Saint of the Day – 29 November – Blessed Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos SJ (1711-1735) Professed Priest of the Society of Jesus, Mystic, Apostle of the Sacred Heart – born on 21 August 1711 at Torrelobatón, Valladolid, Kingdom of Spain (1711-08-21) and died on 29 November 1735, Valladolid, Spain of natural causes (typhoid), aged 24. The miracle for his Beatification involved a young lady with typhoid.
Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos de Seña was born on 21 August 1711 to Don Manuel de Hoyos and Doña Francisca de Seña. His father worked at the town hall at Torrelobatón near Valladolid. He was baptised on 6 September in his local parish church in the names of “Bernardo Francisco Javier.” He was named in honour of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and Saint Francis Xavier. He received his Confirmation in 1720.
On 11 July 1726, a not quite fifteen year old Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos y Seña crossed the threshold of the Jesuit novitiate of the Province of Castile. Straightaway he chose the Flemish Saint John Berchmans SJ as his model and intercessor. At his profession on 12 July 1728, he heard Our Lord say to him: “From today on I will unite Myself more intimately to you because of my love for you.” Our Lord, His Virgin Mother, Saint Ignatius, Saint Teresa of Avila and other celestial visitors manifested themselves to the young Jesuit, conversed with him, counselled him and encouraged him. In 1726 both Aloysius Gonzaga SJ and Stanislaus Kostka SJ were Canonised by Pope Benedict XIII. The two became models of holiness for the Jesuit priest, as well as John Berchmans who was already on the course for Canonisation.
On 10 August 1729, the Saviour, covered with His Precious Blood, appeared to Bernardo, and showing him the wound in His Side, said, “Rejected by humanity, I come to find my consolation with chosen souls.” Bernardo’s experience closely resembles that of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque fifty-three years earlier in the Visitation Monastery of Paray-le-Monial in France.
Bernardo was ordained a priest on 2 January 1735, for which he had to obtain special permission due to his young age. Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Francis de Sales, mystically present at the ordination, served as his “godfathers” in the priesthood. In that same year he wrote:
Hitherto I had great confidence in my prayers and petitions, depending on the intercession of the Heart of Jesus, at present I have no doubt about obtaining whatsoever I ask, if it is for the greater glory of God. I am convinced that at the altar, the Eternal Father can refuse me nothing . . . I find myself with views like that of Venerable Father La Colombière concerning the greatness of this sacrifice. Here I am as if I were triumphant, for it seems to me not only that I am making reparation for myself and for the whole world but that the Eternal Father is my debtor.
Now and again, during Mass . . . a word of the Eternal Father has assured me of the satisfaction He takes in His Son and in His Heart and how this satisfaction may embolden me, even at the sight of my sins and ingratitude, to presume as much as I fancy, for all is contained in the merits of Jesus, whose minister I am and whose place I take.”
Father Bernardo de Hoyos died on 29 November 1735 at the age of twenty-four. He left behind the memory of his brief but fruitful ministry as a priest, the reputation of a charism for delivering souls from the vice of impurity – his book, The Hidden Treasure,published under the name of Father John de Loyola and a wealth of detailed accounts of his mystical experiences of the Heart of Jesus.
On 17 January 2009, the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, met with the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Archbishop Angelo Amato, S.D.B. The Pope authorised the promulgation of a number of decrees, among them the recognition of a miracle attributed to the Servant of God Bernardo Francisco Hoyos.
On 19 April 2010, Father Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos was beatified in Valladolid, Spain. The ceremony was presided over by Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. In addition to nearly a 1,000 priests and more the 20,000 faithful, approximately fifty bishops and cardinals attended the ceremony. The new Blessed’s liturgical memorial was confirmed for today, the anniversary of his death.
All Saints of the Seraphic Order (Franciscan): the Church celebrates the many Franciscan saints who followed in the footsteps of St Francis. It is a special day for all Franciscans to celebrate the feast of ‘All the Saints of the Seraphic Order.’
St Francis of Assisi prayed the following prayer:
“O Lord Jesus Christ, two favours I beg of You before I die. The first is that I may, as far as it is possible, feel in my soul and in my body the suffering in which You, O gentle Jesus, sustained in Your bitter passion. And the second favour is that I, as far as it is possible, may receive in my heart that excessive charity by which You, the Son of God, were inflamed and which actuated You willingly to suffer so much for us sinners.”
In response to his earnest prayer, the Lord appeared in the form of a seraph, or a six-winged angel (They are usually considered the highest order of angelic beings, immediately above the Cherubim and their special duty is to love God).
Then Jesus bestowed on St Francis the wounds of His suffering. St Francis had been marked with the love of Christ, the stigmata. St Francis died two years later in 1226, leaving the world the Franciscan Order, which became synonymous with the Seraphic Order. To this day, seraph wings and seraphs are symbolic of the Franciscan Order.
The final Rule of life for Franciscan friars was also approved on this day in 1223. To commemorate this and all the saintly examples produced in the Franciscan Order, on this day all the saints of the Seraphic order are remembered at Franciscan churches.
Our Lady of Beauraing/Our Lady of the Golden Heart:
Appeared multiple occasions between 29 November 1932 and 3 January 1933 On 2 February 1943, Bishop Andre Marie Charue authorised public devotion to Our Lady of Beauraing. On 2 July 1949 the Bishop declared that the Queen of Heaven had truly appeared to the children. Pilgrims flock to the small town of Beauraing, province of Namur (Belgium) and many cures are claimed. She is celebrated under this title on 29 November.
Bl Frederick of Ratisbon
Bl George Errington
St Hardoin of Brittany
St Illuminata of Todi
St James of Saroug
Bl Jutta of Heiligenthal
St Paphnutius of Heracleopolis
St Paramon
St Philomenus of Ancyra
St Radbod of Utrecht
Bl Redemptorus of the Cross
St Sadwen of Wales
St Saturninus of Rome
St Saturninus of Toulouse
St Sisinius of Rome
St Walderic of Murrhardt
Bl William Gibson
Bl William Knight
On your Thanksgiving Day, I wanted to be sure to remind you of this:
“You are greatly appreciated!”
There is no greater blessing God has given me than the people that support, pray and join me in my mission to advance the Gospel and the teachings of the Catholic Church, in communion with our Saints.
Thank you.
I pray you are reminded not just today but every day,
of how grateful I am for you all.
May God bless you and your beloved families.
Ana
Breathing Catholic
Thanksgiving Day Prayer
We thank you, Father,
for the gift of Jesus, Your Son,
who came to our earth
and lived in a simple home.
We have a greater appreciation
of the value and dignity
of the human family
because He loved
and was loved within its shelter.
Bless us this day.
may we grow in love,
for each other in our family
and so give thanks to You,
who are the Maker of all human families
and our abiding peace.
Amen
St Andrew’s Christmas Novena – Begins on St Andrew’s Feast Day – 30 November
Prepare for the arrival of our King!
Just a reminder of this beautiful Catholic tradition
The Feast of Saint Andrew has always been closely associated with the beginning of Advent as it is on 30 November, around the First Sunday of Advent. In light of that fact, a prayer was developed as a daily preparation for Christmas and took 30 November as its starting point.
It is sometimes called the Christmas Novena, St Andrew’s Novena, St Andrew’s Christmas Prayer, or the Christmas Anticipation Prayer.
