Posted in MARTYRS, SAINT of the DAY

Laetare Sunday / The Fourth Sunday in Lent and Memorials of the Saints – 19 March

Laetare Sunday / The Fourth Sunday in Lent

(REMINDER:
St Joseph’s Feast Day is transferred to 20 March this year
as 19 March is Laetare Sunday)

St Adrian of Maastricht
St Alkmund of Northumbria
St Amantius of Wintershoven

Blessed Andrea Gallerani (Died 1251) Layman, Penitent, Founder of a Lay Apostolate known as “The Friars of Mercy” (Frati della Misericordia). Andrea was Beatified on 13 May 1798 by Pope Pius VI (cultus confirmation).
His Life:

https://anastpaul.com/2022/03/19/saint-of-the-day-19-march-blessed-andrea-gallerani-died-1251/

St Apollonius of Braga
St Auxilius of Ireland
Blessed Clement of Dunblane (1200-1258) Bishop
St Colocer of Saint-Brieuc
St Corbasius of Quimperlé
St Cuthbert of Brittany
St Gemus

Blessed Isnard de Chiampo OP (Died 1244) Priest of the Order of Preachers, known as the “Apostle of Pavia,” Confessor, Miracle-worker,
His Life:

https://anastpaul.com/2021/03/19/saint-of-the-day-19-march-blessed-isnard-de-chiampo-op-died-1244-priest-the-apostle-of-pavia/

St John the Syrian of Pinna
St Lactali of Freshford
St Landoald of Maastricht
St Leontinus of Braga
St Leontinus of Saintes
Bl Mark of Montegallo
St Pancharius of Nicomedia

Blessed Sibyllina Biscossi OP (1287-1367) Blind Dominican Virgin and Recluse, Penitent, Miracle-worker. She was Beatified on 17 August 1854 by Pope Pius IX. Her body is incorrupt.
Her Life:

https://anastpaul.com/2020/03/19/saint-of-the-day-19-march-blessed-sibyllina-biscossi-op-1287-1367/

Martyrs of Sorrento: A group of three sisters and a brother who were Martyred together. We have little more than their names – Mark, Quartilla, Quintilla and Quintius. They were Martyred in Sorrento, Italy, date unknown.

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Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD is LOVE, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, LENT 2021, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HEART, The HOLY CROSS, The INCARNATION, The MOST HOLY REDEEMER, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, The PASSION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – – 14 March – For God so loved the world … John 3:14-21

One Minute Reflection – – 14 March – Laetare Sunday, Readings: 2 Chronicles 36:14-1619-23Psalms 137:1-23,4-56Ephesians 2:4-10John 3:14-21

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life…” – John 3:14-15

REFLECTION – “Let us praise the Son first of all, venerating the blood that expiated our sins. He lost nothing of His divinity when He saved me, when like a good physician He stooped to my festering wounds.
He was a mortal man but He was also God. He was of the race of David but Adam’s creator.
He who has no body clothed Himself with flesh. He had a mother who, nonetheless, was a virgin.
He who is without bounds, bound Himself with the cords of our humanity. He was victim and high priest—yet He was God.
He offered up His blood and cleansed the whole world.
He was lifted up on the cross but it was sin, that was nailed to it.
He became as one, among the dead but He rose from the dead, raising to life also many who had died before Him.
On the one hand, there was the poverty of His humanity, on the other, the riches of His divinity.
Do not let what is human in the Son permit you, wrongfully, to detract from what is divine. For the sake of the divine, hold in the greatest honour, the humanity, which the immortal Son took on Himself, for love of you!” – St Gregory of Nazianzen (330-390) Archbishop of Constantinople, Father & Doctor – Poem 2

PRAYER – “All-powerful God, Benefactor and Creator of the universe,
hearken to my groaning in my peril.
Deliver me from fear and anguish,
free me, by the strength of Your might, You who can do all…
O Lord Christ, cut the threads of my net
with the sword of Your triumphant Cross, with the weapon of life.
This net encompasses me on every side,
holding me captive so as to bring me to my death.
Guide to their rest, my tottering and unsteady steps,
heal the stifling fever of my heart.” – St Gregory of Narek (c 951-c 1010)
Doctor of the Church – Book of prayers, no 40 (Excerpt)

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, FATHERS of the Church, LENT 2019, QUOTES - J R R Tolkien and MORE, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on HAPPINESS, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The HOLY EUCHARIST

Quote/s of the Day – 31 March -Laetare!

