Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Night Office, James Quinn S.J.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Day Five: Together... we are called into fellowship

Ecuminism 1987

The Clergy Review January 1987

Editor, Questions raised by the present state of ecumenism, 11 Articles

The Church, The Churches and the World

By James Quinn, S.J.

Church of the Sacred Heart, 28 Lauriston Street, Edinburgh, Scotland

Extract

   §   11 The Churches

The will of Christ

At the Last Supper Christ prayed for his Church, that it might be one. Unity among all his .followers is clearly his great desire. This unity is to be complete and perfect, having as its source and model the unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

But Christians, though accepting Christ as their Lord, find themselves divided from each other in different ways. In obedience to Christ we must do all in our power to undo division- among Christians, and in their place to build up true Christian unity.

The Second Vatican Council, in its Decree on Ecumenism, points out that work for Christian unity is a duty of every Catholic. It is a work for the whole Church, not for bishops and priests only. Each parish should have its own contribution to make towards the Church's commitment in this field.

The ecumenical movement is essentially a meeting of Churches, through their members. But it must not be simply the enthusiasm of the few: it must be the responsibility of all, according to each one's talents and opportunities.

The way of renewal

The Decree on Ecumenism also points out that the way to Christian unity is through spiritual renewal within each Church, and in the life of every Christian.

The unity of the Church is the gift of the Holy Spirit, the bond of love. It is therefore a work that demands our co-operation through prayer. Prayer is the first and necessary condition of work for Christian unity.

Work for Christian unity requires also the fruits of prayer in our individual lives and in the life of the whole Church. It demands spiritual renewal, holiness of life, fidelity to Christ.

It asks for a spirit of penitence for sins against charity. There arc many personal and community barriers - suspicion, prejudice, lack of charity, bad example - which must be removed before the Holy Spirit can heal our divisions.

The spirit of unity

If we are to grow together into the fullness of unity, we must first want unity. We must want it, not for our own glory but in humble obedience to Christ.

We should want other Christians to be one with us because we miss their presence and feel somehow incomplete without them. We must see them, not as rivals or strangers, still less as enemies, but as fellow-pilgrims who belong to us in a very real sense, through our spiritual kinship with them by baptism.

There should be a spirit of forgiveness where we may think that other Christians have wronged us. There should be a spirit of repentance for our own sins against other Christians.

Above all, we should not live in the past but in the reality of the present, and in hope of a more Christian future.

The Eucharist and Christian unity

The Church is essentially a communion of faith, hope and love. It is a communion with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as well as a com­munion with all its members in the Body of Christ.

Baptism is the basic, initial sacrament of Christian unity. It establishes a sacramental bond among all who have been baptized.

Holy Communion is the crowning sacrament of Christian unity, setting the seal on perfect unity.

The supernatural communion which is the Church must be seen as a true community in itself, but also as a community seeking to welcome into its unity the whole family of mankind.

The article below:

James Quinn SJ The Church, The Churches and the World

23 Jan 2013

www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=15970. Apr 14, 2010 – The hymns of Father James Quinn SJ are found in almost every contemporary English language hymnal, taken from the collection New Hymns ... 2.

Day 5 of WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY and throughout the year 2014 Has Christ been divided? (1 Cor 1:13)

Ordinary Time: January 22nd
Night Office Readings being used for Christian Unity 

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The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Day Five: Together... we are called into fellowship

We are called into fellowship with God the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. As we draw closer to the Triune God, we are drawn closer to one another in Christian unity.

Christ has initiated a change in our relationship, calling us friends instead of servants. In response to this relationship of love, we are called out of relationships of power and domination into friendship and love of one another.

Called by Jesus, we witness to the gospel both to those who have not yet heard it and to those who have. This proclamation contains a call into fellowship with God, and establishes fellowship among those who respond.

Vatican Resources   - extract:

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/weeks

Day 5	Together... we are called into fellowship
Isaiah 43:1-7	I will be with you
Psalm 133	How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!
1 John 1:3-7	We have fellowship with one another"
John 15:12-17	I have called you friends"

Three points for reflection

We are called into fellowship with God the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. As we draw closer to the Triune God, we are drawn closer to one another in Christian unity.

Christ has initiated a change in our relationship, calling us friends instead of servants. In response to this relationship of love, we are called out of relationships of power and domination into friendship and love of one another.

