Quote/s of the Day – 29 April – The Memorial of St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
“Speak the truth in a million voices. It is silence that kills!”
“Be strong and kill yourself with the sword of hate and love, then you will not hear the insults and abuse. which the enemies of the Church throw at you. Your eyes will not see anything, which seems impossible, or the sufferings, which may follow but only the light of faith and in that light , everything is possible and remember , God never lays greater burdens on us than we can bear.”
“You are rewarded, not according to your work, or your time but according to the measure of your love.”
St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
Our Morning Offering – 29 April – Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter and the Memorial of St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
O God of Truth and Love By St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
O omnipotent Father, God of truth, God of love permit me to enter into the cell of self-knowledge. I admit, that of myself, I am nothing but that all being and goodness in me comes solely from You. Show me my faults, that I may detest them, and thus I shall flee from self-love and find myself clothed again in the nuptial robe of divine charity, which I must have, in order to be admitted to the nuptials of life eternal. Amen
Abbots of Cluny: A feast that recognises the great and saintly early abbots of Cluny Abbey: • Saint Aymardus of Cluny • Saint Berno of Cluny • Saint Hugh of Cluny • Saint Mayeul • Saint Odilo of Cluny • Saint Odo of Cluny • Saint Peter the Venerable
— St Antonius Kim Song-u St Ava of Denain St Daniel of Gerona St Dichu St Endellion of Tregony St Fiachan of Lismore St Hugh of Cluny (1024-1109) St Hugh the Great, Priest, Abbot
Bl Robert Gruthuysen St Senan of Wales St Severus of Naples St Theoger St Torpes of Pisa St Tychicus St Wilfrid the Younger — Martyrs of Cirta: A group of clergy and laity martyred together in Cirta, Numidia (in modern Tunisia) in the persecutions of Valerian. They were – Agapius, Antonia, Emilian, Secundinus and Tertula, along with a woman and her twin children whose names have not come down to us.
Martyrs of Corfu: A gang of thieves who converted while in prison, brought to the faith by Saint Jason and Saint Sosipater who were had been imprisoned for evangelizing. When the gang announced their new faith, they were martyred together. They were – Euphrasius, Faustianus, Insischolus, Januarius, Mammius, Marsalius and Saturninus. They were boiled in oil and pitch in the 2nd century on the Island of Corcyra (modern Corfu, Greece. Also known as: • Martyrs of Corcyra • Seven Holy Thieves • Seven Holy Robbers • Seven Robber Saints
One Minute Reflection – 1 April – Maundy Thursday, Evening Vigil Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Readings: Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14, Psalms 116:12-13, 15-18, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, John 13:1-15
“Jesus, knowing that his hour was come, … he loved them unto the end.” – John 13:1
REFLECTION – “Be obedient to the death, following the example of the spotless Lamb who obeyed His Father even to a shameful death on the Cross. Reflect that He is the way and the rule you are to follow. Always hold Him present before the eyes of your spirit. See how obedient He is, this Word, this Utterance of God! He does not refuse to take up the burden of suffering laid on Him by His Father; to the contrary, He throws Himself into it, spurred on by His great desire. Isn’t this what He reveals during the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday, when He says: “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Lk 22:15)? By “eat this Passover” He means, the accomplishment of the Father’s will and His desire. Seeing that scarcely any time lies before Him (He was already looking ahead to the end, when He would sacrifice His body for our sake), He rejoices, He is glad and joyfully says: “I have greatly desired.” Here is the Passover He is speaking about – that which consists in giving His own self as food, in laying down His own body in obedience to the Father.
