BIOGRAPHY OF Saint Thérèse (of the Child Jesus) of Lisieux

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Also known as

• Francoise-Marie Therese Martin
• Teresa of the Infant Jesus
• the Little Flower of Jesus
• the Little Flower
• Thérèse of the Child Jesus

Profile

Born to a pious middle-class French family of tradesmen; daughter of Blessed Louis Martin and Blessed Marie-Azelie Guérin Martin, and all four of her sisters became nuns. Her mother died when Francoise-Marie was only four, and the family moved to Lisieux, Normandy, France to be closer to the family. Cured of an illness at age eight when a statue of the Blessed Virgin smiled at her. Educated by the Benedictine nuns of Notre-Dame-du-Pre. Confirmed there at age eleven. Just before her 14th birthday, she received a vision of the Child Jesus; she immediately understood the great sacrifice that had been made for her and developed an unshakeable faith. Tried to join the Carmelites, but was turned down due to her age. Pilgrim to Rome, Italy at for the Jubilee of Pope Leo XIII whom she met and who knew of her desire to become a nun. Joined the Carmelites at Lisieux on 9 April 1888 at age 15, taking her final vow on 8 September 1890 at age 17. Known by all for her complete devotion to spiritual development and to the austerities of the Carmelite rule. Due to health problems resulting from her ongoing fight with tuberculosis, her superiors ordered her not to fast. Novice mistress at age 20. At age 22 she was ordered by her prioress to begin writing her memories and ideas, which material would turn into the book History of a Soul. Therese defined her path to God and holiness as The Little Way, which consisted of child-like love and trust in God. She had an on-going correspondence with Carmelite missionaries in China, often stating how much she wanted to come work with them. Many miracles attributed to her. Declared a Doctor of the Church in 1997 by Pope John Paul II.

Born

2 January 1873 at Alcon, Normandy, France as Francoise-Marie Therese Martin

Died

7pm Thursday 30 September 1897 at Lisieux, France of tuberculosis

Canonized

17 May 1925 by Pope Pius XI

Patronage

• African missions
• sick people; against bodily ills, illness or sickness
• AIDS patients
• aircrews or pilots; aviators
• Australia
• black missions
• florists and flower growers
• foreign missions (proclaimed on 14 December 1927 by Pope Pius XI)
• loss of parents
• missionaries
• parish missions
• restoration of religious freedom in Russia
• tuberculosis
• World Youth Day 2013
• France (1944 by Pope Pius XII)
• Russia
• Anchorage, Alaska, archdiocese of
• Cheyenne, Wyoming, diocese of
• Churchill - Baie d'Hudson, Manitoba, diocese of
• Fairbanks, Alaska, diocese of
• Fresno, California, diocese of
• Hamilton, Bermuda, diocese of
• Juneau, Alaska, diocese of
• Kisumu, Kenya, diocese of
• Corner Brook and Labrador, Newfoundland, diocese of
• Pueblo, Colorado, diocese of
• Witbank, South Africa, diocese of
• Apostleship of Prayer

Representation

• roses
• Discalced Carmelite nun holding a bunch of roses
• nun with roses at her feet
• roses encircling a crucifix

Readings

For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy. - Saint Therese of Lisieux

What beauty? I don't see my beauty at all; I see only the graces I've received from God. You always misunderstand me; you don't know, then, that I'm only a little seedling, a little almond. - Saint Therese of Lisieux

You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them. - Saint Therese of Lisieux

Oh! no, you will see, it will be like a shower of roses. After my death, you will go to the mailbox, and you will find many consolations. - Saint Therese on 9 June 1897 after Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart told her we would be very sorry after she died

JOYFUL HEART

Reverence

Reverence

Reverence for the lord is the foundation of true wisdom. The rewards of wisdom come to all who obey him. Praise his name forever!Psalm 111:10

Comedians often make a living by being irreverent. They capitalize on the foolish adage “nothing is sacred!” Some even advertise their humour as “irreverent” and thereby attract a following of people who like to demean that with which they do not agree and diminish that which they possibly do not even understand. There is no doubt some justification for humorists to point out the foibles of pompous people and to generate the kind of humour that will help us see the alarming gap between our pretentiousness and our actual performance. But they cross the line when they deprecate legitimate authority and lampoon holiness. There is a place for reverence, and he is a poor man who fails to recognize it and acknowledge it.