Called by Jesus, we witness to the gospel both to those who have not yet heard it and to those who have. This proclamation contains a call into fellowship with God, and establishes fellowship among those who respond.

Questions

• In what ways do you experience the call into fellowship with God?
• In what ways is God calling you into fellowship with others within your church and beyond?

Prayer

Father of love, you have called us into the fellowship of your Son and appointed us to bear fruit in our witness to the gospel. By the grace of your Spirit, enable us to love one another and to dwell together in unity so that our joy may be complete. Amen. 

Saint Agnes TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2014

Saint of the day: 21st January   

Saint Agnes

St. Agnes Morelli Colonnade
The saint's statue is among those
on the colonnade
in St. Peter 's Square

 

 

  Saint Quote of the Day:

 Saint Ambrose of Milan

Today is the birthday of a virgin; let us imitate her purity. It is the birthday of a martyr; let us offer ourselves in sacrifice. It is the birthday of Saint Agnes, who is said to have suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve.

-- Saint Ambrose of Milan

- See more at: http://faithofthefatherssaintquote.blogspot.co.uk/#sthash.QJJ1S18A.dpuf

Virgin, martyr of Rome. St Agnes is one of the most famous of early Christian saints. Her death in 305 was recorded in the Deposito Martyrum just forty years later. Around that time a basilica was built over her grave in the Via Nomentana. Many early writers, including Ambrose, Jerome, Damasus and Prudentias praised her.

It seems she was a young girl who was killed because she refused to marry, having dedicated herself to Christ.

Because her name is similar to agnus, or lamb, her principal emblem is a lamb. Today in Rome, a special blessing ceremony is held for lambs that produce the wool from which the pallia for archbishops, are woven by the sisters of St Agnes.

There are hundreds of paintings, stained glass windows and church dedications to her across Europe. In England five ancient churches are named after her. The best surviving cycle of paintings is on a gold and enamel cup which once belonged to the Duke of Berry, then the Duke of Bedford and King Henry VI. It can be seen now in the British Museum.

http://catholicism.about.com/od/martyrs/p/Saint-Agnes-Of-Rome.htm

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The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Day Four: Together... we affirm that God is faithful

The eternal unity of Father, Son and Spirit draws us closer into the love of God, and calls us to participate in God’s work in the world which is love, mercy and justice. Mercy and justice are not divided in God, but rather are joined together in the steadfast love manifested in God’s covenant with us and with all of creation.

The new father Zechariah testifies to God’s manifestation of mercy in keeping his promises to Abraham and his descendents. God is faithful to his holy covenant.

As we continue to pray for the unity of the church, we must not neglect to meet together and encourage one another, spurring each other on towards love and good deeds, saying: "God is faithful."

Vatican Resources

COMMENT: Bl. Cyprian

FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2006

Saint Quote: Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi

Yourself and your wife should keep always before your eyes that fact that you are creatures, God’s own creation. As a man’s handiwork belongs to him, so do we all belong to God, and should accordingly have no other will but His. He is a Father, a very kind Father indeed. All his plans are for the good of His children. We may not often see how they are. That does not matter. Leave yourselves in His hands, not for a year, nor for two years, but as long as you have to live on earth. If you confide in Him fully and sincerely He will take special care of you.

--Blessed Tansi’s letter to his houseboy

- See more at: http://faithofthefatherssaintquote.blogspot.co.uk/2006/01/saint-quote-blessed-cyprian-michael.html#sthash.sHCzpaMN.dpuf

SOUL OF MY SAVIOUR, SANCTIFY MY BREAST (HYMN)

Desert en-route to Mt. Sinai 2003

SOUL OF MY SAVIOUR, SANCTIFY MY BREAST (HYMN)

22FEB

Soul of my Saviour, sanctify my breast;
Body of Christ, be thou my saving guest;
Blood of my Saviour, bathe me in thy tide,
wash me with waters flowing from thy side.

Strength and protection may thy passion be;
O Blessed Jesus, hear and answer me;
deep in thy wounds, Lord, hide and shelter me;
so shall I never, never part from thee.

Guard and defend me from the foe malign;
in death’s dread moment make me only thine;
call me and bid me come to thee on high,
where I may praise thee with thy saints for aye.(Ascribed to John XXII, 13th century). 