Jesus had celebrated many another Passover with His disciples but never this one, O unspeakable, sweet and burning charity! You think neither of Your suffering nor of Your humiliating death – if You had thought of them, You would not have been so joyful, You would not have called it a Passover. The Word sees ,that it is He Himself Who has been chosen, He Himself Who has received all our humanity as His spouse. He has been asked to give us His own Blood so that God’s will might be accomplished in us, so that it might be His Blood that sanctifies us. This is, indeed, the sweet Passover, this Lamb without blemish accepts (cf. Ex 12:5) and it is with great love and great desire that He fulfils the Father’s will and wholly carries out His design. What unspeakably sweet love! …
That is why, my beloved, I beg you never to entertain the least dread and to place all your trust in the Blood of Christ Crucified … May all servile fear be banished from your spirits. You will say with Saint Paul …: “I can do all things through Christ crucified, since he is within me by desire and love and he strengthens me” (cf. Phil 4:13; Gal 2:20). Love, love, love! By His Blood, the gentle Lamb has made an unassailable rock of your soul.” – St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Dominican tertiary, Doctor of the Church, Co-patron of Europe – Letter 129
PRAYER – Love of You, with our whole heart, Lord God, is holiness. Increase then Your gifts of divine grace in us, so that, as in Your Son’s Death, You made us hope for what we believe, You may likewise, in His Resurrection, make us come to You, our final end. Listen we beg, to the prayers of Your holy ones and may the Blessed Mother walk along with us and keep our hand, ever in hers. Through Jesus Himself, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God with You, forever and ever, amen.
Quote/s of the Day – 9 January – Saturday after Epiphany
“He must increase but I must decrease.”
John 3:30
“Do not have Jesus Christ on your lips and the world in your heart.”
St Ignatius of Antioch (37-105) Bishop & Martyr
“You hide your heart from man – hide it from God if you can. … Where will you go? Where will you flee? Do you want to hear some advice? If you want to flee from Him – flee to Him. Flee to Him by Confessing, not from Him, by hiding, for you cannot hide but you can Confess. Tell Him. “You are my refuge” (Ps 32[31]:7) and let there be nursed in yo, the love that alone leads to life.”
St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of Grace
“If we would God discern The world we must despise, His love and hate must learn, See all things with His eyes. And we must self forgo If God we would attain, His grace must in us grow And ease us from all pain. So shall we sing His praise And be at one with Him, In peace our voices raise In the celestial hymn, That with quadruple harmony And all mellifluous melody, In Heaven resounds eternally.”
Bl Jan van Ruusbroec (1293-1381)
“Embrace, then, Jesus crucified, raising to Him the eyes of your desire! Consider His burning love for you, which made Jesus pour out His blood from every part of His body! Embrace Jesus crucified, loving and beloved and in Him, you will find true life because He is God made man. Let your heart and your soul burn with the fire of love drawn from Jesus on the Cross! … You will have no other desire than to follow Jesus! Run, … do not stay asleep because time flies and does not wait one moment! Dwell in God’s sweet love!”
St Catherine of Sienna (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
“Without the Way, there is no going, Without the Truth, there is no knowing, Without the Life, there is no living.”
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart and you will find rest for yourselves…” … Matthew 11:29
REFLECTION – “Dearest sister in Jesus. I, Catherine, servant of the servants of Jesus, write to you in His Precious Blood, wishing only that you feed yourself with God’s love and nourish yourself with it, as at a mother’s breast. Nobody, in fact, can live without this milk! Who possesses God’s love, finds so much joy that every bitterness transforms itself into sweetness and that every great weight becomes light. One must not be astonished because living in charity you live in God – “God is love and he who abides in love, abides in God and God abides in him”(1 John 4:16) Thus, living in God, you can have no bitterness because God is delight, gentleness and never-ending joy! This is why God’s friends are always happy! Even if we are sick, poor, grieved, troubled, persecuted, we are always joyful. … We do not seek joy elsewhere than in Jesus and we avoid any glory which is not that of the Cross. Embrace, then, Jesus crucified, raising to Him the eyes of your desire! Consider His burning love for you, which made Jesus pour out His blood from every part of His body! Embrace Jesus crucified, loving and beloved and in Him you will find true life because He is God made man. Let your heart and your soul burn with the fire of love drawn from Jesus on the Cross! You must, then, become love, looking at God’s love who loved you so much not because He had any obligation towards you but out of pure gift, urged only by His ineffable love. You will have no other desire than to follow Jesus! As if you were drunken with Love, it will no longer matter whether you are alone or in company – do not think about many things but only about finding Jesus and following Him! Run, Bartolomea, do not stay asleep, because time flies and does not wait one moment! Dwell in God’s sweet love. Sweet Jesus, Jesus love.” … St Catherine of Sienna (1347-1380) – Doctor of the Church – From the “Letters” (letter no. 165 to Bartolomea, wife of Salviato of Lucca).
