 8th-century Bishop, theologian, homilist and hymnist.
Advent Reflection on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception – 9 December – Readings: Genesis 3:9-15, 20, Psalm 98:1-4, Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12, Luke 1:26-38
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it what you have said be done to me.” … Luke 1:38
REFLECTION – “May the holy divinity of Your glory, my God, O my gentleness, with which You deigned to fill and to inhabit for nine months the chaste viscera of the Virgin Mary, bless You. May the highest virtue of Your divinity, which bent to the humbleness of the virginal valley, bless You. May the utmost art of Your almightiness, God most high, with which You imparted onto the Virgin Rose, such virtue, radiance and comeliness as You, Yourself could yearn for, bless You. May Your wondrous wisdom, whose copious grace made all of Mary’s life and body, as well as her soul, comparable with Your worthiness, bless You. May You, strong, wise and most dulcet love which made You, the flower and spouse of virginity, become the Son of a virgin, bless You. (…)
May the worthiest heart and soul of the most glorious Virgin Mother Mary (whom, because of my need for salvation, You chose for Yourself as mother and that her motherly clemency might always be open to me) be jubilant to You, on my behalf. May that most faithful concern which is Yours for me (by which You have provided me with an advocate and patron saint of such capability that through her I may easily be able to find Your grace and in whom, I trustfully believe, Your eternal mercy is preserved for me) be jubilant to You. May that wonderful tabernacle of Your glory, which alone has ministered to You worthily, as a holy dwelling place and through which, You can best make amends for me, to Yourself, for the due measure of praise and glory that I owe You, be jubilant to You.” … Saint Gertrude of Helfta the Great (1256-1301) – Exercises VI, SC 127
MEDITATION – “All things came to be through him and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life and this life was the light of the human race.” … John 1:3-4
ADVENT ACTION – Remember the Babe in the Manger, keep Him before your eyes and you will not be able to forget what our sins do. Our actions with God and those, in this life, will determine our union with God and others, in eternal life. That is our great hope.
PRAYER – Heavenly Father, help us to imitate Your Immaculate Daughter Mary in her love for You. Grant us the grace to love You as much as she, all our lives and grant, that through her help and her prayers, we ourselves may come to You , cleansed from our sins. O Mary Immaculate, mother of our Lord, Pray for us! Amen
Novena in Preparation for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
Day Nine – 9 December
By St Maximillian Kolbe OFM (1894-1941) Martyr
OPENING PRAYER
How fair you are, 0 Mary!
The original stain is not in you.
You are the boast of Jerusalem,
You are the joy of Israel.
You are the pride of our people.
You are the advocate of sinners.
0 Mary!
You are the wisest of virgins.
You are the kindest of mothers.
Pray for us.
Intercede for us with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Holy Virgin, you were spotless
from the very moment of your conception.
Because you bore His Son, pray to the Father for us.
Through the spotless conception of the Virgin, 0 God,
You made ready a dwelling place worthy of Your Son.
In anticipation of Your Son’s death,
You preserved her from every stain.
Please purify us by her intercession,
so that we might find our way to You.
We ask this through Christ our lord.
Amen
Daily Readings and Meditations for each day of the Novena are given here, followed by two closing Novena Prayers for each day.
Day 9: The Immaculata’s Fullness of Love
Reading:
The Immaculata never knew the slightest stain, in other words, her love was always full, without flaw. She loved God with all her being and from the first instant of her existence her love united her with God so perfectly, that on the day of the Annunciation the angel could say to her, “Full of grace! the Lord is with you!” (cf. Lk 1:28). She is, then, God’s creature, God’s image, God’s child and in all these respects, she is all this in the most perfect manner possible, among the ranks of mere creatures (“Sketches for a book,”1940). Intelligent creatures love God in a conscious manner, through this love, they unite themselves more and more closely with Him and so find their way back to Him. The creature most completely filled with this love, filled with God Himself, was the Immaculata. . . . In the Holy Spirit’s union with Mary, we observe more than the love of two beings, in one, there is all the love of the Blessed Trinity, in the other, all of creation’s love. So it is, that in this union, heaven and earth are joined, all of heaven with all the earth, the totality of eternal love with the totality of created love. It is truly the summit of love (“Sketches for a book,” 17 February 1941).
