Not on bread alone is man to live but on every utterance that comes from the mouth of God………….Matthew 4:4
REFLECTION – “These are fountains of salvation that they who thirst may be satisfied with the living words they contain. In these is proclaimed the doctrine of godliness. Let no man add to these, neither let him take out from these.”…….St Athanasius of Alexandria
PRAYER – Heavenly Father, inspire me to meditate on Your holy words every day and fill me with Your Holy Spirit that I might not only understand them but be filled with the desire to follow and live their instructions. May they be a consolation, a strength and an assistance on my journey to You. St Henry – you were inspired and strove to live by the Holy Scriptures, please pray for us all, amen.
Behold me, O sweet Lord, behold me!
For I hope that in Your loving kindness,
O Most Merciful One,
You will behold me
either as a loving physician to heal,
a kind teacher to correct,
or an indulgent father to pardon…
confident in Your sweet powerful mercy
and most merciful power,
I ask in virtue of Your sweet Name
and of the mystery of Your sacred humanity,
that, mindful of Your kindness
and unmindful of my ingratitude,
You forgive me my sins
and heal the languors of my soul.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 13 July – St Henry II – Holy Roman Emperor – Also known as Good King Henry (6 May 972 at Albach, Hildesheim, Bavaria, Germany – 13 July 1024 at Pfalz Grona, near Göttingen, Saxony (in modern Germany) of natural causes. Canonised in 1146 by Pope Blessed Eugene III. Patronages – against sterility, childless people, disabled, handicapped or physically challenged people, dukes, kings, people rejected by religious orders, diocese of Bamberg, Germany, Basel, Switzerland, Benedictine Oblates.
In the 10th century, leaders were not elected and so they did not have to worry about pleasing their subjects in order to stay in power. Because of this, many emperors and kings took advantage of the power, luxury and honour of their position without responsibly working for the good of their people. Kings often chose to ignore or to squelch conflict rather than to resolve it justly. In the midst of these circumstances, Henry, the son of the Duke of Bavaria, set the example of a Christlike leader. Jesus said that a leader is one who serves. And that is what Henry did.
Henry was married to Cunegunda of Luxembourg but they had no children. When he was 34 years old, Henry became king of Germany. As a ruler, Henry concentrated on the good of his people. He built monasteries, helped the poor, fought against unjust seizure of power and relieved all kinds of oppression.
Once his brother-in-law and some other relatives complained that Henry was wasting the family fortune on the poor. They actually got an army together to challenge Henry’s rule. Henry met them on the battlefield and put down the uprising, then pardoned them out of Christian charity.
In 1014 Henry was crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. That title made him ruler of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and northern Italy, as we know these countries today. Henry was well known for his missionary spirit and for his protection of the Pope in times of trouble. Henry ruled with a spirit of great humility and always sought to give the glory to God. He used his position to promote the work of the Church and the peace and happiness of the people. Henry is buried in the Cathedral of Bamberg beside his wife Cunegunda; he was canonised in 1146, and she was canonised in 1200. The images below are Emperor Henry II’s Gospel and he and Empress Cunigunde’s tomb.
St Henry II (Optional Memorial)
Our Lady of Grace of Valsorda: – Read about Our Lady of Valsorda here: http://mariancalendar.org/madonna-delle-grazie-di-valsorda-/-our-lady-of-grace-of-valsorda-garessio-valsorda-italy/
Our Lady of Soccorso/Our Lady of Help: Read here: http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/03/beating-the-devil-the-madonna-del-soccorso/
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Bl Anne-Andrée Minutte
St Arno of Würzburg
Bl Barthélemy Jarrige de la Morelie de Biars
Bl Berthold of Scheide
St Clelia Barbieri
St Dogfan
Bl Élisabeth Verchière
St Emanuele Lê Van Phung
St Esdras the Prophet
St Eugene of Carthage
Bl Ferdinand Mary Baccilleri
St Iosephus Wang Kuiju
Bl James of Voragine
Bl Jean of France
St Joel the Prophet
Bl Louis-Armand-Joseph Adam
Bl Mariano de Jesus Euse Hoyos
Bl Marie-Anastasie de Roquard
Bl Marie-Anne Depeyre
Bl Marie-Anne Lambert
St Mildred of Thanet
St Muritta of Carthage
St Myrope
St Paulus Liu Jinde
St Salutaris of Carthage
St Sarra of Egypt
St Serapion of Alexandria
Serapion of Macedonia
Bl Thérèse-Henriette Faurie
Bl Thomas Tunstal
St Turiaf
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Martyrs of Cyprus – 300 saints: 300 Christians who retired to Cyprus to live as cave hermits, devoting themselves to prayer and an ascetic life devoted to God. Tortured and martyred for their faith and their bodies dumped in the various caves in which they had lived. We know the names of five of them but no other details even about them – Ammon, Choulélaios, Epaphroditus, Eusthénios and Héliophotos. They were beheaded in the 12th century on Cyprus and their bodies dumped in the cave where they had lived and only rediscovered long afterwards.
Martyrs of Philomelio – 31 saints: 31 soldiers martyred for their faith in the persecutions of prefect Magno, date unknown. The only name that has come down to us is Alexander. In Philomelio, Phrygia (in modern Turkey).
“Bernice Veronica” – both names referring to the Woman who wiped the Face of Jesus, commonly depicted in every Catholic church, at the Sixth Station of the Cross.
Did she exist? And what does it mean to be “a Veronica?” The Catholic Church tells us that a veil bearing a miraculous image of the Face of Jesus has existed since the earliest centuries, recorded in history and in art. About the time this miraculous veil first appeared in Rome, in the Middle Ages, the name “Veronica” referred to the veil itself–“Veronica” meaning “vera” or true, and “icon” meaning image, or even more precisely, “to be present.” Those who gazed upon the veil bearing the true Face of Jesus stood in God’s presence. They were turned toward His Face.
