For God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. – Saint John the Apostle

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Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint Hannibal Mary Di Francia


The entire Church must formally pray for [vocations] because the purpose of the prayer to gain vocations must concern all the faithful, every Christian who has at heart the good of souls and, in a particular way, the Bishops who are the shepherds of the spiritual flock and to whom souls are entrusted. They are the living Apostles of Jesus Christ today.

--Saint Hannibal








Saint Quote: Saint John Baptist de La Salle


An evil thought defiles the soul when it is deliberate and consented to. Our Lord placed evil thoughts at the head of all crimes, because they are their principle and source.

-- St. John Baptist de la Salle

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint John of the Cross


Take care not to meddle in things which do not concern you, nor even allow them to pass through your mind; for perhaps you will not then be able to fulfil your own task.

-- St. John of the Cross










Sunday, May 28, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint Paul of the Cross


When you feel the assaults of passion and anger, then is the time to be silent as Jesus was silent in the midst of His ignominies and sufferings.

-- St. Paul of the Cross









Saint Quote: Saint Bede the Venerable


A hymn of glory let us sing;
New songs throughout the world shall ring:
Christ, by a road before untrod,

Now rises to the throne of God.


The holy apostolic band
Upon the Mount of Olives stand;
And with his followers they see
Their Lord's ascending majesty.

To them the angels drawing nigh,
"Why stand and gaze upon the sky?
This is the Savior," thus they say;

"This is his glorious triumph day. "

Again shall ye behold him so

As ye today have seen him go,

In glorious pomp ascending high,

Up to the portals of the sky."


O risen Christ, ascended Lord,
All praise to thee let earth accord,

Who art, while endless ages run,

With Father and with Spirit one.

                      --Hymn by Saint Bede the Venerable








Saturday, May 27, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint Augustine of Canterbury


God, in his promises to hear our prayers, is desirous to bestow Himself upon us; if you find anything better than Him, ask it; but if you ask anything beneath Him, you put an affront upon Him, and hurt yourself by preferring to Him a creature which He framed: Pray in the spirit and sentiment of love, in which the royal prophet said to Him, 'Thou, O Lord, are my portion.' Let others choose to themselves portions among creatures, for my part, You are my portion, You alone I have chosen for my whole inheritance.

--Saint Augustine (Austin) of Canterbury


Friday, May 26, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint Luis Batiz Sainz


I am dying for God, and God will care for my children.

--Saint Luis just before execution when pleading for the lives of his fellow prisoners who were family men; his children were his parishioners







Thursday, May 25, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint Philip Neri


A joyful heart is more easily made perfect than one that is cast down.

--Saint Philip Neri







Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint John of God


Labor without stopping; do all the good works you can while you still have the time.

--Saint John of God







Monday, May 22, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint Pope Pius X


That We should act without delay in this matter is made imperative especially by the fact that the partisans of error are to be sought not only among the Church's open enemies; but, what is to be most dreaded and deplored, in her very bosom, and are the more mischievous the less they keep in the open. We allude, Venerable Brethren, to many who belong to the Catholic laity, and, what is much more sad, to the ranks of the priesthood itself, who, animated by a false zeal for the Church, lacking the solid safeguards of philosophy and theology, nay more, thoroughly imbued with the poisonous doctrines taught by the enemies of the Church, and lost to all sense of modesty, put themselves forward as reformers of the Church; and, forming more boldly into line of attack, assail all that is most sacred in the work of Christ, not sparing even the Person of the Divine Redeemer, whom, with sacrilegious audacity, they degrade to the condition of a simple and ordinary mall.

--Saint Pope Pius X








Saint Quote: Saint Antony the Abbot


[The devil] dreads fasting, prayer, humility, and good works: He is not able even to stop my mouth who speak against him. The illusions of the devil soon vanish, especially if a man arms himself with the Sign of the Cross. The devils tremble at the Sign of the Cross of our Lord, by which He triumphed over and disarmed them.