Meditation:
To channel all our spiritual, physical and psychological energies into their fullest human expression, means simply to love God, as totally as possible. May the Immaculata’s flawless love of God, inspire each of u,s to channel our love, in that same ultimate direction.
Closing prayers
Novena Prayer to the Immaculata
I greet you, ever-blessed Virgin,
Mother of God throne of grace,
miracle of almighty power!
I greet you, sanctuary of the most Holy Trinity
and Queen of the universe,
Mother of mercy and refuge of sinners!
Most loving Mother,
attracted by your beauty and sweetness
and by your tender compassion,
I confidently turn to you
and beg of you, to obtain for me of your dear Son
the favour I request in this novena
………………………… (here mention you request).
Obtain for me also, Queen of Heaven,
the most lively contrition for my many sins
and the grace to imitate closely,
those virtues which you practised so faithfully,
especially humility, purity and obedience.
Above all I beg you to be my mother
and protectress,
to receive me into the number of your devoted children
and to guide me from your high throne of glory.
Do not reject my petitions, Mother of mercy!
Have pity on me and do not abandon me
during life or at the moment of my death.
Daughter of the Eternal Father,
Mother of the Eternal Son,
Spouse of the Holy Spirit,
Temple of the adorable Trinity,
pray for me.
Immaculate and tender Heart of Mary,
refuge of the needy and hope of sinners,
filled with the most lively respect, love and gratitude,
I devote myself forever to your service
and I offer you my heart,
with all that I am and all that belongs to me.
Accept this offering,
sweet Queen of Heaven and earth
and obtain for me of your dear Son, Jesus Christ,
the favours I ask through your intercession in this novena.
Obtain for me also a tender, generous, constant love of God,
perfect submission to His adorable will,
the true spirit of a Christian
and the grace of final perseverance.
Amen
Closing Prayer of Identification with the Immaculata
O Immaculate Conception, Mary, my Mother,
live in me, act in me, speak in and through me.
Think your thoughts in my mind,
love through my heart.
Give me your own dispositions and feelings.
Teach, lead and guide me to Jesus.
Correct, enlighten and expand my entire personality and life.
Replace me with yourself.
Incline me to constant adoration and thanksgiving,
pray in and through me.
Let me live in you
and keep me in this union always.
Amen
Our Morning Offering – 9 December – Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
Mary, Ever-Spotless Virgin Breviary Morning Hymn
O Virgin Mary, words cannot describe you,
Clothed with the beauty of the sun at noonday,
Twelve stars to crown you
and the moon beneath you,
Queen of creation.
Through your submission,
death and hell were conquered,
Now you are seated by your Son and Saviour,
Strong to protect us by your intercession,
As we entreat you.
Guard and watch over those within the sheepfold,
Lead to the Shepherd those who are far distant,
Pity the nations groping in the darkness,
Graciously guide them.
Tenderly pleading, win us all forgiveness,
Help those in trouble, poverty or sickness,
Hope of salvation, as a star to pilgrims
Shine through the darkness.
Praise be forever, Trinity Almighty,
Who crowned you, Mary, ever-spotless Virgin,
Making you also Queen of men and angels,
Most loving Mother.
Amen.
Lebet Den Herren, Alle, 11.11.11.5 Music: Johann Crüger, 1598-1662 Text: Solis, O Virgo, Victorius Genovesi SJ 1887–1967
Saint of the Day – 9 December – Blessed Liborius Wagner (1593-1631) Priest and Martyr, Teacher, Confessor, Apostle of Charity, Teacher – born on 5 December 1593 at Mühlhausen, Unstrut-Hainich, Thuringia, Germany and died by being beaten to death with swords and firearms on 9 December 1631 near the River Main, Schonungen, Schweinfurt, Germany. He administered throughout his pastoral mission in Würzburg and was killed “in odium fidei” (in hatred of the faith). He performed a wide range of charitable acts and he was more than willing to shed his blood for his beliefs and for his fellow Christians. Patronage – of persecuted Christians.