It is a beautiful prayer that focuses on the moment of Christ’s birth and can act as an inspiring meditation for Advent and of course, we pray for our own intentions – 15 times a day – God is listening! The prayer is customarily prayed 15 times a day, as a family, it is most efficacious to pray it five times before and after mealtimes, alternating the family members.
Let us prepare our hearts to welcome Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer and pray the “Christmas Novena.”
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, ………………… [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ and of His blessed Mother. Amen
Thought for the Day – 28 November – It’s time to Hope! Advent is nearly upon us
This year, as before, I will post daily Advent Reflections drawn from diverse Saints and Holy people – please join me in prayer and in awakening our souls to hope.
Memory Awakens Hope
By Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
(Pope Benedict XVI)
In one of his Christmas stories Charles Dickens tells of a man who lost his emotional memory, that is, he lost the whole chain of feelings and thoughts he had acquired in the encounter with human suffering. This extinction of the memory of love is presented to him as liberation from the burden of the past but it becomes clear, immediately, that the whole person has been changed, now, when he meets with suffering, no memories of kindness are stirred within him… Since his memory has dried up, the source of kindness within him has also disappeared. He has become cold and spreads coldness around him.
Goethe deals with the same ideas as Dickens, in his account of the first celebration of the feast of Saint Roch in Bingen, after the long interruption caused by the Napoleonic wars. He observes the people as they press, tightly packed, through the church past the image of the saint and he watches their faces – the faces of the children and the adults are shining, mirroring the joy of the festal day. But with the young people, Goethe reports, it was otherwise. They went past unmoved, indifferent, bored. And he gives an illuminating explanation – they were born in evil times, had nothing good to remember and consequently had nothing to hope for. In other words, it is only the person who has memories who can hope. The person who has never experienced goodness and kindness simply does not know what such things are.
Recently a counsellor who spends much of his time talking with people on the verge of despair, was speaking in similar terms about his own work, if his client succeeds in recalling a memory of some good experience, he may once again be able to believe in goodness and thus relearn hope, then there is a way out of despair. Memory and hope are inseparable. To poison the past does not give hope, it destroys its emotional foundations.
Sometimes Charles Dickens’ story strikes me as a vision of contemporary experience. This man who let himself be robbed of the heart’s memory by the delusion of a false liberation — do we not find him with us today, in a generation whose past has been poisoned by a particular program of liberation that has stifled hope? When we read of the pessimism with which our young people look toward the future, we ask ourselves, Why? Is it that, in the midst of material affluence, they have no memory of human goodness that would allow them to hope? By outlawing the emotions, by satirising joy, have we not trampled on the root of hope?
These reflections bring us straight to the significance of the Christian season of Advent. For Advent is concerned with that very connection between memory and hope which is so necessary to man. Advent’s intention is to awaken the most profound and basic emotional memory within us, namely, the memory of the God Who became a Child. This is a healing memory, it brings hope. The purpose of the Church’s year is continually to rehearse her great history of memories, to awaken the heart’s memory so that it can discern the star of hope. All the feasts in the Church’s calendar are events of remembrance and hence events of hope. These events, of such great significance for mankind, which are preserved and opened up by faith’s calendar, are intended to become personal memories of our own life history, through the celebration of holy seasons by means of liturgy and custom. Our personal memories are nourished by mankind’s great memories, in turn, it is only by translating them into personal term,s that these great memories are kept alive. Man’s ability to believe always depends in part on faith having become dear on the path of life, on the humanity of God having manifested itself through the humanity of men. No doubt each of us could tell his own story here as to what the various memories of Christmas, Easter or other festivals mean in his life.
It is the beautiful task of Advent, to awaken in all of us, memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope.
“Those who run toward the Lord, will never lack space… One who is climbing never stops, he moves from beginning to beginning, according to beginnings, that never end.”
St Gregory of Nyssa (c 335–c 395)
Brother of St Basil the Great
One Minute Reflection – 28 November – Thursday of the Thirty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 21:20–28
“Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”…Luke 21:28
REFLECTION – “When we think of the end of time, with all of our sins, with our history, let us think of the banquet which will be freely offered us and let us lift up our heads. Do not give way to depression. Hope! Reality is ugly. There are many, many people, cities and people, so many people who are suffering; many wars, so much hatred, so much envy, so much spiritual worldliness and so much corruption. Yes, it’s true! All of this will fall!
Let us ask the Lord for the grace to be prepared for the banquet that awaits us, always with our heads held high.”…Pope Francis – Santa Marta, 27 November 2014
PRAYER – Lord God, creator of all Light and creator of all good, grant that we may look up to You always and know that by Your Light and your goodness we are safe in this world of corruption. May the Light of our Lord Jesus, make the path He has set out bright and clear and may the prayers of St James of the Marches be a help in our struggle. Lead us, Lord, in Your kindness and mercy to the banquet which awaits us. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 28 November – The Memorial of St James of the Marches OFM Conv (1391-1476)
Beloved and Most Holy Word of God By St James of the Marches (1391-1476)
Beloved and most holy Word of God!
You enlighten the hearts of the faithful,
You satisfy the hungry,
console the afflicted.
You make the souls of all,
productive of good
and cause all virtues to blossom.
You snatch souls
from the devil’s jaw.
You make the wretched holy
and men of earth,
citizens of heaven!
Amen
Saint of the Day – 28 November – Saint James of the Marches OFM Conv. (1391-1476) Franciscan Priest, brilliant Preacher, Penitent, Reformer, Writer, Papal legate, Inquisitor, founder of several monasteries in Bohemia, Hungary and Austria – born on 1 September 1391 at Monteprandone, March of Ancona, Italy as Domenico meaning “of the Lord” (from Latin, Dominus) Gangala and died on 28 November 1476 at Naples, Italy. Patronages – Monteprandone, co-patron of Naples, Italy, of children. His body is incorrupt.
Domenico was born into an extremely poor family at Montebrandone (in the Marche of Ancona), in central Italy along the Adriatic Sea. Unfortunately, his cruel father abused him and James left home as a boy. He placed himself under the care of his uncle, a priest. Through the generosity of his uncle, Domenico was educated in nearby towns of Ascoli and Offida.
At the University of Perugia he took the degree of Doctor of Canon and Civil Law. He began his career in Florence as tutor in a noble family and as judge. On one occasion, while travelling to Assisi for his work, he went to pray in the church of the Portiuncula, St Mary of the Angels. Inspired by the friars he witnessed there and by the example of St Francis, Domenico decided to enter the Franciscan Order. In 1416, at 23 years of age, he became a novice, taking the religious name of James.
Studying under Saint Bernardino of Siena (1380-1444), James was widely recognised for his oratory, delivering both forceful and effective sermons and converting thousands of souls. Ordained at age twenty seven, James was sent on mission with Saint John Capistrano (1603-1663), travelling throughout Italy, German, Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary.
Noting his orthodoxy, Pope Saint Martin V appointed him inquisitor to root out heretical sects that were growing in power throughout Italy. He continued his travels, preaching, working against heresy and attempting to reconcile various branches of the Franciscan Order. He attended the Council of Florence in 1438, working diligently to reconcile the Eastern and Latin Churches, with little success.
