Saint Chad, Bishop and Confessor, a.d. 673
by VP
Posted on Saturday March 01, 2025 at 11:00PM in Saints
St. Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, found the ordination of St. Chad defective, and adjudged the see of York to St. Wilfrid. St. Chad willingly offered to resign his bishopric, of which he had never thought himself worthy. But St. Theodore was so charmed with his humility, that he would not admit of his resignation, but supplied what he found wanting to his ordination. The humble prelate retired to his former monastery; but was soon after appointed bishop of the Mercians, and fixed his episcopal see at Lichfield. By his heavenly doctrine and saintly life, he shone forth as one of the brightest stars in the firmament of God's Church. His common abode was in a house which he had built near the church at Lichfield; wherein he was accustomed to pray and read with seven or eight brethren, as often as he had any spare time from the labour and ministry of the Word. He had governed his diocese with admirable perfection for two years and a half, when he died in the great pestilence, on the 2nd of March, in 673.
Pray for all the prelates of Christ's Church, and in particular for those of your country, that both by word and example they may be lights to the faithful, to lead them into all truth and holiness. Pray for the people of this
nation, that God would show mercy to them, in removeing his judg ments,
and raising up apostolic men, by those labours vice and profaneness may
be banished from this island." The Catholic Year by Rev. Fr. John Gother
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
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
Saint Simplicius (47th Pope)
by VP
Posted on Saturday March 01, 2025 at 11:00PM in Saints
"Saint Simplicius was the ornament of the Roman Clergy under Sts. Leo and Hilarius, and succeeded the latter in the pontificate in 468. He was raised by God to comfort and support his Church amidst the greatest storms. All the provinces of the Western Empire, out of Italy, were fallen into the hands of barbarians. The emperors for many years were rather shadows of power than sovereigns, and, in the eighth year of the pontificate of Simplicius, Rome itself fell a prey to foreigners. Italy, by oppression and the ravages of barbarians, was left almost a desert without inhabitants; and the imperial armies consisted chiefly of barbarians, hired under the name of auxiliaries. These soon saw that their masters were in their power. The Heruli demanded one third of the lands of Italy, and, upon refusal, chose for their leader Odoacer, one of the lowest extraction but a resolute and intrepid man, who was proclaimed king at Rome in 476. He put to death Orestes, who was regent of the empire for his son Augustulus, whom the senate had advanced to the imperial throne. Odoacer spared the life of Augustulus, appointed him a salary of six thousand pounds of gold, and permitted him to live at full liberty near Naples.
Pope Simplicius was wholly taken up in comforting and relieving the afflicted, and in sowing the seeds of the Catholic faith among the barbarians. The East gave his zeal no less employment and concern. Peter Cnapheus, a violent Eutychian, was made by the heretics Patriarch of Antioch ; and Peter Mongus, one of the most profligate men, that of Alexandria. Acacius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, received the sentence of St. Simplicius against Cnapheus, but supported Mongus against him and the Catholic Church, and was a notorious changeling, double-dealer, and artful hypocrite, who often made religion serve his own private ends. St. Simplicius at length discovered his artifices, and redoubled his zeal to maintain the Holy faith, which he saw betrayed on every side, list the patriarchal sees of Alexandria and Antioch were occupied by furious wolves, and there was not one Catholic king in the whole world. The emperor measured everything by his passions and human views. St. Simplicius, having sat fifteen years eleven months and six days, went to receive the reward of his labors in 483. He was buried in St. Peter's on the 2d of March."
Reflection.-" He that trusteth in God shall fare never the worse," saith the Wise Man in the Book of Ecclesiasticus.
Source: Lives of the Saints, with reflections for every day in the year.
Prayer for the Pope ( by Pope Leo XIII)
O Lord, we are the millions of
believers, humbly kneeling at Thy feet and begging Thee to preserve,
defend and save the Sovereign Pontiff for many years. He is the Father
of the great fellowship of souls and our Father as well. On this day, as
on every other day, he is praying for us also, and is offering unto
Thee with holy fervor the sacred Victim of love and peace.
Wherefore, O Lord, turn Thyself toward us with eyes of pity; for we are
now, as it were, forgetful of ourselves, and are praying above all for
him. Do Thou unite our prayers with his and receive them into the bosom
of Thine infinite mercy, as a sweet savor of active and fruitful
charity, whereby the children are united in the Church to their Father.
All that he asks of Thee this day, we too ask it of Thee in unison
with him. Whether he weeps or rejoices, whether he hopes or offers
himself as a victim of charity for his people, we desire to be united
with him; nay more, we desire that the cry of our hearts should be made
one with his. Of Thy great mercy grant, O Lord, that not one of us may
be far from his mind and his heart in the hour that he prays and offers
unto Thee the Sacrifice of Thy blessed Son.
At the moment when
our venerable High Priest, holding in His hands the very Body of Jesus
Christ, shall say to the people over the Chalice of benediction these
words: "The peace of the Lord be with you always, grant, O Lord, that
Thy sweet peace may come down upon our hearts and upon all the nations
with new and manifest power. Amen.
