Saturday, June 30, 2018

I belong to Jesus...

Ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just;
for praise is fitting for loyal hearts.
 - Psalm 33:1

 WeekofPrayer2017.jpg (620×410)
 
"Jesus, for You I live
Jesus, for You I die
 Jesus, I am Yours in life and death."

 From Reflections and Prayers
for Visits with our Eucharistic Lord,
John J. Cardinal Carberry

 

FEAST of the First Roman Martyrs JUNE 30
 
 The First Martyrs of the Church of Rome were Christians martyred
in Rome during Nero's persecution in the year 64.
“This dreadful conflagration continued nine days; when Nero, finding that his conduct was greatly blamed, and a severe odium cast upon him, determined to lay the whole upon the Christians, at once to excuse himself and have an opportunity of glutting his sight with new cruelties. This was the occasion of the first persecution ...
Nero even refined upon cruelty, and contrived all manner of punishments for them that the most infernal imagination could design.  In particular, he had some sewed up in the skins of wild beasts, and then worried by dogs till they expired; and others dressed in shirts made stiff with wax, fixed to axle-trees, and set on fire in his gardens in order to illuminate them.  This persecution was general throughout the whole Roman empire; but it rather increased than diminished the spirit of Christianity."

A. Wright
A History of the Principal

Friday, June 29, 2018

Friends of God...

Solemnity of Sts PETER and PAUL
June 29

"This day has been made holy by the passion of the blessed apostles
Peter and Paul. ... These martyrs realized what they taught: 
they pursued justice, they confessed the truth, they died for it."
St Augustine, Sermon 295

 We do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord,
and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus. - 2 Cor 4:5


Entrance Antiphon (Today’s Liturgy)

These are the ones who, living in the flesh, planted the Church with their blood; they drank the chalice of the Lord and became friends of God. 

Prayer over the Offerings (Today's Liturgy)

May the prayer of the Apostles, O Lord, accompany the sacrificial gift that we present to your name for consecration, and may their intercession make us devoted to you in celebration of the sacrifice.
Through Christ our Lord.

Prayer After Communion (Today’s Liturgy)

Grant us, O Lord, who have been renewed by this Sacrament, so to live in the Church, that, persevering in the breaking of the Bread and in the teaching of the Apostles, we may be one heart and one soul, made steadfast in your love.
Through Christ our Lord.

Sts Peter and Paul, pray for us!


*Sts Peter and Paul: the principal pillars of the Church founded by Christ.
St Peter was chosen by Christ to be his first Vicar on earth; he was endowed with powers of the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Mt 16:13-19) and charged with the role of Shepherd of Christ's flock (Jn 21:15-17). In St. Peter and his successors, we have a visible sign of unity and communion in faith and charity. Divine grace led St. Peter to profess Christ's divinity.  St. Peter suffered martyrdom by crucifixion under Nero, in about the year 64 AD. He was buried at the hill of the Vatican; recent excavations have revealed his tomb on the very site of St. Peter's Basilica.
St Paul was chosen to form part of the apostolic college by Christ himself on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-16). Selected to bring Christ's name to all peoples (Acts 9:15), he is the greatest missionary of all time, the advocate of pagans, the Apostle of the Gentiles. St. Paul was beheaded in the Tre Fontane along the Via Ostiense and buried nearby, on the site where the basilica bearing his name now stands. 
Source: Daily Roman Missal, Edited by Rev. James SocĂ­as, Midwest Theological Forum, Chicago, Illinois ©2003

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Christ has declared, Christ has established...

"For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God
became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into
communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship,
might become a son of God." - St Irenaeus


"(Christ) has declared the cup, a part of creation,
to be His own Blood, 
from which He causes our blood to flow; 
the bread, a part of creation,
He has established as His own Body, 
from which He gives increase to our bodies.”

St. Irenaeus
Nee Smyrna ~ 125-202 AD
Disciple of Polycarp
(Polycarp: disciple of St John the Apostle)
Bishop of Lyons, Father of the Church
Theologian, prolific writer
Masterpiece - Adversus Haereses (Against Heresies)*
*(Detailed refute on teachings of Gnosticism)
Against Heresies is source of the quote above
Feast Day - June 28

Stained glass above: "I AM the BREAD of LIFE" - St Joseph Catholic Church, Central City, KY - USA

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"One should not seek among others the truth that can be easily gotten 
from the Church.  For in her, as in a rich treasury, the apostles have placed
all that pertains to truth, so that everyone can drink this beverage of life. 
She is the door of life." - St Irenaeus