Wednesday, February 4th. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St Mark 6:1-6.
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DAILY MASS – 4 February 2015
by
Fr. Michael Coutts celebrates from St. Basil’s Church in Toronto
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Father Reed prays the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary
at Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross.
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Wednesday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time
4 February 2015
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 6:1-6.
Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.”
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith. He went around to the villages in the vicinity teaching.
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Wednesday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time
4 February 2015
Saint of the day
St. Jane of Valois,
Queen and Religious (+ 1505)
SAINT JANE OF VALOIS
Queen and Religious
(+ 1505)
Born of the blood royal of France, herself a queen, Jane of Valois led a life remarkable for its humiliations even in the annals of the Saints. Her father, Louis XI., who had hoped for a son to succeed him, banished Jane from his palace, and, it is said, even attempted her life. At the age of five the neglected child offered her whole heart to God, and yearned to do some special service in honor of His blessed Mother.
At the king’s wish, though against her own inclination, she was married to the Duke of Orleans. Towards an indifferent and unworthy husband her conduct was ever most patient and dutiful. Her prayers and tears saved him from a traitor’s death and shortened the captivity which his rebellion had merited. Still nothing could win a heart which was already given to another. When her husband ascended the throne as Louis XII., his first act was to repudiate by false representations one who through twenty-two years of cruel neglect had been his true and loyal wife.
At the final sentence of separation, the saintly queen exclaimed, “God be praised Who has allowed this, that I may serve Him better . than I have heretofore done.” Retiring to Bourges, she there realized her long-formed desire of founding the Order of the Annunciation, in honor of the Mother of God.
Under the guidance of St. Francis of Paula, the director of her childhood, St. Jane was enabled to overcome the serious obstacles which even good people raised against the foundation of her new Order. In 1501 the rule of the Annunciation was finally approved by Alexander VI. The chief aim of the institute was to imitate the ten virtues practised by Our Lady in the mystery of the Incarnation, the superioress being called “Ancelle,” handmaid, in honor of Mary’s humility. St. Jane built and endowed the first convent of the Order in 1502.
She died in heroic sanctity, 1505, and was buried in the royal crown and purple, beneath which lay the habit of her Order.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
Tuesday, February 3rd. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St Mark 5:21-43.
Bishop Wayne Kirkpatrick celebrates Daily Mass
from St. Basil’s Church in Toronto,
Produced by National Catholic Broadcasting Council
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Father Frank McFarland prays the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary
From the beautiful Bellingham Woods.
From CatholicTV
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Tuesday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time
3 February 2015
“Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 5:21-43.
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea.
One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet
and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.”
He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.
There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.
She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse.
She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak.
She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.”
Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?”
But his disciples said to him, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?'” And he looked around to see who had done it.
The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth.
He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”
While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?”
Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.
So he went in and said to them, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.”
And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was.
He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. (At that) they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.
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Tuesday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time
3 February 2015
Commentary of the day :
Saint Ambrose
Saint Ambrose
(c.340-397),
Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church
Commentary on St. Luke, 6, 57-59 ( SC 45)
“If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured”
It is our faith that touches Christ; it is our faith that sees him. It isn’t our body that touches him; the eyes of our nature cannot seize him. For seeing without perceiving is not seeing; hearing without understanding is not hearing, neither is touching if one doesn’t touch with faith…
If we consider the size of our faith and if we understand the greatness of the Son of God, we realize that, in relation to him, we only touch the fringe; we cannot reach the top of his garment. Therefore, if we too want to be healed by him, let us touch in faith the fringe of Christ. He is aware of all those who touch his clothes, who touch him while he has his back turned. For God doesn’t need eyes to see; he doesn’t have physical senses, but he has in himself the knowledge of all things. Happy then those who are able to touch at least the borders of the Word: for who can seize it entirely?
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
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Tuesday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time
3 February 2015
Saints of the day
St. Blase, Bishop & Martyr (+ 316)
SAINT BLASE
Bishop and Martyr
(+ 316)
St. Blase devoted the earlier years of his life to the study of philosophy, and afterwards became a physician. In the practice of his profession he saw so much of the miseries of life and the hollowness of worldly pleasures, that he resolved to spend the rest of his days in the service of God, and from being a healer of bodily ailments to be- come a physician of souls.
The Bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia, having died, our Saint, much to the gratification of the inhabitants of that city, was appointed to succeed him. St. Blase at once began to instruct his people as much by his example as by his words, and the great virtues and sanctity of this servant of God were attested by many miracles. From all parts the people came flocking to him for the cure of bodily and spiritual ills.
Agricolaus, Governor of Cappadocia and the Lesser Armenia, having begun a persecution by order of the Emperor Licinius, our Saint was seized and hurried off to prison. While on his way there, a distracted mother, whose only child was dying of a throat disease, threw herself at the feet of St. Blase and implored his intercession. Touched at her grief, the Saint offered up his prayers, and the child was cured; and since that time his aid has often been effectually solicited in cases of a similar disease.
Refusing to worship the false gods of the heathens, St. Blase was first scourged; his body was then torn with hooks, and finally he was beheaded in the year 316.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
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Tuesday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time
3 February 2015
Saints of the day
Saint Ansgar
Saint Ansgar
(8 September 801 – 3 February 865),
also known as Saint Anschar, was an Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen. The see of Hamburg was designated a mission to bring Christianity to Northern Europe, and Ansgar became known as the “Apostle of the North”.
Monday, February 2nd. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St Luke 2:22-40.
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DAILY MASS – Monday 2 February 2015
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Fr. Michael Busch celebrates Mass from St. Basil’s Church in Toronto
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Father Frank McFarland prays the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary at the Arnold Arboretum
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The Presentation of the Lord – Feast
2 February 2015
There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 2:22-40.
When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,” and to offer the sacrifice of “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,” in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Lord.
He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:
Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”
The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem. When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.
Image: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Presentation of the Lord – Feast
2 February 2015
Presentation of the Lord
Presentation of the Lord
The feast was first observed in the Eastern Church as “The Encounter.” In the sixth century, it began to be observed in the West: in Rome with a more penitential character and in Gaul (France) with solemn blessings and processions of candles, popularly known as “Candlemas.” The Presentation of the Lord concludes the celebration of the Nativity and with the offerings of the Virgin Mother and the prophecy of Simeon, the events now point toward Easter.
“In obedience to the Old Law, the Lord Jesus, the first-born, was presented in the Temple by his Blessed Mother and his foster father. This is another ‘epiphany’ celebration insofar as the Christ Child is revealed as the Messiah through the canticle and words of Simeon and the testimony of Anna the prophetess. Christ is the light of the nations, hence the blessing and procession of candles on this day. In the Middle Ages this feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or ‘Candlemas,’ was of great importance.
“The specific liturgy of this Candlemas feast, the blessing of candles, is not as widely celebrated as it should be, except of course whenever February 2 falls on a Sunday and thus takes precedence. There are two ways of celebrating the ceremony, either the Procession, which begins at a ‘gathering place’ outside the church, or the Solemn Entrance, celebrated within the church.”