The psalm writer recognized the need for reverence, particularly reverence for God. The writer of Psalm 111 concluded his beautiful and intricate poem with the following lines:

Reverence for the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom.The rewards of wisdom come to all who obey him.Praise his name forever! (Ps. 111:10)

As the psalmist contemplated the Lord, he knew that reverence for God is the only appropriate response to his existence—not only in public worship but in the day-to-day matters of the heart.

First of all, the psalmist recounted the amazing deeds of the Lord and instructed his hearers to “ponder them.” As a citizen of God’s covenant nation, Israel, he was referring particularly to the events in the nation’s history that clearly demonstrated the power and majesty of the Lord. God had wonderfully rescued Israel from their Egyptian oppressors (111:4); had fed them in the wilderness (111:5); had “shown his great power to his people by giving them the lands of other nations” (111:6), meaning the Promised Land; and all this because “he always remembers his covenant” (111:5). When God makes promises, as he did to Israel, he keeps them! The recollection of these events—which actually happened in time and space—generated a sense of reverence in the psalmist’s heart, which he encouraged the other worshipers to share.

The psalm writer then turned his attention to the giving of the Law to the people of Israel. This was an instruction of the highest order, the means whereby the people would know how to conduct themselves as God’s people. The law was a revelation of God’s character and purposes and an exposition of the Most High’s expectations, promises, and warnings. He is the God who graciously communicates with his creatures who revere and obey him.

It is noteworthy that this psalm was composed for use when “godly people” gathered for worship (111:1). In the psalmist’s mind, reverence in worship was of prime importance. We should ponder this—it might get us to church regularly and on time, with our hearts prepared and with a spirit of expectancy, awe, and reverence. This is, after all, “the foundation of true wisdom” (111:10). Irreverence may come across as witty and sharp, but in the end, it is reverence that shows we are wise!

BIOGRAPHY OF Saint Jerome

Saint Jerome

Also known as

• Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius
• Girolamo, Hieronymus, Jerom
• Man of the Bible

Additional Memorial

9 May (translation of relics)

Profile

Born to a rich pagan family, Jerome led a wild and misspent youth. Studied in Rome, Italy, and became a lawyer. He converted and joined the Church in theory, and was baptised in 365, but it was only when he began his study of theology that he had a true conversion and the faith became integral to his life.

He became a monk, then, needing isolation for his study of Scripture, he lived for years as a hermit in the Syrian deserts. There he is reported to have drawn a thorn from a lion‘s paw; the animal stayed loyally at his side for years.

Priest. Student of Saint Gregory of Nazianzen. Secretary to Pope Damasus I who commissioned Jerome to revise the Latin text of the Bible. The result was 30 years of work which we know as the Vulgate translation, the standard Latin version for over millennia, and which is still in use today.

Friend and teacher of Saint Paula, Saint Marcella, and Saint Eustochium, an association that led to so much gossip that Jerome left Rome to return to desert solitude. He lived his last 34 years in the Holy Land as a semi-recluse, writing and translating works of history, biography, the writings of Origen, and much more. Doctor of the Church and Father of the Church. Since his own time, he has been associated in the popular mind with scrolls, writing, cataloguing, translating, which led to those who work in such fields taking him as their patron – a man who knew their lives and problems.

Born

347 at Strido, Dalmatia

Died

• 419 of natural causes
• interred in Bethlehem
• relics at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, Italy

Patronage

• archaeologists
• archivists
• Bible scholars
• librarians; libraries
• schoolchildren; students
• translators
• Saint-Jérôme, Québec, city of
• Saint-Jérôme, Québec, diocese of
• Taos Indian Pueblo

Representation

• cardinal's hat, often on the ground or behind him, indicating that he turned his back on the pomp of ecclesiastical life
• lion, referring to the who befriended him after he pulled a thorn from the creature's paw
• man beating himself in the chest with a stone
• aged monk in the desert
• aged monk with Bible
• aged monk writing
• old man with a lion
• skull
• hourglass

Readings

What Jerome is ignorant of, no man has ever known. - Saint Augustine of Hippo

In the remotest part of a wild and stony desert, burnt up with the heat of the scorching sun so that it frightens even the monks that inhabit it, I seemed to myself to be in the midst of the delights and crowds of Rome. In exile and prison to which for the fear of hell I had voluntarily condemned myself, I many times imagined myself witnessing the dancing of the Roman maidens as if I had been in the midst of them: in my cold body and in my parched-up flesh, which seemed dead before its death, passion able to live. Alone with this enemy, I threw myself in spirit at the feet of Jesus, watering them with my tears, and I tamed my flesh by fasting whole weeks. I am not ashamed to disclose my temptations, but I grieve that I am not now what I then was. - Saint Jerome's letter to Saint Eustochium

