One Minute Reflection – 3 February – Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 4:21–30 and The Memorial of St Blaise – Martyr (Died c 316) and St Ansgar (801-865)
And they rose up and put him out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. But passing through the midst of them he went away….Luke 4:29-30
REFLECTION – “A doctor came amongst us to restore us to health – our Lord Jesus Christ. He discovered blindness in our hearts and promised the light that “eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and has not entered the heart of man” (1Cor 2:9).
The humility of Jesus Christ is the cure for your pride. Don’t scorn what will bring you healing, be humble, you for whom God humbled Himself. Indeed, He knew that the medicine of humility would cure you, He who well understood your sickness and knew how to cure it. While you were unable to run to the doctor’s house, the doctor in person came to your house… He is coming, He wants to help you, He knows what you need.
God has come with humility precisely in order that man might imitate Him. If He had remained above you, how would you have been able to imitate Him? And, without imitating Him, how could you be healed? He came with humility because He knew the nature of the remedy He had to administer – a little bitter, it is true but healing. And do you continue to scorn Him? He who holds out the cup to you and you say: “But what sort of God is this God of mine? He was born, suffered, was covered with spittle, crowned with thorns, nailed on the cross!” O miserable soul! You see the doctor’s humility and not the cancer of your pride. That is why humility displeases you…
It often happens that mentally ill people end up by beating their doctor. When that happens, the unfortunate doctor is not only not distressed by the one who beat him but attempts to treat him… As for our doctor, He did not fear being killed by sick people afflicted with madness, He turned His own death into their remedy. Indeed, He died and rose again.”…St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – Lord our God, make us love You above all things and all our fellow-men, with a love that is worthy of You. May we look to Your Divine Son in love and imitation. Holy Father, You sent St Ansgar, Monk and Bishop, to bring the light of Christ to many nations of Northern Europe. Through his prayer give us grace to live always in the light of Your truth. Grant too, that by the prayers of St Blaise, we too may be granted the grace to follow Your only Son, no matter our sufferings, to You, in our heavenly home. We make our prayer, through Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever amen.
Our Morning Offering – 3 February – Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
The Bread of Angels By St Bonaventure (1217-1274) Doctor of the Church
Pierce, O most sweet Lord Jesus,
my inmost soul with the most joyous
and healthful wound of Your love,
and with true, calm and most holy apostolic charity,
that my soul may ever languish and melt
with entire love and longing for You,
may yearn for You and for Your courts,
may long to be dissolved and to be with You.
Grant that my soul may hunger after You,
the Bread of Angels, the refreshment of holy souls,
our daily and supersubstantial bread,
having all sweetness and savour
and every delightful taste.
May my heart ever hunger after and feed upon You,
Whom the angels desire to look upon,
and may my inmost soul
be filled with the sweetness of Your savour;
may it ever thirst for You,
the fountain of life,
the fountain of widsom and knowledge,
the fountain of eternal light,
the torrent of pleasure,
the fulness of the house of God;
may it ever compass You,
seek You, find You, run to You,
come up to You, meditate on You, speak of You
and do all for the praise and glory of Your name,
with humility and discretion,
with love and delight,
with ease and affection,
with perseverence to the end
and be You alone ever my hope,
my entire confidence, my riches, my delight,
my pleasure, my joy, my rest and tranquility,
my peace, my sweetness, my food, my refreshment,
my refuge, my help, my wisdom, my portion,
my possession, my treasure;
in Whom may my mind and my heart
be ever fixed and firm and rooted immovably.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 3 February – Saint Ansgar OSB (801-865) “Apostle of the North”, Bishop, Monk, Mystic, Missionary, Preacher, Miracle-worker, Apostle of Charity Ascetic. Patronages – Denmark, Scandinavia, Sweden, Bremen, Germany, diocese of Hamburg, Germany, archdiocese of. He is also known as Anskar or Anschar. St Ansgarwas the Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen – a northern part of the Kingdom of the East Franks. The See of Hamburg was designated a mission to bring Christianity to Northern Europe and Ansgar became known as the “Apostle of the North”. He was born in 801 at Amiens, Picardy, France and died on 3 February 865 at Bremen, Germany.
Ansgar was the son of a noble Frankish family, born near Amiens. After his mother’s early death, Ansgar was brought up in Corbie Abbey and was educated at the Benedictine monastery in Picardy. According to the Vita Ansgarii – The Life of Ansgar, when the little boy learned in a vision that his mother was in the company of the Blessed Virgin Mary, his careless attitude toward spiritual matters changed to seriousness. His pupil, successor and eventual biographer St Rimbert (830–888) considered the visions, of which this was the first, to be the main motivation of the saint’s life.
Ansgar was a product of the phase of Christianisation of Saxony (present day Northern Germany) begun by Charlemagne and continued by his son and successor, Louis the Pious. A group of monks including Ansgar were sent back to Jutland with the baptised exiled king Harald Klak. Ansgar returned two years later and was one of a number of missionaries sent to found the abbey of Corvey in Westphalia and there became a teacher and preacher. Then in 829 in response to a request from the Swedish king Björn at Hauge for a mission to the Swedes, Louis the Pious appointed Ansgar missionary. With an assistant, the friar Witmar, he preached and made converts for six months at Birka, on Lake Mälaren. They organised a small congregation there with the king’s steward, Hergeir and Mor Frideborg as its most prominent members. In 831 he returned to Louis’ court at Worms and was appointed to the Archbishopric of Hamburg. This was a new archbishopric with a see formed from those of Bremen and Verden, plus the right to send missions into all the northern lands and to consecrate bishops for them. He was given the mission of evangelising Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The King of Sweden decided to cast lots as to whether the Christian missionaries should be admitted into his kingdom. Ansgar recommended the issue to the care of God, and the lot was favourable.
Ansgar was consecrated in November 831 and, the arrangements having been at once approved by Pope Gregory IV, he went to Rome to receive the pallium directly from the hands of the pope and to be named legate for the northern lands. This commission had previously been bestowed upon Ebbo, Archbishop of Reims but the jurisdiction was divided by agreement, with Ebbo retaining Sweden for himself. For a time Ansgar devoted himself to the needs of his own diocese, which was still missionary territory with but a few churches. He founded a monastery and a school in Hamburg.
A depiction of Saint Ansgar from the Church Trinitatis, in Hamburg, Germany
After Louis died in 840, his empire was divided and Ansgar lost the abbey of Turholt, which had been given as an endowment for his work. Then in 845, the Danes unexpectedly raided Hamburg, destroying all the church’s treasures and books and leaving the entire diocese beyond repair. Ansgar now had neither see, nor revenue. Many of his helpers deserted him but the new king, Louis the German, came to his aid. After failing to recover Turholt for him, in 847 he awarded him the vacant diocese of Bremen, where he took up residence in 848. However, since Hamburg had been an archbishopric, the sees of Bremen and Hamburg were combined for him. This presented canonical difficulties and also aroused the anger of the Bishop of Cologne, to whom Bremen had been suffragan but after prolonged negotiations, Pope Nicholas I approved the union of the two dioceses in 864.