--Saint Antony Abbot







Saturday, May 20, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint Eugene de Mazenod


If priests could be formed, afire with zeal for men’s salvation, solidly grounded in virtue - in a word, apostolic men deeply conscious of the need to reform themselves, who would labor with all the resources at their command to convert others - then there would be ample reason to believe that in a short while people who had gone astray might be brought back to the long neglected duties of religion. We pledge ourselves to all the works of zeal that priestly charity can inspire... We must spare no effort to extend the Savior’s Empire and destroy the dominion of hell.

--Saint Eugene de Mazenod







Saint Quote: Saint Bernadine of Siena


Jesus, crucified for me, with the nails of Your love fasten my whole self to You.

--Saint Bernadine of Siena







Friday, May 19, 2006

Saint Quote: Blessed Alcuin


In the morning, at the height of my powers, I sowed the seed in Britain, now in the evening when my blood is growing cold I am still sowing in France, hoping both will grow, by the grace of God, giving some the honey of the holy scriptures, making others drunk on the old wine of ancient learning.

--Blessed Alcuin in a letter written late in life looking back on his career







Thursday, May 18, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint Teresa of Avila


Consider seriously how quickly people change, and how little trust is to be had in them; and hold fast to God, who does not change.

-- St. Teresa of Avila







Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Saint Quote: Blessed Giulia Salzano



The Sister catechist must be ready, at every moment, to instruct the little ones and the uneducated. She must not count the sacrifices such a ministry demands, indeed she should desire to die while doing it, if this be God's will.

--Blessed Giulia Salzano







Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint Simon Stock


Carmel's Flower,
Vine ever blossoming,

Heaven's splendor!
Virgin who bore a child.

No one is like thee.

Mother gentle and kind.

Yet never touched by man!

To Carmelites give thou the privilege.

Help us Star of the Sea.


--Simon Stock

Monday, May 15, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint Jerome


You say in your book that while we live we are able to pray for each other, but afterwards when we have died, the prayer of no person for another can be heard.... But if the apostles and martyrs while still in the body can pray for others, at a time when they ought still be solicitous about themselves, how much more will they do so after their crowns, victories, and triumphs?

--Jerome from Against Vigilantius, 406AD








Saturday, May 13, 2006

Saint Quote: St. Augustine and St. Monica




A Tribute to Motherly Love



The day was now approaching when my mother Monica would depart from this life; you know that day, Lord, though we did not. She and I happened to be standing by ourselves at a window that overlooked the garden in the courtyard of the house. At the time we were in Ostia on the Tiber. And so the two of us, all alone, were enjoying a very pleasant conversation, "forgetting the past and pushing on to what is ahead.." We were asking one another in the presence of the Truth - for you are the Truth - what it would be like to share the eternal life enjoyed by the saints, which "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, which has not even entered into the heart of man." We desired with all our hearts to drink from the streams of your heavenly fountain, the fountain of life.

That was the substance of our talk, though not the exact words. But you know, O Lord, that in the course of our conversation that day, the world and its pleasures lost all their attraction for us. My mother said, "Son, as far as I am concerned, nothing in this life now gives me any pleasure. I do not know why I am still here, since I have no further hopes in this world. I did have one reason for wanting to live a little longer: to see you become a Catholic Christian before I died. God has lavished his gifts on me in that respect, for I know that you have even renounced earthly happiness to be his servant. So what am I doing here?"


I do not really remember how I answered her. Shortly, within five days or thereabouts, she fell sick with a fever. Then one day during the course of her illness she became unconscious and for a while she was unaware of her surroundings. My brother and I rushed to her side, but she regained consciousness quickly. She looked at us as we stood there and asked in a puzzled voice: "Where was I?"


We were overwhelmed with grief, but she held her gaze steadily upon us, and spoke further: "Here you shall bury your mother." I remained silent as I held back my tears. However, my brother haltingly expressed his hope that she might not die in a strange country but in her own land, since her end would be happier there. When she heard this, her face was filled with anxiety, and she reproached him with a glance because he had entertained such earthly thoughts. Then she looked at me and spoke: "Look what he is saying." Thereupon she said to both of us, "Bury my body wherever you will; let not care of it cause you any concern. One thing only I ask you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be." Once our mother had expressed this desire as best she could, she fell silent as the pain of her illness increased.


