Meditation for the Octave of Assumption - The Coronation of Mary in Heaven

"Who could form an adequate idea of the resplendent spectacle enacted on this day, as the Queen of Universe enters Heaven? Who can describe the veneration and enthusiasm with which the heavenly hosts come forth to receive her and the anthems of praise with which she was escorted to her glorious heavenly throne? What love glowed in the eyes of her Divine Son, what benevolence lighted up His Face, what Divine tenderness was apparent in His embraces as he welcomed His mother and elevates her above all the other creatures of His Land? He received her with such honour as alone was worthy of the dignity of such a mother. He adorns her with glory, as only a Divine Son could grant her" (St Bernard, First Sermon on Assumption.)

Our Lady, in order of nature, is lower than the Angels; in the order of grace she is higher. Man has been made a little lower than the angels: yet the Son of Man, who is God, had a human mother, and her the Angels venerate. The eternal Son places upon His Mother's brow the crown of Heavenly Queenship. The real glowy and greatness of Mary is revealed: "A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars upon her head."

Mary is Queen of Angels, because she is more glorious than they: Queen of Patriarchs and Prophets, because they were sent in remote expectation of her: Queen of Apostles, as having not merely announced the glad tidings of Salvation, but as having brought us the Saviour: Queen of Confessors, having given greater proof of fortitude: Queen of Virgins while surpassing them in the splendour of her purity: Mary is Queen of all Saints.

Text after "Marian Shrines in the Holy Land" by Fr Hoade, OFM, 1958 edition

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Feast of St Emygdius, Bishop and Martyr

Today is the feast of St Emygdius, who by God's grace had great power over evil spirits, destroyed many idols and converted hundreds of heathen in ancient Rome. In our difficult and dark times we need the intercession and help of Saints like Emygdius, who is venerated and commemorated in the Traditional Carmelite Breviary.

Emygdius was born in Treves [Germany] of a noble Frank family. In his twenty-third year he embraced the faith of Christ in spite of opposition of his parents who were idolaters, and this faith he steadfastly professed. He lived with three disciples, Euplus, Germanus and Valentinus. He scorned human pleasures, and thus he applied himself the more entirely to divine things. Fired with a burning love of the neighbour, he journeyed to Rome in order to bring about the salvation to many souls, and he was there received as a guest, in the Island of the Tiber, where he cured, by baptism, the daughter of his host, who had been ill for five years of an incurable disease. A little later he opened the eyes of a blind man, in the presence of the people by the sign of the Cross. Thereupon the crowd, thinking that he was the son of Apollo, carried him off by force to the Temple of Aesculapius. he there declared himself the servant of Christ, and by calling upon Christ's name he restored to health a great number of sick persons, who were vainly beseeching the help of the idol. Emygdius tore down the altars, and having broken in pieces the statue of Aesculapius, he cast it into the Tiber. These acts, and the conversion of thirteen hundred of the heathen, which followed, together with that of the priests of Aesculapius, enraged Posthumius Titanus, the Prefect of City. Emygdius, by the counsel of an angel, escaped from his threats, and betook himself to the Pontiff, Saint Marcellus, by whom he was consecrated Bishop, and sent to Ascoli.
On his way thither Emygdius converted a multitude of persons to Christ by the many miracles which he wrought. The demons, whose wailing issued from the idols and filled the temples upon his arrival at Ascoli, declared a traveller to be the cause of their distress. The people were aroused, and sought to slay him, whereupon Polymius, the Governor, who was brought out by the tumult, called Emygdius to him, and in a long fruitless discourse he urged him to worship Jupiter and the goddess Angaria, the patroness of Ascoli. He even promised him as a reward the hand of his daughter Polisia, whom Emygdius converted to Christ and baptized on the spot. Her baptism was followed by that of sixteen hundred men, the Saint having drawn, by a miracle, an abundance of water from the rock. Thrown into fury by these events, Polymius cut off the head of the holy Bishop, whereupon the body, wonderful to relate, stood erect, and , bearing in its hands the head which had been cast upon the ground, carried it to the Oratory, a disctance of three hundred feet. it was removed thence to the principal church, where it is honoured by the people of Ascoli, as well as by a multitude of people from other parts of [Italy]. The blessed death of Emygdius took place during the persecution of Diocletian.

Prayer
O God! who hast adorned the Blessed Emygdius, Thy Martyr and Bishop, with victory over idols, and with the splendor of miracles; mercifully grant that, through his mediation, we may deserve to conquer the deceits of evil spirits, and to shine by our virtue. Through our Lord.

Text's excerpts after 'Saints of Carmel - Proper Offices of the Saints Granted to the Barefoot Carmelites' 1896 edition

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Meditation fot the Octave of Assumption - Triumphs of Mary, Dormition, Assumption and Coronation of Our Blessed Mother

Mary had various triumphs - triumphs of faith, of love and mercy, endurance, and glory. And in God's providence they led up one to the other, one a preparation for the next, to the culmination - the glorius Assumption into Heaven.
Her first triumph was in Bethlehem. She had believed the word of the Lord, the word Gabriel had brought to her at Nazareth. Faith had triumphed, the Saviour of the world was born. Mary's heart that night was making melody with the angels of God on High: Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Her second triumph was of faith too. Her glory was that the Divinity of her Son was made evident in His public life. The crowds thronged to hear Him: they followed Him, forgetting rest and food. He healed the sick; He cast out devils and they proclaimed Him Christ, the Son fo God. He raised the dead to life; He forgave sin.
All these wonderful things Mary saw, and this triumph of hers lasted for three years, andd it strengthened her for the next triumph - the triumph over a mother's heart, the triumph of love and mercy over sinners.
Calvary is the next scene of Mary's triumph. She offered Him up a Sacrifice for sin, through pity for us poor sinners. She stands there the Queen of Martyrs. As the soul transcends the body, so the sword-thrust, that pierced her soul, was more agonizing than any suffering of the martyrs. The shadow of the cross had been hovering over her since the child was born. At last the hour has come, foreseen for three and thirty years. She gave up her Divine Son and took us for her children in His place. What a bad bargain, says one of the Fathers of the Church.
It is over. As Mary had partaken of the suffering of the Cross, justly did she participate in the triumph of the redeemer in His Resurrection and Ascension.
The Gospel is silent. No mention of Mary, the Immaculate, on easter morning. That was Mary's humility. But we reverently congratulate her on the joy of Easter, for surely she was the first to behold her Son, risen, glorious, immortal. What a triumph! That one moment of ecstatic joy more than compensated the Mother of Sorrows for all she had gone through during the terrible days of the Passion.
All too quickly pass the forty days, and from Mount of Olives Jesus ascended into heaven. During these wonderful days Mary heard from Jesus Himself many of the pains of the passion and these in time, she passed on to the Evangelists. Would it not have not been a beautiful ending, if Mary had been taken up to heaven with her Son? There was another triumph she had to pass through first - the triumph of patience. The infant Church needed a mother. It needed her to tell them all these words that she had kept in her heart. The Evangelists needed her for the Gospel records. Her example, influence, guidance, presence, was needed, and she gave for over twenty years without a word. And yet what a bleak, dreary world to her it must have been when Jesus had gone: She had exchanged God for man.

