Jesus Christ, the Heart of the Eternal Father, is the Heart of His Holy Mother. Is not the heart the principle of life? And what is the Son of God to His dear Mother? He always was and will be forever the heart of her heart, the soul of her soul, the spirit of her spirit, and the sole principle of all the movements, uses and functions of her most holy life. St. Paul tells us that it is not himself who lives but Jesus Christ who lives in him. Our Lord is the life of all Christians: so who could doubt that He abides in His holy Mother, and that He is the life of her life, the heart of her heart, in a union incomparably more excellent even than with St. Paul and the other faithful saints?
Let us listen to what Our Lady revealed to St. Brigid: “My Son was truly my Heart to me. When He left my bosom to be born, it seemed as though half of my Heart were going forth from me. When He suffered, I felt His pain as though my Heart endured the identical sorrows and torments that He endured. When my Son was being scourged and torn with whips, my Heart was scourged and whipped with Him. When Hel ooked at me from the Cross, and I at Him, two streams of tears gushed from my eyes; and when He saw me oppressed with sorrow, He experienced such violent anguish at my desolation that the pain caused by His sorrow was my sorrow as His Heart was my Heart. Because Adam and Eve together betrayed the world for one, single forbidden fruit, so did my beloved Son wish that I should cooperate with Him in redeeming it with one Heart, quasi cum uno Corde.“
Jesus lives in her soul and in her body, and in each faculty of her body and soul. He lives in her entirely, which means that whatever is in Jesus is also in Mary. His Heart abides in her heart, His soul in her soul, His spirit in her spirit. The memory, intellect and will of Jesus are alive in the memory, intellect and will of Mary; his interior and exterior senses in her interior and exterior senses. His passions in her passions; His virtues, mysteries and divine attributes are living in her Heart. Nay, more than living, they hold sovereign sway, producing inconceivably marvellous effects and impressing a living image of themselves as her Heart mirrors His Sacred Heart.
This veneration of Mary means honoring the corporeal Heart, the spiritual Heart and the divine Heart of Jesus, who are also the Hearts, or rather, the one and only Heart of Mary. It means giving glory to Our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is the Heart of the Eternal Father, and has willed to become the Heart of His Holy Mother. If Holy Church celebrates an annual feast in honor of the chains of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, how great a solemnity does not the august Heart of the Queen of Apostles deserve!
Madonna dell’Apparizione / Our Lady of the Apparition, Pellestrina, Italy (1716) – 4 August:
The Sanctuary of Madonna dell’Apparizione in Pellestrina was built in July 1717, a year after the appearance of the Madonna on the island. The event of 4 August 1716, the Feast day of St Dominic, was in fact confirmed true by canonical process: – a young boy from Pellestrina met a woman who advised him to tell the parish priest to celebrate Mass and to pray for the salvation of Venice, which, at that time, was besieged by the Turks. The following day, at the same hour of the Apparition, the Venetians won the Battle of Petrovaradin against the Turks.
Throughout the entire year the Sanctuary is a destination for many pilgrims and devotees in search of grace and even today, on 4 August in Pellestrina, the Madonna dell’Apparizione and the victory of Venice is celebrated over three days.
St Dominic de Guzman OP (1170-1221) (Memorial) Founder of the Dominican Order of Preachers – Priest, Founder, Confessor, Teacher, Preacher, Mystic, Miracle-Worker, Apostle of the Holy Rosary. At Dominic’s baptism, Blessed Joan, his Mother, saw a star shining from his chest, which became another of his symbols in art, and led to his patronage of astronomy. The Roman Martyrology states today: “At Bologna, St Dominic, Confessor, Founder of the Order of Friars Preachers, most renowned for sanctity and learning. He preserved his chastity unsullied to the end of his life and by his great merits, raised three persons from the dead. After having repressed heresies by his preaching and instructed many in the religious and Godly life, he rested in peace on the 6th of this month. His Feast, however, is celebrated on this day by decree of Pope Paul IV.
St Hyacinth of Rome St Ia of Persia St Isidore of Besançon St Lua of Limerick St Onofrio of Panaia St Perpetua of Rome St Protasius of Cologne St Rainerio of Split St Sithney (Died c 529) St Tertullinus of Rome Bl William Horne
One Minute Reflection – 3 August – “Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” – Readings: Ps 54:17-20; 54:23, Ps 54:2-3, 1 Cor. 12:2-11, Luke 18:9-14
At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves as being just and despised others.
Luke 18:9-14
REFLECTION – With what precaution the Pharisee, who went up to the Temple to pray and who had fortified the citadel of his soul, claimed to fast twice a week and give the tenth of all he earned. When he said: “My God, I thank you,” it is very clear he had brought along every imaginable precaution with which to defend himself. However, he leaves one place open and exposed to the enemy by adding: “Because I am not like this publican here”. And so, through his vanity, he handed over to his enemy entrance into the city of his heart which, nevertheless, he had thoroughly locked up with his fasts and alms.
All other precautions are useless, then, when there remains in us some opening by which the enemy might enter. That Pharisee had conquered gluttony with abstinence; he had overcome avarice with generosity. But how much work for the sake of this victory had been made useless by a single vice? by the breach of a single sin?
This is why we ought not simply to think about doing good but watch carefully over our thoughts to keep them pure in our good deeds.For if they are a source of vanity or pride in our hearts then we are only fighting for a glory that is vain, not for that of our Creator.
Saint Gregory the Great (Moralia 76)
PRAYER – Lord our God, the Light and Creator of Light, grant that faithfully pondering on all that is holy, we may ever live in the splendour of Your presence. May we live in Your Presence, withstand the winds of the world and grow daily in faith. By the help and intercession of athe loving and Immaculate Heart of Mary You may never permit us to separate ourselves from You and thus we may come, to completion in You, Through Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering –3 August – “Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary”
Blessed Virgin Mary, Receive Our Gratitude By St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor of Grace
Blessed Virgin Mary, who can worthily repay you with praise and thanks for having rescued a fallen world by your generous consent! Receive our gratitude and by your prayers, obtain the pardon of our sins. Take our prayers into the Sanctuary of Heaven and enable them to make our peace with God. Holy Mary, help the miserable, strengthen the discouraged, comfort the sorrowful, pray for your people, plead for the clergy, intercede for all women consecrated to God. May all who venerate you feel now your help and protection. Be ready to help us when we pray and bring back to us, the answers to our prayers. Make it your continual concern to pray for the people of God, for you were blessed by God and were made worthy to bear the Redeemer of the world, Who lives and reigns forever. Amen
One Minute Reflection – 2 August – “Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” – Readings: Ps 54:17-20; 54:23, Ps 54:2-3, 1 Cor. 12:2-11, Luke 18:9-14
I tell you, this man went back to his home justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.
Luke 18:9-14
REFLECTION – Dear Sisters, be assured of this, truly, if I were to find someone who really possessed the publican’s feelings, who genuinely took themself for a sinner, so long as that person had a desire to be good while in this feeling of humility. I would give the body of our Lord to them every other day with a good conscience! If someone wants to carry on defending themself from falls and grave sins then it is extremely necessary they should be sustained by this noble and strong food. That is why you ought not to abstain lightly from communion because you know yourselves to be sinners. To the contrary, you ought to hasten to the holy table all the more, for it is from there that comes, there that are placed and hidden all strength, all holiness, all help and all consolation.
But you are not to judge those who don’t do this either… You should bear no judgment so as not to become like the Pharisee who glorified himself and condemned the man standing behind him. Watch yourselves against that as from the loss of your souls; watch yourselves against the dangerous sin of condemnation.
When someone reaches the heights of all perfection nothing has ever been more necessary to them than to plunge into the lowest depths and penetrate to to the roots of humility. This was why the publican, having acknowledged the ultimate depths of his lowliness to the point of not daring any more to raise his eyes to heaven, was raised up on high since “he went back to his house justified”.
