One of the two who followed the Lord was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, alleluia.
V. Their sound goes forth to all the earth.
R. And their speech to the end of the world.
We humbly beseech Thy majesty, O Lord, that blessed Andrew the Apostle was both a preacher and ruler of Thy Church, so that he may unceasingly intercede for us with Thee.
Let pray, on this feast of Saint Andrew, for the unity of the Christian Churches, for the See of Constantinople and the See of Rome!
Born of a noble family, Catherine was committed to her faith in Christ and made the claim she was his bride; she therefore refused the marriage proposal of the emperor. Defending her decision before 50 philosophers by making a superior argument, she was tortured by being splayed on a wheel and then beheaded.
The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking good pearls, who, when he had found one of great price, gave all that he had and bought it.
With the Church we pray,
O God, Who did give the law to Moses from the top of Mount Sinai and did miraculously convey there by Thy holy Angles the body of blessed Catherine, Thy Virgin and Martyr; we beseech Thee, grant that by virtue of her merits and intercession, we may attain to that mount which is Christ.
Poetry can be a great way of understanding life. Here is a poem by Saint Ephrem,
In Praise of Virginity
Blessed are you, virgin, with whom
the comely name of virginity grows old.
In your branches chastity built a nest;
may your womb be a nest for her dwelling place.
May the power of mercy preserve your temple.
Blessed are you, heavenly sparrow
whose nest was on the cross of light.
You did not want to build a nest on earth
lest the serpent enter and destroy your offspring.
Blessed are your wings that were able to fly.
May you come with the holy eagles
that took flight and soared from the earth below
to the bridal couch of delights.
Blessed are you, O shoot that Truth cultivated;
He engrafted your medicine into the Tree of Life.
Your fruit exults and rejoices at all times
to drink the drink of the Book of Life.
Blessed are your branches.
Blessed are you, O bride, espoused to the Living One,
you who do not long for a mortal man.
Foolish is the bride who is proud
of the ephemeral crown that will be gone tomorrow.
Blessed is your heart, captivated by love
of a beauty portrayed in your mind.
You have exchanged the transitory bridal couch
for the bridal couch whose blessings are unceasing.
Blessed are you, free woman, who sold yourself
to the Lord who became a servant for your sake!
An excerpt of a letter written 1843 by Paul Le-Bao-Tinh, shortly before his martyrdom:
I, Paul, chained for the name of Christ, wish to tell you the tribulations in which I am immersed every day, so that you, inflamed with love for God, may also lift up your praise to God, ‘for his mercy endures forever’. This prison is truly the image of the eternal Hell: to the cruelest tortures of all types, such as fetters, iron chains and bonds, are added hate, vindictiveness, calumny, indecent words, interrogations, bad acts, unjust oaths, curses and finally difficulties and sorrow. But God, who once freed the three boys from the path of the flames, is always with me and has freed me from these tribulations and converted them into sweetness, ‘for his mercy endures forever…
Assist me with your prayers so that I may struggle according to the law, and indeed ‘fight the good fight’ and that I may be worthy to fight until the end, finishing my course happily; if we do not see each other again in this life, in the future age, nonetheless, this will be our joy, when standing before the throne of the spotless Lamb, with one voice we sing his praises, exulting in the joy of eternal victory. Amen.
While musical instruments were playing, Cecilia sang to the Lord, saying:
Let my heart be undefiled, that I be not confounded.
O God, Who does gladden us by the annual solemnity of blessed Cecilia, Thy Virgin and Martyr, grant that as we venerate her by this festival we may also follow in the example of her holy life.
But Oh! What Art Can Teach,
What Human Voice Can Reach
The Sacred Organ’s Praise?
Notes Inspiring Holy Love,
Notes That Wing Their Heavenly Ways
To Mend The Choirs Above
(John Dreyden, Song for St. Cecilia’s Day, 1687.)
