Fourtheenth Day: The Special Duty of Children towards their Deceased Parents
by VP
Posted on Thursday November 14, 2024 at 01:00AM in Meditations
"Honor thy father, and forget not the groaning of thy mother. Remember that thou hadst not been born but through them, and make a return to them; as they have done for thee." (Eccl. VII. 29-30) Next to God, our parents are our greatest benefactors, entitled to most tender love and gratitude, which is the sacred duty of every child. This duty does not end with this life; it is extended even to eternity. Should our departed parents find no relief in their pains? Must they cry out in bitter anguish: "I have reared sons and daughters, but they have forgotten me?"
If we compassionate the misery of strangers, if we do not heartlessly send a beggar from our doors, oh, let us remember how near and dear father and mother are to us, and how greatly we are indebted to them. After their death, we owe them prayers, alms, good works, and Masses. They cry out to us for mercy. Would it not be the lowest degree of ingratitude were we to forget those who bestowed their best love and care upon us in life? The commandment of God, "Honor thy father and thy mother," is an obligation also towards our deceased parents.
Prayer: O God, Who hast commanded us to honor father and mother, look in loving kindness upon the souls of my father and mother, and forgive them their trespasses and grant unto my the joy of being re-united to them in the glorious light of everlasting life. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord. Amen.
Prayer for Priests in Purgatory: My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine Agony in the Garden, in Thy Scourging and Crowning with thorns, in the Way to Calvary, in Thy Crucifixion and Death, have mercy on the souls of priests in Purgatory, especially those most forgotten and who have no one else to pray for them. I wish to remember all those priests who ministered to me, the priests my heart has never forgotten, and for those that I no longer recall due to my frailty of memory. Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in Paradise.
Pope Saint Pius X and Saint John Vianney, pray for us and especially for our priests. Amen
Special Intercession: Pray for the souls of parents who have been forgotten by their children.
Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (three times)
Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!
Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907
#15 Acts of Adoration Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament in reparation for all the offenses committed against Him by mankind [Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament]
by VP
Posted on Thursday November 14, 2024 at 01:00AM in Thursday Reparation
15. We adore Thee, inexhaustible fund of treasures! And to make reparation for all the robberies committed in Thy churches, we offer up to Thee the rich and bountiful donations of Thy devout servants. Eternal praise and thanksgiving be to the Most Holy and Most Divine Sacrament.
O Queen of heaven and earth, hope of mankind, who adores thy Divine Son incessantly! We entreat thee, that, since we have the honor to be of the number of thy children, thou would interest thyself in our behalf and make satisfaction for us, and in our name, to our Eternal Judge, by rendering to Him the duties which we ourselves are incapable of performing. Amen
Saint Josaphat
by VP
Posted on Thursday November 14, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
Martyrdom of Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych by Józef Simmler (1823–1868)
"The life of St. Josaphat is a lesson for all time. The two truths which he was charged by our Divine Lord to proclaim, and which he was to seal with his blood: the supremacy of the Roman Pontiff and the unity of the Church, are denied in our own day by the same sectaries, and all who maintain them assailed by the same fiendish cruelty." The Dublin Review, Part 1 page 46. 1877
"Stir up, O Lord, we beseech thee, in thy Church the Spirit wherewith
the blessed Josephat thy Martyr and Pontiff was filled." Thus prays our
Mother, today, and the Gospel likewise points to the desire of obtaining
pastors like to thee, O holy Bishop! The sacred text speaks of the
false shepherd, who flees at first sight of the wolf; but the Homily,
which explains it in the Night Office, brands equally with the title of
hireling the keeper who, though he does not flee, suffers the enemy
un-resisted to work havoc in the fold. May the divine Shepherd, whom
thou didst imitate unto the end, even unto laying down thy life for the
sheep, live again in all those whom he calls, like Peter, to exercise a
greater love." The Liturgical Year: Passiontide and holy week, 3d edition. 1901 Abbot Prosper Gueranger OSB
Thirtheenth Day: The Special Duty of Everyone to Aid the Faithful Departed
by VP
Posted on Wednesday November 13, 2024 at 01:00AM in Meditations
"Besides the general duty imposed upon us by the divine law of charity, there is a special obligation incumbent upon every one to assist particular souls. This duty devolves upon us in consequence of the personal relations with such souls during their earthly career; for whatever be the condition of man in life, he will have among the souls departed, who may be suffering in Purgatory, some to whom he is indebted for particular favors and benefits.
