On Shrove tide
by VP
Posted on Saturday March 01, 2025 at 11:00PM in Tradition
"The three days of Quinquagesima, or Shrove-tide, are the immediate preparation for Lent. Whence in them religious persons redouble their fervour in their compunction and penitential exercises. How much this spirit is recommended by the church to all her children at this time, appears in the whole tenor of her holy office. In this week of Quinquagesima, anciently all the faithful made a confession of their sins, and sanctified it by preparatory practices of holy penance.
(...) Origen, one of the earliest and most learned masters of the most illustrious of the Christian schools, established at Alexandria in the second and third ages, writes as follows: "Look about very diligently "to whom you ought to confess your sins. Try first the physician "to whom you are to lay open the source of your disorder; who "ought to know how to sympathize and condole; that if he who "has shown himself a skilful and tender physician shall give you any “advice, you carefully follow it."
The same maxim is inculcated by the most zealous pastors of the church through all succeeding ages. Shrovetide was the most solemn and general time in which all the faithful anciently approached the sacred tribunal of confession with the greatest compunction and fervour. This its very name in our language implies: for our English Saxon ancestors, from this universal custom, called it Shrovetide; that is, the time of confession.
The preparation for Lent by a careful sacramental confession of sins, is most salutary and expedient; nay often indispensably necessary, especially to persons engaged in a state of mortal sin: above all, if this be habitual; if the bands of this dismal slavery be not broken, the fasts and devotions of Lent lose the greater part of their advantages; for no good works can be satisfactory or meritorious, through the infinite price of our redemption, and the most gracious divine promise, unless performed in the state of grace, or in holy charity, by which they are grafted in Christ, as branches in the trunk of the vine. They are sanctified, and find acceptance of God, by this condition of holy charity in Christ, and by the dispositions of sincere repentance and compunction, and the fruit of the sacrament of penance worthily received, before entering upon this holy penitential course." The Moveable Feasts, Fasts, and Other Annual Observances of the Catholic Church By Rev. Fr. Alban Butler
Repentance (Quinquagessima)
by VP
Posted on Saturday March 01, 2025 at 11:00PM in Sunday Sermons
"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."-LUKE Xviii. 38.
1. To repent, God's mercy is needed.
2. Sin, in regard of ourselves; of God; of our eternal welfare.
3. God willing and ready to forgive.
4. Our gratitude for forgiveness.
"THE holy time of Lent, upon which we enter this week, is given us once again by the mercy of God, in which to repent and put our souls in order. No one can afford, can dare to despise this fresh opportunity of having their sins forgiven. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John i. 8).
Then in what does repentance of sin consist? A thorough change of heart, by which we turn from our sins and break with them: confess them with true contrition of heart for having committed them. But can we ourselves do this? Can we shake ourselves free from the bonds of sin? Can we, the slaves of sin, gain liberty for our souls of our own power? No, we need the grace of God; hence our earnest prayer should be," Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."
If the blind, the lepers, all the poor sufferers were so earnest in seeking a cure, a freedom from their afflictions, and were mercifully healed by our Blessed Lord, how much more earnest should we be in seeking forgiveness of our sins! For sin is the leprosy of the soul; sin blinds us and leads us astray from the path to heaven; sin is the palsy that paralyses all our powers. Mortal sin, alas! is the death of our soul, the forfeiture of eternal life, the condemnation to eternal misery. All this is sin; for we are the slaves of that in which we have sinned.
And what is sin as regards Almighty God? A defiance, a rebellion, an insult and ingratitude of the vilest kind. By sin we dare to disobey the Almighty Master; by sin we insult the all-holy God, by preferring vile things to Him, by choosing the indulgence of our passions to doing His holy Will. By sin we ignore and despise all that an infinitely loving Father has done for us.
He has given us an immortal soul, destined to be happy with Him for ever, and we sell this soul for a paltry or shameful pleasure. He has pardoned us so many times, and we have added iniquity to iniquity by returning to our evil ways. And that pardon, that our heavenly Father has granted so often-what was the price of it? What was the ransom that was paid to rescue us from the thraldom of the devil? The precious Blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who died on the Cross for us.
