From a discourse on the psalms by Saint Augustine, bishop
Praise the Lord with the lyre, make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! Sing to him a new song. Rid yourself of what is old and worn out, for you know a new song. A new man, a new covenant—a new song. This new song does not belong to the old man. Only the new man learns it: the man restored from his fallen condition through the grace of God, and now sharing in the new covenant, that is, the kingdom of heaven. To it all our love now aspires and sings a new song. Let us sing a new song not with our lips but with our lives.
Sing to him a new song, sing to him with joyful melody. Every one of us tries to discover how to sing to God. You must sing to him, but you must sing well. He does not want your voice to come harshly to his ears, so sing well, brothers!
If you were asked, “Sing to please this musician,” you would not like to do so without having taken some instruction in music, because you would not like to offend an expert in the art. An untrained listener does not notice the faults a musician would point out to you. Who, then, will offer to sing well for God, the great artist whose discrimination is faultless, whose attention is on the minutest detail, whose ear nothing escapes? When will you be able to offer him a perfect performance that you will in no way displease such a supremely discerning listener?
See how he himself provides you with a way of singing. Do not search for words, as if you could find a lyric which would give God pleasure. Sing to him “with songs of joy.” This is singing well to God, just singing with songs of joy.
But how is this done? You must first understand that words cannot express the things that are sung by the heart. Take the case of people singing while harvesting in the fields or in the vineyards or when any other strenuous work is in progress. Although they begin by giving expression to their happiness in sung words, yet shortly there is a change. As if so happy that words can no longer express what they feel, they discard the restricting syllables. They burst out into a simple sound of joy, of jubilation. Such a cry of joy is a sound signifying that the heart is bringing to birth what it cannot utter in words.
Now, who is more worthy of such a cry of jubilation than God himself, whom all words fail to describe? If words will not serve, and yet you must not remain silent, what else can you do but cry out for joy? Your heart must rejoice beyond words, soaring into an immensity of gladness, unrestrained by syllabic bonds. Sing to him with songs of joy.
Source: http://divineoffice.org/
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Presentation of Mary
Greater Double, 1955 Calendar
On November 21, we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast was first commemorated in the Western Liturgical Calendar in 1585 and both Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches celebrate it.
This event is recounted in the apocryphal “Infancy Narrative of James”. According to this text Mary’s parent, Joachim and Anne, who had been childless, received a heavenly message that they will have a child. For the gift of their daughter, they brought her to the Temple in Jerusalem to consecrate her to God. Mary remained in the Temple until puberty when Joseph became her guardian.
According to later versions of the story, the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary, she was taken to the Temple at the age of three in fulfillment of a vow. She remained faithful all her life to the Lord who had chosen her to be the mother of our Lord.
Along with the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, this feast reminds us of our fundamental vocation to achieve the grace of God. As we know from the Letter of Paul:” The grace of the Lord is enough for those who strive to live good and holy lives.” (cf. 2 Cor, 12:9).
Prayer source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal
Image source:” Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary” by (public domain)
Friday, 18 November 2011
Dedication of the Churches of Peter and Paul, Apostles
Pilgrims with extraordinary devotion visited their tombs from the beginning. In 210 Caius, priest of Rome, speaking with Proclus said:
“I can show you the trophies of the apostles. For, whether you go to the Vatican hill, or to the Ostian road, you will meet with the monuments of them who by their preaching and miracles founded this church.”
Constantine the Great, after he founded the mother church of all Catholics, he built the church of St. Peter on the Vatican hill, honoring the place were the prince of the apostles suffered martyrdom and of St. Paul, at his tomb on the Ostian road.
One liturgical celebration takes place only in St. Peter’s and in no other church in the whole world: the Washing of the Altar on Maundy Thursday. At the close of the Matins on this day, the so-called papal altar under the great bronze baldachino is sprinkled with oil and wine. In an extended procession the archpriest, his vicar, the canons, the beneficiaries, the chaplains, and the entire clergy approach in order, and symbolically wash the altar with a sprinkler. A solemn benediction with the great relics from the gallery of St. Helena terminates this very impressive ceremony.
The churches are dedicated only to God, although often have a patron saint so that all faithful may implore the intercession of that saint.