But what could more forcibly elicit our charity and gratitude than to behold our loved ones and our benefactors in extreme distress, while we have the means of alleviating their suffering! That person does not possess a spark of Christian charity, who, from neglect or indolence, suffers the souls of his friends to be tormented in the flames of Purgatory."
Prayer: Revive, O Lord, within the hearts of Thy faithful an active commiseration for the brethren gone before us, that they may not, by our indifference or neglect, suffer without relief and assistance. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Prayer for Priests in Purgatory: My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine Agony in the Garden, in Thy Scourging and Crowning with thorns, in the Way to Calvary, in Thy Crucifixion and Death, have mercy on the souls of priests in Purgatory, especially those most forgotten and who have no one else to pray for them. I wish to remember all those priests who ministered to me, the priests my heart has never forgotten, and for those that I no longer recall due to my frailty of memory. Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in Paradise.
Pope Saint Pius X and Saint John Vianney, pray for us and especially for our priests. Amen
Special Intercession: Pray for the souls of those who are neglected by their relatives and friends.
Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (three times)
Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!
Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907St. Frances Xavier Cabrini
by VP
Posted on Wednesday November 13, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
Mother Cabrini and Pope leo XIII
"I will have no peace until I have wrested every last child from Protestant hands."
"We must pray without tiring, for the salvation of mankind does not depend on material success; nor on sciences that cloud the intellect. Neither does it depend on arms and human industries but on Jesus alone." Mother CabriniPrayer: Almighty and Eternal Father, Giver of all Gifts, show us Thy mercy, and grant, we beseech Thee, through the merits of Thy faithful Servant, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, that all who invoke her intercession may obtain what they desire according to the good pleasure of Thy Holy Will...(here name your request).
O Lord Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, mindful of Thy bountiful goodness and love, deign, we implore Thee, through the tender devotion of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini for Thy Sacred Heart, to hear our prayers and grant our petitions.
O God, the Holy Ghost, Comforter of the afflicted, Fountain of Light and Truth, through the ardent zeal of Thy humble handmaid, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, grant us Thy all powerful aid in our necessities, sanctify our souls and fill our minds with Divine Light that we may see the Holy Will of God in all things.
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, beloved spouse of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, intercede for us that the favor we now ask may be granted.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory, etc. (Three times)
Imprimatur: Samuel Cardinal Stritch, Archbishop of Chicago, 1943
Sanctuary of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini
These Splendid Sisters: Mother Cabrini An Apostle of the Italians by JAMES J. WALSH, 1926
'If ever there was a social problem so complex as to seem almost hopelessly insoluble and so many-sided as to perplex and bewilder the best intentioned, it was the welfare of the Italian immigrant in this country at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. Not only schools for the poor were needed, but for the better classes as well, where they might find sympathy with their national aspirations and character; hospitals also were necessary to prevent the pitiable condition of sufferers coming to dispensaries and city hospitals with little or no knowledge of English and subject to being unfortunately misunderstood to their own detriment. The hard manual labor in which their fathers were engaged, involving numerous accidents, left many orphan children to be cared for, and in a thousand other ways, also, these willing workers bearing so many difficult burdens of the country, demanded sympathetic assistance. The question was where would one begin, and having begun how carry on and diffuse any social work widely enough to cover these needs not alone in the coast cities of the East, but everywhere where the Italian immigrant had gone or had been brought by others.
Many people, even Catholics, feel that very little has been done, especially by Catholics, for the solution of this vast problem, although it mainly concerns our Italian Catholic brethren. Such a thought, however, betrays ignorance of an immense work that has been developing around us during the last twenty years. The recent death of Mother Francis Xavier Cabrini at the Columbus Hospital, Chicago (December, 1917), has emphatically called attention to the fine results secured in this important matter by her congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Not quite seventy when she died, she had established over seventy houses of her religious. Her institute, less than forty years old, numbers its members by thousands. From Italy, where her foundation was made, it has spread to North, South and Central America, as well as France, Spain and England. No wonder that at her death, she was honored by those who knew her work as a modern apostle whose influence for good proved that the arm of the Lord had not been shortened: that He still raised up great personalities to meet the special needs of the Church in all generations.