Elected Bishop of Milan, James humbly declined the position, preferring to continue his itinerant lifestyle, travelling, preaching and confirming the truth of Church doctrine. Saint James preached every day for 40 years, beginning on the date of his ordination and ending on the date of his death. He preached a message of penance, which he also put into practice. James slept only three hours each evening and fasted nine months of the year. Thinly dressed, always in the same tattered brown robe, he always wore underneath his habit either a rough hair shirt or an iron coat of mail armed with short sharp spikes.and susceptible to illness, Saint James ate little, giving all he had to the needy. As he grew older and his health began to observably fail, Pope Martin V ordered him to eat regularly, as a public service, so that he could continue his ministry. Charitable, Saint James instituted several montes pietatis, (literally, “mountains of money”) which provided low-interest loans to all who needed them.
James took his vows seriously. Due to his promise of poverty, he travelled on foot everywhere he went. He pulled a small wagon by hand, which contained all his possessions – a bible, a prayer book, some theological works, liturgical vestments and vessels. He personally hand-copied most of the few books he owned and he wore just his threadbare habit. He took the practice of obedience very seriously, as well. In fact, on one occasion, he received an order from his superior to go abroad while lifting a cup to his mouth to drink. He immediately set it down and left without drinking, as he was afraid of losing the merit of obedience by the least delay.
Under Pope Callistus III, in 1455, he was appointed an arbiter on the questions at issue between the Conventuals and Observants. His decision was published 2 February 1456 in a papal bull, which pleased neither part.
In 1462, James became the subject of the Inquisition. In a sermon, he preached his theological opinion on the Blood of Christ, stating that the blood shed during Christ’s passion was not hypostatically united to the divinity of Christ during the three days of his burial. The case was controversial, and James was summoned to appear before the Dominican inquisitor, which he refused. Eventually, James appealed to the Holy See, after which a silence was imposed upon both the Dominican inquisitors and the Franciscans. No decision was ever reached.
Saint James spent the last three years of his life at Naples and died there on 28 November 1476. His funeral was attended by the Pope, the king of Naples, the royal court, many clergy and countless laypersons. James’s body remained in the Franciscan church of Santa Maria la Nova in Naples for over five centuries until 2001 when it was finally transferred to his birthplace of Monteprandone. There his incorrupt body remains exposed for the faithful to venerate.
Pope Urban VIII Beatified him on 12 August 1624, and St James of the Marches was Canonised on 10 December 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII.
He is generally represented as a Franciscan holding a chalice and a veil. His emblem is a chalice from which a snake is escaping – an allusion to the endeavours of certain heretics to poison him. Numerous miracles have been reported through his intercession, both while he lived and subsequent to his death.
Our Lady of Kibeho: is the name given to Marian apparitions concerning several adolescents, in the 1980s in Kibeho, south-western Rwanda. The apparitions communicated various messages to the schoolchildren, including an apocalyptic vision of Rwanda descending into violence and hatred. The visions may be regarded as an ominous foreshadowing of the Rwandan Genocide, and particularly the second Kibeho Massacre in 1995. The school where the visions occurred became a place of slaughter during the Genocide as dozens of children were shot and hacked to death by Hutu terrorists.
In 2001, the local bishop of the Catholic Church officially recognised the visions of three schoolchildren as authentic. The feast day of Our Lady of Kibeho is today, 28 November, the anniversary of the initial apparition to Alphonsine Mumureke in 1981. The Marian sanctuary at Kibeho was named “Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows” in 1992. The first stone was laid on 28 November 1992. In a 2003 agreement between the local ordinary and the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallotines), the rectorate of the Shrine of Our Lady of Kibeho is entrusted to the Pallotine Fathers. The rector is appointed by the local bishop and the Regional Pallottine Rector.
St Anrê Tran Van Trông
Bl Calimerius of Montechiaro St Catherine Labouré DC (1806-1876) Incorrupt St Catherine’s Story:
St Fionnchu of Bangor
St Hilary of Dijon
St Hippolytus of Saint Claude
St Honestus of Nimes
St Irenarcus St James of the Marches OFM (1391-1476) Incorrupt
Bl James Thompson
St Papius
St Quieta of Dijon
St Rufus
St Simeon the Logothete
St Sosthenes of Colophon
St Stephen the Younger
Bl Theodora of Rossano
—
Martyrs of Constantinople – 8 saints: A group of over 300 Christians martyred during the persecutions of the Iconoclast emperors. We have a lot of information on Saint Stephen the Younger, but for the others we have nothing but seven of their names – Andrew, Auxentius, Basil, Gregor, John, Peter and Stefan. They were
scourged, stoned and/or dragged to death through the streets of Constantinople in 764.
Martyrs of North Africa – 13 saints: A group of thirteen clerics killed or exiled in the persecutions of Arian Vandals in North Africa – Crescens, Crescentian, Cresconius, Eustace, Felix, Florentian, Habetdeum, Hortulanus, Mansuetus, Papinianus, Quodvultdeus, Urban and Valerian.
Martyrs of Tiberiopolis – 14 saints: A group of fourteen Christian laymen, deacons, priests and bishops who were martyred together in the persecutions of Julian the Apostate – Basil, Chariton, Comasios, Daniel, Etymasius, Hierotheos, John, Nicephorus, Peter, Sergius, Socrates, Theodore, Thomas and Timothy.
361 at Tiberiopolis, Phyrgia (in modern Turkey)
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War – Martyred Augustinians of Madrid – 12 beati; Martyred Hospitallers of Madrid – 15 beati; Oblate Martyrs – 23 beati.
• Blessed Ángel Francisco Bocos Hernández
• Blessed Ángel Sastre Corporales
• Blessed Antonio Hilario Delgado Vílchez
• Blessed Antonio Meléndez Sánchez
• Blessed Avelino Rodríguez Alonso
• Blessed Balbino Villaroel y Villaroel
• Blessed Benito Alcalde González
• Blessed Bernardino Álvarez Melcón
• Blessed Cándido Castán San José
• Blessed Cecilio Vega Domínguez
• Blessed Clemente Díez Sahagún
• Blessed Clemente Rodríguez Tejerina
• Blessed Daniel Gómez Lucas
• Blessed Eduardo Bautista Jiménez
• Blessed Eleuterio Prado Villaroel
• Blessed Francisco Esteban Lacal
• Blessed Francisco Polvorinos Gómez
• Blessed Gregorio Escobar García
• Blessed Isidoro Martínez Izquierdo
• Blessed José Guerra Andrés
• Blessed José Mora Velasco
• Blessed José Peque Iglesias
• Blessed José Prieto Fuentes
• Blessed José Ruiz Cuesta
• Blessed José Vega Riaño
• Blessed Juan Alcalde y Alcalde
• Blessed Juan Antonio Pérez Mayo
• Blessed Juan Baldajos Pérez
• Blessed Juan Herrero Arroyo
• Blessed Juan Jesús Adradas Gonzalo
• Blessed Juan José Caballero Rodríguez
• Blessed Juan María Múgica Goiburu
• Blessed Juan Pedro del Cotillo Fernández
• Blessed Julián Plazaola Artola
• Blessed Justo Fernández González
• Blessed Justo Gil Pardo
• Blessed Justo González Lorente
• Blessed Lucinio Ruiz Valtierra
• Blessed Luis Campos Górriz
• Blessed Manuel álvarez Rego
• Blessed Manuel Gutiérrez Martín
• Blessed Marcelino Sánchez Fernández
• Blessed Marcos Pérez Andrés
• Blessed Pascual Aláez Medina
• Blessed Pedro de Alcántara Bernalte Calzado
• Blessed Pedro María Alcalde Negredo
• Blessed Vicente Andrés Llop Gaya
• Blessed Publio Rodríguez Moslares
• Blessed Ramiro Frías García
• Blessed Sabino Rodrigo Fierro
• Blessed Samuel Pajares García
• Blessed Senén García González
• Blessed Serviliano Riaño Herrero
• Blessed Vicente Blanco Guadilla
Thought for the Day – 27 November – Wednesday of the Thirty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 21:12–19
“But not a hair of your head shall perish.” … Luke 21:9
What is the surest kind of witness?
