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One Minute Reflection – 25 September – “Awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead and Christ will give you Light! ” (Eph 5:14)

One Minute Reflection – 25 September – “The Month of The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary and The Holy Cross” – Resumed Mass of Sunday – Ferial Day – Pentecost XV – St Vincent Strambi CP (1745-1824) Bishop, Priest of the Passionist Order of St Paul of the Cross – Galatians 5:25-26.6:1-10 – Luke 7:11-16. – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

Young man, I say to thee, arise!” – Luke 7:14

REFLECTION – “Let no-one who is Christian doubt that even now, dead people rise. Certainly, every human being has eyes, by which he can see dead people rising, in the way this widow’s son, whom we just heard about in the Gospel, arose. But not everyone can see people who are spiritually dead rise. For that, it is necessary to have already risen interiorly. It is greater to raise someone, who is to live forever, than to raise someone, who will have to die again.

The young man’s mother, this widow, was transported with joy at seeing her son rise. Our Mother, the Church, also rejoices when she sees her children’s spiritual resurrection everyday. The widow’s son was dead with the death of the body but these latter, are dead with the death of the soul. People wept tears over the visible death of the former but people were not concerned by the invisible death of the latter – they did not even see it. The only One Who did not remain indifferent, is the One Who knew these deaths – only the One, Who could give life back to them, knew these deaths. For, if the Lord had not come to raise the dead, the Apostle Paul would not have said: “Awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead and Christ will give you Light.” (Eph 5:14).” – St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of Grace (Sermon 98).

PRAYER – From all perils of soul and body defend us, O Lord, we beseech Thee and by the intercession of the blessed and gloriosus Ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of blessed Joseph, of thy blessed apostles Peter and Paul, the blessed Vincent Strambi, Thy Confessor and all the Saints, graciously grant us safety and peace that all adversities and errors, being overcome, Thy Church may serve Thee in security and freedom. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the PHYSICIAN, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 3 April – ‘ … Symbols of three kinds of sinner … ‘

One Minute Reflection – 3 April – “The Month of the Resurrection and the Blessed Sacrament” –Thursday of the Fourth Week in Lent – Ferial Day – 4 Kings 4:25-38 – Luke 7:11-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

Young man, I say to thee, arise!” – Luke 7:14

REFLECTION – “In the Gospels, we find three dead people who are visibly restored to life but, thousands who are invisibly so … The Synagogue Official’s daughter (Mk 5:22f.), the widow of Naim’s son and Lazarus (Jn 11) … are symbols of three kinds of sinner whom Christ still raises today.  The young girl was still in her father’s house … the widow of Naim’s son was no longer in his mother’s house but not, as yet, in the tomb … Lazarus had already been buried …

And so, there are some people whose sins remain in their hearts but who have not put them into practice … They have consented to sin and death is within their souls but, it has not yet been carried outside. Now, it often happens … people experience this in themselves – after hearing the Word of God, our Lord seems to say to them: “Arise!” They accuse themselves of the consent they gave to evil and draw breath, to live in salvation and uprightness … Others, having given their consent, go as far as the deed. They carry out the dead thing, hidden in the concealment of their dwelling and expose it before everyone. Are we to despair of them?  Did not our Saviour say to that young man: “I tell you, arise!?” Did not He give him back to his mother? This is how it is with someone who has behaved like that – if he is touched and moved by the Word of Truth, he rises again at Christ’s Word, he comes back to life. He was able to go a step further along the way of sin but he could not die forever.

As for those who are so bound fast in evil habits as to their removing even the sight of the evil things they do, they undertake to defend their evil deeds, they are angered if one rebukes them … Such as these, crushed under the weight of a habit of sinning, are, as though buried in the tomb … That stone placed over the sepulcher is the tyrannical force of the habit which crushes the soul and does not allow it, either to arise or to breathe…

Listen, then, dearest brethren and behave in such a way that those who live, live and those who are dead revive … Let all those dead people repent … Let those who live, preserve that life of theirs and let those who are dead, be quick to come back to life again!” – St Augustine (354-430) Bishop, Father and Doctor of Grace (Sermon 98).