Father John Tauler (1300-1361)
PRAYER – Forgive the sins of Your people Lord and since of ourselves, we are unable to do what pleases You, lead us on the way of salvation in Your divine Son who lives in us and gives us life. May the prayers of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and most zealous Saint Alphonsus Liguori, help us to constantly meditate on Your eternal sustenance. Through, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever, amen.
Portiuncula Indulgence: An Indulgence which may be gained in any Church so designated by the Bishop, by all the faithful who, after Confession and Holy Communion, visit such Churches between noon of 1 August and midnight of 2 August, or on the Sunday following. The Indulgence is toties quoties and is applicable to the souls in Purgatory.
Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes / Our Lady of Mercy, Barcelona, Spain (1218,) Founding of the Mercedarian Order – 1 August, 24 September :
On 1 August of 1218, St Peter Nolasco, St Raymund of Penafort and James, King of Aragon, each had a vision of the Virgin Mary asking them to found a religious Order devoted to freeing Christian captives from the Muslims, who still held much of Spain. The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy grew quickly, collecting alms for ransom and sometimes offering themselves in exchange for prisoners. The Statue of the Mother of God of Mercy in Barcelona (below) dates from the 1300s. She became the City’s Patron after saving it from a plague of locusts in 1687. Before the counter-reformation, the Mercedarian Order celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Ransom on 1 August, the date when she showed St. Peter Nolasco their white habit. The Vatican changed the date to 24 September when it extended the feast to entire Church in 1696. Since Vatican II, Catholic observance of Our Lady of Mercy’s day is limited to places and organisations that claim her as Patron.
Meanwhile, the Mercedarians have changed their mission to teaching and chaplaincy and the Barcelona soccer team visits the Basilica of La Mercè after victories in thanksgiving for her help. Her fiesta in Barcelona is a spectacular sequence of processions, dances, music, games and fireworks.
St Adela Mardosewicz Bl Aleksy Sobaszek St Alexander of Perga St Almedha St Arcadius St Attius of Perga St Buono St Brogan St Charity St Ethelwold of Winchester (c 912-984) Bishop St Exuperius of Bayeux St Faith St Faustus St Felix of Gerona St Friard Bl Giovanni Bufalari St Hope St Jadwiga Karolina Zak St Jonatus St Justin of Paris St Kenneth of Wales St Leontius of Perga St Maur St Nemesius of Lisieux Bl Orlando of Vallombrosa St Peregrinus of Modena St Rioch Bl Rudolph St Secundel St Secundus of Palestrina St Sophia St Verus of Vienne
Holy Maccabees: Jewish dynasty which began with the rebellion of Mathathias and his five sons against the Syrian king, Antiochus IV (168 BC) and ruled the fortunes of Israel until the advent of Herod the Great. Syrian attempts to force Greek paganism on the Jews, the profanation of the Temple at Jerusalem and the massacre which followed, brought the nation to arms under Mathathias, a priest of the sons of Joarib. At the death of Mathathias, Judas Machabeus, his third son, drove the Syrians and Hellenists out of Jerusalem, rededicated the Temple and began an offensive and defensive alliance with the Romans. Before the treaty was concluded, however, Judas, with 800 men, risked battle at Laisa with an overwhelming army of Syrians under Bacchides, and was slain. He was succeeded in command by his youngest brother, Jonathan (161 BC). Jonathan defeated Bacchides, revenged the death of his brother and made peace with Alexander who had usurped the throne of Demetrius, the successor to Antiochus. A period of peace followed in which Jonathan ruled as high priest in Jerusalem but Tryphon, who was plotting for the throne of Asia, treacherously captured him at ptolemais and later put him to death. The captaincy of the armies of Israel then fell to Simon, the second son of Mathathias. Under him the land of Juda flourished exceedingly. He obtained the complete independence of the country and a grateful people bestowed upon him the hereditary kingship of the nation. His rule marked five years of uninterrupted peace. He was treacherously slain by his son-in-law, Ptolemy, about the year 135 BC After Simon the race of the Machabees quickly degenerated. In 63 BC the Romans thought it necessary to interfere in the fratricidal war between Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II. With this interference and the advent of Herod the Great the sceptre passed forever from the land of Juda. The story of the Machabees is written in the two books of the Old Testament which bear that name.
Martyrs of Nowogrodek – 11 beati: A group of eleven Holy Family of Nazareth nuns who were murdered by the Nazi Gestapo in exchange for 120 condemned citizens of Nowogrodek, Belarus who were scheduled for revenge killings. They are – • Adela Mardosewicz • Anna Kukolowicz • Eleonora Aniela Józwik • Eugenia Mackiewicz • Helena Cierpka • Jadwiga Karolina Zak • Józefa Chrobot • Julia Rapiej • Leokadia Matuszewska • Paulina Borowik • Weronika Narmontowicz They were machine-gunned by firing squad on 1 August 1943 by the Gestapo about three miles outside Novogrudok (Nowogródek), Hrodzyenskaya voblasts’, in Nazi occupied Belarus and buried on the site of the execution in a common grave. One of their surviving sisters, Maria Malgorzata Banas, located the grave on 19 March 1945 and tended to it until her death in 1966. Their relics have since been re-interred in a common sarcophagus in the chapel of the Novograd Farny Church (the Church of the Transfiguration, also known as Biala Fara or the White Church).
At that time, as Jesus was speaking to the multitudes, a certain woman from the crowd lifted up her voice and said to Him, Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that nursed You. But He said, Rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.
Luke 11:27-28
REFLECTION – “Happy the one who bore you and she who nursed you at the breast.” How great is the devotion, how great the faith are expressed in the words of this woman in the gospel. Whereas scribes and Pharisees put the Lord to the test and blaspheme against him, this woman acknowledges his incarnation before them all with such loyalty and confesses it with such assurance that she undoes the calumny of her contemporaries and the false faith of heretics to come. Offending against the works of the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ contemporaries deny he is really the Son of God, consubstantial with the Father. Later on people also denied that Mary ever-Virgin had, through the working of the Holy Spirit, provided the substance of her flesh to the Son of God, who would be born with a truly human body. They denied he was really Son of man with the same nature as his mother. But the apostle Paul condemns this opinion when he says of Jesus that he was “born of a virgin, subject to the Law”. For, conceived in the womb of the Virgin, he took his flesh, not out of nothing, nor from some other source, but from the body of his mother. Otherwise it would not be correct to call him truly Son of man.
O truly happy mother who, in the words of the poet: “has given birth to the King who, through all ages, rules heaven and earth. She has the joy of motherhood and the honor of virginity. Before there was none like her and none will be seen after her”. Nevertheless the Lord adds: “Happy, rather, are those who hear the Word of God and keep it”. The Savior gives magnificent confirmation to this woman’s testimony. Not only does he declare blessed she to whom it was granted to give birth to the Word of God bodily, but blessed, too, all those who give themselves to spiritually conceiving the same Word through the hearing of faith and to giving birth and feeding him either in their own hearts or in that of others, keeping him present by doing good.
Saint Bede the Venerable (Homily on St Luke)
PRAYER – Forgive the sins of Your people Lord and since of ourselves, we are unable to do what pleases You, lead us on the way of salvation in Your divine Son who lives in us and gives us life. May the prayers of Mary, His Mother help us to constantly meditate on His eternal sustenance. He is our food, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever, amen.
Do not be surprised if I say that the virginal Heart of this Mother of Fair Love is an admirable Heart indeed. Mary is admirable in her divine Maternity because as St. Bernardine of Siena says, “to be Mother of God is the miracle of miracles,” miraculum miraculorum.
But the august Heart of Mary is also truly admirable, for it is the principle of her divine Maternity and of the wonderful mysteries this privilege implies.
Of Mary’s admirable Heart I shall attempt to speak in this book although to speak and write worthily of the holy Heart of God’s own Mother one would need a heart of fire. To know and proclaim the perfections of the noble Heart of the Queen of Angels one should have the intellect of a cherub and the flaming love of a seraph. Nay more, it would be necessary to possess the mind, the heart, the tongue and the hand of Jesus Christ, the King of all hearts, to understand, honor, proclaim or commit to writing the treasures of sanctity contained in the holy Heart of Mary, the worthiest, most royal and most marvellous of all hearts after the most adorable Heart of our Saviour Himself.
