O merciful and loving Mother, may your glorious beauty fill our hearts with a distaste for earthly things and an ardent longing for the joys of Heaven. May your merciful eyes glance down upon our struggles and our weakness in this vale of tears. Hear then loving Mother, our request and plead to Jesus for us (mention your request). Crown us with the pure robe of innocence and grace here, and with immortality and glory in Heaven. Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
O merciful and loving Mother, may your glorious beauty fill our hearts with a distaste for earthly things and an ardent longing for the joys of Heaven. May your merciful eyes glance down upon our struggles and our weakness in this vale of tears. Hear then loving Mother, our request and plead to Jesus for us (mention your request). Crown us with the pure robe of innocence and grace here, and with immortality and glory in Heaven. Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us.
My children, all beings in creation require to be fed, that they may live; for this purpose God has made trees and plants grow; it is a well-served table, to which all animals come and take the food which suits each one. But the soul also must be fed. Where, then, is its food? My brethren, the food of the soul is God. Ah! what a beautiful thought! The soul can feed on nothing but God. Only God can suffice for it; only God can fill it; only God can satiate its hunger; it absolutely requires its God! There is in all houses a place where the provisions of the family are kept; it is the store-room. The church is the home of souls; it is the house belonging to us, who are Christians. Well, in this house there is a store-room. Do you see the tabernacle? If the souls of Christians were asked, "What is that?" your souls would answer, "It is the store-room."There is nothing so great, my children, as the Eucharist! Put all the good works in the world against one good Communion; they will be like a grain of dust beside a mountain. Make a prayer when you have the good God in your heart; the good God will not be able to refuse you anything, if you offer Him His Son, and the merits of His holy death and Passion. My children, if we understood the value of Holy Communion, we should avoid the least faults, that we might have the happiness of making it oftener. We should keep our souls always pure in the eyes of God.
My children, I suppose that you have been to confession today, and you will watch over yourselves; you will be happy in the thought that tomorrow you will have the joy of receiving the good God into your heart. Neither can you offend the good God tomorrow; your soul will be all embalmed with the precious Blood of Our Lord. Oh, beautiful life!
O my children, how beautiful will a soul be in eternity that has worthily and often received the good God! The Body of Our Lord will shine through our body, His adorable Blood through our blood; our soul will be united to the Soul of Our Lord during all eternity. There it will enjoy pure and perfect happiness. My children, when the soul of a Christian who has received Our Lord enters paradise, it augments the joy of Heaven. The Angels and the Queen of Angels come to meet it, because they recognize the Son of God in that soul. Then will that soul be rewarded for the pains and sacrifices it will have endured in its life on earth. My children, we know when a soul has worthily received the Sacrament of the Eucharist, it is so drowned in love, so penetrated and changed, that it is no longer to be recognised in its words or its actions. . . . It is humble, it is gentle, it is mortified, charitable, and modest; it is at peace with everyone. It is a soul capable of the greatest sacrifices; in short, you would not know it again.
Go, then, to Communion, my children; go to Jesus with love and confidence; go and live upon Him, in order to live for Him! Do not say that you have too much to do. Has not the Divine Saviour said, "Come to Me, all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you"? Can you resist an invitation so full of love and tenderness? Do not say that you are not worthy of it. It is true, you are not worthy of it; but you are in need of it. If Our Lord had regarded our worthiness, He would never have instituted His beautiful Sacrament of love: for no one in the world is worthy of it, neither the saints, nor the angels, nor the archangels, nor the Blessed Virgin; but He had in view our needs, and we are all in need of it. Do not say that you are sinners, that you are too miserable, and for that reason you do not dare to approach it. I would as soon hear you say that you are very ill, and therefore you will not take any remedy, nor send for the physician.
All the prayers of the Mass are a preparation for Communion; and all the life of a Christian ought to be a preparation for that great action. We ought to labor to deserve to receive Our Lord every day. How humbled we ought to feel when we see others going to the holy table, and we remain motionless in our place! How happy is a guardian angel who leads a beautiful soul to the holy table! In the primitive Church they communicated every day. When Christians had grown cold, they substituted blessed bread for the Body of Our Lord; this is both a consolation and a humiliation. It is indeed blessed bread; but it is not the Body and Blood of Our Lord!