Mary's Life after The Death of Christ
After the Scene on Calvary Mary is mentioned only once: "All these were persevering with one mind in prayer, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren" (Acts 1, 14).
After that we must fall back on the apocryphal writings, the value of which we have already discussed. We have also many traditions attached to sites in Jerusalem. Such traditions are not negligible: traditions are not the product of legends, but give rise to them.
It was in the tradition of Jerusalem that Mary after the Ascension did what became known as "the Holy Circuit", a pilgrimage in Jerusalem to the holy places connected with the life of Christ. This traditional pilgrimages was adopted by the Franciscans when they took up residence in the city in 1335. Once, as Mary was coming down the Mount of Olives, she was met by the Archangel Gabriel, who gave her a palm in token of her triumphal entry into heaven. This was three days before her death. The place is still known as et Tamir, the Palm Tree, and the ruins of a church were still visible there until 1882.

Age of Mary
We know from tradition that Mary lived with St John beside the place of the Last Supper and died there in the place known as the Dormition.

We have no means of determining the afe of Mary. The Franciscans have for centuries recited the Franciscan Crown, which consists of seventy-two Hail Marys in honour of the seventy-two years of her life. This was revealed to a novice of the order. On the other hand St John undoubtedly remained in Jerusalem as long as Mary lived: "From that hour, the disciple took her to his own [house]" (John 19:27). After Pentecost, John appears with Peter in Jerusalem (Acts 3) and then in Samaria (Acts 8:14). When Paul goes to Jerusalem in 49 AD to attend the council of the Apostles he finds John there (Gal. 2:9; Acts 15). After this, we do not find him any longer in Palestine; probably he left by the year 57; for when Paul returns to Jerusalem he makes no mention of him (Acts 21). Many famous authors accept this as the date of John's departure from Jerusalem. If Mary, as commonly believed was sixteen at the birth of Christ, she was seventy-two in the year 56AD.

Death of Mary
On the third day after meeting with the Archangel Gabriel, when Apostles forewarned, have arrived, a Sunday, Mary dies: Jesus receives her soul which He consigns to Michael. Jesus ordered the burial of Mary in Gethsemane. Having placed the body in the Gethsemane, it was transported to paradise by angels, where it was reunited with the soul. It would take many pages to defend the tradition of Jerusalem over Ephesus as the place of Mary inhabitation and death, and it is not the point of this meditation. However, it may be appropriate to mention the revelations of Bl Catherine Emmerich regarding the house of Mary located in Ephesus are the main source of this supposition, not apocryphal writings. The date of Mary's death is 21 Tobi (January). Yet the fact remains that we must wait until the 7th century, before the Patriarch Modestus explicitly locates the death of Mary on Mount Sion, although it was undoubtedly the firm belief of the Church of Jerusalem that Mary after the Ascension of Jesus lived and died in the vicinity of the Cenacle. When this holy place, fortunately saved in the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70AD and by Hadrian in 135, was included in the great Basilica, Hagia Sion, built by the Patriarch John (388-417) together with the sacred memories of the Last Supper and the Descend of the Holy Ghost, was included also the memory of the Death of the Blessed Virgin, which little by little was localized in a certain part of the Basilica. The Patriarch Sophronius (634-638) successor to Modestus, in a hymn written in 603-604 records "the Stone on which the Mother of God lay in her last moments," and the site is marked on the plan of Arculf (670). This sacred edifice so eulogized by St John of Damascus (748) fell into ruins in 966 and remained so until the arrival of Crusaders. Their devotions to the Mother of Christ explains why in their reconstruction of the Basilica the remembrance of the Dormition prevailed over all the other memories and the official title of the church was "St Mary on the Mt Sion" . The Chapel which was believed to be the room of Mary, was in the northern nave, and on the dome was the inscription "Exaltata est sancta Dei Genitrix super Choros Angelorum." The Church was served by the Canons Regulars of St Augustine, but the Chapter came under the Patriarch, who with his clergy went there in procession from the Holy Sepulchre ro celebrate the feast on August 15.

In 1187, Saladin took Jerusalem from the Crusaders and the Basilica was handed over to the native clergy. Damaged in 1219, it was completely destroyed in 1244.
When in 1335 the Franciscans took up residence beside the Cenacle, which they repaired, they also hoped to rebuilt the Church of St Mary. They never succeeded in building anything except a small Chapel, which the authorities ordered to be destroyed on May 23, 1490. And when the Franciscans were finally expelled from the Cenacle, in 1553, the site remained a ruin.
The place was generally called by the local inhabitants Nijaha, i.e. lamentations or bewailing of the dead, whereas Europeans called it "Dormitio or Koimesis" (Sleeping).
In the year 1898, during his visit to Jerusalem, Emperor William II was given the site as a present by Sultan Abdul Hamid, and he handed it over to the German Catholics under the administration of the Archbishops of Cologne. the foundation stone of the present Church of the Dormition was laid on October 7 1900, and on the March 21, 1906 the Shrine was given into the charge of the Benedictine Monks of Beuron. The Church was consecrated on April 10, 1910, and on August 15, 1926, the Benedictine Priory was raised to the dignity of an Abbey. The Church was badly damaged during the fighting in 1948, and years after that the Israeli soldiers were still occupying the part of the church. The whole building, church, monastery, and belfry, is very massive and presents an appearance of a medieval fortress. the upper church, in the apse, floor and side chapels, is beautifully decorated with mosaics and bronzes. The crypt, of two concentric circles is both beautiful and devout. In the centre is the altar of the Dormition and before the altar lies the statue of the Virgin in the sweet sleep of death.


Excerpts from "Marian Shrines of the Holy Land" by Fr Hoade, OFM

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Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost - click to read

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Feast of St John Berchmans - click to read

Today is the Feast of St John Berchmans, SJ who is the patron of the young. In these day young Catholics need very much good role models in particularly in spiritual life. He died when he was only 22, and much like St Terese of Lisieux, was the kind of saint who performed ordinary actions with extraordinary perfection. He is excellent role model for young Catholics. Let us pray and recommend them all to his intercession.

St John Berchmans Holy Card, he is often depicted holding his crucifix, his book of rules, and his rosary.

St John Berchmans shrine in St Ignazio Church, Rome (picture by Fr Lawrence, OP)

Close up of his tomb

..."St. John Berchmans was born in Belgium in the times of war between the Catholics and Protestants of the Netherlands. He was the oldest of five children and his parents watched him growing and richly endowed by God with kind, gentle and affectionate nature. He was but nine years of old when his mother was stricken with a long and serious illness. John would pass several hours each day by her bedside, and console her with his affectionate though serious, words. Later, when he lived with some other boys at their little parish school dormitory, he would undertake more than his share of the domestic work, selecting by preference the more difficult occupations. If he was loved by his comrades, he repaid their affection by his kindness, without, however, deviating from the dictates of his conscience. It was noticed even that he availed himself discreetly of his influence over them to correct their negligences and to restrain their frivolous conversation. Eager to learn, and naturally endowed with a bright intellect and a retentive memory, he enhanced the effect of these gifts by devoting to study whatever time he could legitimately take from his ordinary recreation.

It was obvious to his parents of to their parish priest, Fr M. Emmerick, that the Lord may work wonders in the soul of this child. When he was hardly seven years old, he was accustomed to rise early and serve two or three Masses with the greatest fervour. He attended religious instructions and listened to Sunday sermons with the deepest recollection, and made pilgrimages to the sanctuary of Montaigu, a few miles from Diest, reciting the rosary as he went, or absorbed in meditation. As soon as he entered the Jesuit college at Mechlin, he was enrolled in the Society of the Blessed Virgin, and made a resolution to recite her Office daily. He would, moreover, ask the director of the sodality every month to prescribe for him some special acts of devotion to Mary. On Fridays, at nightfall, he would go out barefooted and make the Stations of the Cross in the town. Such fervent, filial piety won for him the grace of a religious vocation. Towards the end of his rhetoric course, he felt a distinct call to the Society of Jesus. His family was decidedly opposed to this, and on 24 September, 1616, he was received into the novitiate at Mechlin. After two years passed in Mechlin he made his simple vows, and was sent to Antwerp to begin the study of philosophy. Remaining there only a few weeks, he set out for Rome, where he was to continue the same study. After the journeying three hundred leagues on foot, carrying a wallet on his back, he arrived at theRoman College, he studied for two years and passed on to the third year class in philosophy in the year 1621. One day early in August of that same year he was selected by the prefect of studies to take part in a philosophical disputation at the Greek College, at that time under the charge of the Dominicans. He opened the discussion with great perspicuity and erudition, but, on returning to his own college, he was seized with a violent fever of which he died, on 13 August, at the age of twenty-two years and five months, and numerous miracles were attributed to him at the time of his funeral and his feast is on 26 November.

He was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1865 and canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1888."

Text based mainly on Catholic Encyclopedia entry.

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Eco-Nazism - now exposed hatred to unborn and humanity - click to read

Infamous late-abortionist, 'psycho-doctor', Warren Hern, expressed in his last paper chilling environmentalism-based hatred against humanity and unborn, I would call it eco-Nazism. This is how this man, who call himself a 'physician', regards growing human populations:

"From the point of view of a physician, the expanding, invasive, colonizing urban form with highly irregular borders resembles a malignant lesion," wrote Hern. "Malignant neoplasms have at least four major characteristics: rapid, uncontrolled growth; invasion and destruction of adjacent normal tissues (ecosystems); metastasis (distant colonization); and de-differentiation."

Hern continued that "death of the host organism in a cancer occurs between the 37th and 40th doubling of the cell population" and then drew a comparison to the expansion of human populations (32.5 times by 1999) and energy consumption (36 times since 1999), adding that energy consumption is projected to increase 57 percent between 2004 to 2030.

Hern argued that expanding urban communities would "alter the biosphere to the point that it can no longer support large, oxygen-consuming organisms" reaching a point at which in "the point of view of human survival, the host organism will have died."

"If this hypothesis is correct, that urban settlements of all kinds, and cities in particular, are malignant lesions or phenomena on the planet Earth, the conclusion of this process may not be far in the future," wrote Hern."....Back in 1998, LSN reported that Hern had submitted another similar paper to the American Anthropological Association comparing human beings to malignant cancers. Hern explained to the AAA that this belief had motivated him for over 20 years, about the same time that he began his abortion practice in Boulder, Colorado.

After the recent murder of Kansas abortionist Dr. George Tiller by a mentally unstable anti-abortion activist, Hern remains the last full-time US abortionist carrying out very late-term third-trimester abortions even as far as 36 weeks.



With growing pro-euthanasia propaganda in the media we can imagine futuristic horrors of compulsory counselings for elderly to end their lives in euthanasia clinics. It has been already exposed that new Obama Health care plan covers this. SOme argue there is no such plans, but in reality any legislation can be improved, amendments added etc. The word 'may' could be change into 'must'. Euthanasia Bill was recently rejected by the House of Lord in UK, but pro-euthanasia supporters will not stop. Beware of eco-Nazism! This is what it is all about - new form of Nazism under cover of environmentalism. Over-population is a myth, someone used mathematics and said that the whole of 6.5 billion of human population, could easily populate the state of Texas, living in relatively small but decent family houses with front and back yards.

How the Christian world is mislead and cheated by socialists and secularist atheists, please read 'Time to go, Grampa' - by Peter Buchanan

Details of totalitarian Medicare Obamacare plan HERE

Pressure to die for elderly and disabled HERE

Let us offer our prayers in the hands of Our Lady begging mercy of God Almighty for us all.

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Catechism on the Prerogatives of the Pure Soul

Nothing is so beautiful as a pure soul. If we understand this we could not lose our purity...Purity comes from Heaven; we must ask for it from God. If we ask for it, we shall obtain it. We must take great care not to lose it. We must shut our heart against pride, against sensuality, and all the other passions, as one shuts the doors and windows that nobody may be able to get in. What a joy is it to the guardian angel to conduct a pure soul! My children, when a soul is pure, all Heaven looks upon it with love! Pure souls will form a circle wound Our Lord. The more pure soul we have been on earth, the nearer we shall be to Him in Heaven. When the heart is pure, it cannot help loving, because it has found the source of love, which is God. "Happy", says Our Lord, "are the pure in heart, because they shall see God!"
My children, we cannot comprehend the power that a pure soul has over the good God. It is not he who does the will of God, it is God who does his will. Look at Moses, that very pure soul. When God would punish the Jewish people, he said to him: Do not pray for them, because My anger must fall upon upon this people; He let Himself be entreated; he could not resist the prayer of that pure soul. O my children, a soul that has never been stained by that accursed sin obtains from God whatever it wishes!
Three things are wanted to preserve purity - the presence of God, prayer, and the Sacraments. Another means is the reading of holy books, which nourishes the soul. How beautiful is a pure soul! Our Lord showed one to St Catherine; she thought it so beautiful that she said, "O Lord, if I did not know that there is only one God, I should think it was one." The image of God is reflected in a pure soul, like the sun in the water. A pure soul is the admiration of the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity. The Father contemplates His work: There is My creature! ....The Son, the price of His Blood; the beauty of an object is shown by the price it has cost...The Holy Spirit dwells in it, as in a temple.
We also know the value of our soul by the efforts the devil makes to ruin it. Hell is leagued against it - Heaven for it. Oh, how great it must be! In order to have an idea of our dignity, we must often think of Heaven, Calvary, and Hell. If we could understand what it is to be the child of God, we could not do evil - we should be like angels on earth. To be children of God, oh, what a dignity!
It is a beautiful thing to have a heart, and, little as it is, to be able to make use of it in loving God. How shameful it is that man should descend so low, when God has placed him so high! When the angels had revolted against God, this God who is so good, seeing that they could no longer enjoy happiness for which He had created them, made man, and this little world that we see to nourish his body. But his soul required to be nourished also; and as nothing created can feed the soul, which is a spirit, God willed to give Himself for its Food. But the great misfortune is that we neglect to have to this divine Food, in crossing the desert of this life. Like people who die of hunger within sight of a well-provided table, there are some who remain fifty, sixty years, without feeding their souls.
Oh, if Christians could understand the language of Our Lord, who says to them, "Notwithstanding the misery, I wish to see near Me that beautiful soul which I created for Myself. I made it so great, that nothing can fill it but Myself. I made it so pure, that nothing but My Body can nourish it.
Our Lord has always distinguished pure souls. Look at St John, the well-beloved disciple, who reposed upon His breast. St Catherine was pure, and she was often transported into Paradise. When she died, angels took up her body, and carried it to Mt Sinai, where Moses had received the Commandments of the law. God has shown by this prodigy that a soul is so agreeable to Him, that it deserves that even the body which has participated in its purity should be buried by angels.
God contemplates a pure soul with love; he grants it all it desires. Hos could He refuse anything to a soul that lives only for Him, by Him, and in Him? it seeks God, and He shows Himself to it; it calls Him, and God comes; it is one with Him; it captivates his will. A pure soul is all-powerful with the gracious heart of Our Lord. A pure soul with God is like a child with its mother, it embraces her, and its mother returns its caresses and embraces.

Text after "The Little Catechism of the Cure of Ars"

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St John Mary Baptist Vianney was born on 8 May 1786 in Dardilly and baptised on the same day. His parents, Matthieu Vianney and Marie Beluze, had six children, of whom John was the third. The Vianneys were traditional Catholics who helped the poor and gave hospitality to those in need. By 1790, the French Revolution forced many loyal priests to hide from the government in order to carry out the sacraments in their parish. The Vianneys continued attending Mass, even though it was illegal. In order to attend Mass, the Vianneys travelled to distant farms where they would pray in secret. In 1802, the Catholic Church was re-established in France, resulting in religious peace throughout the country. By this time, St John Vianney was concerned about his future vocation and longed for an education. He was 20 when his father allowed him to leave the farm to be taught at Father Balley's "presbytery-school" in the neighbouring village of Ecully. The school taught arithmetic, history, geography, and Latin. He struggled, especially with Latin, since his past education had been interrupted by the French Revolution. If it wasn't for Vianney's deepest desire to be a priest - and Father Balley's patience - he would have given up his struggle to continue.

In autumn of 1813, he was sent to major seminary at Lyons. At the end of his first term he left to be privately tutored by Fr Balley. He received minor orders and the subdiaconate on 2 July 1814, was ordained deacon in June 1815, and was ordained priest on 12 August 1815. He said his first Mass the next day, and was appointed assistant to Fr Balley.Shortly after the death of Father Balley, Jean-Marie Vianney was appointed pastor of the parish of Ars, a town of 230. As the pastor of Ars, Vianney realized that the Revolution's aftermath resulted in religious ignorance, due to many years of the destruction of the Catholic Church in France. At the time, Sundays in rural areas were spent in the fields working, or spent dancing and drinking in taverns. Vianney was astonished, especially since Sundays were meant to be reserved for religion. Vianney spent time in the confessional and gave homilies railing on blasphemy and dancing. If his parishioners did not give up dancing, he refused them absolution.Vianney came to be known internationally, and people from distant places began traveling to consult him as early as 1827. By 1855, the number of pilgrims had reached twenty thousand a year. During the last ten years of his life, he spent sixteen to eighteen hours a day in the confessional. Even the bishop forbade him to attend the annual retreats of the diocesan clergy because of the souls awaiting him yonder". He spent at least 11 or 12 hours a day in the confessional during winter, and up to 16 in the summer.



St John Vianney had a great devotion to St. Philomena. Vianney looked at her as his guardian and erected a chapel and shrine in honour of the saint. During May 1843, St John Vianney fell so ill he thought that his life was coming to its end. He asked St Philomena to cure him and promised to say 100 Masses at her shrine. Twelve days later, Vianney was cured and he attributed his cure to St Philomena.