Soul of My Saviour --- Faith of our Fathers concert

Uploaded on 12 Nov 2011

"Soul of My Saviour" hymn from "Faith of our Fathers" concert performed by Irish Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus at the Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland on 24th/25th January 1997  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j9ilIUyuqc  

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)

http://prayers4reparation.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/soul-of-my-saviour-sanctify-my-breast-hymn-2/

20 January Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi, OCSO

Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi, OCSO 

http://www.ocso.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=105&Itemid=132&lang=en  

BLESSED CYPRIAN MICHAEL IWENE TANSI (1903-1964)

Iwene Tansi was born in Aguleri near Onitsha, Nigeria, in 1903. He was baptised when he was 9 years old with the Christian name, Michael. His baptism affected him deeply even at such a young age and he shocked his non-Christian parents by daring to destroy his own personal idol, traditionall At the age of 22, after several years of working as catechist and school teacher, he entered the seminary and was ordained a priest for the Onitsha diocese in 1937, when he was 34. As parish priest he worked zealously in Eastern Nigeria for 13 years, selflessly serving the religious and material needs of his people.

 He had to travel on foot to visit his widely scattered parishes, would spend whole days hearing confessions and was always available to the people in their needs, day and night. He was particularly eager to give young people a good preparation for marriage and to counteract the tradition of "trial marriages" which prevailed among the pagans at that time. The large Christian populations of many Igbo villages are a present witness to his zeal.

However, in spite of all he was doing, he felt the call to serve God in a more direct way in a life of contemplation and prayer and, if possible to bring the contemplative monastic life to Nigeria. In 1950 his Bishop was able to free him to try his vocation at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey, near Nottingham, England, and to be trained in view of founding a contemplative monastery in the diocese of Onitsha. His new name in the monastery was Father Cyprian. The complete change of lifestyle, particularly living under obedience when he had been a leader of people, the change of climate, food and most of all the culture shock were severe tests, but he was convinced that this is where God wanted him to be. Father Mark Ulogu, who later became Abbot of Bamenda, joined him a year later.

In 1962 Mount Saint Bernard decided to make the foundation in Africa, but for various reasons it was made in the neighbouring country of Cameroon, near Bamenda, rather than in Nigeria. Although he was appointed as Novice Master of the foundation, Father Cyprian was too sick to go. He died on January 20, 1964, a few months after the departure of the founders.  

 

The reputation for holiness that he had left in Nigeria before going to Mount Saint Bernard never ceased to grow. After his death, many people claimed to have received favours through his intercession. The process for his beatification was opened in the diocese of Nottingham, then transferred in 1986 to the Archdiocese of Onitsha, whose Archbishop was the present Cardinal Francis Arinze, who had been among the first children baptised by Father Tansi when the latter was a young parish priest. On March 22, 1998, at Onitsha, during a trip to Nigeria made for that very purpose, Pope John Paul II beatified Father Cyprian Michael Tansi, proclaiming him to be a model of priestly zeal and prayer.

Further references:

Fr. Gregory Wareing, A New Life of Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi (Coalville, Leicester LE6 3UL: Mt. St. Bernard Abbey. 1994). Father Gregory was Blessed Cyprian's Novice Master.

Veronica Onyedika Chidi Umegakwe, Footprints of Father Tansi: The Tomb is not his Goal (Awhum, Nigeria: Our Lady of Calvary Monastery, 1993). The life of Blessed Cyprian is here presented in a five act play by the chief coordinator of the Father Tansi Lay Contemplative Prayer Movement.

Elisabeth Isichei, Entirely for God. The life of Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Studies Series 43, 1980 and 2000).

Dom John Moakler, "Some Thoughts about Blessed Cyprian Tansi" in Hallel 25 (2000), pp.79-93.

See also the Web Page on Blessed Cyprian Tansi, developed and managed by Father Chidi Denis Isizoh, secretary of Cardinal Arinze at the Pontifical Council for Dialogue with non Christian Religions www.afrikaworld.net/tansi/index.html  

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For an example of his spiritual teaching, reflecting his own spiritual experience

