21 Jan 2015 St. Agnes

St. Agnes

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The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Day Four: Then the woman left her water jar (John 4:28)

Loving God, help us to learn from Jesus and the Samaritan that the encounter with the other opens for us new horizons of grace. Help us to break through our limits and embrace new challenges. Help us to go beyond fear in following the call of your Son. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

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Dom Donald's Blog: Saint Agnes TUESDAY, JANUARY 21 ...

21 Jan 2014

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.

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Dom Donald's Blog: COMMENT: St. Agnes. Tre Fontane ...

21 Jan 2013

It is known for raising the lambs whose wool is used to weave the pallia of new metropolitan archbishops. The Pope blesses the lambs on the Feast of Saint Agnes on January 21. The wool is prepared, and he gives the pallia ...

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Dom Donald's Blog: St. Agnes 21st January

20 Jan 2013

Awareness of our place in God's creation draws us together, as we realize our interdependence upon one another and the earth. Contemplating the urgent calls to environmental care, and to proper sharing and justice with ...

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Dom Donald's Blog: Saint Agnes

21 Jan 2011

She was a mere nothing in the eyes of the world but he showered his extraordinary favours on the twelve year old virgin martyr The child Agnes was faithful unto death. May we likewise persevere faithfully to the end of our ...

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January 20th. BLESSED CYFRIAN TANSI

 Cistercian Monk    

        

Mass Homily below.

The Mass Introduction was moving quoting from Dom John Moakler:

Of Bl. Cyprian, "His holiness was a hidden holiness... Humility is central to St . Benedict's Rule, and that means, in St. Bernard’s words, that the monk is one who loves to be unknown, Ama Nesciri".

January 20th.

BLESSED CYFRIAN TANSI

(from a homily given by Abbot John Moakler at Mt. St. Bernards on the occasion of his beatification 1998)

It must be quite unique for a mass to be offered in honour of a beatified member of a community by those who actually knew him. Of course there have been occasions in this century when relatives and acquaintances of a person have been present at his or her beatification or canonisation, but I cannot recall any case of a priest offering mass in honour of someone who not so long ago had stood next to him in choir.

The person next to one may always be a .saint. But don’t expect halos to be visible. When Sister Therese of the Child Jesus died, in 1897, one of her community wondered just what could be said about her in the death notice that was sent round to other Carmels, this has usually been taken as a lack of perception on the part of that particular sister, but I think Therese herself would have understood. She" certainly did not want to be thought of as a saint during her life on earth. And I think all of us who knew Father Cyprian would have to admit that when he died we did not think we had lost a saint. His companion Father Mark Ulugu, was the one we would all have spontaneously canonised.

The fact is that we did not really know much about him, beyond the fact that he had come from Nigeria with the intention of taking monastic and contemplative life back to his own country. His reputation as a parish priest and as an apostle was not known to us in any detail. He came among us as one breaking new ground, for what European community at that time, 1950, had any black members?

And it was for him an adventure into the unknown – he had come to a country whose people he had only met as colonisers and exploiters; he had been treated by both missionaries and government officials as a second class person; he had not experienced the damp and cold of our northern climate; he had never seen ice and snow at close quarters before; and this was not enough, he was not just coming to England he was coming to a Cistercian monastery in England, which even most English people themselves would have found difficult to survive in, so the challenges to perseverance were considerable. In addition the novitiate regime at the time was very strict

Some of the present community worked with Cyprian. They have their own memories a and stories. He was uncompromising in his living of the life, yet there was always a gentleness and a. humour there, and he did not give the appearance of a hard ascetic. The strict rule of silence at the time meant that many of us were never able to converse with him, and although he was next to me in choir for some time, and acted as a deacon at the first Mass in 1956, I could not say that I really knew him. But one thing is certain – he did not appear extraordinary in any way. His holiness was a hidden holiness. It was the holiness of an ordinary person who lives his faith and his union with God at a level not apparent to others. Those who had known him in Nigeria and had seen his apostolic zeal and dedication as a parish priest were no doubt more aware of what was in the man than we were. Members of a monastic community are not heroes to each other, and they are often more conscious of each other's failings than of their virtues.

Humility is central to St . Benedict's Rule, and that means, in St. Bernard’s words, that the monk is one who loves to be unknown, Ama Nesciri.

Cyprian lived that and only after 34 years after his death is he becoming known – even to those with whom he lived.

Dom Donald's Blog: Cyprian TANSI Cistercian Monk

Dom Donald's Blog: Cyprian TANSI Cistercian Monk: BLESSED CYPRIAN TANSI 1903 -1964 Beatified March 22nd 1998 Feast Day: January 20 Cyprian Tansi had three names. Iwene...

