Participation in the divine fire...

    "The words of Christ, since they are divine,

are efficacious, and can produce nothing other 

than what they command.  For they are eternal.

Heaven and earth shall pass,

but My words shall not pass." - St Paschasius

 

    “The bread and the wine are not merely figures of the body and blood of Christ (God forbid!) but the deified body of the Lord itself:  for the Lord has said, “This is My body,” not, this is a figure of My body: and “My blood,” not, a figure of My blood.  ... 

    Wherefore with all fear and a pure conscience and certain faith let us draw near and it will assuredly be to us as we believe, doubting nothing. ...

    Let us draw near to it with ardent desire, and with our hands held in the form of the cross let us receive the body of the Crucified One: and let us apply our eyes and lips and brows and partake of the divine coal, in order that the fire of the longing that is in us, with the additional heat, derived from the coal may utterly consume our sins and illumine our hearts, and that we may be inflamed and deified by the participation in the divine fire.”

 

St John Damascene

aka St John of Damascus
Syria ~ 676 - 749
DOCTOR of the CHURCH
Monk, prolific writer, poet
Defender of icons/images
Feast Day - Dec 4

Image title:  The Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist is like a consuming fire, 2003 -

Artist: Elizabeth Wang



"Show me the icons that you venerate,

that I may be able to understand

your faith." - St John of Damascus

 Click here: St. John of Damascus - YouTube (2 mins) 
Click here: St. John of Damascus (Holy Repentance) - YouTube (4 mins)

St John Damascene, pray for us!

First week of Advent:  HOPE

A witness worthy of heaven...

   “Sanctify yourself and 

    you will sanctify society.” 

- St Francis of Assisi

Charity and Purity are the most beautiful ornaments of the heart.  

St. Francis Xavier often spent whole hours during the day and into the night before Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, Who gave Him the grace and the strength to lead so many souls to Christ. His devotion to Our Eucharistic Lord was so great that Fr. Stefano Manelli, O.F.M. writes in his book, Jesus, Our Eucharistic Lord:  

"What shall we say of St. Francis Xavier who at times when distributing Holy Communion felt so carried away by a sense of adoration toward Our Lord Who was in his hands, that he got on his knees and in that position continued giving Holy Communion? Did that not present a witness of faith and love worthy of heaven?"

St. Francis Xavier

Spain ~ 1506-1552

One of seven founders of Society of Jesus (Jesuits)

Considered "greatest missionary 

since the time of the Apostles"

Incredible zeal, baptized thousands, miracle worker

Patron of mission fields

Known as "Apostle to the Far East"

Incorrupt

Feast Day - December 3

"St Francis Xavier sailed the seas ... To spread the word of God ... Among the unenlightened souls ... On strange and distant sod ... From Spain and Portugal he went ... To heathen Hindustan ... To Travancore and to Ceylon ... Malacca and Japan ... He preached the gospel fervently ... And thousands were baptized ... And though his task was perilous ... He never compromised ... He hoped to teach in China too ... But when he reached that shore ... His strength was ebbed by fever, and ... He could go on no more ... And there in 1552 ... St. Francis passed away ... And many are the miracles  ... Ascribed to him today." 

- James J Metcalfe, Poem Portraits of the Saints (1956) 

Click here: St. Francis Xavier - YouTube (2 mins - Apostleship of Prayer)

Click here: Life of Saint Francis Xavier - YouTube (4 mins)

 St Francis Xavier, pray for us!

First week of Advent:  HOPE

Letting ourselves be found...

 All which I took from thee I did but take,

Not for thy harms,

But just that thou might'st seek it in My arms. 

All which thy child's mistake

Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home: 

 'Rise, clasp My hand, and come!'

- Excerpt from The Hound of Heaven, Francis Thompson 

"As we are searching for God, the good news is that God is searching for us.  Better yet, He has found us.  The great question is not whether we have found God but whether we have found ourselves being found by God.  God is not lost.  We were, or, as the case may be, we are. ... 

Here is what St. Paul says: “It is full time now for you to wake from sleep.”  He is telling us to wake up the gift already given.  This season of the Church’s calendar is called Advent, which means “coming”.  Christ came, Christ comes, Christ will come again.  There is no time–past, present, or future–in which Jesus the Christ is not God with us.  He was with you yesterday, is with you today, and will be with you tomorrow. 
So we are invited to give up our searching and let ourselves be found by the One who wants to be with us, and to have us with Him, forever." - Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, God With Us

First week of Advent:  HOPE

The goal of every human life...

   "Our entire existence, our whole being must 

shout the Gospel from the rooftops. Our entire 

person must breathe Jesus, all our actions. 

 Our whole life must cry out that we belong to Jesus, 

reflect a Gospel way of living. Our whole being 

must be a living proclamation, a reflection of Jesus." 

 St Charles de Foucauld

"The goal of every human life 

should be the 

adoration 

of the Blessed Sacrament."

St Charles de Foucauld

Priest, Martyr ~ 1858-1916
nee France ~ Missionary in the Sahara of Algeria

Inspiration and writings led to the founding

of the Little Brothers of Jesus congregation

Feast Day – December 1

 

Charles returned to the Faith, after living an immoral life.  

Regarding his conversion, Charles said,
"The moment I realized that God existed, I knew I could not do otherwise than to live for Him alone.  …My religious vocation dates from the same moment as my faith:  God is so great.  There is such a difference between God and everything that is not."

______________________

Prayer of St Charles de Foucauld: both prayed and lived...

Father, I abandon myself into Your hands; do with me what You will. Whatever You do I thank You. I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only Your will be done in me, as in all Your creatures, I ask no more than this, my Lord. Into Your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to You, O Lord, with all the love of my heart, for I love You, my God, and so need to give myself - to surrender myself into Your hands, without reserve and with total confidence, for You are my Father.

______________________

Click here: Charles de Foucauld - YouTube (4:40 mins)

Click here: Fr Michael Shields - Follower of Bl Charles de Foucauld in Siberia - YouTube  (8:40 mins)

A Saint For Sinners: Charles De Foucauld - Good Catholic

Legacy of Charles de Foucauld – The life story and work of Blessed Charles de Foucauld

St Charles de Foucauld, pray for us! 

First week of Advent:  HOPE