— From Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year
CatholicCulture.org
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The Presentation of the Lord – Feast
2 February 2015
Commentary of the day :
Blessed Guerric of Igny
Blessed Guerric of Igny (c.1080-1157), Cistercian abbot
1st Sermon for the Purification, 2-3
“A light for revelation to the Gentiles”
Who is there today who, as he holds a lighted candle in his hand, does not immediately think of the old man who today received Jesus in his arms, the Word in the flesh, the light in the wax, and who bore witness that he was the light that shines upon all nations? The old man was himself a burning flame that enlightens and gives witness to the light, he who, in the Holy Spirit with which he was filled, came to receive, O God, your love within your Temple (Ps 47[48],10) and bear witness that you are the love and light of your people…
Rejoice, just old man; look now at what you had once foreseen: darkness has disappeared from the world; the nations walk by your light (Is 60,3). The whole earth is filled with the glory (Is 6,3) of this light which, in the past, you used to hide in your heart and which today illumines your eyes… Embrace the Wisdom of God, O blessed old man, and may your youth be renewed (Ps 102[103],5). Receive the mercy of God in your heart and your old age will know the sweetness of mercy. “He will rest in my bosom”, says Scripture (Wsd 1,12). Even when I give him back to his mother, he will continue to dwell with me; my heart will be filled with his mercy and, even more, the heart of his mother… I give thanks and rejoice for you, full of grace, for you gave birth to the mercy I have received; the candle which you prepared I am holding in my hands…
And you, brethren, look at the candle that burns in the hands of Simeon; light your candles with his light… Then, not only will you bear a light in your hands, but you yourselves will be a light for others. A light in your hearts, a light in your lives, a light for your brothers and sisters.
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
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The Presentation of the Lord – Feast
2 February 2015
Saints of the day
St. Theophane Venard,
Priest & Martyred (1829-1861)
SAINT TEOPHANE VENARD
Priest and martyr
(1829-1861)
St. Theophane was a French missionary, born on November 21, 1829, and originally from the Diocese of Poitiers. He entered into the Foreign Missions and was ordained priest June 5, 1852. He departed for the Far East on September 19, the same year.
After fifteen months at Hong Kong he arrived at his mission in West Tonkin, where the Christians had recently been tried by a series of persecutions under Minh-Menh, a monster of cruelty. Shortly after Father Venard’s arrival a new royal edict was issued against Christians, and bishops and priests were obliged to seek refuge in caves, dense woods, and elsewhere. Father Venard, whose constitution had always been delicate, suffered almost constantly, but continued to exercise his ministry at night, and, more boldly, in broad day.
On November 30, 1860, he was betrayed and captured. Tried before a mandarin, he refused to apostatize and was sentenced to be beheaded. He remained a captive, chained in a cage for months, from which he wrote to his family beautiful and consoling letters, joyful in anticipation of his crown. His bishop, Mgr Retord, wrote of him at this time: “Though in chains, he is as gay as a little bird”.
He was martyred on February 2, 1861.
Theophane Venard was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
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The Presentation of the Lord – Feast
2 February 2015
Saints of the day
St. Catherine de Ricci (c.1520-1589)
SAINT CATHERINE OF RICCI
(1520-1589)
Alexandrina of Ricci was the daughter of a noble Florentine. At the age of thirteen she entered the Third Order of St. Dominic in the monastery of Prato, taking in religion the name of Catherine, after her patron and namesake of Siena.
Her special attraction was to the Passion of Christ, in which she was permitted miraculously to participate. In the Lent of 1541, being then twenty-one years of age, she had a vision of the crucifixion so heart-rending that she was confined to bed for three weeks, and was only restored, on Holy Saturday, by an apparition of St. Mary Magdalene and Jesus risen. During twelve years she passed every Friday in ecstasy, She received the sacred stigmata, the wound in the left side, and the crown of thorns.
All these favors gave her continual and intense suffering, and inspired her with a loving sympathy for the yet more bitter tortures of the Holy Souls. In their behalf she offered all her prayers and penances; and her charity toward them became so famous throughout Tuscany that after every death the friends of the deceased hastened to Catherine to secure her prayers.
St. Catherine offered many prayers, fasts, and penances for a certain great man, and thus obtained his salvation. It was revealed to her that he was in purgatory; and such was her love of Jesus crucified that she offered to suffer all the pains about to be inflicted on that soul. Her prayer was granted. The soul entered heaven, and for forty days Catherine suffered indescribable agonies. Her body was covered with blisters, emitting heat so great that her cell seemed on fire. Her flesh appeared as if roasted, and her tongue like red-hot iron. Amid all she was calm and joyful, saying, “I long to suffer all imaginable pains, that souls may quickly see and praise their Redeemer.” She knew by revelation the arrival of a soul in. purgatory, and the hour of its release.
She held intercourse with the Saints in glory, and frequently conversed with St. Philip Neri at Rome without ever leaving her convent at Prato.
She died, amid angels’ songs, in 1589.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
Sunday, February 1st. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St Mark 1:21-28.
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SUNDAY MASS – February 1, 2015.
Catholic Mass celebrated from
The National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.,
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or
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SUNDAY MASS– February 1, 2015.
celebrated at
The Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame
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Father Robret Reed prays the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary in St Petersburg, Russia.
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Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
1 February 2015
“What is this? A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 1:21-28.
Then they came to Capernaum, and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!”
The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”
His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.
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Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
1 February 2015
Commentary of the day :
Saint Bonaventure
Saint Bonaventure (1221-1274), Franciscan, Doctor of the Church
Sermon ‘Christus unus omnium magister’
“A new teaching with authority”
“Only one is your teacher, the Messiah.” (Mt 23,10)… For Christ is “the reflection of the Father’s glory, the exact representation of the Father’s being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.” (Heb 1,3) He is the origin of all wisdom. The Word of God in the heights is the source of wisdom. Christ is the source of all true knowledge, for he is “the way, the truth, and the life.” (Jn 14,6)… As way, Christ is the teacher and origin of knowledge according to faith… That is why Peter teaches in his second letter: “We possess the prophetic message as something altogether reliable. Keep your attention closely fixed on it, as you would on a lamp shining in a dark place.” (1,19)… For through his coming in the spirit, Christ is the origin of all revelation, and through his coming in the flesh, he is the strengthening of all authority.
He comes first in the spirit as the revealing light of every prophetic vision. According to Daniel: “He reveals deep and hidden things and knows what is in the darkness, for the light dwells with him.” (2,22) This is the light of divine wisdom, which is in Christ. According to John, Christ said: “I am the light of the world. No follower of mine shall ever walk in darkness” (8,12), and “While you have the light, keep faith in the light; thus you will become sons of light.” (12,36)… Without this light which is Christ, no one can penetrate the secrets of faith. And that is why we read in the Book of Wisdom: “O God, send forth that Wisdom from your holy heavens and from your glorious throne dispatch her that she may be with me and work with me, that I may know what is your pleasure… For what man knows God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends?” (9,10-13) No one can come to the certainty of revealed faith except through Christ’s coming in the spirit and the flesh.