Alas! in the past when we have sinned we thought little of the dreadful evil of our sins. Yet, without exaggeration sin is this appalling evil, the calamity with eternal consequences for our poor soul. How the tempter has fooled us and ruined us time after time! When we gave way to our passions-jealousy, pride, avarice, impurity-he skilfully hid the malice from us. When we disobeyed the commandments of God and the Church, we did not realize the cruel contempt and ingratitude towards our divine Lord.
Then let us treasure this opportunity of repentance during the sacred time of Lent; let the prayer of our heart-earnest and constant-be, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." But can it be that God will hear our prayer and grant us forgiveness after all our falls, our relapses, perhaps our long continuance in sin? So many times have we made half-repentances and fallen again with scarce a struggle against temptation. Is not the patience of God worn out? Will He trust us and try us once again? In this anxiety and doubt, how consoling for us to recall the words of ScriptureGod's own inspired words--" Hear me, O Lord, for Thy mercy is kind," says the Psalmist, "look upon me, O Lord, according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies" (Ps. lxviii. 17). "Thus saith the Lord: Be converted to Me with all your heart . . . turn to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy" (Joel ii. 12).
Surely, then, with all confidence we may trust in the mercy of our heavenly Father! It is He Who turns our hearts to wish to repent. It is He Who prompts the prayer to our Saviour, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." And that mercy will be poured down upon us to enlighten us to see our sins; to have the good will and the courage to break with them; to confess them; to have loving and sincere sorrow and compunction of heart for having committed them.
Finally, what gratitude should fill our hearts that we have so forgiving, so tender a Father: "Who forgiveth all thy iniquities, Who healeth all thy diseases, Who redeemeth thy life from destruction, Who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion" (Ps. cii. 3, 4). "For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild, and plenteous in mercy to all who call upon Thee. Thou, O Lord, art a God of compassion, and merciful, patient, and of much mercy and true" (Ps. lxxxv. 5, 15). This is the Father, rejoicing when He hears our prayer for mercy, blessing the poor sinful heart resolving to come and ask for pardon.
This is the holy work of Lent. This blessed work of repentance has peopled heaven! Pray to that multitude of redeemed and glorious souls who have prayed the same prayer for mercy; who have received the same grace of contrition and absolution; who can look back to some Lent when they turned to God with all their hearts. They persevered faithfully, and may we do the same in the service of that good God “ Who is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy."
Short Sermons on the Epistles & Gospels of the Sundays of the Year By Fr. Francis Paulinus Hickey
March: Month of Saint Joseph
by VP
Posted on Friday February 28, 2025 at 11:00PM in Tradition
March: Month of Saint Joseph
Virtue: Mortification
The first step to be taken by one who wishes to follow Christ, is, according to our Lord's own words, that of renouncing himself, that is, his own senses, his own passions, his own will, his own judgment, and all the movements of nature, making to God a sacrifice of all these things, and of all their acts, which are surely sacrifices very acceptable to the Lord. And we must never grow weary of this; for if anyone, having, so to speak, one foot already in heaven, should abandon this exercise, when the time should come for him to put the other there, he would run much risk of being lost.— St. Vincent de Paul.
St. Joseph, (Mother of Mercy Catholic Church, Washington, NC)
Prayer to St. Joseph for Persecuted Priests
Dearest St. Joseph, be the protector and
defender of those priests undergoing persecution for being faithful to
their Lord and Sovereign Priest, Jesus Christ. See in them the image of
thy beloved child, and cherish them with that tender solicitude which
God places in Thy paternal heart. Obtain for them the good
graces of thy Queen and Spouse, for such graces of predilection will
surely lighten their burdens and render their crosses sweet. Amen.
