tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7555005136141830732024-03-18T05:48:12.102-04:00Fountain of Elias"With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts." ~3 Kings 19:10elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.comBlogger1174125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-76439044514556125332024-03-17T02:00:00.011-04:002024-03-17T02:00:00.124-04:00The Lorica of Saint Patrick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/Saint_Patrick_(window).jpg/220px-Saint_Patrick_(window).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/Saint_Patrick_(window).jpg/220px-Saint_Patrick_(window).jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #006600; font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/Poetry/StPatrick.html">Here is<span style="font-style: italic;"> Fáed Fíada</span>, "The Cry of the Deer"</a> <a href="http://teaattrianon.blogspot.com/2008/03/visions-of-st-patrick.html">or "St. Patrick's Breastplate," a prayer attributed to the great Apostle of Ireland.</a></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"> I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,</span> <span style="font-size: 100%;">through belief in the Threeness, through confession of the Oneness of the Creator of creation.</span> <span style="font-size: 100%;">I arise today through the strength of Christ with His Baptism,</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">through the strength of His Crucifixion with His Burial</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">through the strength of His Resurrection with His Ascension,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">through the strength of His descent for the Judgment of Doom.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 100%;">I arise today through the strength of the love of Cherubim</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">in obedience of Angels, in the service of the Archangels,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">in hope of resurrection to meet with reward,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">in prayers of Patriarchs, in predictions of Prophets,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">in preachings of Apostles, in faiths of Confessors,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">in innocence of Holy Virgins, in deeds of righteous men.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 100%;">I arise today, through the strength of Heaven:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">light of Sun, brilliance of Moon, splendour of Fire,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">speed of Lightning, swiftness of Wind, depth of Sea,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">stability of Earth, firmness of Rock.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 100%;">I arise today, through God's strength to pilot me:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">God's might to uphold me, God's wisdom to guide me,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">God's eye to look before me, God's ear to hear me,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">God's word to speak for me, God's hand to guard me,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">God's way to lie before me, God's shield to protect me,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">God's host to secure me:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">against snares of devils, against temptations of vices,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">against inclinations of nature, against everyone who</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">shall wish me ill, afar and anear, alone and in a crowd.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">I summon today all these powers between me (and these evils):</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">against every cruel and merciless power that may oppose</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">my body and my soul,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">against incantations of false prophets,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">against black laws of heathenry,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">against false laws of heretics, against craft of idolatry,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">against every knowledge that endangers man's body and soul.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Christ to protect me today</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">against poison, against burning, against drowning,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">against wounding, so that there may come abundance of reward.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Christ on my left, Christ in breadth, Christ in length,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Christ in height, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 100%;">I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">through belief in the Threeness, through confession of the Oneness</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">of the Creator of creation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Salvation is of Christ. May Thy Salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.</span></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/0c/e2/16/0ce216b08e6e00e664b5f2c5fa856953.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="778" data-original-width="397" height="778" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/0c/e2/16/0ce216b08e6e00e664b5f2c5fa856953.jpg" width="397" /></a></div><br /><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Paradise-Tree-Elena-Maria-Vidal-ebook/dp/B00O2HBE7K?ref_=ast_author_dp&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.rmCl6swmS-BQujDqrCI48Una6WyMG8ztIRQ5MUn21UZ0nxK0uCvPoJOn_SVPvTiqKIksNS6DtvQ6yUH9ngB_gHmGnU-IorKgf7HxCxkk5i8.8ll3TInNIOS0PPKV0TIHl38s4XcVw09NdZOdq3AS5YU&dib_tag=AUTHOR" target="_blank"> In honor of St. Patrick's Day, the US Kindle version of my novel <i>The Paradise Tree</i> is free through March 19, St. Joseph's Day</a>.<br /></p>
elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-19215471987696116452024-03-17T02:00:00.001-04:002024-03-17T02:00:00.123-04:00Vexilla Regis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwK5g0WV0tcocLFtTk5sPUHJ_TpE5ykgFmHQDPvWn_L00-cEs87WQNR1NberT_42O8lXtc8ELVEvMZzYw9kOTxyGreehdGHk1KbfjT5p59EyX9E-DHnbh0hJuPL-K3kZMiWsrMEN0r4Rc/s1600/Arundel+60+Crucifixion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="807" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwK5g0WV0tcocLFtTk5sPUHJ_TpE5ykgFmHQDPvWn_L00-cEs87WQNR1NberT_42O8lXtc8ELVEvMZzYw9kOTxyGreehdGHk1KbfjT5p59EyX9E-DHnbh0hJuPL-K3kZMiWsrMEN0r4Rc/s400/Arundel+60+Crucifixion.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>
From <i><a href="https://aclerkofoxford.blogspot.com/2012/04/vexilla-regis-prodeunt-e-kynges-baneres.html">A Clerk at Oxford</a></i>:<br />
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This season, from this present day until the holy
Eastertide, is called Christ's Passion-tide, and all God's servants in
the holy church with their divine liturgies honour and hold in mind his
Passion, through which we were all redeemed. Our books say, too, that
we should keep this fortnight with great devotion, because of the
approach of the holy Passion and the glorious resurrection of our
Saviour. In these days we omit in our responses 'Gloria Patri', in
mourning for the holy Passion, except if a great feast-day occurs then.
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This is the opening of Ælfric's sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent. As
he explains, the last two weeks before Easter are traditionally
Passiontide, <i>Cristes ðrowung-tid</i>, a season with its own customs and character of deepening solemnity <i>for genealæcunge þære halgan ðrowunge </i>'because
of the approach of the holy Passion'. Along with practices such as that
mentioned by Ælfric of omitting 'Gloria Patri' in the liturgy, the
season has its own hymns, most famously 'Vexilla Regis Prodeunt': (<a href="https://aclerkofoxford.blogspot.com/2012/04/vexilla-regis-prodeunt-e-kynges-baneres.html" target="_blank">Read more.</a>)</blockquote>
elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-87165373997525356442024-03-16T00:00:00.001-04:002024-03-16T00:00:00.125-04:00Passiontide<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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Today we veil the statues and pictures of our home altar with purple cloth, in observance of <a href="https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/covering-of-crosses-and-images-in-lent-4938" target="_blank">Passiontide. Although the Fifth Sunday of Lent is not designated as "Passion Sunday" on the new calendar, it is still permissible to cover the statues and sacred images during this week and the next.</a> It really helps to create a spirit of mourning in honor of the sufferings of Our Lord. The Church offers a treasury of beautiful hymns which draw the soul into the mystery of Christ's passion and death.<br />
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As Abbot Gueranger writes in <span style="font-style: italic;">The Liturgical Year, Vol VI</span>:<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Let us hope that, by God's mercy, the holy time we are now entering upon will work such a happy change in us, that, on the day of judgment, we may confidently fix our eyes on Him we are now about to contemplate crucified in the hands of sinners. The death of Jesus puts the whole of nature in commotion; the midday sun is darkened, the earth is shaken to its very foundations, the rocks are split; may it be that our hearts, too, be moved and pass from indifference to fear, from fear to hope, and, at length from hope to love; so that having gone down with our Crucified to the very depths of sorrow, we may deserve to rise with Him unto light and joy, beaming with the brightness of His Resurrection, and having within ourselves the pledge of new life, which shall then die no more.</span></blockquote>
During Passiontide, it is good to reflect upon the nature of envy and jealousy, for it is envy and jealousy which killed Jesus.<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Envy disrupts social life generally. It sets the child against the father, brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor, and nation against nation. It kills friendship, undermines business relationships, and hinders reconciliation. It is one of the chief sources of misunderstanding, criticism, hatred, vengeance, calumny, detraction, and perverse attacks upon private life.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Envy and greed, the source of the world's unrest and wars, are sins against charity, because they make us seek what belongs to others. Often, even at the cost of harm to our neighbor, we want what does not belong to us....The envious person becomes distrustful, unjust, suspicious. Envy makes its victims ill-tempered, sad, and unapproachable....</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Jealousy implies the fear of being displaced by a rival, or of being deprived of that which is rightfully ours or of that which we think ought to be ours. Jealousy is anther form of envy. Jealousy has to do with our own possessions, whereas envy has to do with the possessions of others. We resent an intrusion upon that which belongs to us, and we are prone to become vengeful at this disregard of our rights and claims.</span><br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Jealousy goes a step further than envy; it not only tries to lessen the good opinion others enjoy and criticizes those who are praised and rewarded, but is characterized by an excessive love of our own personal good and brings on a fear that we will be deprived of it. Jealousy prefers to see good left undone rather than lose a single degree of praise.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-style: italic;"></span>(Excerpt from <span style="font-style: italic;">The Hidden Power of Kindness</span> by Father Lawrence Lovasik, Sophia Institute Press, 1999, pp.62-63)elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-61369414601930922632024-03-10T00:00:00.003-05:002024-03-10T00:00:00.133-05:00Laetare Sunday<blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://vultus.stblogs.org/2007/03/laetare-jerusalem.html">Laetare Jerusalem</a>: et conventum facite omnes qui diligitis eam: gaudete cum laetitia, qui in tristitia fuistis: ut exsultetis, et satiemini ab uberibus consolationis vestrae. (Psalm) Laetatus sum in his, quae dicta sunt mihi: in domum Domini ibimus. Gloria Patri. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><i><a href="http://vultus.stblogs.org/2007/03/laetare-jerusalem.html">Rejoice, O Jerusalem</a>: and come together all you that love her: rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation. (Psalm) I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord. Glory be to the Father.</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">~<a href="http://www.fisheaters.com/customslent7.html">Entrance Antiphon for the Fourth Sunday of Lent</a><br />
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It is <a href="http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/f/Laetare_Sunday.htm">Laetare Sunday</a>.
