Consuming zeal for souls...

 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor,

serving the Lord.  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction,

faithful in prayer. - Romans 12:11-12

"The offspring of this intensity of love

for our Eucharistic Lord

should be a consuming zeal for the 
gathering of souls into the fold of Christ.”

St Katharine Drexel

American ~ 1858 - 1955
Heiress, educator, founder of schools
Entered religious life at age 31

Foundress - Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament

aka 'the anti-Margaret Sanger'

Feast Day - March 3

 

“And here is the passive way – 

to be filled unto the fullness of God. 
The passive way – I abandon myself to it, not 

in a multiplicity of trials, extraordinary penances 

accomplished, practices of great works – but in 

peaceful abandonment to the tenderness of Jesus, 
which I must try to imitate, and by being in 

constant union with His meek and humble heart."  

St Katharine Drexel

Click here: St. Katharine Drexel - YouTube (2 mins)
Click here: Saint Katharine Drexel - YouTube (2 mins - CCTNtv)

Top painting: The Good Shepherd ~ Minerva Teichert

St Katharine Drexel, pray for us!

My first morning's hour belongs to the Lord...

  This is the day the LORD has made; 

let us rejoice and be glad in it. 

Psalm 118:24

  "The duties and cares of the day ahead crowd about us when we awake in the morning (if they have not already dispelled our night's rest).  Now arises the uneasy question:  How can all this be accommodated in one day?  When will I do this, when that?  How shall I start on this and that? 

    Thus agitated, we would like to run around and rush forth.  We must then take the reins in hand and say, "Take it easy!  Not any of this may touch me now.  My first morning's hour belongs to the Lord.  I will tackle the day's work which He charges me with, and He will give me the power to accomplish it."

    So I will go to the altar of God.  Here it is not a question of my minute, petty affairs, but of the great offering of reconciliation.  I may participate in that, purify myself and be made happy, and lay myself with all my doings and troubles along with the sacrifice on the altar.  And when the Lord comes to me then in Holy Communion, then I may ask Him, "Lord, what do you want of me?" (St Teresa).  And after quiet dialogue, I will go to that which I see as my next duty."

From Essays on Woman

St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

“The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it.  It comes the very moment you wake up each morning.  All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals.  And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in."  - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Second Sunday of Lent: Divine Explosion...

 Second Sunday of Lent

"Christ showed His disciples the glory of His radiance
to which He configures those who are His." - St Thomas Aquinas

Fra Angelico

"Through your Transfiguration, O Christ, 

You returned Adam's nature to its original splendor, 

restoring its very elements to the glory 

and brilliance of Your divinity." - Byzantine Liturgy

_______________________

"Christian faith's steady gaze upon Jesus 
transforms us here and now." - Fr Hans Urs von Balthasar

_____________________

For over all, his glory will be shelter and protection: 
shade from the parching heat of day, 
refuge and cover from storm and rain (Isaiah 4:6).
_______________________

Excerpt below from:  Letters To A Brother Priest

Co-authors:  Rev Fr Vincent Martin Lucia/Rev Msgr Josefino Ramirez

"Peter, James and John witnessed the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor. The whole world will witness the glorious transfiguration of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. 

It will have the exact opposite effect of the bombing of Nagasaki. At the transfiguration of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, there will be an explosion of divine energy which will release the power of His love and renew the face of the earth. Then the world will see Real Power! All will be made well. All will belong to His Heart. All will be  made one.

In the meantime, there are five graces we receive each time we visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. By His glorious wounds we are the ones who are transfigured and changed through His healing love. 

Restoration, sanctification, transformation, reparation and salvation are the graces being poured out graciously upon us with each holy hour we make.

Like Peter... this is why we should exclaim in His Divine Presence, 

'Lord, how good it is for us to be here!'"

"The Blessed Sacrament is the first and supreme 
object of our worship. We must preserve in the depths

of our hearts a constant and uninterrupted,
profound adoration of this precious pledge 

of Divine Love." - St Mary Euphrasia Pelletier, CGS

Community in Mission - Blog of the Archdiocese of Washington  

Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent (Msgr Charles Pope)

(EXCELLENT!)

When more is more...

  "Prefer nothing, absolutely nothing, 

to the love of Christ." - St Benedict

"The goods of the soul are an end;

the goods of the body are for an end.

Hence concerning temporal goods

we ought to seek according to a measure,

but concerning the goods of the soul

we ought to seek as much as we can."

St Thomas Aquinas

Painting: The Lamb's Supper - Bryan Bustard

Sweetness, yes... so sweet...

 See to it that no one takes you captive 

through hollow and deceptive philosophy, 

which depends on human tradition 

and the basic principles of this world 

rather than on Christ. - Colossians 2:8

“There is more sweetness in 

one hour of prayer before Jesus 

in the Blessed Sacrament 

than in all the world's crowded theaters,

and brilliant drawing rooms,

and giddy diversions, and social gatherings.”