Quote/s of the Day – 31 March – “Laetare” Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C

“There is more joy in heaven over a converted sinner
than over a righteous person standing firm.
A leader in battle has more love for a soldier
who returns after fleeing and who valiantly pursues the enemy,
than for one who never turned back
but who never acted valiantly either.
A farmer has greater love for land which bears fruitfully,
after he has cleared it of thorns, than for land
which never had thorns but which never yielded a fruitful harvest.”

St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604)
Father & Doctor of the Church
“Father of the Fathers”there-is-more-joy-in-heaven-st-pope-gregory-3-sept-2018.jpg

“The sun of our lives is the Eucharist.”the sun of our lives - st luigi guanella 24 oct 2018.jpg

“The earth is filled with tabernacles – Praise Him!”

St Luigi Guanella (1842-1915)the-earth-is-filled-with-tabernacles-st-luigi-guanella-24-oct-2018.jpg

“Real joy
seems to me,
almost as unlike
security or prosperity,
as it is unlike
agony.”real-joy-c-s-lewis-12-oct-2018.jpg

“You can’t go back
and change the beginning
but you can start where you are
and change the ending.”you-cant-go-back-and-change-the-beginning-c-s-lewis-23-april-2018.jpg

“He died for us.
Why not live for Him?”

C S Lewis (1898-1963)he-died-for-us-c-s-lewis-13-oct-2017-no2 (1).jpg

Posted in DIVINE MERCY, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD the FATHER, LENT 2019, MORNING Prayers, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, QUOTES on HOPE, QUOTES on JOY, QUOTES on LOVE, The WORD

Lenten Reflection – 31 March – The Best of Fathers!

Lenten Reflection – 31 March – “Laetare” Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C

The Readings:
Joshua 5:9A, 10-12; Psalms 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32lent - laetare sunday 4th sun of lent 31 march 2019.jpg

But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him...Luke 15:20

“I shall get up and go to my father”

St Peter Chrysologus (c 400-450)
Father & Doctor of the Church

If we do not care for this young man’s conduct, his departure horrifies us.   Don’t let us ever abandon such a father!   Simply the sight of the father causes sin to flee, banishes our faults, does away with all bad behaviour and temptation.   Yet, if we have gone away, if we have wasted all our father’s inheritance in a life of debauchery, if we should happen to have committed some fault or misdeed or fallen into the mire of irreligiousness and complete dissipation, let us rise up for good and all and return to this best of Fathers, summoned by such a beautiful example.let us rise up for good and all - st peter chrysologus - 4th sund laetare sun 31 march 2019.jpg

“When the father saw him he ran to embrace him and covered him with kisses.”   I ask you, where is there room for despair here?   What pretext for excuse?   What false reason for fear?   Only, perhaps, if we dread meeting the father, if we are afraid of his kisses and embrace, only if we think that the father, when he takes his child by the hand, draws him to his breast and folds his arms around him, wants to seize the opportunity to make good his loss instead of welcoming in order to forgive.   Such a thought, however, that destroys life and is contrary to our salvation, is fully overcome, wholly destroyed by what follows: “The father said to his servants:  ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.   Take the fattened calf and slaughter it.   Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead and has come to life again, he was lost and has been found.’”

When we have heard that, can we delay any longer?   What more could we ask for to return to the Father?

Daily Meditation:
Laetare Sunday: Be joyful!
This Sunday has a joy-filled tone.
We enter into the second part of Lent with a spirit of eagerness.
Our celebration of the mercy and life given to us in Jesus is near.

All the readings are profound.
The letter to the Ephesians can be a meditation for the week.
We have been saved by our Lord, Jesus, the Christ.
That is consoling at this part of Lent. It is not the work we do that saves us.
It is God’s love – in the midst of our darkness.

We can ask to be “lifted up” with Jesus in His surrender with the Father,
lifted up on the cross and therefore, lifted up in Glory.
And, we can express our desire to be an instrument of His consoling love,
in the hearts of those to whom He sends us.

Look to him and be radiant,
so your faces shall never be ashamed.
Psalm 34:5

Closing Prayer:
Loving Father of mine,
I feel the pace quicken, the time draw near.
I am filled with joy as I move toward Easter
and the promised reconciliation with You.
Teach me to follow the example of Your Son,
to be worthy of being called one His people –  a Christ-ian.
Help me to live each day as He did
turning hatred to love and conflict to peace.
I await the new life with eagerness, faith
and a deep gratitude.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen