Pope to Consecrate Immaculate Heart of Mary Oct. 13

Pope Francis to Consecrate the World to Mary’s Immaculate Heart (16482)

The Holy Father’s prayer will be part of a two-day Marian celebration in October, the month of the Rosary.

by CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY 08/14/2013 Comments (70)

– CNA

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis will consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Oct. 13 as part of the Marian Day celebration that will involve the iconic statue of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima.

“The Holy Father strongly desires that the Marian Day may have present, as a special sign, one of the most significant Marian icons for Christians throughout the world, and, for that reason, we thought of the beloved original statue of Our Lady of Fatima,” wrote Cardinal Rino Fisichella.

Cardinal Fisichella, who serves as president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, made his remarks in a letter to Bishop Antonio Marto of Leiria-Fatima.

According to the Portuguese shrine’s website, the statue of Our Lady of Fatima will leave for Rome on the morning of Oct. 12 and return on the afternoon of Oct. 13. The statue normally resides in the shrine’s Little Chapel of Apparitions.

The cardinal said that “all ecclesial entities of Marian spirituality” are invited to take part in the celebration. Hundreds of movements and institutions that emphasize Marian devotion are expected to attend, the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima says.

The two-day observance includes an Oct. 12 pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Peter and moments of prayer and meditation. On Oct. 13, Pope Francis will celebrate Mass in St. Peter’s Square.

Our Lady of Fatima appeared to three shepherd children in the village of Fatima in Portugal in 1917. She warned of violent trials in the 20th century if the world did not make reparation for sins. She urged prayer and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

At the request of Pope Francis, Cardinal Jose Polycarp, the patriarch of Lisbon, consecrated the Pope’s pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima on May 13, her feast day.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/pope-francis-to-consecrate-the-world-to-marys-immaculate-heart/#ixzz2hXUhvtnu

John Tauler Spiritual Conferences, Inscribe Text

Saint Augustine said: “Empty yourselves so that you may be filled.”

In another place our Lord said that he is the door through which we must pass. When we pray we must knock on three places on this door if we are to be truly let in.

1.We must knock with all devotion upon the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, the heart that was opened to us in love, the side that was pierced. We must go in there with all devotion, acknowledging that we are the poorest of the poor, that we are nothing; and like the poor man Lazarus before the rich man’s gate, we must beg for the crumbs of grace. He will give us his grace divinely and supernaturally.

2. Next we must knock upon the holy open wounds of his sacred hands, and pray to him to give us knowledge of himself, to enlighten us and lift us up to him.

3. Lastly we must knock upon the door of his sacred feet, and ask him for a love that is divine and true, a love that will unite us with him completely, so that we are submerged and wrapped up in him.

May our loving God help us all so to ask, seek and knock that we may be let in.

John Tauler, "Surely this is a great mystery; but I will explain it to you."

Monastic Office of Vigils, John Tauler

27th Week in Ordinary Time
Thursday

First Reading Isaiah 37:21-35

Responsory          Ps 20:7-8; 121:2

Some put their trust in chariots or horses, but our trust is in the name of the Lord. +They will collapse and fall, but we shall rise and stand firm.

V. My help shall come from the Lord, the creator of heaven and earth. + They will collapse ..

Second Reading

From a conference by John Tauler

Second Reading From a conference by John Tauler

Spiritual Conferences, Colledge and Jane, 241-242

Our Lord goes on to say: “Would a father give his children a stone when they had asked him for fish?”

Then he says: “If you, sinful as you are, know how to give the right thing to your children, how much better will your heavenly Father do, and best of all for those who ask him?”

He who is the Word of truth said that things will be given to those who ask. Then how can it be that so many people do ask, and keep on asking all their lives, and yet are never given this living bread? How can this be, when God is so unutterably merciful, so unstinting, when he gives and forgives as no human being knows how, when he is a thousand times more ready to give than we are to receive? These people say the same holy prayers, the Our Father, our Lord’s own prayer, many psalms and the holy collects inspired by the Holy Ghost, and still they are not given what they ask for. Surely this is a great mystery; but I will explain it to you.

