"As you desire to partake of the joy of the following solemnity, so prepare yourself this day. Humiliation, self-denial and prayer, are the dispositions required of you, and the surest way to be established in the grace of God. Keep a strict fast, if you are able; and if not, be not wanting, at least, in such other exercises, as are proper for the same end. Suppress all motions of vanity, passion, and self-love. Let nothing appear in you, which could render you displeasing to Almighty God, or betray in you a love more of earth than of heaven. Labor to bring your soul to the resemblance of the saints, that you may obtain that grace, which alone can bring you to their state of bliss. And since fasting is one thing required of us, as a proper means for humbling sinners, and for inclining God to compassion and mercy, beseech him to direct you, and help you in keeping such a fast this day, as may be the punishment of your sins, and be so acceptable to Him, as to remove scourges, and open the treasures of his goodness upon you. Do not deceive yourself with names, or ceremonies, or by following in such a track only as custom has made; but consider what is fast, which God has chosen what is the fast due to your sins, and proper for engaging the divine mercy to you. Let not appetite, inclination, or self-love, have the direction of what you are to eat or drink. For by these you have been too often led into excess and sin, and therefore it cannot be reasonable that they should be the advisers on days designed to punish their disorders. Let repentance determine how far the sinner ought to be punished by fasting, who has so often lifted up his head, and rebelled against his God. On this day bear contradictions in silence, and endeavor to rejoice in contempt, as your due. And in whatever way, at other times, you observe your pride break forth, let it there be your solicitude to apply suitable remedies.' The Catholic Year; Or Daily Lessons on the Feasts of the Church By Rev. Fr. John GOTHER

"LET us prepare our souls for the graces heaven is about to shower upon the earth in return for its homage. To-morrow the Church will be so overflowing with joy, that she will seem to be already in possession of eternal happiness; but to-day she appears in the garb of penance, confessing that she is still an exile. Let us fast and pray with her; for are not we too pilgrims and strangers in this world, where all things are fleeting and hurry on to death? Year by year, as the great solemnity comes round, it has gathered from among our former companions new saints, who bless our tears and smile upon our songs of hope. Year by year the appointed time draws nearer, when we ourselves, seated at the heavenly banquet, shall receive the homage of those who succeed us, and hold out a helping hand to draw them after us to the home of everlasting happiness. Let us learn, from this very hour, to emancipate our souls, let us keep our hearts free, in the midst of the vain solicitudes and false pleasures of a strange land: the exile has no care but his banishment, no joy but that which gives him a foretaste of his fatherland." Dom Gueranger

St. Serapion

"An eminent bishop of Antioch, of the second age. He was zealous in maintaining the doctrines received from the apostles, and in opposing all those who taught contrary to what had been delivered: so that no new opinion any where began to appear, but it certainly found him an adversary. This his zeal, as Eusebius observes, was very remarkable in his condemning a book recommended to the faithful under the title of St. Peter's Gospel; being a sacrilegious artifice made use of by some false zealots, for the more plausible recommendation of their errors. But such titles prevailed not with him, who regarded truth alone.

Be zealous for the truth; and fear not only apocryphal gospels, but likewise being imposed upon by the mistaken sense of such as are canonical. But let your zeal be not only in regard of faith, but likewise of such other practical truths, as have been taught by Christ and his apostles. Assert the necessity of taking up the cross of self-denial, of mortifying the flesh, of living by the spirit of Christ, that is, by the spirit of charity, humility and patience. For the faith of Christ will not carry any one to heaven, if there be not due endeavors to live according to the life of Christ. But those who will hazard all for the sake of Jesus, and to order their lives according to His life, will find all worldly comforts supplied in the possession of Him, and that in losing all, they have gained all. This is the doctrine of self-denial; this is the command of forsaking all for Christ's sake, and of loving nothing more than Him, which is so often inculcated in the Gospel, and laid down for the foundation of a Christian life. Whoever has not learned this, has not yet begun to be a true disciple. But how great grace is necessary for us in this state of our weakness, to follow these lessons of the Gospel. Beg then of God to help you in his mercy, and not to let His grace be wanting, by which you may not only purpose, but effectually walk in it all your lives." (The Catholic Year; Or Daily Lessons on the Feasts of the Church by Rev. Fr. John GOTHER)

