Reposing with Jesus

  

"To withdraw from creatures

and repose with Jesus in the Tabernacle

is my delight; there I can hide myself and seek rest.

There I find a life which I cannot describe,

a joy which I cannot make others comprehend,

a peace such as is found only

under the hospitable roof of our best Friend."

 

 

St. Ignatius of Loyola

Spain ~ 1491-1556

Priest, Founder of Society of Jesus (Jesuits)

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

 

 

“Go forth and set the world on fire.” ~ St Ignatius of Loyola 

 

St Ignatius of Loyola, ora pro nobis!

True to His Word...

And behold I am with you all through the days that are coming,

until the consummation of the world. ~ Matthew 28:20

 

Photo credit: Martin Crampen

“He (Christ) really made His body a living sacrifice, because, though slain, He continues to live.  In such a victim death receives its ransom, but the victim remains alive.  Death itself suffers the punishment.  This is why death for the martyrs is actually a birth, and their end a beginning.  Their execution is the door to life, and those who were thought to have been blotted out from the earth shine brilliantly in heaven.”

 

St Peter Chrysologus

Adult convert

Archbishop, Doctor of the Church

Italy ~ c. 380-450

FEAST DAY - July 30

"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  

St Peter Chrysologus, ora pro nobis!

Saint Peter Chrysologus is the Doctor of Homilies. His words helped to defeat the attack on Christ's humanity. No doctor said so much in his homilies in fewer words. To hear his sermons after nearly 1500 years is a blessing, each and every time.

Peter was a stalwart witness to the faith. He had a short life but it was long and full of accomplishments. He was the archbishop of Ravenna, Italy, as a young priest and he expended his energies neutralizing the last forces of paganism of his day.

Chrysologus means "The Golden-Worded".  His prayer when he spoke (from Sermon 96):  May our God deign to give me the grace of speaking and you the desire of hearing.

To really benefit fruitfully from any conversation or homily, one's heart and mind must be open to receive the communication. Peter was filled with all the gifts and fruits of the Spirit but even his best efforts to impart his wisdom and knowledge would not benefit anyone unless his listeners were truly docile to grace through their hearts and attentive with their eyes and minds, both exteriorly and interiorly. Our souls have eyes and powerful perceptions that are drawn to God's message when we are open, sincere and desire to learn.

Homilies can be like sweet music to the ear and joy to the heart. The homily during the Catholic Mass is a vital part of the Liturgy of the Word. It follows the reading of the gospel and is the explanation and elaboration on the celebration of the Word. This part of the liturgical service, offered immediately before the celebration of the Liturgy of the Eucharist, prepares its members to fully enter into the worship of God. It also prepares us to be empowered and enlighten to fully partake of the holy meal. Each liturgical celebration of the Mass is an extension of the "Last Supper" that the Lord shared with His dear friends. He changed Himself during this meal into precious food that fortifies us and enables us to proceed on our spiritual journey. More importantly, this meal strengthens us and enables us by transforming us into Himself. That's right! Imagine being changed into another Christ? When this happens we'll be able to do and say what Christ would do or say Himself. Is that possible? Believe it! It's Catholic theology. (http://www.doctorsofthecatholicchurch.com)

DOCTORS of the CHURCH

St. Gregory the Great · St. Ambrose · St. Augustine · St. Jerome · St. John Chrysostom · St. Basil · St. Gregory Nazianzus · St. Athanasius of Alexandria · St. Cyril of Alexandria · St. Cyril of Jerusalem · St. John Damascene · St. Bede the Venerable · St. Ephrem · St. Thomas Aquinas · St. Bonaventure · St. Anselm · St. Isidore · St. Peter Chrysologus · St. Leo the Great · St. Peter Damian · St. Bernard of Clairvaux · St. Hilary of Poitiers · St. Alphonsus Liguori · St. Francis de Sales · St. Peter Canisius · St. John of the Cross · St. Robert Bellarmine · St. Albertus Magnus · St. Anthony of Padua · St. Lawrence of Brindisi · St. Teresa of Avila · St. Catherine of Siena · St. Thérèse of Lisieux ·

The beauty of His GRACE!

All graces are in Him; He is the fountain and the fullness of them all; He longs to pour them out over dear souls, souls that He died for; and they will not let Him; [...] Go and help Jesus. Why should a single soul be lost, for which He died ?

I say, why should one be lost ? It is a horrible thing to think of a lost soul, most horrible. And why should they be lost? why?

There is Precious Blood to be had for the asking; and what it gives is grace.

But men do not care about grace. St. Paul spent his whole life teaching people about grace, and praying for grace for them, and that they might use grace rightly when they had got it.