Excerpt from a Retreat preached by Father Cyprian Tansi in August 1962

"We do very little good when we embark on our own. We do much good when we allow God to direct us and direct our enterprises. The apostles, you remember, went out fishing, laboured the whole night and got nothing. They were on their own, the Lord came and told them to cast the net and they would find. They did so and were not able to draw up the net, so great was the number of fish caught. When they worked by themselves, they took nothing. When they worked in the company of our Lord, they were full. So with us. We must learn to avoid worrying ourselves about things, learn to do away with anxieties of all sorts. "When you have something to do, an assignment to perform, remembering that we are not doing our work, but God's work, we must first go to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, place our plans before Him and ask for his advice and assistance. We must examine before him how he would like us to produce, whether he would like us to do one thing or the other. If any doubt, consult your spiritual director for advice. You should never undertake to do anything unless you are sure that God wants it done in the way you are planning. Above all things you should never do your own will: you should do only what the superiors want to be done. You should never force the superiors to yield to your will by any stratagem. "And while doing whatever you have to do, you should do it at a pace and speed that will allow you time continually to turn to God for guidance. Your conversation with God should be continual. Remember that you cannot achieve this spiritual disposition in a day. You need time, practice and patience. All that I request you now is to examine and to see whether what you are told is the truth. If it is, then make a resolution to continue to make effort in this direction without minding whether you succeed or fail."

- Michael I. Tansi, o.c.s.o., Irrational Love: Incarnation and Redemption, an Incomprehensible Love (Onitsha, Nigeria: Archiocesan Secretariat, 1989), p.35

Vigil Lectionary Readings, Second Week in Ordinary Time Year 2

A reading from the book of Genesis.
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.   

Year B: Second Week of Ordinary Time SUNDAY

First ReadingGenesis 9:1-17

Cardinal Jean Danielou S.J.

Second Reading
Jean Cardinal Daniélou, Holy Pagans of the Old Testament, 78-80.83; Word in Season VII

A reading from Holy Pagans of the Old Testament by Jean Cardinal Daniélou. 

The fidelity of the living God

It is in connection with Noah that the momentous notion of a covenant appears for the first time in holy Scripture. The covenant is one of the essential characteristics, the most characteristic quality perhaps, of the God of the Bible. It signifies that God communicates certain good things to mankind and that this is in the nature of an irrevocable settlement. Thus it allows us to depend upon these benefits, not in virtue of any right we have to them but by reason of God’s fidelity to his word.

The covenant made with Noah is connected with the cosmic religion and bears essentially upon God's fidelity in the order of the world. It is first of all a question of a covenant not with a particular people but with humanity as a whole and even with the whole cosmos. By this covenant God pledges himself not to de­stroy life upon the earth, whatever may be the sins of the human race. God’s fidelity will be expressed particularly in the regularity of the laws of the cosmos, in the recurrent seasons: All the days of the earth seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, night and day, shall not cease. This text is of prime importance. It establishes the right to see in the recurrent seasons the revelation of the fidelity of the living God. And this revelation, says Saint Paul, is given to all people among whom God has not left himself without testimony, giving them rain and fruitful seasons. This revelation constitutes the authentic basis of the pagan religions for which the recurrent seasons are the foundations of their worship.

By this covenant, God gives, as it were, an official document which bears witness to his pledge for all the generations to come. This document is the rainbow: as the paschal lamb is to be the memorial of the Mosaic covenant, as the holy Eucharist is the sacrament of the new eternal covenant replacing the ancient, so the rainbow is the memorial and sacred sign of the cosmic covenant which persists throughout the establishment of new and more perfect covenants.

The order of the world is no longer at the mercy of human sin. In the economy now beginning God will give temporal goods to sinners as well as to saints. The God of the covenant is not a God who will rain upon the just and will refuse rain to the unjust, but, in line with the very words of Christ, he makes the sun to rise upon the good and bad, and rains upon the just and unjust.

By the covenant with Noah a break is made in the connection between sin and punishment whereby salvation can be brought in. Thus the covenant is a manifestation of love. It reveals something new about God, for it is the first manifestation of redemptive love, while the former divine economy showed only creative love. What now appears is that long-suffering mercy with which God endures in order to save the sinner.

Jean Cardinal Daniélou, Holy Pagans of the Old Testament, 78-80.83; Word in Season VII. 1999

Another Link: Vigil Lectionary Readings
http://www.forwardministryonline.com/articlesnews/vigilslectionaryreadings/Bordinarytime021.html
Index
http://www.forwardministryonline.com/articlesnews/vigilslectionaryreadings/  
In the Word in Season (1999) there are 16 references of Jean Danielou

Week of prayer for Christian unity

PoPope Francis: 'Our witness must concentrate on
the centre of our faith.' 

Pope Francis has said the evangelisation of secular society requires focusing on the essentials of Christianity in collaboration with other Christian churches. 

