A PURE INTENTION
by VP
Posted on Sunday November 10, 2024 at 10:56AM in Sermons
Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
"All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."-COL. 3. 17.
I. Self the cause of failure.
2. A pure intention to do all for Christ blesses and ennobles all we do.
3. A little thing: fidelity needed.
4. The change it would work in us.
5. Examples of the saints.
How often in our life do we feel disappointed—yea, despondent-at finding so many of our good beginnings and endeavors turning out to be failures. Our confessions make this very evident to us. Do we not find that we have done the very things that we should not, and have omitted those that we should? It is not astonishing, for we are weak of purpose and prone to evil. Is it not very often because we thought that we of ourselves could do better; because it was self making the resolutions; self trying of its own powers to make its way to heaven? Whereas we should have obeyed St. Paul, "All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."
A pure intention would have rectified so much and have saved us from many a failure. It is not what we do merely, but why we do it, that makes our lives words and works-pleasing unto God. For instance, even munificent charities can be made valueless in the sight of God, if vainglory and seeking the applause of men were the motives. On the other hand, even the widow's mite, given humbly, lovingly for Christ's sake, will find its eternal reward in heaven.
A moment's thought, the raising of our mind to God, the intending every word or work to be said and done in the name of Christ, for the love of Christ, would spiritualize our lives, and make of them an offering acceptable to God and blessed by Him with an eternal reward. And this pure intention, this morning offering, must be a daily work. We are so fickle, so inconstant, that even then self-love or yearning for praise will creep in. The fairest bud may have a canker in its heart.
No longer let our days be profitless for want of a little thought. With our morning prayers-yea, before them; as soon as our mind awakes-a moment's earnest thought will do-all for Jesus-and the day and all its thoughts, and prayers, and words, and works are offered to God and blessed by Him. "Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."
You may say that is a trifling thing indeed, and can that bless and ennoble our daily life? Yes, it is a little thing, but, as St. Francis of Sales says, "Little things are but little things, but fidelity in little things is a great thing." And the fidelity in making this pure intention, this offering to do all in the name of Jesus, and for the love of Jesus, is a great thing. For it is this being united to our Blessed Lord that gives its value, its eternal value, to all we do.
Let us picture to ourselves what this pure, heartfelt offering would mean. Sloth and tepidity would instantly stand abashed and ashamed. Sin and all desire for sin would be warned off, for our souls are giving themselves to Christ. The evil one would see that his plans and intrigues were detected and thus rendered powerless. In a moment the bright thought of Mass, of Holy Communion, perchance, would irradiate our soul. Our thought would question-Have we time? Can we make time for them? What an offering indeed to our dear Lord if we can; yea, a pleasing offering indeed for only wishing that we could. The daily toil, whatever it may be-laborious, poorly paid, wearisome-also, offered humbly, without a murmur, according to the blessed Will of God. Recording Angels are busy throughout the day adding up the wages due to such a worker.
This offering, made morning after morning, simple as it may seem, is certain to be lovingly received by our Lord. That blessing gives the value to everything, and graces flow down and intensify the love of the offering and the purity of the intention. Gain the habit, persevere in it, and by degrees you will find yourself renewing it time after time in the day. Every prayer will end by repeating it; every fresh work remind you of it. And especially after some little fall-temper, impatience, uncharitableness, whatever it may beat once, penitent but not disheartened, you will begin again more devoutly and trustfully than ever. Even a fall can help us to rise, through humility and sorrow, and receive fresh help and strength from God.
Yes, doing all with a pure intention for the love of Christ explains to us the mystery how the saints from such humble beginnings became so illustrious in their sanctity, and such models and encouragement to us all. It was because they were doing all for God that they were chosen from the lowliest employments and called to such noble work, in which they devoted their lives to the de fence of the Church and the salvation of countless souls. For instance: St. Vincent of Paul, tending his father's cattle-a slave in Morocco-and yet to become the father and founder of the Mission Fathers, the Dames of the Cross, and the Sisters of Charity. Behold the humblest of beginnings and the greatest of achievements. And St. Peter Damian, abandoned by his mother, feeding his brother's swine, patient in ill-treatment and starvation-and afterwards a monk, a bishop, a cardinal, a trusted counselor of Emperors and of Popes. And the shepherd,
St. Pascal Baylon! Was it not his pure intention, his union with God in
his lowly calling, that made him a saint? When he could not leave his
flock and attend Holy Mass, his soul was at the church, rapt in adoration at the very tolling of the Mass bell. His devotion to the Blessed Sacrament has been honored by the dignity conferred upon him by Pope Leo XIII., as “special and heavenly patron of all Eucharistic Confraternities." Yes, "little things are but little things," and the morning offering, and the pure intention of doing all for love of Jesus, is a little thing, but fidelity to it is a great thing. “All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." Short Sermons on the Epistles & Gospels of the Sundays of the Year By Francis Paulinus Hickey (25th Sunday after Pentecost - Fifth Sunday after Epiphany)
Tenth Day: The Duration of Purgatory
by VP
Posted on Sunday November 10, 2024 at 01:00AM in Meditations
"Concerning the duration of Purgatory, the Church simply tells us that it is not a place of everlasting pain, but will end at the last judgment; neither are we informed of the length of time required for the purification of a soul. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the souls, to be reunited to her Creator in Heaven, must be in the state of primitive innocence which adorned her when she proceeded from His hand. The image of God must be entirely restored within her, commensurate with the degree of glory awaiting her in Heaven.