The hearts of these people, the depths of their souls, their love and their desires, are possessed by the love of something alien from God. It does not matter what it is: the dead or the living, themselves or other people. Whatever it is, it possesses and fills the place which the true love of God, the true living bread, should occupy, so that it cannot come to them however much they ask and pray for it.

Master Hugh said: “People can no more live without loving that they can live without souls.” It is up to all of us to see for ourselves what we love, because if one sort of love is to enter our hearts, the other must go out. Saint Augustine said: “Empty yourselves so that you may be filled.”

In another place our Lord said that he is the door through which we must pass. 

When we pray we must knock on three places on this door if we are to be truly let in. We must knock with all devotion upon the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, the heart that was opened to us in love, the side that was pierced. We must go in there with all devotion, acknowledging that we are the poorest of the poor, that we are nothing; and like the poor man Lazarus before the rich man’s gate, we must beg for the crumbs of grace. He will give us his grace divinely and supernaturally. 

Next we must knock upon the holy open wounds of his sacred hands, and pray to him to give us knowl­edge of himself, to enlighten us and lift us up to him. 

Lastly we must knock upon the door of his sacred feet, and ask him for a love that is divine and true, a love that will unite us with him completely, so that we are submerged and wrapped up in him.

May our loving God help us all so to ask, seek and knock that we may be let in.

Responsory          Mt 7:7.11

Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; + knock and the door will be opened to you.

V. If you who are evil know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him. + Knock ...

Spiritual Conferences. Trns. & Edit.
by Eric Colledge and Sister M. Jane
(Cross and Crown Series of Spirituality... by John TAULER (1961)

John Tauler "We must knock at the Father's heart and beg for bread. This bread is God's love."

 Monastic Office of Vigils, John Tauler

 

Seal of the Dominican Order

27th Week in Ordinary Time
Wednesday

First Reading                          2 Kings 18:37; 19:1-19.35-37

Responsory                                  Ps 20:7-8; 121:2

Some put their trust in chariots or horses, but our trust is in the name of the Lord.₊ They will collapse and fall, but we shall rise and stand firm.

V. My help shall come from the Lord, the creator of heaven and earth. +They will collapse ...

Second Reading From a conference by John Tauler

Spiritual Conferences, Colledge and Jane, 240-241

God is ready to give if we will only ask him properly; and he has been at pains to tell us and urge us and teach us how to ask him properly. All the same, his gifts are only given to those who beg and pray and keep on praying, never to idlers and loungers.

We should observe what we must ask for, and how. If we want to be wholehearted in our prayer, above everything else we must bring our hearts home, call them back from their wanderings among created things, from their distractions, and then with deep humility we must prostrate ourselves at God's feet and ask him to be merciful and generous to us. We must knock at the Father's heart and beg for bread. This bread is God's love. If we have no bread, then we have no appetite for any other food, however rich it may be; we cannot enjoy it, it does not nourish us. God's love is like that; it is the one thing we really need.

So we must ask God to give to us, and ask him to teach us in our prayer and in our spiritual exercises, how to ask him in the way most pleasing to him and most profitable to us. Then we must use whatever methods of prayer come to us, whether they are directed to God's divinity or to the Holy Trinity or to the passion or the sacred wounds of our Lord.

So "ask" means ask the Lord for something. It is not given to everyone to use purely mental prayer; some people have to use words. If you need to do this, speak to our dear Lord lovingly and tenderly with all the most loving words you can think of. This will raise up your love and your heart. Ask the heavenly Father to give you a foretaste of himself through his only Son in whatever way is most pleasing to him; and when you have found the form of prayer that suits you best, even if it is the remembrance of your sins and your faults, persevere in it and make it your own.

"Seek" means seek out whatever is most pleasing to God and most profitable to you. And "knock" means apply yourself with zeal and persistence; because the prize is given to the person who persists to the end

Responseory   Mt 7:7.11

Spiritual Conferences. Trns. & Edit.
by Eric Colledge and Sister M. Jane
(Cross and Crown Series of Spirituality... by John TAULER (1961)

Monastic Office of Vigils, Martin D'Arcy

Martin C. D'Arcy S.J. by: Eman Bonnici

27th Week in Ordinary Time
TUESDAY

First Reading

2 Kings 18:17-36

Responsory          Ps 20:7-8; 121:2

Some put their trust in chariots or horses, but our trust is in the name of the Lord. + They will collapse and fall, but we shall rise and stand firm.