<a href="http://www.liturgialatina.org/lityear/lent/sunday4.htm" target="_blank">Here</a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://www.liturgialatina.org/lityear/lent/sunday4.htm" target="_blank"><i> </i></a><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://www.liturgialatina.org/lityear/lent/sunday4.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 85%;">is a meditation from <span style="font-style: italic;">The Liturgical Year</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://www.liturgialatina.org/lityear/lent/sunday4.htm" target="_blank"> by Abbot Gueranger, O.S.B.</a>:</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: "georgia";">This Sunday, called, from the first word of the Introit, </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">Lætare</i><span style="font-family: "georgia";"> Sunday, is one of the most solemn of the year. The Church interrupts her lenten mournfulness; the chants of the Mass speak of nothing but joy and consolation; the organ, which has been silent during the preceding three Sundays, now gives forth its melodious voice; the deacon resumes his dalmatic, and the subdeacon his tunic; and instead of purple, rose-coloured vestments are allowed to be used.</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia";">These same rites were practised in Advent, on the third Sunday,</span> called <i style="font-family: georgia;">Gaudete.</i><span style="font-family: "georgia";"> The Church's motive for introducing this expression of joy into today's liturgy is to encourage her children to persevere fervently to the end of this holy season. The real mid-Lent was last Thursday, as we have already observed; but the Church, fearing lest the joy might lead to some infringement on the spirit of penance, has deferred her own notice of it to this Sunday, when she not only permits, but even bids, her children to rejoice!</span></span><span style="color: #333333;">...</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://vultus.stblogs.org/2007/03/mothering-sunday-and-the-golde.html">The blessing of the golden rose</a> is one of the ceremonies peculiar to the fourth Sunday of Lent, which is called on this account Rose Sunday. The thoughts suggested by this flower harmonize with the sentiments wherewith the Church would now inspire her children. The joyous time of Easter is soon to give them a spiritual spring, of which that of nature is but a feeble image.</span> <span style="font-size: 100%;"></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">Hence, we cannot be surprised that the institution of this ceremony is of a very ancient date. We find it observed under the pontificate of St. Leo IX (eleventh century); and we have a sermon on the golden rose preached by the glorious Pope Innocent III, on this Sunday, and in the basilica of Holy Cross in Jerusalem. In the middle ages, when the Pope resided in the Lateran palace, having first blessed the rose, he went on horseback to the church of the Station. He wore the mitre, was accompanied by all the Cardinals, and held the blessed flower in his hand. Having reached the basilica, he made a discourse on the mysteries symbolized by the beauty, the colour, and the fragrance of the rose. Mass was then celebrated.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">After the Mass, the Pope returned to the Lateran palace. Surrounded by the sacred college, he rode across the immense plain which separates the two basilicas, with the mystic flower still in his hand. We may imagine the joy of the people as they gazed upon the holy symbol. When the procession had reached the palace gates, if there were a prince present, it was his privilege to hold the stirrup, and assist the Pontiff to dismount; for which filial courtesy he received the rose, which had received so much honour and caused such joy.</span> ~ Dom Gueranger's <a href="http://www.liturgialatina.org/lityear/lent/sunday4.htm" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Liturgical Year, Vol. V</span></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/38/01/95/3801958302b79a6db4ebd4c30ac49eae.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="425" height="400" src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/38/01/95/3801958302b79a6db4ebd4c30ac49eae.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Papal Golden Rose (14th century)</td></tr>
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elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-41063788956486783402024-03-10T00:00:00.001-05:002024-03-10T00:00:00.133-05:00Novena to St. Joseph<h3 class="post-title entry-title">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRjRkH4l98OG0K5y504f_awEBQ9itQBFrd0qqU7lJjHT5P3Tm4hZCeTLtQn20kRLMRrzL7gyAT_9ahyphenhyphenakDiNWY7tqSCgTbg4cKK6b7ZTbTTsw5w3Ax9NFSDM8kc3MlfXjRu-XP4Sfzb11r/s1600-h/Honthorst_Hermitage_Childhood_of_Christ_1620.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5040277736816931986" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRjRkH4l98OG0K5y504f_awEBQ9itQBFrd0qqU7lJjHT5P3Tm4hZCeTLtQn20kRLMRrzL7gyAT_9ahyphenhyphenakDiNWY7tqSCgTbg4cKK6b7ZTbTTsw5w3Ax9NFSDM8kc3MlfXjRu-XP4Sfzb11r/s320/Honthorst_Hermitage_Childhood_of_Christ_1620.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>Today begins the nine-days of intensive prayer to Saint Joseph, the foster-father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the <a href="http://www.therealpresence.org/archives/Josephology/Josephology_002.htm">patron and protector of fathers and of families</a>, and of the <a href="http://www.fisheaters.com/dying.html">dying</a>. The month of March is dedicated to Saint Joseph. Let us beg his direct intercession. His intercession is powerful; all those who have experienced his intervention know what I am talking about. Really, he will help in any dire situation. I love Saint Joseph. Here is the Fr. Lallemant Novena:<div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"></div></div><blockquote><div class="post-body entry-content"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">This novena has proven to be highly efficacious. It seems to be pleasing to St. Joseph and helpful to <span></span>souls. No particular prayers need to be said for this Novena. Every day for nine days turn to St. Joseph in spirit four times (called a visit). during the day and honour Him in the following four points:</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">1. During the first visit, consider ST. JOSEPH'S FIDELITY TO GRACE.Reflect upon the action of the Holy Ghost in his soul. At the conclusion of this brief meditation, thank God for so honoring St. Joseph,and ask, through his intercession for a similar grace.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">2. Later in the day, consider ST. JOSEPH'S FIDELITY TO THE INTERIOR LIFE.Study his spirit of recollection. Think, thank God, and ask.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">3. Later still, consider ST. JOSEPH'S LOVE FOR OUR LADY.Think, thank God, and ask.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">4. Finally, in a fourth visit, reflect upon ST. JOSEPH'S LOVE FOR THE DIVINE CHILD.Think, thank God, and ask.</div></div></div><div class="post-body entry-content"> </div></blockquote><div class="post-body entry-content"></div><div class="post-body entry-content"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://64.media.tumblr.com/3e3c964c8aa598d0f2862efcf0f4ce42/8fbcff458764fcc0-97/s640x960/d1e434eb1b2f16d5261460341913984ba62cc24f.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="567" height="400" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/3e3c964c8aa598d0f2862efcf0f4ce42/8fbcff458764fcc0-97/s640x960/d1e434eb1b2f16d5261460341913984ba62cc24f.jpg" width="296" /></a></div><br />Here is another novena prayer:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Oh, St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt
before the throne of God. I place in you all my interests and desires.
Oh, St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession, and obtain
for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus
Christ, our Lord. So that, having engaged here below your heavenly
power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of
Fathers. <br /><br />Oh, St. Joseph, I never weary
of contemplating you, and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not
approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss
His fine head for me and ask him to return the Kiss when I draw my
dying breath. St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls - Pray for Me.</i></blockquote> </div><div class="post-body entry-content"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://64.media.tumblr.com/084b4d5fc6d205b0449746bb0f7f52f4/cfaa70e004b723f1-b5/s1280x1920/3691244f8628e18abd1954a2befa9280d544b405.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="450" height="640" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/084b4d5fc6d205b0449746bb0f7f52f4/cfaa70e004b723f1-b5/s1280x1920/3691244f8628e18abd1954a2befa9280d544b405.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br />Here is another little prayer as well:<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Dear Saint Joseph, you who have the power to render possible that which seems impossible, come to our aid in our present trouble and distress. Take this important and difficult affair under your particular protection that it may end happily.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">
Dear Saint Joseph, all our confidence is in you. Let it not be said we have invoked you in vain. Since you are so powerful with Jesus and Mary, show that your goodness equals your power.</span> <br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Divine Providence did provide. Divine Providence can provide.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Divine Providence will provide. Amen.</span></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://64.media.tumblr.com/928cc9f2f0f1c8d7f63f53b357225eba/ae4af86a35ccedff-fa/s500x750/3b5de1328413fac5b849440375e4f0249fd0c9f8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="686" data-original-width="370" height="686" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/928cc9f2f0f1c8d7f63f53b357225eba/ae4af86a35ccedff-fa/s500x750/3b5de1328413fac5b849440375e4f0249fd0c9f8.jpg" width="370" /></a></div><br /><p> </p>
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elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-9770862018197702262024-03-08T00:00:00.001-05:002024-03-08T00:00:00.230-05:00Novena to St. Patrick<h3 class="post-title entry-title">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB60cB38McEOvCF62_3-5osNP9-YchXXCIEAzhoCe7PCgM0Z86PCaoM_YnecTm_oXtdxRnFBBNHDvDKwoqadfYIwaIa31Q_SW2VG1zWybxIJGoLUm7r3ZxWR41I-PI0MLFa3SffaxlNhe5/s1600-h/stpatricksCentre.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5039573554081578514" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB60cB38McEOvCF62_3-5osNP9-YchXXCIEAzhoCe7PCgM0Z86PCaoM_YnecTm_oXtdxRnFBBNHDvDKwoqadfYIwaIa31Q_SW2VG1zWybxIJGoLUm7r3ZxWR41I-PI0MLFa3SffaxlNhe5/s320/stpatricksCentre.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Today begins the </span><a href="http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/Blessings/CirclePrayer.html" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">novena</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> to </span><a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11554a.htm" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Saint Patrick</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, Apostle of the Irish.</span></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i style="font-family: georgia;"> </i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i style="font-family: georgia;">Say once a day for 9 days, especially beginning on 8 March and ending on 16 March, the eve of the Feast of St. Patrick.</i><span style="font-family: "georgia";"> (From <a href="http://www.fisheaters.com/novenas.html#patrick">Fish Eaters</a>)</span></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: small;"> </span></i></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: small;">Blessed saint Patrick, glorious Apostle of Ireland, who didst become a friend and father to me for ages before my birth, hear my prayer and accept, for God, the sentiments of gratitude and veneration with which my heart is filled. Through thee I have inherited that faith which is dearer than life. I now make thee the representative of my thanks, and the mediator of my homage to Almighty God. Most holy Father and patron of my country, despise not my weakness; remember that the cries of little children were the sounds that rose, like a mysterious voice from heaven, and invited thee to come amongst us. Listen, then, to my humble supplication; may my prayer ascend to the throne of God, with the praises and blessings which shall ever sanctify thy name and thy memory. May my hope be animated by the patronage and intercession of our forefathers, who now enjoy eternal bliss and owe their salvation, under God, to thy courage and charity. Obtain for me grace to love God with my whole heart, to serve him with my whole strength, and to persevere in good purposes to the end, o faithful shepherd of the Irish flock, who wouldst have laid down a thousand lives to save one soul, take my soul, and the souls of my countrymen, under thy special care. Be a father to the Church of Ireland and her faithful people. Grant that all hearts may share the blessed fruits of that Gospel thou didst plant and water. Grant that, as our ancestors of old had learned, under thy guidance, to unite science with virtue, we too, may learn, under thy patronage, to consecrate all Christian duty to the glory of God. I commend to thee my native land, which was so dear to thee while on earth. Protect it still, and, above all, direct its chief pastors, particularly those who teach us. Give them grace to walk in thy footsteps, to nurture the flock with the word of life and the bread of salvation, and to lead the heirs of the Saints thou hast formed to the possession of that glory which they, with Thee, enjoy in the kingdom of the Blessed: through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.</span></i></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">V. Pray for us, O glorious saint Patrick.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> R. And obtain for us the intention of this Novena.</span></blockquote>