St Gabriel Possenti

Passionist clerical student

Italy ~1838-1862

Exemplary devotion 

Feast Day: February 27

“Love Mary! She is lovable, faithful, constant. She will never let herself be outdone in love, but will ever remain supreme. If you are in danger, she will hasten to free you. If you are troubled, she will console you. If you are sick, she will bring you relief. If you are in need, she will help you. She does not look to see what kind of person you have been. She simply comes to a heart that wants to love her. She comes quickly and opens her merciful heart to you, embraces you and consoles and serves you. She will even be at hand to accompany you on the trip to eternity." - St Gabriel Possenti

Our Lady of Sorrows

Click here: Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows (His Resolutions) - YouTube  (4:30 mins) 

St Gabriel is remarkable for he obediently and willingly 

converted in a very short time from a life of excess, devoted 

to the pleasures of this world, to becoming inextricably linked 

to the Passion of Our Lord. He shows us that all are blessed with 

the graces to fall in love with Our Lord, no matter what the cost.

Gabriel died at age 24 of tuberculosis and buried the day of his death. 

A companion in the novitiate, Bernard Mary of Jesus, exclaimed:

“Tears come to my eyes and I am filled with shame for having been 

so far from the virtues that he attained in such a short time.”

Click here: St Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows

St Gabriel Possenti, pray for us! 

Receiving greater grace...

  In quietness and trust is your strength... 

Isaiah 30:15

"Your watchful care after Communion is no less 

important than your devout preparation before it.  

When we keep good watch over ourselves after 

Communion, it is the best preparation we can make 

for receiving greater grace.  Beware of much talking: 

stay by yourself in some place apart and 

there rejoice in the company of your God; 

there you have Him within you, and the 

whole world cannot take Him from you."

Thomas a Kempis

Redouble your fervor!...

"Embrace the Eucharist, tradition, and the 

apostolic succession. Jesus is our founder, 

and that's the most real connection we have. 

Stay strong in faith and draw from the 

rich heritage of our Church." - Jonathan Roumie

"Sooner or later all creatures fail us... 

He alone never deceives;

He alone is faithful. 

He alone is the strength, 

the support, the unique Friend.

Redouble your Eucharistic fervor!"

Fr Mateo Crawley- Boevey

Nastyaofly | Shutterstock

Why do you receive Communion?...

 Why do you receive Communion?

St Francis de Sales explains 
in his Introduction to the Devout Life 
that our primary intention should be 

to grow in the love of Jesus Christ:

"Your main intention in Communion should be 

to grow, strengthen, and abound in the Love of God; 

for Love's Sake receive that which Love Alone gives you.  

Of a truth there is no more loving or tender aspect 

in which to gaze upon the Savior than this act, 

in which He, so to say, annihilates Himself, and 

gives Himself to us as food, in order to fill our souls, 

and to unite Himself more closely 

to the heart and flesh of His faithful ones. 

______________

Painting of Jesus: Artist - Heinrich Hofmann

This classic, Introduction to the Devout Life 

would be an excellent Lenten read.

Sharing in His chalice...

 This holy man fought to the death 

for the law of his God and 

did not fear the words of the godless, 

for he was built on solid rock.  

Entrance Antiphon (Today's Liturgy )

_______________________________________

________________

God of all creation, who were pleased

to give the Bishop Saint Polycarp

a place in the company of the Martyrs,

grant, through his intercession, that, 

sharing with him in the chalice of Christ,

we may rise through the Holy Spirit to eternal life.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

 Collect (Today's Liturgy)

 St Polycarp of Smyrna

69-155 AD
Disciple of apostle St John

Friend of Ignatius of Antioch

Apostolic Father 

Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr

Exemplary in catechesis

Feast Day - February 23

"Hear me declare with boldness, I am a Christian," Bishop Polycarp said. "And if you wish to learn what the doctrines of Christianity are, 

appoint me a day, and you shall hear them."

________________________

Polycarp was denounced to the government, arrested, and tried on the charge of being a Christian. When the proconsul urged him to save his life by cursing Christ, he replied: “Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” 

Earlier, in a Letter to the Philippians...

“Stand fast, therefore, in this conduct and follow the example of the Lord, ‘firm and unchangeable in faith, lovers of the brotherhood, loving each other, united in truth,’ helping each other with the mildness of the Lord, despising no man.”

And wrote on another occasion...

“If we pray to the Lord to forgive us, we ourselves must be forgiving; we are all under the eyes of our Lord and God, and every one of us must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, where each of us will have to give an account.”

Click here: St. Polycarp - YouTube (2 mins) 

Click here: Polycarp - YouTube (3:20 mins)

St Polycarp, pray for us!