He grew up in a Protestant household during the Counter-Reformation period. His decision in 1613, to learn Counter-Reformation theological matters in Würzburg and this was a decision that his parents disapproved of. This led him to convert to the Catholic Faith which earned the ire of his parents especially when he continued his studies in order to become a Priest.
He became a teacher in 1617 and was ordained as a priest on 29 March 1625. Thereafter, the became the parish priest of an area split between Protestants and Catholics. He attempted to reconcile both, as best he could but the divisions made this process extremely painful and difficult..
Fr Liborius was driven from his parish to another town during a time of conflict in Central Europe. Swedish Protestant soldiers apprehended him in a schoolhouse and tortured him for almost a week. He refused to renounce his faith and killed him on 9 December 1631. The immediate cause of his death was beating with firearms and swords.
His body was stripped of his priestly garments to make identification more difficult and thrown into the River Main but was recovered from the river by Catholics living nearby and buried. Following the end of Swedish rule in the area, his body was re-interred in the chapel of the castle of Mainberg and finally re-interred in the parish church of San Lorenzo, Heidenfeld, Germany on 15 December 1637, where his Shrine now resides, see the images below. It is a place of pilgrimage for many Catholics, especially those suffering persecution.
St Pope Paul VI declared Blessed Liborius a Venerable in 1973 then Beatified him on 24 March 1974 as a Martyr.
St Adam Scotus
Bl Agustín García Calvo *
Bl Antonio Martín Hernández *
St Auditor of Saint-Nectaire
St Balda of Jouarre
St Bernhard Mariea Silvestrelli
St Budoc of Brittany
Bl Carmen Rodríguez Banazal *
St Caesar of Korone
St Cephas
Bl Clara Isabella Fornari
St Cyprian of Perigueux
Bl Dolores Broseta Bonet *
Bl Estefanía Irisarri Irigaray *
St Ethelgiva of Shaftesbury
St Gorgonia
Bl Isidora Izquierdo García *
Bl José Ferrer Esteve *
Bl José Giménez López *
Bl Josefa Laborra Goyeneche *
Bl Josep Lluís Carrera Comas *
St Julian of Apamea
Bl Julián Rodríguez Sánchez *
St Leocadia of Toledo Blessed Liborius Wagner (1593-1631) Priest and Martyr
Bl María Pilar Nalda Franco *
St Michaela Andrusikiewicz
St Nectarius of Auvergne
St Proculus of Verona
Bl Recaredo de Los Ríos Fabregat *
St Syrus of Pavia
St Valeria of Limoges
St Wulfric of Holme
Blessed Mercedarian Fathers – (10 beati): The memorial of ten Mercedarian friars who were especially celebrated for their holiness.
• Arnaldo de Querol • Berengario Pic • Bernardo de Collotorto • Domenico de Ripparia • Giovanni de Mora • Guglielmo Pagesi • Lorenzo da Lorca • Pietro Serra • Raimondo Binezes • Sancio de Vaillo
Martyred Salesians of Valencia – (5 beati)
Martyrs of North Africa – (4 saints): Twenty-four Christians murdered together in North Africa for their faith. The only details to survive are four of their names – Bassian, Peter, Primitivus and Successus.
Martyrs of Paterna – (7 beati)
Martyrs of Samosata – (7 saints): Seven martyrs crucified in 297 in Samosata (an area of modern Turkey) for refusing to perform a pagan rite in celebration of the victory of Emperor Maximian over the Persians. They are – Abibus, Hipparchus, James, Lollian, Paragnus, Philotheus and Romanus. They were crucified in 297 in Samosata (an area in modern Turkey).
Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War – (13 beati):
• Blessed Agustín García Calvo
• Blessed Antonio Martín Hernández
• Blessed Carmen Rodríguez Banazal
• Blessed Dolores Broseta Bonet
• Blessed Estefanía Irisarri Irigaray
• Blessed Isidora Izquierdo García
• Blessed José Ferrer Esteve
• Blessed José Giménez López
• Blessed Josefa Laborra Goyeneche
• Blessed Josep Lluís Carrera Comas
• Blessed Julián Rodríguez Sánchez
• Blessed María Pilar Nalda Franco
• Blessed Recaredo de Los Ríos Fabregat
Novena in Preparation for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
Day Eight – 8 December
By St Maximillian Kolbe OFM (1894-1941) Martyr
OPENING PRAYER
How fair you are, 0 Mary!
The original stain is not in you.
You are the boast of Jerusalem,
You are the joy of Israel.
You are the pride of our people.
You are the advocate of sinners.
0 Mary!
You are the wisest of virgins.
You are the kindest of mothers.
Pray for us.
Intercede for us with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Holy Virgin, you were spotless
from the very moment of your conception.
Because you bore His Son, pray to the Father for us.
Through the spotless conception of the Virgin, 0 God,
You made ready a dwelling place worthy of Your Son.
In anticipation of Your Son’s death,
You preserved her from every stain.
Please purify us by her intercession,
so that we might find our way to You.
We ask this through Christ our lord.
Amen
Daily Readings and Meditations for each day of the Novena are given here, followed by two closing Novena Prayers for each day.
Day 8: The Immaculata’s Fruitfulness
Reading:
God sends to us the one who personifies His love – Mary, the spouse of the Spirit—a spirit of maternal love—immaculate, all beautiful, spotless, even though she is our sister, a true daughter of the human race. God confides to her the communication of His mercy to souls. He makes of her the Mediatrix of the graces merited for us by her divine Son, for she is full of grace, the mother of all souls born of grace, reborn and always being reborn, becoming ever more godlike (Commentary on MI “Act of Consecration,” 1940).
Meditation:
Productivity is one of the chief “virtues” upheld by modern society as a measure of worldly success. May the Immaculata give witness to each of us that her (and our) ongoing spiritual fruitfulness, in bearing Christ to others, is a far greater achievement than material productivity.
Closing prayers
Novena Prayer to the Immaculata
I greet you, ever-blessed Virgin,
Mother of God throne of grace,
miracle of almighty power!
I greet you, sanctuary of the most Holy Trinity
and Queen of the universe,
Mother of mercy and refuge of sinners!
Most loving Mother,
attracted by your beauty and sweetness
and by your tender compassion,
I confidently turn to you
and beg of you, to obtain for me of your dear Son
the favour I request in this novena
………………………… (here mention you request).
Obtain for me also, Queen of Heaven,
the most lively contrition for my many sins
and the grace to imitate closely,
those virtues which you practised so faithfully,
especially humility, purity and obedience.
Above all I beg you to be my mother
and protectress,
to receive me into the number of your devoted children
and to guide me from your high throne of glory.
Do not reject my petitions, Mother of mercy!
Have pity on me and do not abandon me
during life or at the moment of my death.
Daughter of the Eternal Father,
Mother of the Eternal Son,
Spouse of the Holy Spirit,
Temple of the adorable Trinity,
pray for me.
Immaculate and tender Heart of Mary,
refuge of the needy and hope of sinners,
filled with the most lively respect, love and gratitude,
I devote myself forever to your service
and I offer you my heart,
with all that I am and all that belongs to me.
Accept this offering,
sweet Queen of Heaven and earth
and obtain for me of your dear Son, Jesus Christ,
the favours I ask through your intercession in this novena.
Obtain for me also a tender, generous, constant love of God,
perfect submission to His adorable will,
the true spirit of a Christian
and the grace of final perseverance.