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elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-76656541802582949332024-03-07T00:00:00.001-05:002024-03-07T00:00:00.231-05:00Saints Perpetua and Felicity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/perpetua.html">The detailed account of their sufferings </a>is one of the earliest and most highly authenticated testimonies from the early Church. The martyrs, two young mothers and their friends, faced their ordeal with courage and joy.<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-style: italic;"> Now dawned the day of their victory, and they went forth from the prison into the amphitheatre as it were into heaven, cheerful and bright of countenance; if they trembled at all, it was for joy, not for fear. Perpetua followed behind, glorious of presence, as a true spouse of Christ and darling of God; at whose piercing look all cast down their eyes. Felicity likewise, rejoicing that she had borne a child in safety, that she might fight with the beasts, came now from blood to blood, from the midwife to the gladiator, to wash after her travail in a second baptism. And when they had been brought to the gate and were being compelled to put on, the men the dress of the priests of Saturn, the women the dress of the priestesses of Ceres, the noble Perpetua remained of like firmness to the end, and would not. For she said: For this cause came we willingly unto this, that our liberty might not be obscured. For this cause have we devoted our lives, that we might do no such thing as this; this we agreed with you. Injustice acknowledged justice; the tribune suffered that they should be brought forth as they were, without more ado. Perpetua began to sing, as already treading on the Egyptian's head. Revocatus and Saturninus and Saturus threatened the people as they gazed. Then when they came into Hilarian's sight, they began to say to Hilarian, stretching forth their hands and nodding their heads: You judge us, they said, and God you. At this the people being enraged besought that they should be vexed with scourges before the line of gladiators (those namely who fought with beasts). Then truly they gave thanks because they had received somewhat of the sufferings of the Lord.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">[....]</span><br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">But for the women the devil had made ready a most savage cow, prepared for this purpose against all custom; for even in this beast he would mock their sex. They were stripped therefore and made to put on nets; and so they were brought forth. The people shuddered, seeing one a tender girl, the other her breasts yet dropping from her late childbearing. So they were called back and clothed in loose robes. Perpetua was first thrown, and fell upon her loins. And when she had sat upright, her robe being rent at the side, she drew it over to cover her thigh, mindful rather of modesty than of pain. Next, looking for a pin, she likewise pinned up her dishevelled hair; for it was not meet that a martyr should suffer with hair dishevelled, lest she should seem to grieve in her glory. So she stood up; and when she saw Felicity smitten down, she went up and gave her her hand and raised her up. And both of them stood up together and the (hardness of the people being now subdued) were called back to the Gate of Life. There Perpetua being received by one named Rusticus, then a catechumen, who stood close at her side, and as now awakening from sleep (so much was she in the Spirit and in ecstasy) began first to look about her; and then (which amazed all there), When, forsooth, she asked, are we to be thrown to the cow? And when she heard that this had been done already, she would not believe till she perceived some marks of mauling on her body and on her dress. Thereupon she called her brother to her, and that catechumen, and spoke to them, saying: Stand fast in the faith, and love you all one another; and be not offended because of our passion. </span>(<a href="https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/perpetua.asp" target="_blank">Read more</a>.)<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></blockquote>
(<a href="https://emvidal.tumblr.com/post/611870873297797120/coriesu-the-martyrdom-of-ss-perpetua-and" target="_blank">Image</a>)elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-21395863075200497692024-03-04T00:00:00.001-05:002024-03-04T00:00:00.336-05:00Novena of Grace<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQjEz9k9MKjNCay8ZlG5r87tHtjWtKbi3EZH6zC64AbUyEQlRMoqipIix_2LhXmI2JB5jQvm6_oRRr8mYp0HN4tqtktmFzTFT1of9BAHoi7DuanEdykY-Q9nu_wDZ_1f8w_ZybIUJ1-mg/s1600-h/st-francis-xavier.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444421101132681362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQjEz9k9MKjNCay8ZlG5r87tHtjWtKbi3EZH6zC64AbUyEQlRMoqipIix_2LhXmI2JB5jQvm6_oRRr8mYp0HN4tqtktmFzTFT1of9BAHoi7DuanEdykY-Q9nu_wDZ_1f8w_ZybIUJ1-mg/s400/st-francis-xavier.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 287px;" /></a>The<a href="http://www.thesacredheart.com/grace.htm"> powerful novena</a> to St. Francis Xavier begins today.<br />
<div style="font-family: georgia;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"></span></div>
<blockquote>
<div style="font-family: georgia;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Most amiable and most loving Saint Francis Xavier, in union with thee I reverently adore the Divine Majesty. I rejoice exceedingly on account of the marvelous gifts which God bestowed upon thee. I thank God for the special graces He gave thee during thy life on earth and for the great glory that came to thee after thy death. I implore thee to obtain for me, through thy powerful intercession, the greatest of all blessings--that of living and dying in the state of grace. I also beg of thee to secure for me the special favor I ask in this novena.<br />
<i>(Here you may mention the grace, spiritual or temporal, that you wish to obtain.)</i><br />
In asking this favor, I am fully resigned to the Divine Will. I pray and desire only to obtain that which is most conducive to the greater glory of God and the greater good of my soul. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: georgia;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">V.</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> Pray for us, Saint Francis Xavier.<br />
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ </span></div>
<div style="font-family: georgia;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><u></u></span><br />
<center>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><u>Let Us Pray</u></span></center>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"> O God, Who didst vouchsafe, by the preaching and miracles of Saint Francis Xavier, to join unto Thy Church the nations of the Indies, grant, we beseech Thee, that we who reverence his glorious merits may also imitate his example, through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: georgia;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><i>Then Recite:</i></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></div>
<ul style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">
<li>Our Father </li>
<li>Hail Mary - Three times in memory of Saint Francis Xavier's devotion to the Most Holy Trinity </li>
<li>Glory be to the Father - 10 times in thanksgiving for the graces received during his 10 years of apostleship. </li>
</span></ul>
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elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-72444946970282744832024-03-03T00:00:00.001-05:002024-03-03T00:00:00.122-05:00Third Sunday of Lent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://sensusfidelium.com/the-liturgical-year-dom-prosper-gueranger/lent/third-sunday-of-lent/" target="_blank">It is Scrutiny Sunday.To quote</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><p>In order that we may understand the full force of the warning
conveyed to us by the Church in this Gospel, we must keep before us the
great reality that this is <em>the acceptable Time</em>. In every part of the world, there are <em>conversions</em>
being wrought; millions are being reconciled with God; divine Mercy is
lavish of pardon to all that seek it. But will all persevere? They that
are now being delivered from the power of Satan—will they all be free
from his yoke when next year’s Lent comes around? A sad experience tells
the Church that she may not hope so grand a result. Many will return to
their sins, and that too before many weeks are over. And if the Justice
of God overtake them in that state—what an awful thing it is to say it,
yet it is true;—some, perhaps many, of these sinners will be eternally
lost! Let us, then, be on our guard against a relapse; and in order that
we may ensure our Perseverance, without which it would have been to
little purpose to have been for a few days in God’s grace—let us watch,
and pray; let us keep ourselves under arms; let us ever remember that
our whole life is to be a warfare. Our soldier-like attitude will
disconcert the enemy, and he will try to gain victory elsewhere.</p>
<p>The Third Sunday of Lent is called <em>Oculi</em> from the first word of the Introit. In the primitive Church, it was called <em>Scrutiny Sunday</em>,
because it was on this day that they began to examine the Catechumens,
who were to be admitted to Baptism on Easter night. All the Faithful
were invited to assemble in the Church, in order that they might bear
testimony to the good life and morals of the candidates. At Rome, these
examinations, which were called the <em>Scrutinies</em>, were made on seven different occasions, on account of the great number of aspirants to Baptism; but the principal <em>Scrutiny</em> was that held on the Wednesday of the Fourth Week. We will speak of it later on.</p>
<p>The Roman Sacramentary of St. Galasius gives us the form in which the
Faithful were convoked to these assemblies. It is as follows. “Dearly
beloved Brethren: you know that the day of Scrutiny, when our elect are
to receive the holy instruction, is at hand. We invite you, therefore,
to be zealous and to assemble on N., (<em>here, the day was mentioned</em>),
at the hour of Sext; that so we may be able, by the divine aid, to
achieve, without error, the heavenly mystery, whereby is opened the gate
of the kingdom of heaven, and the devil is excluded with all his
pomps.” The invitation was repeated, if needed, on each of the following
Sundays. The <em>Scrutiny</em> of this Sunday ended in the admission of a certain number of candidates: their names were written down and put on the <em>Diptychs</em> of the Altar, that they might be mentioned in the Canon of the Mass. The same also was done with the names of their Sponsors.</p>
<p>The Station was, and still is, in the Basilica of Saint Laurence <em>outside the walls</em>.