V. My help shall come from the Lord, the creator of heaven and earth. + They will collapse ...

Second Reading

From The Sense of History by Martin D'Arcy, pp. 133-134

D'Arcy, Martin Cyril (1888-1976) A Jesuit who was one of the most influential English Catholics of his age, his homilies and lectures, no less than his writing, inspired, strengthened and deepened the faith of many. He lectured in philosophy both at Oxford, where he was master of Cam­pion Hall, and in the United States. His books include The Nature of Belief, The Meeting of Love and Knowledge, and Facing God.

The clearest example of a pure belief in providence is to be found in the Jewish religion, which rose steadily and defiantly above the mists of surrounding beliefs. The Lord is the one, true God, who created the world and has a purpose for humankind and a mission for his people. No matter what disasters befell them the Jews returned to this faith and hope at the instance of their prophets. The Lord is the everlasting God, who has created the ends of the earth. He shall not faint nor labor, neither is there any searching out of his wisdom. It is he that gives strength to the weary, and increased force and might to them that are not ... They that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall take wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. The gospels place in the forefront this idea of providence; the teaching of Christ begins with the declaration of God as the Father who makes life precious by his care for it, and this assurance is more than ratified by the act of the Son of God, who shows his surpassing love for us by dying on our behalf.

In the Christian dispensation providence is looked upon as both universal and particular. As particular it means that every individual is cared for by God, even to the hairs of his head, or as Saint Paul describes it, that all things cooperate for the good of those that love God. As universal, it means that though history is made by the cooperation and clash of human wills, God works in and through it, so that his purposes are fulfilled. This is the idea of providence which has prevailed in the West and wherever Christianity has penetrated, and it lies behind the attempts of various Christian thinkers in the past to sketch a providential view of history. Christians from time immemorial have their own personal needs. Such prayers pervade the liturgy, of which one example is the collect asking that "God, by whose never-failing providence the world is ordered," may "remove from our path all hurtful things, and give us all that will be for our good." Such prayers are warranted by the Lord's Prayer and by the belief of Christians that the divine and human meet in a personal relationship. The language of friendship and love does not, however, lend itself to theory, especially to a theory of history in which the part of God is to be explained.

The new hope stirred at the beginning by the Christian message was not due to any theory of history. It was the fact of the existence of providence which produced a radical change, removing the dark fears that human life signified nothing. Comfort can come when we are sure that all is well, even though we have no idea of how the happy ending is to be brought about.

Responsory     Rom 8:28; Jdt 9:5

We know that by turning everything to their good + God cooperates with all who love him, with all whom he has called according to his purpose.

V. All your ways are prepared beforehand, and your judgments rest on foreknowledge. ₊God cooperates ...

John H. Newman, Bl., 9th October, Liturgy Office

Blessed John Henry Newman

National Calendar for England, Wales, Ireland  9th. October 

http://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Calendar/National/Newman.shtml  

Blessed John Henry Newman was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI at a Mass in Cofton Park, Birmingham on Sunday 19 September 2010. At the request of the Bishops he has been included in the National Calendar for England on 9 October as an optional memorial.

Pope Benedict in his homily at the Mass of Beatification said:

Cardinal Newman's motto, Cor ad cor loquitur, or "Heart speaks unto heart", gives us an insight into his understanding of the Christian life as a call to holiness, experienced as the profound desire of the human heart to enter into intimate communion with the Heart of God. He reminds us that faithfulness to prayer gradually transforms us into the divine likeness. As he wrote in one of his many fine sermons, "a habit of prayer, the practice of turning to God and the unseen world in every season, in every place, in every emergency — prayer, I say, has what may be called a natural effect in spiritualizing and elevating the soul. A man is no longer what he was before; gradually — he has imbibed a new set of ideas, and become imbued with fresh principles" (Parochial and Plain Sermons, iv, 230-231). Today's Gospel tells us that no one can be the servant of two masters (cf. Lk 16:13), and Blessed John Henry's teaching on prayer explains how the faithful Christian is definitively taken into the service of the one true Master, who alone has a claim to our unconditional devotion (cf. Mt 23:10). Newman helps us to understand what this means for our daily lives: he tells us that our divine Master has assigned a specific task to each one of us, a "definite service", committed uniquely to every single person: "I have my mission", he wrote, "I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do his work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place — if I do but keep his commandments and serve him in my calling" (Meditations and Devotions, 301-2).

