Come to know Him...

 "Communion and contemplation belong together:

a person cannot communicate with another person

without knowing him." - Pope Benedict XVI

"You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, 

to run by running, to work by working,

and just so, you learn to love by loving. 

All those who think to learn 

in any other way deceive themselves."

St Francis de Sales

 

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Plan for it!

Consider more frequent or even daily Adoration 

or holy Mass attendance during Lent.

ASH WEDNESDAY is Feb 18!
Come to know Jesus and watch 

your communication and love grow!

"Close the door, because I'm staying."...

The Lord's Day is the lord of days...

but also remembering today.... 

St Jospehine Bakhita

 Better is one day in your courts

than a thousand elsewhere... Psalm 84:10a

St. Josephine spent hours in Eucharistic Adoration and,

when one Sister asked if it tired her, she said,

"Not at all!  I have been having a

wonderful time with Him. 
He has waited so long for me."...

"Our Lord has always been so good to me ...

If I were to stay on my knees for my entire life,

I still would not be able to 

express my gratitude sufficiently."

St Josephine Bakhita

Sudan/Italy ~ 1869-1947

Religious (Canossian Daughters of Charity)

Click here: Canossian Daughters of Charity - Who We Are

Pope Benedict XVI, on 30 November 2007, in the beginning of his 

second encyclical letter Spe Salvi (In Hope We Were Saved), 

relates her entire life story as an outstanding example of the Christian hope.

Feast Day - Feb 8

Toward the end of her life, Mother Bakhita used to smile and say: 

"I travel slowly, one step at a time, 

because I am carrying two big suitcases. 

One of them contains my sins, and in the other,

 which is much heavier, are the infinite merits of Jesus. 
When I reach heaven I will open the suitcases and say to 

God: 'Eternal Father, now you can judge.' And to 

St. Peter: 'Close the door, because I'm staying.'"

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Click here: St. Josephine Bakhita - YouTube

St. Josephine Bakhita, patron saint of survivors of human trafficking, inspires books and hope - The Dialog

Why St. Josephine Bakhita is the patron saint of South Sudan

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St Josephine was known for her smile, gentleness & holiness. 
She even went on record saying, 

“If I were to meet the slave-traders who 

kidnapped me and even those who tortured me, 
I would kneel and kiss their hands, 

for if that did not happen, I would not 

be a Christian and Religious today.”

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"Love the Lord and pray for those

who do not know Him.

What a grace it is to know God!"

St Josephine Bakhita

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"In God's Will there is great peace."

St Josephine Bakhita

St Josephine Bakhita, pray for us!

Our Lord comes to our aid...

  "Thoughtful men and women with hearts craving 

the truth, have come to seek in the Catholic 

Church the road which leads to eternal life.

Painting: Mary Engelbreit

There is in the Sacred Heart the symbol and 

express image of the infinite love of Jesus Christ 

which moves us to love in return.

Our Lord came to the aid of each great tribulation with 

a special devotion.  The present and future tribulations 

of the Church and of nations are greater than at any 

other period, and this persecution is more dangerous 

than those of previous times. 

Hence, the devotion which God sends to the 

succor of His Church and of the nations at the present time 

is the devotion to the Most Holy Eucharist. 

It is the highest of all devotions."

St Leo the Great

They stayed for love of Him...

 May I never boast except in the cross 

of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which 

the world has been crucified to me,

and I to the world. - Galatians 6:14

"Fr Paul Miki was the son of an affluent Japanese military chief and a gifted evangelist who strongly defended the faith against Buddhism.  When the political climate became hostile to Christianity in Japan, the missionaries were ordered to leave.  He and fellow Jesuit missionaries decided to continue their ministry in secret.  The Jesuits did not want to leave the faithful without the Holy Eucharist and Sacraments. They were eventually arrested.

Fr Miki was martyred along with two other Jesuits and 23 other Christians - united in a common faith and love for Jesus Christ and His Church.  They were killed simultaneously by being raised on crosses and then stabbed with spears. The people pushed near, dipped cloths into the wounds and cut off pieces of the clothing of the holy martyrs as holy relics.

When missionaries returned to Japan in the 1860s, at first they found no trace of Christianity. But after establishing themselves they found that thousands of Christians lived around Nagasaki and  that they had secretly preserved the faith.  The survival of Japanese Catholicism is one of the most moving stories in the entire history of the Church. For over two centuries the people had no priests but lived the faith as best they could, in secret, not daring to keep written materials but handing down their beliefs by word of mouth." 

Excerpt ~ James Hitchcock, The Nagasaki Martyrs

Photo credit:  Jeffrey Bruno 

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St. Paul Miki and Companions

Martyrs ~ Japan (d. 1597)

Feast Day - Feb 6

Click here: St. Paul MIki - YouTube

Click here: St. Paul Miki and the Rise of Japan’s Hidden Christians | Crisis Magazine

 While hanging upon a cross Fr Paul Miki 

preached to the people gathered for the execution:

“The sentence of judgment says these men came to Japan from the Philippines, but I did not come from any other country. I am a true Japanese. The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I certainly did teach the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason I die. I believe that I am telling only the truth before I die. I know you believe me and I want to say to you all once again: Ask Christ to help you to become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ’s example I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain.”

At this point, he turned his eyes toward his companions and began to encourage them in their final struggle.  The faces of them all shone with great gladness.  Another Christian shouted to him that he would soon be in paradise.  "Like my Master," murmured Paul, "I shall die upon the cross.  Like Him, a lance will pierce my heart so that my blood and my love will flow out upon the land and sanctify it to His name."

As they awaited death the entire group sang the Canticle of Zechariah (see Luke 1:67–79). The executioners stood by respectfully until they had intoned the last verse. Then at a given  signal they thrust their spears into the victims’ sides.  - Excerpt from Bert Ghezzi, Voices of the Saints

St Paul Miki and Companions, pray for us!

The side of victory...

  "They always win who side with God."

Fr Frederick W Faber

 

Francisco Javier Diaz | Shutterstock

 

"Have a great love for Jesus in 

His divine Sacrament of Love; 

this is the divine oasis of the desert.  
It is the heavenly manna of the traveler.  

It is the Holy Ark.  It is the life and

Paradise of love on earth."

 St Peter Julian Eymard

 

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Remembering today:

St Agatha
Sicily - 231-251
Virgin and Martyr
Patron: Sicily, breast cancer, against fire, 

rape victims, wet nurses

Feast Day - Feb 5

 

"Jesus Christ, Lord of all, you see my heart,

you know my desires.  Possess all that I am. 

I am your sheep:  make me worthy

to overcome the devil." - St Agatha

 

St. Agatha - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

St. Agatha, the early Church martyr who tradition says was visited by St. Peter