Through all this political turmoil, Ansgar continued his mission to the northern lands. The Danish civil war compelled him to establish good relations with two kings, Horik the Elder and his son, Horik II. Both assisted him until his death. He was able to secure recognition of Christianity as a tolerated religion and permission to build a church in Sleswick. He did not forget the Swedish mission and spent two years there in person (848–850), at the critical moment when a pagan reaction was threatened, which he succeeded in averting. In 854, Ansgar returned to Sweden when king Olof ruled in Birka. According to Rimbert, he was well disposed to Christianity.
Ansgar wore a rough hair shirt, lived on bread and water and showed great charity to the poor. Being the first missionary in Sweden and the organiser of the hierarchy in the Nordic countries, he was declared Patron of Scandinavia. Ansgar was buried in Bremen in 865.
His life story was written by his successor as archbishop, Rimbert, in The Life of Ansgar – Vita Ansgarii.
His Relics are located in Hamburg on two places – St. Mary’s Cathedral and St Ansgar’s and St Bernard’s Church.
St Ansgar Statue in Hamburg
The Life of Ansgar aims above all to demonstrate Ansgar’s sanctity. It is speaks of St Ansgar’s visions, which, encouraged and assisted Ansgar’s remarkable missionary feats.
Through the course of this work, St Ansgar repeatedly embarked on a new stage in his career following a vision. His studies and ensuing devotion to the ascetic life of a monk were inspired by a vision of his mother in the presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary. When the Swedish people were left without a priest for some time, he begged King Horik to help him with this problem. St Ansgar was convinced he was commanded by heaven to undertake this mission and was influenced by a vision he received when he was concerned about the journey, in which he met a man who reassured him of his purpose and informed him of a prophet that he would meet, the Abbot Adalard, who would instruct him in what was to happen. In the vision, he searched for and found Adalard, who commanded, “Islands, listen to me, pay attention, remotest peoples”, which Ansgar interpreted as God’s will that he go to the Scandinavian countries as “most of that country consisted of islands and also, when ‘I will make you the light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth’ was added, since the end of the world in the north was in Swedish territory”. Saint Adalard of Corbie (c 751-827), was the cousin of Charlemagne.
There are Statues dedicated to him in Hamburg, Copenhagen, Ribe as well as a stone cross at Birka. A crater on the Moon, Ansgarius, has been named for him.
St Blaise (Died c 316) – Martyr (Optional Memorial)
All about St Blaise: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/02/03/saint-of-the-day-st-blaise-died-c-316-martyr/
St Ansgar OSB (801-865) (Optional Memorial)
Bl Alois Andritzki
St Anatolius of Salins
St Anna the Prophetess
St Berlinda of Meerbeke
St Blasius of Armentarius
St Blasius of Oreto
St Caellainn
St Celerinus of Carthage
St Claudine Thevenet
St Clerina of Carthage
St Deodatus of Lagny
St Eutichio
St Evantius of Vienne
St Felix of Africa
St Felix of Lyons
St Hadelin of Chelles
Bl Helena Stollenwerk
Bl Helinand of Pronleroy
St Hippolytus of Africa
St Ia of Cornwall
St Ignatius of Africa
Bl Iustus Takayama Ukon
Bl John Nelson
Bl John Zakoly
St Laurentinus of Carthage
St Laurentius of Carthage
St Lawrence the Illuminator
St Liafdag
St Lupicinus of Lyon
St Margaret of England
Bl Marie Rivier
St Oliver of Ancona
St Philip of Vienne
St Remedius of Gap
St Sempronius of Africa
St Tigrides
St Werburga of Bardney
St Werburga of Chester
—
Benedictine Martyrs: A collective memorial of all members of the Benedictine Order who have died as martyrs for the faith.
Thought for the Day – 2 February – Feast of the Presentation of the Lord and the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life
The celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life invites all the Church to reflect on the role of Consecrated Life within the Christian community. Those who choose to live a consecrated life do so for the sake of the gospel.
Some Christian women and men respond to God’s call to become followers of Jesus through profession of vows and a life dedicated to prayer and service. They live out the consecrated life in different ways. Religious sisters, nuns, brothers, religious priests and monks consecrate their lives through their profession of the evangelical vows and live as part of a community. Secular institutes are another form of living the consecrated life as single people. Those who become followers of Jesus through the consecrated life bless the Church.
And so, as we think about the many ways in which we are called to love in ordinary ways and do it extraordinarily well, let us not forget those women and men who have responded to God’s call to serve as a consecrated religious. This day and Mass is dedicated to them throughout the world. On this World Day for Consecrated Life, may the lives of consecrated women and men be blessed with God’s overwhelming grace of love! May their lives inspire us to hear God’s vocational call. May this tune be forever in our minds and transform our hearts to say boldly:
“Here I am, Lord, send me!”
LET US PRAY FOR ALL CONSECRATED MEN & WOMEN AND FOR VOCATIONS:
Loving God, You call all who believe in You
to grow perfect in love
by following in the footsteps
of Christ Your Son.
Call from among us more men and women
who will serve You as religious.
Open the hearts of many, raise up
faithful servants of the Gospel, dedicated,
holy priests, sisters, brothers and deacons,
who will spend themselves for Your people
and their needs.
Bless those who are serving now
with courage and perseverance.
Grant that many will be inspired by their
example and faith.
By their way of life, may they provide a convincing sign
of Your Kingdom for the Church and the whole world.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen
Quote of the Day – 2 February – Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
Come then, my brethren, give an eye to that candle burning in Simeon’s hands. Light your candles too by borrowing from that Light, for these candles I speak of are the lamps which the Lord orders us to have in our hands (Mt 25:1; Lk 12:35). Come to Him and be enlightened (Ps 34[33], 6), so as to be not merely carrying lamps but to be very lamps yourselves, shining inside and out, for yourselves and for your neighbours.
Be a lamp then in heart, in hand, in lips. The lamp in your heart will shine for you, the lamp in your hand or on your lips will shine out for your neighbours. T he lamp in the heart is loving faith, the lamp in the hand is the example of good works, the lamp on the lips is edifying speech. But not just before men must we shine by works and word but before angels too by prayer and before God Himself, by pure intention. Our lamp before the angels is the purity of our devotion when in the sight of angels we chant the psalms with care or pray with burning ardour, our lamp before God is the honesty of our intention to please Him only, whose approval we have won…
There are so many lamps then, my brethren, to lighten your way, if only you will come to the source of all light and be enlightened.