·                     Texts for Mass can be found in the Roman Missal

·                     Texts for the Office of Readings (pdf) are available

A note on the date It is customary for a Saint or a Blessed to be celebrated on the day of their death unless it is impeded by another celebration. Blessed John Henry Newman died on 11 August 1890. The Church across the world celebrates St Clare on August 11 and so another date was sought. One of the reasons that 9 October was chosen was because it falls at the beginning of the University year; an area in which Newman had a particular interest.

 Blessed John Henry Newman, Priest

Born in London in 1801, he was for over twenty years an Anglican clergyman and Fellow of Oriel College, Ox­ford. His studies of the early Church led him progressively towards Catholicism, and in 1845 he embraced “the one true fold of the Redeemer”. In 1847 he was ordained priest and went on to found the Oratory of St Philip Neri in England. He was a prolific and influential writer on a variety of subjects. In 1879 he was created Cardi­nal by Pope Leo XIII. Praised for his humility, unstinting care of souls and contributions to the intellectual life of the Church, he died in Birmingham on 11 August 1890.

From the Common of Pastors,

Office Of Readings

Second Reading

From the writings of Blessed John Henry Newman, Priest

(Apologia Pro Vita Sua, Chapter V: Position of My Mind since 1845, London 1864, pp. 238-239, 250-251)

It was like coming into port after a rough sea.

From the time that I became a Catholic, of course I have no further history of my religious opin­ions to narrate.

Saint Francis Receives the Stigmata, illumination from the Life of Saint Francis by Saint Bonaventure

O humilitas sublimis!
O sublimitas humilis!

 

In 1224, Saint Francis of Assisi († 1226) becomes the first man to be marked with the stigmata of Christ’s Passion: “While contemplating the sufferings of the Savior, he suddenly saw descending from heaven one of the seraphim in the form of a crucified man. This celestial spirit was endowed with six wings of flame. Five rays of light flashed forth from the five wounds of the crucified, striking the saint’s side, two hands, and two feet, and inscribing there forever the wounds of the Lord.”

This month’s cover of Magnificat illustrates this event. It features a miniature, possibly painted by a Poor Clare nun from Fribourg, from a fifteenth-century illuminated manuscript of the Life of Saint Francis by Saint Bonaventure. This work reveals a childlike simplicity of soul. It perfectly translates the deliciously naïve vision of Brother Leo, the sole witness of this prodigy, whom Francis praised as “innocent as a dove.” The faces of all three figures here are beaming with beatitude, as if they have come down again from heaven to reenact the scene. Brother Leo himself appears seated in the background, holding his crammed notebook. The only tragic touch in this painting lies behind him: a grotto amid the crags of Mount La Verna recalls Christ’s tomb and foreshadows the baptism of death that Francis will undergo two years later. Nevertheless, Brother Leo wears a long, rough robe tinged with rose, the color of the dawn that also casts a halo over the mountain, as it adorns the liturgical ornaments on Laetare Sunday. While Francis, clothed in jet blue, enters into the night of the Passion, Brother Leo, at rest among the flowers, already hints at the light of Easter morning and the great joy that the Passion has prepared. We admire the liberty and beautiful spontaneity that our unknown artist infuses within her design. Free from any signs of retouching, her brush strokes—sepia for living beings, black for the mineral—flow forth like the extension of a joyous and peaceful mystical thought.

In canto 11 of the Paradiso, dedicated to the life of Saint Francis, Dante († 1231) sings in a completely different key about the Poverello’s stigmata:

On a harsh rock between the Tiber and the Arno

he received from Christ his final seal,

which his limbs bore for two years.