From this it is evident that the suffering souls cannot enter Heaven until perfectly cleansed, either by their pains or by the suffrages of the faithful. With the royal Prophet they cry out in plaintive voices: "As the heart panteth after the fountains of water, so my soul panteth after Thee, O God! When shall I come and appear before the face of God?" (Ps. XLI, 2-3) They suffer until entirely purified, until the last farthing of their debt is paid. Increased and intensified pain will probably supply the want of time for the souls who will not have rendered full satisfaction before the last day."
Prayer: O God! the Bestower of forgiveness and the lover of human salvation, we implore Thee, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin May and all Thy saints, grant to the souls of our brethren, relatives, benefactors, and all the faithful departed, the joys of eternal bliss. 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 who are most desirous of obtaining help from you.
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 Andrew Avellino, CONFESSOR, A.D. 1608.
by VP
Posted on Sunday November 10, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
"On the last day of his life, November 10, 1608, Saint Andrew rose to say Mass. He was eighty-eight years old, and so weak he could scarcely reach the altar. He began the Judica me, Deus, the opening prayer, but fell forward, the victim of apoplexy. Laid on a straw mattress, his whole frame was convulsed in agony, while the ancient fiend, in visible form, advanced as though to seize his soul. Then, while the onlookers prayed and wept, he invoked Our Lady, and his Guardian Angel seized the monster and dragged it out of the room. A calm and holy smile settled on the features of the dying Saint and, as he gazed with a grateful countenance on the image of Mary, his holy soul winged its way to God.
Reflection: Saint
Andrew, who suffered so terrible an agony, is invoked as special
protector from an unprovided and sudden death. Ask this holy priest to
be with you in your last hour, and bring Jesus and Mary to your aid." Sanctoral
"He was born in the kingdom of Naples; and gave early tokens of a disposition to virtue. He escaped many snares and dangers by assiduous prayer, mortification, watchfulness over himself, and care in shunning all dangerous company. He was sent to Naples to study the civil and canon law, and was made priest. Once while he was pleading a cause an untruth escaped him in a matter of small consequence; but he was struck with so great remorse of conscience for this fault, that he resolved immediately to renounce his profession in the ecclesiastical court, and give himself up entirely to a penitential life, and the care of souls. The direction of a convent in the city was committed to him by the archbishop. He embraced the rule of the Regular Clerks, called Theatins. Wonderful were his abstinence and mortifications; but much more his love of abjection and hatred of himself, and of his own will. All the hours that were free from exterior employments of duty or charity, were by him devoted to prayer and contemplation. Thus he acquired that eminent spirit of piety and charity, by which his labours in the conversion and direction of souls were wonderfully successful. He founded new convents of his Order in several places; and was honoured with the gifts of prophecy and miracles. After having given the world an example of the most heroic virtues, being broken with labours and old age, he was seized with apoplexy at the altar as he was beginning mass. He was prepared for his passage by the holy sacraments, and calmly resigned his soul on the 10th of November, 1608. If this saint conceived so great a horror for having but once told a small untruth, learn the practice of suffering both reproof and anger for truth, rather than to defend yourself by taking shelter in alie. There can be no zeal for truth, where there is an unwillingness to suffering something for it. Embrace every humiliation, rather than offend against truth.
"This saint was a fit instrument of the Holy Ghost, in directing others in the paths of perfect virtue, because dead to himself, and a man of prayer. He never spoke of himself, never thought of his own actions except of his weaknesses, which he had always before his eyes in the most profound sense of his own nothingness, baseness, total insufficiency, and weakness. Those who talk often of themselves, discover that they are deeply infected with the disease of the devil, which is pride, or with the poison of vanity, its eldest daughter.They have no other reward to expect, but what they now receive, the empty breath of sinners. Even this incense is only affected hypocrisy. For men, by that base passion which they betray, become justly contemptible and odious to those very persons whose vain applause they seem to court." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
St. Teresa advises all persons to shun such directors, as pernicious to souls both by the contagion of self-conceit and vain-glory which they spread, and by banishing the Holy Ghost with his light and blessing; for nothing is more contrary to him than a spirit of vanity and pride. The most perfect disinterestedness, contempt of the world, self-denial, obedience, and charity, are no less essential ingredients of a Christian, and especially an ecclesiastical spirit, than meekness and humility."
Rev. Fr. Alban Butler The lives of the fathers, martyrs, and other principal saints Vol 11 1821
Prayer
O most glorious saint, whom God has made our protector against apoplexy; Seeing that thou thyself didst die of that disease, we earnestly pray thee to preserve us from an evil so dangerous and so common.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.
The Raccolta The lives of the fathers, martyrs, and other principal saints 1878