Legends sprang up sometime later about a woman named “Veronica,” who was sometimes associated with the woman “Berenice” or “Bernice,” the bleeding woman who touches the hem of Jesus’s garment in the Gospel. “These pious traditions cannot be documented, but there is no reason why the belief that such an act of compassion did occur should not find expression in the veneration paid to one called Veronica.” —The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Pope St. John Paul II expressed the answer to the question of Veronica most beautifully in his poem,
“Name”
In the crowd walking towards the place
[of the Agony]–
did you open up a gap at some point or were you
[opening it] from the beginning?
And since when? You tell me, Veronica.
Your name was born in the very instant
in which your heart
became an effigy: the effigy of truth.
Your name was born from what you gazed upon.
–Karol Wojtyla
When a soul performs an “act of compassion,” Jesus leaves His image on the “veil” of the soul. In other words, while contemplating the Face of Jesus in an image, in the Word of God in the Scriptures, in a person made in the image and likeness of God, or above all, in the Eucharist, the soul places itself in the Presence of God. When we are turned completely toward the Face of God, through a daily face-to-face encounter in prayer–by the power of the Holy Spirit–God gradually transforms the soul into the “True Image” of His Son, Jesus Christ. As Pope St. John Paul II says, our hearts must become an “effigy of truth,” a “true icon.” Then our name too will be born from what we gaze upon. It will be “Veronica.”
Parts One and Two – here: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/07/10/the-wonders-of-the-holy-name-fr-paul-osullivan-o-p-revealing-the-simplest-secret-ever-of-holiness-and-happiness/https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/category/the-holy-name/
The Plague in Of Lisbon. The City saved by the Holy Name.
A devastating plague broke out in Lisbon in
I432. All who could do so fled in terror from the
city and thus carried the plague to every corner
of the entire country of Portugal.
Thousands of men, women and children, of all
classes, were swept away by the cruel sickness.
So virulent was the epidemic that men died everywhere,
at table, in the streets, in their houses, in
the shops, in the market places, in the Churches. To
use the words of historians, it flashed like lightning
from man to man, or from a coat, a hat or
any garment that had been used by the plague
stricken. Priests, doctors and nurses were carried
off in such numbers that the bodies of many lay
unburied in the streets so that the dogs licked up
the blood and ate the flesh of the dead, becoming
as a result infested with the dread disease and
spreading it still more widely among the unfortunate
people. Among those who assisted the dying with unflagging zeal was a venerable Bishop, Monsignor Andre ‘ Dias who lived in the Convent of St. Dominic. This holy man seeing that the epidemic, far from diminishing, grew every day in intensity and, despairing of human help, urged the unhappy people to call on the Holy Name of Jesus. He was seen wherever the disease was fiercest, urging, imploring the sick and the dying as well as those who had not as yet been stricken down, to repeat Jesus. Jesus.“Write it on cards”, he said, “and keep those cards on your persons, place them at night under your pillows, place them on your doors but above all constantly invoke with your lips and in your hearts this most powerful Name”. He went about as an Angel of peace filling the sick and the dying with courage and confidence. The poor sufferers felt within them a new life and, calling on Jesus, they wore the cards on their breasts or carried them in their pockets. Then summoning them to the great Church of St. Dominic he once more spoke to them of the power of the Name of Jesus, blessed wafer in the same Holy Name, ordering all the people to sprinkle themselves with it and sprinkle it on the faces of the sick and dying. ‘Wonder of wonders! the sick got well, the dying arose from their agonies, the plague ceased and the city was delivered in a few days from the most awful scourge that had ever visited it. The news spread to the whole country and all began to call, with one accord, on the Name of J esus. In an incredibly short time all Portugal was freed from the dread sickness.
The grateful people, mindful of the marvels they
had witnessed, continued their love and confidence
in the Name of our Saviour, so that in all their
troubles, in all dangers, when evils of any kind
threatened them they invoked the Name of Jesus.
Confraternities were formed in the Churches, processions
of the Holy Name were made monthly,
altars were raised in honour of this blessed Name,
so that the greatest curse that had ever fallen upon
the country was transformed into the greatest
blessing.
For long centuries this great confidence in the
Name of Jesus continued in Portugal and thence
spread to Spain, to France, and to the whole World.
“….in the Blessed Sacrament Our Lord Himself is the light which manifests Him as our model and reveals His beauties to us. He is Himself His light, His means of being known, just as the sun is itself its own proof. To make Himself known, He has only to show Himself. Recognition of Him need not come from its being reasoned out. A child does not have to discourse with himself to recognize his parents. Our Lord reveals Himself through His presence, just as parents do. But as we grow to know His voice better and as our hearts become more sympathetic to Him in emptying themselves of what is not Him, our Lord manifests Himself in a clearer and more intimate manner, which only those know, who love Him. He gives the soul a divine conviction which overshadows the light of human reason. Look at Magdalene: one word from Jesus and she recognises Him. He acts the same way in the Blessed Sacrament: He says one word only but it rings in our very hearts: “It is I!….” We sense His Presence; we believe in it more firmly than if we were to see Him with bodily eyes.”
You have said, “Seek my face”. My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek”. Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, you who have been my help. Cast me not off, forsake me not, O God of my salvation………Psalm 27:8-9
REFLECTION – “Veronica- ‘Bernice’ in the Greek tradition, embodies the universal yearning of the devout men and women of the Old Testament, the yearning of all believers to see the Face of God. On Jesus’ Way of the Cross, though, she at first did nothing more than perform an act of womanly kindness: she held out a facecloth to Jesus. She did not let herself be deterred by the brutality of the soldiers or the fear which gripped the disciples. She is the image of that good woman, who, amid turmoil and dismay, shows the courage born of goodness and does not allow her heart to be bewildered. “Blessed are the pure in heart”, the Lord had said in his Sermon on the Mount, “for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8). At first, Veronica saw only a buffeted and pain-filled Face. Yet her act of love impressed the true image of Jesus on her heart: on His human Face, bloodied and bruised, she saw the Face of God and His goodness, which accompanies us even in our deepest sorrows. Only with the heart can we see Jesus. Only love purifies us and gives us the ability to see. Only love enables us to recognize the God who is love itself.”…………..Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (24 March 2005)
PRAYER – Lord God, grant us restless hearts, hearts which seek Your Face. Keep us from the blindness of heart which sees only the surface of things. Give us the simplicity and purity which allow us to recognise Your presence in the world. When we are not able to accomplish great things, grant us the courage which is born of humility and goodness. Impress Your Face on our hearts. May we encounter You along the way and show Your image to the world. St Veronica, Pray for us! Amen.