Mary is truly admirable in all her perfections and in all her virtues? But what is most admirable in her is her virginal heart. The heart of the Mother of God is a world of marvels, an abyss of wonders, the source and principle of all the virtues which we admire in our glorious Queen: “All the glory of the king’s daughter is within.”
Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten Son of God, chose the incomparable Virgin Mary from among all creatures to be His Mother and deigned to be nourished and governed by her. In His infinite goodness He also gave her to us to be our Queen, our Mother and our sure Refuge in all our needs. He therefore wishes us to honor her as He honors her and to love her as He loves her.
According to the Apostle St. Paul, Christ is the Head of His Mystical Body, the Church, and we are the members. We must therefore be animated by His Spirit; we must follow His inspirations, walk the path He has traced, and continue, as it were, His life on earth by practising the virtues which were His own. It follows that our devotion to His Holy Mother must be a continuation of His devotion to her. We must be filled with the sentiments of respect, submission and affection which He entertained for her on earth and still entertains in heaven. Mary always held and will hold forever the first place in the Sacred Heart of her Divine Son; she always was and will never cease to be the first object of His love after the Eternal Father; and so He wishes that, next to God, she should be the principal object of our devotion.For this reason, after the veneration we owe to the Divine Majesty of God, we cannot render a greater service to Jesus Christ or do anything more pleasing to Him than to serve and honor His most worthy Mother.
Among the divinely inspired passages of Sacred Scripture I select one from the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse, which is a compendium of all the great things that can be said or thought of our marvellous Queen. “A great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”
What is this great sign? Who is this miraculous woman? St. Epiphanius, St. Augustine, St. Bernard and many other holy doctors agree that the woman is Mary, the Queen among women, the Sovereign of angels and men, the Virgin of virgins. She is the woman who bore in her chaste womb the perfect man, the God-Man. “A woman shall compass a man.” Mary appears in heaven because she comes from heaven, because she is heaven’s masterpiece, the Empress of Heaven, its joy and its glory, in whom everything is heavenly. Even when her body dwelt on earth, her thoughts and affections were all rapt in heaven.
She is clothed with the eternal Sun of the Godhead and with all the perfections of the Divine Essence, which surround, fill and penetrate her to such an extent that she has become transformed, as it were, into the power, goodness and holiness of God. She has the moon under her feet to show that the entire world is beneath her. None is above her, save only God, and she holds absolute sway over all created things.
Our Morning Offering – 31 July – “Month of the Precious Blood” and Mary’s Day
Hail, O Mother! By St John Chrysostom (347-407) Father and Doctor of the Church
Hail, O Mother! Virgin, heaven, throne, glory of our Church, it’s foundation and ornament. Earnestly pray for us to Jesus, your Son and Our Lord, that through your intercession, we may have mercy on the day of judgement. Pray that we may receive, all those good things which are reserved for those who love God. Through the grace and favour of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, to Whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be power, honour and glory, now and forever. Amen
Madonna dei Miracoli / Holy Mary of Miracles, Morbio Inferiore, Ticino, Switzerland (1594) – 29 July:
Where the Sanctuary of Morbio now stands, a castle stood centuries ago, attested in 1198 and destroyed in the first half of the sixteenth century. Only the ruins of a Chapel, dedicated to St Bernardino of Siena, transformed over time into a pile of rubble, buried by weeds, brambles and thorns., remained. Surrounded by ivy and fortunately well preserved, remained the Fresco in the Chapel, depicting the Virgin with the Child.
The history of the Sanctuary of Holy Mary of Miracles began on 29 July 1594. It was a Friday when the two mothers with their daughters, Catherine and Angela , respectively ten and seven years old, travelled to Morbio to entreat the assistance of Fr Gaspare Basbetrini. They were sick girls, tormented by the devil and had travelled to Morbio, to ask for the blessing of Don Gaspare Barberini, the assistant Priest at Morbio, who was well-known as an Exorcist. However, sadly for the pilgrims, Fr Basbetrini was absent.
To the tiredness of the journey and the sadness of illness, the bitterness of disappointment was added. Among the ruins of the ancient castle the little group of supplicants waited and discovered on the crumbling and crumbling walls, the faded remains of a fresco depicting the Virgin in a deeply maternal position nursing Baby Jesus.
The two mothers knelt before the Virgin with their daughters and prayed in deep sadness and devotion for the intercession of the Holy Mother to come to the aid of the sick children.
And then the miracle happened. Those two poor simple and innocent creatures were cured. This is Morbio’s miracle – the Madonna appeared to the two little girls and cureds them of all their illnesses, dispelling any demonic presence within them.
Our Lady spoke to the elder girl, Catherine and instructed her to tell the Bishop that the Church should be rebuilt and that the Holy Rosary must be said everyday.
Eight days after the event, on 5 August 1594, the episcopal curia of Como, whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction also extended to the southern regions of Ticino, instructed the regular canonical process, which recognized, upon the sworn deposition of the main eyewitnesses, the truth of what happened and their prodigious and supernatural nature.
A stained-glass window, located at the top of the apse and placed at the beginning of this century, illustrates and reminds those who enter the Sanctuary of this miracle. Catherine is depicted on a ladder, with her arms outstretched, listening in front of the image of the Madonna dei Miracoli. At the foot of the ladder, Angela, the other sick girl, is lying asleep.
In a short while an Oratory was built on the site to recite the Rosary and celebrate Mass there, as the Madonna had said to Catherine, while on 29 July 1595, the Anniversary of the apparition and the miracle, the first stone was blessed and laid for the construction of the Sanctuary, Consecrated on 16 May 1631 by the Bishop of Como, Msgr Filippo Archinti.
St Antony St Beatrix of Rome Bl Beatrix of Valfleury St Callinicus of Paphlagonia Bl Charles-Antoine-Nicolas Ancel St Faustinus of Rome St Faustinus of Spello St Felix of Rome St John Baptist Luo Tingyin St John the Soldier Bl José Calasanz Marqués St Joseph Zhang St Kilian of Inishcaltra St Lek Sirdani Bl Luis Bertran St Lupus of Troyes Bl Mancius of the Cross St Martha Wang St Olaf II St Olaus of Sweden St Paulus Chen Changpin Bl Petrus of Saint Mary St Pjetër Çuni St Prosper of Orleans St Rufo of Rome St Seraphina St Serapia of Syria St Simplicius of Rome St Sulian
Blessed Pope Urban II (c 1035-1099) Bishop of Rome from 1088 until his death, Carthusian Abbot, Confessor
Martyrs of Calanda – 8 beati: A group of Dominican priests and friars who were martyred over the course of a day in the same town by the same group of anti-Christian forces in the Spanish Civil War. • Antonio Manuel López Couceiro • Felicísimo Díez González • Gumersindo Soto Barros • Lamberto María de Navascués de Juan • Lucio Martínez Mancebo • Matías Manuel Albert Ginés • Saturio Rey Robles • Tirso Manrique Melero They were martyred on 29 July 1936 in Calanda, Teruel, Spain I.
Martyrs of Lleida – 12 beati: Carmelites of the Ancient Observance novices, friars and priests who were all martyred together in the Spanish Civil War. • Àngel Prat Hostench • Eliseo Maneus Besalduch • Gabriel Escoto Ruiz • Ginés Garre Egea • Joan Maria Puigmitjà Rubió • Joan Prat Colldecarrera • Josep Solé Rovira • Lluis Fontdecava Quiroga • Manuel Serrano Buj • Miquel Soler Sala • Pere Dorca Coromina • Pere Ferrer Marín They were martyred on 29 July 1936 in Clot dels Aubens, Cervera, Lleida, Spain.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: Thousands of people were murdered in the anti-Catholic persecutions of the Spanish Civil War from 1934 to 1939. • Blessed Bartolomé Rodríguez Soria
Martyrs of Rome – 23 saints Eugene Flora the Martyr Lucilla Theodore
Our Morning Offering – 24 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”
Virgin Full of Goodness, Mother of Mercy By St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor angelicus Doctor communis
Virgin full of goodness, Mother of mercy, I entrust to you my body and my soul, my thoughts and my actions, my life and my death. My Queen, come to my aid and deliver me from the snares of the devil. Obtain for me the grace of loving my Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, with a true and perfect love, and after Him, O Mary, of loving you with all my heart and above all things. Amen.
