#1 Acts of Adoration Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament in reparation for all the offenses committed against Him by mankind
by VP
Posted on Thursday July 24, 2025 at 01:00AM in Thursday Reparation
1. Jesus, our Lord and our God, ever adorable! Oh, that we could be present in all the churches throughout the universe, where thou art not adored as thou oughtest to be, and where thy inflamed love is not repaid with gratitude worthy of thy majesty! We fly, at least in spirit, to these holy places now profaned, and offer on thy altars there, the fervent love and adoration of thy holy Mother, in compensation for the injuries ever done thee by the Jews, by heretics, and bad Christians. 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
Source: CAPG
Saint Lupus, Bishop
by VP
Posted on Thursday July 24, 2025 at 01:00AM in Saints
French furniture patrimony of the French ministry of culture, under the reference PM35002875.
The Guardianship of God:
There is no protection comparable with that of God and his Saints; the
life of St. Lupus, bishop of Troyes, is about to afford us an example
thereof. Lupus had been raised, despite all opposition on his part, and
by reason of his sanctity, to the see of Troyes. He had been directed by
the bishop of Gaul to proceed in company with St. Germain of Auxerre to
England, in order to combat the Pelagian heresy,
and had the glory of entirely uprooting it there. Having returned to
his diocese, he was surprised in the midst of his apostolic labors by
the invasion of Attila. Thrace, Syria, and Greece, had been laid waste;
Rheims, Cambrai, Besancon, Auxerre, and Langres were merely heaps of
ruin; the turn of the town of Troyes had come. Lupus prayed himself, and
got his people to pray during three days and three nights; he placed
his flock under the protection of God, and went forward to meet the
ferocious conqueror. "I am the scourge of God!" said the king of the
Huns, "and am come to destroy you." "Beware!" replied the bishop; "God
crushes the instruments He has made use of." Attila, astonished at such
boldness, turned his army aside from its onward march, and was defeated
in the plains of Mery. St. Lupus died in 478.
Moral reflection: "God is wonderful in His saints, and will give power and strength to His people." (Psalm LXVII. 36)
Source: Pictorial half hours with the saints, Abbe Auguste François Lecanu
Saint Charbel Makhlouf, Priest, monk, Hermit
by VP
Posted on Thursday July 24, 2025 at 01:00AM in Saints
Saint Charbel Maronite Church in Raleigh, NC
"The collapse of the family means the ruin of the Lord’s plan for
humanity, that is to say, a breakdown that removes salvation and
sanctity from human beings. (...) "The family is the basis of the Lord’s plan; and all forces of evil are
focusing all their evil on destroying the family because they know that
by destroying the family, the foundations of the plan of God will be
shaken. The war of the Evil One against the Lord is his war against the
family, and the war of the Evil One against the family is the core of
his war against the Lord. Because the family is the image of God, from
the beginning of the creation of this universe, The Evil one is focusing
on destroying the family, the foundation of God’s plan." "One does not have to look far to see evidence of Satan’s plan in our
world today, as the family is further fragmented and divided in modern
culture." Saint Charbel's Sermon
"And in fact, who would not admire, in Charbel Makhlouf, the positive aspects that austerity, mortification, obedience, chastity, solitude have made possible to a degree rarely achieved? Think of his sovereign freedom in the face of difficulties or passions of all kinds, of the quality of his interior life, of the elevation of his prayer, of his spirit of adoration manifested in the heart of nature and especially in the presence of the Holy Sacrament, to his filial tenderness for the Virgin, and to all these wonders promised in the beatitudes and realized literally in our saint: gentleness, humility, mercy, peace, joy, participation, from this life, in the power of healing and of conversion of Christ. In short, austerity, for him, put him on the path to perfect serenity, to true happiness; it left ample room for the Holy Spirit." Homily Pope Paul VI at the Canonization of Charbel (in French)
A Bed-Ridden Priesthood
by VP
Posted on Wednesday July 23, 2025 at 01:00AM in Poetry
St. Jean Vianney
Oh! it is good to stand each day,
A trembling, happy priest,
And offer up the Victim-God
And taste the heavenly feast.
But it is better yet to lie
Helpless, alone and still,
God’s victim on a bed of pain,
A martyr to His will.
To feed on Jesus is the life
Of all th’angelic host,
To suffer and to sigh for Him
No seraphim can boast.
Source: Rev. Edmund Vaughan, C.SS.R.
Lyra Hieratica: poems on the priesthood / collected from many by Fr. Thomas Edward Bridgett,, 1829-1899.
St. Apollinaris, Bishop and martyr, A.D. 82.
by VP
Posted on Wednesday July 23, 2025 at 01:00AM in Saints
"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
Saint Mary Magdalene
by VP
Posted on Tuesday July 22, 2025 at 01:00AM in Saints
Domenico Fetti. The Repentant Mary Magdalene
Sanctuary of the Saint Baume, France
St. Mary Magdalene said to St. Mechtilde: Whosoever shall give God thanks for all the tears I shed upon the feet of Jesus, our most merciful God will grant him through my intercession remission of all his sins before his death, and a great increase of love to God.
