Tag: Jesus Christ

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Thought for the Day – 27 July – The Seventh Shedding of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

27th Day – The Seventh Shedding of the Precious Blood

Even when the work of redemption was consummated, and Jesus had breathed forth His soul into His Father’s hands, He shed once more His Precious Blood for man. It was to mark the completeness of His sacrifice that He thus poured forth, as it were, the last drop that still lingered in His Sacred Heart. It was a sign that He kept nothing in reserve. He proved His inexhaustible love to man by this last act by which He bequeathed to man the last trace of life that still remained. Oh, undying, unwavering love of Jesus, that loved us with an extremity of love unto the very end!

The water and the blood that issued from Our Lord’s side were the symbols of the two chief sacraments: the water of holy Baptism, and the blood of the Blessed Eucharist. Thus it was that Christ is said, by this piercing of His side, to have laid the foundations of the Church, amd as Eve, the spouse of Adam was formed from the side of Adam, so the Church, the sacred Spouse of Christ, was formed from His side when the spear of the centurion pierced it. Pray for an intense love of holy Church, on account of the love that Christ bears to His own true spouse.

The centurion little knew the meaning and import of his act when he pierced the side of Jesus. He had some affection of the eyes, and the blood sprinkled upon him cured his sight in a moment. At the same time grace touched his heart, and he was converted. Oh, wondrous power of the sacred blood of Christ!

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 27 July – “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer'”

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And He entered the temple, and began to cast out those who were selling and buying in it, saying to them, It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of thieves. And He was teaching daily in the temple.

Luke 19:41-47

REFLECTION – I have therefore hastened to exhort you to set yourselves in harmony with the mind of God. For even Jesus Christ, our inseparable Life, is the Mind of the Father, as also the bishops, established in the furthest quarters, are in the mind of Jesus Christ. Hence it is fitting for you to set yourselves in harmony with the mind of the bishop, as indeed you do. For your noble presbytery, worthy of God, is fitted to the bishop, as the strings to a harp. And thus by means of your accord and harmonious love Jesus Christ is sung. Form yourselves one and all into a choir, that blending in concord, taking the key-note of God, you may sing in unison with one voice through Jesus Christ to the Father.

You are stones of the temple, prepared beforehand for a building of God the Father, being raised to the heights by the engine of Jesus Christ, which is the Cross, using as your rope the Holy Spirit. Your faith is the windlass, and love is the way which leads up to God. So then, you are all companions in festal procession along the way, bearing your God and shrine, bearing Christ and your holy treasures, fully arrayed in the commandments of Jesus Christ. And in your rejoicings I too have a part. I rejoice with you that you love nothing pertaining to the outward life, but God only.

Saint Ignatius of Antioch (Letter to the Ephesians)

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. By our Baptism in Your Son, we are Your children, grant us Your protection. Kindly listen to the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints and Angels, whose prayers we beg, through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God for all eternity, amen.

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 27 July – Jesu Dulcis Memoria

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Our Morning Offering – 27 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”

Jesu Dulcis Memoria
By St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)
Mellifluous Doctor

Jesus, the very thought of Thee
with sweetness fills my breast,
But sweeter far Thy face to see
and in Thy presence rest.

Nor voice can sing nor heart can frame,
Nor can the memory find
a sweeter sound than Jesus’ name,
O Saviour of mankind.

O hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek
to those who fall, how kind Thou art,
how good to those who seek!

But what to those who find?
Ah this nor tongue nor pen can show,
the love of Jesus, what it is none
but His loved ones know.

Jesus our only joy be Thou
as Thou our prize wilt be.
Jesus, be Thou our glory now
and through eternity.
Amen

Posted in CATHOLIC Quotes

Quote/s of the Day – 26 July – He wept over it

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Quote/s of the Day – 26 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Readings: Ps 53:6-7, Ps 53:3, 1 Cor. 10:6-13, Luke 19:41-47

For days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a rampart about you, and surround you and shut you in on every side, and will dash you to the ground and your children within you, and will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you have not known the time of your visitation.

Luke 19:41-47

As therefore with regard to the prisoner, when you see him with irons on his back, on his hands, and often on his feet too, you therefore most of all account him miserable; so also as to the rich man, when you see him encompassed with innumerable affairs, let him not be therefore rich, but rather for these very things wretched, in your account. For together with these bonds, he has a cruel jailor too, the wicked love of riches; which suffers him not to pass out of this prison, but provides for him thousands of fetters, and guards, and doors, and bolts; and when he has cast him into the inner prison, persuades him even to feel pleasure in these bonds; that he may not find so much as any hope of deliverance from the evils which press on him.

St John Chrysostom (Homily 14 on Matthew)

On account then of all these things let us entreat the Redeemer of our souls, that He would both burst asunder our bands, and remove this our cruel jailor, and having set us free from the burden of those iron chains, He would make our spirits lighter than any wing. And as we entreat Him, so let us contribute our own part, earnestness, and consideration, and an excellent zeal. For thus we shall be able both in a short time to be freed from the evils which now oppress us, and to learn in what condition we were before, and to lay hold on the liberty which belongs to us.