And the master commended the unjust steward, in that he had acted prudently; for the children of this world, in relation to their own generation, are more prudent than the children of the light.
Luke 16:1-9
REFLECTION – You should know where your own existence comes from, breath, intellect, and what is most precious of all: knowledge of God; from where comes hope of the kingdom of heaven and of beholding the glory that, at present, you see only dimly as in a mirror but that, tomorrow, you will see in all its purity and brilliance. From whence does it come that you are a child of God, inheritor along with Christ and, dare I say it, that you yourself are a god ? Where does all this come from, and through whom ?
Again, to speak only of things of lesser importance, those that are obvious: who granted you sight of the beauty of the heavens, the movement of the sun, the cycle of the moon, the countless stars and, in it all, the harmony and order governing them? Who gave you the rain, the cultivation of the land, food, art, laws, cities, a civilized life, close relationships with people like yourself ?
Isn't it from He who, before all else and in return for all His gifts, requires of you to love humankind?When He, our God and Lord, is not ashamed to be called our Father, are we going to deny our brethren?No, my brothers and friends, do not let us be dishonest stewards of the good things confided to us.
St Gregory Nazianzen (Homily 14, On love for the poor)
PRAYER – All-powerful and ever-living God, splendour of true light and never-ending day, chase away the night of sin and fill our minds with the glory of Your coming. Take away our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh, help us in our battle with sin and the devil. By our prayers, Your holy sacraments and the strength of the Holy Spirit, may we be ever vigilant of the evil one. Hear the prayers of our Queen and Mother, the Blessed Virgin of Mercy on our behalf dear Lord. We make our prayer through Christ, our Lord with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Madonna di Altino / Our Lady of Altino, Albino, Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy (1496) – 23 July:
On 23 July 1496, during a heatwave and drought,Quinto Foglia and his two little boys were walking from their home in Vall’Alta to the wooded slopes of Monte Altino, where they worked making charcoal. Stricken with thirst and afraid for his children, Quinto prayed to the Madonna. She appeared and told him to strike a rock with his staff. When he did, a spring surged forth. The next day, people began building a little Chapel, which was completed on 5 September 1496. In 1865 a statuary group depicting the apparition was installed in the Sanctuary. On 23 July 1919, in thanksgiving for her protection during World War I, the Madonna’s Statue was solemnly crowned. The Shrine celebrates its feast with an evening procession on 22 July and solemn Mass on 23 July, the anniversary of both the apparition and the crowning.
St Anne of Constantinople
St Apollonaris (1st Century) Bishop Martyr, Disciple of St Peter
Bl Beaudoin of Beaumont St Conan of Cornwall Bl Emilio Arce Díez St Eugene of Rome St Herundo of Rome Blessed Giovanna of Orvieto OP (c 1264-1306) Virgin, Tertoary of the Order of Preachers, Mystic, Stigmatist
St John Cassian (c 360- c 435) Priest, Monk, Theologian, Writer, Founder., Father of the Church.
Bl Josep Sala Picó Bl Juan de Luca Bl Juan de Montesinos Bl Leonard da Recanati
Bl Pedro Ruiz de los Paños Angel St Phocas the Gardener St Primitiva of Rome St Rasyphus of Macé St Rasyphus of Rome St Ravennus of Macé St Redempta of Rome St Romula of Rome St Severus of Bizye St Theophilus of Rome St Trophimus of Rome St Valerian of Cimiez Bl Wojciech Gondek — Martyrs of Barcelona – 7 beati: Seven Christians, some lay people, some members of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and some of the Franciscan Daughters of Mercy, who were martyred in two groups on the same day in the Spanish Civil War. • Catalina Caldés Socías • Francesc Mayol Oliver • Miquel Pons Ramis • Miquela Rul-Làn Ribot • Pau Noguera Trías • Prudència Canyelles Ginestà de Aguadé • Simó Reynés Solivellas 23 July 1936 in Barcelona, Spain. They were Beatified on 28 October 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Martyrs of Bulgaria: An unknown number of Christians killed for their faith during the 9th century war between the Greek Emperor Nicephorus and the Bulgars.
Martyrs of Carabanchel Bajo – 9 beati: A group of nine Passionist priests, brothers and clerics who were martyred together in the Spanish Civil War. • Anacario Benito Nozal • Felipe Ruiz Fraile • Felipe Valcobado Granado • José Osés Sainz • José Ruiz Martinez • Julio Mediavilla Concejero • Laurino Proaño Cuesta • Manuel Pérez Jiménez • Maurilio Macho Rodríguez 22 July 1936 in Carabanchel Bajo, Madrid, Spain.
Martyrs of Horta – 10 beati: A lay woman and nine Minim nuns who were martyred together in the Spanish Civil War. • Ana Ballesta Gelmá • Dolors Vilaseca Gallego • Josefa Pilar García Solanas • Josepa Panyella Doménech • Lucrecia García Solanas • Maria Montserrat Ors Molist • Mercè Mestre Trinché • Ramona Ors Torrents • Teresa Ríus Casas • Vicenta Jordá Martí 23 July 1936 at the Sant Genís dels Agudells highway, Horta, Barcelona, Spain.
Martyrs of Manzanares – 5 beati: Five Passionist clerics who were martyred together in the Spanish Civil War. • Abilio Ramos y Ramos • Epifanio Sierra Conde • José Estalayo García • Vicente Díez Tejerina • Zacarías Fernández Crespo They were shot on 23 July 1936 in Manzanares, Ciudad Real, Spain
One Minute Reflection – 23 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”
The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and they who exercise authority over them are called Benefactors. But not so with you. On the contrary, let him who is greatest among you become as the youngest, and him who is the chief as the servant.
Luke 22:24-30
REFLECTION – The Son of God himself, who is before all ages, the invisible, the incomprehensible, the bodiless, the beginning from the beginning, light from the light, source of life and immortality, image of the archetype, immovable seal, unchangeable image, the Father’s definition and Word, he it is who came to his own image and took to himself flesh for the sake of our flesh. Then he united himself with an intelligent soul for my soul’s sake, purifying like by like. He took to himself all that is human, except sin… He who enriches others becomes poor. He took to himself the poverty of my flesh so that I might obtain the riches of his godhead. He who is full empties himself. He emptied himself of his godhead for a brief time so that I might share in his fulness.
What is this wealth of goodness ? What is this mystery that touches me ? I received the divine image and I did not keep it. He receives my flesh to save the image and grant immortality to the flesh. This, his second communion with us, is far more marvellous than the first… It was necessary that holiness be conferred on man through the humanity God took to himself. In this way, conquering the tyrant by force, he freed us and led us back to himself through his Son, the mediator. The Son brought this about to the honour of the Father to whom, in all things, he is seen to defer.
St Gregory Nazianzen (Homily no.45)
PRAYER – A pure heart create for me O God, put a steadfast spirit within me! Lord God, bestow a full measure of Your grace to us. Keep us within in the path of Your commandments, help us to work on the earth of our souls, rooting out the weeds and casting forth the stones of malice. Grant that by the prayers of our Blessed and Merciful Mother, we may succeed in attaining sanctity. Through Christ, our Lord, in union with the Holy Spirit, one God, forever, amen.
Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own.