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
Image from Catholic Online
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Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
1 February 2015
Saint of the day
St. Bridgid of Ireland (+ 523)
SAINT BRIDGID
Abbess, and Patroness of Ireland
(c. 453-523)
Next to the glorious St. Patrick, St. Bridgid, whom we may consider his spiritual daughter in Christ, has ever been held in singular veneration in Ireland. She was born about the year 453, at Fochard in Ulster. During her infancy, her pious father saw in a vision men clothed in white garments pouring a sacred unguent on her head, thus prefiguring her future sanctity. While yet very young, Bridgid consecrated her life to God, bestowed everything at her disposal on the poor, and was the edification of all who knew her. She was very beautiful, and fearing that efforts might be made to induce her to break the vow by which she had bound herself to God, and to bestow her hand on one of her many suitors, she prayed that she might become ugly and deformed. Her prayer was heard, for her eye became swollen, and her whole countenance so changed that she was allowed to follow her vocation in peace, and marriage with her was no more thought of. When about twenty years old, our Saint made known to St. Mel, the nephew and disciple of St. Patrick, her intention to live only to Jesus Christ, and he consented to receive her sacred vows. On the appointed day the solemn ceremony of her profession was performed after the manner introduced by St. Patrick, the bishop offering up many prayers, and investing Bridgid with a snow-white habit, and a cloak of the same color. While she bowed her head on this occasion to receive the veil, a miracle of a singularly striking and impressive nature occurred: that part of the wooden platform adjoining the altar on which she knelt recovered its original vitality, and put on all its former verdure, retaining it for a long time after. At the same moment Bridgid’s eye was healed, and she became as beautiful and as lovely as ever.
Encouraged by her example, several other ladies made their vows with her, and in compliance with the wish of the parents of her new associates, the Saint agreed to found a religious residence for herself and them in the vicinity. A convenient site having been fixed upon by the bishop, a convent, the first in Ireland, was erected upon it; and in obedience to the prelate Bridgid assumed the superiority. Her reputation for sanctity became greater every day; and in proportion as it was diffused throughout the country the number of candidates for admission into the new monastery increased. The bishops of Ireland, soon perceiving the important advantages which their respective dioceses would derive from similar foundations, persuaded the young and saintly abbess to visit different parts of the kingdom, and, as an opportunity offered, introduce into each one the establishment of her institute.
While thus engaged in a portion of the province of Connaught, a deputation arrived from Leinster to solicit the Saint to take up her residence in that territory; but the motives which they urged were human, and such could have no weight with Bridgid. It was only the prospect of the many spiritual advantages that would result from compliance with the request that induced her to accede, as she did, to the wishes of those who had petitioned her. Taking with her a number of her spiritual daughters, our Saint journeyed to Leinster, where they were received with many demonstrations of respect and joy. The site on which Kildare now stands appearing to be well adapted for a religious institute, there the Saint and her companions took up their abode. To the place appropriated for the new foundation some lands were annexed, the fruits of which were assigned to the little establishment. This donation indeed contributed to supply the wants of the community, but still the pious sisterhood principally depended for their maintenance on the liberality of their benefactors. Bridgid contrived, however, out of their small means to relieve the poor of the vicinity very considerably; and when the wants of these indigent persons surpassed her slender finances, she hesitated not to sacrifice for them the movables of the convent. On one occasion our Saint, imitating the burning charity of St. Ambrose and other great servants of God, sold some of the sacred vestments that she might procure the means of relieving their necessities. She was so humble that she sometimes attended the cattle on the land which belonged to her monastery.
The renown of Bridgid’s unbounded charity drew multitudes of the poor to Kildare; the fame of her piety attracted thither many persons anxious to solicit her prayers or to profit by her holy example. In course of time the number of these so much increased that it became necessary to provide accommodation for them in the neighborhood of the new monastery, and thus was laid the foundation and origin of the town of Kildare.
The spiritual exigencies of her community, and of those numerous strangers who resorted to the vicinity, having suggested to our Saint the expediency of having the locality erected into an episcopal see, she represented it to the prelates, to whom the consideration of it rightly belonged. Deeming the proposal just and useful, Conlath, a recluse of eminent sanctity, illustrious by the great things which God had granted to his prayers, was, at Bridgid’s desire, chosen the first bishop of the newly erected diocese. In process of time it became the ecclesiastical metropolis of the province to which it belonged, probably in consequence of the general desire to honor the place in which St. Bridgid had so long dwelt.
After seventy years devoted to the practice of the most sublime virtues, corporal infirmities admonished our Saint that the time of her dissolution was nigh. It was now half a century since, by her holy vows, she had irrevocably consecrated herself to God, and during that period great results had been attained; her holy institute having widely diffused itself throughout the Green Isle, and greatly advanced the cause of religion in the various districts in which it was established. Like a river of peace, its progress was steady and silent; it fertilized every region fortunate enough to receive its waters, and caused it to put forth spiritual flowers and fruits with all the sweet perfume of evangelical fragrance. The remembrance of the glory she had procured to the Most High, as well as the services rendered to dear souls ransomed by the precious blood of her divine Spouse, cheered and consoled Bridgid in the infirmities inseparable from old age. Her last illness was soothed by the presence of Nennidh, a priest of eminent sanctity, over whose youth she had watched with pious solicitude, and who was indebted to her prayers and instructions for his great proficiency in sublime perfection. The day on which our abbess was to terminate her course, February 1, 523, having arrived, she received from the hands of this saintly priest the blessed body and blood of her Lord in the divine Eucharist, and, as it would seem, immediately after her spirit passed forth, and went to possess Him in that heavenly country where He is seen face to face and enjoyed without danger of ever losing Him. Her body was interred in the church adjoining her convent, but was some time after exhumed, and deposited in a splendid shrine near the high altar.
In the ninth century, the country being desolated by the Danes, the remains of St. Bridgid were removed in order to secure them from irreverence; and, being transferred to Down-Patrick, were deposited in the same grave with those of the glorious St. Patrick. Their bodies, together with that of St. Columba, were translated afterwards to the cathedral cf the same city, but their monument was destroyed in the reign of King Henry VIII. The head of St. Bridgid is now kept in the church of the Jesuits at Lisbon.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
Friday, January 30th. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St Mark 4:26-34.
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DAILY MASS – Friday 30 January 2015
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Msgr. Sam Bianco celebrates Daily Mass from St. Basil’s Church in Toronto
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Father Robert Reed prays the Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary on a fall day
in
New England at the Blue Hills Reservation
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Friday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
30 January 2015
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 4:26-34.
Jesus said to the crowds: “This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.”
He said, “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.
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Friday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
30 January 2015
Commentary of the day :
Saint Gregory the Great
Saint Gregory the Great (c.540-604), Pope, Doctor of the Church
Homilies on Matthew, ch.13
“Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (Jn 12,24)
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'” (Mt 13,31). This small seed is for us the symbol of Jesus Christ, who, sowed into the garden where he was buried, rose from it shortly after, through his resurrection, as a big tree.
One could say that when he died he was like a small seed: a small seed because of the humiliation of his flesh, but a big tree because of the glorification of his majesty. He was like a small seed when he appeared completely disfigured before our eyes; but like a large tree when he rose again like “the most handsome of men” (Ps 44[45],3).
The branches of this mysterious tree are the holy preachers of the Gospel, of whom one of the Psalms indicates the reach: “Their report goes forth through all the earth, their message, to the ends of the world “ (Ps 19,5; cf Rom 10,18). The birds rest on these branches while the souls of the just, who have been raised up above earth’s attractions on the wings of holiness, find in the words of these preachers of the Gospel the consolation they need in the sorrows and difficulties of this life.
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
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Friday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
30 January 2015
Saints of the day
St. Bathildes, Queen (c. 634-680)
SAINT BATHILDES
Queen.