The measure of our advancement in the spiritual life should be taken from the progress we make in the virtue of mortification; for it should be held as certain that the greater violence we shall do ourselves in mortification, the greater advance we shall make in perfection. - Saint Jerome

You say in your book that while we live we are able to pray for each other, but afterwards, when we have died, the prayer of no person for another can be heard. But if the apostles and martyrs while still in the body can pray for others, at a time when they ought still to be solicitous about themselves, how much more will they do so after their crowns, victories, and triumphs? - Saint Jerome from Against Vigilantius, 406

I interpret as I should, following the command of Christ: "Search the Scriptures," and "Seek and you shall find." For if, as Paul says, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if the man who does not know Scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ. No one should think that I mean to explain the entire subject matter of this great book of the prophet Isaiah in one brief sermon since it contains all the mysteries of the lord. It prophesies that Emmanuel is to be born of a virgin and accomplish marvellous works and signs. It predicts his death, burial and resurrection from the dead as the Savior of all men. Whatever is proper to holy Scripture, whatever can be expressed in human language and understood by the human mind, is contained in the book of Isaiah. - Jerome: from a commentary on Isaiah

When the Latin Fathers are represented in a group, Saint Jerome is sometimes in a cardinal's dress and hat, although cardinals were not known until three centuries later than his time, but as the other Fathers held exalted positions in the Church and were represented in ecclesiastical costumes, and as Saint Jerome held a dignified office in the court of Pope Dalmasius, it seemed fitting to picture him as a cardinal. The Venetian painters frequently represented him in a full scarlet robe, with a hood thrown over the head. When thus habited, his symbol was a church in his hand, emblematic of his importance to the universal Church. Saint Jerome is also seen as a penitent, or again, with a book and pen, attended by a lion. As a penitent, he is a wretched old man, scantily clothed, with a bald head and neglected beard, a most unattractive figure. When he is represented as translating the Scriptures, he is in a cell or a cave, clothed in a sombre coloured robe, and is writing, or gazing upward for inspiration. In a few instances, an angel is dictating to him. - from Saints in Art, by Clara Irskine Clement

The Love of God and the Lure of Idols

“Don’t let your heart be deceived so that you turn away from the LORD and serve and worship other gods.” DEUTERONOMY 11:16

The Love of God and the Lure of Idols Deut 11:13-17

Over and over (four times in just a few chapters) God says, “Love me!” He also repeatedly says, “Do not serve other gods.” Just like the Israelites, we live in a day when our hearts can be deceived so that we turn away from God and serve other gods (11:16). These may not be gods of stone or wood as in biblical times, but our gods of pleasure, comfort, wealth, or even technologies that we depend on can be very deceptive.

In the New Testament, Jesus did not condemn money. But he did say that we cannot serve both God and money as alternative gods. When we put our trust in money, we make it a god. This is also true with many other things in our lives that are seemingly “neutral” in and of themselves. If we place more trust in them than in God, they become idols, and we are deceived. Technologies fail, things break, people disappoint, and pleasures eventually no longer satisfy.

Only the Lord God can truly satisfy and save us finally and forever. This warning to Israel against worshipping other gods applies to us today. No matter what our circumstances, no matter what suffering we face or what disappointment crashes into our lives, only God is worthy of our devotion and worship. God’s simple blessings (for example, the rain and harvest in Deuteronomy 11) are indications of his constant love for us. But even in times of drought (physical or spiritual), God still holds us in his hands. As we look to him, and not to more temporal “gods,” we find ultimate satisfaction for our souls.

Long ago St. Augustine said, “Love God, and do as you please.” By this, he meant that our love for God must always be above all other loves. If we get this right (loving God), whatever we “please to do” will be good. Are you in danger of letting other loves deceive you and steal the love that should be for God alone? Ask him to once again take the throne of your heart!

RESPONSORIAL PSALM 29/9/18

Feast of Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels

29 September
Feast of Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels

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The first degree of interior peace is to banish from us all the noise and commotion created by the passions, which disturb the profound tranquillity of the heart. The last and most excellent degree is to stand in no fear of this disturbance and to be perfectly insensible to its excitement. - Saint John Climacus

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Joyful Mysteries - youtube

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Gabriel the Archangel

Also known as

Fortitudo Dei; Gabr-el, Gabrielus, Gavri'el, Gavriel, Jibrail, Jibril

Profile

Archangel and messenger of God. One of the three angels mentioned by name in the Catholic Bible.

