Coptic Church recognizes martyrdom of 21 Coptic Christians - Independent Catholic News - Polycarp Lent: February 23rd

    Coptic Church recognizes martyrdom of 21 Coptic Christians - Independent Catholic News   

Coptic Church recognizes martyrdom of 21 Coptic Christians

Posted: Sunday, February 22, 2015 10:30 pm

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The Coptic Orthodox Church has announced that the murder of the 21 Egyptian Christians killed by the so-called Islamic State in Libya will be commemorated in its Church calendar. Pope Tawadros II announced that the names of the martyrs will be inserted into the Coptic Synaxarium, the Oriental Church’s equivalent to the Roman Martyrology. This procedure is also equivalent to canonization in the Latin Church. According to terrasanta.net news service,  the martyrdom of the 21 Christians will be commemorated on the 8th Amshir of the Coptic calendar, or 15 February in the Gregorian calendar. The commemoration falls on the feast day of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. The names of the martyrs are: 1. Milad Makeen Zaky 2. Abanub Ayad Atiya 3 Maged Solaimen Shehata 4. Yusu Shukry Yunan 5. Kirollos Shokry Fawzy 6. Bishoy Astafanus Kamel 7. Somaily Astafanus Kamel 8. Malak Ibrahim Sinweet 9. Tawadrps Yusuf Tawadros 10. Girgis Milad Sinweet 11. Mina Fayez Aiziz 12. Hany Abdelmesih Salib 13. Bishoy Adel Khalaf 14. Asmeul Alham Wilson 15. Worker from Awr Village 16. Exat Bishri Naseej 17. Loqa Nagaty 18. Gaber Munir Adley 19. Esam Badir Samir​ 20. Malak Farqg Abram 21. Sareen Salah Farug See also: ICN 21 February 2015 - Brother of slain Egyptian Christians prays for their killers http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=26787 Source: Terra Santa/SAT   +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Lent: February 23rd Memorial of St. Polycarp of Smyrna, bishop and martyr    Read the Golden Legend account of the life of St. Polycarp and this life of St. Polycarp from The Early Church Fathers website. Read an account of his martyrdom. Read St. Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians. The Station is in the basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, where the people would assemble towards evening, that they might be present at the ordination of the priests and sacred ministers. This day was called Twelve-Lesson-Saturday, because, formerly, twelve passages from the holy Scriptures were read, as upon Holy Saturday. Built by Constantine in 323, the basilica was erected over the place where St. Peter was buried.

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2015-02-23

Prayers4reparation's Blog

 .---- Forwarded Message -----
From: bob ...
To: Donald ...
Sent: Thursday, 21 March 2013, 9:59

Jesus praying to God the Father in Gethsemane,Heinrich Hofmann, 1890

Subject: the devotion of the agony of jesus on the mount of olives | Search Results | Prayers4reparation's Blog

http://prayers4reparation.wordpress.com/?s=the+devotion+of+the+agony+of+jesus+on+the+mount+of+olives

-- Shared using Google Toolbar 

Dear Father Donald i came across this prayer from the visions of sister lucia dos santos. 

I hope you might post it up on your blog if not then i hope you may read it for private reflection.

... regards

 Robert

Hi, Robert,

Interesting: Thank you for the LINK of Sr. Lucia.

It is interesting to see that the excellent Website  is based in London.

A taster can Post one Blogspot page :

Out Lady love ...

fr. Donald

Prayers4reparation's Blog

…"IF MY PEOPLE WHO BEAR MY NAME, HUMBLE THEMSELVES AND PRAY AND SEEK MY PRESENCE AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, I MYSELF WILL HEAR FROM HEAVEN AND FORGIVE THEIR SINS…" (2 CHRON. 7:14) – "YOU WILL SEE THAT IN PRAYER YOU WILL FIND MORE KNOWLEDGE, MORE LIGHT, MORE STRENGTH, MORE GRACE AND VIRTUE THAN YOU COULD EVER ACHIEVE BY READING MANY BOOKS, OR BY GREAT STUDIES. NEVER CONSIDER AS WASTED THE TIME YOU SPEND IN PRAYER. YOU WILL DISCOVER THAT IN PRAYER GOD COMMUNICATES TO YOU THE LIGHT, STRENGTH AND GRACE YOU NEED…" (SR LUCIA DOS SANTOS)

PRAYER FOR ST COLUMBAN’S INTERCESSION

28FEB

O Blessed Columban,
who in your zeal to follow Christ
left your homeland as a wanderer
and spent your life in suffering and exile,
help and protect, we humbly ask you,
the missionaries of our day
who have devoted their lives
to preaching the Gospel
throughout the world.