We have heard of many wonders in the popular talk about the holy Edmund, which we will not set down here in writing; but every one knows them. By this saint is it manifest and by others like him, that Almighty God can raise man again, in the day of judgment, incorruptible from the earth, He who preserves Edmund whole in his body until the great day, though he was made of earth. Worthy is the place for the sake of the venerable saint that men should venerate it and well provide it with God’s pure servants, to Christ’s service, because the saint is greater than men may imagine.
The English nation is not without the Lord’s saints, since in England lie such saints as this holy king, and the blessed Cuthbert, and saint Æthelthryth in Ely, and also her sister, incorrupt in body, for the confirmation of the faith. There are also many other saints among the English who work many miracles, as is widely known, to the praise of the Almighty in whom they believed. Christ shows to men, through His illustrious saints, that He is Almighty God who causes such wonders… No wonders are wrought at their sepulchres because they believe not in the living Christ; but Christ manifests to men where the true faith is, since He works such miracles by His saints widely throughout the earth; wherefore to Him be Glory ever with His Heavenly Father, and with the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen. (an excerpt from Aelfric’s Life of Saint Edmund)
A brief biography can be read here and here.
Gracious God, You filled the heart of Rose Philippine Duchesne with charity and missionary zeal, and gave her the desire to make you known among all peoples. Fill us, who honor her memory today, with that same love and zeal to extend your kingdom to the ends of the earth.
Saint Rose Philippine immigrated to the USA and was a missionary on the North American frontier. As a member of the Society of the Sacred Heart she founded convents of her order, schools and ministered to a variety of peoples. If it weren’t for her help the Jesuits would not have succeeded in settling in Missouri. Her shrine is near St. Louis, MO.
A brief note is read here.
O God, Who in the most pure heart of blessed Gertrude Thy Virgin did prepare for Thyself a well-pleasing dwelling, mercifully efface all stains from our hearts, so that they may merit worthily to be made the dwelling place of Thy divine majesty.
Saint Gertrude was not drawn to the Heart of Jesus as much as through the Heart of Jesus, to the Father, in the Holy Spirit. Her prayer is essentially Trinitarian. Her whole being is oriented ad Patrem, and this because she is united to the Son, because she has entered through the pierced Heart of the Son as through an open door, oriented and carried as it were, by the breath of the Holy Spirit.
Saint Gertrude reminds us that the entire liturgy is Trinitarian: every detail, the smallest word or gesture in the sacred liturgy is a contact with Christ. In the liturgy, nothing is insignificant. Everything is invested with sacramentality, that is, with the potential to unite us to Christ, so that through Him and with Him we might pass into the fiery embrace of the Holy Spirit and the bosom of the Father. Saint Gertrude reminds us that the liturgy — the Eucharist and other the sacraments, but also the Liturgy of the Hours — is more than a complex of words and chants, rites and gestures. (courtesy of MDMK)
Saint Gertrude’s Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Hail! O Sacred Heart of Jesus, living and quickening source of eternal life, infinite treasure of the Divinity, and burning furnace of divine love. You are my refuge and my sanctuary, O my amiable Savior.
Consume my heart with that burning fire with which Yours is ever inflamed. Pour down on my soul those graces which flow from Your love, and let my heart be so united with Yours, that our wills may be one, and mine in all things, be conformed to Yours. May Your divine will be equally the standard and rule of all my desires and of all my actions. Amen.
Saint Gertrude on friendship
One day between Easter and Ascension I went into the garden before [Office of] Prime, and sitting down beside the pond, I began to consider what a pleasant place it was. I was charmed by the clear water and flowing streams, the fresh green of the surrounding trees, the birds flying so freely about, especially the doves. But most of all, I loved the quiet, hidden peace of this secluded retreat.
I asked myself what more was needed to complete my happiness in a place that seemed to me so perfect, and I reflected that it was the presence of a friend, intimate, affectionate, wise, and companionable, to share my solitude.
