A hidden loveliness, beyond...

  "Through all things, by day and by night, 

in clear light or in darkness, 

let us live like the Magdalen, always under 

the eyes of Unchangeable Beauty... 

St Elizabeth of the Trinity

"In the Eucharist there is a beauty, a hidden 

loveliness, beyond the beauty of all art.  

The Lamb of God comes to the altar of His Bride 

in the glory of the Father and the Holy Spirit, 

invisibly escorted by the angels.  Only humble 

accidents veil the radiance of His flesh. 

Christ is beauty, and He becomes present to 

make us beautiful. ...Christ in all His matchless 

beauty is substantially present in the Eucharist, 

and His Church strives to worship that beauty 

with all the accidental beauty of her sacred art - 

by vestments and vessels, by chant and icons, 

by the consecrated space of her temples.  

The bride knows that no human art can be 

worthy of her Spouse, who is the eternal Son and 

Splendour of the Father.  ... the hidden beauty 

is always greater than the visible forms."

John Saward

From The Beauty of Holiness 

and the Holiness of Beauty

O Beauty, ever ancient, ever new, we love You!

Jesus in our midst, recognized...

  "Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life."

(One of the dismissal options for Holy Mass)

"If we really understand the Eucharist, if we really 

center our lives on Jesus’ Body and Blood, if we 

nourish our lives with the Bread of the Eucharist, it will 

be easy for us to see Christ in that hungry one next door, 

the one lying in the gutter, the alcoholic man we shun, 

our husband or our wife, or our restless child. For in them, 

we will recognize the distressing disguises of the poor: 

Jesus in our midst." - St Teresa of Calcutta

How glorious the cup...

    ...my cup overflows. 

 Psalm 23:5

“Look then on Jesus, the author and preserver of faith: 

in complete sinlessness He suffered, and at the hands of those

who were His own, and was numbered among the wicked. 

As you drink the cup of the Lord Jesus (how glorious it is!),

give thanks to the Lord, the giver of all blessings."

 From a letter of

St. Raymond of Peñafort

nee Spain~ 1175-1275 (Lived to 100 years old)

Lawyer, Dominican 

(contemporary of St Thomas Aquinas)

Wise and holy Confessor

Founder - Order of Our Lady of Ransom

Compiled Church's legal documents into one source (Canon Law)

Patron of Lawyers and Canon Lawyers

Feast Day - January 7

Photo above: Maj. Jeffrey Whorton, a Roman Catholic priest, celebrating Mass
at St Elijah's Monastery near Mosul in northern Iraq

"May the God of love and peace set your hearts at rest and speed you on
your journey; may He meanwhile shelter you from disturbance of others
in the hidden recesses of His love, until He brings you at last into that place
of complete plenitude where you will repose forever in the vision of peace,
in the security of trust, and in the restful enjoyment of His riches. "
- St Raymond of Peñafort

Click here: St. Raymond of Peñafort - YouTube (2 mins)
Saint Raymond of Penafort | Living the Liturgical Year for Catholics

St. Raymond of Peñafort, pray for us!

Preventing soul trouble...

 For he has delivered me from all my troubles,

and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes. 

Psalm 54:7

“What would your wife say if you were a whole month

without showing her any marks of affection? She would say

that you do not love her. You would cause trouble in your home. 

Well, when you do not receive Communion God says to Himself

that you do not love Him. And there is trouble in your soul. ...

Receive Holy Communion often. 

Our Lord cannot refuse you anything 

when He is there in your heart.

You will find strength and solace in this act.”

St. André Bessette

Canada ~ 1845-1937

Holy Cross Brother, porter

Miracle Man of Montreal

Great devotion to Eucharist and St Joseph

Feast Day - January 6

 

"I am only a man, just like you," time after time Br André Bessette reminded petitioners who came to him.  Known as a miracle worker of healing during his lifetime, this humble lay brother insisted on giving all the credit to God, the faith of those healed, and the intercession of St Joseph.  Quietly, he said, 'I will pray for you.'  Time after time, healing came. ...."He spent his whole life speaking of others to God, and of God to others," said a friend of Br André. "It is difficult to say at what point in his life work began and ended, and at what point prayer started and ended: the two seemed to flow so naturally one into the other."

St. André Bessette, pray for us!

When Alfred (later to be Brother André) Bessette came 

to the Holy Cross Brothers in 1870, he carried with him a 

note from his pastor saying, "I am sending you a saint." 

By his death, he was receiving 80,000 letters each year 

from the sick who sought his prayers and healing.  

He died in 1937, at age 91.  

A million people filed before his coffin.

“It is with the smallest brushes that the artist 

paints the most exquisitely beautiful pictures."

 St André Bessette
_____________________

"Put yourself in God's hands; 

He abandons no one." 

St André Bessette
____________________

"There is so little distance between 

heaven and earth that God always hears us. 

Nothing but a thin veil separates us from God."

St André Bessette
___________________________________

"If you ate only one meal a week would you survive?

It is the same for your soul.  

Nourish it with the Blessed Sacrament."

St André Bessette

____________________________________

Click here: St. Andre Bessette, C.S.C. - YouTube (3 mins)

______________________________

We saw his star at its rising and 

have come to do him homage.  Matt 2:2

 

“The Magi set out because of a deep desire which 

prompted them to leave everything 

and begin a journey.  

It was as though they had always been 

waiting for that star.” - Pope Benedict XVI

 

Solemnity of the Epiphany

Although the date of the Epiphany on the General Calendar of the Church 

is January 6th, in the USA and some other countries it is celebrated 

on the Sunday after January 1st so more Catholics may attend holy Mass. 

This year it was celebrated on January 4.

Rooted in the Eucharist...

    ...you will fill me with joy in your presence... 

 Psalm 16:11b

"In 1853 Neumann began the Forty Hours Devotion* on the feast of Corpus Christi in the Church of St Philip Neri.  The Forty Hours Devotion was known three centuries before Neumann's  time. ...

What Neumann did was to inaugurate it on a diocesan level.  A schedule was made calling for the devotion to be held in designated churches so as to cover the entire year.  Neumann gave great edification by the way he joined in these devotions whenever possible.  To Neumann the Forty Hours was not merely the pious practice of making visits.  To him it was the way of seeing that Catholic life in Philadelphia was rooted in the Eucharist."

Alfred C. Rush, CSSR

The Autobiography of St John Neumann, CSSR

___________________________________

*Forty Hours Devotion is a devotion in which continuous prayer is made for forty hours before the Blessed Sacrament exposed. It commonly occurs in a succession of churches, with one finishing prayers at the same time as the next takes it up. The number forty has always signified a sacred period of time: the rains during the time of Noah lasted 40 days and nights; the Jews wandered through the desert for 40 years, our Lord fasted and prayed for 40 days before beginning His public ministry. The 40 Hours Devotion remembers that traditional "forty-hour period" from our Lord's burial until the resurrection.

St John Neumann

Bohemian - 1811-1860

Redemptorist missionary - Bishop of Philadelphia

Bishop motto:  “Passion of Christ strengthen me”

Multi-lingual; Promoter of Forty Hours Devotion

Opened over 100 schools, built over 80 churches,

wrote 2 catechisms, and a Bible History +++

Patron of sick children and immigrants

Feast Day - January 5

 “Lord, teach me how to live.” 

St John Neumann

Click here: St. John Neumann, C.Ss.R. - YouTube (4 mins)
Click here: St. John Neumann - YouTube (2 mins)
About St. John Neumann | The National Shrine of St. John Neumann

St John Neumann, pray for us!

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Twelfth Day of Christmas