Obtain for them, we ask you,
that same wisdom and fortitude
by which you overcame the dangers
which beset your path,
and that firm faith and ardent love
which enabled you to endure gladly
the privations of this life
for the love of Christ.

Assist and protect us, also,
dear Saint Columban,
so to live for God’s glory
that when our pilgrimage
through this life is over,
we may share with you
in the joy of our heavenly home,
through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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FOR YOUR DIARY: CONFESSION – LENTEN PENITENTIAL SERVICE IN SOUTH LONDON

20MAR

• What : Lenten Penitential Service

• When : 23 March 2013, 11.30am

• Where: St Saviour’s Church, Lewisham High Street, London SE13

Bus from Victoria: 185; other Buses to Lewisham: 21, 36, 47, 54, 75, 89, 108, 122, 136, 180, 181, 199, 208, 225, 261, 273, 278, 284, 321, 380, 484, 621, P4, 851, 852, 856, 931, 932, 933, 936, 939, 942, 943, 970, 971, 972, 973. St Saviour’s Church is located on Lewisham High Street, opposite Primark and McDonald’s.

After a short service, led by Bishop Patrick, there will be priests in the confession boxes and around the church for individual confessions. This is a wonderful way to prepare for the celebration of Easter, so please do make every effort to come. Confessions can be heard in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Ebo and Twi. EVERYBODY IS WELCOME TO ATTEND.

GOING TO CONFESSION

Rome's Station Churches: Week II

ZENIT

The world seen from Rome

DAILY DISPATCH - MARCH 01, 2013

IN FOCUS

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Santa_Maria_in_Trasteve_Interior_Rome

Rome's Station Churches: Week II

Santa Maria in Trastevere and the Early Christians

By Ann Schneible

ROME, March 01, 2013 (Zenit.org) - This week's annual Lenten station church pilgrimage led pilgrims to Santa Maria in Trastevere, the heart of what was one of Rome's earliest Christian communities.

• The pilgrimage is organized each year by seminarians and priests of the Pontifical North American College in Rome. An early morning (7 a.m.) Mass is celebrated in English at one of these churches each day (except Sunday) throughout Lent. It is a practice which goes back to the early Church when the pope, as bishop of Rome, would pay a pastoral visit to the parishes of the city.
• One of the oldest churches in Rome, Santa Maria in Trastevere was built on the site where, according to legend, oil miraculously sprung forth from the ground on the day Mary the mother of Jesus was born. Built in the 4th century, the church to this day enjoys an active parish life, and is closely tied to the San'Egidio Community – a movement known for its work with the poor. The parish also hosts a Byzantine Liturgy with roots in Italy, celebrated each Sunday evening in the Italian language.
• J. Stanton Good, who works as a professional tour guide in Rome, explained to ZENIT that Santa Maria in Trastevere was likely the center of the early Church. Translated "across the Tiber," the region of Rome known as Trastevere hosted an international community during the Roman empire as it was located close to a port. Good said there is proof of Christian worship at the site of the church going back to the 4th century, although there is "the possibility of Christian worship in the vicinity even before that when Christianity was still illegal."
• "There are three ancient churches in Trastevere, what we would call 'Paleo-Christian' churches," he said. "The very oldest churches going back to the 5th and 4th century when the Roman empire was still standing. This is the most characteristic of the three."
• Speaking on the legend surrounding the site, Good noted how it was significant that the miraculous oil erupted in a pagan neighborhood of Rome on the day the Virgin Mary was born in the East. "This is an interesting tradition," he said. "For instance, people go into the Sistine Chapel and wonder why there are five Greek pagan symbols on the ceiling of a Christian place. A natural phenomena happening, it seems, at the same time the Virgin Mary is born. After Christianity is legalized and becomes the majority religion – then becoming the only religion – we look back in time and we start to rehash all of these old pagan prophesies."
• Santa Maria in Trastevere  was also the site of key ecclesiastical moments in the Church's history, Good said, explaining that a conclave was held in the church. "When the popes came back from Avignon in 1378 Saint John Lateran had been burnt to the ground twice in 55 years. They came here because this church was still standing. You had some very important ecclesiastics in this church."
• Artistically, the church is rich in Marian imagery, much of which is stylistically Byzantine. The façade of the building presents a 12th century mosaic of Mary, flanked by angels, breastfeeding the Christ child as she sits on a throne. Inside the Church, in the apse above the altar, a domed 13th century mosaic made of glass also represents Mary on a throne, this time beside an adult Jesus who has His arm around His mother. Flanking the altar are panels which depict the life of Mary, again in the style of Byzantine mosaic, beginning with her life and ending with her dormition. Contained in the "Altemps chapel," located just left of the main apse, is one of the oldest images of Mary in the world. The image is historically significant in that it dates to the iconoclast controversy, which stated that sacred images of our Lord and the saints were not to be used. The controversy drove many icon painters to Rome, bringing this form of religious art to the city, Good explained.
• Good concludes: "Santa Maria in Trastevere is, in my experience, the most active of the ancient Churches – the best combination of antiquity and an active Church for living worship." 

