The sacramental life

 

 From: the chapel of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur

Bambury Road, Oxford

 

"Christ used the flesh and blood of Mary for His life on earth,

the Word of  love was uttered in her heartbeat.

Christ used His own body to utter His love on earth;

His perfectly real body, with bone and sinew and blood and tears;

Christ uses our bodies to express His love on earth, our humanity.

A Christian life is a sacramental life;

it is not a life lived only in the mind, only by the soul…

Our humanity is the substance

of the sacramental life of Christ in us,

like the wheat for the host, like the grape for the chalice.”

~ Caryll Houselander

Artist: Kevin Middleton

 

Like a breath - one to the other

 

"When we go before the Blessed Sacrament,

let us open our heart; our good God will open His. 

We shall go to Him; He will come to us;

the one to ask , the other to receive. 

It will be like a breath from one to the other."

 

St John Vianney

France ~ 1786-1859

Universal patron of priests

FEAST DAY - August 4

 

 

"Humility is to the various virtues what the chain is to the Rosary. 

Take away the chain and the beads are scattered,

remove humility and all virtues vanish."~ St John Vianney

 

Ste John Vianney , pray for us!

 

 

Please pray for these men who will be

Ordained to the Holy Priesthood TODAY

 *Thursday 8/04/11*11 AM Mass*Sioux Falls, South Dakota*

Deacon Kristopher Cowles

Deacon Russ Homic

Deacon Jordan Samson

Deacon Anthony Urban

Deacon Jonathan Venner

 

“Without the Sacrament of Holy Orders, we would not have the Lord.

Who put Him there in that tabernacle? The priest. Who welcomed your soul

at the beginning of your life? The priest. Who feeds your soul and gives it strength

for its journey? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, bathing

it one last time in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest, always the priest.

And if this soul should happen to die , who will raise it up, who will restore

its calm and peace? Again, the priest… After God, the priest is everything! …

Only in heaven will he fully realize what he is.” ~ St John Vianney (Cure d'Ars)

 

Food of truth - and freedom

"In the sacrament of the altar,

the Lord meets us, men and women created in

God’s image and likeness (cf. Genesis 1:27),

and becomes our companion along the way.

In this sacrament, the Lord truly becomes food for us,

to satisfy our hunger for truth and freedom.

Since only the truth can make us free (cf. John 8:32),

Christ becomes for us the food of truth."

Pope Benedict XVI

Sacrament of Charity, 2007

A single Communion...

  

“Be willing to sacrifice everything, be willing to

do everything for the sake of one Communion. 

A single Communion is able to transform

a sinner into a saint instantaneously,

because it is Jesus Christ Himself,

author of all sanctity, Who comes to you.”

St. Peter Julian Eymard

France ~ 1811-1868

Founder of Congregation of

Priests of the Blessed Sacrament (1856)

Apostle of the Eucharist

 FEAST DAY - AUGUST 2

St Peter Julian Eymard was unequalled as an Apostle of the Eucharist.  His VOCATION and MISSION was to LEAD ALL CHRISTIANS to the EUCHARIST -  to such an extent that people finally called him the "Priest of the Blessed Sacrament".  He offered his life for the Eucharistic reign of Jesus.  At the founding of the Congregation of Priests of the Blessed Sacrament, he wrote: "Here, dear Jesus, is my life.  Behold me ready to eat stones and to die abandoned, just so that I may succeed in erecting a throne for Thee and give Thee a family of friends, a nation of adorers."  

On his deathbed St Peter Julian Eymard gave this reply to a religious who requested a final point for reflection: 

"I have nothing more to tell you.  You already have the Eucharist.  What more do you want?"

Ste Peter Julian Eymard, ora pro nobis -

that we may be among the nation of adorers of Jesus!

 

To console every person...

  

Fr. Gustavo Domenech celebrating holy Mass in the mountains

 

  “Jesus seems continually to exclaim from the altar:

Come to Me, all you who work hard and who carry

heavy burdens and I will refresh you (Mt 11:28).

 

Come, He says, come you who are poor;

come, you who are infirm;

come, you who are afflicted;

come, you who are just and you who are sinners,

and you shall find in Me a remedy

for all your losses and afflictions.

This is the desire of Jesus Christ:

to console every person who calls upon Him.”

 

St Alphonsus Ligouri

Italy ~ 1696 - 1787

Lawyer before ordination as priest (age 30)

Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Founder of Redemptorist order

Prolific writer and gifted in the fine arts

FEAST DAY - August 1

 

Someone once remarked, after a sermon of Alphonsus,

“It is a pleasure to listen to your sermons;

you forget yourself and preach Jesus Christ.”

Ste Alphonsus Ligouri, ora pro nobis!