● To St. Joseph for a Particular Priest
● Prayer to Saint Joseph for the Church
● Illustrious Patriarch
● Prayer to St. Joseph Patron and Protector of the Universal Church
● Prayer to Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Virgin Mary and Patron of the Holy Church
Saint David, Wales and Saint Albinus, Brittany (Bishops)
by VP
Posted on Friday February 28, 2025 at 11:00PM in Saints
"From his tender years, he gave great proofs of the fear and love of God, which increased in him as he grew up, together with a love of purity, and a diligent application to sacred literature: and such was the progress he made in virtue and learning, that he was judged worthy of being advanced to the priesthood. He exercised his talents in preaching the word of life, and propagating the kingdom of Christ among the Britons. He gained innumerable souls to God, by word and example. He also collected a great number of disciples, desirous to aspire to Christian perfection in a monastic life; in favour of whom he founded twelve religious houses, under a most excellent rule and institute.
Whilst he was thus conducting many holy souls to Christian perfection, he was invited by St. Dubritius to a national synod of British bishops, assembled at Brevi, in Cardiganshire, against the Pelagian heresy. At the conclusion of the synod, St. Dubritius resigned his archbishopric to St. David, who removed the metropolitan see to Menevia, now called St. David's.
Such was the life and conversation of this holy archbishop, that he was looked upon as the glory of Britain, and the father of his country. He has ever since been honored as the principal patron of Wales, on account of his eminent sanctity, and the great miracles, for which he was renowned, both in his life and after his death. He was a mirror and pattern to all; instructing all, both by word and example; an excellent preacher in words, but more excellent in works. He was an instruction to all, a model to the religious, life to the poor, support to orphans, defence to widows, father to the fatherless, a rule to monks, and a model to teachers; becoming all to all, to gain all to God.
St. David having founded several monasteries, and been the spiritual father of many saints, died about the year 544, at a very advanced age. Pray for all bishops in Christ's Church. Pray for your country; that God would in his mercy remove from it all errors and schisms, and establish it in the unity of its primitive faith. And let the ancient Britons have this day a part in your prayers.
It being the first day of the month, consecrate it by a sincere oblation of yourself to God, and his service. Beg his blessing on yourself, and all who belong to you; and beseech him to accompany you in the discharge of all your duties, and preserve you from temptation and sin." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
"Saint David, son of Sant, Prince of Cardigan and of Non, was born in that country in the fifth century, and from his earliest years gave himself wholly to the service of God. He began his religious life under Saint Paulinus, a disciple of St. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, who had been sent to Britain by Pope Saint Celestine to stop the ravages of the heresy of Pelagius, at that time abbot, as it is said, of Bangor. On the reappearance of that heresy, in the beginning of the sixth century, the bishops assembled at Brevi, and, unable to address the people that came to hear the word of truth, sent for St. David from his cell to preach to them. The Saint came, and it is related that, as he preached, the ground beneath his feet rose and became a hill, so that he was heard by an innumerable crowd. The heresy fell under the sword of the Spirit, and the Saint was elected Bishop of Caerleon on the resignation of St. Dubricius ; but he removed the see to Menevia, a lone and desert spot, where he might, with his monks, serve God away from the noise of the world. He founded twelve monasteries, and governed his Church according to the canons sanctioned in Rome. At last, when about eighty years of age, he laid himself down, knowing that his hour was come. As his agony closed, Our Lord stood before him in a vision, and the Saint cried out, “ Take me up with Thee,” and so gave up his soul on Tuesday, March 1, 561."
Saint Albinus, Bishop. Saint Albinus was of an ancient and noble family in Languidic Vannes, Brittany, and from his childhood was fervent in every exercise of piety. He ardently sighed after the happiness which a devout soul finds in being perfectly disengaged from all earthly things. Having embraced the monastic state at Tintillant, near Angers, he shone a perfect model of virtue, living as if in all things he had been without any will of his own; and his soul seemed so perfectly governed by the spirit of Christ as to live only for Him. At the age of thirty-five years he was chosen abbot, in 504, and twenty-five years afterwards Bishop of Angers. He everywhere restored discipline, being inflamed with a holy zeal for the honor of God. His dignity seemed to make no alteration either in his mortification or in the constant recollection of his soul. Honored by all the world, even by kings, he was never affected with vanity. Powerful in works and miracles, he looked upon himself as the most unworthy and most unprofitable among the servants of God, and had no other ambition than to appear such in the eyes of others as he was in those of his own humility. In the third Council of Orleans, in 538, he procured the thirtieth canon of the Council of Epaone to be revived, by which those are declared excommunicated who presume to contract incestuous marriages in the first or second degree of consanguinity or affinity. He died on the 1st of March, in 549.