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Prayer to the shoulder wound of Jesus (St. Bernard?)

Prayer to the shoulder wound of Jesus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  

   This Roman Catholic prayer is variously attributed to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux^[1] or to St. Gertrude or St. Mechtilde. ^[2]

Fifth Station, Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus to Carry the Cross
by Fr. Gabriel, Nunraw Abbey

In English:

'"O Loving Jesus, Meek Lamb of God, I, a miserable sinner, salute and worship the most Sacred Wound of Thy Shoulder on which Thou didst bear Thy heavy Cross, which so tore Thy Flesh and laid bare Thy Bones as to inflict on Thee an anguish greater than any other wound of Thy Most Blessed Body. I adore Thee, O Jesus most sorrowful; I praise and glorify Thee and give Thee thanks for this most sacred and painful Wound, beseeching Thee by that exceeding pain and by the crushing burden of Thy heavy Cross, to be merciful to me, a sinner, to forgive me all my mortal and venial sins and to lead me on towards Heaven along the Way of Thy Cross. Amen."

According to St. Bernard, he asked Jesus which was His greatest unrecorded suffering and the wound that inflicted the most pain on Him in Calvary and Jesus answered:

"I had on My Shoulder, while I bore My Cross on the Way of Sorrows, a grievous Wound which was more painful than the others and which is not recorded by men. Honor this Wound with thy devotion and I will grant thee whatsoever thou dost ask through its virtue and merit and in regard to all those who shall venerate this Wound, I will remit to them all their venial sins and will no longer remember their mortal sins."^[3]

The modern version of the prayer bears the imprimatur of Bishop Thomas D. Bevan ^[4].

[edit] The Prayer in Latin

O Iesu amantissime, Agne Dei mansuetissime, ego miser peccator saluto et veneror sacratissimum vulnus, quod in humero tuo, dum gravem crucis tuae trabem portares, persensisti : ob quod singularem dolorem et cruciatum in benedicto corpore tuo sustinuisti. Adoro te, Iesu afflictissime, et ex intimo corde laudo, benedico et glorifico te gratiasque ago pro hoc sacratissimo poenosissimoque vulnere humeri tui, humiliter deprecans, ut ob nimium illum dolorem, quem illud tibi inflixit, et propter grave onus crucis tuae, quod te tam dire afflixit, miserearis mihi peccatori, peccata mea venialia et mortalia remittas meque per viam crucis tuae ad caelum deducas. Amen.

[edit] References

1. ^ Catholic Online - Prayers
2. ^ Preces Gertrudianae sive vera et sincera medulla precum potissimum ex revelationibus BB. Gertrudis et Mechtildis excerptarum. Editio nova, accurate recognita et emendata a monacho ordinis S. Benedicti Congregationis Beuronensis, 1903
3. ^ Catholic Tradition http://www.catholictradition.org/Children/st-bernard.htm
4. ^ Prayer to the Shoulder Wound of Jesus http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=31

[edit] See also

Lent: March 20th - St. Photina

The most comprehensive treatment of the Liturgical Year available online: daily reflections, saints, seasons, calendars, prayers, activities, and recipes.