St Ambrose (340-397) Father & Doctor of the Church
“You can be a witness to Christ every day. You were tempted by the spirit of impurity but… you considered that chastity of spirit and body should not be soiled – you are a martyr or, in other words, a witness to Christ… You were tempted by the spirit of pride but, seeing the poor and needy, you were seized by tender compassion and preferred humility to arrogance – you are a witness to Christ. Better still – you have not given your witness in word alone but in deed as well.
What is the surest kind of witness? “Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus Christ came among us in the flesh” (cf. 1Jn 4,2) and who keeps the commands of the Gospel… How many there are each day of these hidden martyrs of Christ who confess the Lord Jesus! The apostle Paul knew that kind of martyrdom and witness of faith rendered to Christ, he who said: “Our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience” (2Cor 1,12). For how many people have made a confession of faith exteriorly but denied it interiorly!… So be faithful and courageous in interior persecutions so that you may also win the victory in exterior persecutions. There are “kings and rulers,” judges of formidable power, in the persecutions within, likewise. You have an example of these in the temptations undergone by our Lord (Mt 4,1ff.)”… (Sermon 20 on Psalm 118)
“When I feel overwhelmed by misfortune, the greatest joy that the Lord can give me, is to go to the altar, to put my forehead against it (as on the day of my ordination to the priesthood) and to feel the presence of the only reality. Not only does calm return but my body seems to be annihilated, the only true life begins, the life of that which is intangible.”
Quote/s of the Day – 27 November – Wednesday of the Thirty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 21:12–19
“Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you … on my account”
Matthew 5:11
But to bear with insult, patiently undergo humiliation, pray for those who persecute us (Mt 5,39.44) – that is the Lord’s cup, that is the Lord’s feast.“
Saint Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor of the Church
“Sheltered under the name of Jesus Christ, I do not fear these pains ….”
Saint Lawrence (Died 258), Deacon and Martyr
“One doesn’t suffer when one suffers for Christ.”
Bl Jerzy Popiełuszko (1947-1984) Priest and Martyr
“So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father, who is in heaven…”
One Minute Reflection – 27 November – Wednesday of the Thirty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 21:12–19 and the Memorial of Saint Virgilius of Salzburg (c 700-784)
“But not a hair of your head shall perish.” … Luke 21:9
REFLECTION – “I cry out to Thee and entreat Thee, first that Thou would keep me from myself and from following any will but Thine.
Next, I beg of Thee, that in Thy infinite compassion Thou would temper Thy will to me, that it may not be severed but imdulgent to me.
Visit me not, O my loving Lord – if it be not wrong so to pray – visit me not those trying visitations which saints alone can bear!
Still, I leave all in Thy hands, my dear Saviour – I bargain for nothing. Only, if Thou shall bring heavier trial on me, give me more grace – flood me with the fulness of Thy strength and consolation, that they may work in me, not death but life and salvation. Amen” … St John Henry Newman (1801-1890), Priest, Founder of the Oratory in England, Theologian, Writer, Poet, Apologist
PRAYER – Shed Your clear light on our hearts O Lord, so that walking continually in the way of Your commandments, we may never be afraid, never be deceived or misled but by Your strength, stand firm in our faith. For Your Son, walks before us, beside us and behind us. The Holy Spirit of Your love fills us. Let nothing put us to shame. Grant that by the prayers of St Virgilius of Salzburg and all Your saints, we may be strengthened for the journey. Through our Lord Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, God eternally and forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 27 November – Wednesday of the Thirty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C
Jesu, be You my Life! Msgr Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914)
I cannot live alone another hour,
Jesu, be You my Life!
I have not power to strive,
be You my Power
In every strife!
I can do nothing
– hope, nor love, nor fear.
But only fail and fall.
Be You my soul and self,
O Jesu dear.
My God and all!
Amen
Saint of the Day – 27 November – Saint Virgilius of Salzburg (c 700-784) Bishop, Abbot, early Astronomer, Architect, Writer, Poet, Patron of the Arts – he was called “the Apostle of Carinthia” and “the Geometer.” He is also known as Fergal, Fearghal, Ferghil, Vergil, Virgiel, Virgil. Patronages – against birth complications, of Salzburg, Austria and of the Slovenes.
Despite the city attached to his name, St Virgilius of Salzburg was actually an Irish Priest and Pilgrim on his way to the Holy Land, who stopped in Salzburg on his journey and stayed as its Bishop.
As abbot of a monastery in Ireland in the eighth century, Virgilius was one of the most learned men in Europe (he even gained the sobriquet the “The Geometer” for his knowledge of geometry). Virgilius decided to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and he and his fellow companions sailed to France. He spent two years wandering and travelling throughout Europe but did not get any farther east than Bavaria.
During a stay in Salzburg, Virgilius was appointed Abbot of St Peter’s Monastery (where St Rupert too, had previously been a monk and then the Abbot), a role that included administrative duties for the Bishop of that diocese. He performed these duties admirably and when the Bishop died, he found himself compelled to accept an appointment as Bishop of Salzburg.
He encountered a difficult situation with St Boniface (c 675-754), who disagreed with some of his decisions and teachings and complained to the pope. These inter-saint disagreements came to nothing, however and Virgil continued on his tenure as a fantastically effective Bishop, without further disruption from saint or sinner.
St Rupert (c 660-710) was the first Bishop of Salzburg and also the Abbot of St Peter’s in Salzburg. He is said to have laid the foundations of the Salzburg Cathedral which St Virgilius completed. It became an even larger and grander building than St Rupert had originally envisaged. St Virgilius together with St Rupert, are the Patrons of Salzburg Cathedral. The Statue at the bottom is displayed at the Cathedral.
The images below show St Virgilius with the Architects in discussion of the Cathedral.
St Virgilius sent Missionaries to the surrounding areas and he, himself travelled to preach the Gospel to new people, as far as Hungary and is known as the Apostle to the Slovenians. When he returned from one such journey, Virgilius, fell ill and died on this date in 784.
When the Salzburg Cathedral was partly destroyed by a fire in 1181, St Virgilius’ grave was discovered and an “astounding series of miracles” generated a widespread cult. This led to his Canonisation by Pope Gregory IX in 1233.
Although he has become known as St Virgilius of Salzburg, Virgilius was very much a person of his place and time. He was an Irish scholar and Priest inspired by that unique Irish passion for his faith; the almost fanatical love of literature, learning and art that marked Ireland’s Golden Age and, was enflamed, by the Irish spirit of wanderlust which drove the Irish monks to re-educate and evangelise Europe. Virgil did things “the Irish way” and was, as one Austrian writer says, “a stiff-necked Irishman.” Although, he achieved many of his greatest accomplishments on the eastern frontier of European civilisation, he remained a son of that bastion of learning and enlightenment on the farthest west. Virgilius’s Irish character shaped most of what he did in Austria.
St Virgilius was truly an amazing person. He was the most learned man of his age but sadly, all of his writings were destroyed. He was hailed for his great knowledge and his holiness and his feast is celebrated both in Ireland and throughout central Europe.