Mother Francis Xavier Cabrini was born at St. Angelo di Lodi, July 16, 1850. Her parents belonged to the Italian nobility. From her early years she gave evidence of devout piety, and at the age of thirty undertook the organization of a congregation that would devote itself to teaching especially the children of the poor and of training school teachers. Her first house was founded at Codogno in 1880. A series of houses sprang up, during the following years, in and around Milan, and her work having attracted the attention of Leo XIII., she was invited to open a Pontifical School at Rome. This succeeded so admirably, that the Pope saw in it a great agency for the benefit of Italians all over the world. This great Pontiff had been very much attracted by Mother Cabrini's character and her enthusiastic zeal, which overcame obstacles that to many seemed insurmountable.
Accordingly when the foreign missionary spirit developed among her Sisters, Mother Cabrini, knowing the blessing that always accrued to a congregation for missionary work, applied to the Pope for permission to send her Sisters into the Orient. Pope Leo suggested that her mission lay in exactly the opposite direction. He recommended the Americas, North and South, as a fertile field for the labors of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Mother Cabrini, receiving the suggestion as a command from God, proceeded to carry it out. A few months later she embarked for America with her Sisters, and assumed charge of a school for the children of Italian immigrants which was opened in New York in connection with the Church of St. Joachim.
Immigration was then at its height, the social problems of the Italians were at a climax, Americans had scarcely awakened to the need of doing anything, the Italian government was aroused to the necessity of accomplishing something, but politics were blocking the way, and it looked as though a little band of Italian Sisters could accomplish very little. Yet in a few years it became evident that this mustard seed was destined to grow into a large tree whose branches would shelter the birds of the air.
Mother Cabrini very soon realized that despite the importance of teaching, there were other crying needs of our Italian population that must be met if there was to be a solid foundation for the solution of social problems among them. Ailing and injured Italians needed the care that could properly be given them only by their own. Seeing in the celebration of the five hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus, then impending, an auspicious moment, Mother Cabrini, in 1892, opened Columbus Hospital in New York. It had an extremely humble beginning in two private houses and with such slender support as would surely have discouraged anything less than the zeal of this foundress, convinced that she was doing God's work on a mission indicated by the Pope himself. Before long, the fortunes of the hospital began to brighten, until now it is one of the recognized institutions of New York, situated in a commodious building that brings it conspicuously to the notice of New Yorkers. Before the outbreak of the War, plans had been drawn for a ten-story building which should have been finished before this, and would have been one of the most complete hospitals in the country.
But Columbus Hospital was only the beginning. Mother Cabrini's great work of schools for Italian children of the poorer and better classes, was not neglected, but it was now evident that hospitals offered the best chance to win back adult Italians who had abandoned their faith and to influence deeply those who could be brought in no other way under Christian influences. After an Italian had been under the care of these devoted Italian Sisters, it was, indeed, hard for him to neglect his religion as before, and many a family returned to the devout practice of the Faith when the father had had his eyes opened to the practical virtues of religion by his stay in the hospital. Hence, in 1905, Columbus Hospital, Chicago, was founded under extremely difficult conditions. For some time the failure of this enterprise seemed almost inevitable, and Reverend Mother Cabrini's heart was heavy at the prospect of her beloved poor deprived of skilled care. She did not lose courage, however, and she was rewarded, after a particularly trying time in which her greatest consolation and help was prayer, the assured future of the hospital.
A little later, a branch hospital known as Columbus Extension Hospital, was established for the very poor in the heart of an Italian district in Chicago, at Lytle and Polk Streets. Five years later, Columbus Hospital and Sanitarium in Denver was founded and a few years later Columbus Hospital, Seattle. All of these were in excellent condition, with abundant promise of future usefulness, and healthy development at the time of Mother Cabrini's death. This holy woman brought to the service of her zeal for religion such good sound common sense and business acumen and efficiency, as to call forth the admiration of all who knew her and who realized what she was accomplishing in the face of unlooked-for and almost insurmountable difficulties.