Isa 58:7-11
REFLECTION – We should not reject those goods that may potentially be of use to our neighbor. It is in the nature of possessions to be possessed and that of goods to spread good. God intended them for man’s well being. Our goods lie in our hands like tools, instruments that we can put to good use so long as we know how to wield them… Nature has made a servant of wealth, not a mistress. So we shouldn’t decry it since it is neither good not bad in itself but completely neutral. We ourselves are alone responsible for the use, good or bad, which we make of it. Our minds, our consciences are entirely set free from disposing as they choose of the goods entrusted to them. What we should destroy are not our goods but the covetousness that perverts their use. When we have acquired integrity then we shall know how to use them with integrity. Those goods we are told to get rid of we should understand to be the unregulated desires of the soul. You gain nothing from depriving yourself of your money if you remain rich in unregulated desires.
See how the Lord conceived of the use of external goods: we need to detach ourselves, not from the money that enables us to live, but from the forces that cause us to use it badly, namely sicknesses of the soul. We need to purify our souls, that is to say, make them poor and naked and, in that state, listen to the Lord’s call: “Come, follow me.” He is the way along which the pure of heart walk. Here is a man who thinks of his fortune, his gold, silver, houses, as graces from God, and he shows Him his thanks by succoring the poor from his own resources. He knows well that he possesses these goods more for the sake of his brothers than for himself; he remains stronger than his wealth and is far from becoming its slave; he does not lock it up in his heart. And if, one day, his money is about to disappear, he accepts his ruin with just as joyful a heart as in the days of his prosperity. Now this man, I say, God declares blessed and calls “poor in spirit”; he is a certain heir of the Kingdom of heaven, which will be closed to those who could not look beyond their own wealth.
St Clement of Alexandria (Homily “How can the rich be saved?”)
PRAYER – Almighty Father, You made us Your children, You called us from all ages and You formed us by Holy Mother Church. Grant, we pray, that by Your grace, we may be ever faithful to her and be guided by Your Holy Spirit of love. O God, may Your Mother and ours and Your holy Angels and Saints intercede for us that, being made imitators of the Lord’s Passion, we may merit to be co-heirs of His Kingdom. Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever, amen.
Nuestra Señora de Zocueca / Our Lady of Zocueca, Bailén, Jaén, Andalucía, Spain (1808 – 20 July:
Around 1150, Mozarabic Christians built a rudimentary Chapel near the Rumblar River, the Guadalquivir tribuitary that waters this region in southern Spain, at a place called Zocueca. When Alfonso VII reconquered the area in 1155, people gave thanks to the Virgin at the Shrine. In the 1400s it was was rebuilt, and from this period the graceful, standing Gothic Statue of the Mother and Child seems to date, although tradition holds it to be older than the first Chapel.
During the cholera epidemic of 1681, the people vowed to hold an annual feast in honour of the Virgin, preceded by a day of fasting, if she would save them. The promise has been kept on 5 August ever since. The Chapel was re-decorated in Baroque style in the 1700s.
In 1808, people again thanked the Virgin of Zocueca for her help during the Battle of Bailén, the first Spanish victory against Napoleon. Annually since 1810, the municipality commemorates the battle with a series of civil, patriotic, and religious events from 17-22 July, reaching their greatest splendour on the 20th, when the Patroness, the Virgin of Zocueca, goes through the City streets in procession. Another event in her honour, the romería or pilgrimage, takes place on the last Sunday in September in thanks for her help in ending a plague of locusts which threatened the region’s crops in the late 1800s. Men carry the Statue, bristling with decorations, on their shoulders from its usual home in the Church of the Incarnation in Bailén, to the Sanctuary four miles distant, where overnight vigil is kept before a sunrise Mass. In 1925, the Virgin of Zocueca was proclaimed “Captain General” and her Statue given a military sash. After the Statue burned in the Civil War, religious sculptor Jose Maria Alcacer made a replica, blessed on 5 August1954.
Bl Anne Cartier St Ansegisus St Aurelius of Carthage St Cassian of Saint Saba St Chi Zhuze St Elijah the Prophet
St Elswith
Blessed Gregory Lopez (1542-1596) “The Mystery Man” – Hermit, Spiritual Advisor, Writer. Around 1585, word of a “Mystery Man” began to leak into Mexico City, a strange hermit who lived out in the lonely valley of Guesteca, who walked miles to go to Mass, lived totally subject to “Lady Poverty” and had travelled from the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Spain (which dates from 712), to her Shrine in Mexico (which dates from 1531).
St Margaret of Antioch (3rd century) Virgin Martyr. Margaret is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and is one of the Saints who spoke to St Joan of Arc.
St Maria Fu Guilin St Mère St Paul of Saint Zoilus St Rorice of Limoges St Severa of Oehren St Severa of Saint Gemma St Wulmar
Martyrs of Corinth – 22 saints: 22 Christians who were martyred together. We know nothing else about them but the names – • Appia • Calorus • Cassius • Celsus • Cyriacus • Donatus • Emilis • Felix • Fructus • Magnus • Maximus • Nestita • Partinus • Pasterus • Paul • Romanus • Spretus • Tertius • Theodolus • Ueratia • Valerian • Victor. They were martyred in Corinth, Greece.
Martyrs of Damascus – 16 saints: 16 Christians who were martyred together. We know the names of six of then, but no details about any of them – Cassia, Julian, Macrobius, Maximus, Paul and Sabinus. They were martyred in Damascus, Syria, date unknown.
Martyrs of Seoul – 8 saints: Eight lay native Koreans in various states of life who were murdered together for their faith. • Anna Kim Chang-gum • Ioannes Baptista Yi Kwang-nyol • Lucia Kim Nusia • Magdalena Yi Yong-hui • Maria Won Kwi-im • Martha Kim Song-im • Rosa Kim No-sa • Theresia Yi Mae-im They were martyred on 20 July 1839 at the Small West Gate, Seoul, South Korea
Martyrs of Zhaojia – 3 saints: Married lay woman and her two daughters in the apostolic vicariate of Southeastern Zhili, China. During the persecutions of the Boxer Rebellion, the three of them hid in a well to avoid being raped. They were found, dragged out, and killed for being Christian. Martyrs. They were – Maria Zhao Guoshi (mother), Maria Zhao and Rosa Zhao (sisters). They were martyred in late July 1900 in Zhaojia, Wuqiao, Hebei, China.
Martyrs of Zhujiahe – 4 saints: Two Jesuit missionary priests and two local lay people who supported their work who were martyred together in the Boxer Rebellion during and immediately after Mass. • Léon-Ignace Mangin • Maria Zhu Wushi • Paul Denn • Petrus Zhu Rixin They were martyred on 20 July 1900 in church in Zhujiahe, Jingxian, Hebei, China
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: • Blessed Abraham Furones y Furones • Blessed Antoni Bosch Verdura • Blessed Francisca Aldea y Araujo • Blessed Jacinto García Riesco • Blessed Joan Páfila Monllaó • Blessed Josep Tristany Pujol • Blessed Matías Cardona-Meseguer • Blessed Rita Josefa Pujalte y Sánchez • Blessed Vicente López y López
Nuestra Señora del Milagro / Our Lady of the Miracle, Lima, Peru (1630) – 19 July and 27 November:
The Franciscan Friars who accompanied the Conquest to Peru hung an image of the Immaculate Conception over the door of their first Church in Lima. On missionary journeys around the region, they would take the image, “La Misionera,” with them. They were in Cusco, the Inca capital, on 23 May 1536 when, during the rebellion of Manco Inca against the two-year Spanish regime, natives trapped many Spaniards in a hut and set fire to the straw roof. La Misionera was seen by all to leave her place inside and to appear above the burning building together with Santiago (St.James the Greater). The fire ceased and all were saved. In honour of this event, the Spanish built the Church of the Triumph, now an adjunct of the Cusco Cathedral.
Back in Lima, after the Franciscans surrounded the little Chapel with a big Monastery complex, the image over the door was gradually forgotten. By the 1600s, it had one regular devotee, a poor woman. One day she heard the Virgin speak: “You alone, daughter, among all the people here, visit me and pray to me. One day I will repay you.” After the woman told saintly Brother Juan Gomez, he often remarked, “Lima does not recognise the great good it has in this miraculous image, but soon it will know.”