Come, I say, to Jesus who shines out to us from Simeon’s arms. He will give light to your faith, lustre to your works, meaning to your words for men, ardour to your prayer, purity to your intentions… And when this life’s lamp is extinguished there will arise a life’s light which can never be extinguished, a shimmering noonday light, arising as it were at the evening of your life.
Blessed Guerric of Igny O.Cist. (c 1080-1157)
Cistercian abbot
One Minute Reflection – 2 February – Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Gospel: Luke 2:22–40 and the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life
“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to thy people Israel.”...Luke 2:29-32
REFLECTION – “Those who have met Jesus no longer fear anything. We too can repeat the words of the elderly Simeon, he too was blessed by the encounter with Christ, after a lifetime spent in anticipation of this event: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation” (Lk 2:29-30). At that instant, at last, we will no longer need anything, we will no longer see in a confused way. We will no longer weep in vain, because all has passed, even the prophecies, even consciousness. But not love – this endures. Because “love never ends” (1 Cor 13:8).”…Pope Francis – General Audience, 25 October 2017
PRAYER – May the Lord renew in you and in all consecrated people each day the joyful response to His freely given and faithful love. Dear brothers and sisters, like lighted candles, always and everywhere shine with the love of Christ, Light of the world. May Mary Most Holy, the consecrated Woman, help you to live to the full, your special vocation and mission in the Church for the world’s salvation. And may we all follow our Lord in obedience. Amen!
Our Morning Offering – 2 February – The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
Prayer for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord By Abbot Prosper Guéranger OSB (1805-1875)
O Blessed Mother,
the sword is already in your heart.
You foreknow the future
of the Fruit of your womb.
May our fidelity in following Him,
through the coming mysteries,
of His public life
bring some alleviations
to the sorrows
of your maternal heart.
Amen
The feast of Jesus’ presentation in the temple forty days after his birth, celebrated on 2 February, has a long history in the Eastern and Western Church.
The Mosaic law prescribed that every firstborn male in Israel had to be consecrated to God forty days after birth and redeemed with a sum deposited in the Temple treasury. This was in remembrance of the firstborn sons being preserved from death on the night of the first Passover during the exodus from Egypt. The Gospel according to St. Luke gives us this account of Jesus’ presentation in the Temple: when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.” St Joseph and our Lady entered the temple, unnoticed among the crowd. The “desired of all nations” came to the house of his Father in his Mother’s arms. The liturgy of this feast-day exhorts us, in the Responsorial Psalm, to adore the King of Glory in the heart of his humble family “Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in.”
The Church of Jerusalem began the annual commemoration of this mystery in the 4th century. The feast was celebrated on 14 February forty days after the Epiphany because the Jerusalem liturgy had not yet adopted the Roman custom of celebrating Christmas on 25 December. That is why when this became the common custom throughout the whole Christian world, the feast of the Presentation was moved to 2 February and was soon celebrated throughout the entire East. In Byzantium, the emperor Justinian I introduced it in the 6th century, under the title “Hypapante” or “encounter,” referring to Jesus’ encounter with the aged Simeon, who was a figure of the just men of Israel who had patiently awaited the fulfilment of the messianic prophecies for so many years.
During the 7th century, the celebration also took root in the West. The widespread name of Candlemas comes from the tradition instituted by Pope Sergius I of having a procession with candles. As the elderly Simeon proclaimed, Jesus is the Saviour, prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles. In commemorating the arrival and manifestation of the divine light to the world, the Church each year blesses candles, symbol of Jesus’ perennial presence and the light of faith that the faithful receive in the sacrament of Baptism. The procession with lighted candles thus becomes an expression of Christian life: a pathway illuminated by the light of Christ.
The annual commemoration of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple is also a Marian celebration and therefore at certain times in the past it was also known as the feast of the Purification of Mary. Even though Mary was preserved by God from original sin, as a Hebrew mother she chose to submit to the Law of the Lord and therefore offered a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. Mary’s offering was thus a sign of her prompt obedience to God’s commands.
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord: The feast commemorates the purifying of the Blessed Virgin according to the Mosaic Law, 40 days after the birth of Christ and the presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple. The feast was introduced into the Eastern Empire by Emperor Justinian I and is mentioned in the Western Church in the Gelasian Sacramentary of the 7th century. Candles are blessed on that day in commemoration of the words of Holy Simeon concerning Christ “a light to the revelation of the Gentiles” (Luke 2) and a procession with lighted candles is held in the church to represent the entry of Christ, the Light of the World, into the Temple of Jerusalem. “Candlemas” is still the name in Scotland for a legal term-day on which interest and rents are payable (2 February).
Patronage
• Jaro, Philippines
• Western Visayas, Philippines
Our Lady of the Candles – (formally known as Nuestra Señora de la Purificación y la Candelaria) is a Marian title and image venerated by Filipino Catholics. The image, which is enshrined on the balcony of Jaro Cathedral, is known as the patroness of Jaro District of Iloilo City and the whole of the Western Visayas.
The feast day of Our Lady of the Candles is on Candlemas (2 February) and is celebrated in Iloilo City with a Solemn Pontifical Mass presided by the Archbishop of Jaro. St Pope John Paul II personally issued a Canonical coronation towards the venerated image on 21 February 1981.
World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life: Begun in 1997 by St Pope John Paul II, the World Day for Consecrated Life was intended to serve three purposes:
• to praise the Lord and thank Him for the great gift of consecrated life;
• to promote a knowledge of and esteem for the consecrated life by the entire People of God;
• to allow those in consecrated life to celebrate together the marvels which the Lord has accomplished in them, to discover by a more illumined faith the rays of divine beauty, spread by the Spirit in their way of life and to acquire a more vivid consciousness of their irreplaceable mission, in the Church and in the world;
It serves an opportunity to highlight the extraordinary contributions of men and women religious, as well as a time to pray for vocations to the consecrated life.