• Appeared to the prophet Daniel to explain the prophet's visions relating to the Messiah. (Daniel 8:16-26; 9:21-27)
• Appeared to Zachary in the temple to announce the coming of Zachary's son, John the Baptist, and to strike Zachary mute for his disbelief. (Luke 1:11-20)
• Appeared to Mary to let her know she'd been selected to bear the Saviour. (Luke 1:26-38)

Born

wasn't

Died

hasn't

Name Meaning

• God is mighty
• God is my strength
• man of God
• my master is God
• strong man of God
• the strength of God

Patronage

• broadcasters
• clergy
• communications workers
• diplomats
• messengers
• philatelists; stamp collectors
• post offices, postal services and employees
• radio and radio workers
• telegraphs
• telephones
• television and television workers
• Portugal
• Seattle, Washington, archdiocese of
• Auchi, Nigeria, diocese of

Representation

• lily
• shield
• spear
• trumpet
• olive branch as he was the one who announced the Prince of Peace

Readings

You should be aware that the word "angel" denotes a function rather than nature. Those holy spirits of heaven have indeed always been spirits. They can only be called angels when they deliver some message. Moreover, those who deliver messages of lesser importance are called angels; and those who proclaim messages of supreme importance are called archangels. And so it was that not merely an angel but the archangel Gabriel was sent to the Virgin Mary. It was only fitting that the highest angel should come to announce the greatest of all messages.... So too Gabriel, who is called God's strength, was sent to Mary. He came to announce the One who appeared as a humble man to quell the cosmic powers. Thus God's strength announced the coming of the Lord of the heavenly powers, mighty in battle. - from a homily by Pope Saint Gregory the Great

...and on the Ulai I heard a human voice that cried out, "Gabriel, explain the vision to this man." When he came near where I was standing, I fell prostrate in terror. But he said to me, "Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the end time." As he spoke to me, I fell forward in a faint; he touched me and made me stand up.

"I will show you," he said, "what is to happen later in the period of wrath; for at the appointed time, there will be an end.

"The two-horned ram you saw represents the kings of the Medes and Persians. The he-goat is the king of the Greeks, and the great horn on its forehead is the first king. The four that rose in its place when it was broken are four kingdoms that will issue from his nation but without his strength.

"After their reign, when sinners have reached their measure, There shall arise a king, impudent and skilled in intrigue. He shall be strong and powerful, bring about fearful ruin, and succeed in his undertaking. He shall destroy powerful peoples; his cunning shall be against the holy ones, his treacherous conduct shall succeed. He shall be proud of heart and destroy many by stealth. But when he rises against the prince of princes, he shall be broken without a hand being raised. The vision of the evenings and the mornings is true, as spoken; Do you, however, keep this vision undisclosed, because the days are to be many." - Daniel 8:16-26

I was still occupied with this prayer, when Gabriel, the one whom I had seen before in vision, came to me in rapid flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me in these words: "Daniel, I have now come to give you understanding. When you began your petition, an answer was given which I have come to announce, because you are beloved. Therefore, mark the answer and understand the vision. "Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and for your holy city: Then transgression will stop and sin will end, guilt will be expiated, Everlasting justice will be introduced, vision and prophecy ratified, and a most holy will be anointed. Know and understand this: From the utterance of the word that Jerusalem was to be rebuilt Until one who is anointed and a leader, there shall be seven weeks. During sixty-two weeks it shall be rebuilt, With streets and trenches, in time of affliction. After the sixty-two weeks, an anointed shall be cut down when he does not possess the city; And the people of a leader who will come shall destroy the sanctuary. Then the end shall come like a torrent; until the end, there shall be war, the desolation that is decreed. For one week he shall make a firm compact with the many; Half the week he shall abolish sacrifice and oblation; On the temple, wing shall be the horrible abomination until the ruin that is decreed is poured out upon the horror." - Daniel 9:21-27

...the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense. Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of (the) Lord. He will drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord."

Then Zechariah said to the angel, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years."

And the angel said to him in reply, "I am Gabriel, who stand before God. I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news. But now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time." - Luke 11-20

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favoured one! The Lord is with you." But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no end."

But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be since I have no relations with a man?"

And the angel said to her in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God."

Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her. - Luke 1:26-38

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Michael the Archangel

Additional Memorial

8 May - Apparition of Saint Michael and Protector of Cornwall

Profile

Archangel. Leader of the army of God during the Lucifer uprising. Devotion is common to Muslims, Christians and Jews, and there are writings about him in all three cultures. Considered the guardian angel of Israel, and the guardian and protector of the Church. In the Book of Daniel (12:1), Michael is described as rising up to defend the Church against the Anti-Christ.