A fervent proponent of a humble and spiritual Church founded upon evangelical poverty and bold proclamation of the faith, Dante presents a Francis of Assisi who radically embraces humility as the only “means” of attaining the sublimity of being an alter Christi, the most authentic proof of which is “his final seal.” His Francis is not only “peace and joy.” “In order to live according to the holy Gospel,” he can be exceedingly determined and courageous, resolute and uncompromising, indeed inflexible.

Seven centuries after Dante, the Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin writes: “I consider the feast day of the stigmata of Saint Francis* one of the most perfect revelations of this universal and transformative Christ who showed himself to Saint Paul, and for whom our generation feels such an irresistible need.” And later he adds: “I dream about a new Saint Francis or a new Saint Ignatius, who would come and show us the kind of Christian life we need.” In March 2013, all of a sudden a son of Saint Ignatius becomes Pope Francis! It is not clear whether the media is yet aware of just who they are dealing with…** 

 

Pierre-Marie Dumont

 

* In order to foster greater love for Jesus crucified, Pope Paul V († 1621) extended the liturgical memorial of the stigmata of Saint Francis (September 17) to the universal Church. In 1960, this memorial was reduced to a simple commemoration.

** His book of spiritual exercises, In Him Alone Is Our Hope (Magnificat), reveals a Pope Francis who is astonishingly close to the Francis of Assisi of the Divine Comedy. Addressing his brother bishops, for example, he lets fly with the following remark: “The Antichrists are right here inour midst: some of us have grown weary of the humility of Christ.”

 

 

Saint Francis Receives the Stigmata, illumination from the Life of Saint Francis by Saint Bonaventure, before 1478, Add. 15710, f. 164v., The British Library, London, England. © British Library Board / Robanna / Leemage.

 

With thanks from MAGNIFICAT com

www.magnificat.com/english/popup_couv.asp

COMMENT: blog.americancatholic.org 2013/05/a-pope-who-mirrors-the-values-of-st-francis/

A POPE WHO MIRRORS THE VALUES OF ST. FRANCIS

Posted by Jack Wintz on May 20, 2013 in Church, Featured, Franciscan | 0 comments

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires became Pope Francis on March 13, thus becoming the first pope of the Americas! During the process of his election, Pope Francis said, “I had the archbishop emeritus of Sao Paulo next to me, Cardinal Hummus, OFM, a dear, dear friend.” The pope went on to say that “when the votes reached two-thirds, there was the usual applause because the pope had been elected.

“It was then that Cardinal Hummus hugged me and said, ‘Do not forget the poor.’ Oh, how I wish for a Church that is poor and for the poor! And that word stuck here [tapping the forehead]. And so the name came to my heart: Francis of Assisi. For me he is the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and safeguards creation.

“In this moment when our relationship with creation is not so good . . . he is the man who gives us this spirit of peace, the poor man.”

In the Footsteps of St. Francis

For those who knew Cardinal Bergoglio, the new pope’s choice of the name Francis was not a surprise. After all, the cardinal was known for his care and love for the poor in Buenos Aires. Everyone knew that he preferred to live in a simple apartment—not in the bishop’s estate. He cooked his own meals and took the bus to work, chatting with ordinary people.

In the current issue of St. Anthony Messenger—in a cover story about Pope Francis by Assistant Editor Christopher Heffron—the pope speaks of his fondness for St. Francis of Assisi. He adds, moreover, that he “would like to ask . . . all men and women of goodwill to be protectors of creation, of each other . . . and of the environment.”

Rebuilding Today’s Church

St. Anthony Messenger’s story also points out that the new pope believes he is called to mirror St. Francis in another way: just as the poor man of Assisi was chosen by God to repair a broken Church, so Pope Francis sees himself and each one of us called to the same mission.

A Blessing for Franciscan Media

Pope Francis has brought wonderful affirmation to the Franciscan way of life all around the world by choosing St. Francis of Assisi as his model and guide. For example, St. Anthony Messenger is only one of many publications that we publish here in Cincinnati, Ohio. Our company is known in the United States and beyond as Franciscan Media.

We try to spread the spirit of St. Francis far and wide, not only through the publication of our national magazine, but through our books on faith and spirituality, as well as by widely circulated newsletters such as Catholic Update, which is distributed in many parishes in the United States and Canada.