When the Fountain of all grace is springing up like a living well of joy in the heart after Communion, ask Him to open all men's eyes to the beauty of his grace, and so will you cause His grace to multiply, and with the multiplication of grace His interests to prosper.

For thus stands the case with our dear Lord, that the more He gives away, the richer He becomes.

Frederick Wm Faber (1814—1863): All for Jesus, (pp. 32-34)

Christ on the Cross - Oscar Dehaes

Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus

 

"May Jesus be known, loved and adored by all,

and be in every moment the receiver of thanksgiving

in the most Holy and most Divine Sacrament."

Bl Mary Magdalene of the Incarnation

Awakening holy ideas...

 

“What a new world opens up to me

contemplating Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament …

it awakens holy ideas in me,

a burning and consuming flame,

but one that makes me so happy!”

Bl Alberto Marvelli

1918 - 1946

Your place, your life

Take and eat, this is My Body.

Take and drink, this is My Blood.

Image courtesy: http://holycardheaven.blogspot.com

“It is for others to serve God,

but for you to cleave to Him. 

It is for others to believe in God,

to know, to love, to fear Him,

but for you to taste, to understand,

to apprehend, to enjoy Him.”

William of St. Thierry

Ever present, as He said...

"Christ calling the Apostles James and John" ~ Edward Armitage

 "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

 

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

+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

St James, ora pro nobis!

The center of his life...

 "I will give you shepherds after my own heart." Jer 3:15

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.org

St Sharbel Makhluf

Lebanon ~ 1828-1898

Priest and Hermit

Perfume of Lebanon

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.”  

St Sharbel, ora pro nobis!

TOP ARTWORK CREDIT: Michael Otteman -  www.ottemanarts.com

Oh Jesus! Sweetness of hearts...

 

Peter Paul Rubens

"Oh Jesus! Sweetness of hearts,

delight of the spirit,

by the bitterness of the vinegar and gall which

Thou didst taste on the Cross of Love for us,

grant us the grace to receive worthily

Thy Precious Body and Blood during our life

and at the hour of our death,

that they may serve as a remedy

and consolation for our souls. Amen.”

St Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden

Wife, Widow, Religious, Foundress

Mystic and Visionary

1303-1373

Patroness: Sweden; Co-patroness: Europe

Founded religious order, Brigittines*

*distinctive skull cap over veil

FEAST DAY – July 23

 

 "Lord, show me the way and make me ready to follow it."

 ~ St. Bridget of Sweden

St Bridget of Sweden, ora pro nobis!

Fatherly advice...

  

"Remain firm in the faith,

rooted in Christ through the Word and the Eucharist;

be people who pray, to be always connected to Christ, like

branches on the vine, and at the same time go, bring His message

to everyone, especially to the little ones, the poor, the suffering.

In every community love each other, do not be divided

but live as brothers, so that the world believes that Jesus

is alive in His Church and the Kingdom of God is near. "

Pope Benedict XVI

July 15, 2012, Homily

Diocese of Frascati

A privilege indeed!

"The privilege of receiving the Holy Eucharist from the Hands of Jesus Himself was experienced by a number of saints, including St Laurence of Brindisi, a Capuchian, whose unusual talents and rare virtue were called upon by Pope Clement VIII for several unusual missions.  One of these was his chaplaincy to the Imperial Army of Prague. ...

    With the Turks still menacing nearby Christian countries, the Imperial Army of 18,000 men assembled to do battle with the Turks, who numbered 80,000.  Vastly outnumbered, the Christians appealed to St Laurence for advice and encouragement.  After delivering a rousing discourse, the saint, despite his mature years, mounted a horse and with the cross held high in his hands led the troops against the infidels.  The crushing defeat of the Turks was attributed by all to the prayers and inspiration of the saint. 

    It is told that on his return from the campaign he joined his brethren at Gorizia, where Our Lord appeared to them and gave them all Holy Communion with His own Hand."   

From Eucharistic Miracles

Joan Carroll Cruz

 

St Laurence of Brindisi

Capuchin priest

Preached fluently in 8 languages

1559-1619 ~ Italy

Doctor of the Church

FEAST DAY - July 21

"The Word of the Lord is light for the intellect and fire for the will, so that man can know and love God. For the interior man, who through grace lives from the Spirit of God, it is bread and water, but bread that is sweeter than honey and water that is better than wine and milk. ... It is a hammer against a hard heart obstinate in vices. It is a sword against the flesh, the world and the devil, to destroy every sin." ~ St Laurence of Brindisi

St Laurence of Brindisi, pray for us!