St John Chrysostom (Homily 14 on Matthew)

And He entered the temple, and began to cast out those who were selling and buying in it, saying to them, It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of thieves.

Luke 19:41-47

It is great honour, great glory to serve Thee, and to despise all for Thy sake. For they shall have great grace who of their own will shall submit themselves to Thy most holy service. They who for Thy love have cast away every carnal delight shall find the sweetest consolation of the Holy Ghost. They who enter the narrow way of life for Thy Name’s sake, and have put away all worldly cares, shall attain great liberty of spirit.

Thomas a Kempis (Third Book: Chapter X)

Therefore all religion is for the sake of the soul; for howsoever the nature of the body may be, it causes no care or anxiety, especially after death, to him, whose soul possesses that whereby it is blessed. 

St Augustine (On the Profit of Believing)

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Thought for the Day – 26 July – The Sixth Shedding of the Precious Blood

Posted on by AnaStpaul

The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

26th Day – The Sixth Shedding of the Precious Blood

Not the hands alone, that did for man those works of love, but also the feet, that went about doing good, were pierced by the cruel nails. It seems as if men were bent on requiting the very limbs that were employed for the good of man with evil in return. They not only hate Him without a cause, but they hated Him for His love to them. Such is man when he is in Satan’s power. Such have I too often been, so ungrateful to God, rebelling against the means which He employed to heal my soul and deliver me from sin.

What must have been the unutterable agony of those three hours during which the sacred body of Our Lord was dragging with all its weight on the wounds in His hands and feet! Who can describe it? The agony that racked each nerve so that there was no sound part of His body, the utter exhaustion, and, worst of all, the agonising thirst that was the effect of the the continual streams which drained His sacred body of the Precious Blood. Who can imagine it? “Behold and see, all who pass by the way, whether there is any sorrow like to My sorrow.”

Yet these wounds inflicted by man’s malignity, are now employed by Jesus as arguments pleading for mercy for sinners at His Father’s hands. Oh, Jesus, when shall I forgive, as Thou didst forgive me? When shall I learn that it is a privilege and a glory to return good for evil, and so to resemble Thee?

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 25 July – “My cup you will indeed drink”

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One Minute Reflection – 25 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Feast of St James the Greater – Readings: Ps 138:17, Ps 138:1-2, 1 Cor. 4:9-15, Matt 20:20-23

To this very hour we hunger and thirst, and we are naked and buffeted, and have no fixed abode.

1 Cor. 4:9-15

REFLECTION – We are celebrating today the heavenly birthday of a martyr. We must not consider ourselves altogether strangers to his virtue of patience. If with the Lord’s help we are striving to observe the virtue of patience, though we are living in a time of peace for the Church, yet we are holding the palm of martyrdom. There are in truth two kinds of martyrdom: one in the heart, the other in heart and action at the same time. And so we can be martyrs, even if we are not slain by anyone’s sword. To die at the hands of a persecutor is unmistakably martyrdom; to bear insults, to love one who hates us, is martyrdom in our secret thought.

Truth, who asked the sons of Zebedee: “Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” testifies that there are two kinds of martyrdom, one in our secret actions, the other in public. When they immediately answered: “We are able,” the Lord replied: “You will indeed drink my cup”. What do we understand by his cup except his passion, of which he said elsewhere: “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me”? But the sons of Zebedee, James, that is, and John, did not both die as martyrs; yet each heard that he would drink of the cup. John did not end his life in martyrdom, yet was a martyr, because he sustained in his heart the suffering he did not undergo in his body. We too, following his example, can be martyrs without a sword, if we truly guard patience in our minds.

St Gregory the Great (Homilies on the Gospel, no.35 )

PRAYER –  Lord our God, You accepted the sacrifice of St James, the first of Your Apostles to give his life for Your sake. May Your Church find strength in his martyrdom and support in his constant prayer. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. St James the Greater, Apostle of Christ, Pray for us! Amen

Posted in CATHOLIC Quotes

Quote of the Day – 25 July – Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink?

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Jesus answering, said: You know not what you ask. Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink? They say to him: We can. He saith to them: My chalice indeed you shall drink; but to sit on my right or left hand, is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared by my Father.

Matt 20:20-23

For the arrogant is of necessity base, and, on the contrary, the lowly-minded is high. For this is the height that is true and genuine, and exists not in name only, nor in manner of address. And that which is from without is of necessity and fear, but this is like to God’s. Such a one, though he be admired by no one, continues high; even as again the other, though he be courted by all, is of all men the basest. And the one is an honor rendered of necessity, whence also it easily passes away; but the other is of principle, whence also it continues steadfast.

St John Chrysostom (Homily 65 on Matthew)

For this we admire the saints also, that being greater than all, they humbled themselves more than all. Wherefore even to this day they continue to be high, and not even death has brought down that height.