The Pope made his remarks at a meeting with representatives of the Lutheran Church in Finland, who were making their annual ecumenical pilgrimage to Rome on the feast of Finland’s patron, St Henry. The meeting occurred one day before the start of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Pope Francis told the group that ecumenical relations lately have been undergoing “significant changes, owing above all to the fact that we find ourselves professing our faith in the context of societies and cultures every day more lacking in reference to God and all that recalls the transcendent dimension of life”.

“For this very reason, our witness must concentrate on the centre of our faith, on the announcement of the love of God made manifest in Christ his son,” the Pope said. “Here we find space to grow in communion and in unity, promoting spiritual ecumenism.”

Pope Francis quoted the Second Vatican Council’s decree on ecumenism, which described “spiritual ecumenism” as consisting of “conversion of heart and holiness of life, together with private and public prayer for Christian unity,” which form the “soul of the whole ecumenical movement”.

from The Catholic Herald, 17 January 2014

Saturday, 18 January 2014

Saturday of the First week in Ordinary Time

Feast of the Church : Week of prayer for Christian unity

See commentary below or click here
Vatican Council II: "As he passed by, he saw Levi... He said to him, 'Follow me.' " 

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 2:13-17.

Jesus went out along the sea. All the crowd came to him and he taught them.
As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs post. He said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him. ... 

Commentary of the day :

Vatican Council II
Dogmatic Constitution on revelation « Dei Verbum », § 1-2

"As he passed by, he saw Levi... He said to him, 'Follow me.' "

Hearing the word of God with reverence and proclaiming it with faith, the sacred synod takes its direction from these words of Saint John: "We announce to you the eternal life which dwelt with the Father and was made visible to us. What we have seen and heard we announce to you, so that you may have fellowship with us and our common fellowship be with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ" (1 Jn 1:2-3)...

In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will (Eph 1,9) by which, through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature (Eph 2,18; 2 Pt 1,4). Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God (Col 1,15; 1 Tm. 1,17) out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends (Ex 33,11; Jn 15,14-15) and lives among them (Bar 3,38), so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself.

This plan of revelation is realized by deeds and words having an inner unity: the deeds wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the teaching and realities signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in them. By this revelation then, the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines out for our sake in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation.

Speech and Language Therapy. The Agony in the Garden

Note:
Latterly he was a pioneering for people with communication difficulties lecturing to speech and language therapists. 

 Clifford Hughes, Church service to celebrate his life, 18 Jan 2014.

El Greco

 Rosary Meditations for Mentally Ill People

Frances Truscott

CTS Publications

The Sorrowful Mysteries

1. The Agony in the Garden. Lk 22.39-46

Jesus is aware of what is going to happen to him and he prays fervently in the Garden of Gethsemane. He is in great need, very mentally distressed, although he is not ilL He seeks solitude in order to pray with greater concentration, but he is in such distress that his sweat becomes like drops of blood. He is frightened of what is going to happen to him, and prays that the suffering he envisages will not be necessary.

Often we are frightened when we are mentally ill or distressed. Jesus experiences his companions letting him down by falling asleep. Often we will feel totally alone. At this time Jesus felt great mental suffering, so he has been there and knows how we feel. However, he sees clearly through his pain to his mission to fulfill God's plan. In imitation of him, we should try to do God's will in our own lives.

Tissot-the-grotto-of-the-agony Hidden meanings   in the Garden paintings

St. Antony Mass Memorial

Friday 17 January 2014

SAINT ANTONY
Patriarch of Monks
(251-356)

        St. Antony was born in the year 251, in Upper Egypt. Hearing at Mass the words, "If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor," he gave away all his vast possessions. He then begged an aged hermit to teach him the spiritual life. He also visited various solitaries, copying in himself the principal virtue of each.

        To serve God more perfectly, Antony entered the desert and immured himself in a ruin, building up the door so that none could enter. Here the devils assaulted him most furiously, appearing as various monsters, and even wounding him severely; but his courage never failed, and he overcame them all by confidence in God and by the sign of the cross.

        One night, whilst Antony was in his solitude, many devils scourged him so terribly that he lay as if dead. A friend found him thus, and believing him dead carried him home. But when Antony came to himself he persuaded his friend to carry him, in spite of his wounds, back to his solitude. Here, prostrate from weakness, he defied the devils, saying, "I fear you not; you cannot separate me from the love of Christ." After more vain assaults the devils fled, and Christ appeared to Antony in glory.