Municipal and state officials were often staggered at the projects she undertook with apparently utterly inadequate means at her command, but after a struggle and hard work, the abundant success she realized, opened their eyes to the fact that here was not merely an ordinary activity but something so extraordinary as to suggest the assistance of a supernatural agency.
Prominent officials in this country and in Europe, not only in Italy but in France and Spain and England, had learned to admire unstintedly the humble, simple, little Mother of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart who at first appeared a hopeless enthusiast, yet proved on comparatively short acquaintance to be the most practical of women. In explaining how she succeeded in doing things that seemed hopeless to others, she was in the habit of saying: "What do you wish? you men who look at these problems have too much to do, and then you want to do too much all at once. For instance, there is no need of lengthy discussion as to the necessity for protection for immigrants, but what is needed is to put protection for the immigrant into effect. You see I do not discuss, I find that there is a good thing that ought to be done. I set myself and my little institute at work at it at once. I do not despair of finding the means with which to do it. I always feel confident that somehow or other I shall always find them. I do not know quite how it is that I find these, and others do not, but perhaps that is because I am only a little nun whom nobody minds, and therefore perhaps I meet with less opposition and people are
ready to help me." That was all that she was in her own estimation, just "a little nun," but under the modest habit of a nun she possessed a soul constantly open to aspirations and ideals, tenacious of purpose and ready to do anything once she was sure that it would redound to the glory of God by benefiting mankind.
A favorite expression of hers, often repeated to her Sisters and often uttered even in her dealings with secular people, was: "I can do all things in Him that strengthens me." Her entire confidence in God, her utter lack of self-sufficiency, her constant confession that she was but "a poor little nun," bore her triumphantly over all difficulties. Her foundations remind one of St. Teresa's journeys to make her foundations, and of her character and simple-hearted confidence in tackling the most difficult problems under conditions that seemed most forbidding. One recalls the Spanish Saint's reply when told that she was assuming a preposterous task in setting out to found a house of her order with only three ducats at her disposal. The words are famous in the history of religious endeavor: "Teresa and three ducats, can do nothing, but Teresa and three ducats and God can accomplish anything."
Poor St. Teresa made her long journeys either on foot or in an ox-cart. Mother Cabrini's journeys were made under less difficult circumstances, but the length of them probably made them at least as tiresome and trying as those of the Saint three centuries and a half ago. Nothing could give a better idea of the extraordinary vigor and marvelous power of action of the little nun than an account given to one who knew her well: "I came a month ago from South America. I am just setting out for Chicago. After a fortnight there, I expect to go to Los Angeles and probably not long after, I return to the East, from there I shall have to set out for Italy. In the meantime (Carroccio, January, 1918.), however, I must try to make it clear to the Commissioner of Immigration that our Columbus Hospital is giving aid directly to the Italians." At that time the statistics of the hospital showed that over 100,000 Italians had been discharged from it cured.
In the midst of her activities in North America she did not forget that the Pope's recommendation had included all the Americas, and so she voyaged to South America in order to lay foundations there. Schools were founded in Argentina, in Brazil and then in Chile and Peru. Once she made the journey over the mountains from one side of the South American Continent to the other-and it must not be forgotten that the Cordilleras are even higher than the Alps-on mule back, running all the risks of that old-fashioned mode of travel. Many a precipice's edge had to be passed on her sure-footed little beast, and once Providence seemed almost to have abandoned her. The animal disappeared with her over a precipice and she was saved, apparently only by a miraculous intervention. Nothing could diminish her zeal, nor quench her enthusiasm for her work. Dangers and trials might come, her one idea was to accomplish as much as possible before the end came, and the darkness set in and no man could labor.
Her South American missionary labors were successful, and she founded houses at Buenos Ayres, Mercedes and Rosario in Argentina, at Rio de Janeiro and San Paolo of Brazil. On her return to the United States there came the call for her Sisters to go to Central America. They tell the story of her sending to New York for one of her Sisters whom she had chosen to be the head of the foundations in Central America, to come to her in Los Angeles. The good Sister's train was delayed and Mother met her almost at the door telling her that she was sorry for the delay of her train, but now no time was to be lost. She must set out at once for Nicaragua.