Prayer – Almighty and merciful God, let neither our daily work nor the cares of this life, prevent us from hastening to meet Your Son. Lord, make straight the winding ways within us. Draw us to repent! Enlighten us with Your wisdom and lead us into His company, that we may love Him and do homage to Him. Amen
Our Morning Offering – 24 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Friday of the Sixteenth week in Ordinary Time
Your Blood, The Fire of Love! By St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
O sweet Jesus, my Love,
to strengthen my soul
and to rescue it from the weakness
into which it has fallen,
You have built a wall around it
and have mixed the mortar with Your blood,
confirming my soul and uniting it
to the sweet will and charity of God!
Just as lime mixed with water
is placed between stones to cement them together,
so You, O God, have placed between
Your creature and Yourself,
the Blood of Your only-begotten Son,
cemented with the divine lime
of the fire of ardent charity,
in such a way that there is no Blood
without fire, nor fire without Blood.
Your Blood was shed, O Christ, by the fire of love!
Amen
Quote/s of the Day – 16 July – The Memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
“Speaking of Mary”
“In her, God spun a garment with which to save us.”
St Ephrem (306-373) Father & Doctor
“A gentle maiden having lodged a God in her womb, asks as it’s price, peace for the world, salvation for those who are lost and life for the dead.”
St Peter Chrysologus “Golden Words”
(c 400-450) Father & Doctor
“No-one will ever be, the servant of the Son without serving the Mother.”
St Ildephonsus (607-670)
“If the hurricanes of temptation rise against you, or you are running upon the rocks of trouble, look to the star – call on Mary!”
St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)
Mellifluous Doctor
“What shall we say, brethren? Is she not our mother? Certainly, brethren, she is in truth our mother. Through her we are born, not to the world but to God.”
St Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167)
“Mary is the most sweet bait, chosen, prepared and ordained by God, to catch the hearts of men.”
St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
Doctor of the Church
“Just as there is not one among all the Blessed who loves God as Mary does, so there is no-one, after God, who loves us as much as this most loving Mother does. Furthermore, if we heaped together all the love that mothers have for their children, all the love of husbands and wives, all the love of all the angels and Saints for their clients, it could never equal Mary’s love for even a single soul.”
St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
Doctor of the Church
(The Glories of Mary)
“Only after the Last Judgment will Mary get any rest; from now until then, she is much too busy with her children.”
“To serve the Queen of Heaven, is already to reign there and to live under her commands, is more than to govern.”
St John Marie Baptiste Vianney (1786-1859)
”To desire grace, without recourse to the Virgin Mother, is to desire to fly without wings!”
Ven Servant of God Pope Pius XII (1876-1958)
“Always stay close to this Heavenly Mother, because she is the sea to be crossed to reach the shores of Eternal Splendour.”
St Padre Pio (1887-1968)
“Honouring Mary, no matter how sacred, is only the door leading to Jesus. Mary is the means, Jesus is the end. Mary is the road, Jesus is the destination.”
One Minute Reflection – 16 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Thursday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year A, Readings: Isaiah 26:7-9, 12, 16-19, Psalm 102:13-21, Matthew 11:28-30 and the Memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and of Blessed Ceslaus Odrowaz OP (c 1184– 1242) (Brother of St Hyacinth)
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart and you will find rest for yourselves…” … Matthew 11:29
REFLECTION – “Dearest sister in Jesus. I, Catherine, servant of the servants of Jesus, write to you in His Precious Blood, wishing only that you feed yourself with God’s love and nourish yourself with it, as at a mother’s breast. Nobody, in fact, can live without this milk!
Who possesses God’s love, finds so much joy that every bitterness transforms itself into sweetness and that every great weight becomes light. One must not be astonished because living in charity you live in God – “God is love and he who abides in love, abides in God and God abides in him”(1 John 4:16)
Thus, living in God, you can have no bitterness because God is delight, gentleness and never-ending joy!