St John yearned for the contemplative life of a monk, and four times ran away from Ars, the last time in 1853. He died on 4 August 1859 at age 73. Biographers recorded miracles performed throughout his life, obtaining money for his charities and food for his orphans; he also had supernatural knowledge of the past and future, and could heal the sick, especially children. On 3 October 1874 Pope Pius IX proclaimed him Venerable; on 8 January 1905, Pope Pius X declared him Blessed and proposed him as a model to the parochial clergy; in 1925 Pope Pius XI canonized him, and assigned 8 August as his feast day. This feast was inserted in the General Roman Calendar in 1928 with the rank of Double. He was made patron saint of parish priests in 1929. The rank was changed to that of third-class feast in 1960, and it is thus celebrated in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite. In the ordinary form Vianney is commemorated by a memorial on 4 August.

In 1959, Pope John XXIII issued Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia, an encyclical on Vianney.

In honour of the 150th anniversary of Vianney's death, Pope Benedict XVI declared a year for priests, running from the feast of the Sacred Heart 2009-2010.

St John Vianney became internationally notable for his priestly and pastoral work in the parish of Ars because of the radical spiritual transformation of the community and its surroundings. Catholics attribute this to his saintly life, mortifications offered to God for the conversion of his flock and persevering ministry in the sacrament of confession.

ST John Vianney pray for us, that merciful God will grant us many holy priests for the restoration of His Church.

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Optional Memorial of St Benedicta of the Cross - click to read

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Tenth Sunday after Pentecost - click to read

As St John Vianney said in his Catechism on the Word of God:..."My children, I have remarked that there is no moment when people are more inclined to sleep than during the instructions....You will say, I am so very sleepy....If I were to take up a fiddle, nobody would think of sleeping: everybody would be roused, everybody would be on the alert. My children, you listen when you like the preacher; but is the preacher does not suit you, you turn him into ridicule...We must not think so much about the man. It is not the body that we must attend to. Whatever the priest may be, he is still the instrument that the good God makes use of to distribute His holy Word....My chidren, why are people so blind and so ignorant? Because they make so little account of the Word of God. There are some who do not even say a Pater and an Ave to beg of the good God the grace to listen to it attentively, and to profit well by it. I believe, my children, that a person who does not hear the Word as he ought, will not be saved; he will not know what to do to be saved..."

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Feast of St John Vianney -click to read Catechism and Exhortation

Today is the feast of St John Vianney and day of Our Lady. St John had a great devotion and love for the Blessed Virgin. Let us read his Catechism on the Blessed Virgin.

The Father takes pleasure in looking upon the heart of the most Holy Virgin Mary, as the masterpiece of His hands; for we always like our own work, especially when it is well done. The Son takes pleasure in it as the heart of His Mother, the source from which He drew the Blood that has ransomed us; the Holy Ghost as His Temple. The Prophets published the glory of Mary before her birth; they compared her to the sun. Indeed, the apparition of the Holy Virgin may well be compared to a beautiful gleam of sun on a foggy day.
Before her coming, the anger of God was hanging over our heads like a sword ready to strike us. As soon as the Holy Virgin appeared upon the earth, His anger was appeased....She did not know that she was to be the Mother of God, and when she was a little child she used to say, "When shall I then see that beautiful creature who is to be the Mother of God?" The Holy Virgin has brought us forth twice, in the Incarnation and at the foot of the Cross; he is then doubly our Mother. The Holy Virgin is often compared to a mother, but she is much better still than the best of mothers; for the best of mothers sometimes punishes her child when it displeases her, and even beats it: she thinks she is doing right. But the Holy Virgin does not so; she is good that she treats us with love, and never punishes us. The heart of this good Mother is all love and mercy; she desires only to see us happy. We have only to turn to her to be heard. The Son has His justice, the Mother has nothing but her love. God has loved us so much as to die for us; but in the heart of Our Lord there is justice, which is an attribute of God, in that of the most Holy Virgin there is nothing but mercy. Her Son being ready to punish a sinner, Mary interposes, checks the sword, implores pardon for the poor criminal. "Mother", Our Lord says to her, "I can refuse you nothing. if Hell could repent, you would obtain its pardon".
The most Holy Virgin places herself between her Son and us. The greater sinners we are, the more tenderness and compassion does she feel for us. The child that has cost its mother most tears is the dearest to her heart. Does not a mother always run to the help of the weakest and the most exposed to danger? Is not a physician in the hospital most attentive to those who are most seriously ill? The Heart of Mary is so tender towards us, that those of all the mothers in the world put together are like a piece of ice in comparison to hers. See how good the Holy Virgin is! her great servant St Bernard used often to say to her, "I salute thee Mary." One day this good Mother answered him, "I salute thee, my son Bernard."
The Ave Maria is a prayer that is never wearisome. The devotion to the Holy Virgin is delicious, sweet, nourishing. When we talk on earthly subjects or politics, we grow weary; but when we talk of the Holy Virgin, it is always new. All the saints have a great devotion to our lady; no grace comes from Heaven without passing through her hands. We cannot fo into a house without speaking to the porter; well, the Holy Virgin is the portress of Heaven. When we have to offer anything to a great personage, we get it presented by the person he likes best, in order that the homage may be agreeable to him. So our prayers have quite a different sort of merit when they are presented by the Blessed Virgin, because she is the only creature who has never offended God. The Blessed Virgin alone has fulfilled the first Commandment - to adore God only, and love Him perfectly. She fulfilled it completely.
All that the Son asks of the Father is granted Him. All that the Mother asks of the Son is in like manner granted to her. When we have handled something fragrant our hands perfume whatever they touch; let our prayers pass through the hands of the Holy Virgin; she will perfume them. I think that at the end of the world the Blessed Virgin will be very tranquil: but while the world lasts, we drag her in all directions....The Holy Virgin is like a mother who has a great many children - she is continually occupied in going from one to the other.

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Feast of the Assumption blasphemed in Poland - click to read

To see the post, please, click on the title and scroll down 2-3 posts. Please, join this protest organized by America Needs Fatima blog, it requires to send already prepared email.

...."You are requested to join several groups in Poland who are protesting the pop singer Madonna’s blasphemous show “Sweet & Sticky,” which is scheduled for August 15, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This is the same day when hundreds of thousands of Poles from all over the country converge upon the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, patroness of the nation.