Statue at Salzburg CathedralSt Virgilius’ Relics reside in the Altar of the Saltzburg Cathedral
Memorial of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal/The Medal of the Immaculate Conception(the correct title is the latter) :
27 November is the Feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and is celebrated by it’s own Mass in Some Places.
The Miraculous Medal is a devotion to the Virgin Mary called the “Miraculous” Medal for the many miracles associated with those that wear it. It is one of my favourite medals to wear.
The Miraculous Medal came to the world through an Apparition of the Virgin Mary to Catherine Labouré in Paris, France in 1830. In Mary’s second apparition, she asked that “a medal should be struck in this image. The people wearing it, will receive my indulgence and those who piously say this short prayer will enjoy my very special protection”.
Two of the most famous conversions due to the miraculous medal was that of Fr Alphonse Ratisbonne NDS (1814-1884), an anti-Catholic Jewish banker and Claude Newman (1923-1944).
Fr Alphonse Ratisbonne received a vision of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. After his conversion, he became a priest and worked for the conversion of the Jewish people.
St Acacius of Sebaste
St Acharius of Noyon
St Apollinaris of Monte Cassino
St Barlaam
Bl Bernardine of Fossa
St Bilhild of Altmünster
Bl Bronislao Kostkowski
St Eusician
St Facundus
St Fergus the Pict
St Gallgo of Wales
St Gregory of Sinai
St Gulstan
St Hirenarchus of Sebaste
St James Intercisus
St John Angeloptes
St John of Pavia
St Josaphat
Bl José Pérez González
Bl Juan Antonio de Bengoa Larriñaga
St Laverius St Leonard of Port Maurice OFM (1676-1751) About St Leonard: https://anastpaul.com/2018/11/27/saint-of-the-day-27-november-st-leonard-of-port-maurice-ofm-1676-1751/
St Maximus of Reiz
St Primitivus of Sahagun
St Secundinus of Ireland
St Severinus the Hermit
St Siffred of Carpentras
St Valerian of Aquileia St Virgilius of Salzburg (c 700-784)
—
Martyrs of Antioch – (3 saints): A group of Christians martyred together for their faith. Little information has survived except for their names – Auxilius, Basileus and Saturninus.
Martyrs of Nagasaki – (11 beati): A group of eleven Christians martyred together for their faith during a period of official persecution in Japan. They are:
• Blessed Alexius Nakamura
• Blessed Antonius Kimura
• Blessed Bartholomaeus Seki
• Blessed Ioannes Iwanaga
• Blessed Ioannes Motoyama
• Blessed Leo Nakanishi
• Blessed Matthias Kozasa
• Blessed Matthias Nakano
• Blessed Michaël Takeshita
• Blessed Romanus Motoyama Myotaro
• Blessed Thomas Koteda Kyumi
They were martyred on 27 November 1619 in Nagasaki, Japan and Beatified on 7 May 1867 by Pope Pius IX.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
• Blessed Bartolomé Gelabert Pericás
• Blessed Eduardo Camps Vasallo
• Blessed José Pérez González
• Blessed Juan Antonio de Bengoa Larriñaga
• Blessed Miguel Aguado Camarillo
• Blessed Pedro Armendáriz Zabaleta
Thought for the Day – 26 November – Tuesday of the Thirty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 21:5–11
“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified” … Luke 21:9
Saint John Chrysostom (c 345-407) Father & Doctor
The nearer the king approaches, the more we should pray. The nearer the moment arrives for bestowing the trophy on the combatant, the harder we should struggle. This is what they do at the race – as the end of the course nears and they are reaching the goal, they stir up the horses’ enthusiasm even more. In the same way Saint Paul says: “Now is salvation nearer to us than when first we believed. The night is far gone, the day is at hand” (Rm 13:11-12).
Since night is disappearing and day is coming to view, let us carry out the works of day and leave behind the works of darkness. This is what we do in the course of life – when we see night giving way to dawn and hear the swallows singing, then we rouse one another even though it is still dark… We hurry to our daily tasks; we get dressed after being snatched from sleep so that the sun will find us ready. What we do then, let us do now. Let us shake off our dreams, rouse ourselves from thoughts of this present life, leave our heavy slumber and put on the garment of virtue. This is what the apostle clearly says to us: “Cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light” (v.12). For day is calling us to the battle, to the fight.
But don’t be afraid when you hear these words about fighting and combat! For if it is uncomfortable to put on heavy material armour, it is pleasant, on the other hand, to put on spiritual armour, for this is an armour of light. In this way you will shine more brightly than the sun and, even as you sparkle brightly, you will be safe because these are weapons… weapons of light. So then? Are we excused from fighting? Not at all! We are to fight but without being overcome by fatigue and without pain. For it is not so much a war to which we are being summoned, as a feast and celebration.
O Yes, Lord Jesus, come and reign! Let my body be Your temple, my heart, Your throne, my will, Your devoted servant, let me be Yours forever, living only in You and for You! Amen
Quote/s of the Day – 26 November – Tuesday of the Thirty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 21:5–11
“Speaking of: False Prophets – The Culture of our Times”
“Take heed that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’“
Luke 21:8
“If you believe what you like in the Gospels and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe but yourself.”
Saint Augustine (354-430)
“If you only follow the teachings of the Church that you like and reject what you don’t like, then it is not Christ and the Catholic faith that you claim to believe in but yourself. The creed that we profess does not begin by saying, “I believe in me…”
“A dead thing goes with the stream but only a living thing can go against it.”
G K Chesterton (1874-1936)
“Really great moral teachers never do introduce new moralities, it is quacks and cranks who do that.”
C S Lewis (1898-1963)
Mere Christianity
“We are no longer able to hear God. There are too many frequencies filling our ears.”
Pope Benedict VXI
“No age has been more prone to confuse the sin with the sinner, not by hating the sinner along with the sin but by loving the sin along with the sinner. We often use “compassion” as an equivalent for moral relativism.”
Peter Kreeft
“We have laws against polluting our rivers but not against polluting our minds!”
Bishop Robert Barron
“I ask you, instead, to be revolutionaries, to swim against the tide, yes, I am asking you to rebel against this culture.”
One Minute Reflection – 26 November – Tuesday of the Thirty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 21:5–11
“And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified” …Luke 21:9
REFLECTION – “Jesus’ words are perennially relevant, even for us today living in the 21st century too. This Christian virtue of understanding, is a call to discern where the Lord is and where the evil spirit is present. Today, too, in fact there are false “saviours” who attempt to replace Jesus – Jesus warns us: “Do not follow them, do not follow them!” The Lord also helps us not to be afraid in the face of war, revolution, natural disasters and epidemics. Jesus frees us from fatalism and false apocalyptic visions. Despite the turmoil and disasters that upset the world, God’s design of goodness and mercy will be fulfilled! And this is our hope – go forward on this path, in God’s plan, which will be fulfilled. Jesus’ message causes us to reflect on our present time and gives us the strength to face it, with courage and hope, with Mary who always accompanies us.” … Pope Francis – Angelus, 17 November 2013
PRAYER – True Light of the world, Lord Jesus Christ, as You enlighten all men for their salvation, give us grace, we pray, to herald Your coming, by preparing the ways of justice, love and peace. Help us to live as Your children and by our lives to bring Your salvation and joy to all the world. May the Holy Spirit fill us with all His gifts and virtues so that we may await the coming of Your Son, guided by His Light and may Mary, the blessed Virgin, accompany us, guarding and giving us her prayerful help. Through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 26 November – Tuesday of the Thirty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C
I Wish to Clasp Your Hand – Do Not Refuse Me! Prayer of Count Eugene de Ferronays (1827-1894)
Dear Lord!