This is why God’s friends are always happy! Even if we are sick, poor, grieved, troubled, persecuted, we are always joyful.
… We do not seek joy elsewhere than in Jesus and we avoid any glory which is not that of the Cross.
Embrace, then, Jesus crucified, raising to Him the eyes of your desire! Consider His burning love for you, which made Jesus pour out His blood from every part of His body!
Embrace Jesus crucified, loving and beloved and in Him you will find true life because He is God made man. Let your heart and your soul burn with the fire of love drawn from Jesus on the Cross!
You must, then, become love, looking at God’s love who loved you so much not because He had any obligation towards you but out of pure gift, urged only by His ineffable love.
You will have no other desire than to follow Jesus! As if you were drunken with Love, it will no longer matter whether you are alone or in company – do not think about many things but only about finding Jesus and following Him!
Run, Bartolomea, do not stay asleep, because time flies and does not wait one moment!
Dwell in God’s sweet love.
Sweet Jesus, Jesus love.” … St Catherine of Sienna (1347-1380) – Doctor of the Church – From the “Letters” (letter no. 165 to Bartolomea, wife of Salviato of Lucca).
PRAYER – “Holy God, our Father, we turn to You in confidence as children and pray, give us meekness of heart, make us “poor in spirit” that we may recognise that we are not self-sufficient, that we are unable to build our lives on our own but need You, we need to encounter You, to listen to You, to speak to You. Help us to understand that we need Your gift, Your wisdom, which is Jesus Himself, in order to do the Your will in our lives and thus to find rest in the hardships of our journey.” Hear the prayers we request of the Mother of our Jesus Crucified and our Mother, Our Lady of Carmel, dear Lord and holy God, which we pray through Christ, our Light, in the Holy Spirit, one God for all eternity, amen. … Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, 7 December 2011
Our Morning Offering – 2 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Thursday of the Thirteenth week in Ordinary Time
Constant Prayer to the Precious Blood of Jesus By St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
Precious Blood,
Ocean of Divine Mercy,
Flow upon us!
Precious Blood,
most pure Offering,
Procure us every grace!
Precious Blood,
Hope and Refuge of sinners,
Atone for us!
Precious Blood,
Delight of holy souls,
Draw us!
Amen
Quote/s of the Day – 2 June – “Month of the Sacred Heart” – Tuesday of the Ninth week in Ordinary Time, Year A, Readings: 2 Peter 3:12-15, 17-18, Psalm 90:2-4, 10, 14, 16, Mark 12:13-17
Speaking of: Belonging to God
“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God, the things that are God’s.”
Jesus
John 12:17
“You have made us for Yourself, O Lord and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
“Love God, then do what you will.”
St Augustine (354-430)
Father and Doctor of Grace
“Love God, serve God, everything is in that.”
St Clare of Assisi (1194-1253)
“Lord, take me from myself and give me to Yourself.”
St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
Doctorof the Church
“If you wish to enter into life, keep My commandments. If you will know the truth, believe in Me. If you will be perfect, sell all. If you will be My disciple, deny yourself. If you will possess the blessed life, despise this present life. If you will be exalted in heaven, humble yourself on earth. If you wish to reign with Me, carry the Cross with Me. For only the servants of the Cross find the life of blessedness and of true light.”
Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)
The Imitation of Christ Chapter 56
“I am the king’s good servant but God’s first.”
St Thomas More (1478-1535)
Martyr
“God gave Himself to you, now give yourself to God.”
St Robert Southwell SJ (1561-1595)
“Jesus will be in agony even to the end of the world; we must not sleep during that time”
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
(Pensées, 553)
“Who except God can give you peace? Has the world ever been able to satisfy the heart?”
St Gerard Majella C.Ss.R. (1726-1755)
“We are like the penny, because we have the image of the king stamped on us, the divine King.”
“A Catholic is a person, who has plucked up courage, to face the incredible and inconceivable idea, that something else may be wiser than he is.”