What is worse is that one of the advertisements for the show reads:

"There's no room for two queens in this country!"

As Catholics, you and I cannot accept such an insult to Our Lady and the Catholic faith! No matter where in the world it is."...

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Feast of Transfiguration - click to read

"And it came to pass, about eight days after these words, that he took Peter and James and John and went up into a mountain to pray. And whilst he prayed, the shape of his countenance was altered and his raiment became white and glittering. And behold two men were talking with him. And they were Moses and Elias, Appearing in majesty. And they spoke of his decease that he should accomplish in Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep. And waking, they saw his glory and the two men that stood with him. And it came to pass that, as they were departing from him, Peter saith to Jesus: Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses; and one for Elias: not knowing what he said. And as he spoke these things, there came a cloud and overshadowed them. And they were afraid when they entered into the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud; saying: This is my beloved son. Hear him. And whilst the voice was uttered Jesus was found alone. And they held their peace and told no man in those days any of these things which they had seen." (Luke 9:28-36)

The Council of Vienne in 1311 defined the thinking soul has the form of the body and contains the body. Dom Wiesenger explains "the human soul is not wholly submerge in the body nor completely enclosed by it, a thing which because of its higher degree of perfection is inconceivable, and that in consequence there is nothing to prevent it from reaching beyond the body in its effective power, despite the fact that with its substance it remains essentially in the body"...This semi-freedom of the soul from the body was present in Adam as a normal condition, which permitted him to hear "the voice of God walking in Paradise at the afternoon air (Gen 3:8) and to name animals, not only by abstraction from sensual perception, but "cognizing things intuitively by the light that God had infused into him at the time of his creation". It was presumably by the same kind of direct communication without the mediation of images, which is like that of the angels, that God counseled Adam and Eve. Scripture tells us, "He created in them the science of the spirit, He filled their heart with wisdom and showed them both good and evil...Moreover He gave them instructions and the law of life for an inheritance..And their eye saw the majesty of His glory and their ears heard His glorious voice, and He said to them: Beware of all iniquity!" (Ecclus 17:5-11). Unfortunately, they did not, and their fall from grace caused their souls to be weighed down by their bodies, depriving them and all their descendants of their original powers of intuition. This happened gradually, for even after his sin, Cain was still able to communicate directly with God, but since the Flood, the faculty became nearly extinct, existing only in exceptional souls. St Bernard says, "It was only through sin that reason was thus imprisoned in the senses; once man also had a spiritual eye that did not need the senses in order to know God, but this has now been clouded and darkened by sin and can only be cleansed for contemplation by asceticism." Another Benedictine and spiritual master, Dom Chapman, Abbot of Downside, was firmly persuaded that the supernatural contemplative prayer which goes by the name of "mysticism" is based on this natural human faculty, given that God always works in us according to our nature. As he put it, "The door to the unseen is connatural to integral nature as possessed by Adam, but filled up with lumber by original sin. But, in some souls there is a little light shining through, and if they blow out or shade their terrene candles and lamps [which is the work of Christian mortification], they begin to perceive this light. Once they use it, God can increase it and communicate with them in this new and higher way. Thus the door is a part of the perfection of human nature; the blocking of it is from the imperfection of our nature; the light through the door is supernatural, and all communication through it is from God - therefore a grace, a gift, and from the Holy Ghost". (Let us remember warnings of many Carmelite Saints and mystics, we should never desire spiritual favours for we may be deceived. Therefore, through prayer, mortifications or rather self-denials and pious life based on genuine charity, we may come closer to God.) It all starts with with "ordinary vocal prayer, which can continue for a lifetime, and is rather a part of that great transformation that must take place in man as he approaches his final perfection (when the soul is no longer subdued to a sensual in us but on the contrary). It begins at that point where the soul, still bound to the body, begins to function as a pure spirit, that is to say, 'independently 'of the body. It means therefore the spiritualization of man, a withdrawal within himself (or deep recollection) the attainment of independence by his purely spiritual part, the re-establishment of the spirit in its original sovereignty over the body" once naturally enjoyed by Adam..Didn't Our Lord tell us plainly, "Lo, the kingdom of God is within you?" (Luke 17:21). This is not pious metaphor, but a revelation of the very core of reality, to be found at the very center of our being....St John of the Cross exclaims in the Spiritual Canticle, "O souls created for these grandeurs and called thereto! What are you doing? Wherein do you occupy yourselves?"

Text adopted from "The Sixth Trumpet" by Solange Hertz

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Feast of St Dominic

The picture is taken by Fr Lawrence OP the owner 'GodzGodz' blog. He describes the dream of St Dominic:
"According to Blessed Cecilia, as St Dominic was praying in the dormitory at Santa Sabina late one night, three women entered. The woman in the center began to sprinkle the sleeping friars with holy water. She explained to Dominic that each evening when they invoked her as the most gracious advocate, she prostrated herself before her Son, asking Him to preserve the Order. The two women who accompanied her were St. Cecilia and St. Catherine of Alexandria.

As Dominic continued praying, he saw our Lord with Mary and religious of all the Orders except his own. When our Lord asked him why he was weeping, Dominic explained that none of his Order appeared to be in heaven. The Lord placed His hand on Mary’s shoulder and said, "I have entrusted your Order to my Mother." Then, at Jesus’ request, Mary opened her cloak and Dominic saw many members of his Order.

Cecilia reported that the next morning Dominic gave the friars at chapter "a long and very beautiful sermon, exhorting them to love and reverence of the Blessed Virgin Mary." He related his experience, as he did later to Cecilia and the other nuns at San Sisto.

While the symbolism of being covered by Mary’s mantle may also be found in the Cistercian tradition, what is significant for our purposes is the conviction of Blessed Cecilia, one of the earliest members of the Order, that the Order of Preachers was personally protected by Mary. "

I am sure Carmelites are well under the mantle of the Virgin Mother of God (see the picture on the sidebar of this blog), and as we celebrate today feast of the founder of Dominicans, Order of Preachers, we may like to read and reflect on the power of God's word and our disposition to receive It properly for sanctification of our soul. The reading is from Fr Goffine's "The Church's Year".