There were very few words to be said, for it was deeds not words that she loved, and soon the definite foundation of a house in Central America had been made.
At the time of her death there were, as we have said, more houses of her Congregation than she counted years, though her work as a foundress had not begun until nearly half of her life was run. It is said that as a young woman she had in her zeal for missionary labor asked her confessor for permission to join an order of Missionary Sisters that would take her far from home, so that home ties should count for little in life, and should surely not disturb her complete devotion to her vocation. Her confessor replied that he knew of none. There were no missionary sisters in the strict sense of the word and so Mother Cabrini founded the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, which has flourished so marvelously.
Houses of the Congregation are established about Milan, and at Genoa, Turin, Cittá della Pieve, Monte Compatri, Marsciano; and hospitals and orphan asylums in Paris, London, Madrid, Bilbao, as well as other places in Europe and here in America. The greatest extension of the Congregation has taken place in the United States where, besides the Hospitals already mentioned, there are schools in New York City, the Villa of the Sacred Heart for children of better class parents at Fort Washington Avenue, an orphan asylum at West Park, schools in the parishes of the Transfiguration, of St. Charles in Brooklyn, of St. Rita and the School of Feminine Crafts in connection with the Church of the Madonna of Pompeii. In New Orleans there are two schools and a large orphan asylum; in Chicago, besides two hospitals, there is a school, and in Denver, a school and an orphan asylum, as well as a hospital and sanitarium. There are schools at Newark and West Arlington, N. J.; Scranton, Pa.; at Dobbs Ferry, N. Y., and a school at Seattle which was the opening wedge for a hospital founded later at this extreme end of the continent. Mother Cabrini took advantage of the sale of a large hotel in that city to secure it for this hospital.
Everywhere she emphasized the Italian origin and spirit of her work. No wonder then that the Ambassador from Italy deeply concerned with the problem of making the Italian people here as happy and contented as possible, but above all of keeping them from being imposed upon in any way, called her his "precious collaborator." "While I may be able to conserve the interests of the Italians,” he said, "by what I am able to accomplish through those who are in power, she succeeds in making herself loved and esteemed by the suffering, the poor, the children, and thus preserves these poor Italians in a foreign country.”
In spite of her devoted Italian sentiments, she drew her postulants from practically every nationality in the country. Many an Irish girl, after looking into Mother Cabrini's wonderful eyes, felt it her vocation to help this wonderful little woman in the work she had in hand. She won all hearts to herself, but only for the sake of the Master, and so it is that in the course of scarcely more than twenty-five years, her Congregation counts nearly five hundred members here in America. It has some three thousand throughout the world, all intent on accomplishing the social work that has been placed in their care, and of solving the problems brought about by the huge Italian immigration to the Americas in the eighties and nineties of the last century.
When the Italians entered the War, Mather Cabrini, by cable, mobilized her Sisters in Italy for the aid of their native country in every way possible. The houses of the Congregation were transformed into hospitals and refuges for the convalescent, as well as asylums for the sons and daughters of those who had fallen on the field of battle. Her devotion to her Italian people was so great, Il Carroccio, or as it is called in English, The Italian Review, published in New York, compares her to Florence Nightingale, for what she has accomplished both in peace and in war. Nor may anyone who knows all the circumstances of her work, deny that the comparison is more than justified. "Scarcely more than a generation has passed, and Mother Cabrini has thousands of coworkers and many hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries. What will the fruit of her labors mean three generations from now, if anything like the original initiative be maintained? Only the future can reveal the full significance of her story. One thing is certain, that after reading the brief sketches of her life that have thus far appeared, we may not doubt that God still provides the necessary agents for great works. When needs are most crying, some one is raised up who is equal to them. When conditions are at their worst, some one comes to find a way out of the difficulties. After the pioneer work is done, its difficulties are lost sight of by those who enjoy its results. But the pioneer succeeds only by the personal immolation of self and the ability to lead others by the same heights of sacrifice."