It is just when I am in the world
that I have most need of You
because You know it is full of snares
that the devil has set for me.
You must hold my hand, dear Lord,
if You will not abandon me.
A little of the world is not bad for me,
it is even good, for it teaches me how small it is
and I feel the greater happiness
when I come back to You.
But, that I may surely do so,
You must only loose Your hold a little,
that it may not try me too far,
You must not entirely leave hold.
Do You see dear Lord?
I wish to clasp Your hand – do not refuse me!
Amen.
Saint of the Day – 26 November – Blessed Gaetana Sterni (1827-1889) Widow, Religious, Founder of the Sisters of Divine Will, of which Order she is the Patron. Apostle of charity. Born on 26 June 1827 at Cassola, Vicenza, Italy and died on 26 November 1889 of natural causes. Gaetana’s life became marred due to the deaths of close relations including her husband and sole child which prompted her to look towards an apostolate to aid others and to ease others’ sufferings. The order she founded was dedicated to total consecration to Jesus Christ and to an active apostolate of charitable works to the lowliest of all.
Gaetana Sterni lived her whole life in Bassano del Grappa, an ancient and cheerful city in the province of Vicenza (Italy). She arrived with her family, at 8 years of age, from the nearby Cassola, where she was born on the 26th June 1827. Her father Giovanni Battista Sterni, worked as administrator for the country property of the Mora, noble Venetians and lived comfortably in the Mora habitat with his wife Giovanna Chiuppani and their six children. In 1835 he moved with his family to Bassano. However, a series of unfortunate episodes were to change the conditions for the family of Gaetana, drastically. At 18 years of age her elder sister, Margherita, died and shortly after, following a grave illness, her father too died. In the meantime, her brother Francesco, with the aim of becoming an actor left the home and thus, left the family, in a dire financial situation.
These events left their mark on Gaetana, who was forced to grow up before her time, having to share with her mother, the many problems of day to day life. Being blessed with a good intelligence she showed herself to be sensitive and mature but also full of life “ desiring to love and be loved”.
Her religious education was solid and guided by the teachings of her mother, her prayers and her frequenting the church. She soon acquired in her environment, respect and appreciation for her radiant character, full of good sense and for her strong femininity. “Her delicate features and rare beauty” and her fascinating presence, soon attracted a young entrepreneur, Liberale Conte, a widower with three children who asked her to marry him.
After a deep analysis of her feelings and the responsibilities that she would have to assume and overcoming the opposition of her tutor, Gaetana accepted Liberale’s proposal. The young bride, who still hadn’t reached her sixteenth birthday, entered into her new home filling it with her vitality, giving back to her husband joy and serenity and loving his three children as if they were her own. When Gaetana discovered that she was expecting his child, the happiness of the couple was complete.
While she was praying, Gaetana was shaken by a premonition of the imminent death of her husband and felt as though she would “die of a broken heart” at the thought of losing he who was “more precious than life,” however, deep inside, she felt a strength that would keep her from despair and lead her to have faith in God with all her heart. Unfortunately, her premonition came true and Liberale, at the height of youth and health, after a brief illness, died. The young bride now found herself in terrible anguish for the loss of her husband, whom she loved more than herself, for the children who once again found themselves to be orphans and for her unborn child, who would never know it’s own father. She was completely destroyed by the pain but when she started coming back to her senses, she remembered the premonition that she had had and what she had felt. She once again found faith in the Lord, entrusting her life to Him. In Him she found the strength to live, to take care of the three children and to complete her pregnancy.
Unfortunately, even Gaetana’s child died just a few days after it’s birth. Here began years of bitter widowhood. The family of her husband did not appreciate the strong links that bound Gaetana to the orphans and many misunderstandings, suspicions and false rumours arose. Eventually, she was separated from the children and distanced from the house. At nineteen years of age she returned to the home of her mother. In spite of this ordeal and not thinking of herself, she helped the children to accept the difficult separation. Approachable but strong, she defended the rights of the children, forgave freely and obtained the full reconciliation and serenity of the two families. The suffering didn’t make her bitter and, through her natural sensitivity, she grew in her capacity for compassion and solidarity.
She never thought of entering into a religious order and looking into her future, she prayed, that the Lord would help her to understand who was the husband that God had destined to be hers. But it was through her prayers that she began to perceive clearly that God wanted to be “the only husband for her soul” and Gaetana was stunned. She confided to her holy confessor who confirmed that it was an authentic call to God. Consequently, she asked to enter the convent of the Canosians of Bassano and was accepted as a postulate. For five months she lived happily in the community but once again, in her prayers, she had a premonition that prepared her for the death of her mother, which then happened within a few days. Consequently she was forced to leave the convent to assume the responsibility of looking after her younger brothers. For years she faced difficulties, family illness, misfortunes and financial hardships. In spite of everything, she managed to create a way of life that permitted a continued spiritual devotion.
She confronted her confessor and prayed intensely as to know what was God’s will for her. Becoming more humble and prepared, she was ever more attentive to what He asked her in the depths of her heart and also through the happenings and needs of the poor of her city.
Whilst she was still with the Canosians and had the premonition of her mother’s death, Gaetana had also sensed that He was preparing her “to employ there all of herself in the service of the poor and thus fulfil His will.” She held this vocation hidden in her heart for a long time before finding the courage to talk about it with her confessor, because it seemed to her strange and terrible.
When at last she had told him, he seemed to give no weight to the idea. However whenever Gaetana saw a poor person “recovered”, she re-felt that invitation “I want you among my poor”, and said “the idea of the Recovery follows me constantly”. She was 26 years old when she was finally free from all obligations to her family and could at last do as she wished. Upon conclusion of a serious and shared discernment, it was a Jesuit, Fr . Bedin that confirmed to her, saying “yes Gaetana, the Lord wants you in the Recovery.” In 1853, “only to do the will of God”, Gaetana entered into the hospice for beggars, known as the Recovery, which in miserable conditions, cared for 115 guests “the large part victims of unruliness and vice” in whom “disorders and abuses of almost every type”.
She remained there for 36 years until her death and employed in this ministry all of herself with untiring charity. While watching over the beds of the dying and in the most humble service of the ill and the old, she treated all with the abnegation, the delicacy and gentleness of those who in recoveries serve the Lord. She was driven by a great faith in God, from the desire to be His and to please Him in everything. When she was 33 years old and with the consent of her confessor Don Simonetti, she took a vow of total devotion of herself to God, “ready to accept absolutely anything that the Lord might ask of her”.
With unlimited faith she gave herself into the hands of God, “weak instrument which He uses for His own purposes”. She attributed to providence, the birth of the congregation, that came from the simplicity and humility, with the profession of the first two companions in 1865.
First Daughters of the Divine Will
The name “Daughters of the Divine Will” suggested to the heart of Gaetana and the young women that followed her, indicated that which should define them “complete uniformity to the Divine Will through a total abandonment in God and a strong zeal for the well-being of one’s neighbour, ready to sacrifice anything in order to make them well.”
Like her, the first companions, driven by the same spirit, devoted themselves to the will of God, dedicating themselves to serve the poor in the Recovery and those in need, especially helping those who were ill at home and other acts of charity depending on the particular needs that arose. The Bishop of Vicenza, Saint Giovanni Antonio Farina (1803–1888), approved the first rules of the congregation in 1875.