(c. 634-680)
St. Bathildes was an Englishwoman, who was carried over whilst yet young into France, and there sold for a slave, at a very low price, to Erkenwald, mayor of the palace under King Clovis II. When she grew up, her master was so much taken with her prudence and virtue that he placed her in charge of his household.
The renown of her virtues spread through all France, and King Clovis II. took her for his royal consort. This unexpected elevation produced no alteration in a heart perfectly grounded in humility and the other virtues; she seemed to become even more humble than before. Her new station furnished her the means of being truly a mother to the poor; the king gave her the sanction of his royal authority for the protection of the Church, the care of the poor, and the furtherance of all religious undertakings.
The death of her husband left her regent of the kingdom. She at once forbade the enslavement of Christians, did all in her power to promote piety, and filled France with hospitals and religious houses.
As soon as her son Clotaire was of an age to govern, she withdrew from the world and entered the convent of Chelles. Here she seemed entirely to forget her worldly dignity, and was to be distinguished from the rest of the community only by her extreme humility, her obedience to her spiritual superiors, and her devotion to the sick, whom she comforted and served with wonderful charity.
As she neared her end, God visited her with a severe illness, which she bore with Christian patience until, on the 30th of January, 680, she yielded up her soul in devout prayer.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
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Friday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
30 January 2015
Saints of the day
Bl. Columba Marmion, Abbot (1858-1923)
Bl. Columba Marmion Third Abbot of Maredsous (1858-1923)
Bl. Columba Marmion was born in Dublin, Ireland, on 1 April 1858 to an Irish father (William Marmion) and a French mother (Herminie Cordier). Given the name Joseph Aloysius at birth, he entered the Dublin diocesan seminary in 1874 and completed his theological studies at the College of the Propagation of the Faith in Rome. He was ordained a priest at St Agatha of the Goths on 16 June 1881.
He dreamed of becoming a missionary monk in Australia, but was won over by the liturgical atmosphere of the newly founded Abbey of Maredsous in Belgium, which he visited on his return to Ireland in 1881. His Bishop asked him to wait and appointed him curate in Dundrum, then professor at the major seminary in Clonliffe (1882-86). As the chaplain at a convent of Redemptorist nuns and at a women’s prison, he learned to guide souls, to hear confessions, to counsel and to help the dying.
In 1886 he received his Bishop’s permission to become a monk. He voluntarily renounced a promising ecclesiastical career and was welcomed at Maredsous by Abbot Placidus Wolter. His novitiate, under the iron rule of Dom Benoît D’Hondt and among a group of young novices (when he was almost 30), proved all the more difficult because he had to change habits, culture and language. But saying that he had entered the monastery to learn obedience, he let himself be moulded by monastic discipline, community life and choral prayer until his solemn profession on 10 February 1891.
He received his first “obedience” or mission when he was assigned to the small group of monks sent to found the Abbey of Mont César in Louvain. Although it distressed him, he gave his all to it for the sake of obedience. There he was entrusted with the task of Prior beside Abbot de Kerchove, and served as spiritual director and professor to all the young monks studying philosophy or theology in Louvain.
He started to devote more time to preaching retreats in Belgium and in the United Kingdom, and gave spiritual direction to many communities, particularly those of Carmelite nuns. He become the confessor of Mons. Joseph Mercier, the future Cardinal, and the two formed a lasting friendship.
During this period, Maredsous Abbey was governed by Dom Hildebrand de Hemptinne, its second Abbot, who in 1893 would become, at the request of Leo XIII, the first Primate of the Benedictine Confederation. His frequent stays in Rome required that he be replaced as Abbot of Maredsous, and it is Dom Columba Marmion who was elected the third Abbot of Maredsous on 28 September 1909, receiving the abbatial blessing on 3 October. He was placed at the head of a community of more than 100 monks, with a humanities college, a trade school and a farm to run. He also had to maintain a well-established reputation for research on the sources of the faith and to continue editing various publications, including the Revue Bénédictine.
His ongoing care of the community did not stop Dom Marmion from preaching retreats or giving regular spiritual direction. He was asked to help the Anglican monks of Caldey when they wished to convert to Catholicism. His greatest ordeal was the First World War. His decision to send the young monks to Ireland so that they could complete their education in peace led to additional work, dangerous trips and many anxieties. It also caused misunderstandings and conflicts between the two generations within this community shaken by the war. German lay brothers, who had been present since the monastery’s foundation by Beuron Abbey, had to be sent home (despite the Benedictine vow of stability) at the outbreak of hostilities. After the war was over, a small group of monks was urgently dispatched to the Monastery of the Dormition in Jerusalem to replace the German monks expelled by the British authorities. Finally, the Belgian monasteries were separated from the Beuron Congregation, and in 1920 the Belgian Congregation of the Annunciation was set up with Maredsous, Mont César and St. André of Zevenkerken.
His sole comfort during this period was preaching and giving spiritual direction. His secretary, Dom Raymond Thibaut, prepared his spiritual conferences for publication: Christ the Life of the Soul (1917), Christ in His Mysteries (1919) and Christ the Ideal of the Monk (1922). He was already considered an outstanding Abbot (Queen Elisabeth of Belgium consulted with him at length) and a great spiritual author.
He died during a flu epidemic on 30 January 1923. He was beatified by John Paul II on the 3rd of September 2000.
– Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
Thursday, January 29th. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St Mark 4:21-25.
DAILY MASS
Fr. Dan Donovan celebrates Daily Mass from St. Basil’s Church in Toronto
CLICK BELOW
Produced by National Catholic Broadcasting Council
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DAILY ROSARY
Monsignor “Father Frank” Francis T. McFarland prays the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary from
St Charles Borromeo Church in Waltham, MA.
CLICK BELOW
From CatholicTV
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Thursday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
29 January 2015
“Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed,
and not to be placed on a lampstand?
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 4:21-25.
Jesus said to his disciples, “Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand?
For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light.
Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear.”
He also told them, “Take care what you hear. The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you.
To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
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Thursday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
29 January 2015
Commentary of the day :
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997),
founder of the Missionary Sisters of Charity
Something Beautiful for God
“The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you”
Since Christ is invisible we can’t show him our love. But our neighbors are always visible and we can do for them what we would love to do for Christ, supposing he were visible.
Today it is the same Christ who is present in those for whom we have no need, whom we do not employ and do not tend, who are hungry, who are naked, who have no home. They seem to be useless to both State and society; nobody has any time to pay attention to them. It is we christians, you and I, worthy of Christ’s love provided ours is a true love: it is our responsibility to find them, to help them. They are there so that we may find them.
To work for the sake of working: this is the danger that constantly threatens us. It is here that respect and love and dedication intervene so that we can direct our work to God, to Christ. And this is why we always try to do it as beautifully as possible.
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
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Thursday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
29 January 2015
Saint of the day
St. Gildas the Wise, Abbot (6th century)
SAINT GILDAS THE WISE (or Gildas of Rhuys)
Abbot
(c. 500-570 or 581)
St. Gildas was a 6th-century British monk. He learned, from the instructions and examples of the most eminent servants of God, to copy in his own life whatever seemed most perfect.
His renowned learning and literary style earned him the designation Gildas Sapiens (Gildas the Wise).
He wrote eight canons of discipline, and a severe invective against the crimes of the Britons, called De Excidio Britanniae and he also wrote an invective against the British clergy, whom he accused of sloth of seldom sacrificing at the altar.