--from the Confessions of Saint Augustine of Hippo






Saint Quote: Blessed Imelda Lambertini


Can anyone receive Jesus into his heart and not die?

--Blessed Imelda Lambertini







Friday, May 12, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint Epiphanius of Salamis


For his human nature was not something subsisting apart by itself, neither did he speak with the divinity separated and the human nature existing apart, as though they were different persons, but with the human nature united with the divine (there being one consecration), and in the same even now knowing the most perfect things, it being now united in God and joined to the one deity.

--Saint Epiphanius of Salamis






Thursday, May 11, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint Theophilus of Antioch


And about your laughing at me and calling me "Christian," you know not what you are saying. First, because that which is anointed is sweet and serviceable, and far from contemptible. For what ship can be serviceable and seaworthy, unless it be first caulked [anointed]? Or what castle or house is beautiful and serviceable when it has not been anointed? And what man, when he enters into this life or into the gymnasium, is not anointed with oil? And what work has either ornament or beauty unless it be anointed and burnished? Then the air and all that is under heaven is in a certain sort anointed by light and spirit; and are you unwilling to be anointed with the oil of God? Wherefore we are called Christians on this account, because we are anointed with the oil of God.

--St. Theophilus of Antioch in his Apology to Autolycus







Tuesday, May 9, 2006

Saint Quote: Blessed Ivan Merz


Died in the peace of the Catholic faith. My life had been Christ, and death was my gain. I am expecting the mercy of the Lord and undivided, complete, eternal possession of the most Holy Heart of Jesus. Happy in peace and joy. My soul is reaching the goal for which it had been created.

--Blessed Ivan in a testament he wrote just before his death; today it serves as the epitaph on his tomb






Monday, May 8, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint Jerome


Hence, I tearfully beg you to refrain from seeking the favors of the world and to renounce all that is carnal. It is impossible to follow both the world and Jesus. Let us live a life of renunciation, for our bodies will soon be dust and nothing else will last any longer.

-- St. Jerome








Saint Quote- Saint Louis IX



You must firmly believe all of the articles of faith given as testimony by the apostles as you hear them sung each Sunday in the Credo!

Sunday, May 7, 2006

Saint Quote- Blessed Henry Suso


If your enemies see that you grow courageous, and that you will neither be seduced by flatteries nor disheartened by the pains and trials of your journey, but rather are contented with them, they will grow afraid of you.

Saturday, May 6, 2006

Saint Quote- St. Peter Eymard


The state of grace is nothing other than purity, and it gives heaven to those who clothe themselves in it. Holiness, therefore, is simply the state of grace purified, illuminated, beautified by the most perfect purity, exempt not only from mortal sin but also from the smallest faults; purity will make saints of you! Everything lies in this!

Friday, May 5, 2006

Saint Quote- Francis de Sales



Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit.
Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever,
even if your whole world seems upset.

Thursday, May 4, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint Gerard Majella


Consider the shortness of time, the length of eternity and reflect how everything here below comes to an end and passes by. Of what use is it to lean upon that which cannot give support?

--Saint Gerard Majella







Wednesday, May 3, 2006

Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles


Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles

May 1

PHILIP, born at Bethsaida, was one of the first followers of Our Lord. After receiving the Holy Ghost he preached the Gospel in Scythia and Phrygia, converting great numbers to the faith, and was finally crucified and then stoned at Hierapolis, in Phrygia.

JAMES, the son of Cleophas, called the Less, and on account of his sanctity surnamed the Just, and for his kinship with Christ known as His brother, was, with his brothet Judas Thaddeus, chosen an apostle in the second year of Christ's ministry. Saint James was the first Bishop of Jerusalem. One day, being requested to preach against Christ, he publicly proclaimed Him to be the Messias, in Whom men were bound to believe, at which the Jewish priests became so enraged that they threw him down from a pinnacle of the temple, cast stones upon him, and finally killed him outright with a fuller's rod.