Reflection.— With whatever virtues a man may be endowed, he will discover, if he considers himself attentively, a sufficient depth of misery to afford cause for deep humility; but Jesus Christ says, “ He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Source: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, 1894
The Martyrs of Alexandria, A.D. 261-2-3.
by VP
Posted on Thursday February 27, 2025 at 11:00PM in Saints
"THESE were many holy priests, deacons, and laymen, who when the city of Alexandria, for its sins, lay under the scourge of a most severe plague, in the third century, exposed their lives for the service and comfort of those who were infected. There was not a single house in that great city which entirely escaped the pestilence, or had not to mourn for some dead. All places were filled with groans, and the living appeared almost dead with fear. This sickness was the greatest of calamities to the Pagans, but an exercise and trial to the Christians, who shewed on that occasion, how contrary the spirit of charity is to the interested spirit of self-love. In the time of this public calamity, most of them, regardless of their own lives, visited, relieved, and attended the sick, and comforted the dying. They closed their eyes, and buried them; and the charity of many of them being rewarded by death, the Church has thought proper to honour their memory, making but little difference between so glorious a death, and that of the martyrs. "Thus," adds St. Dionysius, "the best of our brethren have departed this life; some of the most valuable both of priests, deacons, and laics; and it is thought that this kind of death is nothing different from martyrdom."
If the Church has such value for this generous charity, learn also to set a value on it, and practise it as far as your circumstances will permit. There are frequent occasions of giving comfort and help to your neigbour. As many as are diseased, afflicted, or in prison, call upon your charity; and whatever you can do for them, either by visits or money, Christ takes it as done to himself, and has promised himself for your reward. Happy are you if this charity be the business of your life: and happy too, if whatever time you can spare from other business, be employed in this. To how much better account will this turn, than what is given to idleness, unprofitable conversation, and dangerous amusements? Learn only to offer what you do of this kind to God, and you will lay up for yourself treasures in heaven." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
Saint Proterius
THE FURY OF HATRED. Proterius having been elected patriarch of Alexandria, in 452, in the place of Dioscorus, who had been deposed by the Council of Chalcedon, and was a partisan of the arch-heretic Eutychius, great troubles prevailed in the city. The civil power succeeded in repressing them, without, however, being able to prevent a third patriarch, named Timotheus, from being consecrated and violently expelling Proterius from his see. The civil power once more intervened and exiled the intruder. Under this blow, the Eutychians, who were aware of the unbending firmness of Proterius, could no longer contain themselves: they pursued him furiously, on the Good Friday in the year 457, even to the baptistry of the church of St. Quirinus, there trampled him under foot and bound him with cords; thereupon, according as their rage was being glutted, they accumulated their blows and trailed him through the streets. They tore him limb from limb, burnt the mangled remains, and scattered the ashes to the wind. The bishops of Thrace bore a glorious testimony to his memory in a letter addressed by them to the Emperor Leo.
MORAL REFLECTION. The apostle depicts in other
features the charity which should animate Christians: "It is patient, is
kind. Charity believeth all things, rejoiceth not in iniquity, and
thinketh no evil."-(1 Cor. xiii. 4.) Abbe Lecanu
There is a Hell for the Wicked
by VP
Posted on Thursday February 27, 2025 at 11:00PM in Books
"How is it possible that a merciful God could punish with eternal misery poor human beings for slips and faults of natural weakness? Why does He create them? Does He rejoice in calling persons into existence to damn them? God created us for eternal happiness; heaven is our destiny. Those who succeed in damning themselves, do it against the will of God.
God, though infinite in His mercy is infinite in all His perfections: He is infinitely just. No punishment which He can inflict upon him who dies in mortal sin will be commensurate with His justice unless that punishment be boundless in its intensity and eternal in its duration.
