Really live! ...

"Live on Him

that you may live for Him."
St John Vianney

And as they were eating, He took bread,

and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them, and said,

"Take; this is My Body."

And He took a chalice, and when He had given thanks

He gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 

And He said to them,

"This is My Blood of the covenant,

which is poured out for many."

Gospel of Mark 14:22-24

St Mark the Evangelist

Evangelist, Martyr (+68 AD)

Disciple of St Peter, Cousin of Barnabus

Symbol:  lion, often winged*

*The Gospel of St Mark begins with St John the Baptist,

"the voice of one crying in the wilderness,"

a voice that St Jerome compared to the roar of a lion.

FEAST DAY - April 25

Image above: Last Supper,Victor Nesterenko

 Go out into the whole world and 

proclaim the Gospel to every creature.  ~ Mark 16:15

  

Click here: St Mark - YouTube (2 mins)

Click here: Feast of St. Mark, evangelist - Catholic Culture

Prayer over the Offerings (Today's Liturgy)

As we venerate the glory of Saint Mark,

we offer you, Lord, the sacrifice of praise

and humbly beseech you,

that your Church may always persevere

in the preaching of the Gospel.

Through Christ our Lord.

Basilica San Marco ~ Venice, Italy
Contains the reliquary of St Mark's body

Click here: Saint Mark's Basilica, Venice, begun 1063 - YouTube  (5 mins)

St Mark the Evangelist, pray for us!

Grace is dropping down...

"To receive the grace of God into our own hearts,

they must be void of our own glory." - Fr William Doyle

"As regards prayer, you should try to follow the attraction

of the Holy Spirit, for all souls are not led by the same path.

It would not be well to spend all the time in vocal prayer,

there should be some meditation, thought or contemplation.

Try 'basking in the sun of God’s love,' that is, quietly kneeling 
before the Tabernacle, as you would sit enjoying the warm sunshine,

not trying to do anything, except love Him;

but realizing that, during all the time you are at His feet,

more especially when dry and cold, grace is dropping down

upon your soul and you are growing fast in holiness."

Fr William Doyle (+1917)
Click here: Remembering Fr William Doyle SJ

Photo image: St Peter Catholic Church in St Charles, Missouri ~ USA

Pure Christianity...

"When you ask a child what the figure of the priest evokes for him, 
he will answer 'Jesus' or 'the Mass'. ... the children have gone straight 
to the very core of the question. ... A man who is anointed as a priest has the 
quite divine power of bringing Christ into the world to enact that unique 
and true sacrifice which honours God and saves the world."

Canon Tancrede Guillard 
(Excerpt from The Catholic Priest, Image of Christ by Steen Heidemann)

"O priest, I need you to glorify the Father...  

Give me the Son and He will be enough! 

... Priests are the arms of the Church, always raised to sacrifice 

and offer; and the entire Church must unceasingly be united with them 

 and offer sacrifice through their consecrated hands...

The union at the altar,the union with the Sacrifice, 

this identification of an entire life with the Lord's ministers so that 

they might celebrate more worthily, is pure Christianity. 

It is a sublime calling—to help priests, to dedicate oneself for them. .... 

I send my Good Angel to assist all priests 

at the holy Altar. I send him to place my soul on every paten, 

to be offered there with Jesus Christ sacrificed."

Excerpts from writings of August 14, 1872...

Bl. Marie de Jésus Deluil-Martiny (1884+)

Follow it, follow Him...

"There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us." - St. John Vianney

"When you think of going to Mass on working days,

it is an impulse of the grace

that God wills to grant you.  
Follow it."

St John Vianney

...that my JOY may be full ...

  "No one will have any other desire in heaven than what God wills;

and the desire of one will be the desire of all;
and the desire of all and of each one
will also be the desire of God." - St. Anselm, Letter 112

"I adore and venerate You as much as ever I can,

though my love is so cold, my devotion so poor.

Thank You for the good gift of this

Your holy Body and Blood, which I desire to receive...

that which You promised through Your truth,
that my joy may be full…"

St. Anselm

nee Italy ~ 1033-1109

Archbishop of Canterbury

Benedictine monk, theologian, philosopher

"Father of Scholasticism"

Doctor of the Church

FEAST DAY - April 21

"O God our God, grant us grace to desire you with a whole heart,

so that desiring you we may seek and find you;

and so finding you, may love you;

and loving you may hate those sins which separate us from you,

for the sake of Jesus Christ." ~ St Anselm

 

"From the moment of her fiat 

Mary began to carry all of us in her womb." ~ St Anselm

Click here: St. Anselm - YouTube

Image above: Annunciation ~ Andrea del Sarto

St Anselm, pray for us!