The Eucharistic Face of Jesus
By Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity
O Eucharistic Face of Jesus,
brightness of the glory of my God
and figure of His substance,
I want to spend my life gazing upon You,
to become totally impressionable
so that I might bear Your likeness
and become an effigy of Your countenance.
Through all darkness,
all emptiness,
all powerlessness,
I want to keep my eyes fixed on You
and to remain under Your great light.
O my beloved Sun,
so fascinate me
that I may never be able to leave Your radiance.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 12 July – St Veronica (1st Century) – Patronages: against bleeding or haemorrhages, domestic workers, dying people, laundry workers, linen weavers, maids, parsonage or rectory housekeepers, photographers, seamstresses, washerwomen.
Saint Veronica is known as the woman who offered a cloth to Jesus so He could wipe His face on the way to His crucifixion. The cloth is believed to exist today in the Vatican and is considered one of the most treasured relics of the Church.
Costa Lorenzo
Saint Veronica is not mentioned in the Bible but is known to us by Catholic tradition and in the Sixth Station of the Cross, “Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus.”
Christ was carrying the cross to Calvary, His face dripping with sweat and blood, Saint Veronica, a bystander, was moved with compassion. She approached Jesus and offered Him a cloth, likely her veil, which He accepted and used to wipe His face.
The image of his face was miraculously imprinted on the cloth.
There are no legends from the period which speak of Veronica either before or after her act of compassion. We do not know when she was born or when she died. She is literally lost to history. However, the cloth may still exist today, kept safe at St. Peter’s in Rome. This particular cloth bearing the likeness of Christ’s face, although ancient and difficult to distinguish, is considered one of the most treasured relics in the Vatican. According to legend, it is the original relic, although throughout the ages many copies were created and some were passed along as genuine.
Most of what we know about the veil was recorded in the medieval period, although it was first mentioned as being in the hands of Pope John VII in the early eighth century. The veil and the legend surrounding it became very popular in the thirteenth though fifteenth centuries when the veil was on public display. Indulgences were granted for people who performed devotions before it.
The fate of the veil was obscured by violence in 1527 by the Sack of Rome in which it may have been destroyed. Many reproductions were created at this time and it is unfortunately unclear if the veil still kept by the Vatican is the original or a reproduction. In 1616, Pope Paul V banned the production of all copies of the veil, which has become popular. In 1629, Pope Urban VIII went a step further and ordered the destruction of all copies, or that existing copies should be delivered to the Vatican. Anyone who disobeyed this order was to be excommunicated.
The Veil of Veronica has since been kept at St Peter’s Basilica and is shown to the public, on the fifth Sunday of Lent each year.
St Agnes De
St Andreas the Soldier
St Ansbald of Prum
St Balay
St Clement Ignatius Delgado Cebrian
Bl David Gonson
St Epiphana
St Faustus the Soldier
St Felix of Milan
St Fortunatus of Aquileia
St Hermagorus of Aquileia
St Hilarion of Ancyra
St Jason of Tarsus
Bl Jeanne-Marie de Romillon
St John Gualbert
St John Jones
St John the Georgian
Bl Lambert of Cîteaux
St Louis Martin
Bl Madeleine-Thérèse Talieu
Bl Marguerite-Eléonore de Justamond
St Marie-Azélie Guérin / ZELIE Martin
Bl Marie Cluse
St Menas the Soldier
St Menulphus of Quimper
St Nabor of Milan
St Paternian of Bologna
St Paulinus of Antioch
St Phêrô Khan
St Proclus of Ancyra
St Proculus of Bologna
St Uguzo of Carvagna
St Veronica- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V4SMR4kkqM&list=PL58g24NgWPIzvBk2IQVES_xC4WTm6-CDI#action=share
St Viventiolus of Lyons
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Martyrs of Nagasaki – 8 beati: Additional Memorial – 10 September as one of the 205 Martyrs of Japan
Eight lay people, many them related to each other, who were martyred together:
• Catharina Tanaka
• Ioannes Onizuka Naizen
• Ioannes Tanaka
• Ludovicus Onizuka
• Matthias Araki Hyozaemon
• Monica Onizuka
• Petrus Araki Chobyoe
• Susanna Chobyoe
12 July 1626 in Nagasaki, Japan
Beatified on 7 May 1867 by Pope Blessed Pius IX
Part One – here: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/07/10/the-wonders-of-the-holy-name-fr-paul-osullivan-o-p-revealing-the-simplest-secret-ever-of-holiness-and-happiness/
What must we do?
St. Paul tells us that we must do all we do
whether in word or work in the Name of Jesus. “Whether you eat or whether you drink or whatever else you do, do all in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
In this way every act becomes an act of love
and of merit and moreover we receive grace and
help to do all our actions perfectly.
We must therefore do our best to form the
habit of saying Jesus, Jesus, Jesus very often
every day. We can do so when dressing, when
working – no matter what we are doing – when
walking, in moments of sadness, at home and in
the street, everywhere.
Nothing is easier if only we do it methodically.
We can say it countless times every day.
Bear in mind that each time we say Jesus 1) we
give God great glory, 2) we receive great graces
for-ourselves 3) and we help the souls in Purgatory.
We shall now quote a few examples to show
the power of the Holy Name.
The World in Danger – Saved by the Holy Name.
In the year 1274 great evils threatened the World.
The Church was assailed by fierce enemies from
within and without. So great was the danger
that the Pope Gregory X, who then reigned called
a Council of Bishops in Lyons to determine on the
best means of saving society from the ruin that
menaced it. Among the many means proposed
the Pope and Bishops chose what they considered
the easiest and most efficacious of all,
viz. the frequent repetition of the Holy Name of
Jesus.