PRAYER – Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we who are chastising the flesh by fasting, may rejoice in this holy practice and thus, with earthly passions subdued, we may the more readily direct our thoughts to Heavenly things. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, EUCHARISTIC Adoration, FATHERS of the Church, HOLY COMMUNION, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, The HOLY EUCHARIST / The HOLY MASS, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 6 September – His Life-Giving Eucharist

Quote/s of the Day – 6 September – Ferial Day – Galatians 5:16-24, 6:1-10; Luke 7:11-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

Young man, I say to thee, arise!
Luke 7:14

Even for restoring the dead to life,
the Saviour did not stop at acting by Word alone,
although it was the bearer of Divine Commands.
For such a surpassing work,
He took His own Flesh as His assistant –
if one might put it that way –
that He might show, that it has the power
to give life and, that He might cause it
to be seen that it is entirely One with Him.
… Thus, He not only conferred to His Word
the power to raise the dead
but He even touched the dead,
to show that His Body is Life-giving and,
through His Flesh, He caused life
to pass into their corpses.
If the touch alone of His Sacred Flesh
restores life to a corrupting body,
what profit shall we not discover
in His Life-giving Eucharist
when we make of it our food?
It will wholly transform into its own property
which is immortality, those who participate in it.

St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444)
Father & Doctor of the Church

Posted in AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the DEVIL/EVIL, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 6 September – ‘ … Symbols of three kinds of sinner … ‘

One Minute Reflection – 6 September – “The Month of The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary and The Holy Cross” – Ferial Day – Galatians 5:16-24, 6:1-10; Luke 7:11-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

Young man, I say to thee, arise!” – Luke 7:14

REFLECTION – “In the Gospels, we find three dead people who are visibly restored to life but, thousands who are invisibly so … The Synagogue Official’s daughter (Mk 5:22f.), the widow of Naim’s son and Lazarus (Jn 11) … are symbols of three kinds of sinner whom Christ still raises today. The young girl was still in her father’s house … the widow of Naim’s son was no longer in his mother’s house but not, as yet, in the tomb … Lazarus had already been buried …

And so, there are some people whose sins remain in their hearts but who have not put them into practice … They have consented to sin and death is within their souls but, it has not yet been carried outside. Now, it often happens … that people experience this in themselves – after hearing the Word of God, our Lord seems to say to them: “Arise!” They accuse themselves of the consent they gave to evil and draw breath, to live in salvation and uprightness … Others, having given their consent, go as far as the deed. They carry out the dead thing, hidden in the concealment of their dwelling and expose it before everyone. Are we to despair of them? Did not our Saviour say to that young man: “I tell you, arise!?” Did not He give him back to his mother? This is how it is with someone who has behaved like that – if he is touched and moved by the Word of Truth, he rises again at Christ’s Word, he comes back to life. He was able to go a step further along the way of sin but he could not die forever.

As for those who are so bound fast in evil habits as to their removing even the sight of the evil things they do, they undertake to defend their evil deeds, they are angered if one rebukes them … Such as these, crushed under the weight of a habit of sinning, are, as though buried in the tomb … That stone placed over the sepulcher is the tyrannical force of the habit which crushes the soul and does not allow it, either to arise or to breathe…

Listen, then, dearest brethren and behave in such a way that those who live, live and those who are dead revive … Let all those dead people repent … Let those who live, preserve that life of theirs and let those who are dead, be quick to come back to life again!” – St Augustine (354-430) Bishop, Father and Doctor of Grace (Sermon 98).

PRAYER – Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord God, unto all Thy servants, that they may remain continually in the enjoyment of soundness, both of mind and body and by the glorious intercession of the Blessed Mary, always a Virgin, may be delivered from present sadness and enter into the joy of thine eternal gladness.Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in DIVINE Mercy, Goodness, Patience, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the CHURCH, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 4 September – ‘ … What is this tomb? …’

One Minute Reflection – 4 September – “The Month of The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary and The Holy Cross”– St Rose of Viterbo (c1233 – 1251) Virgin – Ferial Day – Galatians 5:16-24, Luke 7:11-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“… When the Lord … being moved with mercy towards her, He said to her: Weep not.” – Luke 7:13

REFLECTION – “God’s mercy quickly allows itself to be moved by this mother’s tears. She is a widow; the suffering or death of her only son have crushed her… It seems to me that this widow, surrounded by a crowd of people, is more than just a simple woman, deserving of her young and only son’s resurrection through her tears. She is the image itself of Holy Church, who, by her tears, in the midst of the funeral procession and on the brink of the grave, gains a restoration to life of the youthful people of the world … For, at God’s Word, the dead are raised (Jn 5:28), they regain their speech and the mother recovers her son. He is called back from the tomb, snatched from the sepulchre.