        His only food was bread and water, which he never tasted before sunset, and sometimes only once in two, three, or four days. He wore sackcloth and sheepskin, and he often knelt in prayer from sunset to sunrise.

        Many souls flocked to him for advice, and after twenty years of solitude he consented to guide them in holiness-thus founding the first monastery. His numerous miracles attracted such multitudes that he fled again into solitude, where he lived by manual labor.

        He expired peacefully at a very advanced age. St. Athanasius, his biographer, says that the mere knowledge of how St. Antony lived is a good guide to virtue.

Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]

Jesus cures leper Mk. 1:40-45

1st Thursday Jesus cures leper

Mk. 1:40-45

On Thursday, 16 January 2014, 16:52, Nivard ... wrote:  

   The leper in today’s Gospel approached Jesus confidently and humbly. He believed that Jesus could and would heal him.

   Normally a leper would be stoned if he came near a rabbi. Jesus not only grants the man his request, but he demonstrates the personal love, compassion, and tenderness of God.

   Jesus met the man's misery with compassion and tender kindness.

   He showed the love and mercy of God. This sign is more eloquent than words.

   Jesus touched the man and made him clean – not only physically but also spiritually.

 

 Father, inflame our hearts with your love and make us clean and whole in body, mind, and spirit, through Christ our Lord.

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1. World Leprosy Day 2014‎

   www.lepra.org.uk/world-leprosy-day‎
   Sunday 26th January 2014
   Learn more about leprosy

World Leprosy Day

Making a difference for neglected people in 2014!

St. Ambrose. Christ's love for his Church Ps. 39.

Patristic Reading.

SAINT AMBROSE OF MILAN

Born ca. 339
Died April 4, 397

“The Pastoral Doctor”

Note; Word in Season VII, 1999 Augustine Press.
Of the three alternative Readings, St. Ambrose is selected.

2nd reading, Thursday of the 1st Week in Ordinary Time Year II

First Reading:    BOOK OF GENESIS

(The consequences of sin: Genesis 4:1-24)

Second Reading: 

A COMMENTARY ON PSALM 39 BY ST AMBROSE

Christ's love for his Church.

At the beginning of the book Scripture speaks of me. In the opening chapters of Genesis it was foretold that Christ would come to fulfil his Father’s will for the redemption of mankind. This was when the sacred writer described how in creating Eve to be man’s helpmate God made her a type of the Church. Where indeed can we find help for our bodily weakness and protection against the upheavals of the world around us, except in the grace of salvation which comes to us through the Church and the faith by which we live?      
In the first pages of the Bible we read: Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh! Because of this a man will leave father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they will be two in one flesh. If you wish to know the real speaker of these words, listen to the following: this is a great mystery; I tell you it refers to Christ and the Church. The meaning is that the love that should exist between man and wife can be compared with Christ's love for his Church. We are members of Christ's body, sharers of his flesh and bone. What greater well-being can we have than to be so close to Christ, to cleave to him in a kind of bodily oneness, in a union with that body of his which is without blemish or stain of sin?
We are told in the early pages of the same book that righteous Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable to God while his murderous brother’s was rejected. This, surely, is a clear sign that the Lord Jesus was to offer himself up for us, and that in and through his passion he would hallow a new sacrifice to supersede a rite proper to a parricidal people. It is even more clearly expressed in the holy Patriarch Abraham’s offering of his son Isaac, in whose stead a ram was ultimately immolated. And this showed that it was man’s flesh, the flesh he has in common with the animals and not the divinity of the only Son of God, that was destined to endure the rigours of the passion.
At the beginning of the book it is written that in due time there would come a man who held command over the powers of heaven. This prophecy was fulfilled when the Lord Jesus arrived on earth and angels ministered to him, according to his own prediction: You will see the heavens opened and God's angels ascending and descend­ing around the Son of Man.
Again at the beginning of the book it is said that you must choose out for yourselves a full-grown yearling lamb, a male without blemish, which the whole assembly shall then ceremonially slay. The identity of that lamb you know already: Behold the Lamb of God who is to bear away the sin of all the world! He is the one that was slain by the entire Jewish people. It was indeed necessary that he should die for all men, so that through his cross every sin might find forgiveness and in his blood the stains of all the world be washed away.

St Ambrose, In Ps. 39, 11-14 (PL14:1061-1062); Word in Season VII.