The Holy Father then begged the Bishops of
the World and their priests, to call on the Name
of Jesus and to urge their peoples to place all their
confidence in this all-powerful Name, repeating
it constantly with boundless trust. The Pope
entrusted the Dominicans especially with the
glorious task of preaching the wonders of the
Holy Name in every country, a work they accomplished
with unbounded zeal.
Their Franciscan brothers ably seconded them. St Bernardine of Siena and St. Leonard of PortMaurice were ardent Apostles of the Name of Jesus.
Their efforts were crowned with success so
that the enemies of the Church were overthrown,
the dangers that threatened society disappeared
and peace once more reigned supreme.
This is a most important lesson for us because
in these our own days dreadful sufferings are
crushing many countries and still greater evils
threaten all the others.
No government, or governments seem strong
and wise enough to stem this awful torrent of
evils. There is but one remedy and that is prayer.
Every Christian must turn to God and ask Him
to have mercy on us. The easiest of all prayers,
as we have seen, is the Name of Jesus.
Everyone without exception can invoke this
Holy Name hundreds of times a day, not only
for bis own intentions, but also to ask God to
deliver the World from impending ruin.
It is amazing what one person who prays can
do to save his country and save society. We
read in Holy Scripture how Moses saved by his
prayer the people of Israel from destruction, how
one pious woman, Judith of Betulia, saved her city
and her people when the rulers were in despair
and about to surrender themselves to their enemies.
Again we know that the two cities of Sodom
and Gomorrha, which God destroyed by fire for
their sins and crimes, would have been pardoned
had there been only ten good men to pray for
them! Over and over again we read of kings, emperors, statesmen and famous military commanders who placed all their trust in prayer thus working wonders. If the prayers of one man can do much what will not the prayers of many do? The Name of Jesus is the shortest, the easiest and the most powerful of prayers. Everyone can say it even in the midst of his daily work. God cannot refuse to hear it. Let us then invoke the Name of Jesus, asking Him to save us from the calamities that threaten us.
Probably most of us, if we think of contemplative prayer at all, regard it as something that is beyond us and practiced only by a few contemplative monks and nuns whose whole lives are devoted to prayer. Yet I have heard respected and experienced spiritual guides say that contemplation is often given to those you would least expect—to harassed mothers and people who think they can’t pray, to children, to the sick and dying, to people with no academic learning about prayer or Scripture or theology. God sometimes seems to speak, heart to heart, in this mysterious way, to the untaught and unpracticed. None of us should imagine that the ways of contemplative prayer are closed to us because God is always infinitely larger than our expectations.
I suggest that creation itself gives us a gateway. In every moment of our lives, a silent, invisible miracle of exchange is taking place. We breathe out the air that our bodies no longer need, which is mainly carbon dioxide, a waste product for us but the very thing that the green leaves on the trees and plants need to produce their own energy. So they receive our carbon dioxide and, through the process of photosynthesis, produce not only their own life energy, but also oxygen—a waste product for them but the very thing we need to live. Whenever I stop my busyness for a few moments to look around me, I am amazed at this arrangement and it makes me think of prayer.
So perhaps a good way to open our hearts up to the gift of contemplation is simply to become still, and, quite literally, to breathe out our waste—all that clogs us and deadens us—and to breathe in God’s renewing life, as we breathe in the fresh oxygen that the plants have made for us. This simple, deliberate breathing exercise can become something like what the French peasant was doing as he looked at God and God looked at him. We are becoming aware of the mysterious exchange of life between ourselves and God. And there is no reason that any period of quiet might not become prayer of this kind.
There may be other creatures who can help you cross the threshold of contemplation. If there is a baby in the family, try simply holding her in your arms as she sleeps and letting God hold both of you in his. Nothing more. No deep thoughts. No search for meaning. Just be there.
A cat (if you are not allergic to them!) can also be a great aid to prayer. My own cat loves to sleep round my neck. At first I found this disturbing but when he has settled into a particular hollow (perhaps where he can feel my pulse), he will lie there, quite still, just purring deeply, until he falls asleep and the purring ceases. When he does this, I let myself find a hollow close to God’s pulse and let my own prayer become just a sleepy purr and then the silence of content. Or you might discover prayer on a park bench. The other day I was in Hyde Park and I spent a few minutes listening to the deep-throated cooing of the pigeons. I wanted to join them because, in their way, they were engaged in contemplative prayer, simply expressing, in this peaceful murmur, the song of their beings.
In your own home, prayer awaits you in the opening of a flower, the rising of your bread dough, or the steady, imperceptible development of a child. Spend time in silence, aware of the wonder that is being unfolded in your cakes and your children, your houseplants or your garden. For this is the essence of contemplative prayer—simple awareness, allowing God to be God, without trying to put the limitations of shape or meaning around him.
Contemplation, like all prayer, is pure gift and not anything we can achieve. It happens when prayer becomes, wholly and utterly, the flow of God’s grace, transforming the land it flows through, like Ezekiel’s stream. Or it happens when we lose consciousness of our own part in it and become simply receptors and carriers of grace. It happens when we realise that our transformation depends on nothing but God’s grace and love, and, like the chrysalis, let go of all activity to try to achieve our own redemption.
When we try to describe it, we fail, for it lies beyond the world of words. We can open our hearts to it by the practice of awareness but we cannot bring it about, any more than we can force a flower to open or an egg to hatch. And in our silent, trustful waiting, we are acknowledging that God is God, the source and the destination, the means and the end of all our prayer, whatever form it may take.
from Close to the Heart: A Practical Approach to Personal Prayer
Make my Heart Still
“Lord take my poor heart. It is often so far from You, lost in a thousand things and in the trifles that fill up my everyday life. Lord, only You can collect the thoughts of my heart and have it concentrate on You, You who are the centre of all hearts, the Lord of all souls. Only You can bestow the spirit of prayer, only Your grace is able to allow me to find You amidst this multitude of things, amdist the distractions of everyday life, YOU, the one necessity, the one person with whom my heart can become still.”
“When man comes to God in awe and love, then he is praying.”