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.)
I. LAUDA MATER ECCLESIA. (Office hymn for the feast of St. Mary Magdalene)
Now let the Church in earth and heav'n
To Christ upraise her melody:
By sev'nfold grace from devils sev'n
A captive soul is now set free.
Full oft she sinned of whom we tell,
Mary, the sister of Lazarus ;
Who, from the very jaws of hell,
Repentant life hath shewn to us.
To Christ the Healer see her go,
With precious ointment for her Lord:
The Good Physician speaks, and lo!
He heals her sickness by His Word.
Ounction from a broken heart!
O rivers from those laden eyes!
Such choosing of love's better part
Brings pardon with a glad surprise.
This loving Saint was first to see
The Victor, rising from His rest:
The earliest joy was hers to be
Who loved Him most, who loved the best.
Now GOD in mercy grant to us,
In life's incessant storms and cares,
That all the Saints most glorious
May aid us sinners with their prayers.
To GOD Alone be glory giv'n,
For sev'n-fold pow'r and glad release:
To souls of men, from sin forgiv'n,
He gives new life and joy and peace.
(S. Odo of Cluny, 11th Century.)
St. Mary Magdalen:
"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
Litanies of Saint Mary Magdalene
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy,
God, the Holy Ghost, have mercy, &c.
Saint Lawrence Brindisi
by VP
Posted on Monday July 21, 2025 at 01:00AM in Saints
The Life of St. Lawrence Brindisi
"At Munich, whilst the Saint was celebrating Mass shortly after midnight, the brother who served saw at the consecration the oratory suddenly flooded with light, as if it were midday.2 Looking up, he beheld a lovely child smiling and caressing the celebrant. At the spectacle the brother fell down in a swoon. After Mass, Lawrence asked
the server what caused the noise-what had he seen? Being told of the vision, the Father asked the brother to pray that God might reveal to him why he alone had been granted such a privilege. The brother prayed as directed, but the answer he received affected the celebrant, to whom he was inspired to say: "My grace is sufficient for thee." Hearing this, we are told, Lawrence rejoiced exceedingly. Had the Servant of God, like St. Paul, been subjected to grievous temptation which for a time disturbed his usual equanimity?
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."
Five minutes Sermons: Man's need of God
by VP
Posted on Sunday July 20, 2025 at 01:00AM in Sunday Sermons
-"And Jesus said to His disciples: I have compassion on the multitudes, because they have nothing to eat, and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way."-St. Matt. xv. 32.
If our Divine Lord were to reappear in the flesh to-day, walking amongst men, as He did nineteen centuries ago, He would, no doubt, have with Him again the multitudes, attracted by the sweetness of His divine personality. He would see at His feet amongst the miserable millions embodying mankind's collected woe not only the dumb, the blind, the lame and maimed, casting themselves down before Him to be healed, but crowding around Him a multitude of those who have nothing to eat. Compassion would again be dominant and rule supreme in His Sacred Heart, and who can doubt that the Healer of mankind would again, while healing the sick, not send away the others fasting?
I will not dwell here on the fact that in the present as in bygone times there is scarcely much difference as to the vastness in numbers of those who literally, in plain Gospel language, "have nothing to eat." I will only say, that if the percentage of the poor and needy, of those hungering for their daily bread, has remained unchanged, as great as in the past, it is owing to the prevalent, all but universal love of gain. If, then, the wretched become dependent upon others more fortunate than themselves, their relief is a means to make those who help them like Jesus Christ. But though without such help the wretched multitude must go away fasting and fainting, this sorrowful truth is not the whole truth. The real state of things is still worse. For if we consider likewise, as we ought to, the spiritual and moral condition of the greater number of those that have abundancethat is, that are filled with bread and meat and the other good things of this life-we find that in another sense of the divine text they have nothing to eat. If we only were able to read their souls, it would be seen that, in spite of their bodily fulness, they still are spiritually fasting owing to the void in their hearts.
In this world there is no food which can fill the desire of men's souls. There is, then, not only the danger of their fainting by the way, but there are in reality vast numbers of them who have fallen, who at every moment are falling, by the wayside, and away from true life. We then discover this fact, even more deplorable than the first, because having nothing to eat in the spiritual sense, so many fall away from all belief in God. In the truer and deeper, the mystical sense of the text, we see that there are millions to-day who have nothing to eat, who go about fasting, faint, and who even die in the way. The experience of past ages bears me out when I say that God alone can satisfy the necessities of the human heart and the aspirations of man's soul."