St. Narcissus of Jerusalem

"Perjury and its punishment.-St. Narcissus, who governed the Church of Jerusalem in 195, when we find him assisting at a council held in that town, was about eighty years old when elevated to the episcopacy. Notwithstanding the miracles that God vouchsafed to his piety, the venerable bishop was accused of an abominable crime by three impious men, who only resorted to this expedient for the purpose of shielding themselves from a better-founded accusation which he might have laid against them. They each swore with an imprecation. May I be burnt alive!" said one. May I be struck with leprosy!" said another. 'May my eyes never more behold the light of day!" added the third. The holy old man, rather than compromise them by seeking to justify himself, withdrew to a solitude where he might remain unknown. The evils which his accusers had invoked upon themselves speedily befell them; being then justified by God himself, he reappeared, and was more beloved than ever by his flock. He lived to the age of 116, but St. Alexander, in the capacity of coadjutor, helped him to discharge the pastoral functions.

MORAL REFLECTION.-"Let no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter, for the Lord is the avenger of all such," says the great Apostle.-(1 Thess. iv. 6.)

Prayer for Persecuted Priests

All Powerful and Eternal God, through the merits of Your Son Jesus, and Through Your love for Him, I implore You, have pity on the priests of the Holy Church. In spite of their sublime dignity, they are fearful and weak, like all created beings. In your infinite mercy, inflame their hearts with the fire of Divine Love. For the sake of Jesus, Your Son, bestow grace on the priests and uphold them. Do not let them fall into temptation and tarnish their noble vocation.

O Jesus, we implore you. Look with pity on the priests of the Holy Church: those who are serving You faithfully and proclaiming Your glory; those who are persecuted for tending your flock; those who are abandoned, weary and sorrowful: those who are lukewarm, confused and who have denied their faith; those who are sick, dying, or in Purgatory. Lord Jesus, we entreat You. Listen to our supplication, have pity and console them.

O Jesus, we entrust to You the priests of the whole world: the priests who baptized me, absolved my sins, offered Holy Mass and consecrated the Eucharist to nourish my soul. We entrust to You the priests that instructed me when I was ignorant, gave me strength in my weakness, showed me the Way and the Truth and comforted me in my sorrow and affliction. For all the blessings they obtained for me, I implore You to support them in Your Loving Kindness.

O Jesus, shelter our priests in Your Sacred Heart. Let them take refuge in Your mercy and love, in this life, and to the hour of death. Amen.

By his Eminence the late Ignatius Cardinal Kung, Bishop of Shanghai.
Published 7/16/1953 during the early years of persecution of the Roman Catholic Church in China by its communist government. He was imprisoned from 1955 to 1988.

Saint Simon and Jude, El Greco. pd

"This day being the festival of the apostles of Jesus Christ; the first part of our devotion ought to be, to give most earnest thanks to Almighty God for his particular mercy in bringing us to the light of His Gospel, and calling us to be members of the Holy Catholic Church, by which we may be taught His truths, and be assisted with all those helps, which His infinite goodness has appointed for our salvation.

The second part of our devotion ought to be in humbly beseeching the Father of mercies to perfect the work which he has begun in us; not to leave us in our natural poverty, but so to strengthen us by a daily supply of grace, that we may live in the practice of the Gospel, and not be a dishonor to our profession, by joining a wicked life to a holy faith. What can be the fruit of our faith in Christ, if we are not solicitous to make his law the rule of our lives?

It having so pleased Almighty God, that the apostles, who were made choice of by Christ for preaching His Gospel to the world, should suffer death from the hands of unbelievers; we have in this, lessons very proper for our instruction. One is, that in whatever we undertake, we are to be solicitous in this point only, of being careful and faithful in the performance of what belongs to us; but as for the success or good effect of our endeavors, this we are to leave with all possible indifference to the appointment of the all-wise Disposer of all things; and stand prepared with equal submission, whether the effect be answerable to our wishes or not. For while we see apostles chosen by Christ himself, commissioned by Him, engaged in no less a work than the conversion of souls; and yet, after all their labors, falling a sacrifice, by the violence of those very errors which they were sent to reform; who is there that upon confidence of his cause can presume of success? No, there are no circumstances in which this presumption ought to be allowed.