The Introit of the Mass is as follows:

"In the time of their tribulation they cried to Thee, O Lord, and Thou heardest them from heaven. Rejoice in the Lord, ye just; praise becometh the upright."

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Prayer

O God, Who givest us joy by the annual solemnity of Thy apostles Philip and James, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may be instructed by the example of those in whose merits we rejoice. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Epistle: Wisdom 5:1-5

The just shall stand with great constancy against those that have afflicted them, and taken away their labors. These seeing it, shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the suddenness of their unexpected salvation, saying within themselves, repenting, and groaning for anguish of spirit. These are they whom we had some time in derision, and for a parable of reproach. We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honor. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints.

Gospel: John 14:1-13

At that time Jesus said to His disciples: Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you, that I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go, and prepare a place for you; I will come again, and will take you to Myself, that where I am, you also may be. And whither I go you know, and the way you know. Thomas saith to Him: Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by Me. If you had known Me, you would without doubt have known My Father also; and from henceforth you shall know Him, and you have seen Him. Philip saith to Him: Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus saith to him: So long a time have I been with you, and have you not known Me? Philip, he that seeth Me seeth the Father also. How sayest thou, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you, I speak not of Myself. But the Father Who abideth in Me, He doth the works. Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? Otherwise believe for the very works' sake. Amen, amen, I say to you, he that believeth in Me, the works that I do he also shall do, and greater than these shall he do because I go to the Father. And whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, that will I do.

Why did Jesus say to His disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled"?
He said this in order to console them beforehand, so that they might not be downcast, or waver in their faith, in case the predicted tribulations should actually come upon Him and them. Thus it is that God never fails to comfort those who suffer persecution for His sake.
What is meant by the words, "I am the way, the truth, and the life"?
Saint Bernard says Christ is the way, in His holy doctrine and example, in following which we cannot go astray. He is the truth, in the fulfilment of the prophecies, in His mysteries, in His promises and threatenings, in His Gospel, and in His Church, for, as God, He cannot err, neither can He lie or deceive. Finally, He is the life, in that, through His death, He has gained for us the life of grace and glory.
Why did Christ say to Philip, "He that seeth Me seeth the Father also"?
Because, although different from the Father in person, yet in nature and substance He is equal to Him. Christ accordingly adds that He is in the Father, and the Father in Him.

Prayer to Saint Philip

O Saint Philip, chosen disciple of the Lord, who brought Nathaniel to Christ, who most zealously preached thy Lord, Jesus Christ, and out of love to Him willingly gave thyself to be nailed to the cross, and put to death, obtain, I beseech thee, for me, and for all men, grace with zeal to bring others to the practice of good works, to have a great desire after God and His truths, and, in hope of the eternal blissful contemplation of God, to bear patiently the adversities and miseries of this life. Amen.

Prayer to Saint James

O Saint James, who lived so temperately and strictly, who, like thy master, prayed so earnestly and constantly for thy tormentors, I beseech thee that thou wouldst procure us from Jesus grace, after thy example, to live sober and peniteptial lives, and to worship God in spirit and in truth. Obtain for us, therefore, the spirit with which thou didst write thine epistle, that we may follow thy doctrine, be diligent in good works, and, like thee, love and pray for our enemies. Amen.

Goffine's Devout Instructions







Tuesday, May 2, 2006

Saint Quote: Saint Anathasius the Great


You will not see anyone who is really striving after his advancement who is not given to spiritual reading. And as to him who neglects it, the fact will soon be observed by his progress.

--Saint Athanasius







Monday, May 1, 2006

Saint Quote: Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity


Make a little cell in your heart for Jesus of the Agony; take refuge there, when you hear Him outraged by men, try to make reparation; you, at least, love Him and keep your heart quite pure for Him. Oh! If you only knew how the good God loves pure hearts! It is there that He loves to reign.

--Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity