One Minute Reflection – 11 January – 5th day after Epiphany – Today’s Gospel: Luke 5:12–16
But he withdrew to the wilderness and prayed…Luke 5:16
REFLECTION – “Not by words alone but also by deeds, has God taught us to pray. He Himself prayed frequently and demonstrated what we ought to do, by the testimony of His own example. As it is written: “But he himself was in retirement in the desert and in prayer,” and again, “He went out into the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God.” But if He who was without sin prayed, how much more ought sinners to pray and if He prayed continually, watching through the whole night with uninterrupted petitions, how much more ought we to lie awake at night in continuing prayer!”…St Cyprian of Carthage (c 200- c 258) Bishop and Martyr, Father of the Church (The Lord’s Prayer #29)
PRAYER – Almighty God and Father, by the guidance of a star, You revealed the birth of the Saviour of the world and by His teachings, the way of our path to You is shown to us. Open our minds and our hearts to these revelations and let them bear fruit in our lives. Listen we pray, to the prayers of St Tommaso da Cori on our behalf, who so diligently followed Your revelationS. Through Jesus, our Lord and Christ, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Quote/s of the Day – 16 September – The Memorial of Sts Cornelius and Cyprian Martyrs
“We must carry out the will of God rather than our own. This is what we pledge to do in the “Our Father”, which we recite every day. What a travesty it would be if, after praying that God’s will be done, we should carry out that will halfheartedly and only because we are obliged to do so!
“We have solemnly renounced the world and therefore, whilst we continue in it, we should behave like strangers and pilgrims.”
“You cannot have God for your Father if you do not have the Church for your mother…. God is one and Christ is one and His Church is one; one is the faith and one is the people cemented together by harmony into the strong unity of a body…. If we are the heirs of Christ, let us abide in the peace of Christ; if we are the sons of God, let us be lovers of peace.”
“You who are envious, let me tell you that however often you may seek for the opportunity of injuring him whom you hate, you will never be able to do him so much harm, as you do harm to yourselves. He whom you would punish through the malice of your envy, may probably escape but you will never be able to fly from yourselves.” (St Cyprian from The Unity of the Catholic Church)
“Let us remember one another in concord and unanimity. Let us on both sides of death always pray for one another. Let us relieve burdens and afflictions by mutual love, that if one of us, by the swiftness of divine condescension, shall go hence the first, our love may continue in the presence of the Lord and our prayers for our brethren and sisters not cease in the presence of the Father’s mercy.” St Cyprian from letters (to St Pope Cornelius no 253)
Quote/s of the Day – 17 July – Tuesday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time, B – Today’s Gospel: Matthew 11:20-24
Speaking of: Seeking Repentance with the Fathers
“When once you have departed this life, there is no longer any place for repentance, no way of making satisfaction. Here, life is either lost or kept. Here, by the worship of God and by the fruit of faith, provision is made for eternal salvation. Let no one be kept back either by his sins or by his years from coming to obtain salvation. To him who still remains in this world, there is no repentance that is too late.”
St Cyprian of Carthage (c 200- c 258)
Father of the Church
“Do you fast? Then feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, visit the sick, do not forget the imprisoned, have pity on the tortured, comfort those who grieve and who weep, be merciful, humble, kind, calm, patient, sympathetic, forgiving, reverent, truthful and pious, so that God might accept your fasting and might plentifully grant you the fruits of repentance.”
“Since it is likely that, being men, they would sin every day, St Paul consoles his hearers by saying ‘renew yourselves’ from day to day. This is what we do with houses: we keep constantly repairing them as they wear old. You should do the same thing to yourself. Have you sinned today? Have you made your soul old? Do not despair, do not despond but renew your soul by repentance and tears and Confession and by doing good things. And never cease doing this.”
“If repentance is neglected for an instant, one can lose the power of the Resurrection as he lives with the weakness of tepidity and the potential of his fall.”