St John Chrysostom (Homily 65 on Matthew)

I am going to tell you that Jesus Christ, by His sufferings and His death, has made all our actions meritorious, so that for the good Christian there is no motion of our hearts or of our bodies which will not be rewarded if we perform them for Him.

St John Vianney

Justin said, No right-thinking person falls away from piety to impiety. Rusticus the prefect said, Unless you obey, you shall be mercilessly punished. Justin said, Through prayer we can be saved on account of our Lord Jesus Christ, even when we have been punished, because this shall become to us salvation and confidence at the more fearful and universal judgment-seat of our Lord and Saviour. Thus also said the other martyrs: Do what you will, for we are Christians, and do not sacrifice to idols.

The Martyrdom of Justin

O blessed ones, count whatever is hard in this lot of yours as a discipline of your powers of mind and body. You are about to pass through a noble struggle, in which the living God acts the part of superintendent, in which the Holy Ghost is your trainer, in which the prize is an eternal crown of angelic essence, citizenship in the heavens, glory everlasting.

Tertullian (To the Martyrs)

Very pleasing to Me, dearest daughter, is the willing desire to bear every pain and fatigue, even unto death, for the salvation of souls, for the more the soul endures, the more she shows that she loves Me; loving Me she comes to know more of My truth, and the more she knows, the more pain and intolerable grief she feels at the offenses committed against Me.

St Catherine of Siena (The Dialogue)

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Thought for the Day – 25 July – The Fifth Shedding of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

25th Day – The Fifth Shedding of the Precious Blood

On the summit of Calvary, stretched upon the rough cross, with His arms extended along the cross-pieces which are to form the horizontal part of it, lies the Son of God, already wounded, covered with blood, exhausted by suffering and by His repeated falls upon the way. Surely the executioners will be satisfied with the ordinary method of tying his arms to the cross, and leaving Him thus to die. No, for the innocent, spotless Lamb of God new tortures are in store. Huge nails are placed in the centre of His hands, and with cruel strokes of a heavy mallet driven through His delicate, sensitive palms. The blows are struck, the Precious Blood gushes forth, and Jesus groans under the exquisite pain which thrills through every nerve.

O Jesus! how can we bear to see Thee thus wounded! Those hands which were ever stretched forth to do good to all, to heal sorrows, and cure diseases! They never did aught but good, how then can cruel men be so ungrateful, so barbarous, so impious as to requite Thee thus? Oh, may I learn to sorrow with Thy anguish, and, like They most holy Mother, to join my compassion to Thy passion!

Yet sad and strange to say, my actions correspond but ill to the expressions of my sorrow. It is for the sins committed by my stretched-out hands that Thou art suffering, for my selfishness, unkindnes, immodesty, anger, covetousness. How shall I compensate Thee for my share in this cruelty? Oh, help me to do so, and show me how I can do so!

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 24 July – “The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones”

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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.

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Thought for the Day – 24 July – The Fourth Shedding of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

24th Day – The Fourth Shedding of the Precious Blood

After the scourging the soldiers devised a fresh torture for the Son of God. They wove of the spiny branches of the thorn a sort of helmet or crown of thorns, and put it on His head, pressing it down with their spears. The long sharp thorns pierce through the flesh, and the Precious Blood trickles down over His forehead and fills His eyes, blinding Him, and causing Him fresh pain and misery.

This crowning of thorns was to atone for our proud thoughts, impure thoughts, uncharitable thoughts, the trickling blood covering His sacred face, for our wretched vanity and desire to beautify ourselves in the sight of men, the blinding of His eyes for our immodest looks, careless looks, looks of curiosity and pride. O my Lord, how varied were the sufferings Thou hadst to undergo for my manifold sins!

Each form of suffering endured by the Son of God will have its own appropriate reward for His sacred humanity. As for each stripe a fresh ray of glory, for each insult a new song of praise from angels and saints, so the crown He will wear in heaven will be glorious in proportion to the suffering and ignominy of the crown of thorns. All that we suffer for Him will have a corresponding and appropriate reward in heaven.

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 23 July – Prayer Before a Crucifix

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Our Morning Offering – 23 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”

Prayer Before a Crucifix

Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus,
while before Thy face I humbly kneel and,
with burning soul,
pray and beseech Thee
to fix deep in my heart, lively sentiments
of faith, hope and charity,
true contrition for my sins,
and a firm purpose of amendment.
While I contemplate,
with great love and tender pity,
Thy five most precious wounds,
pondering over them within me
and calling to mind the words which David,
Thy prophet, said of Thee, my Jesus:
“They have pierced My hands and My feet,
they have numbered all My bones.”
Amen.

Say – Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be for the Catholic Church and the intentions of the Holy Father. A Plenary Indulgence, under the usual conditions, may be gained by those who shall say this prayer with devotion before an image of our Crucified Redeemer. A Partial Indulgence may also be gained for each devout recitation.

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 23 July – I am in your midst as he who serves

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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.

Posted in QUOTES on PRIESTS, the PRIESTHOOD and CONSECRATED LIFE

Quote/s of the Day – 23 July – He cares for you

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Quote/s of the Day – 23 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Readings: Dan 3:84, 87, Dan 3:57, 1 Pet. 5:1-11, Luke 22:24-30

“God, resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in the time of visitation; cast all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.