—
St Adalbald of Ostrevant
St Adeloga of Kitzingen
St Agathodoros of Tyana
St Andrea Carlo Ferrari
St Apronian the Executioner
St Bruno of Ebsdorf
St Burchard of Wurzburg
St St Candidus the Martyr
St Columbanus of Ghent
St Cornelius the Centurion
St Felician the Martyr
St Feock
St Firmus of Rome
St Flosculus of Orléans
St Fortunatus the Martyr
St Giovanni Battista Clemente Saggio
St Hilarus the Martyr
St Jean Theophane Venard
St Jeanne de Lestonnac
St Lawrence of Canterbury
Bl Louis Alexander Alphonse Brisson
Bl Maria Domenica Mantovani
St Marquard of Hildesheim
St Mun
Bl Peter Cambiano
St Rogatus the Martyr
St Saturninus the Martyr
St Sicharia of Orleans
St Simon of Cassia Fidati
Bl Stephen Bellesini
St Theodoric of Ninden
St Victoria the Martyr
—
Martyrs of Ebsdorf: Members of the army of King Louis III of France under the leadership of Duke Saint Bruno of Ebsdorf. The martyrs died fighting invading pagan Norsemen, and defending the local Christian population. Four bishops, including Saint Marquard of Hildesheim and Saint Theodoric of Ninden, eleven nobles, and countless unnamed foot soldiers died repelling the invaders. They were martyred in the winter of 880 in battle at Luneberg Heath and Ebsdorf, Saxony (modern Germany).
In January, the Catholic Church celebrated the Month of the Holy Name of Jesus and in February, we turn to the entire Holy Family—Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
The special devotion which proposes the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph as the model of virtue of all Christian households began in the 17th century. It started almost in France – the Association of the Holy Family was founded by the Daughters of the Holy Family in Paris in 1674.
This devotion soon spread and in 1893 Pope Leo XIII expressed his approval of a feast under this title and himself composed part of the Office. On account of the flight into Egypt this feast has been observed by the Copts from early times.
The feast was welcomed by succeeding Pontiffs as an efficacious means for bringing home to the Christian people the example of the Holy Family at Nazareth and by the restoration of the true spirit of family life, stemming, in some measure, the evils of present-day society.
In the words of His Holiness Pope Leo XIII, “Nothing truly can be more salutary or efficacious for Christian families to meditate upon than the example of this Holy Family, which embraces the perfection and completeness of all domestic virtues.”
Prayer to the Holy Family By Pope Francis Angelus, 29 December 2013
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
in You we contemplate
the splendour of true love,
to You we turn with trust.
Holy Family of Nazareth,
grant that our families too
may be places of communion and prayer,
authentic schools of the Gospel
and small domestic Churches.
Holy Family of Nazareth,
may families never again
experience violence, rejection and division:
may all who have been hurt or scandalised
find ready comfort and healing.
Holy Family of Nazareth,
may we be made
once more mindful
of the sacredness
and inviolability of the family,
and its beauty in God’s plan.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
graciously hear our prayer.
Amen
(This prayer was composed for the Synod of the Family in 2014, so it has been very slightly adapted to remove the reference to the said Synod).
The Holy Father’s Prayer Intention for February 2019
FEBRUARY 2019
Human Trafficking
For a generous welcome of the victims of human trafficking, of enforced prostitution and of violence.
Let us pray:
Prayer to St Josephine Bakhita for Intercession Against Human Trafficking By Pope Francis
Saint Josephine Bakhita, you were sold into slavery as a child and endured unspeakable hardship and suffering. Once liberated from your physical enslavement, you found true redemption in your encounter with Christ and his Church. O Saint Josephine Bakhita, assist all those who are entrapped in slavery. Intercede on their behalf with the God of Mercy, so that the chains of their captivity will be broken. May God Himself free all those who have been threatened, wounded or mistreated by the trade and trafficking of human beings. Bring comfort to survivors of this slavery and teach them to look to Jesus, as an example of hope and faith, so that they may find healing from their wounds. We ask you to pray for us and to intercede on behalf of us al, that we may not fall into indifference, that we may open our eyes and be able to see the misery and wounds of our many brothers and sisters deprived of their dignity and their freedom and may we hear their cry for help. Amen
PRAYER FROM THE ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE WORLD DAY OF PRAYER, REFLECTION AND ACTION AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Thought for the Day – 1 February – the Memorial of St Brigid of Ireland (c 453-523)
St Brigid directly influenced several other future saints of Ireland and her many religious communities helped to secure the country’s conversion from paganism to the Catholic faith.
The Irish call on her in every need, for, as the ancient legends run, “everything that Brigid asked of the Lord, was granted her at once. For this was her desire – to satisfy the poor, to expel every hardship, to spare every miserable man.” And, she still carries on this mission today.
St Brigid took the whole of humanity into her heart and 1500 years after her death, the power of goodness and holiness reaches down through the centuries. There was no limit to her charity and her love for all. God thus graced her with great power to do good for all. There should be no limit to ours – imagine a world such as this!
St Brigid’s Blessing
May Brigid bless the house wherein we dwell. Bless every fireside, every wall and door. Bless every heart that beats beneath its roof. Bless every hand that toils to bring its joy. Bless every foot that walks portals through. May Brigid bless the house that shelters us.
Quote of the Day – 1 February – the Memorial of St Brigid of Ireland (c 453-523)
I would like the angels of Heaven to be among us. I would like an abundance of peace. I would like full vessels of charity. I would like rich treasures of mercy. I would like cheerfulness to preside over all. I would like Jesus to be present. I would like the three Marys of illustrious renown to be with us. I would like the friends of Heaven, to be gathered around us, from all parts. I would like myself to be a rent-payer to the Lord, that I should suffer distress, that He would bestow a good blessing upon me. I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings. I would like to be watching Heaven’s family drinking it through all eternity.
One Minute Reflection – 1 February – Friday of the Third week in Ordinary Time, Year Gospel: Mark 4:26–34 and the Memorial of St Brigid of Ireland (c 453-523)
And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground and should sleep and rise, night and day and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how.”...Mark 4:26-28
REFLECTION – “We can be confident because the Word of God is a creative word, destined to become the “full grain in the ear” (v. 28). This Word, if accepted, certainly bears fruit, for God Himself makes it sprout and grow in ways that we cannot always verify or understand. (cf. v. 27). All this tells us that it is always God, it is always God who makes His Kingdom grow. That is why we fervently pray “thy Kingdom come”. It is He who makes it grow. Man is His humble collaborator, who contemplates and rejoices in divine creative action and waits patiently for its fruits.”…Pope Francis – Angelus, 14 June 2015
PRAYER – Almighty Father, we bless You Lord of life, through whom all living things tend. You are the source of all, our first beginning and our end! Grant holy Father, that we may allow the Word to enter our hearts and grow by Your grace, so that we may always live for Your glory. May the intercession of St Brigid of Ireland, who consistently tended Your seed, grant us strength and zeal. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 1 February – Friday of the Third week in Ordinary Time, Year C
Let Your Will be Mine A Prayer for Fulfilling the Will of God Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)
O most merciful Jesus,
grant me Your grace,
that it may remain with me always
and persevere with me to the end.
Grant me always to will and desire,
what is more pleasing and acceptable to You.