St John Chrysostom (347-407)
Father and Doctor of the Church
“Reform yourself and so be always ready. Be not afraid of the last day, as a thief, who will break up your house as you sleep but awake and reform yourself today.”
“In failing to confess, Lord, I would only hide You from myself, not myself from You.”
St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of the Church
“To do penance is to bewail the evil we have done and to do no evil to bewail.”
St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604)
Father & Doctor of the Church
“Repentance raises the fallen, mourning knocks at the gate of Heaven and holy humility opens it.”
“Repentance is the renewal of baptism. Repentance is a contract with God for a second life. A penitent is a buyer of humility. Repentance is constant distrust of bodily comfort. Repentance is self-condemning reflection of carefree self-care. Repentance is the daughter of hope and the renunciation of despair. A penitent is an undisgraced convict. Repentance is reconciliation with the Lord by the practice of good deeds contrary to the sins. Repentance is purification of conscience. Repentance is the voluntary endurance of all afflictions. A penitent is the inflicter of his own punishments. Repentance is a mighty persecution of the stomach and a striking of the soul into vigorous awareness.”
“Confession is like a bridle that keeps the soul which reflects on it from committing sin but anything left unconfessed we continue to do without fear as if in the dark.”
Joel 2:12-18, 2 Corinthians 5:20 — 6:2, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
At the beginning of Lent, on Ash Wednesday, ashes are blessed during Mass, after the homily. The blessed ashes are then “imposed” on the faithful as a sign of conversion, penance, fasting and human mortality. The ashes are blessed at least during the first Mass of the day but they may also be imposed during all the Masses of the day, after the homily and even outside the time of Mass to meet the needs of the faithful. Priests or deacons normally impart this sacramental but instituted acolytes, other extraordinary ministers or designated lay people may be delegated to impart ashes, if the bishop judges that this is necessary. The ashes are made from the palms used at the previous Passion Sunday ceremonies. …— Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year, Msgr. Peter J Elliott
The act of putting on ashes symbolises fragility and mortality and the need to be redeemed by the mercy of God. Far from being a merely external act, the Church has retained the use of ashes to symbolise that attitude of internal penance to which all the baptised are called during Lent. — Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy
From the very early times the commemoration of the approach of Christ’s passion and death was observed by a period of self-denial. St Athanasius in the year 339 enjoined upon the people of Alexandria the 40 days’ fast he saw practised in Rome and elsewhere, “to the end that while all the world is fasting, we who are in Egypt should not become a laughing stock as the only people who do not fast but take our pleasure in those days.” On Ash Wednesday in the early days, the Pope went barefoot to St Sabina’s in Rome “to begin with holy fasts the exercises of Christian warfare, that as we do battle with the spirits of evil, we may be protected by the help of self-denial.
“In the course of this trial of forty days, which our weakness only finds long, we shall not be deprived of our Saviour’s presence. He has preceded and outpaced us on the royal road. He has tried it and accomplished its course before us, in order to answer, by His example, the excuses and arguments our self-indulgence or pride may urge. Let us accept the lesson fully and so arrive at an understanding of the law of expiation. “Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is drawing near.” Let us open our heart to this appeal, that the Saviour may not be compelled to awake us from our lethargy by the terrible threat He employed on another occasion: “If you do not repent you shall all perish.”...Abbot Dom Prosper Gueranger
“The enormity of the fact that Christ has, on our behalf, already taken the most extreme punishment upon Himself, should move us, not to leave Him isolated. It should also inspire us to rejoice that another has taken our place in representing sin before God – for not to rejoice at that, would be a further enormity. Instead of leaving Him alone, we should be moved to enter into His suffering for us, doing together with Him, what little we can do, to atone for the world’s sin!”…Hans Urs von Balthasar “Light of the World”