1 Pet. 5:1-11

Be sober, be watchful! For your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same suffering befalls your brethren all over the world. But the God of all grace, Who has called us unto His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself, after we have suffered a little while, perfect, strengthen and establish us. To Him is the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

1 Pet. 5:1-11

Beloved: I exhort the presbyters among you – I, your fellow-presbyter and witness of the sufferings of Christ, the partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed in time to come – tend the flock of God which is among you, governing not under constraint, but willingly, according to God; nor yet for the sake of base gain, but eagerly; nor yet as lording it over your charges, but becoming from the heart a pattern to the flock. And when the Prince of the shepherds appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the presbyters.

1 Pet. 5:1-11

This being plain, it will likewise be manifest that a great and unspeakable reward will be reserved for him whose labors are concerned with these sheep, upon which Christ places such a high value. For when we see any one bestowing care upon members of our household, or upon our flocks, we count his zeal for them as a sign of love towards ourselves: yet all these things are to be bought for money:— with how great a gift then will He requite those who tend the flock which He purchased, not with money, nor anything of that kind, but by His own death, giving his own blood as the price of the herd.

St John Chrysostom (On the Priesthood, Book II)

Yes, my dear brethren, all these rash judgments and all these interpretations come only from a person who has a secret pride, who does not know himself, and who dares to wish to know the interior life of his neighbour, something which is known to God alone. If only, my dear children, we were able to arrive at the stage of eradicating this first of the capital sins from our hearts, our neighbour would never do any wrong according to us. We should never amuse ourselves by examining his conduct. We should be content to do nothing else save weep for our own sins and work as hard as we could to correct them.

St Jean Vianney ( The Sermons of the Curé of Ars)

No one presumes to teach an art till he has first, with intent meditation, learned it. What rashness is it, then, for the unskilful to assume pastoral authority, since the government of souls is the art of arts! For who can be ignorant that the sores of the thoughts of men are more occult than the sores of the bowels? And yet how often do men who have no knowledge whatever of spiritual precepts fearlessly profess themselves physicians of the heart, though those who are ignorant of the effect of drugs blush to appear as physicians of the flesh!

St Gregory the Great (Pastoral Rule, Book I)

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Thought for the Day – 23 July – The Third Shedding of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

23rd Day – The Third Shedding of the Precious Blood

When Pilate found that he could not persuade the Jews to consent to the release of Jesus, he ordered Him to be scourged, hoping that they might be satisfied with something short of death, and that their rage might be softened at the sight of a punishment so cruel. The scourging was for this reason severe beyond what was usual, as the Pharisees are said to have bribed the executioners and plied them with drink to induce them to still greater barbarity. See how all seemed to unite to add to the tortures inflicted on the Son of God.

Watch the scene. The Son of God with His hands tied to a short pillar, on either side of Him an executioner with a scourge of many lashes, some tipped with barbed spikes of iron, lashing Him with brutal ferocity. His sacred body first covered with bruises and weals, and then the flesh cut open and the Precious Blood first trickling down and then flowing down from the open wounds. Still they go on striking the wounds and sores and bleeding flesh with unrelenting violence, the barbs tearing off morsels of flesh until the ground is covered not only with a pool of blood, but also with morsels of His sacred flesh. O Jesus, what didst Thou not suffer for me!

Hear Him moaning gently in His agony, and amidst the moans praying to the Eternal father to accept each blow in expiation for the sins of men, and especially for the sinful indulgence of the flesh. O Jesus, may the thought of Thy scourging keep me from ever yielding to temptation, and may I mortify my body for the love of Thee!

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 22 July – Saint Theophilus of Cyprus

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Saint Theophilus of Cyprus. Born and raised in Constantinople to a noble family. He was a commander of the Greek armies and a senator, soldier, sailor and admiral of the Christian fleet stationed on Cyprus. Captured in battle by invading Muslims after possibly being betrayed by his junior commanders, he was imprisoned for four years. As an expert in naval warfare, the muslims spent all that time attempting to get him to convert to Islam and serve the Caliph. They made him many offers of all that the average man could want -wealth, women, power, revenge – but he rejected them every time.

As his captors lost confidence that they could successfully tempt him away from Christ, the offers began to be combined with threats and punishments. Theophilus was tortured. Still, at any moment, if he chose to convert to Islam, he would be released and given an equivalent status to what he possessed before. Finally, frustrated by a man who would not break, the Muslims ordered him to renounce Christianity and convert to Islam, or die.

He refused.

In 789 Theophilus went to die, where in the words of Theophanes, he “was revealed as a noble martyr.”

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 22 July – Christ be Near

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Our Morning Offering – 22 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”

Excerpt from St Patrick’s Breastplate
Christ be Near
St Patrick (c 386 – 461)

Christ be near, at either hand,
Christ behind, before me stand,
Christ with me, where’er I go,
Christ around, above, below.