The name of this, the most celebrated of the Martyrs of Rome, would
remind the Catechumens that the Faith they were about to profess would
require them to be ready for many sacrifices. (<a href="https://sensusfidelium.com/the-liturgical-year-dom-prosper-gueranger/lent/third-sunday-of-lent/" target="_blank">Read entire post</a>.)</p></blockquote>
elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-31992339420398717952024-02-25T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-25T00:00:00.342-05:00Second Sunday of Lent<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Alexandr_Ivanov_015.jpg/800px-Alexandr_Ivanov_015.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="215" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Alexandr_Ivanov_015.jpg/800px-Alexandr_Ivanov_015.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alexandr_Ivanov_015.jpg" target="_blank">The Transfiguration by Alexander Ivanov</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><p> <a href="https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2024-02-25" target="_blank">Moses and Elias witness the Transfiguration.</a><br />
</p><blockquote>
The <b>Gospel</b> is from St. Matthew 17:1-9. This momentary vision
of Christ, in his glory, was given in order to strengthen the three
principal Apostles to face the trials to their faith, which the
sufferings and crucifixion of their beloved master would bring on them.
For the very same reason it is retold to us today, in the early part of
Lent, to encourage us to persevere in our Lenten mortification. It
reminds us that, very soon, the Easter bells will be ringing out their
message of joy once more. If we are sharers with Christ in his
sufferings, we shall be sharers with him in his glory as St. Paul
reminds us. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
This is a truth we all too easily forget, namely,
that we cannot and do not get to heaven in a limousine. Our spell on
earth is the chance given us by our heavenly Father to earn an eternal
reward. This reward surpasses even the wildest imagination of man. We
could never earn it, but God accepts the little we can do and provides
the balance of his infinite mercy. And yet there are many, far too many,
who refuse even that little bit that is asked of them, and are thus
running the risk of not partaking in God's scheme for their eternal
happiness. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
And are they any happier during their few years on this
earth by acting thus towards the God of mercy? Can they, by ignoring
God and their duties towards him, remove all pain, all sorrow, all
sufferings, from their daily lives? Death, which means a total
separation from all we possessed and cherished in this world, is waiting
around the corner for all of us. Who can face it more calmly and
confidently —the man who is firmly convinced that it is the gateway to a
new life, and who has done his best to earn admission through that
gateway, or the man who has acted all his life as if death did not exist
for him, and who has done everything to have the gate to the new life
shut forever in his face? </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Illnesses and troubles and
disappointments are the lot of all men. They respect neither wealth, nor
power, nor position. The man who knows his purpose in life, and is ever
striving to reach the goal God's goodness has planned for him, can and
will see in these trials of life the hand of a kind father who is
preparing him for greater things. His sufferings become understandable
and more bearable because of his attitude to life and its meaning. The
man who ignores God and tries to close the eyes of his mind to the real
facts of life has nothing to uphold him or console him in his hours of
sorrow and pain. Yet, sorrow and pain will dog his footsteps, strive as
he will to avoid them, and he can see no value, no divine purpose in
these, for him, misfortunes. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Christ has asked us to follow him,
carrying our daily cross, and the end of our journey is not Calvary but
resurrection, the entrance to a life of glory with our risen Savior. The
Christian who grasps his cross closely and willingly, knowing its value
for his real life, will find it becomes lighter and often not a burden
but a pleasure. The man who tries to shuffle off his cross, and who
curses and rebels against him who sent it, will find it doubles its
weight and loses all the value it was intended to have for his true
welfare. (<a href="https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2024-02-25" target="_blank">Read entire post.)</a></blockquote>
elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-86112582990915839122024-02-20T02:00:00.001-05:002024-02-20T02:00:00.124-05:00Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Jacinta-marto-fatima-portugal-1917.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="398" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Jacinta-marto-fatima-portugal-1917.jpg" width="262" /></a></div>
Saint Jacinta Marto died a hundred years ago today. <a href="https://www.americaneedsfatima.org/Fatima-Articles/jacinta-of-fatima-suffering-to-save-sinners.html" target="_blank">Our Lady told Jacinta that she would die alone in a hospital but that she, Our Lady, would come and take her to heaven</a>. From <a href="https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/saint-jacinta-marto-23372" target="_blank"><i>EWTN</i></a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Following the miracle of the sun, Jacinta complied with many requests
for her intercessions. On one occasion she seems to have bilocated, in
order to help a wayward youth find his way home. Lost in a stormy wood,
he had knelt and prayed, and Jacinta appeared and took him by the hand,
while she was at home praying for him.
<br />
<br />
When she came down with influenza, she was removed from her family to a
hospital a few miles away. She did not complain, because the Blessed
Mother had forewarned her that she would go to two hospitals, not to be
cured, but to suffer for the love of God and reparation for sinners. She
stayed in the first hospital for two months, undergoing painful
treatments, and then was returned home. She developed tuberculosis and
was sent to Lisbon, first to a Catholic orphanage. There she was able to
attend Mass and see the Tabernacle, and she was happy. But her stay
there was short. She was soon transferred to the second hospital
prophesied by the Blessed Mother, where Jacinta was to make her final
offering in dying alone. Her body came to rest in the Sanctuary built at
the Cova da Iria, where the Lady had appeared to her. (<a href="https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/saint-jacinta-marto-23372" target="_blank">Read more</a>.)</blockquote>
More <a href="https://crc-internet.org/our-doctrine/catholic-counter-reformation/the-whole-truth-about-fatima-volume-2/1-4-jacinta-i-want-to-suffer-to-save-souls-from-hell.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://vultuschristi.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/noticia_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEje56fThHDcqNlSCoL6a52fBDyAbO7EGOVWOwRN6kdNTI8MJuTl7dT4qN5Wji8j2CxoTrJIMLxU2XNra6fZH0FcL2oGh3cGbgz8oqaATd1Abj6haW8Qgst9MZR810TIRFmsfN6G_f2XgRT64ovij8Gd7Qia6h3ar6U5gX77R4aJzbY=s0-d" width="205" /></a></div>
<a href="http://vultuschristi.org/index.php/2015/10/franciscos-many-rosaries/" target="_blank">Saint Francisco died in the great flu edpidemic on April 4, 1919, the day after receiving his First Communion. From Fr. Mark</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The words of the Angel of Fatima, “Console your God”, engraved
themselves in young Francisco’s heart. They became the compelling
inspiration of his short life of eleven years (1908–1919). Francisco
wanted, more than anything else, to be <i>the Consoler of the Hidden Jesus. </i>He did this by praying rosary after rosary, and by spending hours close to the tabernacle of the parish church.
<br />
<br />
Readers familiar with the story of Fatima will recall that on 13 May
1917, after hearing the Lady say, “I come from heaven”, Lucia asked if
she and her little companions would go to heaven. The Lady replied that
both Lucia and Jacinta would go to heaven , but that <i><b>Francisco would need to say many rosaries first</b></i>.<br />
<br />
This enigmatic utterance concerning Francisco has, over the years,
given rise to a certain amount of speculation as to its meaning. Various
interpretations have been ascribed to it, but I found none of them
satisfying. Some commentators even suggested that Francisco was somehow
held back in his spiritual development and, therefore, needed more
prayer than his sister Jacinta and his cousin Lucia. (<a href="http://vultuschristi.org/index.php/2015/10/franciscos-many-rosaries/" target="_blank">Read more</a>.)</blockquote>
<br />
More <a href="https://www.michaeljournal.org/articles/roman-catholic-church/item/canonization-of-jacinta-and-francisco-marto" target="_blank">HERE</a>. <br />
elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-86096780361634324192024-02-19T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-19T00:00:00.130-05:00Thirty Days Prayer to St. Joseph<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://marydonellan.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/caminade.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="540" height="266" src="https://marydonellan.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/caminade.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Here is a devotion in honor of the most chaste spouse of Our Lady, the foster father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us offer it for the Christians who are being persecuted throughout the world. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Ever blessed and glorious Joseph, kind and loving father, and
helpful friend of all in sorrow! You are the good father and protector of orphans,
the defender of the defenseless, the patron of those in need and sorrow. Look kindly
on my request. My sins have drawn down on me the just displeasure of my God, and so
I am surrounded with unhappiness. To you, loving guardian of the Family of Nazareth,
do I go for help and protection.<br />
<br />
Listen, then, I beg you, with fatherly concern, to my
earnest prayers, and obtain for me the favors I ask.<br />
<br />
I ask it by the infinite mercy of the eternal Son of God, which moved Him to take our
nature and to be born into this world of sorrow.<br />
<br />
I ask it by the weariness and suffering you endured when you found no shelter at the
inn of Bethlehem for the holy Virgin, nor a house where the Son of God could be born.
