Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Following the Apostle of Charity...

 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, 
and from his fullness we have all received - Jn 1:14,16
(Today's Communion Antiphon)


Holy Eucharist, Sacred Heart (oil on canvas) by Miguel Cabrera

"The presence of Jesus 
in the tabernacle 
must be a kind of magnetic pole attracting
an ever greater number of souls enamoured of Him,
ready to wait patiently to hear His voice
and, as it were, to sense the beating of His heart.
“O taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Ps 34:8)."  

Mane Nobiscum Domine (Stay With Us Lord)
Apostolic Letter, 10/07/04, Pope St John Paul II

St John the Beloved Disciple
who sensed the beating of His Heart...
Apostle and Evangelist
Son of Zebedee, brother of James
Asia Minor, Galilee (6-115 AD)
Apostle of Charity
Patron of Asia Minor, Theologians
Feast Day - December 27

Valentin de boulogne

"It is a long way from being eager to sit on a 
throne of power or to call down fire from heaven 
to becoming the man who could write: 
“The way we came to know love 
was that He laid down His life for us;
so we ought to lay down our lives 
for our brothers” (1 John 3:16). 

Through John we know how 
we are to participate as 
our destiny in the life of Christ."
 St Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein)
______________________

consoling-the-heart-of-jesus-retreat.jpg (650×400)

O most Sacred, most loving Heart of Jesus, 
Thou art concealed in the Holy Eucharist, 
and Thou beatest for us still… 
I worship Thee with all my best love and awe, 
with my fervent affection, with my most subdued, 
most resolved will.
O my God, when Thou dost condescend
to suffer me to receive Thee, to eat and drink Thee, 
and Thou for a while takest up Thy abode within me, 
O make my heart beat with Thy Heart. 
Purify it of all that is earthly, 
all that is 
proud and sensual, all that is hard and cruel, 
of all perversity, of all disorder, of all deadness. 
So fill it with Theethat neither the events of the day
nor the circumstances of the time 
may have power to ruffle it, but that in Thy love 
and Thy fear it may have peace. Amen.

St John Henry Newman, Meditations and Devotions 
Part III [XVI] para. 3

st_john_eagle.png (227×320)

The eagle, believed to look directly into the light of the sun, 
is the symbol of St. John.  This bird was used because 
in his Gospel St. John dwells particularly upon the 
Divinity of the Redeemer and contemplates with 
the unflinching eye of an eagle the highest truths.

St John, pray for us!
_______________________________
 
Third Day of Christmas


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