ON THE POWER OF GOD’S WORD
The word of God is compared, by the Prophet Jeremias, to a hammer which crushes hearts as hard as rocks, and to a fire that dries up the swamps of vice, and consumes inveterate evil habits (Jer. 23: 29). The Psalmist compares it to thunder that makes all tremble, a storm-wind that bends and breaks the cedars of Lebanon, that is, proud and obstinate spirits; a light that dispels the darkness of ignorance; and a remedy that cures sin (Ps 28: 3-5). St. Paul compares it to a sword that divides the body from the soul, that is, the carnal desires from the spirit; (Hebr. 4: 12) the Apostle James to a mirror in which man sees his stains and his wrongs (Jam 1:23). the Prophet Isaias to a precious rain that moistens the soil of the soul and fertilizes it; (Isai LV: 10, 11) and Jesus Himself compares it to a seed that when it falls on good ground, brings forth fruit a hundredfold (Luke 8: 8). One single grain of this divine seed produced the most marvellous fruits of sanctity in St. Augustine, St. Anthony the Great, in St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and others; for St. Augustine was converted by the words: "Let us walk honestly as in the day: not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy." (Rom 13: 13) St. Anthony by the words. If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shaft have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." (Matt 19: 21) Nicholas of Tolentino was brought to Christian perfection by the words: "Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. (1 John 2: 15)



How should we prepare ourselves to be benefited by the word of God?
We must be good, well-tilled soil, that is, we must have a heart that loves truth, desires to learn, and humbly and sincerely seeks salvation; we must listen to the word of God with due preparation and attention, keep the divine truths we have heard, in our heart, frequently consider and strive to fulfil them.

What should be done before the sermon?
We should endeavor to purify our conscience, for, as St. Chrysostom demands; "Who would pour precious juice into a vessel that is not clean, without first washing it?" We should, therefore, at least cleanse our hearts by an ardent sorrow for our sins, because the spirit of truth enters not into the sinful soul; (Wisd 1: 4) we should ask the Holy Ghost for the necessary enlightenment, for little or no fruit can be obtained from a sermon if it is not united with prayer; we should listen to the sermon with a good motive; that is, with a view of hearing something edifying and instructive; if we attend only through curiosity, the desire to hear something new, to criticize the preacher, or to see and to be seen, we are like the Pharisees who for such and similar motives went to hear Christ and derived no benefit therefrom. “As a straight sword goes not into a crooked sheath, so the word of God enters not into a heart that is filled with improper motives." We should strive to direct, our minds rightly, that is, to dispel all temporal thoughts, all needless distraction, otherwise the wholesome words would fall but upon the ears, would not penetrate the heart, and the words of Christ be fulfilled: They have ears, and hear not.

How should we comfort ourselves during the sermon?
We should listen to the sermon with earnest, reverent attention, for God speaks to us through His priests, and Christ says to them: Who hears you, hears me. (Luke 10: 16) We must listen to the priests, therefore, not as to men, but as to God's ambassadors, for every priest can say with St. Paul: We are ambassadors for Christ, God, as it were, exhorting by us (2 Cor 5: 20). "If," says St. Chrysostom, "when the letter of a king is read, the greatest quiet and attention prevails, that nothing may be lost, how much more should we listen with reverence and perfect silence to the. word of God?" The word of God is, and ever will be, a divine seed, which, when properly received, produces precious fruit, by what priest soever sowed; for in the sowing it matters not what priest sows, but what soil is sowed. Be careful, also, that you do not apply that which is said to others, but take it to yourself, or the sermon will be of no benefit to you. Are you free from those vices which the preacher decries and against which he battles? then, thank God, but do not despise others who are perhaps laboring under them, rather pray that they may be released and you preserved from falling into them. Keep also. from sleeping, talking, and other distractions, and remember, that whoever is of God, also willingly hears his word (John 8:47).

What should be done after the sermon?
We should then strive to put into practice the good we have heard, for God justifies not those who hear the law, but those who keep it, (Rom. 2:13) and those who hear the word of God and do not conform their lives to it, are like the man who looks into the mirror, and having looked into it goes away, and presently forgets what manner of man he is. (Fam. 1: 23, 24). To practice that which has been heard, it is above all necessary that it should be kept constantly in mind, and thoughtfully considered. St. Bernard says: "Preserve the word of God as you would meat for your body, for it is a life-giving bread, and the food of your soul. Happy those, says Christ, who keep it. Receive it, therefore, into your soul's interior, and let it reach your morals and your actions."

That food which cannot be digested, or is at once thrown out, is useless; the food should be well masticated, retained, and by the digestive powers worked up into good blood. So not only on the day, but often during the week, that which was heard in the sermon should be thought of and put into practice. Speak of it to others, thus will much idle talk be saved, many souls with the grace of God roused to good, and enlightened in regard to the evil they had not before seen in themselves and in future will avoid. Let us listen to others when they repeat what was said in the sermon. Heads of families should require their children and domestics to relate what they have heard preached. Let us also entreat God to give us grace that we may be enabled to practice the precepts given us.

PRAYER
How much am I shamed, O my God, that the seed of Thy Divine word, which Thou hast sowed so often and so abundantly in my heart, has brought forth so little fruit! Ah! have mercy on me, and so change my heart, that it may become good soil, in which Thy word may take root, grow without hindrance, and finally bring forth fruits of salvation. Amen.

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We have recently celebrated the Feast of St Anne, grandmother of Our Lord, and I have came across "The Poem of Man-God" by Maria Valtorta, where she records Our Lord's word about His grandparents. Moreover, His Holiness, Pope Benedict blessed grantparents just hours ago, and as I belong to those happy ones, therefore, I thought about sharing. In another book written by Solange Hertz about heresies, "The Sixth Trumpet", in the chapter where she cited "The Poem" in editor's footnotes we can read: "The storm of calumny which modernists have unleashed against Maria Valtorta should in itself provide ample testimony to her orthodoxy and saintliness".