Christ be in my heart and mind,
Christ within my soul enshrined,
Christ control, my wayward heart,
Christ abide and ne’er depart.

Christ my life and only way,
Christ my lantern, night and day,
Christ be my unchanging friend,
guide and shepherd to the end.

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Thought for the Day – 22 July – The Second Shedding of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

22nd Day – The Second Shedding of the Precious Blood

It is said that those who have suffered an extremity of anguish have sometimes been bathed in a perspiration which was tinged with blood. In the Garden of Gethsemani, Jesus was bathed in a sweat of blood which poured down to the ground. Ah, what must have been the intensity of His agony! None ever knew such sorrow as His. None ever was so crushed by the weight of intolerable misery. How could this happen to the Divine Son of God? To me it might have happened, and happened justly for my sins, but to Him it seems impossible, unjust, cruel.

It happened to Jesus because on Him sin was allowed to wreak all its malice, to do all the havoc of which its immeasurable intensity of evil is possible, as far as was compatible with His sinlessness and His divine perfections. In some respects the very perfection of His nature caused Him to suffer more, as none was so sensitive to pain and disappointment as He, and His divinity, far from being used by Him to relieve His sufferings, was only employed to enable His sacred humanity ro suffer more than it could have borne unaided.

Was this unjust? No, for He took it upon Himself and bore it willingly. Was it cruel? No, for His sacred humanity was to have a reward altogether exceeding such sufferings as His. It was to enjoy the glory of the highest heaven for all eternity in return for its brief agony on earth. For the joy that was set before Him He gladly endured it all, the joy of saving us from sin and death.

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 21 July – Lord, I Am Yours

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Our Morning Offering – 21 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”

Lord, I Am Yours
Prayer of Dedication to the Lord
By St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor of Charity

Lord,
I am Yours
and I must belong to no-one but You.
My soul is Yours
and I must live only by You.
My will is Yours
and must love only for You.
I must love You as my first cause,
since I am from You.
I must love You as my end and rest,
since I am for You.
I must love You more than my own being,
since my being subsists by You.
I must love You more than myself,
since I am all Yours
and all in You.
Amen

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 21 July – “I have come, not to abolish, but to fulfil”

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One Minute Reflection – 21 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Readings: Sir 15:5, Ps 91:2, 2 Tim 4:1-8, Matt 5:13-19

Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For amen I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled.

Matt 5:13-19

REFLECTION – Brethren, let us “sing to the Lord a new song.” To the old man, the old song; to the new man, a new song. The Old Testament is an old song, the New Testament a new song. The first covenant concerns mostly temporal and earthly promises. People who remain attached to the things of the earth still sing an old song. In order to sing the new song, a person must love eternal things. That love is both new and eternal; it is always new, because it never grows old.

But if we think about it, this love is very old. How could it be new? My brethren, was eternal life born yesterday? Eternal life is Christ and, as God, he was not born yesterday. For “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God. He was present to God in the beginning. Through him all things came into being, and apart from him nothing came to be.” If he made what is old, what is he other than eternal, co-eternal with the Father? It is we who, by sin, have fallen into senescence. Human beings have become old as a consequence of sin. It is by God’s grace that we are renewed. All who are thus renewed in Christ sing a new song for they are beginning to be established in eternal life.

PRAYER – Holy, almighty God, You sent Your prophets and then Your only Son to teach us and lead us to eternal life. Remember Lord, Your solemn covenant, renewed and consecrated by the blood of the Lamb, so that Your people may obtain forgiveness for their sins and a continued growth in grace. Send us Your Spirit, to enlighten our hearts and minds and grow in love for You and the Word made flesh. Guide us in our understanding and living, by the Words of the Word. Holy Mother Mary intercede for us, that 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.

Posted in CATHOLIC Quotes

Quote/s of the Day – 21 July – You are the salt of the earth

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Quote/s of the Day – 21 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” and the Memorial of St Lawrence of Brindisi OFM Cap (1559-1619) Doctor of the Church

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?

Matt 5:13-19

For by saying, You are the salt of the earth, He signified all human nature to have lost its savor, and to be decayed by our sins. For which cause, you see, He requires of them such virtues, as are most necessary and useful for the superintendence of the common sort. For first, the meek, and yielding, and merciful, and righteous, shuts not up his good deeds unto himself only, but also provides that these good fountains should run over for the benefit of others. And he again who is pure in heart, and a peacemaker, and is persecuted for the truth’s sake; he again orders his way of life for the common good. Think not then, He says, that you are drawn on to ordinary conflicts, or that for some small matters you are to give account. You are the salt of the earth.

St John Chrysostom (Homily 15 on Matthew)

As the lot of the reprobate is to die in sin, that of the elect is to expire in the love and grace of God, which is effected in several ways. Many of the Saints died, not only in the state of charity, but in the actual exercise of divine love. St. Augustine expired in making an act of contrition, which cannot exist without love; St. Jerome, in exhorting his disciples to charity and the practice of all virtues; St. Ambrose, in conversing sweetly with his Saviour, whom he had received in the Holy Eucharist; St. Antony of Padua also expired in the act of discoursing with our Divine Lord, after having recited a hymn in honour of the ever-glorious Virgin; St. Thomas of Aquinas, with his hands clasped, his eyes raised to heaven, and pronouncing these words of the Canticles, which were the last he had expounded: “Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field”.

