Grace upon grace...

 “He who goes about to reform the world 

must begin with himself, or he 

loses his labor.” - St Ignatius of Loyola

If we confess our sins, He who is upright can be depended upon 

to forgive sins, and to cleanse us from every wrong. - I John 1:9

"Of the gifts of grace which

the soul receives in the Eucharist,

one must be counted among the highest;

the Eucharist does not allow the soul

to remain long in sin

or to persist in it obstinately."

St. Ignatius of Loyola

Spain - 1491-1556

Priest, Founder of Society of Jesus (Jesuits)

Most pivotal player in CounterReformation
Patron of retreats

The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius -

Classic - a MUST READ! 

Jesuit motto:  Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (A.M.D.G.)

"For the greater glory of God"

Feast Day - July 31

"Some of us would be surprised if they knew 

what God could make of them if, in the decisive 

moments of their lives, they gave ear to the

voice of grace!" - St Ignatius of Loyola

Click here: St. Ignatius of Loyola - YouTube (2 mins)

Click here: Saint Ignatius Loyola - YouTube (Slideshow - 3:30 mins)
Click here: St. Ignatius life lessons in emotional intelligence--Aleteia

St. Ignatius’ advice for being more joyful

7 Great quotes from St. Ignatius of Loyola to keep us from comparison

St Ignatius, pray for us!

Double blessing...

"Those in the Catholic Church, whom some rebuke for praying to 

Saints and going on pilgrimages, do not seek any Saint as their savior.  

Instead, they seek saints as those whom their Savior loves, and 

whose intercession and prayer for the seeker He will be content to hear.  

For His Own sake, He would have those He loves honored.  

And when they are thus honored for His sake, then the honor 

that is given them for His sake overflows especially to Himself."  

 St Thomas More.

"What does it matter where we go?
Wherever we go, won't we be serving God there?

And wherever we go, won't we have our Lord
in the Blessed Sacrament with us?
Isn't that enough to make us happy?

Bl Solanus Casey

11/25/1870-07/31/1957
Nee Wisconsin

Capuchian Friar

Generous heart toward sick and poor

Many miracles of healing attributed to his intercession

Known for "Attitude of Gratitude"

Book he authored: Thank God ahead of Time

Feast Day - July 30

"We must be faithful to the present moment 

or we will frustrate the plan of God 

for our lives." - Bl Solanus Casey
Who is Blessed Fr Solanus Casey? - YouTube (10 mins)

Holy Healer: The Remarkable Life of Father Solanus Casey| National Catholic Register
Bl Solanus, pray for us!
_________________________________________

“He is the Bread sown in the virgin,

leavened in the flesh,

molded in His passion,

baked in the furnace of the sepulchre,

placed in the churches,

and set upon the altars,

which daily supplies 

Heavenly Food to the faithful."

St Peter Chrysologus

Archbishop, Doctor of the Church

Adult convert

Italy - c. 380-450

"Golden-worded"

Feast Day - July 30

PHOTO CREDIT of stained glass image: Debbie Scalise

"Anyone who wishes to frolic with the devil
 cannot rejoice with Christ." 

St Peter Chrysologus   

Click here: St. Peter Chrysologus and the Priesthood of the Christian - YouTube 

(2 mins)

St Peter Chrysologus, pray for us!

Friends of His, friends of ours...

"If love, even human love, 

gives so much consolation here, 

what will love not be in heaven?" 

St Josemaria Escriva

 

 Collect (Today's Liturgy)

O God, whose Son called Lazarus back to life

from the grave and was pleased to be a

guest in the home of Martha, grant us, we pray,

that faithfully serving him in our brothers and sisters,

we, with Mary, may be found worthy to be 

nourished by the contemplation of his word.

Who lives and reigns with you in the 

unity of the Holy Spirit, 

God, for ever and ever.

________________________

Prayer After Communion (Today's Liturgy) 

May the holy reception of the Body and Blood

of your Only Begotten Son, O Lord,

turn us away from the cares of this fallen world,

so that, following the example of Saints Martha,

Mary, and Lazarus

we may grow in sincere love for you on earth

and rejoice to behold you for eternity in heaven, 
Through Christ our Lord. 

 

Remembering today... 

Sts Martha, Mary and Lazarus

Siblings

Friends of Jesus
Feast Day:  July 29

 

 

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

John 11:5 

St Martha, St Mary and St Lazarus,

pray for us that we may 

become  & remain friends of Jesus!

Fully Eucharistic...

"You can go straight to heaven if you 

avail yourself of the Eucharist every day!"

Bl. Carlo Acutis

(Canonization anticipated Sept 7)

 “O Mary, inflame in our hearts the sacred fire, 

which inflamed the hearts of the saints, 

so that it might consume in us all that is opposed 

to the reign of Jesus our Eucharistic Lord.”

Mother Marie de Saint Claire

Drop by drop...

"I place my trust in You,  O adorable Blood, 

our Redemption, our regeneration. 

 Fall, drop by drop, into the hearts that have

wandered from You and soften their hardness." 

 St Albert the Great

"Today the war is being waged against religion 

as such and against Christ Crucified. 

We need, therefore, to reemphasize the 

glories of the Cross and of our Crucified Redeemer, 

to reopen the fountains of mercy just when 

the devil would make us the victim of wrath. 