Jesus says:

" The just are always wise, because, as friends of God, they live in His company and are taught by Him, yes, by Him, Infinite Wisdom. My grandparents were just and therefore they possessed wisdom. They could quote accurately from the Book, singing the praises of Wisdom from its context: "She it was I loved and searched for from my youth: I resolved to have her as my bride". Anne of Aaron was the strong woman of whom our Ancestor speaks. And Joachim, a descendant of king David, had not sought so much charm and wealth as virtue. Anne possessed a great virtue. All holy attributes joined together like a sweet‑smelling bunch of flowers to become one beautiful thing that was: this exceptional Virtue. A real virtue, worthy of being set before the throne of God. Joachim had therefore married wisdom twice, "loving her more than any other woman": the Wisdom of God enshrined in the heart of a just woman. Anne of Aaron had not sought anything else but to join her life to that of an upright man, certain that family joy lies in uprighteousness. And to be the embodiment of the "strong woman" she lacked only the crown of children, the glory of the married woman, the justification of marriage, the one of which Solomon speaks, as for her happiness she lacked children, the flowers of a tree that has become one thing with the adjoining tree and obtains thereof abundance of new fruit, in which the two good qualities blend into one, because she had never experienced any disappointment on account of her husband. Although she was now approaching old age and had been Joachim's wife for many years, she was always for him "the spouse of his youth, his joy, the most dear hind, the graceful fawn", whose caresses always had the fresh charm of the first nuptial evening and sweetly fascinated his love, keeping it as fresh as a flower sprinkled with dew, and as ardent as a fire continuously kept burning. Therefore, in their affliction, their childless state, they spoke to each other "words of consolation in their thoughts and troubles". And eternal Wisdom, when the time came, besides teaching them in waking consciousness, enlightened them with dreams at night, visions of the poem of glory that was to come from them and was Most Holy Mary, My Mother. If their humility made them hesitant, their hearts trembled in hope at the first hint of God's promise. There was already certainty in Joachim's words: "Do hope... We shall gain our favour from God by our faithful love". They were dreaming of a child: they got the Mother of God.

The words of the book of Wisdom appear to be written for them: "By means of her I shall acquire glory before the people... by means of her, immortality shall be mine and I shall leave an everlasting memory to my successors". But to obtain all this they had to become masters of a true and lasting virtue which no event marred. Virtue of faith. Virtue of charity. Virtue of hope. Virtue of chastity. The chastity of a married couple! They possessed it, because it is not necessary to be virgins to be chaste. And chaste nuptial beds are guarded by angels and from them descend good children who make the virtue of their parents the rule of their lives.

But where are they now? Now children are not wanted, neither is chastity. I therefore say that love and marriage are desecrated."

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NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST - click to read

Why did our Saviour weep over the city of Jerusalem?
Because of the ingratitude and obduracy of its inhabitants who would not receive Him as their Redeemer, and who through impenitence were hastening to destruction.

When was the time of visitation?
The period in which God sent them one prophet after another who urged them to penance, and whom they persecuted, stoned, and killed. (Matt. 23:34) It was especially the time of Christ's ministry, when He so often announced His salutary doctrine in the temple of Jersualem, confirmed it by miracles, proving Himself to be the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, but was despised and rejected by this hardened and impenitent city.

Who are prefigured by this hardened and impenitent city?
The hard-hearted, unrepenting sinners who will not recognize the time of God's visitation, in which He urges them by the mouth of His preachers, confessors, and superiors, and by inward inspiration to reform their lives and seek the salvation of their soul, but who give no ear to these admonitions, and defer conversion to the end of their lives. Their end will be like to that of this impious city; then the enemy, that is, the evil spirit, will surround their soul, tempt, terrify, and drag it into the abyss of ruin. Oh, how foolish it is to squander so lightly, the time of grace, the days of salvation! Oh, how would the damned do penance, could they but return to earth! Oh, how industriously would they employ the time to save their soul! Use, then, my dear Christian, the time of grace which God designs for you, and which, when it is run out or carelessly thrown away, will not be lengthened for a moment.

Will God conceal from the wicked that which serves for their salvation?
No; but while they are running after the pleasures of this life, as St. Gregory says, they see not the misfortunes treading in their footsteps, and as consideration of the future makes them uncomfortable in the midst of their worldly pleasures, they remove the terrible thought far from them, and thus run with eyes blindfolded in the midst of their pleasure into eternal flames. Not God, but they themselves hide the knowledge of all that is for their peace, and thus they perish.

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Feast of St Alphonsus de Liquori - click to read

Commemoration of St Alphonsus, founder of Redemptorist Order.

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Saturday, Day of Our Lady

Thoughts for this day - St Teresa of Avila tells us about her devotion to Our Blessed Lady.

Behold, thy Mother (John 19:27)

"I understand that I had a great obligation to serve our Lady and St Joseph; for often when I went off the path completely, God gave me salvation again through their prayers "(I:399)

"On another day the Lord told me this: "Do you think, daughter, that merits lies in enjoyment? No rather it lies in working and suffering and loving....When you see My Mother holding Me in her arms, don't think she enjoyed those consolations without heavy torment. From the time Simeon spoke those words to her, My Father gave her clear light to see what I was to suffer."(I:403)

"I saw the Mother of God descend with a great multitude of angels and sit in the prioress's choir stall where there was a statue of our Lady...She told me: "You were indeed right in placing me here; I shall be present in the praises they give my Son, and I shall offer these praises to Him." (I:395)

"You have such a good Mother. Imitate her and reflect that the grandeur of our Lady and the good of having her for your patroness must indeed be great" (2:305-306)

"She is our Lady and our Patroness. And this for me was one of the great joys and satisfactions of my life". (3:279)

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Bp Fellay, Superior General of SSPX interview with Italian news agency APcom - click to read

HERE to read original interview in Italian.

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Feast of St Ignatius of Loyola - click to read

It would be not enough words to praise the founder of the Society of Jesus. For centuries Jesuits served the Papacy and evangelized half of the world bringing Catholic faith to savages of Amerindia and Asia, faith bought at the price of blood of their Saints and martyrs. I hope and pray, one day they may return to their former glory - AMDG

Statue of St Ignatius lit for his Feast day in Il Gesu Church in Rome

2 Tim 2:8-10, 3:10-12.
Be mindful that the Lord Jesus Christ is risen again from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel: Wherein I labour even unto bands, as an evildoer. But the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with heavenly glory. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, patience, persecutions, afflictions: such as came upon me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra: what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord delivered me. And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Luke 10:1-9.
And after these things, the Lord appointed also other seventy-two. And he sent them two and two before his face into every city and place whither he himself was to come. And he said to them: The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he send labourers into his harvest. Go: Behold I send you as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say: Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him: but if not, it shall return to you. And in the same house, remain, eating and drinking such things as they have: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Remove not from house to house. And into what city soever you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. And heal the sick that are therein and say to them: The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

Letter of St Ignatius with his signature.

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