Quote of the Day – 16 August – Friday of the Nineteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year C and The Memorial of St Stephen of Hungary (c 975- 1038)
“We are ever but beginning,
the most perfect Christian,
is to himself but a beginner,
a penitent prodigal
who has squandered God’s gifts
and comes to Him,
to be tried over again,
not as a son
but as a hired servant.”
Quote/s of the Day – 9 October –
The Memorial of Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
“I have a place in God’s counsels,
in God’s world, which no one else has,
whether I be rich or poor,
despised or esteemed by man,
God knows me and calls me by my name.
God has created me to do Him
some definite service.
He has committed some work to me
which He has not committed to another.
I have my mission – I never may know it in this life
but I shall be told it in the next.
Somehow I am necessary for His purposes,
as necessary in my place as an Archangel in his –
if, indeed, I fail, He can raise another,
as He could make the stones children of Abraham.
Yet I have a part in this great work,
I am a link in a chain,
a bond of connection between persons.
He has not created me for naught.
I shall do good, I shall do His work,
I shall be an angel of peace,
a preacher of truth in my own place,
while not intending it,
if I do but keep His commandments
and serve Him in my calling.
Therefore I will trust Him.
Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away.
If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him,
in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him,
if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.
My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow
may be necessary causes of some great end,
which is quite beyond us.
He does nothing in vain –
He may prolong my life, He may shorten it;
He knows what He is about.
He may take away my friends,
He may throw me among strangers,
He may make me feel desolate,
make my spirits sink, hide the future from me
– still He knows what He is about.”
“Who is the flower but our Blessed Lord?
Who is the rod, or beautiful stalk
or stem or plant out of which the flower grows
but Mary, Mother of our Lord, Mary, Mother of God?”
“Fear not that your life
shall come to an end
but rather fear,
that it shall never
have a beginning.”
“Regarding Christianity,
ten thousand difficulties –
do not make one doubt.”
“He compasses me round
and bears me in His arms.
He takes me up and sets me down.”
One Minute Reflection – 9 October – Today’s Gospel: Luke 10:38–42 – Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh week in Ordinary Time, Year B and the Memorial of Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.”…Luke 10:41-42
REFLECTION – ” Has not the desire of wealth so eaten into our hearts, that we think poverty the worst of ills, that we think the security of property the first of blessings, that we measure all things by mammon, that we not only labour for it ourselves but so involve in our own evil earnestness all around us, that they cannot keep from the pursuit of it though they would? Does not the frame-work of society move forward on such a plan as to enlist into the service of the world all its members, almost whether they will or no? Would not a man be thought unaspiring and unproductive, who cared not to push forward in pursuit of that which Scripture calls “the root of all evil,” the love of which it calls “covetousness which is idolatry,” and the possession of which it solemnly declares all but excludes a man from the kingdom of Heaven? Alas! can this be denied?
And therefore, of course, the entire system of tranquil devotion, holy meditation, freedom from worldly cares, which our Saviour praises in the case of Mary, is cast aside, misunderstood, or rather missed altogether, as much as the glorious sunshine by a blind man, slandered and ridiculed as something contemptible and vain. Surely, no one, who is candid, can doubt, that, were Mary now living, did she choose on principle that state of life in which Christ found her, were she content to remain at Jesus’ feet hearing His word and disengaged from this troublesome world, she would be blamed and pitied. Careless men would gaze strangely and wise men compassionately, on such an one, as wasting her life and choosing a melancholy, cheerless portion. Long ago was this the case. Even in holy Martha, zealous as she was and true-hearted, even in her instance, we are reminded of the impatience and disdain with which those who are far different from her, the children of this world, regard such as dedicate themselves to God. Long ago, even in her, we seem to witness, as in type, the rash, unchristian way in which this age disparages devotional services.”…Blessed John Henry Newman 
PRAYER – “Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly, that my life may only be a radiance of Yours. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus!” – (Note – NOT written by St Mother Teresa, who merely made it her own but by Blessed John Henry Newman) Lord Holy God, grant that by the intercession of Blessed John Henry, we too may become a fragrance of You! Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Thought for the Day – 27 August – The Memorial of Blessed Dominic Barberi of the Mother of God C.P. (1792-1849) Apostle of England
Blessed Dominic Barberi, as described by the great English convert, Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890).
“On the Apennines, near Viterbo, there dwelt a shepherd-boy, in the first years of this century, whose mind had early been drawn heavenward and, one day, as he prayed before an image of the Madonna, he felt a vivid intimation that he was destined to preach the Gospel under the northern sky.
“There appeared no means by which a Roman peasant should be turned into a missionary; nor did the prospect open, when this youth found himself, first a lay brother, then a Father, in the Congregation of the Passion.
“Yet, though no external means appeared, the inward impression did not fade, on the contrary it became more definite and, in process of time, instead of the dim north, England was engraved on his heart.
“And, strange to say, as years went on, without his seeking, for he was simply under obedience, our peasant found himself at length upon the very shore of the stormy northern sea, whence Caesar of old looked out for a new world to conquer; yet that he should cross the strait was still as little likely as before.
“However, it was as likely as that he should ever have got so near it and he used to eye the restless, godless waves and wonder with himself whether the day would ever come when he should be carried over them.
“And come it did, not however by any determination of his own, but by the same Providence which thirty years before had given him the anticipation of it…The thought of England came into his ordinary prayers and in his last years, after a vision during Mass, as if he had been Augustine or Mellitus, he talked of his ‘sons’ in England.”