Let Your will be mine
and let my will always follow Yours
in perfect conformity with it.
Let my will and desires, always be one with Yours
and let me be unable to will or not to will,
except as You will or do not will.
Grant that I may die to all worldly things
and that I may be despised and unknown
for love of You.
Grant, above all things to be desired,
that I may find rest in You
and that in Your Heart alone, may be my peace.
You, O Lord, give true peace to the heart
and perfect rest to body and soul.
Apart from You, all is difficult and never still.
In that peace, in You Who are the one,
supreme and eternal Good,
I will sleep and take my rest.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 1 February – St Brigid of Ireland/Kildare (c 453-523) Virgin, Abbess, Apostle of Charity and foundress of several Monasteries of Nuns, including that of Kildare in Ireland, which was famous and was greatly revered – born in 453 at Faughart, County Louth, Ireland and died on 1 February 523 at Kildare, Ireland of natural causes. Patronages – Ireland, babies, blacksmiths, sailors, brewers, cattle, chicken farmers, children whose parents are not married, children with abusive fathers, children born into abusive unions, Clan Douglas, dairy workers, Florida, fugitives, Leinster, midwives, Nuns, poets, the poor, printing presses, students, travellers.
Next to the glorious St Patrick, St Brigid, whom we may consider his spiritual daughter in Christ, has ever been held in singular veneration in Ireland.
Historians say we know a lot more about St Brigid than we have facts, a polite way of saying that legends swirl about Ireland’s most celebrated woman. But even legends may have cores of truth. And some miracle stories are not legends at all but true accounts of God’s interventions.
St Bride (Brigid) Carried By Angels, a painting by Scottish artist, John Duncan, 1913.
Brigid was the daughter of a slave woman and a chieftain, who liberated her at the urging of his overlord. As a girl she sensed a call to become a nun and St Mel, bishop of Armagh, received her vows. Before Brigid, consecrated virgins lived at home with their families. But the saint, imitating Patrick, began to assemble nuns in communities, a historic move which enriched the church in Ireland.
In 471, Brigid founded a monastery for both women and men at Kildare. This was the first convent in Ireland and Brigid was the abbess. Under her leadership Kildare became a centre of learning and spirituality. Her school of art fashioned both lovely utensils for worship and beautifully illustrated manuscripts. Again following Patrick’s model, Brigid used Kildare as a base and built convents throughout the island. The renown of Brigid’s unbounded charity drew multitudes of the poor to Kildare, the fame of her piety attracted thither many persons anxious to solicit her prayers or to profit by her holy example. In course of time the number of these so much increased that it became necessary to provide accommodation for them in the neighbourhood of the new monastery and thus was laid the foundation and origin of the town of Kildare.
Brigid’s hallmark was uninhibited, generous giving to anyone in need. Many of the saint’s earliest miracles seem to have rescued her from punishment for having given something to the poor that was intended for someone else. For example, once as a child she gave a piece of bacon to a dog and was glad to find it replaced when she was about to be disciplined. Brigid exhibited this unbounded charity all her life, giving away valuables, clothing, food—anything close by—to anyone who asked.
One of the most appealing things told of Brigid is her contemporaries’ belief that there was peace in her blessing. Not merely did contentiousness die out in her presence but just as by the touch of her hand she healed leprosy, so by her very will for peace she healed strife and laid antiseptics on the suppurating bitterness that foments it.
In the ninth century, the country being desolated by the Danes, the remains of St Brigid were removed in order to secure them from irreverence and, being transferred to Down-Patrick, were deposited in the same grave with those of the glorious St Patrick. Their bodies, together with that of St Columba, were translated afterwards to the cathedral of the same city but their monument was destroyed in the reign of King Henry VIII. The head of St Brigid is now kept in the church of the Jesuits at Lisbon.
Saint Brigid’s Cross
A special type of cross known as “Saint Brigid’s cross” is popular throughout Ireland. It commemorates a famous story in which Brigid went to the home of a pagan leader when people told her that he was dying and needed to hear the Gospel message quickly. When Brigid arrived, the man was delirious and upset, unwilling to listen to what Brigid had to say. So she sat with him and prayed and while she did, she took some of the straw from the floor and began weaving it into the shape of a cross. Gradually the man quieted down and asked Brigid what she was doing. She then explained the Gospel to him, using her handmade cross as a visual aid. The man then came to faith in Jesus Christ and Brigid baptised him just before he died.
Today, many Irish people display a Saint Brigid’s cross in their homes, since it is said to help ward off evil and welcome good. Brigid died in 523 and after her death people began to venerate her as a saint, praying to her for help seeking to heal from God, since many of the miracles during her lifetime related to healing.
Blessing of St Brigid’s Crosses
Father of all creation and Lord of Light,
You have given us life and entrusted Your creation to us, to use it and to care for it.
We ask You to bless these crosses made of green rushes in memory of holy Brigid,
who used the cross to recall and to teach Your Son’s life, death and resurrection.
May these crosses be a sign of our sharing in the Paschal Mystery of your Son
and a sign of Your protection of our lives, our land and its creatures,
through Brigid’s intercession, during the coming year and always.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
The crosses are sprinkled with holy water:
May the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit
be on these crosses and on the places where they hang
and on everyone who looks at them.
Amen
St Brigid of Fiesole St Brigid of Ireland/Kildare (c 453-523)
St Cecilius of Granada
St Cinnia of Ulster
St Clarus of Seligenstadt
Bl Conor O’Devany
St Crewenna
St Darlaugdach of Kildare
St Henry Morse
St Ioannes Yi Mun-u
St Jarlath
Bl John of the Grating
St Kinnia
Bl Luigi Variara
Bl Patrick O’Lougham
St Paul of Trois-Châteaux
St Paulus Hong Yong-ju
St Raymond of Fitero
St Sabinus
St Severus of Avranches
St Severus of Ravenna
St Sigebert III of Austrasia
St Tryphon of Lampsacus
St Ursus of Aosta
St Veridiana
—
Martyrs of Avrillé – 47 beati: Forty-seven Christians executed together for their faith in the anti-Catholic persecution of the French Revolution.