G K Chesterton (1874-1936)
“What you are is God’s gift to you, what you become, is your gift to God.”
Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988)
“If you truly love God and His will, then doing what you will, will, in fact, be doing what God wills.”
Quote/s of the Day – 31 May – The Solemnity of Pentecost
“But it is God, who establishes us, with you in Christ and has anointed us, by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our heart, as a first instalment.”
St Paul
2 Corinthians 1:21
“Accordingly, in the Church, one God is preached, one God who is above all things and through all things and in all things. God is above all things as Father, for He is principle and source, He is through all things through the Word and He is in all things in the Holy Spirit.”
St Athanasius (c 295-373)
Father and Doctor of the Church
“Remember, then, that you received a spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear. Keep safe what you received. God the Father sealed you, Christ the Lord strengthened you and sent the Spirit into your hearts as the pledge of what is to come.”
St Ambrose (340-397)
Father & Doctor of the Church
“O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Your cheerful beams.”
St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor of Grace
“As the soul is the life of the body, so the Holy Spirit is the life of our souls.”
St Peter Damian (1007-1072)
Doctor of the Church
“Enrich your soul in the great goodness of God – The Father is your table, the Son is your food and the Holy Spirit waits on you and then makes His dwelling in you.”
St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
Doctor of the Church
“The Holy Spirit leads us like a mother. He leads His child by the hand… as a sighted person leads a blind person.”
St John Vianney (1786-1859)
“We ought to pray and invoke the Holy Spirit, for each one of us greatly needs His protection and His help. The more we are lacking in wisdom, weak in strength, burdened with trouble, prone to sin, the more we should turn to Him, Who is the never-ceasing fount of light, strength, consolation and holiness.”
Quote/s of the Day – 29 April – Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter, Readings: Acts 8:1-8, Psalm 66:1-7, John 6:35-40 and the Memorial of St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church and Bl Mary Magdalene of the Incarnation FSPA (1770-1824)
“I am the bread of life; he who comes to me, shall not hunger and he who believes in me, shall never thirst.”
John 6:35
“He will provide the way and the means, such as you could never have imagined. Leave it all to Him, let go of yourself, lose yourself on the Cross and you will find yourself entirely.”
“Speak the truth in a million voices. It is silence that kills!”
St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
“May Jesus be known, loved and adored by all and be, in every moment, the receiver of thanksgiving, in the most holy and most divine Sacrament.”
Our Morning Offering – 29 April – Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter and the Memorial of St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
O God of Truth and Love A Prayer of Penitence By St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
O omnipotent Father,
God of truth,
God of love
permit me to enter into
the cell of self-knowledge.
I admit, that of myself,
I am nothing
but that all being
and goodness in me
comes solely from You.
Show me my faults,
that I may detest them,
and thus I shall flee from self-love
and find myself clothed again
in the nuptial robe of divine charity,
which I must have,
in order to be admitted
to the nuptials of life eternal.
Amen
Abbots of Cluny: A feast that recognises the great and saintly early abbots of Cluny Abbey:
• Saint Aymardus of Cluny
• Saint Berno of Cluny
• Saint Hugh of Cluny
• Saint Mayeul
• Saint Odilo of Cluny
• Saint Odo of Cluny
• Saint Peter the Venerable
—
St Antonius Kim Song-u
St Ava of Denain
St Daniel of Gerona
St Dichu
St Endellion of Tregony
St Fiachan of Lismore
St Hugh of Cluny
St Gundebert of Gumber Blessed Mary Magdalene of the Incarnation/Caterina Soderini FSPA (1770-1824)
St Paulinus of Brescia St Peter of Verona OP (1205–1252) – St Peter Martyr His Life: https://anastpaul.com/2019/04/29/saint-of-the-day-29-april-st-peter-of-verona-op-1205-1252/
Bl Robert Gruthuysen
St Senan of Wales
St Severus of Naples
St Theoger
St Torpes of Pisa
St Tychicus
St Wilfrid the Younger
—
Martyrs of Cirta: A group of clergy and laity martyred together in Cirta, Numidia (in modern Tunisia) in the persecutions of Valerian. They were – Agapius, Antonia, Emilian, Secundinus and Tertula, along with a woman and her twin children whose names have not come down to us.