*****

Featured photo: CNS photo/Alessia Giuliani

 

 

About the Author

Jack Wintz

Jack Wintz, O.F.M., is a familiar face at Franciscan Media. His articles and photos have been appearing in the pages of St. Anthony Messenger magazine for over 38 years. He has been writing Friar Jack’s E-spirations for AmericanCatholic.org for over ten years. This free e-newsletter reaches over 50,000 readers around the world.

Saint Francis of Assisi - Monastic Office of Vigils,

Breviary    

Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy
an oil painting by Jusepe de Ribera (1642)

Friday, 4 October 2013

SECOND READING

From a letter written to all the faithful by Saint Francis of Assisi
(Opuscula, edit. Quaracchi 1949, 87-94)

We must be simple, humble and pure

It was through his archangel, Saint Gabriel, that the Father above made known to the holy and glorious Virgin Mary that the worthy, holy and glorious Word of the Father would come from heaven and take from her womb the real flesh of our human frailty. Though he was wealthy beyond reckoning, he still willingly chose to be poor with his blessed mother. And shortly before his passion he celebrated the Passover with his disciples. Then he prayed to his Father saying: Father, if it be possible, let this cup be taken from me.

Nevertheless, he reposed his will in the will of his Father. The Father willed that his blessed and glorious Son, whom he gave to us and who was born for us, should through his own blood offer himself as a sacrificial victim on the altar of the cross. This was to be done not for himself through whom all things were made, but for our sins. It was intended to leave us an example of how to follow in his footsteps. And he desires all of us to be saved through him, and to receive him with pure heart and chaste body.

O how happy and blessed are those who love the Lord and do as the Lord himself said in the gospel: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole soul; and your neighbor as yourself. Therefore, let us love God and adore him with pure heart and mind. This is his particular desire when he says: True worshipers adore the Father in spirit and truth. For all who adore him must do so in the spirit of truth. Let us also direct to him our praises and prayers saying: Our Father, who art in heaven, since we must always pray and never grow slack.

Furthermore, let us produce worthy fruits of penance. Let us also love our neighbors as ourselves. Let us have charity and humility. Let us give alms because these cleanse our souls from the stains of sin. Men lose all the material things they leave behind them in this world, but they carry with them the reward of their charity and the alms they give. For these they will receive from the Lord the reward and recompense they deserve. We must not be wise and prudent according to the flesh. Rather we must be simple, humble and pure. We should never desire to be over others. Instead, we ought to be servants who are submissive to every human being for God’s sake. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on all who live in this way and persevere in it to the end. He will permanently dwell in them. They will be the Father’s children who do his work. They are the spouses, brothers and mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ.

RESPONSORY
Matthew 5:3-4, 6

Blessed are you who are poor,
for the kingdom of God is yours.
– Blessed are those of gentle spirit;
they shall inherit the land.

Blessed are you who hunger now;
you shall be satisfied.
– Blessed are those of gentle spirit;
they shall inherit the land.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Let us pray.

Father,
you helped Saint Francis to reflect the image of Christ
through a life of poverty and humility.
May we follow your Son
by walking in the footsteps of Francis of Assisi,
and by imitating his joyful love.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

Or:

O God, by whose gift Saint Francis
was conformed to Christ in poverty and humility,
grant that, by walking in Francis’ footsteps,
we may follow your Son,
and, through joyful charity,
come to be united with you.
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.
– Amen.

http://www.ibreviary.com/m/breviario.php

Holy Guardian Angels 2 October

Saint Bernard and the Guardian Angels

Guest 

So beautiful.thanks to this.I was just thinking of saint Bernard this morning before I read this.thanks guardian angel.

Breviary
http://www.ibreviary.com/m/breviario.php?s=ufficio_delle_letture

Wednesday, 2 October 2013

Holy Guardian Angels

SECOND READING

From a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot
(Sermo 12 in psalmum Qui habitat, 3, 6-8: Opera omnia, Edit. Clisterc. 4 [1966] 458-462)

That they might guard you in all your ways

He has given his angels charge over you to guard

Bernard-of-Clairvaux-Alonso_Cano_
The Vision of St Bernard_

you in all your ways. Let them thank the Lord for his mercy; his wonderful works are for the children of men. Let them give thanks and say among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them. O Lord, what is man that you have made yourself known to him, or why do you incline your heart to him? And you do incline your heart to him; you show him your care and your concern. Finally, you send your only Son and the grace of your Spirit, and promise him a vision of your countenance. And so, that nothing in heaven should be wanting in your concern for us, you send those blessed spirits to serve us, assigning them as our guardians and our teachers.