ACT OF CONTRITION
Forgive my sins, O my God, forgive my sins: the sins of youth, the sins of age; the sins of my soul and the sins of my body; the sins which, through frailty, I have committed; my deliberate and grievous sins, the sins I know and the sins I do not know, the sins I have laboured so long to hide from others, that now they are hidden from my own memory; let me be absolved from all these iniquities and delivered from the bond of all these evils, by the Life, Passion, and Death of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen
Quote/s of the Day – 14 January -Speaking of the Holy Eucharist from the Fathers of the Church
“Calling her children about her, she [the Church] nourishes them with holy milk, that is, with the Infant Word… The Word is everything to a child – both Father and Mother, both Instructor and Nurse. “EAT MY FLESH,” He says, “AND DRINK MY BLOOD.” The Lord supplies us with these intimate nutriments. He delivers over His Flesh and pours out His Blood and nothing is lacking for the growth of His children. O incredible mystery!” (Instructor of Children 1:6:42,1,3)
St Clement of Alexandria (c 150-216) Church Father
“The flesh feeds on THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST, so that the SOUL TOO may fatten on God.” (Resurrection of the Dead 8:3)
“The Sacrament of the Eucharist, which the Lord commanded to be taken at meal times and by all, we take even before daybreak in congregations… … We take anxious care lest something of our Cup or Bread should fall upon the ground…” (The Crown 3:3-4)
Tertullian (c 155-250) Church Father
“You see how the ALTARS are no longer sprinkled with the blood of oxen but consecrated BY THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST.” (Homilies on Joshua 2:1)
“You are accustomed to take part in the divine mysteries, so you know how, when you have received THE BODY OF THE LORD, you reverently exercise every care lest a particle of it fall and lest anything of the consecrated gift perish…. how is it that you think neglecting the word of God a lesser crime than neglecting HIS BODY?” (Homilies on Exodus 13:3)
Origen (c 185-254) Church Father
“If Christ Jesus, our Lord and God, is Himself the High Priest of God the Father; and if He offered HIMSELF as a SACRIFICE to the Father and if He commanded that this be done in commemoration of Himself – then certainly the priest, who imitates that which Christ did, TRULY FUNCTIONS IN PLACE OF CHRIST.” (Letters 63:14)
One Minute Reflection – 16 September – The Memorial of Sts Cornelius and Cyprian
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…Matthew 6:10
REFLECTION – “We must carry out the will of God rather than our own. This is what we pledge to do in the “Our Father”, which we recite every day.
What a travesty it would be if, after praying that God’s will be done, we should carry out that will halfheartedly and only because we are obliged to do so!…St Cyprian of Carthage
PRAYER – Lord God, heavenly Father, You gave Sts Cornelius and Cyprian to Your Church as faithful shepherds and steadfast martyrs. Strengthen our faith and our courage by their prayers, so that we may strive with all our power, to do Your will at all times, wholeheartedly! Amen
Saints of the Day – 16 September – St Pope Cornelius and St Cyprian of Carthage – Martyrs. St Pope Cornelius – Papal Ascension: 251. He was Martyred in 253 and his remains were buried at the Cemetery of Saint Callistus Rome. “Cornelius” means ‘battle horn.‘ Patronages – • against earache; earache sufferers• epileptics; against epilepsy• against fever• against myoclonus• cattle• domestic animals• Kornelimünster, Germany. St Cornelius was a Bishop becoming ar reluctant 21st Pope, elected after a 1 1/2 year period, during which the persecutions were so severe that Papal ascension was an immediate death sentence. He worked to maintain unity in a time of schism and apostasy and fought Novatianism. He also called a Synod of Bishops to confirm him as rightful Pontiff, as opposed to the anti-pope Novatian. He had the support of Saint Cyprian of Carthage and Saint Dionysius. He welcomed back those who had apostacised during the persecutions of Decius – the documents which settled this matter prove the final authority of the Pope. Exiled to Centumcellae in 252 by Roman authorities to punish Christians in general, who were said to have provoked the gods to send plague against Rome. Martyr. A document from Cornelius shows the size of the Roman Clergy during his Papacy – 46 Priests, 7 Deacons, 7 Sub-deacons, approximately 50,000 Christians. His name is in the Communicantes in the Canon of the Mass.
