Saint Barbara, Virgin and Martyr
by VP
Posted on Wednesday December 04, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
PARENTS ACCORDING ΤΟ THE ORDER OF NATURE.- Those parents who seek to corrupt either the faith or morals of their children are guilty of a heinous crime. Such there are, even in the bosom of Christianity. Let us cite one example, however, borrowed from paganism and from another period. St. Barbara, a young virgin of Nicomedia, had been brought up secretly in the Christian religion. It was not possible, however, that her father, a headstrong supporter of the superstitions of paganism, should remain ignorant of the fact. On learning it, he broke out into a violent rage, and then, being unable to move his daughter either by tears or threats, he shut her up in a tower, and kept her in prison there. Finding that he gained nothing by such treatment, of his own accord he denounced her to the judges during the persecution of Maximinus. To the application of burning coals to her body, the cutting off of her breasts, to the rack, and the dislocation of her limbs, the Christian virgin bravely submitted. She was beheaded in the year 255 or 256. The acts of her martyrdom are not well known, but she is held in universal veneration.
MORAL REFLECTION. -The Saviour has foretold it: "You shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, but in your patience you shall possess your souls."-(Luke xxi. 16.) Pictorial half hours with the saints by Rev. Fr. Auguste François Lecanu
Prayer to St. Barbara: O GOD, Who hast chosen St. Barbara to be the consolation of the living and of the dying, grant, we beseech Thee, through her intercession, that we may always live in Thy holy love, and place all our hopes in the merits of the most bitter Passion of Thy Son, so that we may never be surprised by the death of sin, but that, fortified by the Sacraments of Penance, Holy Eucharist and Extreme Unction, we may enter without fear upon the journey to eternal glory. This we ask most earnestly through the same Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen. ( Leo XIII., March 21, 1879.) Devotions and Prayers for the Sick-room by Rev. Fr. Joseph Alois Krebs 1889
4. The Long Darkness (Advent Meditations)
by VP
Posted on Wednesday December 04, 2024 at 12:00AM in Advent Sermons
"1. The light extinguished at the Fall was rekindled in the hears of our fist parents when the promise was given them of a Redeemer Who should undo the fatal mischief that had been done. But in their children Adam and Eve had to lament the fatal effects of that deadly evil that they had introduced into the world. As generation followed generation thicker and thicker grew the darkness, farther and father did men wander away from the light, that gave to each the power of guiding his feet aright from earth to heaven. Thus it is that each ill deed goes on bearing its deadly fruit, often long after the doer is dead and gone.
2. Yet every man had light and grace sufficient, and more than sufficient, to enable him to walk in the ways of God, and to find his way to the kingdom of heaven. But non save a very few availed themselves of it. "They loved darkness more than light." The world gradually lost all regard for virtue of for God. How grateful should I be to God that I live in happier days!
3. If I had lived then, what should I have been? Even with all my countless graces and advantages, what a poor specimen I am of one made by God, for God, and in the image of God! In heathen days should I not have been among the most depraved? Should I not have recklessly indulged my own inclinations, irrespective of the voice of God warning and reproaching me? What chance should I have had of saving my soul in those days of dark corruption and depravity?"
Meditations for Advent . By Rev. Richard F. Clarke S.J. The Catholic Truth Society, London 1891 Digitized by google
Saint Andrew Christmas Novena:
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment In which the Son of God was born Of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen. (15 times)
Prayer to the Holy Infant for priests
Jesus, Divine Infant, I bless and thank
Thy most loving Heart for the institution of the priesthood. Priests
are sent by Thee as Thou were sent by the Father. To them Thou entrusted
the treasures of Thy doctrine, of Thy Law, of Thy Grace, and souls
themselves.
Grant me the grace to love them, to listen to them,
and to let myself be guided by them in Thy ways. Jesus, send good
laborers into Thy harvest. May priests be the salt that purifies and
preserves; may they be the light of the world; may they be the city
placed on the mountain. May they all be formed after Thy own Heart. And
in heaven may they be surrounded by a joyous throng of those they
shepherded on earth. Amen.
Glory Be (three times).
Infant Jesus, make me love Thee more and more!