Amen
Closing Prayer of Identification with the Immaculata
O Immaculate Conception, Mary, my Mother,
live in me, act in me, speak in and through me.
Think your thoughts in my mind,
love through my heart.
Give me your own dispositions and feelings.
Teach, lead and guide me to Jesus.
Correct, enlighten and expand my entire personality and life.
Replace me with yourself.
Incline me to constant adoration and thanksgiving,
pray in and through me.
Let me live in you
and keep me in this union always.
Amen
Quote of the Day – 8 December – The Second Sunday of Advent, Year A
“If we wish to make any progress in the service of God, we must begin everyday of our life, with new eagerness. We must keep ourselves, in the presence of God, as much as possible and have no other view or end, in all our actions but the divine honour.”
Sunday Reflection – 8 December – The Second Sunday of Advent, Year A
Go With Him
St Ephrem of Syria (306-373)
Father & Doctor of the Church
“Go with Him, as His inseparable companion, to the wedding feast of Cana and drink of the wine of His blessing. Let you have ever before you, the Face of the Lord and look upon His beauty and let your earnest gaze turn nowhere away from His most sweet countenance.
Go before Him into a desert place and see the wonder of His works, where He multiplied in His own Holy Hands the bread that sufficed the great multitude.
Go, my brother, go forward and with all the love of your soul, follow Christ wherever He may go… And lovingly behold Him as taking bread into His hands, He blesses it and breaks it, as the outward form of His own Immaculate Body and the chalice which He blessed, as the outward form of His Precious Blood and gave to His Disciples and be you, also, a partaker of His sacraments.”
Advent Reflection – – 8 December – The Second Sunday of Advent, Year A – Readings: Isaiah 11:1-10, Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17, Romans 15:4-9, Matthew 3:1-12
Let us adore the Lord, the king who is to come.
“Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” … Matthew 3:2
REFLECTION – “John the Baptist said: “Every valley shall be filled” (Lk 3:5) but it was not John who filled every valley, it was our Lord and Saviour… “And the winding roads shall be made straight.” Every one of us was going astray… and it was Christ’s coming, fulfilled within our very souls, that straightened all that was crooked… Nothing was so resistant as you were. Consider your former unruly desires, your fits of anger and other evil tendencies, as to whether they have disappeared. You will realise that nothing was so resistant as you were, or, in an even more expressive phrase, that nothing was brought so low as you were. Your behaviour was low, your words and deeds were low.
But my Lord Jesus came – He smoothed down your roughness, He changed all that muddle into roads that joined up to create a way without obstacles within you, well articulated and swept clean, so that God our Father could walk in you and Christ the Lord could make His home in you and say: “My Father and I will come to him and make our dwelling within him” (Jn 14:23).” … Origen (c 185-253)
MEDITATION – ” … The good news that Jesus brings us — and that John predicts — is that we do not need to wait for the kingdom of God in the future – it is at hand. In some way it is already present and we may experience spiritual power from now on. “The kingdom of God is in your midst!” Jesus will say. God comes to establish His lordship in our history, today, everyday, in our life and there — where it is welcomed with faith and humility — love, joy and peace blossom.” … Pope Francis (ANGELUS, 4 December 2016)
ADVENT ACTION – May we open the doors of our hearts, where the Lord dwells and share His hospitality with those in need, wherever we find them!
PRAYER – Lord, watch over Your people, who come to You in confidence. Strengthen the hearts of those who hope in You. Give courage to those who falter because of their failures. In this holy season of Advent, lead them closer to You in hope, by the power of Your Holy Spirit. May they we share Your saving acts of kindness today and one day proclaim them in your eternal kingdom. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 8 December – The Second Sunday of Advent, Year A
Prayer After Holy Communion By St Basil the Great (329-379) Father & Doctor of the Church
O Christ, our Master and God,
King of the ages and Creator of all,
I thank You for all the Good things
that You have given to me
and for the reception of
Your most pure and life-giving Mysteries.