When the undertaking is good, success may be desired: but, since all our part is to co-operate with Providence, and its counsels are wholly hidden from us, we are only to join with our best endeavors, where the will of God seems to call for them; and if He permits a disappointment, even then to rejoice in the accomplishment of the Divine Will, and conclude that disappointment to have been ordained by Almighty God, as the means for His greater glory, and our good.

It was thus in the apostles; in whose death God was as much glorified, as in their lives. What construction then is to be put upon all that grief and uneasiness which too often oppress us, and even incline us to repent of the good which we have done, when we see it attended with some ill consequence, and that our charity, or piety, turns to our loss? What is to be said of such grief, but that it is either the effect of pride, which sought itself more than God, and expected the glory of being made the instrument of good; or, that it is a want of faith, which having regard to what is present only, sinks under the present evil, and receives no comfort from the hope of what is yet to come? Now this not being apostolical, ought to be reformed on the day of apostles, and better principles settled; such as may ever put us upon doing good, because it is good; and because God, in present circumstances, seems to require it of us: and as for the effect, to wait upon Providence for whatever that may be. And this, with a mind prepared even to suffer for the good which we do; remembering that whatever we suffer, having done well, is suffering for justice sake, and that which has the promise of eternal blessings to crown it.

Suffering brought upon our own heads, by our folly, extravagance and sin, has something very afflicting in it, even a sting that cannot easily be taken from it. But as for whatever we suffer in consequence of our having done well, this has so much of eternal comforts to sweeten it, that wherever there is not a want of faith, there can be no want of patience, since God has promised to be the reward exceeding great." Source: The Catholic Year; by Rev. Fr. John GOTHER

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St. Fremetius

"THE WAYS OF GOD.- God preordains all things with reference to His designs; this consoling truth is too often absent from our minds in times of affliction. Frumentius and Edesius had been brought to Abyssinia while still children, by one of their relatives who had business there, and, while resting under a leafy shade, intent on their studies, were carried off by some of the inhabitants. They grew up in the midst of this half-barbarous race, and were raised to the highest dignities. The king, when at the point of death, restored to them their liberty. Frumentius, on returning to Tyre, his native town, concerted plans with St. Athanasius for the conversion of Abyssinia. He was soon afterwards sent thither as bishop; the inhabitants, being accustomed to respect and obey him, yielded to his appeal with such perfect docility that before long the entire kingdom was Christianized. In vain did the emperor Constantius strive to harass it by seeking to introduce the errors of Arianism; new though they were in Christianity, they refused to listen to his missionaries or to deliver up their bishop. Abyssinia remained and continues to be Catholic. Frumentius died towards the end of the fourth century.

MORAL REFLECTION.-With reference to how many events may the Christian who reflects well exclaim, as in the above instance: "The finger of God is there!"-(Exod. viii. 19.) Source: Pictorial half hours with the saints by Rev. Fr Auguste François Lecanu

"In every age, from Christ down to this very time, some new nations have been added to the fold of Christ, as the annals of the Church show; and the apostasy of those that have forsaken the path of truth, has been repaired by fresh acquisitions. This is the work of the Most High; the wonderful effect of all-powerful grace. It is owing to the divine blessing that the heavenly seed fructifies in the hearts of men, and it is God who raises up, and animates with his spirit zealous successors of the apostles, whom he wouchsafes to make His instruments in this great work. We are indebted to his gratuitous mercy for the inestimable benefit of this light of faith. If we correspond not faithfully, with fear and trembling, to so great a grace, our punishment will be so much the more dreadful. " Source: The Lives of the Saints by Rev. Fr. Alban Butler.

Accordingly the Catholic Church hereafter will celebrate in the annual Feast of Christ the King a day of Memorial, of Thanksgiving, and of Independence from the slavery of sin and hatred which has with increasing violence encompassed the nations and their homes.