Then, being everywhere refused, you had to allow the Queen of Heaven to give birth
to the world's Redeemer in a cave.<br />
<br />
I ask it by that painful torture you felt at the prophecy of holy Simeon, which
declared the Child Jesus and His holy Mother future victims of our sins and of their great
love for us.<br />
<br />
I ask it through your sorrow and pain of soul when the angel declared to you that the
life of the Child Jesus was sought by His enemies. From their evil plan you had to
flee with Him and His Blessed Mother to Egypt. I ask it by all the suffering,
weariness, and labors of that long and dangerous journey.<br />
<br />
I ask it by all your care to protect the Sacred Child and His Immaculate Mother during
your second journey, when you were ordered to return to your own country. I ask it
by your peaceful life in Nazareth where you met with so many joys and sorrows.<br />
<br />
I ask it by your great distress when the adorable Child was lost to you and His Mother
for three days. I ask it by your joy at finding Him in the Temple, and by the
comfort you found at Nazareth, while living in the company of the Child Jesus. I ask
it by the wonderful submission He showed in His obedience to you.<br />
<br />
I ask it by the perfect love and conformity you showed in accepting the Divine order to
depart from this life, and from the company of Jesus and Mary. I ask it by the joy
which filled your soul, when the Redeemer of the world, triumphant over death and hell,
entered into the possession of His kingdom and led you into it with special honors.<br />
<br />
I ask it through Mary's glorious Assumption, and through that endless happiness you
have with her in the presence of God.<br />
<br />
O good father! I beg you, by all your sufferings, sorrows, and joys, to hear me
and obtain for me what I ask.<br />
<br />
<i>(make your request)</i><br />
Obtain for all those who have asked my prayers everything that is useful to them in the
plan of God. Finally, my dear patron and father, be with me and all who are dear to
me in our last moments, that we may eternally sing the praises of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.</blockquote>
<br />
(<a href="https://marydonellan.wordpress.com/2018/03/19/happy-feast-of-st-joseph/" target="_blank">Image source.</a>) elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-81454469561368333842024-02-18T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-18T00:00:00.131-05:00First Sunday of Lent<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Ary_Scheffer_-_The_Temptation_of_Christ_(1854).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="558" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Ary_Scheffer_-_The_Temptation_of_Christ_(1854).jpg" width="277" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>
<div style="line-height: 1em; text-align: center; width: 240px;">
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ary_Scheffer" title="Ary Scheffer">Ary Scheffer</a>'s <i>The Temptation of Christ</i></div>
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div><p>From <a href="https://sensusfidelium.com/the-liturgical-year-dom-prosper-gueranger/lent/first-sunday-of-lent/" target="_blank">Dom Gueranger</a>:</p><p></p><blockquote><p>Lent solemnly opens today. We have already noticed that the four
preceding days were added since the time of Gregory the Great, in order
to make up Forty days of fasting. Neither can we look upon Ash Wednesday
as the <em>solemn</em> opening of the Season, for the Faithful are not
bound to hear Mass on that day. The Holy Church, seeing her children now
assembled together, speaks to them, in her Office of Matins, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=9fgQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA489">these eloquent and noble words of St. Leo the Great</a>:
“Having to announce to you, dearly beloved, the most sacred and chief
Fast, how can I more appropriately begin, than with the words of the
Apostle (in whom Christ himself spoke), and by saying to you what has
just been read: <em>Behold! now is the acceptable time; behold! now is the day of salvation</em>. For although there be no <em>time</em>
which is not replete with divine gifts, and we may always, by God’s
grace, have access to his mercy—yet ought we all to redouble our efforts
to make spiritual progress and be animated with unusual confidence <em>now</em>
that the anniversary of the day of our Redemption is approaching,
inviting us to devote ourselves to every good work, that so we may
celebrate, with purity of body and mind, the incomparable Mystery of our
Lord’s Passion.</p>
<p>“It is true, that our devotion and reverence towards so great a
Mystery should be kept up during the whole year, and we ourselves be, at
all times, in the eyes of God, the same as we are bound to be at the
Easter Solemnity. But this is an effort which only few among us have the
courage to sustain. The weakness of the flesh induces us to relent our
austerities; the various occupations of every-day life take up our
thoughts; and thus, even the virtuous find their hearts clogged by this
world’s dust. Hence it is, that our Lord has most providentially given
us these Forty Days, whose holy exercises should be to us a remedy,
whereby to regain our purity of soul. The good works and the holy
fastings of this Season were instituted as an atonement and obliteration
of the sins we commit during the rest of the Year.</p>
“Now, therefore, that we are about to enter upon these days, which
are so full of mystery, and were instituted for the holy purpose of
purifying both our soul and body, let us, dearly beloved, be careful to
do as the Apostle bids us, and cleanse ourselves from all defilement of
the flesh and the spirit: that thus the combat between the two
substances being made less fierce, the soul, which, when she herself is
subject to God, ought to be the ruler of the body, will recover her own
dignity and position. Let us also avoid giving offence to any man, so
that there be none to blame or speak evil things of us. For we deserve
the harsh remarks of infidels, and we provoke the tongues of the wicked
to blaspheme religion, when we, who fast, lead unholy lives. For our
Fast does not consist in the mere abstaining from food; nor is it of
much use to deny food to our body, unless we restrain the soul from
sin.” [Fourth Sermon for Lent] (<a href="https://sensusfidelium.com/the-liturgical-year-dom-prosper-gueranger/lent/first-sunday-of-lent/" target="_blank">Read more.</a>)</blockquote><br />elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-55277453070986539102024-02-17T00:00:00.008-05:002024-02-17T14:20:13.263-05:00Bishop Challoner on Fasting<a href="http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.com/2013/02/bishop-challoner-on-fasting.html" target="_blank"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.com/2013/02/bishop-challoner-on-fasting.html" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://media.ascensionpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Man_of_Sorrows_by_William_Dyce.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="800" height="210" src="https://media.ascensionpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Man_of_Sorrows_by_William_Dyce.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><a href="http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.com/2013/02/bishop-challoner-on-fasting.html" target="_blank"><br />The holy bishop speaks</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Consider first, that fasting, according to the present discipline of
the Church, implies three things. First, we are to abstain from flesh
meat on fasting days; secondly, we are to eat but one meal in the day;
and thirdly, we are not to take that meal till about noon. The ancient
discipline of the Church was more rigorous, both in point of the
abstinence, and in not allowing the meal in Lent till the evening. These
regulations are calculated to mortify the sensual appetite by penance
and self-denial. If you find some difficulty in the observance of them,
offer it up to God for your sins. Fasting is not designed to please, but
to punish. Your diligent compliance on this occasion with the laws of
your mother the Church will also give an additional value to your
mortifications, from the virtue of obedience.</i><br />
<i></i>
<i><br /></i>
<i>Consider 2ndly, that we must not content ourselves with the outward
observance of these regulations that relate to our diet on fasting days,
but we must principally have regard to the inward spirit, and what we
may call the very soul of the fast, which is a penitential spirit;
without this the outward observance is but like a carcass without life.
This penitential spirit implies a deep sense of the guilt of our sins; a
horror and a hearty sorrow for them; a sincere desire to return to God,
and to renounce our sinful ways for the future; and particularly a
readiness of mind to make the best satisfaction we are capable of to
divine justice by penancing ourselves for our sins. Fasting, performed
in this spirit, cannot fail of moving God to mercy. O my soul, let thy
fasting be always animated with this spirit</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Consider 3rdly, that fervent prayer and alms-deeds also, according
to each one’s ability, ought to be the inseparable companions of our
fasting. These three sisters should go hand-in-hand, Tob. xii. 8, to
help us in our warfare against our three mortal enemies, the flesh, the
world, and the devil. The practice of these three eminent good works we
must oppose to that triple concupiscence which reigns in the world, and
by means of which Satan maintains his unhappy reign. By fasting we
overcome the lusts of the flesh by alms-deeds we subdue the lusts of the
eyes, by which we are apt to covet the mammon of the world, and its
empty toys; and by fervent and humble prayer we conquer the pride of
life, and put to flight the devil, the king of pride. O let us never
forget to call in these powerful auxiliaries to help us in our warfare.
Let alms-deeds and prayer ever accompany our fasts.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Conclude to follow these rules, if you desire your fast should be
acceptable; if you fail in them, it will not be such a fast as God hath
chosen. </i>(<a href="http://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.com/2013/02/bishop-challoner-on-fasting.html" target="_blank">Read entire post</a>.)</blockquote>
elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-18879491119596992702024-02-16T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-16T00:00:00.212-05:00I Love Lent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3b/91/51/3b915129fe892b8410f8843ae7e06b21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="400" height="400" src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3b/91/51/3b915129fe892b8410f8843ae7e06b21.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>
Lent is one of the best seasons of the year for me. I never look forward to it the way I do to Christmas, but once Lent is underway, it is a happy and peaceful time. Facing reality can be both healing and satisfying. Lent is a public acknowledgment that life is a valley of tears, the world is a dangerous place, and we are all going to die. It is like one big AA meeting where, instead of admitting to alcoholism, everyone confesses to being a sinner, a dysfunctional being who has made a mess of his life and the lives of others. But Lent is here; recovery has begun. It is time to clean up the spilled milk, pick up the pieces, and start all over again. Lent is the hour of truth; staring the truth in the face can be disarming but it can also produce the peace and joy that only penitence in Christ can bring.elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-75265582556254391612024-02-15T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-15T00:00:00.436-05:00On Penances for Lent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/2/the-confession-1838-giuseppe-molteni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="628" height="400" src="https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/2/the-confession-1838-giuseppe-molteni.jpg" width="314" /></a></div><br />The best penance of all, I was once told, is to accept without
complaining the mortifications, trials, and vicissitudes of daily life.