He fell asleep in the Lord in 570 or in 581
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
Wednesday, January 28th. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St Mark 4:1-20.
DAILY MASS
Fr. Michael Coutts celebrates Daily Mass from St. Basil’s Church in Toronto,
CLICK BELOW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhcCIvYn2TA
Produced by National Catholic Broadcasting Council.
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DAILY ROSARY
Father Robret Reed prays the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary in
St Petersburg, Russia.
CLICK BELOW
http://www.catholictv.com/shows/the-rosary/sorrowful-mysteries-russia
From CatholicTV
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Wednesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
28 January 2015
Hear this! A sower went out to sow.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 4:1-20.
On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea. A very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land.
And he taught them at length in parables, and in the course of his instruction he said to them,
Hear this! A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and it produced no grain.
And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”
And when he was alone, those present along with the Twelve questioned him about the parables.
He answered them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that ‘they may look and see but not perceive, and hear and listen but not understand, in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.'”
Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? The sower sows the word.
These are the ones on the path where the word is sown. As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once and takes away the word sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who, when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy. But they have no root; they last only for a time. Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
Those sown among thorns are another sort. They are the people who hear the word,
but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, and it bears no fruit. But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”
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Wednesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
28 January 2015
Commentary of the day :
Saint Caesarius of Arles
Saint Caesarius of Arles (470-543), monk and Bishop
Sermons addressed to the people, no.6; CCL 103,32 (SC 175)
Bearing fruit thirty, sixty or a hundredfold
Brethren, there are two kinds of field: the first is God’s field, the second is man’s. You have your property; God has his, too. Your own property is your land; God’s property is your soul. Is it right that you should cultivate your property and leave God’s lying fallow? If you cultivate your land but fail to cultivate your soul, is this because you want to set your own property in order but leave God’s fallow? Is that right? Does God deserve that we should neglect the soul he holds so dear? You are delighted when you see your property well cultivated; why don’t you weep when you see your soul lying fallow? We cause the fields on our property to come alive for a few days in this world; caring for our souls will enable us to live forever in heaven…
God has deigned to entrust our souls to us as his property; so let us set to work with all our might, by his help, so that when he comes to visit his property he will find it well cultivated and in perfect order. May he find a harvest and not thorns; may he find wine and not vinegar, corn rather than chaff. If he finds everything in it that can be pleasing in his eyes, he will give us an eternal reward in exchange, but thorns will be committed to the fire.
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
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Wednesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
28 January 2015
Saint of the day
St. Thomas Aquinas,
Priest & Doctor of the Church (+ 1274) – Memorial
SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS
Priest and Doctor of the Church
(c. 1225-1274)
St. Thomas was born of noble parents at Aquino in Italy, in 1226. At the age of nineteen he received the Dominican habit at Naples, where he was studying.
Seized by his brothers on his way to Paris, he suffered a two years’ captivity in their castle of Rocca-Secca; but neither the caresses of his mother and sisters, nor the threats and stratagems of his brothers, could shake him in his vocation. While St. Thomas was in confinement at Rocca-Secca, his brothers endeavored to entrap him into sin, but the attempt only ended in the triumph of his purity. Snatching from the hearth a burning brand, the Saint drove from his chamber the wretched creature whom they had there concealed. Then marking a cross upon the wall, he knelt down to pray, and forthwith, being rapt in ecstasy, an angel girded him with a cord, in token of the gift of perpetual chastity which God had given him. The pain caused by the girdle was so sharp that St. Thomas uttered a piercing cry, which brought his guards into the room. But he never told this grace to any one save only to Father Raynald, his confessor, a little while before his death. Hence originated the Confraternity of the “Angelic Warfare,” for the preservation of the virtue of chastity.
Having at length escaped, St. Thomas went to Cologne to study under Blessed Albert the Great, and after that to Paris, where for many years he taught philosophy and theology. The Church has ever venerated his numerous writings as a treasure-house of sacred doctrine; while in naming him the Angelic Doctor she has indicated that his science is more divine than human. The rarest gifts of intellect were combined in him with the tenderest piety. Prayer, he said, had taught him more than study.
His singular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament shines forth in the Office and hymns for Corpus Christi, which he composed. To the words miraculously uttered by a crucifix at Naples, “Well hast thou written concerning Me, Thomas. What shall I give thee as a reward?” he replied, “Naught save Thyself, O Lord.”
He died at Fossa-Nuova, 1274, on his way to the General Council of Lyons, to which Pope Gregory X. had summoned him.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
Tuesday, January 27th. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St Mark 3:31-35.
DAILY MASS
Tuesday 27 January 2015
Fr. Jack Lynch celebrates Daily Mass from St. Basil’s Church in Toronto,
CLICK BELOW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s4qKNc96oY
Produced by National Catholic Broadcasting Council
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DAILY ROSARY
Father Robert Reed prays the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary on a fall day in
The Blue Hills of New England.
CLICK BELOW
http://www.catholictv.com/shows/the-rosary/blue-hills-glorious
From CatholicTV
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Tuesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
27 January 2015
“Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 3:31-35.
The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house. Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers (and your sisters) are outside asking for you.” But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and (my) brothers?”
And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.
(For) whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
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Tuesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
27 January 2015
Saint of the day
St. Angela Merici,
Virgin (c. 1470-1540)
SAINT ANGELA MERICI
VIRGIN
(C. 1470-1540)
St. Angela Merici was born at Desenzano, near Brescia, about 1470. Her parents had died when she was ten and she had gone to live with an uncle. When her uncle died, she returned to her hometown and began to notice how little education the girls had; so Angela saw her task as the formation of Christian women.
In 1535 she founded the institute of the Ursulines, who were devoted to the education of poor girls as Christians, and to the missions. It was the first group of women religious to work outside the cloister and the first teaching order of women.
She died in 1540.
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©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
Monday, January 26th. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St Luke 10:1-9.
DAILY MASS
Father Thomas Domurat celebrates Mass with Catholic school students
From East Boston Central Catholic on January 26, 2015.
CLICK BELOW
http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass/saints-timothy-titus
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DAILY ROSARY
Father Robert Reed guides you in praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.
He prays in the streets of Rome, the center of the Catholic world.
CLICK BELOW
http://www.catholictv.com/shows/the-rosary/joyful-mysteries-rome
From CatholicTV
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Saint Timothy and Saint Titus, bishops – Memorial
26 January 2015
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest. “
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 10:1-9.
The Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.
Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way.
Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’
If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.
Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another.
Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you,
cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.'”
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
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Saint Timothy and Saint Titus, bishops – Memorial
26 January 2015
Commentary of the day :
Saint Augustine
Saint Augustine (354-430),
Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Sermon 101; PL36
Lord of the harvest
The gospel that has just been read to us invites us to seek out what this harvest might be of which the Lord says to us that: “The harvest is great, the laborers are few, so pray the lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.” So it was that, in addition to those twelve disciples whom he called apostles (those who have been sent), he sent out seventy-two others. All of them, as his own words reveal, were sent to work at a harvest that had already been prepared. What harvest is this? They were not going to reap a harvest from the gentiles, where nothing had yet been sown, so we must think of a harvest among the Jews. It was in order to reap this harvest that the Lord of the harvest came. But to the other peoples he sent, not reapers but sowers. Among the Jews, then, there was a harvest but elsewhere, the sowing. And it was particularly while reaping among the Jews that he chose the apostles. Harvest time had come, the harvest was ripe, for the prophets had done their sowing among them…
Did not the Lord declare to his disciples: “You say the harvest will be a long time. I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for harvest,” (Jn 4,35)? And again, he said: “Others have done the work and you are sharing the fruits of their work,” (v.38). Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and the prophets have done the work; they worked hard to sow the seed. At his coming the Lord found the harvest to be ripe and he sent out the reapers with the scythe of the gospel.