• Anne-François de Villeneuve
• Anne Hamard
• Catherine Cottenceau
• Charlotte Davy
• François Bellanger
• François Bonneau
• François Michau
• François Pagis epouse Railleau
• Gabrielle Androuin
• Jacquine Monnier
• Jeanne Bourigault
• Jeanne Fouchard épouse Chalonneau
• Jeanne Gruget veuve Doly
• Jeanne-Marie Sailland d’Epinatz
• Louise-Aimée Dean de Luigné
• Louise-Olympe Rallier de la Tertinière veuve Déan de Luigné
• Madeleine Blond
• Madeleine Perrotin veuve Rousseau
• Madeleine Sailland d’Epinatz
• Marguerite Rivière epouse Huau
• Marie Anne Pichery épouse Delahaye
• Marie-Anne Vaillot
• Marie Cassin épouse Moreau
• Marie Fausseuse épouse Banchereau
• Marie Gallard épouse Quesson
• Marie Gasnier épouse Mercier
• Marie Grillard
• Marie-Jeanne Chauvigné épouse Rorteau
• Marie Lenée épouse Lepage de Varancé
• Marie Leroy
• Marie Leroy épouse Brevet
• Marie Roualt épouse Bouju
• Odilia Baumgarten
• Perrine Androuin
• Perrine Besson
• Perrine-Charlotte Phelippeaux épouse Sailland d’Epinatz
• Perrine Grille
• Perrine Ledoyen
• Perrine Sailland d’Epinatz
• Renée Cailleau épouse Girault
• Renée Grillard
• Renée Martin épouse Martin
• Renée Valin
• Rose Quenion
• Simone Chauvigné veuve Charbonneau
• Suzanne Androuin
• Victoire Bauduceau epouse Réveillère
They were martyred on 1 February 1794 in Avrillé, Maine-et-Loire, France and Beatified on 19 February 1984 by St Pope John Paul II at Rome, Italy.
Martyrs of Korea: Thousands of people were murdered in the anti-Catholic persecutions in Korea. Today we celebrate and honour:
• Saint Barbara Ch’oe Yong-i
• Saint Ioannes Yi Mun-u
• Saint Paulus Hong Yong-ju
Thought for the Day – 31 January -The Memorial of St John Bosco (1815-1888)
On 19 September 1840, John Bosco was ordained sub-deacon at Turin, the diaconate followed on the Saturday of Passion week (27 March) 1841. On 26 May, he went into retreat at the Vincentian House in Turin, in preparation for his ordination to the priesthood. The notes of his retreat contain the nine resolutions which he made at this solemn moment of his life. They can be set down without commentary, for they speak for themselves and their punctual execution for the rest of his days, is added testimony to his determination in taking them.
1. I will take no unnecessary walks.
2. I will make exactingly careful use of my time.
3. When the salvation of souls is at stake, I will be always ready to suffer, to act and to humble myself.
4. May the charity and gentleness of St Francis de Sales, inform my every action.
5. I will always be content with the food set before me, unless it is really harmful to my health.
6. I will always add water to my wine and drink it only for reasons of health, that is, on such days ain such measure as health requires.
7. Since work is a powerful weapon against the enemies of my salvation, I will take only five hours sleep a night. During the day, especially after dinner, I will take no rest, except in case of illness.
8. Every day, I will devote some time to meditation and spiritual reading. During the day, I will make a short visit, or at any rate a prayer, to the Blessed Sacrament. My preparation for Mass, shall last at least a quarter of an hour and so shall my thanksgiving.
9. Outside the confessional and save in cases of strict necessity, I will never stop to talk with women. *
(the only commentary is in regard to this point * – just remember the times in which St John lived).
We would do well to adopt some of these resolutions for our own spiritual growth!
Quote/s of the Day – 31 January -The Memorial of St John Bosco (1815-1888)
“Do not try to excuse your faults, try to correct them.”
“Fly from bad companions as from the bite of a poisonous snake.”
“Act today in such a way, that you need not blush tomorrow.”
“We do not go to Holy Communion because we are good, we go to become good.”
“Ask the Blessed Virgin for the grace to receive Communion frequently and worthily… Try to imagine that the Blessed Virgin, herself, will give you the Sacred Host. No-one would dare strike at the Heart of Jesus while He is in Mary’s hands.”
“Be good. This will make your angel happy. When sorrows and misfortunes, physical or spiritual, afflict you, turn to your guardian angel with strong trust and he will help you.”
“Ask your angel to console and assist you, in your last moments.”
“Be ever more convinced that, your guardian angel is really present, that he is ever at your side. St Frances of Rome always saw him standing before her, his arms clasped at his breast, his eyes uplifted to Heaven – but at the slightest failing, he would cover his face as if in shame and at times, turn his back to her!”
“Serve the Lord joyfully!” “Servite Domino in laetitia!”
One Minute Reflection – 31 January – Thursday of the Third week in Ordinary Time, Year C – Gospel: Mark 4:21–25 and The Memorial of St John Bosco (1815-1888)
And he said to them, “The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you and still more will be given to you. To the one who has, more will be given, from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”…Mark 4:24–25
REFLECTION – “Brothers and sisters, the Lord’s scales are different from ours. He weighs people and their actions differently – God does not measure quantity but quality, He examines the heart, He looks at the purity of intentions. This means that our “giving” to God in prayer and to others in charity should always steer clear of ritualism and formalism, as well as of the logic of calculation and must be an expression of gratuity, as Jesus did with us – He saved us freely. And we must do things as an expression of gratuity. “…Pope Francis – Angelus, 11 November 2018
PRAYER – We praise You, Lord, for calling St John Bosco to be a loving father and prudent guide of the young. Give us his fervent zeal for souls and the graces You granted him, making him in a servant of all. Enable us, O Lord, to live for You alone and to see in all, Your image. For the more we give of ourselves in total love of You and Your children, the more You will shower down Your grace. Grant we pray, that we may become a shining beacon of the salvation which comes to us in Christ. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, in union with the Holy Spirit, one God with You, forever and ever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 31 January – The Memorial of St John Bosco (1815-1888)
Most Holy Virgin Mary, Help of Christians By Saint John Bosco
Most Holy Virgin Mary,
Help of Christians,
how sweet it is to come to your feet
imploring your perpetual help.
If earthly mothers cease not to remember their children,
how can you, the most loving of all mothers forget me?
Grant then to me, I implore you,
your perpetual help in all my necessities,
in every sorrow
and especially in all my temptations.
I ask for your unceasing help
for all who are now suffering.
Help the weak,
cure the sick,
convert sinners.
Grant through your intercessions
many vocations to the religious life.
Obtain for us, O Mary, Help of Christians,
that having invoked you on earth
we may love
and eternally thank you in heaven.
Amen
Saint of the Day -31 January – St John Bosco “Don Bosco” SDB (1815-1888) Founder of the Society of St Francis de Sales now known as the Salesians, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and the Association of Salesian Co-operators. His body is incorrupt.
John Bosco’s theory of education could well be used in today’s schools. It was a preventive system, rejecting corporal punishment and placing students in surroundings removed from the likelihood of committing sin. He advocated frequent reception of the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. He combined catechetical training and fatherly guidance, seeking to unite the spiritual life with one’s work, study and play.