I do not understand how anybody can believe in a God without believing in everlasting punishment. The very existence of God calls for a hell of the wicked where the worm never dies and the fire shall never be quenched. He who dies in mortal sin remains in that sin, as the Scripture assures us: "Wherever the tree falleth there it shall lie." He remains for all eternity as he died: the enemy of God. And God must for all eternity treat him as His enemy. Reason, I repeat, requires the existence of hell; therefore, all ages and all nations have believed in it. The pagans firmly believed in it; they spoke of the wicked dead as suffering endless banishment and as being condemned to endless labor and torment.
It is no credit to our enlightened age if it records the names of individuals who became conspicuous by sneering at the mention of hell, who pretended there was no such place or state or hell-fire or everlasting punishment. Does such an impudent denial destroy the doctrine of hell? Besides, hell is not an opinion, and not even a mere doctrine, but hell is a real fact; reason and revelation convince us of the existence of this fact. Can a man do away with a fact by denying it? Is there no such city as San Francisco, because you deny it on the ground that you never saw it? Does the sun cease to shine as soon as you state: The sun is not shining? Moreover, did ever a learned man prove that there was no hell? Voltaire and Rousseau made a desperate attempt to prove the non-existence of hell, but all that these blasphemers accomplished was to assert boldly that perhaps there was no hell. Against such a silly perhaps we have sound reason supported by the infallible word of God to convince us of hell. Yes, there is a hell, and those who refuse to believe in it will be cast into it forever. The wicked may wish that there be no hell and laugh at the idea of it: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, shall say to them on the last day: "Depart from Me, ye accursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels." Such is the just retribution of mortal sin, which is a turning away from God for the sake of a created thing. The damned are deprived of ever seeing God. This is the greatest of all imaginable sufferings, and yet it is a most appropriate punishment: He who has rejected God on earth, shall be rejected by Him for all eternity.
As soon as the wicked soul leaves the body in death, it shall realize the irreparable loss of God, and find itself cast away from the face of God forever. It shall be sunk into the flames of hell, into a sea of fire. The soul, without the body, can be reached by this fire; God shall cause all those sensations in the soul which it had when lodged in the body. The fire of hell, set ablaze to punish the Wicked, is not like earthly fire; it does not consume, but preserves; it does not give light, but causes extreme darkness.
The unspeakable torment of hell is waiting for you if you die in a grievous sin. Make up your mind to avoid such an eternal misfortune at the risk of losing everything temporal."
Source: Spiritual Pepper and Salt for Catholics and Non-Catholics by Bishop William Stang 1902
#5 Acts of Adoration Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament in reparation for all the offenses committed against Him by mankind
by VP
Posted on Wednesday February 26, 2025 at 11:00PM in Thursday Reparation
5. We adore Thee, O Sacrament of Love! And to repair all those thoughts and criminal desires, conceived even at the foot of Thy altars, we offer up to Thee all the pure affections and chaste desires of the Dominations. 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 Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows (1838-1862)
by VP
Posted on Wednesday February 26, 2025 at 11:00PM in Saints
"Our Lady's Creed by St. Gabriel:
I believe, O Mary, that thou art the mother of all men.
I believe that thou art our life and, after God, the sole refuge of sinners.
I
believe that thou art the strength of Christians, and their help,
especially at the hour of death; that following thee, I shall not stray;
that praying to thee, I shall not be abandoned; that standing with
thee, I shall not fall.
I believe that thou art ready to aid those
who call upon thee, that thou art the salvation of those who invoke
thee, and that thou art willing to do more good for us than we can
desire; that even when not asked, thou dost hasten to our assistance.
I
believe that in thy name is to be found a sweetness like to that
experienced by Saint Bernard in the name of Jesus - that it is joy to
the heart, honey to the mouth and music to the ears and that, after the
name of Jesus, there is no other name through which the faithful receive
so much grace, so much hope and so much consolation.
I believe that
thou art a co-redemptrix with Christ for our salvation, that all the
graces which God dispenses pass through thy hands, and that no one will
enter heaven except through thee who art rightly called the 'Gate of
Heaven.'
I believe that true devotion to thee is a most certain sign of eternal salvation.