St Augustine says "We do not build churches or appoint priesthoods, sacred rites and sacrifices to the martyrs, because, not the martyrs, but the God of the martyrs, is our God. Who among the faithful ever heard a priest, standing at the altar set up over the body of a martyr to the honour and worship of God, say in praying: We offer up sacrifices to thee, Peter, or Paul, or Cyprian? When at their memories (or titular altars) it is offered to God, who made them both men and martyrs, and has associated them to his angels in heavenly honour. We do not build churches to martyrs as to gods, but as memorials to men departed this life, whose souls live with God. Nor do we make altars to sacrifice on them to the martyrs, but to their God and our God.”
Fragment source The Catholic Encyclopedia
Thursday, 17 November 2011
The mystery of Christ in us and in the Church
We must strive to follow and fulfill in ourselves the various stages of Christ’s plan as well as his mysteries, and frequently beg him to bring them to completion in us and in the whole Church. For the mysteries of Jesus are not yet completely perfected and fulfilled. They are complete, indeed, in the person of Jesus, but not in us, who are his members, nor in the Church, which is his mystical body. The Son of God wills to give us a share in his mysteries and somehow to extend them to us. He wills to continue them in us and in his universal Church. This is brought about first through the graces he has resolved to impart to us and then through the works he wishes to accomplish in us through these mysteries. This is his plan for fulfilling his mysteries in us.
For this reason Saint Paul says that Christ is being brought to fulfillment in his Church and that all of us contribute to this fulfillment, and thus he achieves the fullness of life, that is, the mystical stature that he has in his mystical body, which will reach completion only on judgment day. In another place Paul says: I complete in my own flesh what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.
This is the plan by which the Son of God completes and fulfills in us all the various stages and mysteries. He desires us to perfect the mystery of his incarnation and birth by forming himself in us and being reborn in our souls through the blessed sacraments of baptism and the eucharist. He fulfills his hidden life in us, hidden with him in God.
He intends to perfect the mysteries of his passion, death and resurrection, by causing us to suffer, die and rise again with him and in him. Finally, he wishes to fulfill in us the state of his glorious and immortal life, when he will cause us to live a glorious, eternal life with him and in him in heaven.
In the same way he would complete and fulfill in us and in his Church his other stages and mysteries. He wants to give us a share in them and to accomplish and continue them in us. So it is that the mysteries of Christ will not be completed until the end of time, because he has arranged that the completion of his mysteries in us and in the Church will only be achieved at the end of time.
Elizabeth recognized and loved Christ in the poor
From a letter by Conrad of Marburg, spiritual director of Saint Elizabeth
From this time onward Elizabeth’s goodness greatly increased. She was a lifelong friend of the poor and gave herself entirely to relieving the hungry. She ordered that one of her castles should be converted into a hospital in which she gathered many of the weak and feeble. She generously gave alms to all who were in need, not only in that place but in all the territories of her husband’s empire. She spent all her own revenue from her husband’s four principalities, and finally she sold her luxurious possessions and rich clothes for the sake of the poor.
Twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, Elizabeth went to visit the sick. She personally cared for those who were particularly repulsive; to some she gave food, to others clothing; some she carried on her own shoulders, and performed many other kindly services. Her husband, of happy memory, gladly approved of these charitable works. Finally, when her husband died, she sought the highest perfection; filled with tears, she implored me to let her beg for alms from door to door.
On Good Friday of that year, when the altars had been stripped, she laid her hands on the altar in a chapel in her own town, where she had established the Friars Minor, and before witnesses she voluntarily renounced all worldly display and everything that our Savior in the gospel advises us to abandon. Even then she saw that she could still be distracted by the cares and worldly glory which had surrounded her while her husband was alive. Against my will she followed me to Marburg. Here in the town she built a hospice where she gathered together the weak and the feeble. There she attended the most wretched and contemptible at her own table.
Apart from those active good works, I declare before God that I have seldom seen a more contemplative woman. When she was coming from private prayer, some religious men and women often saw her face shining marvelously and light coming from her eyes like the rays of the sun.
Before her death I heard her confession. When I asked what should be done about her goods and possessions, she replied that anything which seemed to be hers belonged to the poor. She asked me to distribute everything except one worn out dress in which she wished to be buried. When all this had been decided, she received the body of our Lord. Afterward, until vespers, she spoke often of the holiest things she had heard in sermons. Then, she devoutly commended to God all who were sitting near her, and as if falling into a gentle sleep, she died.
Twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, Elizabeth went to visit the sick. She personally cared for those who were particularly repulsive; to some she gave food, to others clothing; some she carried on her own shoulders, and performed many other kindly services. Her husband, of happy memory, gladly approved of these charitable works. Finally, when her husband died, she sought the highest perfection; filled with tears, she implored me to let her beg for alms from door to door.