In vain has mankind attempted to live without its Creator. "Of old," says the venerable Father Lallemant, "the devil disguised himself as God, presenting himself to the heathen in idols, as the author and the end of everything in the world." Later on, in modern, in our times, men have tried to fill the void within by creatures which they substituted for God. But nobody has succeeded, nobody can succeed without God. The oft-repeated attempt of man to deceive his own heart and soul into the belief that anything but God will still his hunger, has caused only wretchedness and supreme misery.
The truth then is: Today, as of old, multitudes are without God, without Christ, by their own fault. They will not follow Him out to the desert, will not listen to His words, ponder upon them; will not ask for grace to believe and be filled with truth. No; in pride, in deluded self-satisfaction, in the bustle of life, in the entanglements of passion or business, they suffer life to run on in some faint, half-hearted way, desiring the truth but never, as the Apostle says, coming to the knowledge of it. But we, by God's mercy, have the truth, we have eaten and been filled; oh! let us prize it, let us above all be faithful to it—for our Lord says: Blessed are you, not because you know the truth, not solely because you possess it, but blessed are you if, knowing it, you live up to it." The Five minute Sermons by the Paulist Fathers, 6th Sunday after Pentecost
Great Merit is Gained by offering Holy Mass
by VP
Posted on Sunday July 20, 2025 at 01:00AM in Books
Father Tyler Sparrow, Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh NC.
"Bear in mind that Holy Mass is the True and Supreme Sacrifice of the Christian religion and that all those who would assist at it correctly should join in offering it to the most high God. The Mass to the Christian is not merely a form of prayer; it is an act of worship and a sacrifice; for all who hear Mass offer the Divine Oblation together with the priest.
First of all, there is the great High Priest, the Chief Sacrificer, Christ, who Himself offers every Mass that is said to His heavenly Father. Then there is the officiating priest, who immolates the Divine Victim. Thirdly, there are the Faithful, who, present at the Holy Sacrifice, have also the power of offering it - and in fact, sometimes do so with greater profit that the priest himself. Fourthly, there are those who either "pay for the Mass" (ie. give the priest a stipend for offering it), or provide something necessary for celebrating it, such as the chalice of the vestments. Lastly, those too must be included who, unable to assist in person, unite themselves in spirit to the priest and join with him in his sacrificial act while remaining in their own homes. They also, since they participate in a certain measure in offering the Holy Sacrifice, participate in its fruits and may, if they so will, assign to others the benefit of those fruits.
Ponder well these truths, for they contain valuable instruction and comfort."
Source: The Incredible Catholic Mass by Fr. Martin Von Cochem
St. Jerome Emiliani, CONFESSOR, A.D. 1537.
by VP
Posted on Sunday July 20, 2025 at 01:00AM in Saints
"He was born of a noble family at Venice, and served in the army in very troublesome times. He commanded a castle, which was taken by the enemy, upon which he was cast into a dungeon, with fetters on his hands and feet. When destitute of all human help, he implored the protection of the Holy Mother of God, by whom he was miraculously delivered from prison, and conducted in safety beyond the reach of the enemy. Arriving at Tarviso, he hung up his chains before the altar of the Blessed Virgin, in grateful acknowledgment of the favour he had received.
Returning to Venice, he began more assiduously to cultivate piety, and particularly charity to the poor. But he had a particular compassion for poor children who were orphans, and wandered about the city without friends or home. These he received into a house which he hired at his own expense, and there maintained them and instructed them in Christian doctrine and piety. The saint was induced by St. Cajetan and Peter Carafa, afterwards Pope Paul IV., to reside in a hospital of incurables, where he continued to educate orphans, while he served the sick at the same time with unwearied charity.
He afterwards erected several institutions for orphans in various parts of Italy; and one also for female penitents. At length he settled at Somascha, on the frontiers of the Venetian territory, and there began the Congregation or Institute known by the name of Somascha, for the care of orphans, the favourite objects of his charity, and also for the education of youth in general, which was approved by St. Pius V., and received particular privileges from succeeding pontiffs.
He made a journey to Milan, and there and in other places he collected together a number of poor children, and provided for them by the assistance of certain
wealthy and noble persons. Returning to Somascha, he became all to all,
and refused no labour, which he considered likely to benefit his
neighbour. He helped the labourers in the harvest, and as he worked with them, he took opportunities of instructing them in the mysteries of faith, and exhorting them to religion and virtue. He was also very charitable and patient in dressing the sores of poor
suffering children and others, and was so successful in treating them,
that he was considered to be gifted with a miraculous power of curing diseases. Having found a cave in the mountain of Somascha, he often retired thither, and spent whole days in fasting, severe disciplines, and prayer. At length he caught a distemper while serving the sick, and died a death precious in the sight of God, on the 8th of February,
1537, being fifty-six years old. Many miracles had been wrought by him
before his death, and many happened after it, to attest the holiness of his life, and his glory after death." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