The feast of the Apparition of Saint Michael commemorates the appearance of the archangel to a man named Gargan in 492 on Mount Gargano near Manfredonia in southern Italy. Gargan and others were pasturing cattle on the mountain; a bull wandered off and hid in a cave. An arrow was shot into the cave, but it came flying back out and wounded the archer. The cowherds went to their bishop who ordered three days of fasting and prayer to seek an explanation for the mystery. At the end of the three days, Michael appeared to the bishop and requested a church built in the honour of the Holy Angels in the cave. If you find medals or holy cards with 'relics' of Michael, they are probably rock chips from the cave or pieces of cloth that have touched it.

Born

wasn't

Died

hasn't

Name Meaning

Who is like God? (the battle cry of the army of heaven)

Patronage

• against storms and dangers at sea
• against temptations
• artists
• bakers
• bankers and banking
• battle
• coopers or barrel makers
• dying people
• EMTs and paramedics
• fencers and fencing
• grocers
• haberdashers
• hatmakers or hatters
• holy death
• knights
• milleners
• paratroopers
• police officers
• radiologists and radiotherapists
• sailors, mariners, watermen
• security guards
• sick people
• soldiers
• swordsmiths
• Belarus
• England
• Germany
• Papua, New Guinea
• Vatican City (given in 2013)
• Greek Air Force
• Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel
• Siegburg Abbey
• at least 14 dioceses and 42 cities around the world

Representation

• balance or scales (helping to judge at the Last Judgment)
• banner (as the leader of the army of God)
• dragon (representing the defeated devil)
• sword (as a soldier of God)

Readings

Whenever some act of wondrous power must be performed, Michael is sent, so that his action and his name may make it clear that no one can do what God does by his superior power. - from a homily by Pope Saint Gregory the Great

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Raphael the Archangel

Also known as

• Azariah
• Angel of Love
• Angel of Joy

Profile

Archangel. One of the three angels mentioned by name in Scripture, and one of the seven that stand before God's throne. The lead character in the deutero-canonical book of Tobit in which he travelled with (and guarded) Tobiah, and cured a man's blindness; hence his connection with travellers, young people, blindness, healing and healers. Traditionally considered the force behind the healing power of the sheep pool mentioned in John 5:1-4.

Born

wasn't

Died

hasn't

Name Meaning

• God has healed
• Healer from God
• God's remedy
• It is God who heals
• God Heals
• God, Please Heal

Patronage

• against all sickness or bodily ills
• against eye disease or eye problems
• mentally ill people; against insanity or mental illness
• against nightmares
• apothecaries, druggists, pharmacists
• blind people
• doctors, physicians
• guardian angels
• for happy meetings
• love; lovers
• nurses
• shepherds; shepherdesses
• sick people
• travellers
• young people
• Auchi, Nigeria, diocese of
• Dubuque, Iowa, archdiocese of
• MacKenzie - Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, diocese of
• Madison, Wisconsin, diocese of
• Seattle, Washington, archdiocese of

Representation

• angel holding a bottle or flask
• angel walking with Tobias
• archangel
• young man carrying a fish
• young man carrying a traveller's staff

Readings

Raphael means God's remedy, for when he touched Tobit's eyes in order to cure him, he banished the darkness of his blindness. Thus, since he is to heal, he is rightly caused God's remedy. - from a homily by Pope Saint Gregory the Great

FRUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

KEEP ASKING

Keep Asking

[Jesus said,] “Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds.”Matthew 7:7-8

God is seeking people who will give themselves to earnest, persevering prayer. In these verses Jesus instructs us not to pray just once or twice for what we desire but to repeatedly come to him in the same way the persistent widow in Luke 18 did—to ask and keep on asking, to look and keep on looking, to knock and keep on knocking—and we will receive, find, and experience the opening of doors. If we could simply kneel down, ask for what we want, instantly get what we prayed for, and then run back to our own pursuits, our spiritual life and interaction with God would be superficial and minimal, and we would experience little growth. It is in the places where we have to persevere in prayer that we learn persistence in prayer, receive the most blessing, see our faith growing stronger, and most glorify God. It is when we persist in prayer that God prepares a person or works behind the scenes in the problem we are praying about.

Is there something about which you sense that God wants you to persevere in prayer until the answer comes? Write it down, and seek him today and every day until it’s done!

LORD, thank you for your promise that those who ask receive and that when we seek, we will find. Grant me the grace to persevere, to keep on asking, seeking, and knocking until the answer comes. Thank you for the power and grace of your Spirit, who gives me the strength to persevere in prayer even when I am at my weakest moment and ready to give up.

IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO BEGIN TO PRAY, NOR TO PRAY ARIGHT, NOR IS IT ENOUGH TO CONTINUE FOR A TIME TO PRAY; BUT WE MUST PATIENTLY, BELIEVINGLY, CONTINUE IN PRAYER UNTIL WE OBTAIN AN ANSWER.George Müller (1805–1898)

BIOGRAPHY OF Saint Wenceslaus of Bohemia

Saint Wenceslaus of Bohemia

Also known as

• Vaceslav
• Vaclav
• Wenzel
• Wenceslas
• Václav

Memorial

• 28 September (which is Czech Statehood Day in the Czech Republic)

Profile

Son of Vratislav I, Duke of Bohemia, whose family had been converted by Saint Cyriland Saint Methodius, and Drahomira, daughter of a pagan chief; she was baptized on her wedding day, but who apparently never seriously took to the faith. Grandson and student of Saint Ludmilla. Duke of Bohemia, ascending to power when his father was killed during a pagan backlash against Christianity, which he fought against with prayer and patience. Murdered by his brother Boleslaus at the door of a church; killed for political reasons, but normally listed as a martyr since the politics arose from his faith. Miracles reported at his tomb. Subject of the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas.

Born

• 907 at Prague, Bohemia (in Czech Republic)

Died

• 28 September 929 at Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav, Bohemia (in Czech Republic)

Canonized

• Pre-Congregation

Patronage

• Bohemia
• brewers
• Czech Republic
• Czechoslovakia
• Moravia
• Prague, Czech Republic, archdiocese of
• Prague, Czech Republic, city of

Representation

• banner
• crown
• eagle
• staff

Readings

At the death of Vratislaus, the people of Bohemia made his son Wencelsaus their king. He was by God‘s grace a man of utmost faith. He was charitable to the poor, and he would clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and offer hospitality to travelers according to the summons of the Gospel. He would not allow widows to be treated unjustly; he loved all his people, both rich and poor; he also provided for the servants of God, and he adorned many churches. The men of Bohemia, however, became arrogant and prevailed upon Boleslaus, his younger brother. They told him, “Your brother Wenceslaus is conspiring with his mother and his men to kill you.” On the feasts of the dedication of the churches in various cities, Wenceslaus was in the habit of paying them a visit. One Sunday he entered the city of Boleslaus, on the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian, and after hearing Mass, he planned to return to Prague. But Boleslaus, with his wicked plan in mind, detained him with the words, “Why are you leaving brother?” The next morning when they rang the bell for matins, Wencelaus, on hearing the sound, said, “Praise to you, Lord; you have allowed me to live to this morning.” And so he rose and went to matins. Immediately Boleslaus followed him to the church door. Wenceslaus looked back at him and said, “Brother, you were a good subject to me yesterday.” But the devil had already blocked the ears of Boleslaus, and perverted his heart. Drawing his sword, Boleslaus replied, “And now I intend to be a better one!” With these words, he struck his brother’s head with his sword. But Wenceslaus turned and said, “Brother, what are you trying to do?” And with that he seized Boleslaus and threw him to the ground. But one of Boleslaus’ counselors ran up and stabbed Wenceslaus in the hand. With his hand wounded, he let go of his brother and took refuge in the church. But two evil men struck him down at the church door; and then another rushed up and ran him through with a sword. Thereupon, Wenceslaus died with the words, “Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.” – from an old Slavic legend about SaintWenceslaus

Good King Wenceslaus

Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even;
Brightly shone the moon that night, tho’ the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight, gath’ring winter fuel.

“Hither, page, and stand by me, if thou know’st it, telling,
Yonder peasant, who is he? Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence, underneath the mountain;
Right against the forest fence, by Saint Agnes’ fountain.”

“Bring me flesh, and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither:
Thou and I will see him dine, when we bear them thither.”
Page and monarch, forth they went, forth they went together;
Through the rude wind’s wild lament and the bitter weather.

“Sire, the night is darker now, and the wind blow stronger;
Fails my heart, I know not how; I can go no longer.”
“Mark my footsteps, my good page. Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage freeze thy blood less coldly.”

In his master’s steps he trod, where the snow lay dinted;
Heat was in the very sod which the saint had printed.
Therefore, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing,
Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.