There are some who make a spiritual communion every day with blessed bread. If we are deprived of Sacramental Communion, let us replace it, as far as we can, by spiritual communion, which we can make every moment; for we ought to have always a burning desire to receive the good God. Communion is to the soul like blowing a fire that is beginning to go out, but that has still plenty of hot embers; we blow, and the fire burns again. After the reception of the Sacraments, when we feel ourselves slacken in the love of God, let us have recourse at once to spiritual communion. When we cannot come to church, let us turn towards the tabernacle: a wall cannot separate us from the good God; let us say five Patres and five Aves to make a spiritual communion. We can receive the good God only once a day; a soul on fire with love supplies for this by the desire to receive Him every moment. O man, how great thou art! fed with the Body and Blood of a God! Oh, how sweet a life is this life of union with the good God! It is Heaven upon earth; there are no more troubles, no more crosses! When you have the happiness of having received the good God, you feel a joy, a sweetness in your heart for some moments. Pure souls feel it always, and in this union consists their strength and their happiness.
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Wednesday, August 9, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI has just granted minor Basilica status to St. Anthony Cathedral in Beaumont, Texas as a recognition of the church's artistic and historical significance. It will become only the fourth basilica in Texas and only about the 60th in the United States.
In a minor Basilica you will find the Ombrellino and the Tintinnabulum. I have only visited one basilica so far, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Missouri, and they also had those two symbols.
Read more >>
Becoming a basilica allows the church to add sacred images, as well as the papal coat of arms, to its art work, said Bishop Curtis Guillory of the Beaumont Catholic Diocese. It also gives the cathedral the responsibility of celebrating with greater solemnity certain church feast days such as the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.
Source: WOAI San Antonio News
In a minor Basilica you will find the Ombrellino and the Tintinnabulum. I have only visited one basilica so far, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Missouri, and they also had those two symbols.
Women from around the world are traveling to clinics in various locations that are now offering face lifts and cosmetic surgery using tissue from babies who have been killed by abortions. Pro-life advocates are strongly condemning the practice and saying the taking of human life is never warranted -- especially for such a self-serving purpose.
To obtain the cells, women in underdeveloped nations are paid up to $200 dollars to carry a baby up to the optimum eight to 12 week period when the fetuses are “harvested” for their stem cells which are then sold to exclusive cosmetic clinics.
Source: Life Site News
I am horrified! May God put an end to this heinous practice and an end to all abortions! We have awaited for this end for 33 years in the United States! Let us pray NOW for this second Dark Age to pass!
Prayer to end abortion:
Heavenly Father, in Your love for us, protect against the wickedness of the devil, those helpless little ones to whom You have given the gift of life. Touch with pity the hearts of those women pregnant in our world today who are not thinking of motherhood.
Help them to see that the child they carry is made in Your image - as well as theirs - made for eternal life. Dispel their fear and selfishness and give them true womanly hearts to love their babies and give them birth and all the needed care that a mother can give.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, Your Son, Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen.
St. Catherine of Sweden, patron against abortion, pray for us!
O Dearest Mother Mary, God placed you at His right hand that you may dispose of the treasures of grace by a singular title – that of Mother of God. In the midst of all the Saints you stand as their Queen and ours – dearer to the Heart of God than any creature in God’s Kingdom. You pray for your children and distribute to us every grace won by our loving Savior on the Cross. With your most holy title, please intercede for us in our needs and ask Jesus to grant our request if it be for the good of our souls (mention your request). Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us.
Double (1955 Calendar): November 23
According to Tradition, under the persecution of Emperor Trajan, Pope St. Clement I was forced to work in a quarry. While there, he brought many people into the faith. Finally, the Pope was sentenced to death. So, an anchor was wrapped around his feet and he was thrown into the sea and drowned.
After his death, two of his disciples prayed that they could find his remains. In an answer to their prayers, the sea retreated three miles and the two found an angel-built chapel that contained his remains in a chest of stone by an anchor. The sea retreated to reveal the chapel year each, and his remains were kept dry for seven days. Today, his remains have been moved and are kept in the Basilica of St. Clement. His feastday is November 23rd.
