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"He was an apostle and brother of St. John the Evangelist; who being among the first called by Christ, left his father and nets, and followed him. Pray for all, those, who succeed in his holy function, that they may truly renounce the love of the world, and follow Christ. Having preached the Gospel in many places, he was at length condemned by Herod Agrippa, and beheaded at Jerusalem, being the first of the apostles that gave his life for Christ. Pray for all that suffer for their faith, and beg grace, that you may rather submit to all extremities and death, than deny Christ, or His truths.

His body was translated to Compostella, in Spain, where it has been ever since kept with great veneration, and visited by Christians from all parts of the world. Praise and honour God in His saints: let the memory of their sufferings excite in you a zeal like theirs. Pray for all those pious pilgrims, who for this end undertake their laborious journeys, that God would comfort them, and be the reward of their labours.

Christ, in choosing fishermen to be his apostles, and by their means converting the world to his faith, has abundantly demonstrated that this has not been the work of human wisdom, eloquence, or power, but only of His grace and truth. In this He has also taught His followers, how great confidence they ought to have in His assistance, in whatever they under take; and that for their success, they are ever to depend on Him. It is an instruction to all faithful souls, with what courage they ought to go on in the work of their salvation. It is a task of very great difficulty, which they have undertaken, to master themselves, to stand against the corruption of the world, and defend themselves against all the snares of a powerful and subtle enemy. This difficulty is increased by the consideration of their own weakness; which, compared with the great work which they have to do, seems enough to draw on dejection and despair. But how great a remedy have all Christians against these discouraging temptations, by looking on the apostles, and comparing the immense difficulties of their task of converting an idolatrous and wicked world, with the infirmities and slender abilities of those who were to undertake it. Is there not in this sufficient motive for all to go on with resolution, and a confidence in the divine assistance? They were all men as we are, subject to the same weakness and passions. But our work is nothing, if compared to theirs. They had the whole world on their hands we have generally but one to take care of. We have principles of faith, and education already laid they found all contrary in those to whom they were sent. We have only the opposition of a corrupt nature: and they had the power and interest of earth and hell to stand against them, armed with all the terrors which malice and cruelty could invent. And yet, did not they go on with courage? Were not they every where victorious, in rescuing so many nations from the tyranny of hell, and subjecting them to the faith of Christ? And cannot you, dear Christian, have hopes that God will carry you on with success in your little work. Have you not the same God to help you? His power is the same; His goodness is the same; His arm is not shortened; and His infinite truth, which cannot fail, is still engaged to help all those that put their trust in him. Be faithful then in your endeavours; benot tired with your labour; let no difficulties, or seeming delays discourage you; but place your whole confidence in God; for they cannot fail of His help, who lose not their hopes in Him.

Give to all thy faithful, O God, a true sense of the work which they have to do; that by a watchful and laborious diligence they may put themselves in dispositions of obtaining thy help, without which they must certainly perish."The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother

Prayer: O Glorious Apostle, Saint James, who by reason of thy fervent and generous heart wast chosen by Jesus to be a witness of His glory on Mount Thabor, and of His agony in Gethsemane; thou, whose very name is a symbol of warfare and victory: obtain for us strength and consolation in the unending warfare of this life, that, having constantly and generously followed Jesus, we may be victors in the strife and deserve to receive the victor's crown in Heaven. Amen

"This saint is a perfect model of the most generous contempt of the world. Whilst yet a child, not content to give all he could, he left nothing unattempted for the relief of all in distress. Fearing lest temporal honours might draw his heart too much from those objects which alone are noble and great, he entertained thoughts of renouncing the advantages of his birth, and retiring from the more dangerous part of the world. In disguise he travelled into a distant country. embraced extreme poverty, and resided in a hut adjoining to a Church dedicated to the Holy Mother of God. Being, after some time, discovered to be a stranger of distinction, he returned home; and being received as a poor pilgrim, lived seventeen years unknown in his father's house, bearing the contumely and ill treatment of the servants with invincible patience and silence. A little before he died, he by a letter discovered himself to his parents. In this saint, all those who have retired from the world may see the advantage of their choice; especially, if with his desire of inward peace, they are solicitous to cut off, as much as possible, all conversation with it. What a strange blindness it is, for men to have time given them to prepare their souls for the eternal possession of God, and to consume this time in seeking this world instead of him!

