Always renewed...

For I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners, says the Lord. - Matt 9:13

Prayer after Communion (Today’s Liturgy)

Sharing in that saving joy, O Lord,

with which Saint Matthew welcomed the Savior

as a guest in his home, we pray: grant that we may always

be renewed by the food we receive from Christ,

who came to call not the just, but sinners to salvation.

Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Remembering... St Matthew

Nee - Capernaum

"And he got up and followed Him" (Mt 9:9b) ...

"leaving everything behind" (Lk 5:28)

Apostle and Evangelist

"the son of Alphaeus" (Mk 2:14)
Symbols associated w/St Matthew:
 Gospel, human/angel, sword (in re: martyrdom)

FEAST DAY - September 21

 

Imitate St Matthew - get up and follow Jesus.

Then invite sinners to meet Him.

"What reason can the Teacher have for eating with tax collectors

and those who disregard the law?" —Matthew 9:11

Cause heaven to rejoice (Luke 15:7).

 

His life is somewhat shrouded, and  ... There are not many facts ... But Matthew was a publican ... Who gathered in the tax ... Until that wondrous moment in ... His native Galilee ... When Jesus came upon him, and ... He told him, "Follow me" ... And Matthew followed Jesus then  ... Wherever Jesus went ... Ignoring Pharisees and all ... The Roman government ... With eloquent sincerity ... This good apostle preached ... In distant lands wherever there ... Were souls that could be reached ... And he composed the gospel that ... Inspires us today ... To follow Jesus Christ and live ... According to His way.

From Poem Portraits of the Saints - James J Metcalfe (1956), pg 6

Click here: Web Gallery of Art, searchable fine arts image database

(see Calling of St Matthew - Carrevagio)

Discovering our Saints - St. Matthew the Apostle - YouTube

St. Matthew - YouTube (Apostleship of Prayer)

 St Matthew, pray for us! 

Liturgy: not an option...

Thou dost show me the path of life; in thy presence there is fullness of joy,

in thy right hand are pleasures evermore.  - Psalm 16:11 



“Liturgy is not an option nor merely an obligation,
not a bonus, but a need—
like food and drink, like sleep and work, like friends.

We need to gather, listen, give praise and thanks,
and share communion. 

Otherwise we forget who we are and whose we are; 
and we can have neither the strength nor the joy
to be Christ’s body—present in the world today.”       

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin

The bloom of an altar within...

For you, LORD, have never 
foresaken those who seek you. - Psalm 9:10b




"How do I prepare myself to receive the Host? 
I draw near with my soul, from the moment when I wake up. 
I call out for it with my lips, I attract it with my sighs, I long for it, I love it,
and with a thousand acts of discipline, I prepare ... for it.

My chalice is full to the brim with this lowly blood,
drawn and extracted out of love to mingle with His blood on the altar,
my Immaculate Lamb, and together they are offered
up to God's throne, asking for grace.  

Is it not an undeserved happiness and favor
to have an altar within and the freedom to be able
to do this for my Jesus without anybody knowing? 
My soul's blood, its life fluid, is also for Jesus. Power, feelings,
and my life, I place them all at the foot of the tabernacle."

Venerable Conception Cabrera de Armida (+1937)
Excerpt: Irresistibly Drawn to the Eucharist: Conchita Cabrera dr Armida's
Most Beautiful writings on the Eucharist, Fr Juan Gonzalez Gutierrez, M.Sp.S.,

Painting:  Still Life of Flowers and Grapes encircling a Monstrance in a Niche ~ Jan van Kessel

A place of heart - and home...

"Let the Church always be a place of mercy and hope,
where everyone is welcomed, loved and forgiven." - Pope Francis



"Going through the street and

passing before any church,

I will enter there...

to make a devout genuflection

to the Sacramental Jesus

and send Him an affection of the heart." 

Ven Germano Ruoppolo

Passionist priest,

Spiritual Director of St Gemma Galgani

Painting:  artist -Vincente Carducho

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

"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: St. Robert Bellarmine

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

St Robert Bellarmine, pray for us!