Twelfth Day: Grand Display is of no Value to the Holy Souls
by VP
Posted on Tuesday November 12, 2024 at 01:00AM in Meditations
"In Regard to pompous displays for the departed, St. Augustine says: "Costly funerals and expensive displays may afford the living some consolation, but are of no benefit to the departed." He adds, however: "Let care be bestowed upon funerals and the erection of monuments: for Holy Writ reckons these among good works. Let all perform these last services for their departed, and hereby relieve their own sorrow; but let them show greater zeal, care, and generosity in succoring the souls of the departed, by Masses, prayers and alms, and thus give evidence not only of a temporal, but also a spiritual love for those who are departed in body only, but not in spirit. According to a rule of the Church, flowers should be used at funerals of children only; circumstances may at times justify a deviation from this rule, but, at all events, it is unpardonable if the expense connected with this display deprives the soul departed of any spiritual assistance."
Prayer: We beseech Thee, O Lord, by Thy infinite mercy, do not despise our prayers in behalf of the souls in Purgatory, but grant them the peace and consolation we desire for them. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Prayer for Priests in Purgatory: My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine Agony in the Garden, in Thy Scourging and Crowning with thorns, in the Way to Calvary, in Thy Crucifixion and Death, have mercy on the souls of priests in Purgatory, especially those most forgotten and who have no one else to pray for them. I wish to remember all those priests who ministered to me, the priests my heart has never forgotten, and for those that I no longer recall due to my frailty of memory. Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in Paradise.
Pope Saint Pius X and Saint John Vianney, pray for us and especially for our priests. Amen
Special Intercession: Pray for the souls of those who were remembered by a pompous funeral only, and have no relief in their pain.
Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (three times)
Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!
Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907Saint Martin, Pope and Martyr, A.D. 655.
by VP
Posted on Tuesday November 12, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
"He was bishop of Rome, and faithful in all the duties of his pastoral charge. Having laboured for some time to reclaim Paul, patriarch of Constantinople, from the errors of the Monothelites, but without effect, he at length, in a council at Rome of one hundred and five bishops, condemned him; and by this drew upon himself the fury of the Emperor Constans. The emperor sent an order either to cause St. Martin to be massacred, or to send him a prisoner into the East. But the officer who had undertaken to murder the holy pope, was struck with blindness, and could not see him. The emperor then sent another to seize him, who carried him off at midnight; and after long delay and great sufferings, he was brought to Constantinople. There he was cast into a dungeon for nearly three months; after which he was dragged about the city with an iron collar round his neck, and then thrown into prison with murderers. Here he continued in great suffering for three months; at the end of which he was banished to Chersonesus, where having no other comfort but what came from heaven, he surrendered his soul to God, in the year 655.
Pray for the present bishop of that holy See, that God would assist him with all blessings necessary for so great a charge. Pray for all pastors of the Church,
that they may be zealous against all errors and abuses. And learn from
this prelate, not only to suffer reproaches, but all extremities, rather
than favour, or comply with, what is unlawful, or unjust. Suffering here cannot be long: but suffering hereafter may be eternal. It is worth your trouble to prevent one by the other. Your present uneasiness will be your comfort at the hour of death. Be upon the watch, neither to flatter those who raise slanders and false reports, nor to join with them in believing, or spreading their calumnies. Suspend all judgment and assent, as to what you hear against others; that you may escape the too common guilt of rashly judging, or helping to defame your neighbour." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
Eleventh Day: Our Duty to Relieve the Souls in Purgatory
by VP
Posted on Monday November 11, 2024 at 01:00AM in Meditations
"In bestowing charity upon any person, we are usually guided by the degree of his poverty; but who is in such great need as he who possesses absolutely nothing, owes a heavy debt, is unable to labor or gain any merit; or even to beg, and must nevertheless suffer the most excruciating torments until the last farthing has been paid! There is a universal law to assist the needy, which extends even to strangers; but here the obligation is greater, because among these souls in Purgatory are such as were intimately connected with us, who suffer perhaps, for having loved us excessively. Among the sufferers are our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, relatives and friends. How exceedingly painful for them to be forgotten and deserted even by those whose happiness they promoted during their sojourn on earth; to see the possessions left to their children foolishly squandered, they themselves not receiving the benefit of the least farthing thereof. What proofs of extreme coldness and ingratitude! Were any of these persons afflicted with the least pain upon earth we would do all in our power to relieve them, but, as it is, we are devoid of all sympathy, and leave them in their terrible suffering and anguish."