On the last Sunday in October, countless numbers of faithful Christians will kneel before the altar, while their priests, from the rising to the setting of the sun in every land, offer unbloody sacrifice, whereby Christ is immolated anew, and wherein we, united in His name, beseech the Eternal Father to send down His grace for the destruction of sin and the subjugation of men to the sweet yoke of their lawful heavenly and earthly King, Jesus Christ. All during that month the Catholic faithful are in the habit of pouring forth their devotion to God through the Mother of Christ, in the daily recitation of the Rosary. With the eve of the feast the Spouse of Christ inaugurates a series of significant prayers and hymns in the office "De Festo D. N. Jesu Christi Regis". The feast, which in the liturgy of the Church ranks as a Double of the First Class, has its own antiphons and lessons, in which the wondrous manifestations of Christ's Kingship are described as foretold and illustrated by the Messianic prophets." (American Ecclesiastical Review, Volume 74 edited by Herman Joseph Heuser)

St Evaristus

"ST. EVARISTUS succeeded St. Anacletus in the see of Rome, in the reign of Trajan. He governed the Church nine years, and died in 112. As he is honored with the title of martyr, he was most probably put to death for his faith in Christ. He was buried near St. Peter's tomb on the Vatican.

Pray for the Pope and for all the pastors of the Church. Great grace supported them in the primitive times, when they were not acquainted with peace, but were on all sides encompassed with the terrors of death. No less grace is necessary now in time of peace; for the dangers of plenty and ease are as great as the terrors of persecution: and it is to be feared, that many more now forsake Christ and his Gospel, seduced by the snares of liberty and softness, than did formerly by the cruelty of torments. It is difficult to make a right use of troubles, and more difficult not to abuse blessings.

Consider your own condition, examine your ways, and pray for grace to make a Christian use of your circumstances, whatever they be. Christ has declared his will in the Gospel: there He has published laws and rules, which he would have all his followers observe. If He requires all to live by His own spirit, in seeking before all things the kingdom of God, and the glory of His Father, and this by fasting, prayer, and self-denial, and daily endeavors for overcoming all that corruption, which their own nature, the devil and the world suggests to them; if Christ requires this of all His followers, they must either labor in doing what He commands, or conclude themselves to be none of His disciples. For it cannot be available to salvation, to call Christ Lord, if at the same time there be a contempt of His will, or a general neglect of His precepts. If Christ commands humility and poverty of spirit, His followers must not read pride in the place of it; nor think that living according to the dictates of pride will ever bring them to be pleasing in his sight, and to deserve the reward of humility." Source: The Catholic Year; Or Daily Lessons on the Feasts of the Church ..by Rev. Fr. John GOTHER

The Healing of the Officer's Son (La guérison du fils de l'officier) - James Tissot

"Lord, come down before that my son die."- St. JOHN 4. 49.

"THE gospel narrative to-day is simple and touching. The ruler loved his son, and was sorely grieved that he was losing him. Opportunely he heard that our Blessed Lord had come from Judea to Galilee. He hastened therefore to Him; and the cry of his heart went forth, full of faith and trusting hope: Lord, come down and heal my son. And when our Saviour chided him that unless he saw signs and wonders he believed not, the father's heart, not minding the rebuke, persevered in the prayer: Lord, come down before that my son die.

Have we not something that we should cherish even more than that father did his son? Should not our prayer be more earnest and persevering than that father's? Ours should be, "Lord, come down before that my soul die." And how this prayer of poor fallen man has been heard! God the Son came down from heaven and became Man to succor the soul of man. He taught it; He comforted it; He blessed it, and redeemed it. He, Who was the glory of heaven, came down, and became the Crucified Victim of Calvary for us. And lest in succeeding ages the memory of this atonement should grow dim, and lose its power over the hearts of men, the loving Lord perpetuated this Sacrifice, this oblation of Himself for man, lest that our soul should die. Faithful hearts gather round the altar, and their cry is, "Come down." During all these centuries, day after day, in every church the miracle of miracles is worked, and at the words of consecration in the Mass, Christ our Lord, true God, true Man, comes down in His Mercy and His love. Here is our salvation! What Calvary did, the Mass can do! The work of our redemption is renewed lest our souls die. For a moment reflect; what earnestness, devotion, gratitude should be ours for the daily Holy Mass. Christ comes down to heal us, strengthen us, to make our hearts live for and tend to their eternal destiny.