He is remembered for his Clementine Literature as well as a letter to the Church in Corinth, often called 1 Clement, and a second epistle, although scholars are not sure he actually wrote the second epistle.
The words of St. Clement are quoted in the Catechism of the Council of Trent in reference to the existence of Confirmation as a true Sacrament instituted by our Lord distinct from Baptism: "All should hasten without delay to be born again unto God, and afterwards to be signed by the Bishop, that is, to receive the seven-fold grace of the Holy Ghost; for, as has been handed down to us from St. Peter, and as the other Apostles taught in obedience to the command and of our Lord, he who culpably and voluntarily, and not from necessity, neglects to receive this Sacrament, cannot possibly be a perfect Christian."
Matins Reading:
Clement was a Roman by birth, son of Faustinus who dwelt in the region of Monte Coelio. He was a disciple of blessed Peter; and is mentioned by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Philippians, in these words: I entreat thee also, my sincere companion, help those women who have labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement and the rest of my fellow-labourers, who names are in the book of life. He divided Rome into seven regions, appointing a notary for each, who was to ascertain and record with the greatest care the acts and sufferings of the martyrs. He wrote many useful and learned works, such as did honour to the Christian name.
He converted many to the faith of Christ by his learning and holiness of life, and was on that account banished by the emperor Trajan to the desert of Cherson beyond the Black Sea. Here he found two thousand Christians, likewise banished by Trajan, who were employed in quarrying marble. Seeing them suffering from want of water, Clement betook himself to prayer, and then ascended a neighbouring hill, on the summit of which he saw a Lamb, pointing out with his right foot a spring of sweet water. At this source they all quenched their thirst; and many infidels were converted by the miracle, and began to revere Clement as a Saint.
On hearing this Trajan was enraged, and sent officers with orders to cast Clement into the sea with an anchor tied to his neck. After the execution of this sentence, as the Christians were praying on the shore, the sea began to recede for the distance of three miles; on approaching they found a small building of marble, in the form of a temple, wherein lay the martyr’s body in a stone coffin, and beside it the anchor with which he had been drowned. The inhabitants of the country were so astounded at the miracle, that they were led to embrace the Christian faith. The holy body was afterwards translated to Rome, under Pope Nicholas I and deposited in the church of St. Clement. A church was also built and dedicated in his honour, on that spot in the island where the miraculous fountain had sprung up. He held the pontificate nine years, six months, and six days. In two ordinations in the month of December, he made ten priests, two deacons, and fifteen bishops for divers places.
Cultural Customs on the Feast of St. Clement quoted from the Latin Mass Society:
"[Today] is the Feast of St Clement (23rd November) and traditionally children would go clementing – knocking on doors begging for apples, pear, and nuts in exchange for reciting rhymes. Indeed, it is believed that is the origin of the nursery rhyme “Oranges & Lemons”.
"Also as Pope Clement 1 is the patron saint of metalworkers and blacksmiths and celebrations on Old Clem’s Night began with a bang, quite literally. Blacksmiths filled a small hole in their anvil with gunpowder. This was then struck with a hammer, creating a shower of sparks and a loud boom. The village blacksmiths would dress up in a wig, mask and cloak to represent Saint Clement and gather in the streets, singing loudly and staggering from tavern to tavern."
Collect:
O Eternal Shepherd, who appointed blessed Clement shepherd of the whole Church, let the prayers of this martyr and supreme pontiff move You to look with favor upon Your flock and to keep it under Your continual protection. Through our Lord . . .
Envy is a sadness which we feel on account of the good that happens to our neighbour.Envy, my children, follows pride; whoever is envious is proud. See, envy comes to us from Hell; the devils having sinned through pride, sinned also through envy, envying our glory, our happiness. Why do we envy the happiness and the goods of others? Because we are proud; we should like to be the sole possessors of talents, riches, of the esteem and love of all the world! We hate our equals, because they are our equals; our inferiors, from the fear that they may equal us; our superiors, because they are above us. In the same way, my children, that the devil after his fall felt, and still feels, extreme anger at seeing us the heirs of the glory of the good God, so the envious man feels sadness at seeing the spiritual and temporal prosperity of his neighbour.