Pray for the spirit of purity, and beseech God to give you a clean heart. Be careful to avoid whatever may be prejudicial to it. Keep a guard on your eyes and tongue, and expose not yourself to dangers. Examine your weakness in this particular; resolve upon using the means necessary for your security, and having begged pardon for past failings, beseech God to strengthen you in all temptations. This you have reason to hope for in such as occasionally happen; but if you expose yourself to them, you tempt God to forsake you."The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother

"A holy man, who came in company with St. Peter from Antioch to Rome, and was by him ordained bishop, and sent to Ravenna, in Italy, to preach the gospel. There he was blessed with great success, in the conversion of many. Venerable Bede in his martyrology, says that he sat twenty years. He was put to cruel torments, and afterwards banished out of the city. But the spirit of God everywhere accompanying him, he preached in other places, doing good to all, but was everywhere persecuted, and put to the most severe trials. God preserved him a long time to his Church; but at length returning to Ravenna, he had all his labours and sufferings crowned with martyrdom under the Emperor Vespasian, in the year 82.

Pray for all the prelates and pastors of Christ's Church, that succeeding in the function of this holy man, they may inherit his spirit and zeal, and venture all extremities for the good of souls, so that no apprehension of suffering may discourage them from their duty. Pray again for all in persecution and trouble: and let the patience of the martyrs teach you patience in all your trials. Christians ought to be ashamed, after so many great examples, to let ordinary difficulties and provocations cast them into dejection and passion. Labour therefore in earnest to overcome these evils: go through all with courage and resolution; considering them as the passage to everlasting rest; and beseech God to help you, who gave strength to the martyrs. Pray for all in affliction and trouble. They stand in need of God's assistance, to support them against excessive solitude, against impatience and dejection. If your experience has made you sensible of this danger, fail not to importune heaven in favour of all such as are under it: thus in Christ's mystical body, the members are to help one another. If you have any part of the bitter cup before you, offer yourself to drink it with the spirit of a martyr. It may be the only martyrdom required of you; be faithful, and beg of Him to strenghten you." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother

"Woe to us who have been born in this wretched age, an age - I say it weeping - in which anyone who has any zeal whatever for the glory of God, and casts his eyes on the men and women who now live, will be moved to tears to see everything turned upside down, the beautiful order of virtue overthrown, the bright light of life quenched, and scarce anything left in the Church but open iniquity and feigned sanctity. The light of good example is extinguished in those who ought to shine as luminaries to the whole world, like watch-towers and beacons on the mountains. No light, alas! comes from them, but horrid darkness, and pestilent mischief, by which innumerable souls are falling into destruction." -- St. John Fisher; Bishop of Rochester, Cardinal, Tower of London, 1535

Prayer for Holy Bishops: Lord, according to Your promise that the Gospel should be preached throughout the whole world, raise up men fit for such work. The Apostles were but soft and yielding clay till they were baked hard by the fire of the Holy Ghost. So, Good Lord, do now in like manner again with Thy Church Militant; change and make the soft and slippery earth into hard stones; set in Thy Church strong and mighty pillars, that may suffer and endure great labors, watching, poverty, thirst, hunger, cold and heat; which also shall not hear the threatenings of princes, persecution, neither death but always persuade and think with themselves to suffer with a good will, slanders, shame, and all kinds of torments, for the glory and laud of Thy Holy Name. By this manner, good Lord, the truth of Thy Gospel shall be preached throughout all the world. Therefore, merciful Lord, exercise Thy mercy, show it indeed upon Thy Church. Saint John Fisher (Sermon in 1508) from Saint John Fisher Forum

O most merciful Jesus, I give thee thanks for that work of piety which the blessed Mary Magdalen wrought on thee when she washed thy feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed them and anointed them with fragrant ointment; whereby she obtained from thee such signal grace that thou didst pour into her heart and soul so great love of thee that she could love nothing apart from thee: beseeching thee that by her merits and intercessions thou wouldst vouchsafe to me tears of true repentance, and pour into my heart thy divine love. Amen. (Preces Gertrudianae; Prayers of St. Gertrude and St. Mechtilde.)

"She had lived a long time in all the disorders of luxury and vice; but touched at length with the sense of her crimes, and knowing Christ to be her only physician, she runs in to him, while he is at table with the Pharisee, and throws herself at his feet. She washes his feet with her tears, and wipes them with her hair; she kisses them, and pours forth her sweet perfumes, and departs not thence till she has Christ her advocate, and hears those words of comfort from his sacred mouth: Thy sins are forgiven thee: thy faith hath made thee safe, go in peace.

