Food that sustains...

"The school of Christ is the school of charity.  
On the last day, when the general examination takes place, 
there will be no question at all on the text of Aristotle, 
the aphorisms of Hippocrates, or the paragraphs of Justinian.  
Charity will be the whole syllabus." - St Robert Bellarmine

"The Holy Eucharist is offered to us 
on our pilgrimage as food so that we do not faint

on the path to the fatherland,

especially at the time when,
tired by a long journey,

our forces are apt to wane…

The Lord left His Body in the Eucharist

as a pledge of heavenly beatitude."

 St Robert Bellarmine, “Comments on Aquinas’ O Sacrum Convivum”

St Robert Bellarmine

 Italy ~ 1542-1621

Jesuit theologian, writer, and cardinal

Key voice and action in Counter-Reformation

Dubbed: "Prince of the Apologists"

Doctor of the Church

Patron of Canon lawyers, catechists, students,
those with Down's syndrome

Feast Day - September 17

 

From St Robert Bellarmine's treatise On the Ascent of the Mind to God:

  "May you consider truly good whatever leads to your goal

and truly evil whatever makes you fall away from it."

Click here: St. Robert Bellarmine - YouTube (2 mins)

Click here: Fr. Hardon Archives - St. Robert Bellarmine,

St Robert Bellarmine, pray for us!

May it be said.. of you and of me...

My heart is steadfast, O God ... - Psalm 108, 1a

 

St Augustine has left us this praise of his mother, St Monica:

"She did not let a day pass

without being present

at the Divine Sacrifice

before Your altar, O Lord."

St Monica

North Africa ~ 333-387

Mother of St Augustine

Patroness of Married women and Mothers

Feast Day - August 27

"Nothing is far from God." - St Monica

As recounted by Augustine... before his mother died she told him:

"There was indeed one thing for which I wished to tarry a little 

in this life, and that was that I might see you a Catholic before I died. 

My God hath answered this more than abundantly, so that I see you 

are now made His servant and spurning all earthly happiness. 

What more am I to do here?"

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

 

Prayer for St Monica's intercession

Exemplary mother of the great Augustine, you perseveringly pursued your wayward son not with wild threats but with prayerful cries to heaven. Intercede for all mothers in our day so that they may learn to draw their children to God. Teach them how to remain close to their children, even the prodigal sons and daughters who have sadly gone astray. Amen.

St Monica, pray for us!