Fidelity to the mission...

After the Last Supper it was Jude who asked Our Lord why He chose 

to reveal Himself only to the disciples and not the world. He received the reply:

 Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord; and my Father
will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.  

- John 14: 23 (Today's Communion Antiphon)

 

Missionaries of Charity ~Home for the dying - Khaligat ~ Calcutta, India

"The more lively the Eucharistic

faith of the people of God,

the deeper is its sharing in ecclesial life

in steadfast commitment to the mission

entrusted by Christ to His disciples."

Sacramentum Caritatis, 6

Sts Simon and Jude

Apostles, Martyrs (approx 65 AD)

St. Jude: patron saint of hospital workers,

desperate situations, and impossible causes.

Click here: St. Jude Novena

St. Simon: patron saint of sawyers and tanners.

FEAST DAY - October 28

"Just as Christ was sent by the Father, so also He sent the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit. This He did so that, by preaching the gospel to every creature (cf. Mark 16:15), they might proclaim that the Son of God, by His death and resurrection, had freed us from the power of Satan (cf. Acts 26:18) and from death, and brought us into the kingdom of His Father" ~Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy

Almighty God, You chose Your servants Simon and Jude to be numbered 
among the glorious company of the Apostles. As they were faithful 
and zealous in their mission, so may we with ardent devotion 
make known the love and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who lives 
and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Click here: Ss. Simon & Jude - YouTube (2 mins)

Sts. Simon and Jude, pray for us!

St Luke, pray for us! ...

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings 
glad tidings of peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation! 
- Isaiah 52:7  Entrance Antiphon - Feast of St Luke

Prayer over the gifts (Today's Liturgy)

Grant through your heavenly gifts that we may

serve you in freedom of heart, we pray, O Lord,

so that the offerings we make on the feast day of

Saint Luke may bring us healing and give us glory.

Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Communion Antiphon

The Lord sent out disciples to proclaim throughout

the towns: The kingdom of God is at hand for you.

(See Lk 10:1,9)

Prayer after Communion

Grant, we pray, almighty God,

that what we have received from your holy altar

may sanctify us and make us strong in the faith

of the Gospel which Saint Luke proclaimed.

Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

St Luke

Evangelist, Martyr

Wrote Gospel and Acts of the Apostles

In Dives in Misericordia, St JPII calls Luke: "Gospel of Mercy"

Greek, Physician, Painter

Convert, then fellow-Worker of St Paul

Symbol: winged ox

Patron:  Artists, Physicians and Surgeons

Feast Day – October 18

 

St Luke, thank you for enlivening our love of Jesus 
as Friend through the holy Gospel!

This is a Friend who will not terrify you, who will not abandon you.

Hope in Him, and Heaven is yours! ~ St Joseph Cafasso

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

Saint Luke, pray for us!

Deep calls to deep...

"Devotion to the Precious Blood is not a spiritual option,

it is a spiritual obligation, and not only for priests,

but for every follower of Christ." - Fr John A Hardon

 

 

“Jesus has given us His Blood

even to the last drop.

What is there left to do? 

Jesus is a victim. 

Behold I am ready, O my God, 

to be a victim of love!"

St Gaspar del Bufalo

 

Today is the Lord's Day, the "lord of days",

today we also...Remember...

St Thomas the Apostle

Martyr (d. 74)

Carried and fearlessly preached the Gospel to India

SW coast of India call themselves 'Christians of St. Thomas'

Martyred in India with piercing from swords of four soldiers

FEAST DAY - July 3 

Besides tradition, we have the witness of Saints and Fathers of the Church that St. Thomas preached in India. The following powerful quote is from St. Ephraim the Syrian, in a writing on the devil. He discusses the power of the Apostles through Christ from the devil's perspective:

"The evil one wails, "Where then can I flee from the righteous? I incited Death to kill the apostles as if to escape from their scourges by their death. More than ever now I am scourged harshly. The apostle I killed in India (has come) to Edessa before me. Here is he and also there. I went there, there he is. Here and there I found him, and I am gloomy. Did that merchant carry the bones? Or perhaps, indeed, they carried him!"  http://sor.cua.edu/Personage/Qadishe/StThomas.html

Click here: St. Thomas the Apostle - YouTube

 St Thomas the Apostle, pray for us!

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.

Click here: Discovering our Saints - Sts Peter and Paul - YouTube (3 mins)

Click here: Fr. Barron on Saints Peter and Paul - YouTube (6 mins)

Click here: Feast of Ss Peter & Paul - YouTube (21 mins)

Sts Peter and Paul, pray for us!

*Sts Peter and Paul: the principle 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 Socías, Midwest Theological Forum, Chicago, Illinois ©2003

Man's created end....

   For in the Son all the fullness was pleased to dwell,

and through Him to reconcile all things for Him,

making peace by the blood of His cross. - Colossians 1:19-20

Man was created for a certain end. 

This end is to praise, to reverence 

and to serve the Lord his God 

and by this means to arrive at eternal salvation. 

All other beings and objects that surround us on the earth 

were created for the benefit of man and to be useful to him, 

as means to his final end; hence his obligation to use, 

or to abstain from the use of, these creatures, 

according as they bring him nearer to that end, 

or tend to separate him from it."

St. Ignatius of Loyola

The Spiritual Exercises, p.18

Remembering...

St Barnabas
Apostle*, Martyr (+60)

*Strictly speaking, Barnabas was not an apostle, 

but the title has been bestowed upon him since very early times. 

His first name was Joseph; 

Barnabas (etymology: "son of consolation") was a surname. 

St Paul's companion - 1st Missionary Journey

St. Luke described Barnabas as

'a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith' (Acts 6:24)

Feast Day - June 11 

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

St Barnabas, pray for us!

The building block...

Do this in memory of Me.

He sent them  ... so that as sharers in His power they might

make all peoples His disciples, sanctifying and governing them

“No Christian community

can be built up unless it has

its basis and center in the

celebration of the

most Holy Eucharist.”

Decree on the Ministry and Life of the Priests, 6

Vatican II Document

St Philip and St James

Apostles, Martyrs

FEAST DAY - May 3

Sts Philip and James, pray for us!

You are strangers and aliens no longer. 

No, you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God.

You form a building which rises on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

with Christ Jesus Himself as the capstone. Through Him the whole structure 
is fitted together and takes shape as a holy temple in the Lord; in Him you are being built

into this temple, to become a dwelling place for God in the Spirit. - Ephesians 2:19-22

Sharing His Chalice...

 Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold,

now is the day of salvation.

Verse before the Gospel - Today's Liturgy

Collect  (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.

 

  

St Polycarp of Smyrna

Disciple of apostle St John

Friend of Ignatius of Antioch

Apostolic Father 

Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr

Exemplary in catechesis

69-155 AD

FEAST DAY - February 23

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)

St Polycarp, pray for us!