Our Morning Offering – 16 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – Saturday of the Second Week of Advent and a day to honour our Holy Mother
Most Holy Mary
By St John of the Cross (1542-1591)
Doctor of the Church
Most holy Mary,
Virgin of virgins,
Shrine of the most Holy Trinity,
joy of the Angels,
sure Refuge of sinners,
take pity on our sorrows,
mercifully accept our sighs
and appease the wrath
of your most holy Son.
Amen.
Quote/s of the Day – 21 July – “The Month of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus” – St Praxedes, Virgin (Died 164) – 1 Corinthians 7:25-34, Matthew 13:44-52 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“And the unmarried woman
and the virgin,
thinketh on the things of the Lord,
that she may be holy,
both in body and in spirit,
in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
“Virginity can be lost by a single thought.”
“He errs who believes
that he can overcome his sensual propensities
and preserve chastity, by his own efforts.
God’s mercy must extinguish nature’s ardour.
Have recourse to the intercession
of the Immaculate Virgin
and rest assured, you will obtain this mercy.”
“Chastity depends on the heart, for its source
and on the body, as its subject.
Hence, it may be lost,
by all the external senses of the body
and by the thoughts and desires of the heart.”
(Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 13).
Prayer for Chastity and Purity
By St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Dear Jesus,
I know that every perfect gift
and especially that of chastity,
depends on the power of Thy Providence.
Without Thee, a mere creature can do nothing.
Therefore, I beg Thee, to defend, by Thy grace
the chastity and purity of my body and soul.
And if I have ever sensed or imagined anything
that could stain my chastity and purity,
blot it out, Supreme Lord of my powers
that I may advance with a pure heart
in Thy love and service,
offering myself
on the most pure altar of Thy Divinity,
all the days of my life.
Amen
Thought for the Day – 29 January – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
“Understood in it’s entirety, as embracing it’s higher grade, that is, perpetual virginity consecrated to God, purity of heart is a gift which only Christianity can give (Encyclical, Sacra Virginitas, Pope Pius XII, 1954).
If we have been called to receive this wonderful gift, let us humbly thank God.
It is a sublime dignity to belong, body and soul, to God.
Sacred Scripture says of men: “What is man that you should be mindful of him, or the son of man, that you should care for him? You have made him a little less than the angels and crowned him with glory and honour. You have given him rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under his feet” (Ps 8:5, Heb 2:7).
But, under a certain aspect, those who are living in virginity, can be said to be superior to the angels.
Since an angel has no body, he offers God only the homage of his spirit.
A virgin, on the other hand, must bear the burden of an earthly body.
He must offer continually, on the altar of his heart (and often, after a heroic battle), not only his soul with it’s appetites and will but also, all the impulses and lower faculties “which wage war against the soul” (1 Pter 2:11).
This is a double sacrifice, which St Ambrose calls, a continual martyrdom of body and soul.
But the reward lies in the joy and peace which flow from this perpetual offering of soul and body to the Immaculate Lamb.
This happiness is a compensation, for any conflict, which must be endured and is, a foretaste of the joys of Heaven.
AnaStpaul 
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