Prayer: Have mercy, O Lord, upon the suffering souls in Purgatory, and mitigate the severity of Thy judgment, that they, who during their earthly lives, believed in Thee, hoped in Thee, and loved Thee, may receive the crown of justice in Heaven. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer for Priests in Purgatory: My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine Agony in the Garden, in Thy Scourging and Crowning with thorns, in the Way to Calvary, in Thy Crucifixion and Death, have mercy on the souls of priests in Purgatory, especially those most forgotten and who have no one else to pray for them. I wish to remember all those priests who ministered to me, the priests my heart has never forgotten, and for those that I no longer recall due to my frailty of memory. Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in Paradise.
Pope Saint Pius X and Saint John Vianney, pray for us and especially for our priests. Amen
Special Intercession: Pray for the souls of those who are suffering for their negligence in prayer for the souls in Purgatory.
Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (three times)
Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!
Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907Saint Martin of Tours Bishop and Confessor
by VP
Posted on Monday November 11, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
"Saint Martin trembled on entering a Church and never sat, stood or spoke while there, because he remembered that he was before God, his Judge. Oh, that all who go to Church, would take to heart that they appear before their Judge! How differently would they conduct themselves! May you, at least, think earnestly of it. Say to yourself: "I go to my God; I shall appear before Him, who, in a little while, will be my Judge, and who will sentence me for all eternity. At this moment He is still my Savior, ready to pardon my sins and give me grace, that I may go to heaven. But soon He will judge me according to His justice." Considering all this carefully, you will surely avoid everything that is displeasing to God, and you will guard against the least disrespect. "This place is terrible. It is nothing less than the house of God and the gate of heaven," said the Patriarch Jacob of the place where he had seen, in his sleep, the Lord of Heaven. He was afraid, because he had dared to sleep there, though he knew not that the place was holy. How much more reason have you to fear when you are irreverential in Church, as you know that it is, in a grander sense, the house of God the gate of heaven.
The Evil Spirit, who appeared to St. Martin in his last hour, was easily driven away with the words: " Wherefore art thou standing there, thou blood-thirsty beast? Thou has nothing to expect from me." Consider well; if Satan dares to tempt so holy a man; if he can fill him with fear and confusion; what will he not do to those whose have led an indolent, lukewarm, or even sinful life? "The devil has descended upon you," says Holy Writ; "he is full of great wrath because he knows that he has but little time." St. Martin feared not, but drove him away, because his conscience was free from anything with which Satan could reproach him. Oh! happy is he, who cannot be reproached in his last hour with anything that he has not confessed already and expiated. St. Martin was accustomed to fight during his life with Satan; therefore he easily conquered him in death. Think deeply on it; those who accustom themselves during their lives to fight with Satan's temptation, will be able, by the grace of God, to do the same on their death-bed. But how will those fare, who, during the greater part of their lives, have consented to the temptations of Satan? Oh! there is good reason to fear that, in their last hour, they will do the same, and thus go to eternal perdition. Impress this point well upon your mind, and accustom yourself in time to fight bravely against Satan and his temptations, as otherwise your are lost for all eternity. "Vainly do they promise themselves security in their dying hour, who, during their life, resist not temptation." says St. Leo. "If Satan finds any one who is not watchful, and well experience in fighting, he will easily conquer him," says St. Cyprian." On the Life of Each Saint for every day in the year. Rev. F. X. Wininger D.D., S.J. 1876