I pray You, therefore,
O good Lover of mankind,
keep me under Your protection
in the shadow of Your wings.
Grant that with a pure conscience,
until my last breath,
I may worthily partake of Your Holy Things,
for the forgiveness of sins
and for life everlasting.
For You are the bread of Life,
the Fountain of holiness
and the Bestower of blessings
and to You, we give glory
together with the Father
and the Holy Spirit,
now and forever and ever.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 8 December – Saint Pope Eutychian (Died 283) – Born in Etruria or Tuscany (both in modern Italy) and died on 7 December 283. The Church states his reign as January, 275 to 7 December 283.
This was a time of relative quiet in the Roman Church. There was no persecution or outright hostilities. However, the Empire was in deep trouble. This era is called the Crisis of the Third Century. Emperors were assassinated with great frequency. While the Church fought battles over dogma, the Empire, in only 20 years, had to go through many battles over land.
Eutychian was thus free to fight internal battles which threatened to divide the Church. The two biggest battles were the Novationist schism and the Trinitarian controversy. Novatian had begun his campaign during the time of Pope Cornelius. The persecutions had scared many into denouncing Christianity to save themselves. After peace came, many wanted to come back to communion with the Church. Could they be given absolution? Novatian said no. He was so adamant and pushed his teaching so convincingly that he was elected pope by some in Rome, claiming primacy from 251 to 258. This led to the question of whether a schismatic presbyter could validly baptise someone, or did that person need to be re-baptised. Although previous popes declared that not to be so, it was still a point of contention during Eutychian’s papacy. Although Novatian left Rome during another series of persecutions, giving up his claim to antipope and no-one hearing from him again, his concepts lasted for several centuries.
The other battle waged in Rome was the question of the Trinity. It was obvious that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit were mentioned individually in the New Testament. Were they three modes of God’s being? Or were they three “persons” in one God? There is no record of Eutychian’s opinion. The established concept was not decided on his watch.
Under Eutychian’s papacy and the next few, as well, the Roman Catholic Church became a main cultural institution in the empire. Peaceful acceptance of the religion had begun. This is his legacy.
St Eutychian was the last pope buried in the papal crypt at the Catacombs of Callixtus.
Second Sunday of Advent, Year A +2019
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception – MOVED to 9 December +2019
Bl Alojzy Liguda
St Anastasia of Pomerania
St Anthusa of Africa
St Antonio García Fernández
St Casari of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon
St Eucharius of Trier St Pope Eutychian (Died 283) The 27th Pope
St Gunthildis of Ohrdruf
Bl Jacob Gwon Sang-yeon
Bl Johanna of Cáceres
Bl José María Zabal Blasco
St Macarius of Alexandria
St Marin Shkurti
St Patapius
Bl Paul Yun Ji-chung
St Rafael Román Donaire
St Romaric of Remiremont
St Sofronius of Cyprus
Novena in Preparation for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
Day Seven – 7 December
By St Maximillian Kolbe OFM (1894-1941) Martyr
OPENING PRAYER
How fair you are, 0 Mary!
The original stain is not in you.
You are the boast of Jerusalem,
You are the joy of Israel.
You are the pride of our people.
You are the advocate of sinners.
0 Mary!
You are the wisest of virgins.
You are the kindest of mothers.
Pray for us.
Intercede for us with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Holy Virgin, you were spotless
from the very moment of your conception.
Because you bore His Son, pray to the Father for us.
Through the spotless conception of the Virgin, 0 God,
You made ready a dwelling place worthy of Your Son.
In anticipation of Your Son’s death,
You preserved her from every stain.
Please purify us by her intercession,
so that we might find our way to You.
We ask this through Christ our lord.
Amen
Daily Readings and Meditations for each day of the Novena are given here, followed by two closing Novena Prayers for each day.