Gaetana died on the 26th of November 1889 lovingly assisted by her daughters and venerated by her fellow citizens. Her mortal remains are venerated in the Mother House. Since the beginning the communities have multiplied and today the congregation is diffused in Europe, America and Africa.
The path to holiness that Gaetana followed is, for it’s essential nature a proposable itinerary for all Christians – to achieve in everything and always, that which pleases the Lord, trusting oneself to Him in enlightened confidence, to change, with only the force of love, all evil into good, in the manner of Jesus. … Vatican.va
Blessed Gaetana was Beatified on 4 November 2001 by St Pope John Paul II, after approval of the first miracle. At her Beatification St John Paul said:
“Blessed Gaetana Sterni, who learned that the will of God is always love, dedicated herself with untiring charity to the excluded and the suffering. She always treated her brothers and sisters with the kindness and love of the one who serves Christ in the poor. She urged her spiritual daughters, the Sisters of the Divine Will, “to be disposed and content to put up with privations, fatigue and any sacrifice to help your neighbour in need in all that the Lord might want of them”. The witness of evangelical charity that Blessed Sterni left us reminds each believer of the need to seek the will of God in confident abandonment to Him and in generous service to one’s brothers and sisters.”
Bl Albert of Haigerloch
St Alypius Stylites
St Amator of Autun
St Basolus of Verzy
St Bellinus of Padua
St Bertger of Herzfeld
St Conrad of Constance
St Ðaminh Nguyen Van Xuyên
Bl Delphine of Glandèves
St Egelwine of Athelney Bl Gaetana Sterni (1827-1889)
Bl Giacomo Alberione
Bl Hugh Taylor
St Humilis of Bisignano
St Ida of Cologne
St James the Hermit St Peter of Alexandria (Died 311) Martyr
Biography:
St Magnance of Ste-Magnance
St Marcellus of Nicomedia
Bl Marmaduke Bowes
St Martin of Arades
St Nicon of Sparta
Bl Pontius of Faucigny
St Sabaudus of Trier
St Siricius, Pope
St Stylianus
St Sylvester Gozzolini
St Tôma Ðinh Viet Du
St Vacz
—
Martyrs of Alexandria – 7+ saints: A group of approximately 650 Christian priests, bishops and laity martyred together in the persecution of Maximian Galerius. We have the names and a few details only seven of them – Ammonius, Didius, Faustus, Hesychius, Pachomius, Phileas and Theodore. The were born in Egypt and were martyred there in c 311 in Alexandria, Egypt.
Martyrs of Capua – 7 saints: A group of seven Christians martyred together. The only details about them to survive are the names – Ammonius, Cassianus, Felicissimus, Nicander, Romana, Saturnin and Serenus. They were martyred in Capua, Campania, Italy, date unknown.
Martyrs of Nicomedia – 6 saints: A group of six orthodox Christians martyred by Arians. Few details have survived except their names – Marcellus, Melisus, Numerius, Peter, Serenusa and Victorinus. Martyred in
349 in Nicomedia, Bithynia, Asia Minor (modern Izmit, Turkey)
Thought for the Day – 25 November – Monday of the Thirty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 21:1-4
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam (1813–1853)
“Servant to the Poor”
and Founder of the St Vincent de Paul Society
“Society today seems to me to be not unlike the wayfarer described in the parable of the Good Samaritan. For while journeying along the road, mapped out for it by Christ, it has been set upon by thieves of evil human thought. Bad men have despoiled the wayfarer of all his goods, of the treasures of faith and love… . The priests and the Levites have passed him by. But this time, being real priests and true Levites, they have approached the suffering, wretched creature and attempted to cure him. But in his delirium he has not recognised them and has driven them away. Then we, weak Samaritans, outsiders as we are, have dared to approach this great sick patient. Perhaps he will be less affrighted by us? Let us try to measure the extent of his wounds, in order to pour oil into them. Let us make words of peace and consolation ringing in his ears. Then, when his eyes are opened, we will hand him over to the tender care of those, whom God has chosen, to be the guardians and doctors of souls.”
Blest are the pure in heart, for they shall see our God, the secret of the Lord is theirs, their soul is Christ’s abode.
The Lord, who left the heavens, our life and peace to bring, to dwell in lowliness with men, their pattern and their King.
Still to the lowly soul, He does Himself impart and for His dwelling and His throne, chooses the pure in heart.
Lord, we Thy presence seek, May ours this blessing be: give us a pure and lowly heart, a temple fit for Thee.
Quote/s of the Day – 25 November – Monday of the Thirty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 21:1-4
Speaking of: Mercy
“What sort of people are we? When God gives, we want to receive, when He asks, we refuse to give? When a poor man is hungry, Christ is in need, as He said Himself: “I was hungry and you gave me no food” (v. 42). Take care not to despise the hardship of the poor, if you would hope, without fear, to have your sins forgiven… What He receives on earth, He returns in heaven!”
“I put you this question, dearly beloved – what is it you want, what is it you are looking for, when you come to church? What indeed if not mercy? Show mercy on earth and you will receive mercy in heaven. A poor man is begging from you and you are begging from God, he asks for a scrap, you ask for eternal life… And so when you come to church give whatever alms you can to the poor in accordance with your means.”
“So hold fast to the sweet and salutary bond of love, without which, the rich are poor and with which the poor are rich. What do the rich possess if not charity? (…) And since “God is love,” (1 Jn 4:8) as John the evangelist says, what can the poor lack, if they merit to possess God by means of charity? (…) So love, dearest brethren and hold fast to charity.
without which no-one
will ever see God.”
Saint Caesarius of Arles (470-543)
“When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.”
St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604)
Father & Doctor of the Church
“Father of the Fathers”
“The poor are our masters, let us love them and serve them, as we would serve Jesus Christ Himself. “
Blessed Vincenza Maria Poloni (1802-1855)
“Yours must be a work of love, of kindness, you must give your time, your talents, yourselves. The poor person is a unique person of God’s fashioning with an inalienable right to respect. You must not be content with tiding the poor over the poverty crisis, You must study their condition and the injustices which brought about such poverty, with the aim of a long term improvement.”
“It is our vocation to set people’s hearts ablaze, to do what the Son of God did, who came to light a fire on earth in order to set it ablaze with His love.”
“I would like to embrace the whole world in a network of charity.”
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam (1813–1853)
“Servant to the Poor”
and Founder of the St Vincent de Paul Society
“True friendship with Jesus is expressed in how one lives, in the goodness of one’s heart, in one’s humility, kindness and mercy, in one’s love for justice and truth, in one’s sincere commitment to peace and reconciliation. This, we might say, is the ‘identity card’ that qualifies us as true ‘friends,’ it is the ‘passport’ that will let us enter eternal life.”