Karl Rayner SJ – The Mystical Way in Everyday Life
Seeking God is not the activity only of monks and nuns in monasteries. Rather, it is the task given to all of the baptised. And while most of us will not enter monastic life, there is an “inner monk” within us that compels us to seek God in our individual vocations and lives, whether as a diocesan priest, as principal of a high school, as members of families, married or single. Seeking God takes place in the here and now, in this situation, with these people, in this family, this workplace, this school and in this time. It is not only for those holy monks; it is for me! In his Rule, St. Benedict gives the world the roadmap to seeking God. Prayer, work, obedience, simplicity of life and stability help monks seek God; adapted, they can help the rest of us, too.
The monastic day is bookmarked by prayer early in the morning and in the evening, along with several moments of communal prayer throughout the day. For anyone seeking God, prayer has to become the primary activity of the day. It cannot be put aside for “more pressing” matters. Prayer is the first priority of one’s day and all other activities of work, home and family work around it. Monks pray the Liturgy of the Hours seven times a day, which lay people can also pray if they so desire. However one prays, time with the Lord is a necessary component in seeking Him. The Eucharist is the heart of prayer and anyone seriously seeking God ought to consider it a daily practice, if possible. It is in those moments of spending time with the Lord that the person will detect His presence in his heart and soul.
Prayer, work, obedience, stability and simplicity of life marks the life of monks. In developing the “inner monk” within you, take what you can from the monastic lifestyle to find God in your life…………Msgr. Bernard Bourgeois
Do not grow slack but be fervent in spirit; he whom you serve is the Lord…….Romans 12:11
REFLECTION – “There exists an evil fervour, a bitter spirit, which divides us from God and leads us to hell.
Similarly, there is a good fervour, which sets us apart from evil inclinations and leads us toward God and eternal life.”
PRAYER – Loving Father, grant me to have a true fervour in Your service. Let me never tire of following Your Son’s example and avoiding evil. St Benedict, pray for us! Amen
Bestow upon me, O Gracious Father Prayer of St Benedict of Nursia
Bestow upon me,
O gracious, O Holy Father
intellect to understand You,
perceptions to perceive You purely,
reason to discern You,
diligence to see You,
wisdom to find You,
a spirit to know You,
a heart to meditate upon You,
ears to hear You,
eyes to behold You,
a tongue to proclaim You,
a conversation pleasing to You,
patience to wait for You
and perseverance to look for You.
Grant me a perfect end –
Your holy Presence.
Grant me a blessed resurrection
and Your recompense –
everlasting life. Amen
Saint of the Day – 11 July – St Benedict of Nursia O.S.B. – Abbot Patron of Europe (Patronus Europae) – Also known as: Benedict of Narsia, Benedict of Norsia, Benedetto da Norcia, Founder of Western Monasticism – (c 480, Narsia, Umbria, Italy – 21 March 547 of a fever while in prayer at Monte Cassino, Italy). He buried beneath the high altar there in the same tomb as Saint Scholastica. He was Canonised in 1220 by Pope Honorius III. Patronages: Co-Patron of Europe, Against poison, Against witchcraft, Agricultural workers, Cavers, Civil engineers, Coppersmiths, Dying people, Erysipelas, Europe, Farmers, Fever, Gall stones, Heerdt (Germany), Heraldry and Officers of arms, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, Inflammatory diseases, Italian architects, Kidney disease, Monks, Nettle rash, Norcia, (Italy), People in religious orders, Schoolchildren and students, Servants who have broken their master’s belongings, Temptations.
Fra Angelico
Benedict was born into a distinguished family in central Italy, studied at Rome and early in life was drawn to monasticism. At first he became a hermit, leaving a depressing world—pagan armies on the march, the Church torn by schism, people suffering from war, morality at a low ebb.
He soon realised that he could not live a hidden life in a small town any better than in a large city, so he withdrew to a cave high in the mountains for three years. Some monks chose Benedict as their leader for a while, but found his strictness not to their taste. Still the shift from hermit to community life had begun for him. He had an idea of gathering various families of monks into one “Grand Monastery” to give them the benefit of unity, fraternity and permanent worship in one house. Finally he began to build what was to become one of the most famous monasteries in the world—Monte Cassino, commanding three narrow valleys running toward the mountains north of Naples.
The Rule that gradually developed prescribed a life of liturgical prayer, study, manual labor, and living together in community under a common abbot. Benedictine asceticism is known for its moderation, and Benedictine charity has always shown concern for the people in the surrounding countryside. In the course of the Middle Ages, all monasticism in the West was gradually brought under the Rule of St. Benedict.
Today the Benedictine family is represented by two branches: the Benedictine Federation encompassing the men and women of the Order of St. Benedict and the Cistercians, men and women of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance.
St Benedict died at Monte Cassino not long after his sister, Saint Scholastica. Benedict died of a high fever on the day God had told him he was to die and was buried in the same place as his sister. According to tradition, this occurred on 21 March 543 or 547. He was named patron protector of Europe by Pope Paul VI in 1964. In 1980, Pope John Paul II declared him co-patron of Europe, together with Saints Cyril and Methodius.
Rule of Saint Benedict
Seventy-three short chapters comprise the Rule. Its wisdom is of two kinds: spiritual (how to live a Christocentric life on earth) and administrative (how to run a monastery efficiently). More than half the chapters describe how to be obedient and humble and what to do when a member of the community is not. About one-fourth regulate the work of God (the Opus Dei). One-tenth outline how and by whom, the monastery should be managed.
Following the golden rule of Ora et Labora – pray and work, the monks each day devoted eight hours to prayer, eight hours to sleep and eight hours to manual work, sacred reading, or works of charity
Saint Benedict Medal, front.
On the front of the medal is Saint Benedict holding a cross in his right hand, the object of his devotion and in the left his rule for monasteries. In the back is a poisoned cup, in reference to the legend of Benedict, which explains that hostile monks attempted to poison him: the cup containing poisoned wine shattered when the saint made the sign of the cross over it (and a raven carried away a poisoned loaf of bread). Above the cup are the words Crux sancti patris Benedicti (“The Cross of [our] Holy Father Benedict”). Surrounding the figure of Saint Benedict are the words Eius in obitu nostro praesentia muniamur! (“May we be strengthened by his presence in the hour of our death”), since he was always regarded by the Benedictines as the patron of a happy death.