Adore the goodness of your Redeemer, and bless his mercy who has given such encouragement to repenting sinners. Pray for all those unhappy ones, who, like Magdalen, are engaged in sin; that being sensible of their misery, they may, with her, seek their Redeemer, and by a sincere conversion be received into his favour. Let this day's mercy raise up your hopes in Christ; and, whatever your sins have been, preserve you from all despair.

St. Mary Magdalen having thus obtained pardon of her sins, became a true disciple of Jesus: and her heart, which she had rescued from the love of the world, she gave now entirely to him. She delighted in his sacred doctrine, and her place of rest was at his feet, where she first found wonderful effects of his goodness. She poured perfumes on his head, to prepare him for his burial, she followed him to the cross with tears, she was the first at his sepulchre, and there continued watching for her Lord. She was informed of His resurrection by the angels, and was the first mentioned in Scripture, to whom Christ appeared.

Learn from her the method of a true conversion. If God has mercifully drawn you out of a state of sin, express your sense of this mercy, in a more than ordinary fidelity to your Lord. Endeavour to outdo all in every Christian duty, in prayer, fasting, and all kinds of humiliation. The innocent Christian is obliged to a life of virtue; the converted sinner ought to do something more, and make his life a penance, bearing some proportion to his past offences. But whatever your life has been, pray on this day to be delivered from all temptations, or strengthened against them. Resolve upon avoiding all immediate occasions of sin; be cautious in the choice of company, and in all your conversation; avoid all familiarities; keep a strict guard on your thoughts, your eyes and your tongue. Never read books which are likely to soften and injure your soul; beseech God to take from you the love of the world, and of all its vanities and snares; to give you a true sense of your own weakness, and of all the dangers before you, and to inspire you with courage necessary for your security. As far as you forsake the world, you may hope God will approach to you, and prepare you for a better." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother

The appearance of the Saint during his thanksgiving after Mass is described as altogether extraordinary. He seemed to be all on fire, and would pant with the heat, even in the depth of winter. When he was thus transformed, the other religious often came out of holy curiosity to look at him. "His countenance," they tell us, "shone like that of an angel, and filled with joy and devotion all who beheld him."

We will conclude this subject with a relation of what occurred at Gratz in Holy Week. It was during Lawrence's first sojourn in Germany. The Church being still unfinished, a room in the new monastery served as a chapel, but the Rubrics did not permit Mass to be celebrated there on Holy Thursday. For the Commissary and his brethren it was a great privation to be without Mass on the anniversary of the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament; but they consoled themselves with the reflection that they could receive Our Lord in Holy Communion. On Holy Thursday morning, however, it was discovered that all the consecrated particles had, by mistake, been consumed the previous day. Grievously disappointed, the religious applied themselves with much fervour to make up for their loss by a spiritual Communion. Whilst they were thus engaged, the chapel was suddenly illuminated, and there appeared the Divine Institutor Himself, bearing in His hands a pyx, from which He communicated the Commissary and his brethren. This signal favour, merited by the Saint's devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, is well authenticated, and has been a matter of constant tradition in the Province of Styria. A painting representing the scene, and executed by a contemporary artist, was long preserved in the monastery at Gratz."

Le retour de l'enfant prodigue, Jacques Tissot

"For some of them came from afar off.”—MARK 8. 3.

1. What drew that crowd to follow our Lord ?

2. In our days, who are those that are from afar off? Those who know not Christ, and those who have fallen away.

3. The danger of wandering afar off.

4. May the compassion of Christ win us back and keep us near Him.

"We wonder, as we read this Gospel, how this multitude had been drawn to our Blessed Lord; how they stayed with Him for three days, and some of them had come from afar off. What a divine attraction it must have been that made these men forget their comfort, their hunger, their weariness, to press round our Blessed Saviour, and listen to the words that fell from His divine lips! As our Lord drew the crowds to Himself in life, so now He is constantly, by His grace, drawing the hearts of men to His service. And as then, so now, "some come from afar off "; and it is for these that He shows His tenderest compassion, lest they faint on the way to their home - the Kingdom of heaven. Without His help no one can win their way to that blessed home.

Then who are those, in these days of ours, who come from afar off? Those who have not the Faith. Those who have never heard of Him, or been taught the wonders of His mercy. Prayers of others attract them: good example attracts them. The fair fame of holy Church, with its unity, its progressiveness, with its crowds of faithful worshippers, attracts them. Each of us can help, each of us is bound to help, some soul to follow Christ.