Encouraged during his youth in Sardinia to become a priest so he could work with young boys, John was ordained in 1841. His service to young people started when he met a poor orphan in Turin and instructed him in preparation for receiving Holy Communion. He then gathered young apprentices and taught them catechism.
After serving as chaplain in a hospice for working girls, Don Bosco opened the Oratory of St Francis de Sales for boys. Several wealthy and powerful patrons contributed money, enabling him to provide two workshops for the boys, shoe-making and tailoring.
By 1856, the institution had grown to 150 boys and had added a printing press for publication of religious and catechetical pamphlets. John’s interest in vocational education and publishing justify him as patron of young apprentices and Catholic publishers.
John’s preaching fame spread and by 1850 he had trained his own helpers because of difficulties in re-training young priests. In 1854, he and his followers informally banded together, inspired by Saint Francis de Sales.
With Pope Pius IX’s encouragement, John gathered 17 men and founded the Salesians in 1859. Their activity concentrated on education and mission work. Later, he organised a group of Salesian Sisters to assist girls.
Salesian Coat of Arms
Salesian Logo
John Bosco knew God wanted him to work with boys because of a dream he had when he was young. In this dream, boys who had been playing roughly suddenly began playing together as happily as lambs. John heard a voice saying, “Teach them right from wrong. Teach them the beauty of goodness and the ugliness of sin.” When John told his mother about his dream, she said it might mean God wanted him to be a priest and care for some of the sheep in his flock.
John Bosco spent so much time working that people who knew him well became worried about his health. They said he should take more time for rest and sleep. John replied that he’d have enough time to rest in heaven. “Right now,” he said, “how can I rest? The devil doesn’t rest from his work.”
St Abraham of Abela
Bl Adamnan of Coldingham
St Aedan of Ferns
St Aiden
St Athanasius of Modon
St Bobinus of Troyes
St Eusebius of Saint Gall
St Francesco Saverio Maria Bianchi
St Geminian of Modena
Bl John Angelus
St Julius of Novara
Bl Louise degli Albertoni
Bl Luigi Talamoni
St Madoes
St Marcella
Bl Maria Cristina di Savoia
St Martin Manuel
St Nicetas of Novgorod
St Tryphaena of Cyzicus
St Tysul
St Ulphia of Amiens
St Waldo of Evreux
St Wilgils
—
Martyrs of Corinth – 14 saints: A group of Christians tortured and martyred together in Corinth, Greece in the persecutions of Decius. We know nothing about them except some names – Anectus, Claudius, Codratus, Crescens, Cyprian, Diodorus, Dionysius, Nicephorus, Papias, Paul, Serapion, Theodora, Victor and Victorinus.
Martyrs of Canope:
Athanasia
Cyrus the Physician
Eudoxia
John the Physician
Theoctista
Theodotia
Martyred in Alexandria, Egypt
Cyriacus
Metranus
Saturninus
Tarskius
Thyrsus
Victor
Zoticus
Martyred in Alexandria, Egypt:
Cyriacus
Metranus
Saturninus
Tarskius
Thyrsus
Victor
Zoticus
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
José Acosta Alemán
Juan José Martínez Romero
Pedro José Rodríguez Cabrera
Martyrs of Korea: Thousands of people were murdered in the anti-Catholic persecutions in Korea.
• Saint Agatha Kwon Chin-i
• Saint Agatha Yi Kyong-I
• Saint Augustinus Park Chong-Won
• Saint Magdalena Son So-Byok
• Saint Maria Yi In-Dok
• Saint Petrus Hong Pyong-Ju
O Saint John Bosco,
you were full of compassion toward all people,
especially the young,
who suffered from illness, poverty, hunger, injustice and alienation.
Pray for all in need and for us too,
that the blessings of God and protection of Mary Help of Christians
may be on us all,
to care for and cure us,
strengthen us
and comfort us.
Pray for our families,
especially for our young people,
that they may be kept safely in God’s grace.
Intercede for us in life and in death
so that we may eternally sing the Divine mercies in heaven.
Through your intercession
may God grant me the following grace
……………….…………..
(make your request)
so that together with others
I may bring all to the love of Christ, amen.
Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory to the Father…
St John Bosco Pray for us!
Thought for the Day – 30 January – Wednesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time, Year C – Gospel: Mark 4:1-20
Where sin abounded grace has overflowed
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) Abbot and Doctor of the Church
An excerpt from his Sermon 61 On the Song of Songs
“Where can the weak find a place of firm security and peace, except in the wounds of the Saviour? Indeed, the more secure is my place there, the more He can do to help me. The world rages, the flesh is heavy and the devil lays his snares but I do not fall, for my feet are planted on firm rock. I may have sinned gravely. My conscience would be distressed but it would not be in turmoil, for I would recall the wounds of the Lord – He was wounded for our iniquities. What sin is there so deadly that it cannot be pardoned by the death of Christ? And so, if I bear in mind this strong, effective remedy, I can never again be terrified by the malignancy of sin.
Surely the man who said – my sin is too great to merit pardon, was wrong. He was speaking as though he were not a member of Christ and had no share in His merits, so that he could claim them as his own, as a member of the body can claim what belongs to the head. As for me, what can I appropriate that I lack from the heart of the Lord who abounds in mercy? They pierced His hands and feet and opened His side with a spear. Through the openings of these wounds I may drink honey from the rock and oil from the hardest stone: that is, I may taste and see that the Lord is sweet.
He was thinking thoughts of peace and I did not know it, for who knows the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counsellor? But the piercing nail has become a key to unlock the door, that I may see the good will of the Lord. And what can I see as I look through the hole? Both the nail and the wound cry out that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.The sword pierced His soul and came close to His heart, so that He might be able to feel compassion for me in my weaknesses.
Through these sacred wounds we can see the secret of His heart, the great mystery of love, the sincerity of His mercy with which He visited us from on high. Where have Your love, Your mercy, Your compassion shone out more luminously that in Your wounds, sweet, gentle Lord of mercy? More mercy than this no one has than that He lay down His life for those who are doomed to death.
My merit comes from His mercy, for I do not lack merit so long as He does not lack pity. And if the Lord’s mercies are many, then I am rich in merits. For even if I am aware of many sins, what does it matter? Where sin abounded grace has overflowed. And if the Lord’s mercies are from all ages forever, I too will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever. Will I not sing of my own righteousness? No, Lord, I shall be mindful only of Your justice. Yet that too is my own; for God has made You my righteousness.”
Quote of the Day – 30 January – Wednesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time, Year C – Gospel: Mark 4:1-20
“When we go to Confession, we are not telling God something He doesn’t already know and we’re not showing Him something He doesn’t already see. We are giving Him something He doesn’t already have – Your broken heart.”