The first American citizen canonized a saint in 1946, Mother Cabrini founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Her shrine is in Washington Heights, New York City.
Inspired by the grace of God, we join the saints in honoring the holy virgin Frances Xavier Cabrini. She was a humble woman who became outstanding not because she was famous or rich or powerful, but because she lived a virtuous life. From the tender years of her youth, she kept her innocence as white as a lily and preserved it carefully with the thorns of penitence; as the years progressed, she was moved by a certain instinct and supernatural zeal to dedicate her whole life to the service and greater glory of God.
She welcomed delinquent youths into safe homes, and taught them to live upright and holy lives. She consoled those who were in prison, and recalled to them the hope of eternal life. She encouraged prisoners to reform themselves, and to live honest lives.
She comforted the sick and the infirm in the hospitals, and diligently cared for them. She extended a friendly and helping hand especially to immigrants, and offered them necessary shelter and relief, for having left their homeland behind, they were wandering about in a foreign land with no place to turn for help. Because of their condition, she saw that they were in danger of deserting the practice of Christian virtues and their Catholic faith.
Undoubtedly she accomplished all this through the faith which was always so vibrant and alive in her heart; through the divine love which burned within her; and finally, through constant prayer by which she was so closely united with God from whom she humbly asked and obtained whatever her human weakness could not obtain. Although her constitution was very frail, her spirit was endowed with such singular strength that, knowing the will of God in her regard, she permitted nothing to impede her from accomplishing what seemed beyond her strength.
From a homily at the canonization of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini by Pope Pius XII
God our Father, you called Frances Xavier Cabrini from Italy to serve the immigrants of America. By her example teach us concern for the stranger, the sick, and the frustrated. By her prayers help us to see Christ in all the men and women we meet.
I solemnly tell you: those who have left everything and followed me will be repaid a
hundredfold and will gain eternal life. (Matthew 19:27-29)
Lord our God, through the blessed abbot Theodore, You restored the beauty and discipline of monastic observance. By his help and example may we conformed to the sufferings of Christ through endurance also share in his glory.
The Church prays,
O God, who were magnified in the life of Saint Martin as in his death, renew the wonders of your grace in our hearts, so that neither death nor life may separate us from your love.
Adrienne von Speyr’s vision of Saint Martin of Tours (a.d. 316-400) …
His soul is childlike and good and has something so immediately genuine about it, above all so unspoiled, it is as if he had preserved the faith he had as a child, as if he had never had any bad experiences as all in his life. To be sure, he has experience with sin; he knows how bad people are, but he sees them so much in the light of the Lord’s offer of grace that grace is more visible to him than sin is, and he is moved more profoundly by grace than by the possibility of sin. He is like the child in the fairytale who can see only the good fairies and overlooks everything with others and does not even consider the possibility that someone might refuse his offer to share. Like a child who plays around with someone, tells him stories, and is certain his will delight his hearer as much as they delighted him. Thus, he brings all his concerns before God with the awareness that God will hear them. And God constantly hears him, because Christ regards him as one of the little ones whom he invites and calls to himself. He cannot turn down a single request of his. His prayer is good and full of love, and he does not have to lead himself into prayer or be led; his entire life is prayer. His vocal prayer and his contemplation are only sections of this life, which as a whole is a prayer. When he pauses in his work and prays, then it is as if he wanted to rest for a bit and gather a few directions for the next section of life. Even his work in the Church is a labor of love, of love for God and for his neighbor. He occasionally suffers because of the Church, but almost in an impersonal way, that is, not in the sense that certain particular occasions cause it, but from the outset within the Lord’s suffering. And he always imagines that the Lord suffers much more from the thing than Martin himself suffers at the moment.
(And what is his death like?) I see anxieties regarding death. And afterward, in the midst of dying, perfect surrender. Perhaps it is also the case that these anxieties in part are a substitute for the anxieties of which he otherwise had so little experience in his life.
(Book of Saints, 2008)