Half-Hours With the Saints and Servants of God (Charles Kenny)

You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Matt 5:13-19

“The Angels in Heaven were created,
to be servants of Christ;
man was formed from the earth,
in order to be the image of Christ.”

 St Lawrence of Brindisi

For that men should be set free from the rottenness of their sins was the good work of Christ; but their not returning to it again any more was the object of these men’s diligence and travail.

St John Chrysostom (Homily 15 on Matthew)

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Thought for the Day – 21 July – The First Shedding of the Precious Blood

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

21st Day – The First Shedding of the Precious Blood

It was but a few days after Our Lord’s Birth that His Precious Blood first flowed for the sins of men. It was on the occasion of His circumcision, the rite which is generally believed to have been the condition of the cleansing away of original sin under the Jewish covenant. O Jesus, ar least Thine infancy might have passed before the work of expiation began! No, from His earliest days Christ began His work of redemption. In His yearning love He longed for suffering on behalf of those He loved, and would brook no delay.

The Precious Blood flowing in those earliest days teaches us another lesson. It shows how sin never fails to bring suffering with it. If it did so in the case of God made Man, and that throughout His life so that He was never exempt from suffering, how much more is it reasonable that it should do so in the case of sinful man! If it did such things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? How then can I with all my sins expect to escape suffering?

Yet this first blood-shedding, this early suffering, was the occasion of the Name of Jesus being given to the Child Who endured it. He was our Saviour in, and because of His suffering – in and because of the shedding of His Precious Blood. Hence to suffer for Him, to be willing to shed our blood for Him, is the condition of sharing in His glorious work as Saviour of the world. Without suffering, without shedding of blood, there is no remission.

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 20 July – Share your bread with the hungry

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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.

Posted in QUOTES on ALMS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on FAITH

Quote/s of the Day – 20 July – For of such is the kingdom of heaven

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Quote/s of the Day – 20 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Readings: Lam 2:11, Ps 112:1, Isa 58:7-11, Matt 19:13-21

At that time, little children were brought to Jesus, that He might lay His hands on them and pray; but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said to them, Let the little children be, and do not hinder them from coming to Me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Matt 19:13-21

Christian simplicity makes childhood its own. Children are without rancour, ignorant of deceit, not daring to strike. So, this child whom the Christian has become, does not fall into a rage if someone insults him, does not resist, if something is taken from him, does not return blows, if someone strikes him. Our Lord even demands us to pray for our enemies, give up our tunic and cloak to anyone who would steal it, turn the other cheek to those who would slap it. The childhood of Christ surpasses human childhood. …

 St Maximus of Turin (Homily 58 for Easter)

The young man said to Him, All these I have kept; what is yet wanting to me? Jesus said to him, If you will be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.

Matt 19:13-21

For this is the limit of true wisdom; to be simple with understanding; this is angelic life; yes, for the soul of a little child is pure from all the passions. Towards them who have vexed him he bears no resentment, but goes to them as to friends, as if nothing had been done; and how much soever he be beaten by his mother; after her he seeks, and her does he prefer to all. Though thou show him the queen with a diadem, he prefers her not to his mother clad in rags, but would choose rather to see her in these, than the queen in splendor. For he uses to distinguish what pertains to him and what is strange to him, not by its poverty and wealth, but by friendship. And nothing more than necessary things does he seek, but just to be satisfied from the breast, and then he leaves sucking. The young child is not grieved at what we are grieved, as at loss of money and such things as that, and he does not rejoice again at what we rejoice, namely, at these temporal things, he is not eager about the beauty of persons.

St John Chrysostom (Homilies on Matthew:62)

Therefore He said, of such is the kingdom of Heaven, that by choice we should practise these things, which young children have by nature. For since the Pharisees from nothing else so much as out of craft and pride did what they did, therefore on every hand He charges the disciples to be single hearted, both darkly hinting at those men, and instructing these. For nothing so much lifts up unto haughtiness, as power and precedence. Forasmuch then as the disciples were to enjoy great honors throughout the whole world, He preoccupies their mind, not suffering them to feel anything after the manner of men, neither to demand honors from the multitude, nor to have men clear the way before them.

St John Chrysostom (Homilies on Matthew:62)

“The role of Christ, our Teacher, is, as its name suggests, to be the guide of children. But, we have yet to consider, what children Scripture is talking about and then, to give them their Teacher. The children in question are ourselves. Scripture draws attention to us in a great many ways, making use of various images to refer to us and highlighting the simplicity of faith in many different shades.