One Minute Reflection – 30 January – Wednesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time, Year C – Gospel: Mark 4:1-20 and the Memorial of the Salesian Priest Blessed Bronislaw Markiewicz SDB (1842-1912)
“The sower sows the word. … And others are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the word but the cares of the world and the delight in riches and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word and it proves unfruitful.”…Mark 4:14,18-19
REFLECTION – “Dear brothers and sisters, Jesus invites us today to look inside ourselves – to give thanks for our good soil and to tend the soil that is not yet good. Let us ask ourselves, if our heart is open to welcome the seed of the Word of God with faith. Let us ask ourselves, if our rocks of laziness are still numerous and large;, let us identify our thorns of vice and call them by name.,, Let us find the courage to reclaim the soil, to effect a new conversion of our heart, bringing to the Lord in Confession and in prayer our rocks and our thorns. In doing this, Jesus, the Good Sower will be glad to carry out an additional task – to purify our hearts, by removing the rocks and the thorns which choke His Word…Pope Francis – Angelus, 16 July 2017
PRAYER – Lord God, in Your wisdom You created us, by Your providence You rule us, You have planted us, penetrate our inmost being Your holy Light, so that our way of life may always be one of faithful service to You. May we never hesitate to run to Your all-forgiving arms of mercy, when we allow the rocks and thorns of this life to prevent our growth and our steps as we return home to You. May the prayers of the Blessed Virgin, our Mother, all the angels and saints and of Blessed Bronislaw Markiewicz be unfailing assistance to us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, with You and the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 30 January – Wednesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time, Year C and the Memorial of the Salesian Priest Blessed Bronislaw Markiewicz SDB (1842-1912)
Invocation to the Holy Spirit Daily Salesian Prayer
If Thou does not light our way,
Ever from Thee must we stray,
Sinful man with grace inspire!
What is stained by sin, renew,
What is dry, with grace bedew,
Strength to wounded souls restore!
Coldness with Thy ardour burn,
Wilfulness to wisdom turn,
Crooked ways make straight once more!
To Thy people come in love,
All our hope is from above,
With Thy sevenfold grace descend!
Come with virtues high reward,
Come in death as living Lord,
Come with joy that knows no end!
Amen
Saint of the Day – 29 January – Bl Bronislaw Markiewicz SDB (1842-1912) Religious Priest and Founder of the Orders of St Michael the Archangel with both priests and sisters – born on 13 July 1842 at Pruchnik, archdiocese of Przemysl dei Latini, Poland and died on 29 January 1912 at Miejsce Piastowe, Poland of complications related to tuberculosis.
“Bronislaw Markiewicz, the sixth of the eleven children of John Markiewicz, City Mayor, and Marianna Gryziecka, was born on the 13th of July 1842 in Pruchnik, Poland, in the present day Archdiocese of Przemysl dei Latini. In his family home, he received a solid religious formation. Nonetheless, during his secondary studies in Przemysl he experienced a certain wavering in the faith due, in large part, to the strong anti-religious atmosphere which dominated the school. However, he succeeded in overcoming this in a relatively short period, once again finding peace and serenity.
Feeling a call from God to the priesthood, the young Bronislao entered the major seminary of Przemysl in 1863 after having received the Maturity diploma. Upon completion of the regular course of study he was ordained to the priesthood on 15 September 1867. Following six years of pastoral wok as a parochial vicar in the Parish of Harta and the Cathedral of Przemysl, seeking to become better equipped to work with youth, he studied pedagogy, philosophy and history for two years in the Universities of Leopoli and Cracow. In 1875 he was named pastor at Gac and in 1877 pastor at Blazowa. In 1882 he was entrusted a teaching position in pastoral theology and the Major Seminary of Przemysl.
Hearing a call to the religious life, he left for Italy in the month of November 1885 and joined the Salesians where he had the joy of meeting Saint John Bosco (1815-1888) before whom he professed religious vows on March 25, 1887.
As a Salesian he carried out the various tasks assigned to him by his superiors, which he sought to accomplish with dedication and zeal. Due to the austerity of the lifestyle and the change of climate, Fr Bronislao fell gravely ill with consumption in 1889, to the point of having been considered close to death. Having recovered from his illness, he convalesced in Italy until 23 March 1892 when, with the permission of his Superiors, he returned to Poland where he assumed the assignment of Pastor at Miejsce Piastowe, in Przemysl his native Diocese.
In addition to his ordinary pastoral activity, Father dedicated himself, in the Spirit of St John Bosco, to the formation of poor and orphaned youth. He opened an institute in which he offered his students both material and spiritual support preparing them for life with a professional formation in the schools around the institute itself. To carry on his work, he decided in 1897 to found two new religious congregations based on the spirituality of St John Bosco, adapting his rules to reflect their own Charism. Once again received among the clergy of the Diocese of Przemysl, Father Markiewicz continued his work as Pastor and Director of the Society (erected in 1898) which he named Temperance and Work, seeking to obtain its approbation as a religious institute. The approbation was granted a few years after his death: in 1921 for the male branch and in 1928 for the female branch.
With the approval and blessing of his bishop Saint Joseph Sebastian Pelczar, Fr Bronislao continued his activity forming youth and abandoned and orphaned children. He was assisted by collaborators to whose preparation and formation he himself always contributed. Already at Miejce Piastowe he had offered a home and formation to hundreds of children giving of himself totally for them. Always desiring to do more for them, in the month of August of 1903, Fr Markiewicz opened a new house in Pawlikowice, near Cracow, where over 400 orphans found a house and the possibility for spiritual and professional formation.
His total dedication to children, his heroic self-denial and the enormous work he accomplished, quickly exhausted the strength of Fr Markiewicz,. undermining his health, which was already greatly compromised from his illness in Italy. All of this led rather rapidly to the end of his earthly pilgrimage which came on 29 January 1912.
Both before and after his death he was considered an extraordinary man. As the fame of the sanctity of Bronislao Markiewicz continued to constantly increase, the Superiors of both religious institutes of St Michael the Archangel, founded by him, asked the Bishop of Przemysl to initiate the process of beatification of their founder, which began in 1958. Having completed the procedure for the Cause, on 2 July 1994 in the presence of his Holiness John Paul II, the decree of heroic virtue was promulgated and ten years later on 20 December 2004 the decree of the Miracle performed by God through the intercession of Fr Bronislao was promulgated, thus opening the way for his beatification….Vatican.va
Blessed Bronislaw was Beatified on 19 June 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI. The recognition was celebrated by Cardinal Jozef Glemp in Pilsudski Square, Warsaw, Poland.
AnaStpaul 
You must be logged in to post a comment.