Tuesday, 19 January 2010

Cyprian TANSI Cistercian Monk

BLESSED CYPRIAN TANSI 1903 -1964 Beatified March 22nd 1998 Feast Day: January 20 Cyprian Tansi had three names. Iwene was the name given by his father at his birth in 1903, Michael was his baptismal name, andCyprian his monastic name. Born into a pagan family, he was sent to a Catholic school where at the age of eight he was baptised. On completing his education he became a teacher, and in 1925 entered the seminary. As a catechist, Michael saw to it that no child died without Baptism when he was there. Pagan and Christian alike came to him to settle their disputes. In 1937 he was ordained priest. He was an admirable pastor. There were no bounds to his zeal, his self-giving, his generosity and his good humour. Sister Magdalen, an Irish Holy Rosary Sister, gave him a copy of Dom Marmion's Christ the Ideal of the Monk. This book sowed the seeds of a monastic vocation, which lead him to join Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in England, where he was known as FrCyprian. The remaining thirteen years of his life were passed unnoticed by those who knew him only as a monk. It was said of him that he was "almost overpoweringly humble," and yet was habitually cheerful with an impish sense of humour. One of his brethren described him as "just an ordinary monk, monking about." Yet Cyprian had total faith in the value of the contemplative life, believing that in his monastery he was able to contribute even more to the mission in his beloved Iboland and to the world at large. He died unexpectedly 20 January 1964 aged 60, and was buried at Mount Saint Bernard. However, his old parishioners in his native Iboland pressed his cause. In September 1986 his remains were exhumed and brought back to Nigeria to be re-interred at Onitsha Cathedral, there to become a centre of devotion for the local people. Pope John Paul II travelled to Oba, Nigeria, where on 22 March 1998 he beatified Blessed Cyprian Tansi in the presence of two million people. Cyprian was a man of tiny stature and so he appears in this Window, with his impish smile, dressed in his Cistercian cowl, with his beloved Iboland huts and hills in the background. A companion said of him that as a young teacher "he would talk with Our Lady as a child talks to his mother" As pastor he was deeply committed to promoting the Legion of Mary and the Children of Mary, and strongly recommended the Rosary At Mount Saint Bernard it was noted that: "his love of the Lady Chapel speaks for itself." In the bottom panel there are symbols of the three basic elements of monastic life: Opus Dei (liturgical life), Opus Manuum (manual labour), and Lectio Divina (God-centred reading). The African drum and vessels symbolise the Liturgy; for work, Cyprian at the book-sewing press; and for Lectio, the book, Christ the Ideal of the Monk. Fr. Laurence Walsh ocso Lumen Christi The Stained Glass Windows Mount Saint Joseph Abbey Roscrea 2009  (Online Shop at www.msjroscrea.ie)

Feast-Anniversary of Fr. Cyprian Iwene Tansi: the only Nigerian blessed

 Community Mass -Blessed and Cistercians, 

    Feast-Anniversary of Fr. Cyprian Iwene Tansi: the only Nigerian blessed

 

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Uploaded on 25 Jan 2011

On the 16th of January, 2011 Nigerians in Rome gathered at SS Simon and Jude's Catholic Church, Torre Angela to celebrate a unique feast in honour of Fr Tansi.

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Monday, 20 January 2014

20 January Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi, OCSO

Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi, OCSO

http://www.ocso.org

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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Baldwin of Ford (?-c.1190), Cistercian abbot, then Archbishop of Canterbury The Sacrament of the altar, 3, 2 (SC 94 rev.)

Statue of Baldwin of Forde from the exterior of Canterbury Cathedral

           

Tuesday, 20 January 2015

Tuesday of the Second week in Ordinary Time

"The Sacrament of the altar"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 2:23-28.

As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him, 

At this the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?" 

He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry?

How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?" 

Then he said to them, "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.

That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."   

Commentary of the day : 

Baldwin of Ford (?-c.1190), Cistercian abbot, then Archbishop of Canterbury 

The Sacrament of the altar, 3, 2 (SC 94 rev.) 

"The sabbath was made for man"

Blessed repose and a holy satisfaction are what make for true beatitude and of this the Sabbath and the manna are symbols. When he had given rest and satiety to his people with the Sabbath and the manna, thus prefiguring the true blessedness he will give to those who obey, the Lord rebukes for his disobedience the man who might cause them to lose these most desirable possessions: “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and laws?” (Ex 16,28). 

After this question of the Lord's, Moses invites his brethren to consider God's gifts: “Take note! The Lord has given you the Sabbath. That is why on the sixth day he gives you food for two days so that you may consent to serve him.” This warning means that God will give rest for their labours to his elect and the consolations of this present life in addition to those of the life to come. 

But in addition to this, two forms of life are suggested to us by this passage: the active life in which we now have to work, and the contemplative life for which we are working and in which we shall be completely available to the contemplation of God. For although the contemplative life belongs especially to the world to come, yet it must be represented even in this life by the holy Sabbath rest. Concerning this rest Moses adds: “On the Sabbath day everyone is to stay home and no one is to go out.” In other words: Everyone is to rest in their house and not go out for any kind of work on the Sabbath. 