Day 7: The Immaculata’s Discipleship
Reading:
The Immaculata is God’s instrument. With full consciousness and total willingness she allows God to govern her, she consents to His will, desires only what He desires and acts according to His will in the most perfect manner, without failing, without ever turning aside from His will. She makes perfect use of the powers and privileges God has given her, so as to fulfil, always and in everything, whatever God wants of her, purely for love of God, One and Three. This love of God reaches such a peak that it bears the divine fruits proper to God’s own love. Her love for God brings her to such a level of union with Him that she becomes the Mother of God. The Father confides to her His Son, the Son descends into her womb and the Holy Spirit fashions out of her perfectly pure body, the very body of Jesus! (“Sketches for a book,” 1940).
Meditation:
The only way to guarantee that we are on the “right track” in our everyday activities is to listen to God’s Word and live it out. That’s discipleship! May the Immaculata’s discipleship of total conformity to God’s Word inspire us to be similar instruments of his will.
Closing prayers
Novena Prayer to the Immaculata
I greet you, ever-blessed Virgin,
Mother of God throne of grace,
miracle of almighty power!
I greet you, sanctuary of the most Holy Trinity
and Queen of the universe,
Mother of mercy and refuge of sinners!
Most loving Mother,
attracted by your beauty and sweetness
and by your tender compassion,
I confidently turn to you
and beg of you, to obtain for me of your dear Son
the favour I request in this novena
………………………… (here mention you request).
Obtain for me also, Queen of Heaven,
the most lively contrition for my many sins
and the grace to imitate closely,
those virtues which you practised so faithfully,
especially humility, purity and obedience.
Above all I beg you to be my mother
and protectress,
to receive me into the number of your devoted children
and to guide me from your high throne of glory.
Do not reject my petitions, Mother of mercy!
Have pity on me and do not abandon me
during life or at the moment of my death.
Daughter of the Eternal Father,
Mother of the Eternal Son,
Spouse of the Holy Spirit,
Temple of the adorable Trinity,
pray for me.
Immaculate and tender Heart of Mary,
refuge of the needy and hope of sinners,
filled with the most lively respect, love and gratitude,
I devote myself forever to your service
and I offer you my heart,
with all that I am and all that belongs to me.
Accept this offering,
sweet Queen of Heaven and earth
and obtain for me of your dear Son, Jesus Christ,
the favours I ask through your intercession in this novena.
Obtain for me also a tender, generous, constant love of God,
perfect submission to His adorable will,
the true spirit of a Christian
and the grace of final perseverance.
Amen
Closing Prayer of Identification with the Immaculata
O Immaculate Conception, Mary, my Mother,
live in me, act in me, speak in and through me.
Think your thoughts in my mind,
love through my heart.
Give me your own dispositions and feelings.
Teach, lead and guide me to Jesus.
Correct, enlighten and expand my entire personality and life.
Replace me with yourself.
Incline me to constant adoration and thanksgiving,
pray in and through me.
Let me live in you
and keep me in this union always.
Amen
Thought for the Day – 7 December – The Memorial of St Ambrose (c 340-397)- Father and Doctor of the Church
One of Ambrose’s biographers observed that at the Last Judgment, people would still be divided between those who admired Ambrose and those who heartily disliked him. He emerges as the man of action who cut a furrow through the lives of his contemporaries. Even royal personages were numbered among those who were to suffer crushing divine punishments for standing in Ambrose’s way.
When the Empress Justina attempted to wrest two basilicas from Ambrose’s Catholics and give them to the Arians, he dared the eunuchs of the court to execute him. His own people rallied behind him in the face of imperial troops . In the midst of riots, he both spurred and calmed his people with bewitching new hymns set to exciting Eastern melodies.
In his disputes with the Emperor Auxentius, he coined the principle – “The emperor is in the Church, not above the Church.”He publicly admonished Emperor Theodosius for the massacre of 7,000 innocent people. The emperor did public penance for his crime. This was Ambrose, the fighter sent to Milan as Roman governor and chosen while yet a catechumen to be the people’s bishop.
