To love as we ought...

"Blessed is the influence of one 
truly loving human soul on another." - George Eliot

"To love God as He ought to be loved,

we must be detached from all temporal love.

We must love nothing but Him,

or if we love anything else,

we must love it only for His sake."

St Peter Claver
Native of Spain ~ 1581–1654
Jesuit, missionary to South America

Apostolate to Africans on slave ships,
sailors and traders 
Estimated to have baptized 300,000 +

Feast Day - Sept 9

 Peter Claver understood that concrete service like the distributing
of medicine, food or brandy to his black brothers and sisters
could be as effective a communication of the word of God as mere verbal preaching.

Peter said of the slaves, "We must speak to them with

our hands by giving, before we try to speak to them with our lips."

Click here: Saint Peter Claver - YouTube (2 mins)

Click here: St Peter Claver - YouTube (CCTNtv - 3:30 mins)

St Peter Claver, pray for us!

Dusting off the soul...

... I was sick and you looked after me ... Matthew 25:36c

"St Camillus de Lellis never celebrated 

Holy Mass without first going to Confession, 

because he wanted at least "to dust off" his soul.  

Once at sundown in a public square in Livorno, before taking leave 

of a priest of the same religious order, foreseeing that he would not 

have a priest to confess to on the following morning before his Mass, 

the Saint paused, took off his hat, made the sign of the Cross 

and went to Confession right there in the square to his confrere."

From Jesus Our Eucharistic Love 
by Fr Stefano M Manelli, FFI

    

St Camillus de Lellis

Italy ~ 1550-1614

Encouraged to priesthood by St Philip Neri

Founder of Order: Fathers of Good Death

Click here: Order of St. Camillus

Patron of hospitals, nurses and the sick

Feast Day - July 18

The Camellians took the vow to "devote themselves to material and spiritual care 

of the sick and needy". St. Camillus honored the poor and sick 

as living images of Christ. His reverence in their presence was as great 

as if he were really and truly in the presence of his Lord.

 “The poor and the sick are the heart of God. In serving them,

we serve Jesus the Christ. ...We want to assist the sick

with the same love that a mother has for her only sick child."

 -  Saint Camillus de Lellis

 Click here: PRAYER TO ST CAMILLUS - YouTube (1:45 mins)
St. Camillus De Lellis - YouTube

Click here: St. Camillus de Lellis, Rash Vows, and Sanctity’s Daily Grind |

The figure on this crucifix, which is venerated in the Church of Mary Magdalene in Rome, is the one which in 1582 detached its arm and comforted St.Camillus de Lellis with these words "Take Courage, faint-hearted one. Continue the work you have begun. I will be with you because it is my work." Camillus was very discouraged at the time because of opposition to his health care reforms. Our Lord's words were instrumental in the Saint pushing ahead and founding the Order of the Ministers of the Sick.

Crucifix image above from Miraculous Images of Our Lord, by Joan Carroll Cruz, TAN Books (1993)

St Camillus, pray for us!

May kindness and truth meet...

Day of Prayer* for the Legal Protection 
of Unborn Children

*In all the dioceses of the United States of America, January 22
(or January 23, when the 22nd falls on a Sunday) shall be
observed as a particular day of penance for violations to the
dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion,
and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the
right to life. --- General Instruction of the Roman Missal (U.S.), 2003, n. 373

Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss.

Truth shall spring out of the earth,

and justice shall look down from heaven. - Ps 85:10,11

 “Devotion to the Eucharist leads one to a devotion to life

and a devotion to life leads one to the Eucharist….

We receive our strength for our labors for life from the 
Good News of Jesus Christ and from the Holy Eucharist.

This is the food that nourishes us for the tasks at hand….

The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith

and respect for life is our faith's first precept.”

Justin Cardinal Rigali

Painting above: Ultima Cena - The Last Supper - Federico Barocci 

"If people spent one hour per week in Eucharistic Adoration,

abortion would be ended."~ St Teresa of Calcutta

"In the Bread which came down from heaven, the family will 
be able to find the support that will keep it united in the face 
of today's threats and will preserve it as a bastion of life, 
steadfast against the culture of death." - St John Paul II 

"Our own belief is that the renovation of the world will be

brought about only by the Holy Eucharist." - Pope Leo XIII

 

        Lord Jesus, I firmly believe that the Blessed Sacrament is Your very Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. Senses cannot grasp this marvel. Faith, however, reaches beyond what the eyes can see and assures us that You are present.

        Grant, O Lord, that our faith in the Eucharist may also strengthen our ability to recognize the dignity of every human life. We know that the senses can fool us there as well. Some may not be attractive, others may seem too small, some may appear as less than human.  But we, who can see You in the Sacred Host, can certainly see you in our brothers and sisters. We can also see You, O Lord, in the children in the womb. In a day when so many have forgotten these children, and dismiss them as less valuable than those who are born, grant that we may grow all the more convinced of their dignity and worth. Then grant, O Lord, that we may act accordingly. Amen. (Priests for Life)

How splendid the cross of Christ! ...

"Blest is the wood through which 
justice comes about." - Wisdom 14:7

Exquisite mosaic ~ Tree of Life, Holy Cross (detail) ~ San Clemente - Roma

 

“The event of the Cross and Resurrection

abides and draws everything toward life.” (CCC 1085)

Feast of the
Exaltation of the Cross

September 14

"How splendid the cross of Christ! It brings life, not death; light, not darkness; Paradise, not its loss. It is the wood on which the Lord, like a great warrior, was wounded in hands and feet and side, but healed thereby our wounds. A tree has destroyed us, a tree now brought us life." ~ St Theodorus the Estudite

 

Painting (detail) The Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Luigi Gregori

Spes Unica: (Our) only Hope

"Recognize in this bread what hung on the cross, and in this chalice what flowed from His side... whatever was in many and varied ways announced beforehand in the sacrifices of the Old Testament pertains to this one sacrifice which is revealed in the New Testament.

Receive in this bread that which was hanged on the cross; receive in this cup that which was poured from Christ's side. For he will gain death, not life, who thinks Christ is a liar." ~ St Augustine

"On the Cross human misery and divine mercy meet. ...The Cross is planted in the earth and would seem to extend its roots in human malice, but it reaches up, pointing as it were to the heavens, pointing to the goodness of God.

By means of the Cross of Christ, the Evil One has been defeated, death is overcome, life is given to us, hope is restored, light is imparted. O Crux, ave spes unica!…" ~ St John Paul II, homily 09.14.03

Click here: Exaltation of the Holy Cross - YouTube (3 mins)

Click here: Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Roodmas)

Click here: Crucifixes and Crosses

"He who runs away from one cross,

will meet a bigger one on his road."- St Philip Neri

O Jesus, Jesus, I no longer feel my cross 
when I think of yours!"- St Bernadette Soubirous

Crucifixes on rosaries, worn around one's neck and in one's home
serve as enduring and endearing reminders of the magnitude

of Christ's love and serve as focal points for private prayer.

 

Archbishop Fulton Sheen summarized the reason
for using a crucifix instead of an empty cross when he said,
“Keep your eyes on the crucifix,
for Jesus without the cross is a man without a mission,
and the cross without Jesus is a burden without a reliever.”

We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee

because by Thy holy Cross 

Thou hast redeemed the world!