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
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Saint Timothy and Saint Titus, bishops – Memorial
26 January 2015
Saint of the day
Sts. Timothy and Titus, Bishops – Memorial
SAINTS TIMOTHY AND TITUS
Bishops and Disciples of St. Paul
(1st century)
St. Timothy was a convert of St. Paul. He was born at Lystra in Asia Minor. His mother was a Jewess, but his father was a pagan; and though Timothy had read the Scriptures from his childhood, he had not been circumcised as a Jew. On the arrival of St. Paul at Lystra the youthful Timothy, with his mother and grandmother, eagerly embraced the faith.
Seven years later, when the Apostle again visited the country, the boy had grown into manhood, while his good heart, his austerities and zeal had won the esteem of all around him; and holy men were prophesying great things of the fervent youth. St. Paul at once saw his fitness for the work of an evangelist. Timothy was forthwith ordained, and from that time became the constant and much-beloved fellow-worker of the Apostle.
In company with St. Paul he visited the cities of Asia Minor and Greece-at one time hastening on in front as a trusted messenger, at another lingering behind to confirm in the faith some recently founded church. Finally, he was made the first Bishop of Ephesus; and here he received the two epistles which bear his name, the first written from Macedonia and the second from Rome, in which St. Paul from his prison gives vent to his longing desire to see his “dearly beloved son,” if possible, once more before his death. St. Timothy himself not many years after the death of St. Paul, won his martyr’s crown at Ephesus. As a child Timothy delighted in reading the sacred books, and to his last hour he would remember the parting words of his spiritual father, “Attende lectioni-Apply thyself to reading.”
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St. Titus was a convert from heathenism, a disciple of St. Paul, one of the chosen companions of the Apostles in his journey to the Council of Jerusalem, and his fellow-laborers in many apostolic missions.
From the Second Epistle which St. Paul sent by the hand of Titus to the Corinthians we gain an insight into his character and understand the, strong affection which his master bore him. Titus had been commissioned to carry out a twofold office needing much firmness, discretion, and charity. He was to be the bearer of a severe rebuke to the Corinthians, who were giving scandal and were wavering in their faith; and at the same time he was to put their charity to a further test by calling upon them for abundant alms for the church at Jerusalem. St. Paul meanwhile was anxiously awaiting the result. At Troas he writes, “I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus, my brother.” He set sail to Macedonia. Here at last Titus brought the good news. His success had been complete. He reported the sorrow, the zeal, the generosity of the Christians, till the Apostle could not contain his joy, and sent back to them his faithful messenger with the letter of comfort from which we have quoted. Titus was finally left as a bishop in Crete, and here he, in turn, received the epistle which bears his name, and here at last he died in peace.
The mission of Titus to Corinth shows us how well the disciple caught the spirit of his master. He knew how to be firm and to inspire respect. The Corinthians, we are told, “received him with fear and trembling.” He was patient and painstaking. St. Paul “gave thanks to God, Who had put such carefulness for them in the heart of Titus.” And these gifts were enhanced by a quickness to detect and call out all that was good in others, and by a joyousness which overflowed upon the spirit of St. Paul himself, who “abundantly rejoiced in the joy of Titus.”
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
God our Father,
you gave your saints Timothy and Titus
the courage and wisdom of the apostoles:
may their prayers help us to live holy lives
and lead us to heaven, our home.
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
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Saint Timothy and Saint Titus, bishops – Memorial
26 January 2015
Saint of the day
Bl. José Gabriel Brochero
BLESSED JOSE GABRIEL BROCHERO Priest (1840 – 1914)
José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero was born on the outskirts of Santa Rosa de Rio Primero, Cordoba, on March 16, 1840. He was the fourth of 10 children, who lived from their father’s rural work. He grew up in a profoundly Christian family. Two of his sisters were nuns of the Garden of Olives.
Having entered the College Seminary of Our Lady of Loreto on March 5, 1856, he was ordained a priest on Nov. 4, 1866. As an assistant in the pastoral tasks of the Cathedral of Cordoba, he carried out his priestly ministry during the cholera epidemic that devastated the city. Being Prefect of Studies of the Major Seminary, he received the title of Master in Philosophy from the University of Cordoba.
At the end of 1869 he took on the extensive parish of Saint Albert of 4,336 square kilometers (1,675 square miles), with just over 10,000 inhabitants who lived in distant places with no roads or schools, cutoff by the Great Highlands of more than 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) of altitude. The moral state and material indigence of its inhabitants was lamentable. However, Brochero’s apostolic heart was not discouraged, but from that moment on he dedicated his whole life not only to bring the Gospel to the inhabitants but to educate and promote them. The year after arriving, he began to take men and women to Cordoba to do the Spiritual Exercises. It took three days on the back of a mule to cover the 200 kilometers (125 miles), in caravans that often exceeded 500 people. More than once they were surprised by strong snow storms. On returning, after nine days in silence, prayer and penance, his faithful began to change their lives, following the Gospel and working for the economic development of the region.
In 1875, with the help of his faithful, he began the building of the Houses of Exercises of the then Villa del Transito (locality that today is named after him). It was inaugurated in 1877 with groups that exceeded 700 people, a total of more than 40,000 going through it during his parish ministry. As a complement, he built the House for women religious, the Girls’ School and the residence for priests. With his faithful he built more than 200 kilometers of roads and several churches. He founded villages and was concerned about the education of all. He requested and obtained from the authorities courier posts, post offices and telegraphic posts. He planned the rail network that would go through the Valley of Traslasierra joining Villa Dolores and Soto to bring the beloved highlanders out of the poverty in which they found themselves, “abandoned by all but not by God,” as he said.
He preached the Gospel, using the language of his faithful to make it comprehensible to his listeners. He celebrated the sacraments, always carrying what was necessary for the Mass on the back of his mule. No sick person was left without the sacraments, as neither the rain nor the cold stopped him. “Woe if the devil is going to rob a soul from me,” he said. He gave himself totally to all, especially the poor and the estranged, whom he sought diligently to bring them close to God. A few days after his death, the Catholic newspaper of Cordoba wrote: “It is known that Father Brochero contracted the sickness that took him to his tomb, because he visited at length and embraced an abandoned leper of the area.” Because of his illness, he gave up the parish, living a few years with his sisters in his native village. However, responding to the request of his former faithful, he returned to his House of Villa del Transito, dying leprous and blind on Jan. 26, 1914.
José Gabriel Brochero was beatified in September 2013 by Pope Francis.
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©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
Sunday, January 25th. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St Mark 1:14-20.
THANK YOU
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THANK YOU
From CatholicTV
by
Father Frank McFarland prays the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary from
The beautiful Bellingham Woods.
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Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
The Conversion of Saint Paul, apostle – Feast
25 January 2015
Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 1:14-20.
After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God:
This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.
As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Then they abandoned their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.