On Good Friday of that year, when the altars had been stripped, she laid her hands on the altar in a chapel in her own town, where she had established the Friars Minor, and before witnesses she voluntarily renounced all worldly display and everything that our Savior in the gospel advises us to abandon. Even then she saw that she could still be distracted by the cares and worldly glory which had surrounded her while her husband was alive. Against my will she followed me to Marburg. Here in the town she built a hospice where she gathered together the weak and the feeble. There she attended the most wretched and contemptible at her own table.
Apart from those active good works, I declare before God that I have seldom seen a more contemplative woman. When she was coming from private prayer, some religious men and women often saw her face shining marvelously and light coming from her eyes like the rays of the sun.
Before her death I heard her confession. When I asked what should be done about her goods and possessions, she replied that anything which seemed to be hers belonged to the poor. She asked me to distribute everything except one worn out dress in which she wished to be buried. When all this had been decided, she received the body of our Lord. Afterward, until vespers, she spoke often of the holiest things she had heard in sermons. Then, she devoutly commended to God all who were sitting near her, and as if falling into a gentle sleep, she died.
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious
Memorial, 1969 Calendar, celebration, November 17.
1955 Calendar, St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (Wonderworker) bishop and confessor.
Today is the memorial day of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, born probably at Pressburg, Hungary, in 1207.
St. Elizabeth was a princess, the daughter of Hungarian King Andrew II. She was only four years old when she was taken to the court of the Landgrave of Thuringia to be raised and eventually betrothed to her future husband Hermann. Elizabeth grew up a very religious child, with a strong inclination to prayer and practices of piety. She was only fourteen when she married Ludwig, after Hermann died. This was a truly happy event, Ludwig and Elizabeth were very devoted to each other. Ludwig proved himself a worthy husband, a very religious man, a good ruler and brave soldier.
He sustained and encouraged Elisabeth’s works of charity and her exemplary, pious way of life. They had three children but in 1227 after only six years of marriage, Ludwig died. This news crushed her, with a newborn in her arms Elisabeth cried out: “The world with all its joys is now dead to me.”
After she arranged for her children care, Elisabeth left the court becoming a tertiary of St. Francis, she was among the first tertiaries of Germany. Elisabeth built the Franciscan hospital at Marburg in 1228 but her health was slowly consumed by her continuous charitable work and she passed away at before her 24th birthday in 1231.
Pope Gregory IX canonized the “greatest woman of the German Middle Ages”, four years later.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary is the patron saint of bakers, beggars, and charitable workers, against toothache, widows, young brides and many others.
“Elizabeth was a lifelong friend of the poor and gave herself entirely to relieving the hungry. She ordered that one of her castle should be converted into a hospital in which she gathered many of the weak and feeble. She generously gave alms to all who were in need, not only in that place but in all the territories of her husband’s empire. She spent all her own revenue from her husband’s four principalities, and finally she sold her luxurious possessions and rich clothes for the sake of the poor.
Before her death, I heard her confession. When I asked what should be done about her goods and possessions, she replied that anything which seemed to be hers belonged to the poor. She asked me to distribute everything except one worn-out dress in which she wished to be buried. When all this had been decided, she received the body of our Lord. Afterward, until vespers, she spoke often of the holiest things she had heard in sermons. Then, she devoutly commended to God all who were sitting near her, and as if falling into a gentle sleep, she died.”
Fragment from a letter by Conrad of Marburg, spiritual director of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.
Image source: The Charity of St. Elizabeth of Hungary by Edmund Blair Leighton (public domain)
1955 Calendar, St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (Wonderworker) bishop and confessor.
St. Elizabeth was a princess, the daughter of Hungarian King Andrew II. She was only four years old when she was taken to the court of the Landgrave of Thuringia to be raised and eventually betrothed to her future husband Hermann. Elizabeth grew up a very religious child, with a strong inclination to prayer and practices of piety. She was only fourteen when she married Ludwig, after Hermann died. This was a truly happy event, Ludwig and Elizabeth were very devoted to each other. Ludwig proved himself a worthy husband, a very religious man, a good ruler and brave soldier.
He sustained and encouraged Elisabeth’s works of charity and her exemplary, pious way of life. They had three children but in 1227 after only six years of marriage, Ludwig died. This news crushed her, with a newborn in her arms Elisabeth cried out: “The world with all its joys is now dead to me.”
