Posted in "Follow Me", DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, I BELIEVE!, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, The HEART, The HOLY GHOST, The WORD, Thomas a Kempis

Quote/s of the Day – 22 July –’ … By the heart …’

Quote/s of the Day – 22 July –“Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Feast of St Mary of Magdala -– Readings: Song of Solomon 3:1-4, Psalm 63:2-6, 8-9, John 20:1-2, 11-18

“Do not touch me ”
“Noli me tangere”

John 20:17

“He [Christ], protects their faith
and gives strength to believers,
in proportion to the TRUST,
that each man,
who receives that strength,
is willing to place in Him.”

St Cyprian of Carthage (c 200- c 258)
Bishop and Martyr, Father of the Church

“By His rights as Lord,
He demands wholly
our hearts, tongues and heads.
He wishes to be the object
of our thought and understanding,
our belief and reading,
our fear and love. . . ”

St Paulinus of Nola (c 354-431)
Father of the Church

Above Poem 10, from The Poems of St. Paulinus of Nola,

“And yet He could be touched
but by the heart, not by the hand;
by desire, not by the eye;
by faith, not by the sense. …

St Bernard (1091-1153)
Doctor of the Church

“To magnify her Royal Lover still further,
the soul must have eyes only for Him,
in other words,
with an ever-growing, anxiously eager attentiveness.
the soul must study all the details of His beauty,
His perfections,
must keep on discovering motives
for finding ever-increasing gratification
in the ineffable Beauty with which it is in love.”

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor of the Church

“Place all your trust in God,
let Him be your fear and your love.
He will answer for you,
He will do what is best for you.
You have here no lasting home.
You are a stranger and a pilgrim
wherever you may be
and you shall have no rest,
until you are wholly united with Christ.
Why do you look about here
when this is not the place of your repose?”

Thomas à Kempis CRSA (1380-1471)

O God, send forth Your Holy Spirit
By St Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) Doctor of the Church

O God,
send forth Your Holy Spirit
into my heart
that I may perceive,
into my mind,
that I may remember,
and into my soul,
that I may meditate.
Inspire me to speak
with piety,
holiness,
tenderness
and mercy.
Teach, guide and direct my thoughts
and senses, from beginning to end.
May Your grace,
ever help and correct me,
and may I be strengthened now
with wisdom from on high,
for the sake of Your infinite mercy.
Amen

St Anthony of Padua (1195-1231)
Evangelical Doctor of the Church

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on FAITH, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 6 April – Easter Tuesday – ‘We all touch Him who believe in Him.’

One Minute Reflection – 6 April – Easter Tuesday Third Day in the Easter Octave, Readings: First: Acts 2: 36-41, Psalm: Psalms 33: 4-5, 18-19, 20 and 22, Gospel: John 20: 11-18

Some have requested at least the Epistle and the Gospel in full each day – I am, therefore, posting them below from the Douay-Rheims, Challoner translation. If anyone knows of a link to the original English translation, with chapter and verse, please share it with me. And please let me know whether I should continue to post the readings here.

Do not touch me, for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” – John 20:17

REFLECTION “Touch me not for I have not yet ascended to my Father.” What are we to say? That Christ is better touched by faith than by flesh. Touching Christ by faith is truly to touch Him. This is what the woman suffering from an issue of blood did: – she drew near to Christ, full of faith and touched His robe … And our Lord, hemmed in by the crowd, was touched by no one but this woman … because she believed (Mk 5:25 f).

My brethren, Jesus is in heaven today. While He was living among His disciples, clothed visibly in flesh and possessing a body that could be touched, He was both seen and touched. But today, now He is seated at the right hand of the Father, which of us can touch Him? And yet, woe to us if we do not touch Him. We all touch Him who believe in Him. He is far away in heaven and the distance separating Him from us cannot be measured. But believe and you touch Him. What am I saying? You touch Him? If you believe, then you have with you, the One in Whom you believe …

Do you know how Mary wished to touch Him? She searched for Him among the dead and did not believe He would rise again: “They have taken my Lord from the tomb!” (Jn 20:2). She wept for a man … “Touch me not for I have not yet ascended to my Father.” You touch me before I have ascended to the Father and see no more than a man in me. What will that sort of faith give you? “Let me ascend to the Father. I have never left Him but, for your sake, I will ascend provided you believe me to be equal to the Father.” Our Lord Jesus Christ ,did not leave His Father when He descended from His side. So neither has He forsaken us, when He went up again from our side. For at the very time of His going up and sitting at the right hand of the Father, He said to His disciples: “I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28:20).” – St Augustine (354-430) – Bishop of Hippo, Father & Doctor of the Church – 1st sermon for Holy Thursday, Morin Guelferbytanus 13 ; PLS 2, 572

PRAYER – Lord our God and Father, You have brought us solace through the Easter mysteries. Continue to be bountiful to Your people and lead us to perfect freedom, so tht the joy that gladdens our way on earth, will be fulfilled in heaven. May the prayers of the Blessed Virgin grant us strength on our journey. Through Your Son, our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus the Risen Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God with Your, now and forever, amen.

First Reading: Acts 2: 36-41
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know most certainly, that God hath made both Lord and Christ, this same Jesus, whom you have crucified.
37 Now when they had heard these things, they had compunction in their heart, and said to Peter, and to the rest of the apostles: What shall we do, men and brethren?

Gospel: John 20: 11-18
11 But Mary stood at the sepulchre without, weeping. Now as she was weeping, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,
12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid.
13 They say to her: Woman, why weepest thou? She saith to them: Because they have taken away my Lord; and I know not where they have laid him.
14 When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing; and she knew not that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus saith to her: Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, thinking it was the gardener, saith to him: Sir, if thou hast taken him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
16 Jesus saith to her: Mary. She turning, saith to him: Rabboni (which is to say, Master).
17 Jesus saith to her: Do not touch me, for I am not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren, and say to them: I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and your God.
18 Mary Magdalen cometh, and telleth the disciples: I have seen the Lord, and these things he said to me.