He has given his angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways. These words should fill you with respect, inspire devotion and instill confidence; respect for the presence of angels, devotion because of their loving service, and confidence because of their protection. And so the angels are here; they are at your side, they are with you, present on your behalf. They are here to protect you and to serve you. But even if it is God who has given them this charge, we must nonetheless be grateful to them for the great love with which they obey and come to help us in our great need.

So let us be devoted and grateful to such great protectors; let us return their love and honor them as much as we can and should. Yet all our love and honor must go to him, for it is from him that they receive all that makes them worthy of our love and respect.

We should then, my brothers, show our affection for the angels, for one day they will be our co-heirs just as here below they are our guardians and trustees appointed and set over us by the Father. We are God’s children although it does not seem so, because we are still but small children under guardians and trustees, and for the present little better than slaves.

Even though we are children and have a long, a very long and dangerous way to go, with such protectors what have we to fear? They who keep us in all our ways cannot be overpowered or led astray, much less lead us astray. They are loyal, prudent, powerful. Why then are we afraid? We have only to follow them, stay close to them, and we shall dwell under the protection of God’s heaven.

RESPONSORY
Psalm 91:11-12, 10

God gave his angels charge over you
to protect you in all your ways.
– They shall lift you up with their hands,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.

No evil shall harm you,
no plague shall come near your tent.
– They shall lift you up with their hands,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Let us pray.

God, our Father,
in your loving providence
you send your holy angels to watch over us.
Hear our prayers, defend us always by their protection
and let us share your life with them for ever.
We ask this through Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

Or:

O God, who in your unfathomable providence
are pleased to send your holy Angels to guard us,
hear our supplication as we cry to you,
that we may always be defended by their protection
and rejoice eternally in their company.
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.
– Amen.

http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2013/05/04/saint-bernard-of-clairvaux-and-loving-god

Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus, 'love sets off the bounds of all vocations'

Oct 01, Office of Readings –
Memorial for Theresa of the Child Jesus.             

 

Second reading

From the autobiography of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, virgin
(Manuscrit autobiographiques, Lisieux 1957, 227-229)

In the heart of the Church I will be love

Since my longing for martyrdom was powerful and unsettling, I turned to the epistles of Saint Paul in the hope of finally finding an answer. By chance the twelfth and thirteenth chapters of the first epistle to the Corinthians caught my attention, and in the first section I read that not everyone can be an apostle, prophet or teacher, that the Church is composed of a variety of members, and that the eye cannot be the hand. Even with such an answer revealed before me, I was not satisfied and did not find peace.

I persevered in the reading and did not let my mind wander until I found this encouraging theme: Set your desires on the greater gifts. And I will show you the way which surpasses all others. For the Apostle insists that the greater gifts are nothing at all without love and that this same love is surely the best path leading directly to God. At length I had found peace of mind.

When I had looked upon the mystical body of the Church, I recognized myself in none of the members which Saint Paul described, and what is more, I desired to distinguish myself more favorably within the whole body. Love appeared to me to be the hinge for my vocation. Indeed I knew that the Church had a body composed of various members, but in this body the necessary and more noble member was not lacking; I knew that the Church had a heart and that such a heart appeared to be aflame with love. I knew that one love drove the members of the Church to action, that if this love were extinguished, the apostles would have proclaimed the Gospel no longer, the martyrs would have shed their blood no more. I saw and realized that love sets off the bounds of all vocations, that love is everything, that this same love embraces every time and every place. In one word, that love is everlasting.

Then, nearly ecstatic with the supreme joy in my soul, I proclaimed: O Jesus, my love, at last I have found my calling: my call is love. Certainly I have found my place in the Church, and you gave me that very place, my God. In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and thus I will be all things, as my desire finds its direction.  

http://divineoffice.org/