After she arranged for her children care, Elisabeth left the court becoming a tertiary of St. Francis, she was among the first tertiaries of Germany. Elisabeth built the Franciscan hospital at Marburg in 1228 but her health was slowly consumed by her continuous charitable work and she passed away at before her 24th birthday in 1231.
Pope Gregory IX canonized the “greatest woman of the German Middle Ages”, four years later.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary is the patron saint of bakers, beggars, and charitable workers, against toothache, widows, young brides and many others.
“Elizabeth was a lifelong friend of the poor and gave herself entirely to relieving the hungry. She ordered that one of her castle should be converted into a hospital in which she gathered many of the weak and feeble. She generously gave alms to all who were in need, not only in that place but in all the territories of her husband’s empire. She spent all her own revenue from her husband’s four principalities, and finally she sold her luxurious possessions and rich clothes for the sake of the poor.
Before her death, I heard her confession. When I asked what should be done about her goods and possessions, she replied that anything which seemed to be hers belonged to the poor. She asked me to distribute everything except one worn-out dress in which she wished to be buried. When all this had been decided, she received the body of our Lord. Afterward, until vespers, she spoke often of the holiest things she had heard in sermons. Then, she devoutly commended to God all who were sitting near her, and as if falling into a gentle sleep, she died.”
Fragment from a letter by Conrad of Marburg, spiritual director of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.
Image source: The Charity of St. Elizabeth of Hungary by Edmund Blair Leighton (public domain)
Saint Margaret of Scotland
Optional memorial, 1969 Calendar, celebration November 16.
1955 Calendar, St. Gertrude the Great, virgin
St. Margaret of Scotland was probably born about 1045 in Hungary in a royal family. Her father was the English prince Edward the Exile. Margaret came with her father to England but on his death and the conquest of England by the Normans, her family decided to return to the Continent. The legend tells us that a storm drove their ship to Scotland were King Malcolm III took them under his protection.
Margaret married Malcolm some time between 1067 and 1070, this event being delayed by her desire to devote herself entirely to the faith. After her marriage, she used her influence as queen in the name of the Catholic faith. She built several churches including the Abbey of Dunfermline, she cared for pilgrims and the poor, and she dedicated the rest of her life to the cause of religion and piety.
Her most treasured jewelry was a Gospel Book that legend says was dropped in a river and recovered much later undamaged. This Gospel book is now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.
Margaret had eight children and she trained them in the ways of God. She worked zealously to get Scottish religious practices into line with disciplines of Rome, to stop abuses, to reestablish the proper ritual of the Mass and the rules for Lenten fasting and Easter Communion.St. Margaret of Scotland died on November of 1093, three days after her son and husband were killed in a battle. She is the patron saint of death of children, learning, second patron of Scotland, widow.
1955 Calendar, St. Gertrude the Great, virgin
Margaret married Malcolm some time between 1067 and 1070, this event being delayed by her desire to devote herself entirely to the faith. After her marriage, she used her influence as queen in the name of the Catholic faith. She built several churches including the Abbey of Dunfermline, she cared for pilgrims and the poor, and she dedicated the rest of her life to the cause of religion and piety.
Her most treasured jewelry was a Gospel Book that legend says was dropped in a river and recovered much later undamaged. This Gospel book is now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.
Margaret had eight children and she trained them in the ways of God. She worked zealously to get Scottish religious practices into line with disciplines of Rome, to stop abuses, to reestablish the proper ritual of the Mass and the rules for Lenten fasting and Easter Communion.St. Margaret of Scotland died on November of 1093, three days after her son and husband were killed in a battle. She is the patron saint of death of children, learning, second patron of Scotland, widow.
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Descendit Ad Inferos
(Descended into Hell)
Today, the Catholic Church may have faced another controversy on the New Missal that will be initiated in the First Advent of 2011.