We walk, my children, in the footsteps of the devil; like him, we are vexed at good, and rejoice at evil. If our neighbour loses anything, if his affairs go wrong, if he is humbled, if he is unfortunate, we are joyful. . . we triumph! The devil, too, is full of joy and triumph when we fall, when he can make us fall as low as himself. What does he gain by it? Nothing. Shall we be richer, because our neighbour is poorer? Shall we be greater, because he is less? Shall we be happier, because he is more unhappy? O my children! how much we are to be pitied for being like this! Saint Cyprian said that other evils had limits, but that envy had none. In fact, my children, the envious man invents all sorts of wickedness; he has recourse to evil speaking, to calumny, to cunning, in order to blacken his neighbour; he repeats what he knows, and what he does not know he invents, he exaggerates. . . .
Through the envy of the devil, death entered into the world; and also through envy we kill our neighbour; by dint of malice, of falsehood, we make him lose his reputation, his place. . . . Good Christians, my children, do not do so; they envy no one; they love their neighbour; they rejoice at the good that happens to him, and they weep with him if any misfortune comes upon him. How happy should we be if we were good Christians. Ah! my children, let us, then, be good Christians and we shall no more envy the good fortune of our neighbour; we shall never speak evil of him; we shall enjoy a sweet peace; our soul will be calm; we shall find paradise on earth.
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Tuesday, August 8, 2006
Greater Double (1955 Calendar): August 4Memorial (1969 Calendar): August 8
Today is the feastday of St. Dominic de Guzman, popularly known just as St. Dominic, the one that received the Rosary from Mary. Today is a wonderful day to learn why and how to pray the Rosary. St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort wrote: "The rosary is the most powerful weapon to touch the Heart of Jesus, Our Redeemer, who loves His Mother."
St. Dominic was born in 1175 in Castile, Spain, to the illustrious Guzman family to Blessed Joan of Aza and Felix Guzman. While pregnant, Blessed Joan of Aza dreamed that she would bear a son who would be a shining light to the Church. She also dreamed that she gave birth to a dog that broke away from her with a burning torch in its mouth by which it set fire to the world. This dog became a symbol of the Dominican order that St. Dominic would found in 1215. She also dreamed that her child had bright star on his head that enlightened the world.
At the age of seven, he went to study with his uncle, who was a priest. At the age of fourteen, St. Dominic enrolled in the University of Palencia. He began many years of studying for the priesthood. During his studies, St. Dominic immersed himself in the Holy Scriptures. And when Spain was ravaged by war and famine in 1195, he sold everything he owned to bring relief to the destitute.
St. Dominic was an Augustian and worked for clerical reform. By age 26, St. Dominic was fighting the Albigensian Heresy, which taught that there are two Gods, marriage is a sin, and denied the Trinity, incarnation and redemption. While many others had failed to stop the spread of the heresy, St. Dominic succeded. In 1208, St. Dominic knelt in the little chapel of Notre Dame de La Prouille and asked Mary, the Mother of God, to save the Church. She appeared to him with a Rosary and instructed him to pray the Rosary, teach it to all who would listen, and she said that the true faith would win out. It was during one of the famous battles in southern France against the Albigensians, when St. Dominic revived the courage of the Catholic armies to victory against overwhelming numbers; he had the Rosary in his hand the entire time.
In 1215, St. Dominic founded the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), a group of men that were to live a simple, austere life; he also created an order of nuns dedicated to the care of young girls. Soon afterwards, the Pope commissioned Dominic to establish a group of friars at the Church of St. Sixtus in Rome. By 1219, forthy men resided in the foundation in Rome.
By Lent, 1219, St. Dominic had persuaded forty-four sisters to unite in one community thankfully. St. Dominic along with three cardinals received the sisters' profession on Ash Wednesday. Tragically, during the ceremony, news reached a cardinal there that his nephew, Napoleon, had died after falling from his horse.