St Clement of Alexandria (The Pedagogue I, 12, 17)

“God wishes to test you, like gold in the furnace.
The dross is consumed by the fire
but the pure gold remains
and its value increases.
It is in this manner
that God acts with His good servant,
who puts his hope in Him
and remains unshaken in times of distress.
God raises him up and,
in return for the things he has left,
out of love for God,
He repays him a hundredfold in this life,
with eternal life hereafter.”

St Jerome Emiliani

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Thought for the Day – 20 July– The Precious Blood a Lesson of Charity

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

20th Day – The Precious Blood a Lesson of Charity

“He loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood.” (Apoc. i. 5) St John, the apostle of love, mentions this as the primary mark of the love of Jesus for us. He proved His love by saving those He loved from that which would have separated them forever from Him: and this although the loss was theirs, not His, and though it was one that they richly deserved to incur. Here is a model for us, when others wrong us and return ill-will for our love.

This reconciliation He effected at the cost of His own blood. We read sometimes of a child who sheds his blood for father or mother, or a husband who shed his blood for his beloved spouse. We admire exceedingly such noble and generous self-devotion. But who ever heard of one who shed his blood in order to reconcile to himself, and restore peace and happiness to, enemies who had willfully and deliberately insulted him? Love so wonderful as this was possible only to the Son of God.

Yet if we are really to learn of Him to follow in His footsteps, we must imitate Him in this love for enemies. He Himself commands it: “Love your enemies!” “If you love them that love you, what reward shall you have?” The precept seems impossible, and becomes possible only when we contemplate Him Who shed the last drop of His blood for those who hated Him. Looking at Thee, O Lord, I not only will forgive those who have offended me, but I will seek to do them good, that I may have the happiness of doing to them as Thou hast done to me!

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Thought for the Day – 19 July – The Precious Blood a Lesson of Patience

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

19th Day – The Precious Blood a Lesson of Patience

If we watch the Son of God during those scenes in His sacred passion in which He shed His blood for us, we notice in one and all His exceeding and incomparable patience. During the agony in the garden it was the sight of the brutal ingratitude of man that caused the sweat of blood to flow from His sacred limbs. How could He endure to suffer for such wretches? Yet meekly and patiently He endured their sacrileges, blasphemies, impurities, wanton hatred of God, which rose up before Him as He knelt there in Gethsemani.

At the pillar, again, what divine patience! Not a look of anger, not a word of reproach. There He stands, the picture of uncomplaining endurance. What a lesson for me! How ready I am to complain when when I receive some fancied slight or some trifling injury! How different am I from the Son of God! What a contrast is my conduct to His! O Jesus! teach me to endure without complaint my sufferings, which are small indeed when compared with Thine!

See Him once more upon the cross! Listen to the jibes and sneers cast at Him by the priests, their taunts of His inability to save Himself, Messias though He was. How all this must have aggravated His physical agony! Yet His constant prayer was Father, forgive them! O Jesus, grant me more of the patience and meekness Thou didst show while Thy Precious Blood was ebbing forth on the altar of the cross!

Posted in QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD

Quote/s of the Day – 18 July – Greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his life for his friends

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Quote/s of the Day – 18 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Readings: John 15:13, Ps 40:2, 1 John 3:13-18, John 15:12-16

Greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13

“Suffering is the ancient law of love;
there is no quest without pain;
there is no lover who is not also a Martyr.”

Bl Henry Suso (1295-1366)

Wherefore, O blessed, you may regard yourselves as having been translated from a prison to, we may say, a place of safety. It is full of darkness, but you yourselves are light; it has bonds, but God has made you free. Unpleasant exhalations are there, but you are an odour of sweetness. The judge is daily looked for, but you shall judge the judges themselves. Sadness may be there for him who sighs for the world’s enjoyments. The Christian outside the prison has renounced the world, but in the prison he has renounced a prison too. It is of no consequence where you are in the world — you who are not of it. And if you have lost some of life’s sweets, it is the way of business to suffer present loss, that after gains may be the larger.

Tertullian (To the Martyrs)

 Moreover, also, the blessed Saturus related this his vision, which he himself committed to writing:— We had suffered, says he, and we had gone forth from the flesh, and we were beginning to be borne by four angels into the east; and their hands touched us not. And we floated not supine, looking upwards, but as if ascending a gentle slope. And being set free, we at length saw the first boundless light; and I said, ‘Perpetua’ (for she was at my side), ‘this is what the Lord promised to us; we have received the promise.’ And while we are borne by those same four angels, there appears to us a vast space which was like a pleasure-garden, having rose-trees and every kind of flower. And the height of the trees was after the measure of a cypress, and their leaves were falling incessantly. Moreover, there in the pleasure-garden four other angels appeared, brighter than the previous ones, who, when they saw us, gave us honour, and said to the rest of the angels, ‘Here they are! Here they are!’ with admiration. And those four angels who bore us, being greatly afraid, put us down; and we passed over on foot the space of a furlong in a broad path. There we found Jocundus and Saturninus and Artaxius, who having suffered the same persecution were burnt alive; and Quintus, who also himself a martyr had departed in the prison. And we asked of them where the rest were. And the angels said to us, ‘Come first, enter and greet your Lord.’