On 27 November 1630, when most of the people of Lima were attending a bullfight in the main plaza, a violent earthquake struck the City. All were terrified, for it seemed certain that they would perish. But those near the Franciscan Church saw the image of Our Lady turn in the direction of the Blessed Sacrament, with her hands held in suppliant gesture. Abruptly, the earthquake stopped.
Several hours later, at vespers that evening, while the populace was leaving the Church, the image, in full view of all present, returned to its original position, when the Marian hymn Tota Pulchra was intoned. This painting shows the Virgin kneeling in prayer, with her arms crossed upon her breast, presumably interceding for Lima.
Now called “Our Lady of the Miracle,” the image was given a magnificent new Church. In 1835, the church burned down. Only the image remained intact. On J19 une 1953, the Papal Nuncio crowned the miraculous image The feast of Our Lady of the Miracle is on 27 November the anniversary of the 1630 earthquake and today the Crowning is honoured each year.
St Ambrose Autpertus Bl Antonio of Valladolid St Aurea of Cordoba St Arsenius the Great (c 354-c 449) Deacon, Hermit, Desert Father. Bl Bernhard of Rodez St Daria of Constantinople St Epaphras of Colosse St Felix of Verona
St John Plessington (c 1637-1679) Martyr, Priest. Also celebrated on 25 October as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
St Macrina the Younger (c 327-379) Virgin, Ascetic. With charm and grace, St Macrina ruled the roost in a family of saints. St Basil the Elder and St Emmelia, her parents, had ten children including the younger St Basil the Great (329-379) Father and Doctor of the Church, St Gregory of Nyssa (c 335–C 395) Father of the Church and St Peter of Sebaste Bishop (c 340–391). As the eldest child, Macrina exercised a formative influence on her more famous brothers and even on her mother.
St Martin of Trier St Michael the Sabaitè Bl Pascasio of Lyon
St Peter Crisci of Foligno TOSF (c 1243-1323) called a “Fool for Christ” – Franciscan Tertiary, Penitent, Hermit, Pilgrim, Beggar, Preacher.
St Romain of Ryazan St Pope Symachus St Vicente Cecilia Gallardo — Martyrs of Meros – 3 saints: Three Christians tortured and martyred together in the persecutions of emperor Julian the Apostate and governor Almachio. We know nothing else about them but the names – Macedoniuis, Tatian and Theodule. They were burned to death on an iron grill in Meros, Phrygia (in modern Turkey).
Martyrs of China: 3 Beati Elisabeth Qin Bianshi Elisabeth Ioannes Baptista Zhu Wurui Simon Qin Chunfu
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
John 15:12-16
REFLECTION – Since all of our Lord’s sacred utterances contain commandments, why does he say about love as if it were a special commandment: “This is my commandment, that you love one another?” It is because every commandment is about love, and they all add up to one commandment because whatever is commanded is founded on love alone. As a tree’s many branches come from one root, so do many virtues come forth from love alone. The branch which is our good works has no sap unless it remains attached to the root of love. Our Lord’s commandments are then both many and one: many through the variety of the works, one in their root which is love.
Our Lord himself instructs us to love our friends in him, and our enemies for his sake. That person truly possesses love who loves his friend in God and his enemy for God’s sake.
There are some people who love their neighbors, drawn by blood relationship or by natural affection, and Scripture does not oppose this kind of love. But what we give freely and naturally is one thing, and the obedience we owe to the Lord’s commandments out of love is another. Those I’ve mentioned indisputably love their neighbors… but their love does not come from spiritual but from natural motives. Therefore when the Lord said: “This is my commandment, that you love one another”, he added immediately: “Just as I have loved you,” meaning, “You must love for the same reason that I have loved you.”
Saint Gregory the Great ( Homilies on the Gospels, no. 27)
PRAYER – O Lord Jesus, I adore you wounded on the Cross, having drunk vinegar and gall. I beg you, that your wounds may be the remedy of my soul. Amen. Our Father. Hail Mary.
Madonna della Campitelli / Our Lady of Campitelli, Italy (524) – 17 July and 2 February:
The Sanctuary of Sancta Maria in Campitelli is one of the most celebrated of Rome. It is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and is located on the Piazza di Campitelli in Rome, Italy.
There is venerated at the Church a precious image that was transported from the portico of the palace of the Roman matron, Galla Patrizia Seveath, to whom the Virgin herself appeared on 17 July 524. The icon is only 25 centimeters high. Mention is made of the miraculous appearance by Pope Gregory the Great. The image is known as Our Lady in the Portico, or the Madonna del Portico.
The Church where the icon was kept was known as Santa Galla Antiqua and it used to be located just north of the Piazza Bocca della Verita and west of the Via Petroselli. It was destroyed by Mussolini under pretext that the street should be widened.
In the year 1618 the congregation was transferred to a new Church known as Santa Maria in Campitelli, finished in 1667. The work of the Shrine is that of the architect Rainaldi. The new edifice was erected by vote of the people in thanksgiving for the preservation of the city from the pestilence of 1656 and was designed in the Baroque style. There are tall columns on the façade of the church that were intended to include statues, although the statues were never completed as originally planned.
The icon of Our Lady of Campitelli is surrounded by an ornate Shrine behind the High Altar and there is a stairway behind the display that allows a closer inspection of the famous Icon. It is not open to the general public.
Many times the sacred image of Our Lady of Campitelli has been carried in procession through the streets of Rome – the people invoking Mary’s protection against pestilence, epidemics and earthquakes. This image is also invoked under the title of Our Lady of Security and two feasts are commemorated in Mary’s honour – 17 July and 2 February.
St Alexius of Rome (Died early 5th Century) Hermit, Mystic, beggar – known as “the Man of God.”
Bl Carlos de Dios Murias OFM Conv (1945-1976) Priest Martyr St Cynllo St Ennodius of Pavia St Fredegand of Kerkelodor St Generosus St Gorazd St Hedwig, Queen of Poland St Hyacinth of Amastris St Kenelm St Pope Leo IV
St Petrus Liu Zeyu Bl Sebastian of the Holy Spirit Bl Tarsykia Matskiv St Theodosius of Auxerre St Theodota of Constantinople St Turninus
Martyrs of Compiegne (16 beati): Sixteen Blessed Teresian Martyrs of Compiègne. Eleven Discalced Carmelite nuns, three lay sisters and two lay women servants who were martyred together in the French Revolution. They were the earliest martyrs of the French Revolution that have been recognised. • Angelique Roussel • Anne Pelras • Anne-Marie-Madeleine Thouret • Catherine Soiron • élisabeth-Julitte Vérolot • Marie Dufour • Marie Hanniset • Marie-Anne Piedcourt • Marie-Anne-Françoise Brideau • Marie-Claude-Cyprienne Brard • Marie-Françoise de Croissy • Marie-Gabrielle Trezel • Marie-Geneviève Meunier • Marie-Madeleine-Claudine Lidoine • Rose-Chretien de Neuville • Thérèse Soiron • They were guillotined on 17 July 1794 at the Place du Trône Renversé (modern Place de la Nation) in Paris, France.
Martyrs of Scillium (12 saints): A group of twelve Christians martyred together, the final deaths in the persecutions of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Upon their conviction for the crime of being Christians, the group was offered 30 days to reconsider their allegiance to the faith; they all declined. Their official Acta still exist. Their names – • Acyllinus • Cythinus • Donata • Felix • Generosa • Januaria • Laetantius • Narzales • Secunda • Speratus • Vestina • Veturius They were beheaded on 17 July 180 in Scillium, Numidia (in North Africa).
Our Morning Offering – 17 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”
Deign, O Immaculate Virgin By St Paschasius Radbertus (785–865)
Deign, O Immaculate Virgin, Mother most pure, to accept the loving cry of praise which we send up to you from the depths of our hearts. Though they can but add little to your glory, O Queen of Angels, you do not despise, in your love, the praises of the humble and the poor. Cast down upon us a glance of mercy, O most glorious Queen, graciously receive our petitions. Through your immaculate purity of body and mind, which rendered you so pleasing to God, inspire us with a love of innocence and purity. Teach us to guard carefully the gifts of grace, striving ever after sanctity, so that, being made like the image of your beauty, we may be worthy to become, the sharers of your eternal happiness. Amen
One Minute Reflection – 17July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Readings: Ps 46:2, Ps 46:3, Rom 6:19-23, Matt 7:15-21
By their fruits you will know them.