I believe that thou art superior to all tire saints and angels, and that God alone surpasses thee.
I
believe that God has given to thee in the highest possible degree, all
the graces, special and general, with which He can favor His creatures.
I believe that thy beauty and excellence surpass that of all angels and men.
I
believe that thou alone didst fulfill perfectly the precept: 'Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God": and that the very seraphim of heaven can
learn from thy heart how to love God.
I believe that if all the love
which all mothers have for their children, all that all husbands and
wives have for each other, all that all the angels and saints have for
those who are devoted to them, were united in one, it would not equal
the love that thou hast for even one soul."
Chaplet of Our Lady of Sorrows
Prayer to St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows:
Dear Saint Gabriel, your very name recalls your particular devotion to Christ the Man of Sorrows and to Mary the Afflicted Mother. You died young as a Passionist religious but left to us all an example of a life of Christlike sacrifice. Intercede for our seminarians and young religious who are in desperate need of your patronage amid today’s sensual and selfish world. Amen.
"We also remarked in him a tender devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. He was truly enamoured of Christ in the Eucharist. Frequently, he spoke to his companions of his sacramental Lord with an emotion and vivacity so intense that he aroused the enthusiasm of those who listened to him. To Christ in the tabernacle his thoughts instinctively turned, and all the impulses of his heart impelled him to go before the altar to pour out his affections. Many times in the day and night, he would send his angel guardian to visit the Blessed Sacrament when his occupations would not permit him to do so in person. And sometimes he would tell his angel to go to the place where Christ was most lonely and forgotten, there to adore and keep vigil with Him.
“When out for a walk, if we entered a church, his first thought was to look for the altar of the Blessed Sacrament, and then to kneel before it in silent adoration. He became all affected and moved when he spoke of the coldness with which so many receive the Holy Eucharist, and of the outrages, profanations and sacrileges committed against It by unbelievers and even by bad Christians. From these insults offered to Jesus he took occasion to admire His patience and mercy; and he would redouble his efforts to make reparation so far as he could.
(...)
The words which, at this time, he addressed to his brother who had just been ordained to the priesthood, may be taken as indicative of the sentiments that actuated his own conduct. "Shun idleness, and apply yourself to study. One of the thoughts that frightens me when I think of becoming a priest is the study it demands, and few are the days on which this reflexion does not occasion me serious thought.”
To Gabriel, study was not merely an occupation, not merely an essential requisite for admission to the priesthood. To him knowledge was power: power, in the first place, that would enable him to discharge the work of the ministry for which he was preparing, not only efficiently, but in the full spirit of the Church, who bids her children learn wisdom from the lips of her priests, and who commands her priests not only to recognize the value of learning, but also to acquire it, and set it in motion in the great combat waged between mere human reason and divine revelation in the arena of human thought and moral responsibility.
In the second place knowledge, in his eyes, was power that would raise him to higher levels in the sanctity to which he aspired. To him the ultimate purpose of every endeavor was to know God better. He was accustomed to repeat to his companions the saying of one of the wise philosophers of the Middle Ages:
"Logic is good, which teaches us how to separate truth from falsehood; grammar is good, which teaches us to write and speak correctly; rhetoric is good, which teaches us to speak with elegance and to persuade; geometry is good, which teaches us to measure the earth on which we dwell; so is arithmetic, or the art of reckoning, by means of which we can convince ourselves of the small number of our days; and music is good, which teaches us harmonies, and makes us think of the sweet song of the Blessed; and finally, astronomy is good, which makes us consider the heavenly bodies, and the virtues of the stars, darting forth splendor before God. But much better is theology, which alone can be truly called a liberal science, because it frees the human soul from its miseries, and prepares it for the acquiring of virtue.”
And this the study of theology did for Gabriel. The sublime and amazing truths it unfolded before his mind - of God, His nature and His attributes - brought the divine Majesty closer to him and by its very beauty and splendor, enraptured his soul until, entirely overwhelmed by the divine attractiveness, his soul surrendered itself to God in completest love and profoundest homage. Thus his studies were for him an act of worship.