One of the most controversial articles of the Apostle’s Creed which expresses words “was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead;”
The above phrase may have troubled our understanding. Does Jesus really descended into Hell? We may understand it differently but few may say that Jesus can’t go to hell because of his being Divine as God and being the son of the Creator. Let us try to review the phrase “descended into hell” to Latin which is translated as “descendit ad Inferos”
The word hell (inferos) doesn’t mean “the eternal damnation” written in the scripture. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that; (CCC 633); Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God.480 Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into "Abraham's bosom":481 "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham's bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell."482 Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.483 (CCC 635); Christ went down into the depths of death so that "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."485 Jesus, "the Author of life", by dying destroyed "him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage."486 Henceforth the risen Christ holds "the keys of Death and Hades", so that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth."487
Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. . . He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him - He who is both their God and the son of Eve. . . "I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. . . I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead."488
Today we live in a world and a church in which this kind of brokenness and attitude are becoming more the rule than exception. There is a major thing to live beyond, a broken marriage, abortion, a religious commitment that did not work out, pregnancy outside marriage, a betrayed trust, broken relationship, a soured affair, a serious mistake, a searing regret. A sense of sin that is irrevocable coupled with hopelessness. We – the church needs a theology (spirituality) of brokenness which relates failure and sin seriously enough to redemption. A theology that teaches us that even though a mistake that cannot be undone can let us live happily and with renewed innocence through the grace of God’s forgiveness, that God does not just give us one chance but that every time we close a door he opens another one for us. A theology that challenges us not to make mistakes, that take sin seriously, but which tells us that when we sin we are given the chance to take our place among the broken, among those whose lives are not perfect, the loved sinners for whom Christ came. A theology that tells us that mistakes are not forever, that they are not even for a lifetime. A theology that teaches us that God loves us as sinners and that the task of Christianity is not to teach us how to live but to teach us how to live again and again.
Our savior Jesus Christ descended into hell (abode of the dead) where lived the souls of all the good and just persons who had died since the time of Adam, once HE took them with him to heaven.The doctrine descended into hell is a doctrine about LOVE. God’s love for us and the power of that love to go to all lengths, to descend to all depths and to go through every barrier in order to redeem a wounded, huddled, frightened, paranoid, separation and unfree humanity.
By dying on the cross, Jesus Christ shows his love for us in such a way he descends into our private hells. His love is so compassionate that it can penetrate all barriers we construct by closing a door for him because of our hurt, fear, unworthiness, despair, sinfulness and hopelessness. Christ does not need a door knob to enter closed doors. Christ can enter rooms and hearts that are locked out of sins and sickness unlike our human love it is not left helplessly knocking at the door, it does not require strength to open it himself.
There is no hell, no private hell of wound, depression, fear, sickness or even bitterness that God’s love cannot and will not descend into.
Inspired by: (The internet Monk by Michael Spencer, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Forgotten Among the Lilies by Ronald Rolheisser, Conventual Fransican Friars (OFM Conv.))
Friday, 4 November 2011
Practice what you preach
From a sermon given during the last synod he attended, by Saint Charles, bishop
I admit that we are all weak, but if we want help, the Lord God has given us the means to find it easily. One priest may wish to lead a good, holy life, as he knows he should. He may wish to be chaste and to reflect heavenly virtues in the way he lives. Yet he does not resolve to use suitable means, such as penance, prayer, the avoidance of evil discussions and harmful and dangerous friendships. Another priest complains that as soon as he comes into church to pray the office or to celebrate Mass, a thousand thoughts fill his mind and distract him from God. But what was he doing in the sacristy before he came out for the office or for Mass? How did he prepare? What means did he use to collect his thoughts and to remain recollected?
Would you like me to teach you how to grow from virtue to virtue and how, if you are already recollected at prayer, you can be even more attentive next time, and so give God more pleasing worship? Listen, and I will tell you. If a tiny spark of God’s love already burns within you, do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out. Keep the stove tightly shut so that it will not lose its heat and grow cold. In other words, avoid distractions as well as you can. Stay quiet with God. Do not spend your time in useless chatter.
If teaching and preaching is your job, then study diligently and apply yourself to whatever is necessary for doing the job well. Be sure that you first preach by the way you live. If you do not, people will notice that you say one thing, but live otherwise, and your words will bring only cynical laughter and a derisive shake of the head.
Are you in charge of a parish? If so, do not neglect the parish of your own soul, do not give yourself to others so completely that you have nothing left for yourself. You have to be mindful of your people without becoming forgetful of yourself.
My brothers, you must realize that for us churchmen nothing is more necessary than meditation. We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: I will pray, and then I will understand. When you administer the sacraments, meditate on what you are doing. When you celebrate Mass, reflect on the sacrifice you are offering. When you pray the office, think about the words you are saying and the Lord to whom you are speaking. When you take care of your people, meditate on how the Lord’s blood that has washed them clean. In this way, all that you do becomes a work of love.