Daily Readings for: March 20, 2012
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: May the venerable exercises of holy devotion shape the hearts of your faithful, O Lord, to welcome worthily the Paschal Mystery and proclaim the praises of your salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

RECIPES

• Ensalada de Escarola

PRAYERS

• Prayer for the Fourth Week of Lent
• Lent Table Blessing 4
• Litany of Humility
• Annunciation Novena
• Novena for the Annunciation

LIBRARY

• None

» Enjoy our Liturgical Seasons series of e-books!

Lent: March 20th

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent Old Calendar: St. Photina (Hist)

Move to: Previous Day | Next Day

The theme of life and light has colored the Liturgy of this week. Before leading the catechumens into the Mystery of Christ's Passion and Death, the Church presents Christ to them once more as the Light of the world who has power to open man's eyes to his Light. He will veil it for a while during his Passion but it will burst forth in full splendor again on Easter morning.
Historically today is the feast of St. Photina, the Samaritan woman at the well.
Stational Church

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Meditation
We must forgive our neighbor always. This fraternal charity is the source of strength among the members of the Mystical Body: "If two of you shall consent upon earth concerning anything whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father". This charity should animate us in giving fraternal correction, which should always be free from all vanity, self-love and desire to humiliate and defame.
The Church dispenses Christ's forgiveness through the power of the keys: "whatsoever you shall loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven". Christ's pardon of us is limitless. Just as the small quantity of oil, increasing miraculously at the word of Elias, enabled the poor widow to pay all her debts, so the infinite merits of Christ enable us to expiate all our sins.
Love of God and of neighbor imposes on us constant self-denial and self-mastery. Only love working through mortification will enable us to ascend the "holy hill" and dwell in "God's tabernacle". — The Cathedral Daily Missal by Right Rev. Msgr. Rudolph G. Bandas
Things to Do:

• Discuss the idea of forgiveness with your children — emphasizing with today's Gospel that Christ's forgiveness is limitless to those who humbly repent of their offenses against Him. Ask them ways in which they practice this virtue every day, with their sisters and brothers, with their parents, and with their friends.
• Throughout this fourth week of Lent, often the time when children begin to lose focus or weary of this penitential season, give them something tangible to work on, such as a Lenten Scrapbook, an ongoing activity that will engage their minds and stretch their creativity in putting their faith into pictures.

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St. Photina
St. Photina was that Samaritan woman whom our Lord met at Jacob’s Well. When He disclosed the secret of her profligate life, she believed in Him at once as that Messiah which was to come, and began spreading the Gospel among the Samaritans, converting many. Later, she and her son Josiah and her five sisters went to Carthage to preach and then to Rome. Another son, Victor, was a soldier and had already come to Emperor Nero’s attention as being a Christian. The Emperor summoned the whole family and with threats and tortures tried to force them to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ. Meanwhile, when Nero’s daughter Domnina came in contact with Photina (the Lord Himself had given her the name, meaning “resplendent” or “shining with light”), she, too, was converted. The enraged emperor had the heads of the sons and sisters cut off; Photina was held in prison for a few more weeks before being thrown into a well, where she joyously gave her soul to the Lord.
Excerpted from Orthodox America

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The Station today is in St. Lawrence's in Damaso—a church built by Pope St. Damascus in honor of the martyred deacon. It was one of the first parish churches in Rome and was rebuilt in the late 15th century by Bramante, and has since been restored several times. Pope St. Damasus' relics are beneath the altar. Today the church is part of the Cancelleria, or the chancery, and houses the Holy Father's Tribunals: the Roman Rota, Apostolic Signatura, and Apostolic Penitentiary.

Three Parishes annual Lent Stations of the Cross at Nunraw Abbey

Our Lady, Saint Matthew and Saint Margaret

5th Sunday of Lent  

http://www.rbgcatholics.co.uk/   

LENT
Nunraw Pilgrimage  -  next Sunday, 10th April.
Parish PP. Canon Hugh White (centre). Fr. Raymond(left)