Now, more than ever, it is opportune to tell people 

at what price our souls were redeemed.

We must let it be known how the Blood of Christ

cleanses the souls and sanctifies them, 

particularly by means of the sacraments. 

We must arouse them from their insensibility

by reminding them that His Blood is 

offered up every morning upon the altars 

and that instead of blasphemy and insult, 

we should give it adoration and praise."

St Gaspar del Bufalo (+1837)

"Apostle of the Precious Blood"

Image above:  Angel collecting blood of Christ (detail) - Lorenzo Fiorenzodi

July: dedicated to the Precious Blood


Fr Spencer Howe - St Anthony parish - Atkinson, IL  - Photo courtesy Aunt Juliette Carter

Union with Christ, family, friends...

  "St John tells us that God is Love.  

Thus, God can never reveal Himself without love, 
because love is Who God is." - Fr Richard Veras

"As medieval Christians came to seek union with Christ in abiding before the reserved Blessed Sacrament, they likewise began to discover in the presence of their God a deeper union with their family and friends, as did St Elzear of Sabran, a Third Order Franciscan (1286 - 1323), who, in a letter to his wife, St Delphina, wrote: 

'You desire to hear often of me. 
Go often to visit our amiable 
Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrament.  
Enter in spirit His Sacred Heart. 
You know that to be my constant dwelling. 
You will always find me there.'"

From In the Presence of Our Lord 

The History, Theology, and Psychology of Eucharistic Devotion 
Fr Benedict J Groeschel, CFR and James Monti

_________________________________

St Joachim and St Anne
Parents of the Virgin Mary 
Patron of Grandparents

Feast Day - July 26

Click here: Reflection on St Joachim/St Anne - Grandparents of Jesus - YouTube (5 mins)

https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/july-26st-anne/

St Joachim and St Anne, pray for us!

Ever present, as He said...

 Going  from there, he saw two other brothers, 

James son of Zebedee and his brother John.  

They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing 

their nets.  Jesus called them, and immediately 

they left the boat and their father and followed him. 

Matthew 4:21, 22

"And just as He appeared before the holy Apostles 

in true flesh, so now He has us see Him in the Sacred 

Bread. Looking at Him with the eyes of their flesh, 

they saw only His Flesh, but regarding Him with the 

eyes of the spirit, they believed that He was God.

In like manner, as we see bread and wine with our 

bodily eyes, let us see and believe firmly that it is 

His Most Holy Body and Blood, True and Living.  

For in this way our Lord is ever present among 

those who believe in Him, according to what He said: 

"Behold, I am with you all days even to the 

consummation of the world" (Mt. 28, 20). 

 St. Francis of Assisi

Painting above: Christ calling the Apostles James and John ~ Edward Armitage

Saint James (the Greater)

Apostle and Martyr

Son of Zebedee and Salome

Brother of apostle John

Dubbed 'Son of Thunder'

Patron of Spain and laborers
Shrine: Santiago de Compostela

+42 AD 

Feast Day - July 25

 

"Accept the help that the Virgin 

and the saints offer you.

Promise that you will press forward on 

your way to join them." - St Francis de Sales

Click here: St. James the Greater - YouTube (2 mins)

St James, pray for us!

Complete offering, in imitation...

"Nothing created has ever been able

 to fill the heart of man. God alone can 

fill it infinitely." - St. Thomas Aquinas

"In 1875 Fr Sharbel was granted permission to live as a hermit nearby his monastery at St. Peter and Paul hermitage. His 23 years of solitary life were lived in a spirit of total abandonment to God. Sharbel's companions in the hermitage were the Sons of God, as encountered in the Scriptures and in the Eucharist, and the Blessed Mother. The Eucharist became the center of his life. He consumed the Bread of his Life and was consumed by it. Though this hermit did not have a place in the world, the world had a great place in his heart. Through prayer and penance he offered himself as a sacrifice so that the world would return to God. It is in this light that one sees the importance of the following Eucharistic prayer in his life: 

Father of Truth, behold Your Son 

a sacrifice pleasing to You, 

accept this offering of Him who died for me... 

On December 16, 1898 while reciting the "Father of Truth" prayer at the Holy Liturgy Sharbel suffered a stroke. He died on Christmas Eve at the age of 70. Through faith this hermit received the Word of God and through love he continued the Ministry of Incarnation."  

From www.catholicculture.or

 St Sharbel Makhluf

Lebanon ~ 1828-1898

Priest and Hermit

Perfume of Lebanon

Incorrupt

Feast Day - July 24

When Sharbel was canonized (1977), Bsp Francis Zayek, 

head of the U.S. Diocese of St. Maron, wrote a pamphlet 

entitled “A New Star of the East.” Bishop Zayek wrote:

“St. Sharbel is called the second St. Anthony of the Desert, 

the Perfume of Lebanon, the first Confessor of the East to be 

raised to the Altars according to the actual procedure of the 

Catholic Church, the honor of our Aramaic Antiochian Church, 

and the model of spiritual values and renewal. Sharbel is like a 

Cedar of Lebanon standing in eternal prayer, on top of a mountain.”

Click here: St. Sharbel Makhlouf - YouTube (2mins)

How St. Charbel attracts pilgrims across the world (Photos)

The more than 33,000 miracles of St Charbel Maklouf (d. 1898) - 1000 reasons to believe

St Sharbel, pray for us!