On the back is a cross, containing the letters C S S M L – N D S M D, initials of the words Crux sacra sit mihi lux! Non [Nunquam?] draco sit mihi dux! (“May the holy cross be my light! May the dragon never be my overlord!”). The large C S P B stand for Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti (“The Cross of [our] Holy Father Benedict”). Surrounding the back of the medal are the letters V R S N S M V – S M Q L I V B, in reference to Vade retro satana: Vade retro Satana! Nunquam suade mihi vana! Sunt mala quae libas. Ipse venena bibas! (“Begone Satan! Never tempt me with your vanities! What you offer me is evil. Drink the poison yourself!”) and finally, located at the top is the word PAX which means “peace”
Use of the Medal
There is no special way prescribed for carrying or wearing the Medal of St. Benedict. It can be worn on a chain around the neck, attached to one’s rosary, kept in one’s pocket or purse, or placed in one’s car or home. The medal is often put into the foundations of houses and building, on the walls of barns and sheds, or in one’s place of business.
The purpose of using the medal in any of the above ways is to call down God’s blessing and protection upon us, wherever we are and upon our homes and possessions, especially through the intercession of St. Benedict. By the conscious and devout use of the medal, it becomes, as it were, a constant silent prayer and reminder to us of our dignity as followers of Christ.
The medal is a prayer of exorcism against Satan, a prayer for strength in time of temptation, a prayer for peace among ourselves and among the nations of the world, a prayer that the Cross of Christ be our light and guide, a prayer of firm rejection of all that is evil, a prayer of petition that we may with Christian courage “walk in God’s ways, with the Gospel as our guide,” as St. Benedict urges us.
A profitable spiritual experience can be ours if we but take the time to study the array of inscriptions and representations found on the two sides of the medal. The lessons found there can be pondered over and over to bring true peace of mind and heart into our lives as we struggle to overcome the weaknesses of our human nature and realize that our human condition is not perfect, but that with the help of God and the intercession of the saints our condition can become better.
The Medal of St. Benedict can serve as a constant reminder of the need for us to take up our cross daily and “follow the true King, Christ our Lord,” and thus learn “to share in his heavenly kingdom,” as St. Benedict urges us in the Prologue of his Rule.
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St Abundius of Ananelos
St Amabilis of Rouen
St Anna An Jiaoshi
St Anna An Xingshi
Bl Antonio Muller
St Berthevin of Lisieux
St Cindeus
St Cowair
St Cyprian of Brescia
St Cyriacus the Executioner
St Drostan
St Hidulf of Moyenmoutier
St Januarius
St John of Bergamo
Bl Kjeld of Viborg
St Leontius the Younger
St Marcian of Lycaonia
St Marciana of Caesarea
Maria An Guoshi
Maria An Linghua
Bl Marie-Clotilde Blanc
Bl Marie-Elisabeth Pélissier
Bl Marie-Marguerite de Barbégie d’Albrède
St Olga of Kiev
St Pelagia
St Pius I, Pope
St Placid of Dissentis
Bl Rosalie-Clotilde Bes
St Sabinus of Brescia
St Sabinus of Poitiers
St Sidronius
St Sigisbert of Dissentis
Bl Thomas Hunt
Bl Thomas Sprott
St Thurketyl
As there is a harsh and evil zeal which separates from God and leads to hell, so there is a virtuous zeal which separates from vice and leads to God and life everlasting.
Let the monks, therefore, practice this zeal with most ardent love; namely, that in honour they forerun one another (cf Rom 12:10). Let them bear their infirmities, whether of body or mind, with the utmost patience; let them vie with one another in obedience. Let no one follow what he thinks useful to himself but rather to another. Let them practice fraternal charity with a chaste love.
Let them fear God and love their Abbot with sincere and humble affection; let them prefer nothing whatever to Christ and my He lead us all together to life everlasting. (Holy Rule 72)
LET US PRAY – DAY NINE:
Glorious Saint Benedict,
sublime model of virtue, pure vessel of God’s grace!
Behold me humbly kneeling at your feet.
I implore you in your loving kindness to pray for me before the throne of God.
To you I have recourse in the dangers that daily surround me.
Shield me against my selfishness and my indifference to God and to my neighbor.
Inspire me to imitate you in all things.
May your blessing be with me always, so that I may see and serve Christ in others and work for His kingdom.
Graciously obtain for me from God those favors and graces which I need so much in the trials, miseries and afflictions of life.
Your heart was always full of love, compassion and mercy toward those who were afflicted or troubled in any way.
You never dismissed without consolation and assistance anyone who had recourse to you.
I therefore invoke your powerful intercession, confident in the hope that you will hear my prayers and obtain for me the special grace and favor I earnestly implore.
{mention your petition}
Help me, great Saint Benedict, to live and die as a faithful child of God, to run in the sweetness of His loving will, and to attain the eternal happiness of heaven.
You will remember a while ago I posted the entire book by Fr Paul O’Sullivan “How to Avoid Purgatory” – you will find the entire Booklet in chapters here: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/category/purgatory/
Again I wish to share one of Fr Paul’s wonderful booklets which are such amazing works to grow our faith and inspire our daily lives. The byline states “revealing the simplest secret ever of holiness and happiness.” Although January is the Month of the Holy Name – we can never learn this devotion too soon, by January we will be totally ready to give praise, honour and glory to His Name!
We have been hearing and have been repeating
from childhood the Holy Name of Jesus, but alas!
many, very many have no adequate idea of the
great wonders of this Holy Name.
What do you know, dear reader, about the Name
of Jesus? You know that it is a holy name and that you must bow your head reverently when you say it. That is very little. It is as if you
looked at a closed book and merely glanced at
the title on the cover. You know nothing of all
the beautiful thoughts in the book itself.
Even so when you pronounce the Name of Jesus
you know very little of the treasures hidden in it.
This Divine Name is in truth a mine of riches,
it is the fount of the highest holiness and the
secret of the greatest happiness that a man can
hope to enjoy on this Earth. Read and see.