"THIS famous bishop was born in Hungary, and was taken to Italy in his infancy. At ten years of age, he became a Catechumen, that is, he placed himself under instruction for the Christian faith, against the will of his parents, who were idolators. At fifteen he was compelled by his father to enter the army, and served under Constantius and Julian. While he was a soldier, he performed that remarkable charity of cutting off half of his cloak, with his sword, to cover a poor man whom he met at the gate of Amiens, almost naked, shaking with cold, in a very hard winter, and begging alms of those that passed by. The following night he saw Jesus Christ dressed in that half of his cloak, which he had given to the poor man, and was bid to look at it well, and see whether he knew it. He then heard our Saviour say to the angels that surrounded him: "Martin, yet a Catechumen, has clothed me with this garment." This encouraged him to finish what he had begun; and therefore, leaving the military life, he was baptized, and went to St. Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, by whom he was instructed in all virtue, and ordained acolyth. After some time, being made bishop of Tours, he preserved in that dignity an humble mind; and notwithstanding the great distractions of his charge, lived in solitude, and was most severe to himself in all the rigours of a monastic life. Thus eminent in all sanctity, which God likewise testified in many miracles wrought by him, at the age of fourscore and one he died happily, in the year 397. Pray for all pastors of the Church, that the great humility and piety of this prelate may be their example; that while they are watchful in the concerns of their flock, they may be likewise solicitous in the care of their own souls. And for yourself, if you desire the necessary assistance of Heaven, seek it by your charity to the poor. This
was the beginning of those
eminent graces which St. Martin received from God. Help others in their
necessities, as far as your circumstances permit; for in this you
oblige heaven to help you. Charity has a sweet saviour, ascends before
God, and brings down abundance of heavenly blessings." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
Prayer
"O holy Martin, have compassion on our depth of misery! A winter more severe than that which caused you to divide your cloak now rages over the world. Many perish in the icy night brought on by the extinction of faith and the cooling of charity. Come to the aid of those unfortunates, whose torpor prevents them from asking assistance. Wait not for them to pray, but forestall them for the love of Christ in whose name the poor man of Amiens implored you, whereas they scarcely know how to utter it. And yet their nakedness is worse than the beggar's, stripped as they are of the garment of grace, which their fathers received from thee and handed down to posterity.
How lamentable, above all, has become the destitution of France, which you once enriched with the blessings of Heaven, and where your benefits have been requited with such injuries! Deign to consider, however, that our days have seen the beginning of reparation, close by your holy tomb restored to our filial veneration. Look upon the piety of those grand Christians whose hearts were able, like the generosity of the multitude, to rise to the height of the greatest projects. See the pilgrims, however reduced their numbers, now taking once more the road to Tours, traversed so often by people and kings in better days of its history Has that history of the brightest days of the Church, of the reign of Christ the King, come to an end, O Martin? Let the enemy imagine he has already sealed our tomb. But the story of your miracles tells us that you can raise up even the dead. Was not the catechumen of Liguge snatched from the land of the living when you called him back to life, and Baptism? Supposing that, like him, we were already among those whom the Lord remembers no more, the man or the country that has Martin for protector and father need never yield to despair. if you deign to bear us in mind, the Angels will come and say again to the supreme Judge: "This is the man, this it the nation for whom Martin prays," and they will be commanded to draw us out of the dark regions where dwell the people without glory, and to restore us to Marin, and to our nobles destinies.
Your zeal, however, for the advancement of God's kingdom knew no limits. Inspire, then, strengthen and multiply the apostles all over the world who. like you, are driving out the remnant of infidelity. Restore Christian Europe which still honors your name, to the unity so unhappily dissolved by schism and heresy. in spite of the many efforts to the contrary, maintain your noble fatherland in its post of honor, and in its traditions of brave fidelity. may your devout clients in all lands experience that your right arm still suffices to protect those who implore you. In Heaven today, as the Church sings, the Angels are full of joy, the Saints proclaim your glory, the Virgins surround you saying: "Remain with us for ever." is not this the continuation of what your life was here on Earth when you and the virgins vied with each other in showing mutual veneration, when Mary their Queen accompanied by Thecla and Agnes loved to spend long hours with you in your cell, Marmoutier, which thus became, says your historian, like the dwellings of the Angels? Imitating their brothers and sisters in Heaven, virgins and monks, clergy and pontiffs turn to you, never fearing that their numbers will cause any one of them to receive less, knowing that your life is a light sufficient to enlighten all and that one glance from martin will secure to them the blessings of the Lord." In Lumine Fidei: Liturgical year for traditional Catholics, Don Gueranger.