This teaches us that during times of contemplation we should remain within ourselves, nor go out by means of forbidden desires but collect our whole intention “in purity of heart” [as Saint Benedict says] to think on God alone and love him only.

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Second Sunday of the Year (B) - Jan. 18, 2015

 

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Published on 14 Jan 2015

When the disciples went with Jesus, they entered into a path of healing, forgiveness, and liberation for others. Such lives will lead us to what it is, whom it is, we are seeking.

Ordinary Time: January 18th

 

   Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

Daily Readings for:January 18, 2015
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: Almighty ever-living God, who govern all things, both in heaven and on earth, mercifully hear the pleading of your people and bestow your peace on our times. 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.

» Enjoy our Liturgical Seasons series of e-books!

Old Calendar: Second Sunday after Epiphany

John was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God." The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi..., where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come, and you will see" (John 1:35-37).

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Click here for commentary on the readings in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

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Sunday Readings
The first reading is taken from the first Book of Samuel 3:3b-10, 19 and gives an account of Samuel's vocation to take over the leadership of the Chosen People.

The second reading is from the first Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 6:13c-15a, 17-20 in which St. Paul makes it crystal clear that justifying fornication as part of Christian liberty is an incorrect interpretation of his preaching and that the body must be preserved from all immorality.

The Gospel is from St. John 1:35-42 and gives an account of the vocation of the first four Apostles who followed Jesus. It was a momentous event in the history of salvation. It was the beginning of a stream of vocations that would grow and spread down through the ages until the end of the world. It was momentous, firstly, in that Christ, who had come to open heaven for all men and who could find means of bringing them all to that eternal home without help from any man, decided instead to let men co-operate with him in this divine task. He decreed to set up a kingdom in this world—his Church—which would be run by mere mortals for their fellow-mortals, but which would be under his protection and assisted by his divine aid until the end of time. Christ chose this very human way, in order to make his Church more acceptable to our limited, human understanding and more approachable for sinful, human nature.

Christ, as God, could deal directly with every human being on earth. He could teach the infallible truth; he could pardon sins; he could give all the graces needed to travel successfully to heaven. There would then be no need for a Church with its teaching magisterium, no need for the sacrament of Baptism, or of Penance, nor of the Holy Eucharist itself or of any other such aids. Christ could do all that his Church does for the salvation of mankind, and more successfully, of course, but yet he chose the way which divine wisdom saw was best.

We mortals know that God can speak directly to our hearts, and actually has done so to many men in the past. We know that he can do directly all that is done by his Church, to whom he gave the power, with its teaching magisterium and sacraments. If he were to act in this way we should be open to continuous doubts about the source of our inspirations and the objectivity of the graces we thought we were receiving. It was to remove such doubts, and the possibility of self-deception that Christ left to us the external visible kingdom to which he gave all the powers necessary for men's salvation. It was for the security and peace of men's consciences that he set up a visible Church founded on the Apostles, men like ourselves, but transformed by his assisting grace.

Another momentous fact in Christ's choice of the Apostles on whom he was to build his Church, is that he "chose the lowly and the humble to confound the wise." The first four Apostles, as well as the other eight, were simple, lowly fishermen from Galilee. They may possibly have been able to read and write a little, but they were certainly not men of education or any social standing in their communities. He could have converted and chosen some of the more highly educated scribes of Jerusalem, or some of the Roman centurions then in Palestine, or some of the many philosophers in Greece, or even Roman senators whose influence as Christian teachers would carry such weight with the educated elite of the empire. But he did not. The instrument he chose to carry his message to all men was not dependent on human ingenuity or on the educational or social standing of his witnesses. Rather it was to stand on the power of God, of which it was the expression and proof.

We can see clearly the divine wisdom governing Christ's choice of Apostles! Had his message of salvation been spread and promulgated by men of learning and social standing, the cry would soon go up on all sides: "This religion is the invention of philosophers; it is a clever plan of the upper classes to keep the poor and humble workers in subjection." But it was the poor and working classes who spread Christ's message, and who suffered imprisonment and death itself at the hands of the educated and upper classes for so doing.

Today, let us thank our blessed Lord who provided so humanly—and yet so divinely for our eternal welfare. In the Church, which he founded on the lowly but solid foundation of simple fishermen of Galilee, he erected an institution against which the gates of hell, the power of all the enemies of our salvation, cannot prevail, for his divine guidance and help will be with it forever. It has had enemies and opposition from the beginning; they may be more numerous and more destructive than ever today. But the promise of Christ still holds good, his word cannot fail. Therefore, neither the opposition of materialistic enemies from without, nor the even more insidious attacks from faint-hearted and worldly-minded members from within, can affect the safety and permanence of the building which Christ built on the Rock. "If God is with us," it matters not "who is against us."

— Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M.

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The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Eight Days reflecting on Jesus' words to the Samaritan woman, "Give me to drink".

Day One: It is necessary to go through Samaria (John 4:4)

God of all peoples, teach us to go through Samaria to meet our brothers and sisters from other churches. Allow us to go there with an open heart so we may learn from every church and culture. We confess that you are the source of unity. Grant us the unity that Christ wills for us. Amen.

Vatican Resources 

Churches Together Britain and Ireland

 http://www.ctbi.org.uk/681  

 http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2015-01-18 

Painting of Saint Anthony, a part of The Visitation with Saint Nicholas and Saint Anthony Abbot by Piero di Cosimo, ca. 1480.

St. Anthony of the Desert

 

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Published on 16 Jan 2013

Reflection for 1/17/13

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Mass Saint

Ordinary Time: January 17th

Memorial of St. Anthony, abbot

Daily Readings for:January 17, 2015
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: O God, who brought the Abbot Saint Anthony to serve you by a wondrous way of life in the desert, grant, through his intercession, that, denying ourselves, we may always love you above all things. 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.

» Enjoy our Liturgical Seasons series of e-books!

Old Calendar: St. Anthony, abbot

In both calendars the Church commemorates the abbot from the 3rd century. St. Anthony, the father of monks, retired to the desert at about the age of eighteen in order to live in perfect solitude. He laid the foundations of community life, and gave to his disciples that profound broad and sane instruction, the mature result of solitude and prayer, which forms the surest basis of Christian asceticism.

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St. Anthony
Anthony "the Great", the "Father of Monks", ranks with those saints whose life exercised a profound influence upon succeeding generations. He was born in Middle Egypt (about 250) of distinguished parents. After their untimely deaths, he dedicated himself wholly to acts of mortification.   

One day while in church he heard the words of the Gospel: "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give it to the poor" (Matt. 19:21). It seemed as if Christ had spoken to him personally, giving a command he must obey. Without delay he sold his property, gave the proceeds to the poor, and went into the desert (about 270). When overcome by fatigue, his bed was the hard ground. He fasted rigorously, ate only bread and salt, and drank only water. Nor would he take food before sundown; at times he passed two days without any nourishment. Often, too, he spent whole nights in prayer.

The saint suffered repeatedly from diabolical attacks, but these merely made him more steadfast in virtue. He would encourage his disciples in their struggle with the devil with such words: "Believe me; the devil fears the vigils of pious souls, and their fastings, their voluntary poverty, their loving compassion, their humility, but most of all their ardent love of Christ our Lord. As soon as he sees the sign of the Cross, he flees in terror." He died in 356 on Mount Kolzin by the Red Sea, 105 years old. A year later his friend, the fearless bishop and confessor St. Athanasius, wrote his biography, which for centuries became the classic handbook of ascetics. As seen by St. Anthony, the purpose of asceticism is not to destroy the body but to bring it into subjection, re-establishing man's original harmonious integrity, his true God-given nature.

St. Anthony lived in solitude for about twenty years. "His was a perfectly purified soul. No pain could annoy him, no pleasure bind him. In him was neither laughter nor sadness. The sight of the crowd did not trouble him, and the warm greetings of so many men did not move him. In a word, he was thoroughly immune to the vanities of the world, like a man unswervingly governed by reason, established in inner peace and harmony."

Here are a few of his famous sayings to monks. "Let it be your supreme and common purpose not to grow weary in the work you have begun, and in time of trial and affliction not to lose courage and say: Oh, how long already have we been mortifying ourselves! Rather, we should daily begin anew and constantly increase our fervor. For man's whole life is short when measured against the time to come, so short, in fact, that it is as nothing in comparison with eternity. . . . Therefore, my children, let us persevere in our acts of asceticism. And that we may not become weary and disheartened, it is good to meditate on the words of the apostle: 'I die daily.' If we live with the picture of death always before our eyes, we will not sin. The apostle's words tell us that we should so awaken in the morning as though we would not live to evening, and so fall asleep as if there were to be no awakening. For our life is by nature uncertain and is daily meted out to us by Providence. If we are convinced of this and live each day as the apostle suggests, then we will not fall into sin; no desire will enslave us, no anger move us, no treasure bind us to earth; we will await death with unfettered hearts."

— Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Things to Do:

• Read St. Athanasius' account of St. Anthony.
• Learn more about Western Monasticism.
• Pray for those in monastic life and pray for a resurgence of vocations to this life.
• Spend some time contemplating death, considering God's judgments and the thought of eternity.
• Say a prayer to St. Anthony for vigilance in the fight against temptations, prudence in avoiding dangerous occasions, courage under trial and humility in victory.