Friday, July 6, 2018

Cor mundum crea in me, Deus...

Cor mundum crea in me, Deus.
Create a clean heart in me, O God. -  Psalm 51:10

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COMMUNION Antiphon (Today's Liturgy)
The Lamb who is at the center of the throne
will lead them to the springs of the waters of life. - Rev 7:17

PRAYER after COMMUNION (Today's Liturgy)
 O God, who bestowed on blessed Saint Maria Goretti
a crown among the Saints
for her twofold triumph of virginity and martyrdom,
grant, we praythrough the power of this Sacrament,
that, bravely overcoming every evil, 
we may attain the glory of heaven.  Through Christ our Lord.


St Maria Goretti
Italy ~ 1890 -1902
Martyr at age 12 in defense of her virginity
Patron of Youth and Victims of Rape
Feast Day - July 6

 

"Even if she had not been a martyr,
she would still have been a saint,
so holy was her everyday life."Cardinal Salotti

 St Maria Goretti, pray for us! 

"Parent can learn from her story how to raise their God-given 

children in virtue, courage and holiness; they can learn to train
them in the Catholic faith so that, when put to the test,
God's grace will support them and they will come through
undefeated, unscathed and untarnished."
~ Pope Ven Pius XII: homily, canonization Mass of St Maria Goretti (1950)
 

Thursday, July 5, 2018

Unfurl your flags...

 Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.
One dismissal formula option for the Order of the Mass. Another:
Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.

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"Unfurl your flags
for Jesus Crucified
is about to send you
to proclaim everywhere
the vital energy of the Spirit."

St Anthony Mary Zaccaria
Italy ~ 1502- 1539
Physician, Priest
Powerful preacher - in Church, on the streets
Reformer, promoter of Eucharistic Adoration
Introduced bells of Church to ring at 3 PM on Fridays
Founder of Barnabites (men) and Angelics (women)
Incorrupt
FEAST DAY - July 5

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 "Come on, Brothers! let us run like madmen 
not only toward God but toward our neighbor, as well.  
It is our neighbor alone that can receive what we cannot give God,
who does not need anything from us." ~ St Anthony Mary Zaccaria

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(by Barnabite Order, 6 mins - excellent)
(Apostleship of Prayer - 2 mins)


St Anthony Zaccaria, pray for us!

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Verso l'alto - "To the heights!"...

...everlasting joy will crown their heads. 
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away. - Isaiah 35: 10

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"I urge you with all the strength of my soul
to approach the Eucharist Table
as often as possible.

Feed on this Bread of the Angels
from which you will draw the strength
to fight inner struggles."

 
Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati
Italy ~ 1901-1925
"Man of the Eight Beatitudes"
Patron of World Youth Days
Incorrupt
Motto:  Verso l'alto - "To the heights!"
Feast  Day – July 4
 


“To live without faith, without a patrimony to defend,
without a steady struggle for truth, that is not living,
but merely existing; we must never just "exist". - Bl Pier-Giorgio

*To this day, Frassati's body remains incorrupt:   "When they opened 
Pier Giorgio´s tomb in 1981, his body was perfectly preserved,"
recalled one witness. "He had a smile on his face and a rosary in his hands.
It was like meeting him for the first time."


4th of July: Blessed Independence Day:
Let freedom ring !

 
 

Today we make again our own
The hope which Christ, our life, has sown:
In fertile fields and streets of stone,
Let freedom ring!
 
Where Justice works amid the weed
Of rampart want and choking greed,
To loose the voice of human need,
Let freedom ring!
 
Where Mercy's fingers, slashed and torn,
Untangle love from twisted thorn
Of anger, disbelief and scorn,
Let freedom ring!
 
Where hearts imprisoned toil and weep,
Our founders' dreams still trouble sleep
With harvests we have yet to reap:
Let freedom ring!
 
In Christ, we tend what God has planned,
With justice, mercy, truth in hand
Till joy sings out through all the land:
Let freedom ring!


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 "True freedom is to live always and everywhere 
for the sake of the love of God." - Pope Francis

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

My Lord and my God! ...

How right they are to adore you! - Song of Songs 1:4

“Is not this gazing upon the Eucharistic Saviour
a magnificent profession of our faith in the
Divinity of Christ, such as was made by
the incredulous Thomas?  When St. Thomas said,
‘My Lord and my God!’ (see John 20:24-28)
we may be sure he did not keep
his eyes cast down, but looked with open
and sincere gaze into the eyes of his Master." 

Servant of God, Fr. Lukas Etlin, O.S.B. (+1927)
 
Detail - The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (Caravaggio)

St Thomas the Apostle
Apostle, Martyr (+74)
Carried/fearlessly preached the Gospel to India
SW coast of India call themselves: "Christians of St Thomas"
Martyred in India: pierced from swords of four soldiers
Feast Day - July 3



Besides tradition, we have the witness of Saints and Fathers of the Church that St. Thomas preached in India. The following powerful quote is from St. Ephraim the Syrian, in a writing on the devil. He discusses the power of the Apostles through Christ from the devil's perspective:

"The evil one wails, "Where then can I flee from the righteous? I incited Death to kill the apostles as if to escape from their scourges by their death. More than ever now I am scourged harshly. The apostle I killed in India (has come) to Edessa before me. Here is he and also there. I went there, there he is. Here and there I found him, and I am gloomy. Did that merchant carry the bones? Or perhaps, indeed, they carried him!"  

 St Thomas the Apostle, pray for us!

Monday, July 2, 2018

The JOY of the Church...

You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the Precious Blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. - I Peter 1:18-19


"Preach often on the 
power of the Precious Blood 
received in Holy Communion.  
Tell souls that the Most Precious Blood of Jesus is ...

·   the price of our redemption,
·   the salvation of the world,
·   the glory of the Holy Sacrifice,
·   the vesture of Christ's priesthood,
·   the beauty of His altar,
·   the splendour of His saints,
·   the defeat of Satan,
·   the reconciliation of sinners,
·   the healing of those wounded by the evil serpent,
·   the shining purity of priests,
·   the life of those who follow the Lamb,
·   the peace of the troubled,
·   the remedy for every ill,
·   the soul's desire,
·   the astonishment of the angels,
·   and the joy of the Church."


Dom Mark Daniel Kirby, OSB
Conventual Prior of Silverstream Priory
in Stamullen,County Meath, Ireland
Excerpt of Blog entry, "Be the priest of His Precious Blood"
Full text:
Be the priest of His Precious Blood, | Vultus Christi