This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day, which, after all, are part of our work: in meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in other men.
I admit that we are all weak, but if we want help, the Lord God has given us the means to find it easily. One priest may wish to lead a good, holy life, as he knows he should. He may wish to be chaste and to reflect heavenly virtues in the way he lives. Yet he does not resolve to use suitable means, such as penance, prayer, the avoidance of evil discussions and harmful and dangerous friendships. Another priest complains that as soon as he comes into church to pray the office or to celebrate Mass, a thousand thoughts fill his mind and distract him from God. But what was he doing in the sacristy before he came out for the office or for Mass? How did he prepare? What means did he use to collect his thoughts and to remain recollected?
Would you like me to teach you how to grow from virtue to virtue and how, if you are already recollected at prayer, you can be even more attentive next time, and so give God more pleasing worship? Listen, and I will tell you. If a tiny spark of God’s love already burns within you, do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out. Keep the stove tightly shut so that it will not lose its heat and grow cold. In other words, avoid distractions as well as you can. Stay quiet with God. Do not spend your time in useless chatter.
If teaching and preaching is your job, then study diligently and apply yourself to whatever is necessary for doing the job well. Be sure that you first preach by the way you live. If you do not, people will notice that you say one thing, but live otherwise, and your words will bring only cynical laughter and a derisive shake of the head.
Are you in charge of a parish? If so, do not neglect the parish of your own soul, do not give yourself to others so completely that you have nothing left for yourself. You have to be mindful of your people without becoming forgetful of yourself.
My brothers, you must realize that for us churchmen nothing is more necessary than meditation. We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: I will pray, and then I will understand. When you administer the sacraments, meditate on what you are doing. When you celebrate Mass, reflect on the sacrifice you are offering. When you pray the office, think about the words you are saying and the Lord to whom you are speaking. When you take care of your people, meditate on how the Lord’s blood that has washed them clean. In this way, all that you do becomes a work of love.
This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day, which, after all, are part of our work: in meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in other men.
Saint Charles Borromeo, bishop
Memorial, 1969 Calendar, celebration November 4.
1955 Calendar, celebration November 4
Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal-Priest of the Title of St. Prassede, Papal Secretary of State under Pius IV. St. Charles Borromeo was born in the Castle of Arona, in a noble family, 1538 and he died at Milan on 1584.
Charles Borromeo was the nephew of Pope Pius IV, who made him his secretary of state and his assistant in governing the Church. Later Pope Pius IV named him Cardinal of Romagna, March of Ancona and supervisor of the Franciscans, Carmelites and Knights of Malta.
He was highly regarded at the papal court and his accomplishments and dedication to the Church determined Pius IV to raise him to the rank of Archbishop of Milan. St. Charles Borromeo established the Academy of the Vatican Nights, founded a college at Pavia, he facilitated the final deliberations of the Council of Trent and he was extremely active in the creation of the Tridentine Catechism.
His work and reforms were dedicated to the improvement in learning and education of priests for the benefit of their congregations. Borromeo founded the fraternity of Oblates of St. Ambrose.
In 1576, an epidemic of the bubonic plague devastated Milan. St. Charles Borromeo led continues efforts to care for the sick and bury the dead. During that epidemic, he walked barefooted in the public streets carrying a cross with a rope around his neck, offering himself as a victim to God for the transgressions of his people.
He prayed the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin daily.His reforms were met with much opposition and he was fired upon in the archiepiscopal chapel, his survival was a miracle.
St. Charles Borromeo was a model bishop who died on November 3, 1584. He was canonized in 1610.
He is the patron saint of seminarians, spiritual directors, spiritual leaders, stomach diseases and many others.
Thursday, 3 November 2011
SAINT MARTIN DE PORRES
Martin had a great desire to go off to some foreign mission and thus earn the palm of martyrdom. However, since this was not possible, he made a martyr out of his body, devoting himself to ceaseless and severe penances. In turn, God endowed him with many graces and wondrous gifts, such as, aerial flights and bilocation.
St. Martin's love was all-embracing, shown equally to humans and to animals, including vermin, and he maintained a cats and dogs hospital at his sister's house. He also possessed spiritual wisdom, demonstrated in his solving his sister's marriage problems, raising a dowry for his niece inside of three day's time, and resolving theological problems for the learned of his Order and for bishops. A close friend of St. Rose of Lima, this saintly man died on November 3, 1639 and was canonized on May 6, 1962. His feast day is November 3.
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