The penances which God Himself sends us are the ones best designed to
benefit our souls. <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".35.1:3:1:$comment10151917234271933_28367976:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span data-reactid=".35.1:3:1:$comment10151917234271933_28367976:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".35.1:3:1:$comment10151917234271933_28367976:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">I
remember in the past being upset that my health or my schedule did not
permit me to do all the penances I wanted to do for Lent. I failed to
see that the penances had already been provided. </span></span></span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".35.1:3:1:$comment10151917234271933_28368002:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span data-reactid=".35.1:3:1:$comment10151917234271933_28368002:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".35.1:3:1:$comment10151917234271933_28368002:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">I
do not mean to imply that it is not of value to make other sacrifices
for Lent. I think when people are young (and even when they are old)
giving up dessert or alcohol, etc. help to discipline the soul and the
body. For me, the challenges are mostly interior. We should always try to give up bad habits, negative thought patterns, and activities that are becoming addictive. It is good to examine oneself for inordinate attachments that are taking over the thought patterns, especially those of anger, lust, or resentment. It is always valuable to try to make extra prayers or sacrifices, as the duties of our state in life permit, for special intentions and the needs of the world. And making a good confession is important, too.</span></span></span>elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-55654888509785496312024-02-14T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-14T00:00:00.131-05:00Ash Wednesday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj7MZafOIrjy4h6EkoujcSVL6tKunrqMKmzhaXZNSojIeAS6zw-6QS19NNTniVEc__iqTpWFSw37BhOkGlX9AW64PUnn-vExXeOJmbcrC0ViqKVe_S1l4Vz7yPCEu8tEa5c5HzxFutSEY/s1600-h/Ash+Wednesday.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306735314229283650" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj7MZafOIrjy4h6EkoujcSVL6tKunrqMKmzhaXZNSojIeAS6zw-6QS19NNTniVEc__iqTpWFSw37BhOkGlX9AW64PUnn-vExXeOJmbcrC0ViqKVe_S1l4Vz7yPCEu8tEa5c5HzxFutSEY/s400/Ash+Wednesday.jpg" style="height: 268px; width: 400px;" /></a></div>
<blockquote>
<i>Remember, man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.</i></blockquote>
<span style="font-style: italic;"></span>Our forty days of penance commence with the reception of blessed ashes. The words from the book of Genesis (3:19) help us to think of the shortness of life, of our last end, and of that moment when each shall come before God to be judged. "Remember," wrote Saint Teresa of Avila, "that you have only one life, which is short and has to be lived by you alone; that there is only one glory, which is eternal."<br />
<br />
Since Old Testament times, ashes have been a symbol of sorrow for sin. "For I did eat ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping." (Psalm 101:10) In the early Church, only "public" sinners, those guilty of murder, adultery, or idolatry, who had formally repented, would receive ashes on Ash Wednesday. During Lent, they would humbly kneel at the doors of the church, not entering until they were given absolution on Holy Thursday. The famous liturgist, Abbot <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Gueranger</span>, gives a description of the ceremony "of the Wednesday in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Quinquagesima</span>:"<br />
<blockquote>
B<span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">efore</span> the Mass of the day began, they [the penitents] presented themselves at the church....The priests received the confession of their sins, and then clothed them in sackcloth, and sprinkled ashes on their heads...the clergy and the faithful prostrated themselves and recited aloud the seven penitential psalms. A procession, in which the penitents walked barefooted, then followed; and on its return, the bishop then addressed these words to the penitents: 'Behold, we drive you from the doors of the church by reason of your sins and crimes, as Adam, the first man, was driven out of paradise....' The clergy then sang several <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">responsories</span>, taken from the book of Genesis....The doors were shut, and the penitents were not to pass the threshold until <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Maunday</span> Thursday, when they were to come to receive absolution. </span>(<a href="http://astore.amazon.com/httpteaattria-20/detail/1930278039"><span style="font-style: italic;">The</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> Liturgical Year, Vol IV</span></a> , p 204-205)</blockquote>
During the Middle Ages, it became the custom for all of the faithful to receive ashes on Ash Wednesday. We are blessed that so many indulgences can now be gained with very little effort on our part. How light are the penances now demanded of us; what little fasting is required of us! Perhaps the best penance is the patient and loving endurance of hardships and sorrows which come our way; those <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">unchosen</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">mortifications</span> can be heavy enough. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Interiorly</span>, we can share the contrition of the brave penitents of old by receiving the ashes with great love for Christ and a determination to follow Him, no matter what. It is time for a new beginning, and for trying, again, to be a disciple.<br />
<br />
Lent is like a retreat for the entire church in which all Christians strive more vigorously against the world, the flesh, and the devil, our spiritual enemies. The three works which Holy Mother Church exhorts us to perform during Lent in order to overcome those enemies are prayer, fasting, and alms giving. Through prayer, we grow in strength to conquer the evil one. It is important to make more time for prayer during Lent because it arouses compunction, charity, humility, and other dispositions without which the other two practices would be empty of merit.<br />
<br />
We fast in order to imitate Our Lord's forty day fast in the desert. Unlike Him, we need to tame the concupiscence of the flesh, acquire self-discipline, and atone for our personal sins. It was by breaking God's commandment to abstain from eating a certain fruit that Adam and Eve lost the earthly paradise. Both Moses and Elias fasted for forty days before encountering the living God. (Exodus 24:18 and 3 Kings 19:8)<br />
<br />
In former times, every day of Lent (except for Sundays and first-class feasts) was a fast day. Now, only two fast days remain -- Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are also days of abstinence from meat, as are all Fridays of Lent. <a href="http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/fast_and_abstinence.htm">Many people think that the Second Vatican Council did away with Friday abstinence, but it did not.</a> Every Friday <span style="font-style: italic;">of the year</span> is a day of abstinence from meat unless the bishops of the country decide to substitute another form of penance. In the United States, it is up to every individual to perform some other Friday penance if they are not able to abstain from meat. However, <span style="font-style: italic;">every Friday of Lent remains a day of strict abstinence.<br />
<br />
</span>The third Lenten good work is almsgiving, by which we overcome the "world," that is, the love of riches, luxuries, and honors. Through almsgiving we not only help the poor, the missions, and the temporal needs of the Church, but we mortify any inordinate desires for material things. By having Masses offered, our alms can assist the "Church Suffering" in purgatory. As the aged Tobias said to his son: "Prayer is good with fasting and alms more than more than to lay up treasures of gold. For alms delivereth from death, and...purgeth away sins." (Tobias 12:8-9) As Jesus commands in the Gospel for Ash Wednesday: "Let not your right hand know what your left hand is doing." (Matthew 6:3) It is most important that all our good works are accompanied by charity, humility, and the desire to please God alone.elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-17476555621988412262024-02-13T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-13T00:00:00.234-05:00Shrove Tuesday<h3 class="post-title entry-title">
</h3>
<div class="post-body entry-content">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzhfkipLB8tblF4MedBYzTPqp-TAHRBvGLVggq1BFZz8A63Apsx0UvIgkbl_u2ORcZi9FPuNaLXgN9PSwwe_sbIVecfh2iOczyCU7rSoTC925FTWSLhcuUJ8YQ0M0nFuRB3-P2Uh1M4QCT/s1600-h/holyfacetheresepicture.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5033625850436376194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzhfkipLB8tblF4MedBYzTPqp-TAHRBvGLVggq1BFZz8A63Apsx0UvIgkbl_u2ORcZi9FPuNaLXgN9PSwwe_sbIVecfh2iOczyCU7rSoTC925FTWSLhcuUJ8YQ0M0nFuRB3-P2Uh1M4QCT/s200/holyfacetheresepicture.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a>Shrove Tuesday is the <a href="http://www.holyface.org.uk/content/holyfacefeast.htm">feast</a> of the <a href="http://www.fisheaters.com/holyface.html">Holy Face of Jesus</a>. Don Marco had an excellent meditations on this beautiful devotion. To quote:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Face and Person are synonymous, not only by reason of the Greek
etymology, but even more because there is nothing more personal, nothing
more precious, nothing dearer than the face of a loved one. The
psalmist’s cry, “I long to see Thy Face” (Ps 26:8), is the cry of every
lover to his beloved, the cry of child to parent, of parent to child,
and of friend to friend. The most poignant moment in the rites of death
and burial comes when the face of the deceased is covered for the last
time. We cherish photographs of those we love, but what is a photograph
without a face? The relationships that we call “heart to heart” never
tire of the “face to face.” </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>
</b>
The Holocaust that took place during the Second World War was, at the
deepest level, an attempt to erase the dignity and uniqueness of each
person, a sin against the Face of Christ, the Holy Face mirrored in
millions of Jewish faces. Every sin against the dignity of the human
person is a sin against the Face of Christ. Every act of violence,
irreverence, or scorn directed against the human person is a sin against
the Face of Christ. The abortion that prevents a child’s face from
seeing another human face in the light of day is a sin against the Face
of Christ. Torture and cruel ridicule are sins against the Face of
Christ. The hard, stony gaze that looks at a person without seeing him
is a sin against the Face of Christ. The eyes that judge, the look that
condemns, is a sin against the Face of Christ. The refusal to see Christ
in the faces of the sick, the stranger, and the immigrant is a sin
against his Holy Face.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Reparation is the prayer that seeks to make whole what is fragmented by
putting love where there is no love, by gazing with reverence upon what
has been disdained, by allowing our eyes to rest on “One from whom men
hide their faces” (Is 53:3). The extraordinary thing about the prayer of
reparation is that it is <i>healing not only for the one offended but for the offender as well</i>.
If by sin we offend the Face of Christ, by reparation to the Holy Face
we are healed of our sins. “Thou has set our iniquities before thee,”
says the psalmist, “our secret sins in the light of Thy Face” (Ps 89:8).<br />
<b><br /></b>
The prayer of reparation is most at home in the presence of the Most
Blessed Sacrament. The light that shines from the Eucharistic Face of
Christ heals us sinners, and heals those against whom we have sinned.