THE FOOL AND THE WISE

Learning the Love Languages

January 2

Learning the Love Languages

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.1 John 4:11-12

My research indicates that there are five basic languages of love:

• Words of affirmation—using positive words to affirm the one you love
• Gifts—giving thoughtful gifts to show you were thinking about someone
• Acts of service—doing something that you know the other person would like
• Quality time—giving your undivided attention
• Physical touch-holding hands, kissing, embracing, putting a hand on the shoulder, or any other affirming touch

Out of these five, each of us has a primary love language. One of these languages speaks more deeply to us than the others. Do you know your love language? Do you know your spouse’s?

Many couples earnestly love each other but do not communicate their love in an effective way. If you don’t speak your spouse’s primary love language, he or she may not feel loved, even when you are showing love in other ways.

The Bible makes it clear that we need to love each other as God loves us. The apostle John wrote that God’s love can find “full expression” in us. If that’s true for the church in general, how much truer is it for a couple? Finding out how your loved one feels love is an important step toward expressing love effectively.

Father, help me to be a student of my spouse. I want to know how best to show my love. Please give me wisdom as I try to determine my beloved’s love language

BIOGRAPHY OF Saint Vincent de Paul

Saint Vincent de Paul

Memorial

• 27 September
• formerly 19 July

Profile

Born to a peasant family. A highly intelligent youth, Vincent spent four years with the Franciscan friars at Acq, France getting an education. Tutor to children of a gentlemen in Acq. He began divinity studies in 1596 at the University of Toulouse. Ordained at age 20.

Taken captive by Turkish pirates to Tunis, and sold into slavery. Freed in 1607 when he converted one of his owners to Christianity.

Returning to France, he served as parish priest near Paris where he started organizations to help the poor, nursed the sick, found jobs for the unemployed, etc. Chaplain at the court of Henry IV of France. With Louise de Marillac, founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity. Instituted the Congregation of Priests of the Mission (Lazarists). Worked always for the poor, the enslaved, the abandoned, the ignored, the pariahs.

Born

• 24 April 1581 near Ranquine, Gascony near Dax, southwest France
• the town is now known as Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Landes, France

Died

• 27 September 1660 at Paris, France of natural causes
• body found incorrupt when exhumed in 1712
• body defleshed by a flood; skeleton encased in a wax effigy in the house of the Vincentian fathers in Paris
• heart incorrupt; displayed in a reliquary in the chapel of the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity in Paris

Beatified

• 13 August 1729 by Pope Benedict XIII

Canonized

• 16 June 1737 by Pope Clement XII

Patronage

• against leprosy
• Brothers of Charity
• charitable societies (given on 12 May 1885 by Pope Leo XIII)
• charitable workers
• charities
• horses
• hospital workers
• hospitals
• lepers
• lost articles
• Madagascar
• prisoners
• Richmond, Virginia, diocese of
• spiritual help
• Saint Vincent de Paul Societies
• Sisters of Charity
• Vincentian Service Corps
• volunteers

Representation

• 16th century cleric performing some act of charity
• cleric carrying an infant
• priest surrounded by the Sisters of Charity
• cannon ball and sword (referring to prisoners of war he ransomed)

Readings

However great the work that God may achieve by an individual, he must not indulge in self-satisfaction. He ought rather to be all the more humbled, seeing himself merely as a tool which God has made use of. – SaintVincent de Paul

We must love our neighbor as being made in the image of God and as an object of His love. – Saint Vincent de Paul

God, to procure His glory, sometimes permits that we should be dishonored and persecuted without reason. He wishes thereby to render us conformable to His Son, who was calumniated and treated as a seducer, as an ambitious man, and as one possessed. – Saint Vincent de Paul

The Church teaches us that mercy belongs to God. Let us implore Him to bestow on us the spirit of mercy and compassion, so that we are filled with it and may never lose it. Only consider how much we ourselves are in need of mercy. – Saint Vincent de Paul

Extend your mercy towards others, so that there can be no one in need whom you meet without helping. For what hope is there for us if God should withdraw His Mercy from us? – Saint Vincent de Paul

The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it. – Saint Vincent de Paul

Free your mind from all that troubles you; God will take care of things. You will be unable to make haste in this (choice) without, so to speak, grieving the heart of God, because he sees that you do not honor him sufficiently with holy trust. Trust in him, I beg you, and you will have the fulfillment of what your heart desires. – Saint Vincent de Paul

It is our duty to prefer the service of the poor to everything else and to offer such service as quickly as possible. If a needy person requires medicine or other help during prayer time, do whatever has to be done with peace of mind. Offer the deed to God as your prayer…. Charity is certainly greater than any rule. Moreover, all rules must lead to charity. – Saint Vincent de Paul