What is this tomb of yours, if not your evil behaviour? Your tomb is your lack of faith … Christ sets you free from this sepulchre. If you listen to God’s Word, you will come out of the tomb. And if your sin is too serious for the tears of your repentance to cleanse it, may the tears of your mother, the Church, intercede on your behalf. She is, indeed, full of compassion and feels a wholly maternal, spiritual sorrow when she sees her children dragged off to death by sin!” – St Ambrose (340-397) Bishop of Milan, Father and Doctor of the Church (Commentary on Saint Luke’s Gospel V, 89).

PRAYER – Protect Thy Church by Thine abiding mercy, we beseech Thee, O Lord and since all mortals fall without Thee, may Thy help keep them from danger and guide them to salvation. May the prayers of Thy virgin the blessed Rose, assist us on our journey to Thee. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in CATECHESIS, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CONFESSION/PENANCE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, QUOTES on SIN, St Francis de Sales, St PETER!, The WORD, VENIAL SIN

Quote/s of the Day – 1 September – Arise!

Quote/s of the Day – 1 September – Pentecost XV – Galatians 5:25-26; 6:1-10; Luke 7:11-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

Young man,
I say to thee,
arise!

Luke 7:14

Rather blessed are those
who hear the Word of God
and keep it.’

Luke 11:28

She began to bathe His feet with her tears
and wiped them with the hair of her head
and kissed His feet
and anointed them with ointment.

Luke 7:38

Make ready then the vessel of your soul
that you may become a son of God
and an heir of God
and joint-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17);
if, indeed, you are preparing yourself
that you may receive;
if you are drawing near in faith
that you may be made faithful;
if of set purpose,
you are putting off the old man!

St Cyril of Jerusalem (315-387)
Father and Doctor of the Church

Do not content yourself
with confessing your venial sins
merely as to the fact
but accuse yourself too,
of the motive which induced you
to commit them.

(Introduction to the Devout Life,
Part II, Chapter 19).

Christ was more concerned
with St. Peter’s repentance and remorse,
than with his sin.

(The Spirit of St. François de Sales, VII, 8)

​St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritatis

Posted in "Follow Me", AUGUSTINIANS OSA, CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN, QUOTES on the CHURCH, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 1 September – “Awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead and Christ will give you Light! ” (Eph 5:14)

One Minute Reflection – 1 September – “The Month of The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary and The Holy Cross” – St Giles (c650 – c710) Abbot – Pentecost XV – Galatians 5:25-26; 6:1-10; Luke 7:11-16 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

Young man, I say to thee, arise!” – Luke 7:14

REFLECTION – “Let no-one who is Christian doubt that even now, dead people rise. Certainly, every human being has eyes, by which he can see dead people rising, in the way this widow’s son, whom we just heard about in the Gospel, arose. But not everyone can see people who are spiritually dead rise. For that, it is necessary to have already risen interiorly. It is greater to raise someone, who is to live forever than to raise someone, who will have to die again.

The young man’s mother, this widow, was transported with joy at seeing her son rise. Our Mother, the Church, also rejoices when she sees her children’s spiritual resurrection everyday. The widow’s son was dead with the death of the body but these latter, are dead with the death of the soul. People wept tears over the visible death of the former but people were not concerned by the invisible death of the latter – they did not even see it. The only One Who did not remain indifferent, is the One Who knew these deaths – only the One, Who could give life back to them, knew these deaths. For if the Lord had not come to raise the dead, the Apostle Paul would not have said: “Awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead and Christ will give you Light.” (Eph 5:14).” – St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of Grace (Sermon 98).

PRAYER – May the pleading of blessed Giles Abbo,t make us acceptable unto Thee O Lord, we pray that what we may not have through any merits of our own, we may gain by means of his patronage. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).