Dominic immediately had the corpse carried into the chapel, and celebrated Mass with the cardinals, nuns, and friars in attendance. When he finished the Mass, he stood over Napoleon's broken body and straightened his limbs. St. Dominic then blessed the corpse, and with hands raised to heaven, he shouted, "Napoleon, in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, arise." In the view of many reliable witnesses, the young man then arose. [Source: Mystics and Miracles by Bert Ghezzi, Loyola Press, Chicago, IL, 2002]
One of his religious daughters, Cecilia Cesarini, describes St. Dominic in the following way: "The Blessed Dominic was of medium height and of slight build. His countenance was beautiful, of fair complexion, with light auburn hair and beard and luminous eyes. A kind of radiance shone from his brow, inspiring love and reverence in all. Full of joy, he seemed ever ready to smile, unless moved to pity by the affliction of his neighbor. His hands were long and shapely; his voice strong, noble, and sonorous. He never was bald, and his corona was complete, sprinkled with a few white hairs."
Legend says that St. Dominic received a vision of a beggar who, like Dominic, would do great things for the Faith. St. Dominic met this beggar the very next day. He embraced him and said, "You are my companion and must walk with me. If we hold together, no earthly power can withstand us." The beggar was Saint Francis of Assisi. (Above image: Vision of St. Dominic and Meeting of St. Francis and St. Dominic by Benozzo Gozzoli, 1452)St. Dominic reportedly brought four people back from the dead during his life. He died on August 4, 1221, at Bologna, Italy. St. Dominic is the patron saint of astronomers, scientists, the Philippines, and the Dominican Republic. His remains are in the Basilica of San Domenico.
Fausto Appetente Die:
The seventh centenary approaches of the day when that light of holiness, Dominic, passed from these miseries to the seat of the Blessed. We for long have been most interested in his clients, especially since We assumed the government of the Church of Bologna, which with the greater devotion preserves his remains. We, therefore, are pleased to be able from this Apostolic See to exhort the Christian people to celebrate the memory of such a great man. In this We not only consult Our own piety but fulfil a duty of gratitude towards the father and lawgiver and towards the distinguished Order he founded.
Encyclical of Pope Benedict XV promulgated on June 29, 1921.
Prayer:
O God, Who hast vouchsafed to make Thy Church illustrious by the merits and teaching of blessed Dominic, Thy Confessor: grant that, through his intercession, she may not be deprived of temporal help, and may ever advance in spiritual increase. Through our Lord.
Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal
Image Source (1st image): St Dominic of Guzman by Claudio, Coello Spanish painter, Madrid school (b. 1642, Madrid, d. 1693, Madrid - Oil on canvas, 240 x 160 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid
Semidouble (1955 Calendar): July 13
Pope St. Anacletus was the third pope of the Holy Catholic Church who reigned c. 80 - c. 92 AD. Many sources (Eusebius, Irenaeus, and Augustine) also claim he was known by the name Cletus. He died as a martyr in Rome c. 92 AD, and his remains are in the St. Linus Church in the Vatican. Pope Anacletus is now recognized to be the same person as Pope Cletus, who shares his feast with Pope Marcellinus on April 26th. For this reason, a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites issued on February 14, 1961, ordered the July 13th feast to be completely removed from the calendar. This changed is reflected in the 1962 Missal.
In one interesting comment on why his feastday in the pre-1955 calendar is given the rank of Semidouble, Dom Gueranger insightfully remarks: "Whereas the feasts of most of the martyr Pontiffs who came after him are only of simple rite, that of Anacletus is a semidouble, because of his privilege of being the last Pope honoured by the imposition of hands of the Prince of the Apostles."
The Traditional 4th Reading at Matins on July 13th recounts his life:
Anacletus was an Athenian who governed the Church in the time of the Emperor Trajan. He ordained that a Bishop should be consecrated by three Bishops and no less, that clerks should be publicly ordained to Holy Orders by their own Bishop, and that in the Mass, after the Consecration, all should afterwards Communicate. He adorned the grave of Blessed Peter, and ordered a place for burying the Popes in. He held two ordinations in the month of December, wherein he ordained five Priests, three Deacons, and six Bishops. He sat as Pope nine years, three months, and ten days. He received the crown of his testimony, and was buried on the Vatican Hill.
Collect:
O Eternal Shepherd, who appointed blessed Anacletus, shepherd of the whole Church, let the prayers of this martyr and supreme pontiff move You to look with favor upon Your flock and to keep it under Your continual protection. Through our Lord . . .
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