“He directed his attention chiefly to his interior, stripping his heart of its vices and clothing it with the opposite virtues.
He kept before his eyes his own nothingness and misery; his former life in the world, his propensity to evil, his weakness and selfishness. With all these motives he was deeply penetrated, especially during the time of meditation; and by this means he attained such a lowly opinion of himself that he greatly feared and distrusted self, relying in all things solely on the assistance of God's grace. He often said: 'Of myself I can do nothing. Of myself, I am capable only of sin, yes, even of the greatest crimes.' He spoke thus because he was thoroughly convinced that what he said was true."
Source: Saint Gabriel, Passionist by Father Camillus J Hollobough, C.P., 1923
St. Leander, Bishop of Seville, Confessor, A.D. 596.
by VP
Posted on Wednesday February 26, 2025 at 11:00PM in Saints
"He entered into a monastery very young, where he lived many years, and attained to an eminent degree of virtue and sacred learning. These qualities occasioned his being promoted to the see of Seville; but his change of condition made little or no alteration in his method of life, though it brought on him a great increase of care and solicitude for the salvation of those whom God had placed under his care, as well as for the necessities of the whole Church, and particularly of the Church of Spain. He was a man of that eminent piety and public spirit, that he forgot himself, when the service of God and his flock was before him. His great affliction was the errors of the Visigoths, who were all generally infected with Arianism. But his prayers and tears were so powerful with the divine mercy, that God in a short time made him the instrument of converting to the Catholic faith Hermenegild the king's son, who died a martyr by his father's cruelty. He also afterwards so far prevailed with the father, that the care of his other son was committed to him; by which means the whole nation soon after renounced its errors, to the great comfort of this prelate, and of the whole Church. Having seen the fruit of his labours, he departed this life, full of joy, in the sixth century.
Let the blessings which attended this prelate move you to pray that a like spirit may animate the prelates and pastors of God's Church. And let his zeal raise in you a compassion for all those, whose obstinacy in vice and errors keeps them out of the way of salvation. You have a horror of seeing a limb cut off, or witnessing a public execution; but what are these to the consideration of such vast numbers running into hell-fire? Pray that God would remove this blindness. Let no joy remove this misery of your neighbor from your heart; that you may be ever mindful of the compassion and charity due to him." The Catholic Year by Rev. Fr. John Gother
St. Alexander, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA, CONFESSOR, a.d. 326.
by VP
Posted on Tuesday February 25, 2025 at 11:00PM in Saints
"He was a man of apostolic doctrine and life, exceedingly charitable to the poor, and full of faith, zeal, and fervour. His promotion to the see of Alexandria so exasperated Arius, then a priest of that church, and reader of scripture, that he ever made an interest against him. As the saint's life and conduct were irreproachable, all his endeavours to oppose him were levelled at his doctrine, in opposition to which, Arius denied the divinity of Christ. Hence that grievous heresy had its first rise; which afterwards brought so much confusion to the Church. By the zeal of St. Alexander, Arius was condemned in a council assembled by him at Alexandria; and the saint had the comfort to see his sentence confirmed by the general council of Nice. Arius solicited still to be received again into the communion of the Church: but the holy bishop, who knew his dissimulation, defended his flock against this wolf. St. Alexander, after the triumph of the faith at the council of Nice, returned to Alexandria; where, having recommended St. Athanasius for his successor, he died in 326, on the 26th of February.
Having recommended to God all the pastors of his Church, and besought him to pour forth upon them the spirit of this holy prelate, cast your eyes then on yourself, and see how far you are faithful in satisfying the many duties of your own state. Sloth, cowardice, neglect and bad example are very pernicious in all conditions; and bring a heavy weight of consequences on those who should be more watchful and regular. There are great mischiefs in families, as well as in the Church. You are unhappy, if you are the Arius there; and criminal still if your neglect is favourable to any other that A true disciple of Christ, by a sincere spirit of humility
and distrust in himself, is submissive to all authority appointed by
God, in which he finds his peace, security, and joy. This happy
disposition is his secure fence against the illusions of self-sufficiency and pride, which easily betrays men into the most fatal errors." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