Matt 7:15-21
REFLECTION – Vice mimics virtue, and the tares strive to be thought wheat, growing like the wheat in appearance, but being detected by good judges from the taste. The devil also transfigures himself into an angel of light; not that he may reascend to where he was, for having made his heart hard as an anvil, he has henceforth a will that cannot repent; but in order that he may envelope those who are living an Angelic life in a mist of blindness, and a pestilent condition of unbelief. Many wolves are going about in sheep’s clothing, their clothing being that of sheep, not so their claws and teeth: but clad in their soft skin, and deceiving the innocent by their appearance, they shed upon them from their fangs the destructive poison of ungodliness.
We have need therefore of divine grace, and of a sober mind, and of eyes that see, lest from eating tares as wheat we suffer harm from ignorance, and lest from taking the wolf to be a sheep we become his prey, and from supposing the destroying Devil to be a beneficent Angel we be devoured: for, as the Scripture says, he goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. This is the cause of the Church's admonitions, the cause of the present instructions, and of the lessons which are read.
St Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechetical Lecture 4:1)
PRAYER – Lord God, in Your wisdom You created us, by Your Providence, You rule us. Penetrate our inmost being with Your holy light so that our way of life may always be one of faithful service and childlike trust in You. Grant that by the intercession of our most Holy and Blessed Virgin Mother, we may always follow behind Your Son, obey His Words and grasp His hand, to lead us to You, Through Jesus Christ our Lord with the Holy Spirit, one God now and for all eternity, amen
Nuestra Señora del Carmen (Rute, Córdoba, Andalucía, Spain) (17th Century)– 16 July, 13 February – Patron of Rute:
By order of Pope Pius XI, Our Lady of Mount. Carmel was proclaimed Patron of the Town of Rute in southern Spain on 13 February1924. Her beloved image goes back to the late 1600s, when Luisa Roldán (La Roldana) of Seville carved the head and hands. Made to be dressed, the Statue did not have a proper body until the 1960s.
It occupies a neo-baroque setting over the High Altar, also of the 1960s. Rute honours its Patron several times a year. The anniversary celebration lasts three days, culminating on 13 February with Mass, presentations to the Chief of the Brotherhood and the Fiesta Queen of gifts made for the Virgin, and a ceremony of kissing the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount. Carmel. Her liturgical feast day, 16 July is the focus of another three-day celebration. On the last Sunday of June, the procession is held, when the Statue goes in procession through the neighbourhood to the main Parish Church of Santa Catalina Mártir. Another triduum is celebrated around the feast of the Assumption, 14-16 August.
Bl André de Soveral St Andrew the Hermit St Antiochus of Sebaste Bl Arnold of Clairvaux Bl Arnold of Hildesheim
St Bartholomew of Braga OP – Archbishop of Braga also known as Bl Bartholomew of the Martyrs (Bartolomeu Fernandez dei Martiri Fernandes) (1514-1590) Portuguese Dominican Friar and Priest, Writer, Theologian, Advisor, Teacher and Catechetical writer, Apostle of Charity founding a series of hospitals and hospices in Braga and surrounds.
St Benedict the Hermit
Blessed Ceslaus Odrowaz OP (c 1184– 1242) (Brother of St Hyacinth) Priest and Friar of the Order of Preachers, Confessor, Spiritual Advisor, miracle-worker.
Bl Claude Beguignot Bl Domingos Carvalho St Domnin St Domnio of Bergamo Bl Dorothée-Madeleine-Julie de Justamond St Elvira of Ohren St Eugenius of Noli St Faustus St Faustus of Rome and Milan St Fulrad of Saint Denis St Generosus of Poitou St Gobbán Beg St Gondolf of Saintes St Grimoald of Saintes St Helier of Jersey Bl Irmengard Bl John Sugar St Landericus of Séez Bl Madeleine-Françoise de Justamond Bl Marguerite-Rose de Gordon Bl Marguerite-Thérèse Charensol Bl Marie-Anne Béguin-Royal Bl Marie-Anne Doux
St Marie-Madeline Postel (1756-1846) Religious Sister and Founder of the Sisters of Christian Schools of which she is the Patron, Teacher, Franciscan tertiary.
Bl Marie-Rose Laye Bl Milon of Thérouanne Bl Nicolas Savouret Bl Ornandus of Vicogne St Paulus Lang Fu St Reinildis of Saintes ( c 630 – c 700) Virgin, Laywoman, Martyr Bl Robert Grissold Bl Simão da Costa St Sisenando of Cordoba St Tenenan of Léon St Teresia Zhang Heshi St Valentine of Trier St Vitalian of Capua St Vitaliano of Osimo St Yangzhi Lang — Martyrs of Antioch – 5 saints: Five Christians who were martyred together. No details about them have survived by the names – Dionysius, Eustasius, Maximus, Theodosius and Theodulus. They were Martyred in Antioch, Syria, date unknown.
Our Morning Offering – 16 July – The Memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
“The Flos Carmeli The Flower of Carmel” By St Simon Stock (1165-1265)
O most beautiful Flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of Heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in this my necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein that thou art my Mother. O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and earth, I humbly beseech thee from the bottom of my heart, to succour me in this my necessity. There are none that can withstand thy power. O show me herein, that thou art my Mother. Amen.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for those who have recourse to thee. (Repeat three times)
Sweet Mother, I place this cause in thy hands. (Repeat three times)
This prayer, the “Flos Carmeli” (“The Flower of Carmel”), was composed by St Simon Stock (1165-1265), a Carmelite, so-called because he and other members of his order lived atop Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. St Simon Stock was visited by the Blessed Virgin Mary on 16 July 1251, at which time, she bestowed upon him a scapular, or habit, (commonly called “the Brown Scapular”), which became part of the liturgical clothing of the Carmelite order Oral tradition tells of St Simon Stock praying, with a passionate intensity to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, during a time of great distress and hardship for the Order. With fervour and faith, he prayed his prayer, the Flos Carmeli for the first time. And Our Lady answered his prayer. Thus, for seven centuries the Flos Carmeli continues to be prayed to the Blessed Mother with the firm faith that she she will answer its request with her powerful help.
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Matt 7:15-21
REFLECTION – Could Jesus Christ, my brothers, give us more clear and more certain evidence to make us known and distinguish good Christians from the bad, than by telling us that we will know them, not in their words, but to their works. A good tree, he tells us, cannot bear bad fruits, like a bad tree cannot bear good ones. Yes, my brothers, a Christian who has only a false devotion, an affected virtue and who is only external, despite all the precautions he will take to counterfeit himself, will soon let the disturbances of his heart appear from time to time, either in his words, or in his actions. No, my brothers, there is nothing so common that these virtues be ‟apparent”, that is to say a hypocrisy. We will see at the last judgment that most Christians have only had a religion of whim or mood, that is to say, inclinations, and that very few have only sought God in what they have done.
We first say that a Christian who wants to work sincerely in his salvation, must not be content to do good works; But he still has to know who he does them for and how he should do them. Secondly, we say that it is not enough to appear virtuous in the eyes of the world, but that it is still necessary to be in the heart. If, now, my brothers, you ask me how we can know that a virtue is true and that it will lead us to heaven, my brothers, here it is: listen to it well, gravel it well in your heart; so that each action you will do, you can know if it will be rewarded in heaven. I say that for an action to please God, it must have three conditions: the first, that it is interior and perfect; the second, humble and without return to oneself; the third, both constant and persistent: if in everything you do, you will find these conditions, you are sure to work for the heavens.