The love we bring to the Eucharistic Face of Christ reaches every human
face. The prayer of reparation is the veil of Veronica lifted to the
face of Christ in His Passion; it is the hand that seeks to wipe away
every disfiguring stain of filth, of blood, and of tears. </blockquote>
The image to the left is the representation of the imprint of Our Lord's face on the Veronica veil, as it is venerated in the Carmelite Order, and propagated by <a href="http://www.holyface.org.uk/content/srmariestpeter.htm">Sister Marie de Saint Pierre </a>and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Dupont">Venerable Leo Dupont.</a></div><div class="post-body entry-content"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.etsystatic.com/17164603/r/il/bd30ac/3687490400/il_340x270.3687490400_kz09.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="340" height="270" src="https://i.etsystatic.com/17164603/r/il/bd30ac/3687490400/il_340x270.3687490400_kz09.jpg" width="340" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="post-body entry-content"> Here is the prayer of <a href="http://teaattrianon.blogspot.com/2008/06/oblation-of-saintthrse.html"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: "georgia";">Saint </span></span></span>Thérèse of Lisieux</a> to the Holy Face:<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-style: italic;">O Jesus, who in Thy bitter Passion didst become "the most abject of men, a man of sorrows," I venerate Thy Sacred Face whereon there once did shine the beauty and sweetness of the Godhead; but now it has become for me as if it were the face of a leper! Nevertheless, under those disfigured features, I recognize Thy infinite Love and I am consumed with the desire to love Thee and make Thee loved by all men. The tears which well up abundantly in Thy sacred eyes appear to me as so many precious pearls that I love to gather up, in order to purchase the souls of poor sinners by means of their infinite value. O Jesus, whose adorable Face</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">ravishes my heart, I implore Thee to fix deep within me Thy divine image and to set me on fire with Thy Love, that I may be found worthy to come to the contemplation of Thy glorious Face in Heaven. Amen.</span></blockquote>
Another site with everything about the Holy Face devotion is <a href="https://carmelourladysdovecote.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/the-devotion-to-the-holy-face-needed-again-now-make-reparation-to-god/" target="_blank">HERE</a>.And more <a href="https://illuminadomine.com/historyfour-stories-one-face/" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Here is a formula from the ancient Ambrosian liturgy, as quoted by Abbot Gueranger in <span style="font-style: italic;">The</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Liturgical Year </span>for Shrove Tuesday:<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-style: italic;">Sweet is this present life, but it passes away; terrible, O Christ is thy judgment, and it endures forever. Let us, therefore, cease to love what is unstable, and fix our thought on what is eternal: saying: Christ, have mercy upon us!</span></blockquote>
Now the time has come to go into the desert, the desert of Lent. <span style="font-style: italic;"><br />
</span></div>
elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-19806749251982656552024-02-11T02:00:00.001-05:002024-02-11T02:00:00.233-05:00Quinquagesima Sunday<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/the-jewish-museum/image/fetch/q_auto,f_auto/v1/https%3A%2F%2Fthejm.netx.net%2Ffile%2Fasset%2F35932%2Fview%2F59542%2Fview_59542%3Ftoken%3D5d5cdc57-6399-40b5-afb0-93139921700e" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="363" height="640" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/the-jewish-museum/image/fetch/q_auto,f_auto/v1/https%3A%2F%2Fthejm.netx.net%2Ffile%2Fasset%2F35932%2Fview%2F59542%2Fview_59542%3Ftoken%3D5d5cdc57-6399-40b5-afb0-93139921700e" width="290" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The Caravan of Abraham</i> by James Tissot: "And the Lord said to Abram: Go forth out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and out of they father's house, and come into the land which I
shall shew thee." Genesis 12:1</span><span class="p"><br /></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It is <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12614a.htm">Quinquagesima Sunday. According to <span style="font-style: italic;">New Advent</span>:</a> <br />
<blockquote>
The period of fifty days before <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05224d.htm">Easter</a>. It begins with the <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14335a.htm">Sunday</a> before <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01775b.htm">Ash Wednesday</a>, called <i>Dominica in Quinquagesima</i>.... </blockquote>
<blockquote>
For many early <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> it was the beginning of the <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05789c.htm">fast</a> before <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05224d.htm">Easter</a>....For some, Quinquagesima marked the time after which meat was forbidden....In many places this <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14335a.htm">Sunday</a> after and the next two days were used to prepare for <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09152a.htm">Lent</a> by a good <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11618c.htm">confession</a>; hence in <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05445a.htm">England</a> we find the names <i>Shrove Sunday</i> and <i>Shrovetide</i>. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
As the days before <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09152a.htm">Lent</a> were frequently spent in merry-making, <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02432a.htm">Benedict XIV</a> by the <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04321a.htm">Constitution</a> "Inter Cetera" (1 Jan., 1748) introduced a kind of <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06151a.htm">Forty Hours' Devotion</a> to keep the <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05769a.htm">faithful</a> from dangerous amusements and to make some <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12775a.htm">reparation</a> for <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14004b.htm">sins</a> committed. </blockquote>
<br />
In the words of Dom Gueranger for Quinquagesima Sunday:<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-style: italic;">We are commanded to use this world as if we used it not; to have an abiding conviction of our not having here a lasting city, and of the misery and danger we incur when we forget that death is one day to separate us from everything we possess in this life.</span><br />
<blockquote>
~from Abbot Gueranger's <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/httpteaattria-20/detail/1930278039">The Liturgical Year</a>, Vol. IV</span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
More <a href="http://www.liturgialatina.org/lityear/septuagesima/quinq_sun.htm">HERE</a>.elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-4031946794704845002024-02-11T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-11T00:00:00.292-05:00Le Cachot<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHNDTif5xNH-9yCwNtbfeIZ8fvDyNHWWLgvPaLxjzKOcnnxkqrYUMT9uXRhctfZ9QKpz6A2fdn1dMC1v8nEKNU6pemxOf13K9fy9fYksCBYMPl2fg2wfcGxno6m5qzQhQsDmaY9LlJN33/s1600-h/cachot.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162842827620830130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHNDTif5xNH-9yCwNtbfeIZ8fvDyNHWWLgvPaLxjzKOcnnxkqrYUMT9uXRhctfZ9QKpz6A2fdn1dMC1v8nEKNU6pemxOf13K9fy9fYksCBYMPl2fg2wfcGxno6m5qzQhQsDmaY9LlJN33/s400/cachot.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span><br /></span><p></p><p><span> </span><span><a href="https://www.historytoday.com/sites/default/files/articles/lourdes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="750" height="276" src="https://www.historytoday.com/sites/default/files/articles/lourdes.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></p><p><span><a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/saint-bernadette%E2%80%99s-first-vision-lourdes" target="_blank">Today is the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes</a>.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> Le cachot</span> was the hovel where St. Bernadette and her family were living when she saw Our Lady at the grotto of Massabielle in 1858. I first visited it in April 1994 and it was a moving and grace-filled experience. <a href="http://www.catholicpilgrims.com/lourdes/bc_bernadette_lourdes.htm">In St. Bernadette's time it was described thus:</a><br />
</p><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;">The room was dark ... In the backyard was the privy which overflowed and made the place stink. We kept the dung–heap there ... The Soubirous were destitute: two poor beds, one on the right as you entered, and the other on the same side nearer to the fireplace ... They had only a little trunk to put all their linen in ... My wife lent them some chemises: they were full of vermin ... She often gave them a bit of bread made of millet. Yet the little ones never asked for anything. They would rather have starved.</span> ~André Sajous, owner of Cachot, 1875</blockquote><p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 100%;"><b>
</b></span><br /><a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/saint-bernadette%E2%80%99s-first-vision-lourdes" target="_blank">Here is an account of the apparitions at Lourdes</a>:</p><div></div><blockquote><div>Lourdes in 1858 was an inconspicuous little French town on the Gave
de Pau River at the foot of the Pyrenees, with around 4,000
inhabitants. One of them was a former miller named François Soubirous,
who had fallen on hard times. He and his wife Louise had six children.
The eldest was their daughter Marie-Bernarde, known as Bernadette.
Desperately poor, the family lived squashed into one small room.