Martyrs of Corfu: A gang of thieves who converted while in prison, brought to the faith by Saint Jason and Saint Sosipater who were had been imprisoned for evangelizing. When the gang announced their new faith, they were martyred together. They were – Euphrasius, Faustianus, Insischolus, Januarius, Mammius, Marsalius and Saturninus. They were boiled in oil and pitch in the 2nd century on the Island of Corcyra (modern Corfu, Greece.
Also known as:
• Martyrs of Corcyra
• Seven Holy Thieves
• Seven Holy Robbers
• Seven Robber Saints
Quote/s of the Day – 7 November – The Memorial of All Dominican Saints
Just a few quotes from Dominican Saints
“Heretics are to be converted by an example of humility and other virtues far more readily, than by any external display or verbal battles. So let us arm ourselves with devout prayers and set off, showing signs of genuine humility and go barefooted to combat Goliath.”
St Dominic (1170-1221)
“Anyone who receives this Sacrament, with the devotion of sincere faith, will never taste death.”
St Albert the Great (1200-1280) OP Doctor of the Church
“Do not be attached, therefore, to clothing and riches because they divided My garments among themselves. Nor to honours, for I experienced harsh words and scourgings. Nor to greatness of rank, for weaving a crown of thorns, they placed it on My head. Nor to anything delightful, for in My thirst, they gave Me vinegar to drink.”
St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Doctor of the Church
“Remember that you will derive strength by reflecting that the saints, yearn for you to join their ranks, desire to see you fight bravely, and behave like a true knight in your encounters with the same adversities which they had to conquer and that breathtaking joy is the eternal reward, for having endured a few years, of temporal pain. Every drop of earthly bitterness, will be changed into an ocean of heavenly sweetness.”
Blessed Henry Suso OP (1290-1365)
“He will provide the way and the means, such as you could never have imagined. Leave it all to Him, let go of yourself, lose yourself on the Cross and you will find yourself entirely.”
“Speak the truth in a million voices. It is silence that kills!”
“What is it you want to change? Your hair, your face, your body? Why? For God is in love with all those things and He might weep when they are gone!”
St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
“Once humility is acquired, charity will come to life, like a burning flame, devouring the corruption of vice and filling the heart so full, that there is no place for vanity.”…
St Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419)
“Apart from the Cross there is no other ‘ladder’ by which we might get to heaven.”
Our Morning Offering – 7 November – Thursday of the Thirty First week in Ordinary Time, Year C
On this the Feast of all Dominican Saints let us pray a prayer by St Catherine of Siena OP (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
O God of Truth and Love A Prayer of Penitence By St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
O omnipotent Father,
God of truth,
God of love
permit me to enter into
the cell of self-knowledge.
I admit, that of myself,
I am nothing
but that all being
and goodness in me
comes solely from You.
Show me my faults,
that I may detest them,
and thus I shall flee from self-love
and find myself clothed again
in the nuptial robe of divine charity,
which I must have,
in order to be admitted
to the nuptials of life eternal.
Amen
One Minute Reflection – 23 August – Friday of the Twentieth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Today’s Gospel: Matthew 23:34-40 and the Memorial of St Rose of Lima (1586-1617)
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart … You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” … Matthew 22:37,40
REFLECTION – “Thus, then, the obedient man,with the light of faith, in the truth burning in the furnace of charity … receives his end from Me, his Creator.”…St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – “God our Father, for love of You, St Rose of Lima left the world and gave herself to a life of penitence, austerity and charity. Help us by her prayers, so to follow the path of life on earth, in complete love of You and thus of Your children, that we may obtain the fullness of joy in Your presence in heaven and be clothed fit for the wedding feast. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Thought for the Day – 29 April – Monday of the Second week of Easter, Year C and the Memorial of St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
I tasted and I saw
Saint Catherine of Siena OP (1347-1380)
Doctor of the Church
An excerpt from Dialogue on Divine Providence
With a look of mercy that revealed His indescribable kindness, God the Father spoke to Catherine:
“Eternal God, eternal Trinity, You have made the blood of Christ so precious through His sharing in Your divine nature. You are a mystery as deep as the sea, the more I search, the more I find and the more I find, the more I search for You. But I can never be satisfied, what I receive, will ever leave me desiring more. When You fill my soul I have an even greater hunger and I grow more famished for Your Light. I desire above all to see You, the true Light, as You really are.