Devotion to the Holy Name is so easy that
everyone without exception can practice it. It
demands no time so that the busiest man can
repeat it countless times.
It is so powerful, so certain that it never fails
to produce in our souls the most wonderful results.
It consoles the saddest heart and makes the
weakest sinner strong. It obtains for us all kinds
of favours and graces, spiritual and temporal.
Two things we must do: First of all we must
understand clearly the meaning and value of the
Name of Jesus. Secondly we must get into the habit of saying
it frequently, hundreds and hundreds of times
every day. Far from being a burden it will be
an immense joy and consolation.
What does the Name of Jesus mean
The Holy Name of Jesus is, first of all, an all-powerful prayer. Our Lord Himself solemnly
promises that whatever we ask the Father in His
Name we shall receive. God never fails to keep
His word.
When, therefore, we say Jesus let us ask God for
all we need with absolute confidence of being heard.
For this reason the Church ends her prayers
with the words: “Through Jesus Christ” which
gives the prayer a new and divine efficacy.
But the Holy Name is something still greater. Each time we say Jesus we give God infinite
joy and glory for we offer Him all the infinite
merits of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ.
St Paul tells us that Jesus merited the Name
Jesus by His Passion and Death. Each time we say Jesus let us clearly wish to
offer God all the Masses being said all over the
World for all our intentions. We thus share in
these thousands of Masses. Each time we say Jesus we gain 30O days
indulgence which we may apply to the souls in
Purgatory, thus relieving and liberating very many
of these holy souls from their awful pains. They
thus become our best friends and pray for us
with incredible fervour. Each time we say Jesus, it is an act of perfect
love for we offer to God the infinite love of Jesus.
The Holy Name of Jesus saves us from innumerable evils and delivers us especially from the power of the devil who is constantly seeking to do us harm.
The Name of Jesus gradually fills our souls with a peace and a joy we never had before.
The Name of Jesus gives us such strength that our sufferings become light and easy to bear.
In today’s gospel reading, (Mt 9:18-26) we read of two different miracles performed by Jesus. We read of the cure of the woman with a hemorrhage and we read of the raising back to life of the official’s daughter. While both of these miracles leave us in awe and amazement of God’s power, what is also amazing is the faith of the official and the woman. Both of them demonstrated an unshakable faith. Unshakable faith, both the official and the woman had it and because of it they found miraculous cures for insurmountable problems. May we always remember to look to God for comfort, answers and restoration; not only when things are good but especially when they seem their worst. As Christians we are called to have a faith that is unshakable, one that is built upon solid rock, not shifting sand.
“We believe an honourable man on his word. Why should we put less faith in that of Our Lord? When a friend desires to prove to his friend that he loves him, he tells him so and he presses his hand affectionately. When Our Lord wants to show His love for us, He does so in person, discarding the intervention of any third person, whether angelic or human. Love suffers no intermediate agents. He remains in the Holy Eucharist that He may repeat to us incessantly: I love you! You must see that I love you!”
“Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.”
“Every mother is like Moses. She does not enter the promised land. She prepares a world she will not see.”
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God……….Psalm 84:3
REFLECTION – “To adore Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament is first of all to acknowledge Him truly, really and substantially present therein by the humble sentiment of a lively and spontaneous faith: humbly surrendering our feeble reason to the divinity of this sublime Mystery; asking neither to see or touch, like the unbelieving Apostle, before accepting the truth of Jesus Hostia; merely waiting, to prostrate ourselves at His feet, for the infallible and gentle word of the Church telling us like Saint John the Baptist: ‘Look, this is the Lamb of God; look, this is He who takes away the sin of the world.’ …………………..St Peter Julian Eymard
PRAYER – Living God, let me desire to see You as often as possible and make use of evey opportunity to visit You and to attend Holy Mass. Grant that I may live in such a way, atoning here on earth for the sins against Your Eucharistic Heart and that I may gain the blessed vision of You in the Holy Eucharist here and now and one day attain the joy of seeing You in Heaven. Amen
Shine through me Lord! Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman
Dear Lord,
help me to spread Your fragrance wherever I go.
Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being
so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Yours.
Shine through me
and be so in me, that every soul I come in contact with,
may feel Your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me
but only You, O Lord!
Stay with me and then I will begin to shine as You do;
so to shine as to be a light to others.
The light, O Lord, will be all from You;
none of it will be mine.
It will be You shining on others through me.
Let me thus praise You in the way which You love best,
by shining on those around me.
Let me preach You without preaching,
not by words but by example,
by the catching force,
the sympathetic influence of what I do,
the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You. Amen.
Saint of the Day – 10 July – St Amalberge of Mauberg – also known as: Amalburga of Temse, Amalberga, Amalia, Amelberg, Amelia – (Born in the seventh century in Brabant, Belgium – Died in 690). She is buried beside her husband at the monastery at Lobbes, Belgium and her relics have been in Saint Peter’s abbey church in Ghent, Belgium since 1073. Patronage – against arm pain, against bruises, against fever, of farmers, fever victims, Ghent, Belgium. Attributes – crown, fish, geese, sieve, woman holding a palm and open book, woman standing on a giant sturgeon or other fish, woman with a crown at her feet.
St Amalberga, otherwise Amelia, was born at Brabant and was related to Pepin of Landen. Whether she was a sister or niece, the Bollandists are not sure. She was married to Witger and became the mother of three saints: Gudila, Reinelda, and Emembertus.
The Norman chroniclers speak of her as having been married twice, which seems to be erroneous. She and her husband ultimately withdrew from the world; he becoming a monk and she a nun. There is very great confusion in the records of this saint and of a virgin who came a century after. To add to the difficulty a third St. Amalberga, also a virgin, appears in the twelfth century.
She died in 690 and is buried beside her husband at the Lobbes monastery. Her relics have been in Saint Peter’s abbey church in Ghent, Belgium since 1073. She is known to protect people against arm pain, bruises, and fever.
It is said that she once crossed a lake by riding on the back of a giant sturgeon, which led to her representation on or with a fish.