There is yet another side of Ambrose—one which influenced Augustine of Hippo, whom Ambrose converted. Ambrose was a passionate little man with a high forehead, a long melancholy face and great eyes. We can picture him as a frail figure clasping the codex of sacred Scripture. This was the Ambrose of aristocratic heritage and learning.
Augustine found the oratory of Ambrose less soothing and entertaining but far more learned than that of other contemporaries. Ambrose’s sermons were often modelled on Cicero and his ideas betrayed the influence of contemporary thinkers and philosophers. He had no scruples in borrowing at length from pagan authors. He gloried in the pulpit in his ability to parade his spoils—“gold of the Egyptians”—taken over from the pagan philosophers.
His sermons, his writings and his personal life reveal him as an otherworldly man involved in the great issues of his day. Humanity for Ambrose was, above all, spirit. In order to think rightly of God and the human soul, the closest thing to God, no material reality at all was to be dwelt upon. He was an enthusiastic champion of consecrated virginity.
The influence of Ambrose on Augustine seems to be universally accepted. The Confessions reveal some manly, brusque encounters between Ambrose and Augustine but there can be no doubt, of Augustine’s profound esteem for the learned bishop.
Neither is there any doubt that Saint Monica loved Ambrose as an angel of God who uprooted her son from his former ways and led him to his convictions about Christ. It was Ambrose, after all, who placed his hands on the shoulders of the naked Augustine as he descended into the baptismal fountain to put on Christ.
Ambrose exemplifies for us the truly catholic character of Christianity. He is a man steeped in the learning, law and culture of the ancients and of his contemporaries. Yet, in the midst of active involvement in this world, this thought runs through Ambrose’s life and preaching – The hidden meaning of the Scriptures calls our spirit to rise to another world.
Quote/s of the Day – 7 December – The Memorial of St Ambrose (c 340-397) Father and Doctor of the Church and St Maria Giuseppa Rosello FdM (1811-1880)
“Let your door stand open to receive Him, unlock your soul to Him, offer Him a welcome in your mind and then you will see the riches of simplicity, the treasures of peace, the joy of grace. Throw wide the gate of your heart, stand before the sun of the everlasting light.”
“If it is “daily bread,” why do you take it once a year? . . . Take daily what is to profit you daily. Live in such a way that you may deserve to receive it daily. He who does not deserve to receive it daily, does not deserve to receive it once a year.”
St Ambrose (c 340-397)
Father and Doctor of the Church
“Go to Jesus. He loves you and is waiting for you, to give you many graces. He is on the Altar, surrounded by angels adoring and praying. Let them make some room for you and join them in doing what they do.”
Advent Reflection – 7 December – Saturday of the First week of Advent, Year A – Readings: Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26, Psalm 147:1-6, Matthew 9:35–10:1, 5-8
Let us adore the Lord, the king who is to come.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. … Matthew 9:36
REFLECTION – “A person is counselled to his face, so to speak, when he is created for righteousness and receives the precepts of rectitude. When he despises these precepts, it is as if he is turning his back to his Creator’s face. But He still follows behind us and counsels us, that we have despised Him but He still does not cease to call us. We turn our backs on His face, so to speak, when we reject His words, when we trample His commandments underfoot but He who sees that we reject Him, still calls out to us by His commandments and waits for us by His patience, stands behind us and calls us back when we have turned away.” … St Gregory the Great (540-604) Father & Doctor of the Church – Forty Gospel Homilies, 34
MEDITATION – “The great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins or our indifference and, therefore, it is quite relentless in it’s determination, that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him.” … Prof C S Lewis (1898-1963)
ADVENT ACTION – Freely you have received, freely give – forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Let us offer our hand to those who hurt us.
PRAYER – Lord, to free man from his sinful state, You sent Your only Son into this world. Grant to us, who in faith and love, wait for His coming, Your gift of grace and the reward of true freedom. Be born in us O Lord! We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
AnaStpaul 
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