Fr Dominic of the Mother of God was a spiritual son of St Paul of the Cross (1694-1775), the founder of the Passionists.
John Henry Newman, Loss and Gain: The Story of a Convert, Oxford: Oxford University Press 1986, pp.291-292.
The work of Dominic with Newman and the new converts of Littlemore was not limited to receiving them into the Church. The esteem that Dominic had, even before the conversion of Newman, for the little group of Littlemore was impressive. He touchingly and lovingly wrote to Dalgairns in September 1845:
“Dear Littlemore, I love Thee! A little more still and we shall see happy results from Littlemore. When the learned and holy Superior of Littlemore will come, then I hope we shall see again the happy days of Augustine, of Lanfranc and Thomas. England will be once more the Isle of Saints and the nurse of new Christian nations, destined to carry the light of the Gospels coram gentibus et regibus et filiis Israel”.
His compassion, kindness and love are our lessons today!
Sunday Reflection – 27 May – The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
O my God, holiness becomes Your House and yet You dost made Your abode in my breast. My Lord, my Saviour, to me You come, hidden under the semblance of earthly things, yet in that very flesh and blood which You took from Mary. You, who did first inhabit Mary’s breast, come to me.
My God, You see me; I cannot see myself. Were I ever so good a judge about myself, ever so unbiased and with ever so correct a rule of judging, still, from my very nature, I cannot look at myself and view myself truly and wholly. But You, as You come to me, contemplates me.
When I say, Domine, non sum dignus—”Lord, I am not worthy”—You whom I am addressing, alone understands in their fullness the words which I use. You see how unworthy so great a sinner is to receive the One Holy God, whom the Seraphim adore with trembling. You see, not only the stains and scars of past sins but the mutilations, the deep cavities, the chronic disorders which they have left in my soul. You see the innumerable living sins, though they be not mortal, living in their power and presence, their guilt and their penalties, which clothe me. You see all my bad habits, all my mean principles, all wayward lawless thoughts, my multitude of infirmities and miseries, yet You come. You see most perfectly how little I really feel what I am now saying, yet You come.
O my God, left to myself should I not perish under the awful splendour and the consuming fire of Your Majesty. Enable me to bear You, lest I have to say with Peter, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
One Minute Reflection – 27 May – The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…“…Matthew 28:19
REFLECTION – “The Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son. O adorable mystery which has been from eternity! I adore You. O my incomprehensible Creator, before whom I am an atom, a being of yesterday or an hour ago! Go back a few years and I simply did not exist, I was not in being and things went on without me but You are from eternity and nothing whatever from one moment could go on without You. O adorable mystery! In the name of God, the Omnipotent Father, who created me! In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Son of the living God, who bled for me! In the name of the Holy Spirit, who has been poured out on me!”…Bl John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
PRAYER – God our Father, You revealed the great mystery of Your Godhead to men, when You sent into the world, the Word who is Truth and the Spirit who makes us holy. Help us to believe in You and worship You, as the true faith teaches, three persons eternal in glory, one God, infinite in mystery. We make our prayer through Jesus our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God with you forever amen.
Quote of the Day – 10 December – The Memorial of Our Lady and the Holy House of Loreto
“I went to Loreto with a simple faith,
believing what I still believe,
even more so after having seen.
Now I no longer have any doubts.
If you ask me why I believe it, it is because everyone believes it in Rome—
cautious and skeptical as they are in many other things.
I believe it, as I believe that there is a planet called Neptune,
or that chloroform destroys the sense of pain.
I have no prior difficulties on this point.”
“It was thought that St Maximilian Kolbe never visited Loreto.
Our Lady, however, always manages to bring to what was her hom, while on earth,
those who revere and venerate her in a special way.
It comes as no surprise, then, to learn from the Mass register of the Basilica,
that he participated in a Mass along with thirty priests from Yugoslavia on 13 July 1919.
The following day, the feast of the Franciscan theologian St Bonaventure,
he celebrated Mass within the Holy house itself.
And so another name, a modem day Saint, has been added to the list of Saints
and holy persons who have visited the shrine of Loreto.
Undoubtedly there will be many more as time goes on, paying their respects
and drawing inspiration from the holiest House in this world. ”
The Popes on Loreto – http://www.catholictradition.org/Mary/loreto3b.htm
Quote/s of the Day – 9 October – The Memorial of Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
“Fear not that your life shall come to an end
but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning.”
“To live is to change
and to be perfect,
is to have changed often.”
“Nothing would be done at all,
if one waited until one could do it so well,
that no one could find fault with it.”
“Regarding Christianity,
ten thousand difficulties –
do not make one doubt.”
“A great memory does not make a mind,
any more than a dictionary is a piece of literature.”
One Minute Reflection – 9 October – The Memorial of Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
But without faith it is impossible to please him,
for anyone who approaches God must believe
that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him....Hebrews 11:6
REFLECTION – “Oh that we could take that simple view of things, as to feel that the one thing which lies before us is to please God! What gain is it to please the world, to please the great, even to please those whom we love, compared with this? What gain is it to be applauded, admired, courted, followed, compared with this one aim, of not being disobedient to a heavenly vision? What can this world offer comparable with that insight into spiritual things, that keen faith, that heavenly peace, that high sanctity, that everlasting righteousness, that hope of glory, which they have who in sincerity love and follow our Lord Jesus Christ?”…Blessed John Henry Newman
PRAYER – “Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go.
Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly,
that my life may only be a radiance of Yours.
Shine through me and be so in me
that every soul I come in contact with
may feel Your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus!”
Blessed John Henry Newman, pray for us!
AnaStpaul 
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