Tertullian (The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicity)

Wherefore, continuing to enjoy fair winds, we were reluctantly hurried on in one day and a night, mourning [as we did] over the coming departure from us of this righteous man. But to him this happened just as he wished, since he was in haste as soon as possible to leave this world, that he might attain to the Lord whom he loved.

The Martyrdom of Ignatius

“Now Paul rejoices with Stephen,
with Stephen he enjoys the brightness of Christ;
he exults with Stephen,
he reigns with Stephen.
There, where Stephen arose,
the first, stoned under Paul’s very eyes,
there too, Paul has risen
with the help of Stephen’s prayers!”

St Fulgentius of Ruspe (c 462 – 533)
Bishop in North Africa

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Thought for the Day – 18 July – 18th Day – The Precious Blood a Lesson of Sacrifice

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

18th Day – The Precious Blood a Lesson of Sacrifice

Why did the Eternal Father choose for His co-equal Son that He should close His sojourn on earth by the cruel agony and unspeakable degradation of shedding for man the last drop of the Precious Blood? Would it not have sufficed to redeem us from sin if He had appeared on earth for one instant clad in human form? Yes, but then man would never have learnt the lesson of sacrifice. He would not have been moved to regard suffering as a necessary part of the ideal life. We thank Thee, O Lord, for this Thy commiseration for our blindness and our ignorance!

The lesson of sacrifice for the sake of others is one that Our Lord’s life teaches us throughout. Nothing for Himself, no concession to His human nature for its own sake. No avoiding of pain or reproach on account of the suffering it entailed, but rather a joyful acceptance of all that might be to man a source of grace and a motive of virtue. May I rejoice, O Lord, to have the privilege of following Thee step by step along Thy path of suffering.

This road of suffering is also one that leads us to solid happiness in this world and eternal joy in the next. It is for our own interest to sacrifice ourselves. Who are so happy as they who shed their blood for Christ? For them no purgatory, whatever their past life, but an immediate entrance into the celestial paradise. Such a sacrifice as this may not be asked of me, but how do I make those that I know would be pleasing to Him Who sacrificed Himself wholly for me?

Posted in CATHOLIC Quotes

Quote/s of the Day – 17July – ‘Lord, Lord’

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“Not everyone who says to me,
‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of Heaven
but only the one who does
the will of my Father in Heaven.”

Matthew 7:21

“We recognise a tree by its fruit
and we ought to be able to recognise
a Christian by his action.
The fruit of faith
should be evident in our lives,
for being a Christian is more than making
sound professions of faith.
It should reveal itself in practical
and visible ways.
Indeed, it is better to keep quiet
about our beliefs
and live them out,
than to talk eloquently about what we believe
but fail to live by it!”

St Ignatius of Antioch (c 35-c 108)
Martyr
Apostolic Father of the Church

“God is Good but He is also Just…
So do not underestimate God –
His love for men
should not become a pretext,
for negligence on our part.”

St Basil the Great (329-379)
Father and Doctor of the Church

“If anyone who calls upon the Name of the Lord,
resists the Lord’s Commands
by living perversely,
it is evident, that the good,
which the tongue has spoken,
has NOT emanated from the good treasure in his heart.
It was not the root of a fig tree
but that of a thorn bush,
which produced the fruit of such a confession —
a conscience, which is, bristling with vices
and not one filled,
with the sweetness
of the love of the Lord!”

St Bede the Venerable (673-735)
Father and Doctor of the Church

Posted in JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Thought for the Day – 17 July – 17th Day – The Precious Blood quenching the Flames of Hell

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The Precious Blood – Short Meditations for July

By Rev. Richard F. Clarke

17th Day – The Precious Blood quenching the Flames of Hell

Mortal sin can only have two endings: to be blotted out by the Precious Blood, or incur the eternal punishment of hell. By the first it is totally extinguished: by the second it is retained as a testimony to the justice of God and to His infinite holiness, which cannot endure to look upon iniquity. Pray for a great horror of mortal sin, which involves such consequences: everlasting misery for the unrepentant, and the pouring forth of the Precious Blood as the only the only remedy even for those who do penance for their sins.

The guilt of mortal sin is entirely abolished by the blood of Christ, and also the eternal punishment. But the temporal punishment only so far as the sinner has a sufficient contrition for his sin and does all in his power to atone for it. For many who die in the love and fear of God there will remain a heavy debt still to be paid.

How are we to apply to our souls the blood of Christ so that we may be free from temporal punishment as well as from guilt? (1) We must offer up our sufferings in union with those of the Son of God, and bear them with meekness and resignation for His sake. (2) We must make frequent acts of the love of God and seek to bear Him in continual remembrance. (3) We must perform some determinate penaces, for determinate sins, both for sins in the past, and tendencies to sin in the present. (4) We must give alms if we can. (5) We must try and extinguish our own sins by saving others from sin. To prevent one mortal sin is to extinguish a virtual hell.

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 16 July – “The Flos Carmeli”

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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.