St Amalberga
St Anatolia of Thora
St Antôn Nguyen Huu Quynh
St Apollonius of Sardis
Bl Arnold of Camerino
St Bianor of Pisidia
St Cuán of Airbhre
St Elilantus
St Etto
Bl Euménios
St Knud of Denmark
St Lantfrid
Bl Marie-Gertrude de Ripert d’Alauzier
Bl Parthenios
St Pascharius of Nantes
St Peter Vincioli
St Phêrô Nguyen Khac Tu
St Rufina of Rome
St Secunda of Rome
St Sylvanus of Pisidia
Bl Sylvie-Agnès de Romillon
St Victoria
St Waltram
—
Martyrs of Africa – 4 saints: A group of Christians martyred together in Africa. The only information that has survived are four of their names – Felix, Januarius, Marinus and Nabor.
Martyrs of Antioch – 10 saints: A group of ten Christians martyred together. We have no details about them but the names – Diogenes, Domnina, Esicius, Macarius, Maxima, Maximus, Rodigus, Timoteus, Veronia and Zacheus. They were martyred in Antioch, date unknown.
Martyrs of Damascus – 11 beati: A group of Franciscans and laymen ordered by Druz Muslims to convert to Islam. They refused and were hacked to pieces.
• ‘Abd Al-Mu’ti Masabki
• Carmelo Bolta Bañuls
• Engelbert Kolland
• Francisco Pinazo Peñalver
• Fransis Masabki
• Juan Jacobo Fernández y Fernández
• Manuel Ruiz López
• Nicanor Ascanio de Soria
• Nicolás María Alberca Torres
• Pedro Soler Méndez
• Rufayil Masabki
They were cut to pieces on 9-10 July 1860 in Damascus, Syria.
Beatified on 10 October 1926 by Pope Pius XI.
Martyrs of Nicopolis – 45 saints: A group of 45 Christians tortured and martyred together in the persecutions of emperor Licinius. We know nothing else but six of their names – Anicetus, Anthony, Daniel, Leontius, Mauritius and Sisinno. c 329 in Nicopolis, Armenia (modern Koyulhisar, Turkey).
Martyrs of Nitria – 5 saints: Fathers of Nitria – Four monks and the bishop of Alexandria, Egypt who were martyred by heretics. Saint John Chrysostom wrote about them but their names have not come down to us. They were martyred in the 4th century in Nitria, Egypt.
Martyrs of Tomis – 45 saints: A group of 45 Christians martyred together. No details about them have survived but seven of their names – Aurelian, Diomedes, Domus, Emilian, John, Marcian and Sisimmus. They were martyred in Tomis, Scythia Minor (modern Constanta, Romania), date unknown.
Seven Holy Brothers – 7 martyrs: A group of seven brothers, the sons of Saint Felicitas, all Christians and all martyred in Rome, Italy in 165 in the persecutions of Emperor Antoninus – Alexander, Felix, Januarius, Martialis, Philip, Silvanus and Vitalis. Patronage – Abbey of Badia di Cava, Italy.
If we do not venture to approach men who are in power, except with humility and reverence, when we wish to ask a favour, how much must we beseech the Lord God of all things with all humility and purity of devotion? And let us be assured that it is not in many words, but in the purity of heart and tears of compunction that we are heard. For this reason prayer ought to be short and pure, unless, perhaps it is lengthened by the inspiration of divine grace. At the community exercises, however, let the prayer always be short, and the sign having been given by the Superior, let all rise together. (Holy Rule 20)
LET US PRAY – DAY EIGHT:
Glorious Saint Benedict,
sublime model of virtue, pure vessel of God’s grace!
Behold me humbly kneeling at your feet.
I implore you in your loving kindness to pray for me before the throne of God.
To you I have recourse in the dangers that daily surround me.
Shield me against my selfishness and my indifference to God and to my neighbour.
Inspire me to imitate you in all things.
May your blessing be with me always, so that I may see and serve Christ in others and work for His kingdom.
Graciously obtain for me from God those favours and graces which I need so much in the trials, miseries and afflictions of life.
Your heart was always full of love, compassion and mercy toward those who were afflicted or troubled in any way.
You never dismissed without consolation and assistance anyone who had recourse to you.
I therefore invoke your powerful intercession, confident in the hope that you will hear my prayers and obtain for me the special grace and favour I earnestly implore.
{mention your petition}
Help me, great Saint Benedict, to live and die as a faithful child of God, to run in the sweetness of His loving will and to attain the eternal happiness of heaven.
“Saint Veronica, true to the name she took in religion, became a “true image” of Christ crucified; her configuration to the Lord was accompanied by profound mystical experiences such as her crowning with thorns and the stigmata. Veronica’s spirituality, as revealed above all in her Diary, is Christ-centred and spousal: she saw all things in the light of Christ’s love, manifested in His Passion and she united herself to His self-oblation to the Father for the salvation of souls. Her love of the Scriptures was deeply linked to her love of the Church and her strong sense of the communion of the saints.
St. Veronica Giuliani invites us to make our Christian life grow, our union with the Lord in being for others, abandoning ourselves to His will with complete and total trust and to union with the Church, Bride of Christ; she invites us to participate in the suffering love of Jesus Crucified for the salvation of all sinners; she invites us to fix our gaze on Paradise, the goal of our earthly journey, where we will live together with so many brothers and sisters the joy of full communion with God; she invites us to nourish ourselves daily from the Word of God to warm our hearts and give direction to our life. The last words of the saint can be considered the synthesis of her passionate mystical experience: “I have found Love, Love has let Himself be seen!”…. May the life and teaching of Saint Veronica Giuliani inspire us to grow in union with the Lord and His Church and to share in Christ’s loving concern for the salvation of sinners.”
Pope Benedict XVI 15 December 2010
“VERONICA” – Latin alteration of BERENICE, the spelling influenced by the ecclesiastical Latin phrase vera icon meaning “true image”. This was the name of a legendary saint who wiped Jesus’ face with a cloth and miraculously found His image imprinted upon it. It was borne by the 17th-century Italian saint and mystic Veronica Giuliani.
AnaStpaul 
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