I have tasted and seen the depth of Your mystery and the beauty of Your creation with the light of my understanding. I have clothed myself with Your likeness and have seen what I shall be. Eternal Father, You have given me a share in Your power and the wisdom, that Christ claims as His own and Your Holy Spirit has given me, the desire to love You. You are my Creator, eternal Trinity and I am Your creature. You have made of me a new creation in the blood of Your Son and I know, that You are moved with love, at the beauty of Your creation, for You have enlightened me.
Eternal Trinity, Godhead, mystery deep as the sea, You could give me no greater gift than the gift of Yourself. For You are a fire ever burning and never consumed, which itself consumes all the selfish love that fills my being. Yes, You are a fire that takes away the coldness, illuminates the mind with its Light and causes me to know Your truth. By this Light, reflected as it were in a mirror, I recognise that You are the highest good, one we can neither comprehend nor fathom. And I know, that You are beauty and wisdom itself. The food of angels, You gave Yourself to man, in the fire of Your love.
You are the garment which covers our nakedness and in our hunger, You are a satisfying food, for You are sweetness and in You there is no taste of bitterness, O triune God! Amen”
Quote/s of the Day – 29 April – Monday of the Second week of Easter, Year C and the Memorial of St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
“What is it you want to change? Your hair, your face, your body? Why? For God is in love with all those things and He might weep when they are gone!”
“All the way to heaven IS heaven because Jesus said, “I am the way.”
“Speak the truth in a million voices. It is silence that kills!”
“Turn over the rudder in God’s name and sail with the wind, heaven sends us.”
St Catherine of Siena OP (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
More St Catherine quotes here: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/04/29/quote-s-of-the-day-29-april-fifth-sunday-of-eastertide-and-the-memorial-of-st-catherine-of-siena-1347-1380-doctor-of-the-church/
Our Morning Offering – 29 April – Monday of the Second week of Easter, Year C and the Memorial of St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
Holy Trinity, Holy Love By St Catherine of Siena
Holy Spirit, come into my heart;
draw it to Thee by Thy power,
O my God,
and grant me charity with filial fear.
Preserve me,
O beautiful love,
from every evil thought,
warm me,
inflame me with Thy dear love
and every pain will seem light to me.
My Father,
my sweet Lord,
help me in all my actions.
Jesus, love, Jesus, love.
Amen
St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church (Memorial) St Catherine here: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/04/29/saint-of-the-day-29-april-st-catherine-of-siena-1347-1380-doctor-of-the-church/
Abbots of Cluny: A feast that recognises the great and saintly early abbots of Cluny Abbey:
• Saint Aymardus of Cluny
• Saint Berno of Cluny
• Saint Hugh of Cluny
• Saint Mayeul
• Saint Odilo of Cluny
• Saint Odo of Cluny
• Saint Peter the Venerable
—
St Antonius Kim Song-u
St Ava of Denain
St Daniel of Gerona
St Dichu
St Endellion of Tregony
St Fiachan of Lismore
St Hugh of Cluny
St Gundebert of Gumber
St Joseph Benedict Cottolengo
St Paulinus of Brescia St Peter of Verona OP (1205–1252) – St Peter Martyr
Bl Robert Gruthuysen
St Senan of Wales
St Severus of Naples
St Theoger
St Torpes of Pisa
St Tychicus
St Wilfrid the Younger
—
Martyrs of Cirta: A group of clergy and laity martyred together in Cirta, Numidia (in modern Tunisia) in the persecutions of Valerian. They were – Agapius, Antonia, Emilian, Secundinus and Tertula, along with a woman and her twin children whose names have not come down to us.