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Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
25 January 2015
The Conversion of Saint Paul,
apostle – Feast
Conversion of St. Paul
Paul’s entire life can be explained in terms of one experience—his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus. In an instant, he saw that all the zeal of his dynamic personality was being wasted, like the strength of a boxer swinging wildly. Perhaps he had never seen Jesus, who was only a few years older. But he had acquired a zealot’s hatred of all Jesus stood for, as he began to harass the Church: “…entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment” (Acts 8:3b). Now he himself was “entered,” possessed, all his energy harnessed to one goal—being a slave of Christ in the ministry of reconciliation, an instrument to help others experience the one Savior.
One sentence determined his theology: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5b). Jesus was mysteriously identified with people—the loving group of people Saul had been running down like criminals. Jesus, he saw, was the mysterious fulfillment of all he had been blindly pursuing.
From then on, his only work was to “present everyone perfect in Christ. For this I labor and struggle, in accord with the exercise of his power working within me” (Colossians 1:28b-29). “For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and [with] much conviction” (1 Thessalonians 1:5a).
Paul’s life became a tireless proclaiming and living out of the message of the cross: Christians die baptismally to sin and are buried with Christ; they are dead to all that is sinful and unredeemed in the world. They are made into a new creation, already sharing Christ’s victory and someday to rise from the dead like him. Through this risen Christ the Father pours out the Spirit on them, making them completely new.
So Paul’s great message to the world was: You are saved entirely by God, not by anything you can do. Saving faith is the gift of total, free, personal and loving commitment to Christ, a commitment that then bears fruit in more “works” than the Law could ever contemplate.
Comment:
Paul is undoubtedly hard to understand. His style often reflects the rabbinical style of argument of his day, and often his thought skips on mountaintops while we plod below. But perhaps our problems are accentuated by the fact that so many beautiful jewels have become part of the everyday coin in our Christian language (see quote, below).
Quote:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
An AmericanCatholic.org
Saturday, January 24th. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St Mark 3:20-21.
Daily Mass,
Saturday 24 January 2015
Fr. Patrick Fitzpatrick
Celebrates Daily Mass from St. Basil’s Church in Toronto,
CLICK BELOW
Produced by National Catholic Broadcasting Council.
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DAILY ROSARY
Father Robert Reed guides you in praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.
He prays in the streets of Rome, the center of the Catholic world.
CLICK BELOW
From CatholicTV
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Saturday of the Second week in Ordinary Time
24 January 2015
Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 3:20-21.
Jesus came with his disciples into the house. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
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Saturday of the Second week in Ordinary Time
24 January 2015
Saint of the day
St. Francis of Sales,
Bishop and Doctor of the Church (+ 1622) – Memorial
SAINT FRANCIS OF SALES
Bishop and Doctor of the Church
(1566-1622)
Francis was born of noble and pious parents, near Annecy, 1566, and studied with brilliant success at Paris and Padua. On his return from Italy he gave up the grand career which his father had marked out for him in the service of the state, and became a priest.
When the Duke of Savoy had resolved to restore the Church in the Chablais, Francis offered himself for the work, and set out on foot with his Bible and breviary and one companion, his cousin Louis of Sales. It was a work of toil, privation, and danger. Every door and every heart was closed against him. He was rejected with insult and threatened with death. But nothing could daunt or resist him, and ere long the Church burst forth into a second spring. It is stated that he converted 72,000 Calvinists.
He was then compelled by the Pope to become Coadjutor Bishop of Geneva, and succeeded to the see in 1602. At times the exceeding gentleness with which he received heretics and sinners almost scandalized his friends, and one of them said to him, “Francis of Sales will go to Paradise, of course; but I am not so sure of the Bishop of Geneva: I am almost afraid his gentleness will play him a shrewd turn.” “Ah,” said the Saint, “I would rather account to God for too great gentleness than for too great severity. Is not God all love? God the Father is the Father of mercy; God the Son is a Lamb; God the Holy Spirit is a Dove-that is, gentleness itself. And are you wiser than God?”
In union with St. Jane Frances of Chantal he founded at Annecy the Order of the Visitation, which soon spread over Europe. Though poor, he refused provisions and dignities, and even the great see of Paris.
He died at Avignon, 1622.
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
Image from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Friday, January 23rd. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St Mark 3:13-19.
DAILY MASS
Father Michael Powell, parochial vicar at Saint William’s in Tewksbury, MA,
Celebrates Catholic Mass in the Chapel of the Holy Cross at The CatholicTV Network headquarters,
January 23, 2015.
CLICK BELOW
http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass/2nd-friday-ordinary-time
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DAILY ROSARY
Father Robert Reed prays the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary from
Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles.
CLICK BELOW
http://www.catholictv.com/shows/the-rosary/our-lady-the-angels-joyful
From CatholicTV
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Friday of the Second week in Ordinary Time
23 January 2015
Jesus appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) that they might be with him
and he might send them forth to preach
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 3:13-19.
Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him.
He appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach
and to have authority to drive out demons:
(he appointed the twelve:) Simon, whom he named Peter;
James, son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder;
Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean,
and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
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Friday of the Second week in Ordinary Time
23 January 2015
Saint of the day
St. John the Almoner,
Patriarch of Alexandria (+ c. 620)
SAINT JOHN THE ALMONER
Patriarch of Alexandria
(+ c. 620)
St. John was married, but when his wife and two children died he considered it a call from God to lead a perfect life. He began to give away all he possessed in alms, and became known throughout the East as the Almoner. He was appointed Patriarch of Alexandria; but before he would take possession of his see he told his servants to go over the town and bring him a list of his lords-meaning the poor. They brought word that there were seventy-five hundred of them, and these he undertook to feed every day.
On Wednesday and Friday in every week he sat on a bench before the church, to hear the complaints of the needy and aggrieved; nor would he permit his servants to taste food until their wrongs were redressed. The fear of death was ever before him, and he never spoke an idle word. He turned those out of church whom he saw talking, and forbade all detractors to enter his house. He left seventy churches in Alexandria, where he had found but seven.
A merchant received from St. John five pounds weight of gold to buy merchandise. Having suffered shipwreck and lost all, he had again recourse to John, who said, “Some of your merchandise was ill-gotten,” and gave him ten pounds more; but the next voyage he lost ship as well as goods. John then said, “The ship was wrongfully acquired. Take fifteen pounds of gold, buy corn with it, and put it on one of my ships.” This time the merchant was carried by the winds without his own knowledge to England, where there was a famine; and he sold the corn for its weight in tin, and on his return he found the tin changed to finest silver.
St. John died in Cyprus, his native place, about the year 620.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
Thursday, January 22nd. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St Mark 3:7-12.
DAILY MASS
From CatholicTV’s Chapel of the Holy Cross,
Father Philip Dabney of Mission Church celebrates Catholic Mass on January 22, 2015,
The Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection for Unborn Children.
CLICK BELOW
http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass/day-prayer-unborn-children-2015
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The Closing Mass
Of
The National Prayer Vigil for Life with President of the USCCB,
Archbishop of Louisville Joseph Kurtz celebrating from America’s Catholic Church,
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
CLICK BELOW
http://www.catholictv.com/shows/national-shrine-mass/national-prayer-vigil-life-closing-mass
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DAILY ROSARY
Join Father Robert Reed as he prays a special Rosary for our nation.