An offering of the Precious Blood

  

An
Offering
Of the Precious
Blood for Souls


O my God, I beg of Thee in
union with the Immaculate Heart
of Mary, through the merits of the
Precious Blood offered Thee in every
Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world,
to grant that this day one mortal sin may be
averted, one soul in doubt may be converted to
the truth, one soul about to die in sin may receive
the grace of repentance and a happy death, and
the deliverance of that soul in purgatory which is
nearest Heaven. I wish by this offering to console
the Heart Of Jesus in agony for the souls lost
through the teaching of error against the
true Church of Christ Jesus,
Our Lord. Amen

From Precious Blood Manual

Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood

Watertown, NY

Love with no sunset

 

"The presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is proof that His love for us has no sunset. He is the Desired of the everlasting hills, and He puts into our hearts the desire to live close to Him. The stresses and hurts and partings of life often bear down on us, and we may tend to feel alone as when the sun has gone down. The words of St. Augustine can lift us "He neither rises nor sets because He abides always."

So our lives do not have to go down into the shadows. It was at evening time that the risen Lord restored the desolate spirits of two disciples by revealing His presence to them "in the breaking of the bread." They pleaded with Him "Stay with us, for it is towards evening." (Lk 24:29). We too can plead with Him, "Lord, be with us, both at sunrise and at sunset... "

In the Holy Eucharist the only Son of God, Jesus Christ, fulfills His promise to be with us always. What consolation, how could we be lonely? From all the sunsets to all the sunrises "He neither rises nor sets because He abides always."

~From the writings of Msgr John Moloney, P.P. - Dublin, Ireland

Faith's further vision...

 

Tabernacle, Ladye Chapel, St Francis’ Church, Melbourne (Casamento Photography)

“As a place the Church is a creation within creation, the royal residence of the Creator-King. To its privileged jurisdiction is granted the full royalty of the whole world.  Its laws are holiness.  Its atmosphere is grace.  Its forms are copies of divine things.  Its nature is transfigured with supernatural energies.  Its solemnities are celestial mysteries.  It is a life, and a giving of life. But it is not only a divine copy of divine things.  It contains divine things, and lives by them.  In peculiar ways of its own, it contains the Divine Persons.  Thus, its life is not a mere likeness of God, though it is a likeness of him. 

But, when faith looks upon his likeness, it sees a further vision.  The tabernacles of the Church blossom as with light; the lineaments of the Church fade as in a glorious conflagration, obliterated by the intensity of splendor; and behold! it is Jesus himself, God and man, within whose life we have been living; and the glory had been so gentle that we perished not! 

The mystery of the Blessed Sacrament is the truth of the life of the Church.  We can see and revere the magnificence of the Church. … To the eye of God the Church must look most wonderful. … when he had created the Church, not of earth and of his word, but of his Blood and Breath, its fair beauty so won upon him that he came into it, and multiplied himself, and hid himself, in her tabernacles, as the birds hide themselves within the mighty woods.”

 Frederick William Faber, D.D.

The Precious Blood (pgs 240-41)

Cherishing hope

"When shall we see Our Lord honored day and night

in every parish through the Catholic world? 

I love to cherish the hope!" 

Ven. Leo Dupont

1797 - 1876

Perfect model of the interior life

FEAST of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel*

*Title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary,

in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order

July 16

The Carmelites see in the Blessed Virgin Mary a perfect model of the interior

life of prayer and contemplation to which Carmelites aspire, a model of virtue,

as well as the person who was closest in life to Jesus Christ. She is seen as the

one who points Christians most surely to Christ, saying to all what she says to the

servants at the wedding at Cana, "Do whatever He [Jesus] tells you."

Carmelites look to Mary as spiritually their mother and sister.

          

“Contemplating Mary, we will understand better

the transforming force that the Eucharist possesses.

Listening to her, we will find in the Eucharistic

mystery the courage and strength to follow Christ

the Good Shepherd and to serve Him in our brothers.”

Pope Bl. John Paul II

June 10, 2004

Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel is expressed through the scapular.

“The scapular is an external sign of the filial relationship established between the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother and Queen of Mount Carmel, and the faithful who entrust themselves totally to her protection, who have recourse to her maternal intercession, and who are mindful of the primacy of the spiritual life and the need for prayer” (Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, 205).

Click here: Catholic Fire: Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (incl Youtube)

More info on scapulars and use, incl where to obtain one for yourself: http://www.fisheaters.com/scapulars.html

Contact my blog friend, Barbara, for BEAUTIFUL scapulars/rosaries ~ made-to-order:

Click here: Praying for Grace

 Our Lady of Mt Carmel, pray for us 
and lead us to your Son!

Silence ... understood

"Frequently, only silence can express my prayer. 

However, this Divine Guest of the tabernacle understands all,

even the silence of a child's soul filled with gratitude. 

When I am before the tabernacle, I can say only one thing to Our Lord:

'My God, you know that I love you'

and I feel my prayer does not tire Jesus."

St. Therese of Lisieux