Bernadette spent part of her childhood brought up by an aunt, had little
in the way of schooling and was unable to read or write.</div>
<p>Bernadette went back to the grotto seventeen more times and saw the
Lady, though no one else ever did. Her story spread round the town like
wildfire. The Lady was generally assumed to be the Virgin Mary and more
and more townspeople began to go to the grotto with Bernadette, but
there was considerable scepticism, from the parish priest among others.</p>
<p>On February 25th the Lady told Bernadette to drink the water of a
spring that flowed under her rock. As there seemed to be no spring,
Bernadette dug in the ground. Nothing happened, but a day or so
afterwards the water started to flow. Bernadette drank it and washed in
it and others did the same and the water acquired a reputation for
healing properties. The spring is still flowing at the rate of 32,000
gallons a day, but analysis of the water has found nothing remarkable
about it.</p>
<p>On February 27th and March 2nd the Lady told Bernadette that the
priests should be told to build a chapel at the site and have people
come there in processions. Word of what was going on reached the French
newspapers and the crowds acompanying Bernadette to the grotto swelled
to thousands and had to be controlled by the police.</p>
<p>On the feast of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary on March 25th,
the Lady at last proclaimed her identity. Speaking to Bernadette in the
local Lourdes patois, she said ‘I am the Immaculate Conception’. The
doctrine of the Immaculate Conception had been proclaimed only a few
years before, in 1854. Bernadette saw her last apparition on July 16th,
the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. <a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/saint-bernadette%E2%80%99s-first-vision-lourdes" target="_blank">(Read more</a>.) </p></blockquote>elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-28518725608629343262024-02-10T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-10T00:00:00.125-05:00Saint Scholastica on Lent<a href="https://vultuschristi.org/index.php/2017/02/a-remarkable-discovery/" target="_blank"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://vultuschristi.org/index.php/2017/02/a-remarkable-discovery/" target="_blank"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://vultuschristi.org/index.php/2017/02/a-remarkable-discovery/" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://mycatholic.life/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Kleinmariazell_-_Altar_Scholastica_2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="800" height="210" src="https://mycatholic.life/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Kleinmariazell_-_Altar_Scholastica_2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://vultuschristi.org/index.php/2017/02/a-remarkable-discovery/" target="_blank">Preparing for Lent by reading the wisdom of the past. The Holy Abbess says</a>:</div>
<blockquote><blockquote>
My venerable brother recommends four Lenten practices: “prayer with tears, reading, compunction of heart, and abstinence” (RB 49:4). The first, prayer with tears, has always come easily to me. God has never refused me anything I asked of him with tears. I have no doubt that he “has set my tears in his sight” (Ps 55:9). Tears in prayer are no cause for alarm. The heart pressed by the hand of God in prayer weeps just as a sponge held tightly in your hand or mine gives forth water.<br />
<br />
Sacred reading is my brother’s second Lenten practice. He considers it so important that he completely changes the horarium of his monastery during Lent to make more time for it. Here we do the same. Nothing is done at Monte Cassino that we do not do here at Plombariola. In Lent our hours of reading are “from the morning until the end of the Third Hour” (RB 48:14). This means we do not begin work after Prime, as is the custom at other times, but consecrate to sacred reading the best three hours of the morning. We are alert then, and the early morning light in the cloister is wonderfully clear and bright. <br /></blockquote></blockquote>elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-40043031397520009302024-02-08T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-08T00:00:00.136-05:00Saint Josephine Bakhita<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgelKjoY8yqGe7lX86NeZw7hZLQ1vpyCmEsHoBa3qphKn6wrwFuo_LQTXUrLmgv65L8ovlohS0ugn0MPtl-VZllCcepVJQhNNimhyphenhyphenRNEiX79EUNf3N0Brup3ODxiGDxfQpsQfso0wJCJRQ/s1600-h/Josephine+Bakhita3.JPG.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435871502941963442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgelKjoY8yqGe7lX86NeZw7hZLQ1vpyCmEsHoBa3qphKn6wrwFuo_LQTXUrLmgv65L8ovlohS0ugn0MPtl-VZllCcepVJQhNNimhyphenhyphenRNEiX79EUNf3N0Brup3ODxiGDxfQpsQfso0wJCJRQ/s400/Josephine+Bakhita3.JPG.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 242px;" /></a>Today is the memorial of<a href="http://vultuschristi.org/index.php/2015/02/a-saint-for-those-who-are-pris/" target="_blank"> Saint Josephine Bakhita (1869-1947)</a>. She was <a href="http://www.afrol.com/archive/josephine_bakhita.htm">kidnapped as a child from her home in Sudan by slave-traders and sold to various families. She suffered unspeakable abuse and torture.</a> Finally, a Catholic family "bought" her and she was able to make it to Italy where she became a Christian and a nun. She was remarkable for many things, especially for her spirit of forgiveness and lack of bitterness. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II.<br />
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<br />elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-86817512611837296542024-02-06T00:00:00.017-05:002024-02-06T00:00:00.345-05:00I Came to Cast Fire upon the Earth<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilkgUGz9Fmlu2_Yb2f_TPVB1ue5KrcGt6ctD-Trubn2-QDQzA7m30UhI11MAscSHi3fOMdZnSAC_fpHqG4cSVWK54T0HBMN9DwvO6x6xLZ7_UXYRiTcjucaz46GdWqBY72WyeT7Swl5E3dMeRAm_n8kosRVD58NNPmM3AA9xb1zq09NqAbScbRYFbZWis/s469/Madre%20dei%20sacerdoti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="329" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilkgUGz9Fmlu2_Yb2f_TPVB1ue5KrcGt6ctD-Trubn2-QDQzA7m30UhI11MAscSHi3fOMdZnSAC_fpHqG4cSVWK54T0HBMN9DwvO6x6xLZ7_UXYRiTcjucaz46GdWqBY72WyeT7Swl5E3dMeRAm_n8kosRVD58NNPmM3AA9xb1zq09NqAbScbRYFbZWis/s320/Madre%20dei%20sacerdoti.jpg" width="224" /></a></div> From <i><a href="https://catholicexchange.com/i-came-to-cast-fire-upon-the-earth-and-would-that-it-were-already-kindled/?fbclid=IwAR0F0rsonfsEJuQHIQhy6epbL_-bEhrjfj4w-ZVSoKhtiDJXmCZu69UqitA" target="_blank">Catholic Exchange</a></i>:<p></p><blockquote>When we pray the Rosary, we are gathered around Our Blessed Mother as one priest said, just like the Apostles and disciples gathered in prayer with Her in the Upper Room in preparation for Pentecost. And the Holy Spirit descends into our hearts through the Heart of Our Blessed Mother Who is present with us when we pray. While we are praying the Our Father, which Jesus Himself taught us, and the Hail Mary containing the words God spoke to Our Blessed Mother through the Angel Gabriel, we are meditating on the Mysteries of the Life of Jesus. The Life of Jesus is profoundly and inseparably intertwined with that of Our Blessed Mother. These Mysteries are not merely past events. What happens to God, and Jesus is God, remains present for all eternity because God is the eternal present. His acts are theandric—they are acts of God, thus they remain eternally present in Him, and He in them. The Mysteries of His life remain ever present in Him, and He in them. As we meditate on these Mysteries then, we are gazing with Our Blessed Mother at Christ Who is present with us when we pray the Rosary as St. Louis de Montfort says. We are gazing at the Living God; we are in contact with Him. This contact purifies us since “God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:29). His gaze purifies us. In this prayer—the Rosary—we gaze at Christ through Mary, with Mary, and He gazes at us. (<a href="https://catholicexchange.com/i-came-to-cast-fire-upon-the-earth-and-would-that-it-were-already-kindled/?fbclid=IwAR0F0rsonfsEJuQHIQhy6epbL_-bEhrjfj4w-ZVSoKhtiDJXmCZu69UqitA" target="_blank">Read more</a>.)</blockquote>elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-85404447510824242712024-02-05T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-05T00:00:00.140-05:00Saint Agatha of Sicily<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbi-29m9stTnwuQvLamzgw5FuLJRxwlY3QO9aS5mvEs6Am4CbPhCdqncskvc2WxdZkG7YJlUD8hJ3gibkT7BA5uc-2t_jpltcO2LLEzUWmrlq1d_OuKeGavmmHkyYxsYCKw8_jr_t-NeEiPc9VU4NCF7yHet2k8Jbzn_ZqoX6kCbA0jkLWk-vXaPGK/s269/StAgathaf5a3a93ca8dcc0408c72a13c77cf410f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="269" data-original-width="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbi-29m9stTnwuQvLamzgw5FuLJRxwlY3QO9aS5mvEs6Am4CbPhCdqncskvc2WxdZkG7YJlUD8hJ3gibkT7BA5uc-2t_jpltcO2LLEzUWmrlq1d_OuKeGavmmHkyYxsYCKw8_jr_t-NeEiPc9VU4NCF7yHet2k8Jbzn_ZqoX6kCbA0jkLWk-vXaPGK/s16000/StAgathaf5a3a93ca8dcc0408c72a13c77cf410f.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://mycatholic.life/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Paolo_Veronese_St._Agatha_Visited_in_Prison_by_St._Peter_-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="579" data-original-width="720" height="322" src="https://mycatholic.life/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Paolo_Veronese_St._Agatha_Visited_in_Prison_by_St._Peter_-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> From <a href="https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/february-5-st-agatha-virgin-martyr/" target="_blank"><i>My Catholic Life</i></a>:<p></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-weight: 400;">It is shocking what people are capable
of doing. Some are capable of the most hideous, diabolical, and
self-serving acts. Others are capable of enduring those evils for the
love of Christ with peace, strength, and joy. Regardless of the
historical accuracy of the details of Saint Agatha’s life and death, her
story, as it has been handed down, reveals the potential in every human
heart. We have the potential to be great sinners, the potential to be
great saints, or somewhere in-between. Allow the witness of Quintianus
to fill your heart with a holy fear of sin and the witness of Saint
Agatha to move you from that “in-between.” Her courage and unwavering
fidelity to Christ have shone a light for countless people throughout
the centuries. One day, in Heaven, we will meet the true Saint Agatha
and rejoice as we gaze upon the beauty and purity of her soul. Seek to
make your soul radiate with that same glory by the grace of God and your
fidelity to His holy will.</span> (<a href="https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/february-5-st-agatha-virgin-martyr/" target="_blank">Read more</a>.)</blockquote><br /><p></p>elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-755500513614183073.post-4242830979751617042024-02-04T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-04T00:00:00.135-05:00Sexagesima Sunday<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/truthunity/assets/christianity/parable-of-the-sower-Ely-Cathedral.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="548" height="400" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/truthunity/assets/christianity/parable-of-the-sower-Ely-Cathedral.jpg" width="273" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.lectionarycentral.com/sexag/sexag.html" target="_blank">Parable of the Sower</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><p> <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-septuagesima-sunday-542437" target="_blank">Scott Richert discusses the significance</a>. To quote:<br />
</p><blockquote>
Sexagesima Sunday is the second Sunday before the start of Lent, which makes it the eighth Sunday before <a href="http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/tp/Easter_101.htm">Easter</a>. Traditionally, it was the second of three Sundays (<a href="http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/f/Septuagesima.htm">Septuagesima</a> is the first and Quinquagesima is the third) of preparation for Lent. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>Sexagesima</i> literally means "sixtieth," though it only falls 56 days before Easter. It most likely takes its name from <a href="http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/f/Quinquagesima.htm">Quinquagesima Sunday</a>, which is 49 days before Easter, or 50 if you count Easter itself. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
When the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar was revised in 1969, the three pre-Lenten Sundays were removed; they are now denominated simply as Sundays in Ordinary Time. Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima are all still observed in the celebration of the <a href="http://catholicism.about.com/od/worship/p/The_Latin_Mass.htm">traditional Latin Mass</a>. (<a href="http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/f/Sexagesima.htm" target="_blank">Read entire post</a>.)</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
Scripture readings, from the old liturgy, <a href="http://www.lectionarycentral.com/sexag/sexag.html">HERE.</a> elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.com4