St Cyprian of Carthage – (Died in 190 in Carthage, North Africa – Bishop and Martyr, learned Rhetorician, Teacher, Writer, Theologian – beheaded 14 September 258 in Carthage, North Africa). Patronages – • Algeria (proclaimed on 6 July 1914 by Pope Pius X)• North Africa (proclaimed on 6 July 1914 by Pope Pius X, on 10 January 1958 by Pope Pius XII and on 27 July 1962 by Pope John XXIII NOTE – no, I don’t know why it was done so many times).
St Cyprian was born to wealthy pagan parents. He taught rhetoric and literature. He was adult convert in 246, taught the faith by Saint Caecilius of Carthage. He was ordained in 247 and became the Bishop of Carthage in 249. During the persecution of Decius, beginning in 250, Cyprian lived in hiding, covertly ministering to his flock; his enemies condemned him for being a coward and not standing up for his faith. As a writer he was second only in importance to Tertullian as a Latin Father of the Church. Friend of Saint Pontius. St Cyprian was involved in the great argument over whether apostates should be readmitted to the Church; Cyprian believed they should but under stringent conditions. He was supported St Pope Cornelius against the anti-pope Novatian. During the persecutions of Valerian he was exiled to Curubis in 257, brought back Carthage and then martyred in 258. His name is in the Communicantes in the Canon of the Mass.
An excerpt written to Cornelius, Bishop of Rome condemned to martyrdom for his faith, from his brother Bishop Cyprian of Carthage, himself to give his witness as a Martyr a few years later. Read on the feasts of Sts Cornelius and Cyprian, Martyrs, on 16 September.
Cyprian to his brother Cornelius.
My very dear brother, we have heard of the glorious witness given by your courageous faith. On learning of the honour you had won by your witness, we were filled with such joy that we felt ourselves sharers and companions in your praiseworthy achievements. After all, we have the same Church, the same mind, the same unbroken harmony. Why then should a priest not take pride in the praise given to a fellow priest as though it were given to him? What brotherhood fails to rejoice in the happiness of its brothers wherever they are?
Words cannot express how great was the exultation and delight here when we heard of your good fortune and brave deeds: how you stood out as leader of your brothers in their declaration of faith, while the leader’s confession was enhanced as they declared their faith. You led the way to glory, but you gained many companions in that glory; being foremost in your readiness to bear witness on behalf of all, you prevailed on your people to become a single witness.
We cannot decide which we ought to praise, your own ready and unshaken faith or the love of your brothers who would not leave you. While the courage of the bishop who thus led the way has been demonstrated, at the same time the unity of the brotherhood who followed has been manifested. Since you have one heart and one voice, it is the Roman Church as a whole that has thus born witness.
Dearest brother bright and shining is the faith which the blessed Apostle praised in your community. He foresaw in the spirit the praise your courage deserves and the strength that could not be broken; he was heralding the future when he testified to your achievements; his praise of the fathers was a challenge to the sons. Your unity, your strength have become shining examples of these virtues to the rest of the brethren.
Divine providence has now prepared us. God’s merciful design has warned us that the day of our own struggle, our own contest, is at hand. By that shared love which binds us close together, we are doing all we can to exhort our congregation, to give ourselves unceasingly to fastings, vigils and prayers in common. These are the heavenly weapons which give us the strength to stand firm and endure; they are the spiritual defenses, the God-given armaments that protect us.
Let us then remember one another, united in mind and heart. Let us pray without ceasing, you for us, we for you; by the love we share we shall thus relieve the strain of these great trials.
“Let us remember one another in concord and unanimity. Let us on both sides of death always pray for one another. Let us relieve burdens and afflictions by mutual love, that if one of us, by the swiftness of divine condescension, shall go hence the first, our love may continue in the presence of the Lord and our prayers for our brethren and sisters not cease in the presence of the Father’s mercy.”
St Cyprian of Carthage (c 190 – 258) from Letters, 253
You must be logged in to post a comment.