One Minute Reflection – 25 November – Monday of the Thirty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 21:1-4
“… for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.” … Luke 21:4
REFLECTION – “Although the spite of some people does not grow gentle with any kindness, nevertheless the works of mercy are not fruitless and kindness never loses what is offered to the ungrateful. May no-one, dearly beloved, make themselves strangers to good works. Let no-one claim, that his poverty scarcely sufficed for himself and could not help another. What is offered from a little is great and in the scale of divine justice, the quantity of gifts is not measured but the steadfastness of souls. The “widow” in the Gospel put two coins into the “treasury” and this surpassed the gifts of all the rich. No mercy is worthless before God. No compassion is fruitless. He has given different resources to human beings but He does not ask different affections.” … St Pope Leo the Great (400-461) Father & Doctor of the Church (Sermon 20)
PRAYER – God our Father, You give us a share in the one bread and the one cup and make us one in Christ. Help us to live as Your children and by our lives to bring Your salvation and joy to all the world. May the Holy Spirit fill us with all His gifts and virtues so that we may await the coming of Your Son, guided by His Light and may Mary, the blessed Virgin, accompany us, guarding and giving us her prayerful help. Through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 25 November – Monday of the Thirty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C
The Elder Brother’s Prayer
Teach me, my Lord,
to be sweet and gentle in all the events of life,
in disappointments,
in the thoughtlessness of those I trusted,
in the unfaithfulness of those on whom I relied.
Let me put myself aside,
to think of the happiness of others,
to hide my little pains and heartaches,
so that I may be the only one to suffer from them.
Teach me to profit by the suffering
that comes across my path.
Let me so use it that it may make me
patient, not irritable.
That it may make me broad in my forgiveness,
not narrow, haughty and overbearing.
May no-one be less good
for having come within my influence.
No-one less pure, less true, less kind,
less noble for having been a fellow traveller
in my journey toward Eternal Life.
As I go my rounds from one distraction to another,
let me whisper from time to time,
a word of love to Thee.
May my life be lived in the supernatural,
full of power for good,
and strong in its purpose of sanctity.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 25 November – Blessed Elisabeth Achler TOR (1386-1420) known as ” Blessed Elisabeth the Good” and Elizabeth of Reute, Betha, Elsbeth – Franciscan Tertiary Sister, Mystic, Stigmatist, Apostle of the Holy Eucharist, prayer and charity, gifted with the charism of prophecy – born on 25 November 1386 at Waldsee, Wurttemberg, Swabia, Germany and died on 25 November 1420 at Reute, Germany of natural causes. Patronage – Swabia, Germany.
Elisabeth was born on 25 November 1386 to Hans and Anna Achler in Waldsee in the region of Upper Swabia (a historic and linguistic region in Germany). She was raised in a pious home, hearing the Gospels explained to her by her mother in the form of stories, where she developed a strong devotion to the Passion of Christ.
She became a member of the Third Order of St Francis at the age of fourteen. Seeking to further her spiritual growth, she took as her confessor the provost of the local Canonry of St Peter in Waldsee, Dom Konrad Kügelin (1366-1428). Under his guidance, she and several other Franciscan tertiaries sought to follow a more intense experience of their Franciscan vocation. To this end, they acquired a house in Reute on the outskirts of Waldsee in 1403.
This community was a proto-monastery of the Order, as tertiaries of the mendicant orders had not yet been allowed to profess vows. Elisabeth threw herself into a life of prayer and service, working in the cloister kitchen and in the garden, where she would spend long hours in prayer.
She was known for her hospitality to visitors to the little monastery, especially for her concern for the poor who came to the gate to beg. Her love of the Blessed Sacrament was so great that she lived the last twelve years of her life subsisting solely on the consecrated hosts.
Her head showed the marks of the crown of thorns worn by Christ and her body the marks of Christ’s scourging. Although the Stigmata only occasionally appeared on her hands, she always felt its pain. She was credited with the gift of prophecy foretelling the election of Pope Martin V and the end of the Great Western Schism. She died on her birthday in 1420.
She was buried in the parish church of Reute. A biography of her was written by Kügelin, her confessor and sent to the Bishop of Konstanz. However, popular veneration for Elisabeth occurred only after 1623, when her tomb was opened by the then-provost of Waldsee.
Miracles were attributed to her, which were compiled into a formal document by a contemporary canon, Heinrich Scheffler (d. 1635). Pope Clement XIII officially approved her cultus on 19 June 1766.
Her major shrine is at the Convent of the Franciscan Sisters of Reute, Bad Waldsee, Germany where her feast is celebrated today.
Bl Adalbert of Caramaico
St Alanus of Lavaur
St Audentius of Milan
St Bernold of Ottobeuren
Bl Conrad of Heisterbach
Bl Ekbert of Muensterschwarzach Bl Elisabeth Achler TOR (1386-1420)
St Erasmus of Antioch
Bl Garcia of Arlanza
Bl Guido of Casauria
St Imma of Wurzburg
Bl Jacinto Serrano López
St Jucunda of Reggio Aemilia
Bl Maria Corsini Beltrame Quattrocchi
St Mercurius of Caesarea
St Moses of Rome
Bl Santiago Meseguer Burillo
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Martyrs of Africa – (13 saints): A group of 13 Christians murdered together for their faith in Africa, date unknown. The only details to have survived are their names – Claudian, Cyprian, Donatus, Felix, Januarius, Julian, Lucian, Marcian, Martialis, Peter, Quirianus, Victor and Vitalis.
Thought for the Day – 24 November – The Solemnity of Christ the King, the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year C, Gospel: Luke 23:35–43
“Jesus remember me”
These words are brought to mind by a line from the Eucharistic hymn “Adoro te devoto,” by St Thomas Aquinas – “I ask for what the repentant thief asked” (Peto quod opetivit latro paentitens). – “Jesus, remember me.” What a beautiful aspiration!
Each day and throughout the day, we can ask Jesus for the many things we need, summing up our prayers of petition, by asking Jesus to remember us, according to His mercy, remembering not our sins (Ps 25:7).
And, like the good thief, let us ask at the moment of our death: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42)
“Angels, saints and nations sing ‘Praised be Jesus Christ, our King. Lord of life, earth, sky and sea, King of love on Calvary.”
Quote/s of the Day – 24 November – The Solemnity of Christ the King
“Christ, has dominion over all creatures, a dominion not seized by violence nor usurped but His, by essence and by nature.”
St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444)
Father & Doctor of the Church
“Christ’s kingdom is not just a figure of speech. Christ is alive, He lives as a man, with the same body He took when He became man, when He rose after His death, the glorified body which subsists in the person of the Word together with His human heart. Christ, true God and true man, lives and reigns. He is the Lord of the universe. Everything that lives is kept in existence only through Him.”
St Josemaria Escrivá (1902-1975)
“Jesus Christ You have heard Him spoken of, indeed the greater part of you are already His – you are Christians. So, to you Christians I repeat His name, to everyone I proclaim Him – Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. He is the king of the new world. He is the secret of history. He is the key to our destiny.”
St Pope Paul VI (1897-1978)
“You say that I am a king. For this I was born and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”
John 18:37
“But what is the “truth” that Christ came into the world to witness to? The whole of His life reveals that God is love – so this is the truth to which He witnessed to the full, with the sacrifice of His own life on Calvary.”
Pope Benedict XVI
“When did Jesus reveal Himself as king? In the event of the Cross!”
At his profession on 12 July 1728, he heard Our Lord say to him: “From today on I will unite Myself more intimately to you because of my love for you.” Our Lord, His Virgin Mother, Saint Ignatius, Saint Teresa of Avila and other celestial visitors manifested themselves to the young Jesuit, conversed with him, counselled him and encouraged him. In 1726 both Aloysius Gonzaga SJ and Stanislaus Kostka SJ were Canonised by Pope Benedict XIII. The two became models of holiness for the Jesuit priest, as well as John Berchmans who was already on the course for Canonisation.
AnaStpaul 
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