CLICK BELOW
http://www.catholictv.com/shows/the-rosary/rosary-our-nation
From CatholicTV
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Thursday of the Second week in Ordinary Time
22 January 2015
Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 3:7-12.
Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea. Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.
He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him. And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.” He warned them sternly not to make him known.
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Thursday of the Second week in Ordinary Time
22 January 2015
Saint of the day
St. Vincent,
Deacon and Martyr (+ 304)
SAINT VINCENT
Deacon and Martyr
(+ 304)
St. Vincent was archdeacon of the church at Saragossa. Valerian, the bishop, had an impediment in his speech; thus Vincent preached in his stead, and answered in his name when both were brought before Dacian, the president, during the persecution of Diocletian. When the bishop was sent into banishment, Vincent remained to suffer and to die.
First of all, he was stretched on the rack; and, when he was almost torn asunder, Dacian, the president, asked him in mockery “how he fared now.” Vincent answered, with joy in his face that he had ever prayed to be as he was then. It was in vain that Dacian struck the executioners and goaded them on in their savage work. The martyr’s flesh was torn with hooks; he was bound in a chair of red-hot iron; lard and salt were rubbed into his wounds; and amid all this he kept his eyes raised to heaven, and remained unmoved.
He was cast into a solitary dungeon, with his feet in the stocks; but the angels of Christ illuminated the darkness, and assured Vincent that he was near his triumph. His wounds were now tended to prepare him for fresh torments, and the faithful were permitted to gaze on his mangled body. They came in troops, kissed the open sores, and carried away as relics cloths dipped in his blood.
Before the tortures could recommence, the martyr’s hour came, and he breathed forth his soul in peace.
Even the dead bodies of the saints are precious in the sight of God, and the hand of iniquity cannot touch them, A raven guarded the body of Vincent where it lay flung upon the earth. When it was sunk out at sea the waves cast it ashore; and his relics are preserved to this day in the Augustinian monastery at Lisbon, for the consolation of the Church of Christ.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
Wednesday, January 21st. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St Mark 3:1-6.
Father Jacques McGuffie celebrates Catholic Mass on January 21, 2015 with students from
Saint Pope John Paul II Academy.
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The Opening Mass
Of
The National Prayer Vigil for Life,
Celebrated by Cardinal Sean O’Malley during March For Life 2015, in Washington, DC.
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From
Father Frank McFarland prays the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary at the Arnold Arboretum.
From CatholicTV
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Wednesday of the Second week in Ordinary Time
21 January 2015
“Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 3:1-6.
Jesus entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand.
They watched him closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him.
He said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up here before us.”
Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” But they remained silent.
Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored.
The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.
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Wednesday of the Second week in Ordinary Time
21 January 2015
Saint of the day
St. Agnes,
Virgin and Martyr (+ 304) – Memorial
SAINT AGNES
Virgin and Martyr
(+ 304)
St. Agnes was but twelve years old when she was led to the altar of Minerva at Rome and commanded to obey the persecuting laws of Diocletian by offering incense. In the midst of the idolatrous rites she raised her hands to Christ, her Spouse, and made the sign of the life-giving cross. She did not shrink when she was bound hand and foot, though the gyves slipped from her young hands, and the heathens who stood around were moved to tears. The bonds were not needed for her, and she hastened gladly to the place of her torture.
Next, when the judge saw that pain had no terrors for her, he inflicted an insult worse than death: her clothes were stripped off, and she had to stand in the street before a pagan crowd; yet even this did not daunt her. “Christ,” she said, “will guard His own.” So it was. Christ showed, by a miracle, the value which He sets upon the custody of the eyes. Whilst the crowd turned away their eyes from the spouse of Christ, as she stood exposed to view in the street, there was one young man who dared to gaze at the innocent child with immodest eyes. A flash of light struck him blind, and his companions bore him away half dead with pain and terror.
Lastly, her fidelity to Christ was proved by flattery and offers of marriage. But she answered, “Christ is my Spouse: He chose me first, and His I will be.” At length the sentence of death was passed. For a moment she stood erect in prayer, and then bowed her neck to the sword. At one stroke her head was severed from her body, and the angels bore her pure soul to Paradise.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
FRANCIS XAVIER SAMSEN 
Monday, February 9th. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St Mark 6:53-56.
DAILY MASS
Fr. Michael Busch celebrates Daily Mass from St. Basil’s Church in Toronto
CLICK BELOW
DAILY MASS – 9 February 2015
Produced by National Catholic Broadcasting Council.
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DAILY ROSARY
Father Robert Reed prays the Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary from
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.
joined by
The Choir of St Paul’s, Boston’s Boy Choir.
CLICK BELOW
DAILY ROSARY
From CatholicTV
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Monday of the Fifth week in Ordinary Time
9 February 2015
They laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 6:53-56.
After making the crossing to the other side of the sea, Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there.
As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.
They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.
Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.
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Monday of the Fifth week in Ordinary Time
9 February 2015
Saint of the day
St. Apollonia, Virgin and Martyr (+ 249)
SAINT APOLLONIA
Virgin and martyr
and the Martyrs of Alexandria
(+ 249)
At Alexandria, in 249, the mob rose in savage fury against the Christians. Metras, an old man, perished first. His eyes were pierced with reeds, and he was stoned to death. A woman named Quinta was the next victim. She was led to a heathen temple and bidden worship. She replied by cursing the false god again and again, and she too was stoned to death. After this the houses of the Christians were sacked and plundered. They took the spoiling of their goods with all joy.
St. Apollonia, an aged virgin, was the most famous among the martyrs. Her teeth were beaten out; she was led outside the city, a huge fire was kindled, and she was told she must deny Christ, or else be burned alive. She was silent for a while, and then, moved by a special inspiration of the Holy Ghost, she leaped into the fire and died in its flames.
The same courage showed itself the next year, when Decius became emperor, and the persecution grew till it seemed as if the very elect must fall away. The story of Dioscorus illustrates the courage of the Alexandrian Christians, and the esteem they had for martyrdom. He was a boy of fifteen. To the arguments of the judge he returned wise answers: he was proof against torture. His older companions were executed, but Dioscorus was spared on account of his tender years; yet the Christians could not bear to think that he had been deprived of the martyr’s crown, except to receive it afterwards more gloriously. “Dioscorus,” writes Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria at this time, “remains with us, reserved for some longer and greater combat.”
There were indeed many Christians who came, pale and trembling, to offer the heathen sacrifices. But the judges themselves were struck with horror at the multitudes who rushed to martyrdom. Women triumphed over torture, till at last the judges were glad to execute them at once and put an end to the ignominy of their own defeat.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
February 1, 2015 | Categories: COMMENTARY OF THE DAY, DAILY GOSPEL OF LORD JESUS CHRIST, DAILY MASS, DAILY ROSARY, MASS OF THE DAY, Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, PSALMS, SAINTS OF THE DAY, THAI CATHOLIC SONGS | Tags: 5 FEBRUARY 2015, 6 FEBRUARY 2015, 7 FEBRUARY 2015, 8 FEBRUARY 2015, 9 FEBRUARY 2015, Bangkok, Basilicas, Bible, BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THAILAND, Catholic TV live, Church, Commentary of the day, DAILY MASS, DAILY ROSARY, FEAST OF THE CHURCH, FRANCIS XAVIER, Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John Henry | Leave a comment