Human nature grows tired of always doing the same thing, and it is God’s will that this because of the opportunity of practicing two great virtues. The first is perseverance, which will bring us to our goal. The other is steadfastness, which overcomes the difficulties on the way. – Saint Vincent de Paul

We should strive to keep our hearts open to the sufferings and wretchedness of other people, and pray continually that God may grant us that spirit of compassion which is truly the spirit of God. – Saint Vincent de Paul

Humility and charity are the two master-chords: one, the lowest; the other, the highest; all the others are dependent on them. Therefore it is necessary, above all, to maintain ourselves in these two virtues; for observe well that the preservation of the whole edifice depends on the foundation and the roof. – SaintVincent de Paul

As it is most certain that the teaching of Christ cannot deceive, if we would walk securely, we ought to attach ourselves to it with greatest confidence and to profess openly that we live according to it, and not to the maxims of the world, which are all deceitful. This is the fundamental maxim of all Christian perfection. – Saint Vincent de Paul

We have never so much cause for consolation, as when we find ourselves oppressed by sufferings and trials; for these make us like Christ our Lord, and this resemblance is the true mark of our predestination. – SaintVincent de Paul

Perfection consists in one thing alone, which is doing the will of God. For, according to Our Lord’s words, it suffices for perfection to deny self, to take up the cross and to follow Him. Now who denies himself and takes up his cross and follows Christ better than he who seeks not to do his own will, but always that of God? Behold, now, how little is needed to become as Saint? Nothing more than to acquire the habit of willing, on every occasion, what God wills. – Saint Vincent de Paul

He who allows himself to be ruled or guided by the lower and animal part of his nature, deserves to be called a beast rather than a man. – Saint Vincent de Paul

Whoever wishes to make progress in perfection should use particular diligence in not allowing himself to be led away by his passions, which destroy with one hand the spiritual edifice which is rising by the labors of the other. But to succeed well in this, resistance should be begun while the passions are yet weak; for after they are thoroughly rooted and grown up, there is scarcely any remedy. – Saint Vincent de Paul

The first step to be taken by one who wishes to follow Christ is, according to Our Lord’s own words, that of renouncing himself – that is, his own senses, his own passions, his own will, his own judgement, and all the movements of nature, making to God a sacrifice of all these things, and of all their acts, which are surely sacrifices very acceptable to the Lord. And we must never grow weary of this; for if anyone having, so to speak, one foot already in Heaven, should abandon this exercise, when the time should come for him to put the other there, he would run much risk of being lost. – Saint Vincent de Paul

We ought to deal kindly with all, and to manifest those qualities which spring naturally from a heart tender and full of Christian charity; such as affability, love and humility. These virtues serve wonderfully to gain the hearts of men, and to encourage them to embrace things that are more repugnant to nature. – Saint Vincent de Paul

It ought to be considered a great misfortune, not only for individuals, but also for Houses and Congregations, to have everything in conformity with their wishes; to go on quietly, and to suffer nothing for the love of God. Yes, consider it certain that a person or a Congregation that does not suffer and is applauded by all the world is near a fall. – Saint Vincent de Paul

Even though the poor are often rough and unrefined, we must not judge them from external appearances nor from the mental gifts they seem to have received. On the contrary, if you consider the poor in the light of faith, then you will observe that they are taking the place of the Son of God who chose to be poor. Although in his passion he almost lost the appearance of a man and was considered a fool by the Gentiles and a stumbling block by the Jews, he showed them that his mission was to preach to the poor: “He sent me to preach the good news to the poor.” We also ought to have this same spirit and imitate Christ’s actions, that is, we must take care of the poor, console them, help them, support their cause. Since Christ willed to be born poor, he chose for himself disciples who were poor. He made himself the servant of the poor and shared their poverty. He went so far as to say that he would consider every deed which either helps or harms the poor as done for or against himself. Since God surely loves the poor, he also love whose who love the poor. For when on person holds another dear, he also includes in his affection anyone who loves or serves the one he loves. That is why we hope that God will love us for the sake of the poor. So when we visit the poor and needy, we try to be understanding where they are concerned. We sympathize with them so fully that we can echo Paul’s words: “I have become all things to all men.” Therefore, we must try to be stirred by our neighbors’ worries and distress. It is our duty to prefer the service of the poor to everything else and to offer such service as quickly as possible. Charity is certainly greater than any rule. Moreover, all rules must lead to charity. With renewed devotion, then, we must serve the poor, especially outcasts and beggars. They have been given to us as our masters and patrons. – Saint Vincent de Paul