St John Vianney (Sermon for the 4th Sunday after Pentecost)
PRAYER – Almighty God, to whom this world with all its goodness and beauty belongs, give us grace joyfully to begin this day in Your name and to fill it, with an active love for You and for our neighbour. Grant us the grace to repent of our sins, to turn to the Cross of Your Son and to beg Him, in His great love and suffering, to forgive us again! Mary, the Madonna of Humility, intercede for us in our weakness and help us become humble and look only at the face of Christ. Amen
Our Morning Offering – 15 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” and the Memorial of St Bonaventure (1221-1274) Seraphic Doctor of the Church
To our Lady of Sorrows By St Bonaventure (1217-1274) Seraphic Doctor of the Church
O most holy Virgin, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the overwhelming grief you experienced when you witnessed the Martyrdom, the Crucifixion and the Death, of your Divine Son, look upon me, with eyes of compassion and awaken in my heart, a tender commiseration for those sufferings and a sincere detestation of my sins, in order that, being disengaged from all undue affection for the passing joys of this earth, I may sigh after the eternal Jerusalem and that, henceforward, all my thoughts and all my actions may be directed towards this one most desirable object, the honour, glory and love of our divine Lord Jesus, and to you, the Holy and Immaculate Mother of God. Amen.
Mare de Déu de Canòlich / Mother of God of Canòlich, Canòlich, Sant Julià de Lòria, Andorra, Spain (1223) – 14 July and 4th Saturday of May
On 14 July 1223, a shepherd was pasturing his flock near the village of Canòlich in southern Andorra, when suddenly a bird with brilliant plumage came to rest on an outcrop. The shepherd approached and caught the bird with no trouble and carried it to his house. The next day the bird had disappeared and again he found it in the field. The sequence recurred three times but the last time, the shepherd found an image of the Virgin Mary in a niche in the rock.
In response to this prodigy, the people of Sant Julià de Lòria Parish decided to build a Shrine to the Virgin where her Statue was found. Many miracles ensued at the Shrine and still do. Sadly now, nothing remains of that Church. The present Sanctuary, containing a baroque Altarpiece from a previous Shrine, dates from the 1970s. The Romanesque image of the Mother of God of Canòlich resides in the Parish Church of Sant Julià y San Germà in the urban centre of Sant Julià de Lòria: a wooden Statue from the late 1100s, with original polychrome.
On the last Saturday in May, parishioners gather in Sant Julià de Lòria for morning fireworks and Mass in the Virgin’s honour. Then the celebration — moves to Canòlich, for Masses at the Sanctuary and after Mass, dancing, and blessing and distribution of bread.
St Camillus de Lellis MI (1550-1614) (Optional Memorial) Priest and Founder the Order of the Ministers of the Sick, or simply as the “Camillians,” known as “The Giant of Charity.”
Bl Boniface of Canterbury St Colman of Killeroran St Cyrus of Carthage St Deusdedit of Canterbury St Donatus of Africa Bl Dorotea Llamanzares Fernández
St Francisco Solano y Jiménez OFM (1549 – 1610) Priest , Friar of the Order of Friars Minor, Missionary, Musician, Preacher, Miracle worker, Apostle of the Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Virgin Mother and of Prayer, Polyglot – “The Wonder Worker of Whe New World. ”
For as you yielded your members as slaves of uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now yield your members as slaves of justice unto sanctification.
Rom 6:19-23
REFLECTION – “Let us cry out with David; let us hear him weep and let us shed tears with him. Let us see how he rises up again and let us rejoice with him: “Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness.” (Ps 51:3)
Let us place before the eyes of our soul a man who is seriously injured, almost on the point of breathing his last breathe and who is lying naked in the dust. In his desire to see a doctor arrive, he is moaning and begging the person who understands his condition, to have pity. Now sin is a wound to the soul. You who are this wounded person, learn that your Doctor is within you and show Him the wounds of your sins. May He, to whom every secret thought is known, hear the moaning of your heart. May your tears move Him and, if you have to seek Him with some insistence, let deep sighs rise up to Him from the bottom of your heart. May your pain come to Him and may you also be told, like David: “The Lord… has forgiven your sin.” (2 Sam 12:13)…
“Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness.” The people who belittle their fault because they do not know this great tenderness, only draw a little tenderness to themselves. As for me, I fell far, I sinned with full knowledge. But You, Almighty Doctor, correct those who scorn You; You teach those who do not know their fault and You forgive those who admit it to You.” – St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) Father and Doctor of the Church – Presentation on the seven penitential Psalms
“ It is better to atone for sin now and to cut away vices, than to keep them for purgation in the hereafter. In truth, we deceive ourselves by our ill-advised love of the flesh. What will that fire feed upon but our sins? The more we spare ourselves now and the more we satisfy the flesh, the harder will the reckoning be and the more we keep for the burning.”
Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)
PRAYER – God our Father, we are Your children and You have set us aside to come home to You by the light of the way of Your divine Son. Fill us with knowledge of our need to turn to You in sorrow and repentance, that we may one day attain our final home with You. Grant we pray, that by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, we may too become lights announcing Your Glory and our great need for repentance. and penance. We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus with You in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God forever, amen.
Notre-Dame -de- lure / Our Lady of Lure, Avignon, France (1110) – 12 July:
At the beginning of the 6th century, a Priest from Orleans, France, named Saint Donat du Val, in search of solitude, made his way into the Alps. The mountain of Lure seemed to be the kind of place he was looking for and with the approval of the Bishop of Sisteron, he settled there. On the side of the mountain he built an oratory for which he himself made the Statue of Our Lady, carving it from native stone. When after 32 years he died, having spent these years in penance and apostolic work, he was replaced by the Benedictines of Val-Benoit.
A Chapel was built to replace the oratory which proved too small to accommodate the many pilgrims. When the Saracens invaded Provence, the religious had to flee and so they hid the Statue. Barbarians ravaged the country several times and the Convent was destroyed.
In 1110, the Countess Adelaide, to whom the land of Lure belonged, gave the place of the original oratory to the Bishop of Sisteron. Several nobles aided in the work of restoring the Monastery of Our Lady of Lure. The ancient sSatue was found and placed above the tomb of Saint Donat. The Church became well known and pilgrimages were well attended. In 1318, Pope John XXII attached the Shrine of Our Lady of Lure, to the metropolitan area or See of Avignon. In 1481, Pope Sixtus IV called back to Avignon the 12 canons at the Shrine. The Church fell into disrepair. For 80 years the place remained desolate. One day a shepherd, who was resting near the ruins, heard a voice saying, “Oh, how many graces I would give to men in this place, if my Sanctuary were rebuilt.”
The ecclesiastics to whom he told his story took the shepherd seriously. The Shrine was rebuilt and the Statue rescued from the debris, was placed on a new Altar which was Consecrated in 1637. Pilgrimages again flourished. During the French Revolution the Chapel was pillaged and the Statue mutilated.
With the return of peace, pilgrims again came. On a number of occasions, Mary granted the miracle of an abundant rain to pilgrims that had come to seek this favour. The largest number of pilgrims were wont to come on Pentecost, the Feast of the Assumption and the Nativity of Our Lord.
St Agnes De St Andreas the Soldier St Ansbald of Prum St Balay St Clement Ignatius Delgado Cebrian St Colmán of Cloyne (c 522-600) Priest, Monk Bl David Gonson St Epiphana St Faustus the Soldier St Felix of Milan St Fortunatus of Aquileia (1st Century – Died c 66) Deacon St Hermagorus of Aquileia (1st Century – Died c 66) Bishop, Disciple of St Mark the Evangelist St Hilarion of Ancyra St Jason of Tarsus Bl Jeanne-Marie de Romillon
St John Gualbert (c 985-1073) Abbot, Founder of the Vallumbrosan Order and many Monasteries. “The Merciful Knight.”
St John Jones OFM (c 1574 – 1598) Priest and Martyr, Franciscan Friar, Missionary.
St John the Georgian Bl Lambert of Cîteaux
Bl Madeleine-Thérèse Talieu Bl Marguerite-Eléonore de Justamond 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 Ultán
St Veronica – The woman who who wiped the Face of Jesus 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.
St Viventiolus of Lyons — 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.
AnaStpaul 
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