Martyrs of Corfu: A gang of thieves who converted while in prison, brought to the faith by Saint Jason and Saint Sosipater who were had been imprisoned for evangelizing. When the gang announced their new faith, they were martyred together. They were – Euphrasius, Faustianus, Insischolus, Januarius, Mammius, Marsalius and Saturninus. They were boiled in oil and pitch in the 2nd century on the Island of Corcyra (modern Corfu, Greece.
Also known as:
• Martyrs of Corcyra
• Seven Holy Thieves
• Seven Holy Robbers
• Seven Robber Saints
Quote/s of the Day – 27 Oct – Saturday of the Twenty Ninth week in Ordinary Time, Year B
Speaking of: Marian Gems
“She (Mary) is like a fiery chariot, because she conceived within her the Word, the only-begotten Son of God. She carries and spreads, the fire of love, because her Son IS love.”
St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
“If every woman were an image of the Mother of God, a spouse of Christ and an apostle of the divine Heart, she would fulfil her feminine vocation no matter in what circumstances she lived and what her external activities might be.”
St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross/Edith Stein (1891-1942)
“O Blessed Rosary of Mary, sweet chain which binds us to God, bond of love which unites us to the angels, tower of salvation against the assaults of hell, safe port in our universal shipwreck, we shall never abandon you.”
Bl Bartholomew Longo (1841-1926)
“Mary is the image and model of all mothers, of their great mission to be guardians of life, of their mission to be teachers of the art of living and of the art of loving.”
One Minute Reflection – 23 August -Today’s Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14 and the Memorial of St Rose of Lima (1586-1617)
“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’...Matthew 22:11-12
REFLECTION – “What is that “wedding garment” then? … The wedding garment” is such charity as this. “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of Angels and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.” Tongues have come in alone and it is said to them, “How came ye in hither not having a wedding garment?” “Though,” said he, “I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing.” See, these are the miracles of men who very often have not “the wedding garment.” “Though,” he says,” I have all these and have not Christ, I am nothing.” … If then I have not charity, though I bestow alms freely upon the poor, though I have come to the confession of Christ’s Name even unto blood and fire, these things may be done even through the love of glory and so are vain.
… For “the wedding garment” is taken in honour of the union, the union, that is, of the Bridegroom to the Bride. You know the Bridegroom – it is Christ. You know the Bride – it is the Church. Pay honour to the Bride, pay honour to the Bridegroom . If you pay due honour to them both, you will be their children. Therefore in this make progress. Love the Lord and so learn to love yourselves, that when by loving the Lord, you shall have loved yourselves, you may securely love your neighbour as yourselves.
…So then, have faith with love. This is the “wedding garment.”…St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor
“Thus, then, the obedient man,with the light of faith, in the truth burning in the furnace of charity … receives his end from Me, his Creator.”…St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – “God our Father, for love of You, St Rose of Lima left the world and gave herself to a life of penitence, austerity and charity. Help us by her prayers, so to follow the path of life on earth, in complete love of You and thus of Your children, that we may obtain the fulness of joy in Your presence in heaven and be clothed fit for the wedding feast. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering– 23 August – The Memorial of St Rose of Lima T.O.S.D. (1586-1617)
O God of Truth and Love
A Prayer of Penitence By St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
O omnipotent Father,
God of truth,
God of love,
permit me to enter into
the cell of self-knowledge.
I admit, that of myself, I am nothing,
but that all being
and goodness in me
comes solely from You.
Show me my faults,
that I may detest them,
and thus I shall flee from self-love
and find myself clothed again
in the nuptial robe of divine charity,
which I must have,
in order to be admitted
to the nuptials of life eternal.
Amen
St Catherine was St Rose’s model and both were, of course, Dominican Tertiaries.
Our Morning Offering – 1 July – Month of the Most Precious Blood
Constant Prayer to the Precious Blood of Jesus By St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
Precious Blood,
ocean of divine mercy,
Flow upon us!
Precious Blood,
most pure offering,
Procure us every grace!
Precious Blood,
hope and refuge of sinners,
Atone for us!
Precious Blood,
delight of holy souls,
Draw us!
Amen.
AnaStpaul 
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