Some thoughts from The Little Flower:
“Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing.”
“If I did not simply live from one moment to another, it would be impossible for me to be patient, but I only look at the present, I forget the past, and I take good care not to forestall the future.”
“Our Lord does not come from Heaven every day to stay in a golden ciborium; He comes to find another heaven, the heaven of our soul in which He loves to dwell.”
Typically remembered as curmudgeon, the Church remembers Saint Jerome, priest, monk and Doctor of the Church known for the depth of scriptural learning and his translation of the Bible into what we call the Vulgate, the Latin version of sacred Scripture. Among the many significant things Jerome was known for is his insistence on the necessity for Christians knowing the Old Testament.
The Church has experience with human nature an never fails to recognize the God-given mission of his people: Jerome is the patron saint of people with difficult personalities. You’ll notice many of the pictures of Jerome position him in the regalia of a cardinal (a position that did not exist in Jerome’s era) yet more realistic is his sacrificial life, the ascetic life for the training of all Christians to be in relationship with Christ Jesus, with others for the sake of building the Kingdom of God.
Historians tells us that Jerome was born around 340 as Eusebius Hieronymous Sophronius in present-day Croatia, and homeschooled in the Christian faith from his father and later was sent him to Rome for instruction in rhetoric and classical literature. Pope Liberius baptized Jerome in 360.
Drawn to monastic and intellectual centers of the newly Christian empire (remember that Christianity had recently become legal), he set out to learn and be formed by a proper sense of culture (focussed on the Savior) and knowing the history, language, and sacred writ. His studied under Chromatius and Heliodorus, who were outstanding teachers of orthodox theology. Both were named saints.
Saint Jerome once said, “I interpret as I should, following the command of Christ: ‘Search the Scriptures,’ and ‘Seek and you shall find.’ For if, as Paul says, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if the man who does not know Scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”
Saint Jerome died in his Bethlehem monastery in 420.
Alfred Pampalon died 121 years ago today at the age of 28. Classmates called him “the Lamb of God” as a testimony to his piety and gentleness while others called him the “Hail Mary Saint” because of his love for the Blessed Virgin Mary. Alcoholics and drug addicts and their caregivers rely on his testimony of faith and cleaning living to inspire personal change
The human and spiritual qualities of Alfred (an excellent athlete, a good student, devout, prayerful, and helpful, a desire to devote to God’s service) made him a solid candidate for priesthood. His spiritual and intellectual training couple with a great heart allowed him to be renowned as a confessor and spiritual director, especially among the poor.
Ask the Lord to make a saint of the Catholic Church. We need his intercession today. I see the need for his beatification especially there are many, many priests who are affected by the abuse of alcohol and they refuse to change their life for their own good, and the good of the Church.
In the Matins service this feast the Church prays: “Wherever your grace casts its shadow, O Captain and Archangel Michael, the Devil is driven out, for Lucifer, the fallen morning star, cannot bear to behold your light. We, therefore, beg you to quench the fiery darts he casts against us and deliver us from his temptations.”
All of us —you, me, the angels, the Son of God— have a mission given by God the Father. For a moment, let us consider the heavenly beings, the archangels.
The archangel Raphael bears a name which means God Has Healed; he appears clothed as a traveler. Raphael wears the traveler’s dress throughout the Book of Tobit because he guides young Tobias on his journey and brings God’s deliverance and healing to Tobit and Sarah. His traveler’s staff takes the form of a caduceus, indicating his special care for those engaged in healing ministries; it’s also conveying God’s healing to Tobit of his blindness. Moreover, Raphael is traditionally seen as the protector of travelers and physicians, plus having agency in bringing Tobias and Sarah together and therefore, he is often invoked by those seeking a loving marriage and a godly spouse.
The archangel Gabriel, Strength of God, is the Angel of the Annunciation, who identified himself to Zachary (Lk. 1:19) as one who stand(s) in the presence of God. He stands here closest to the Star and with his feet planted firmly on rock, for his message brings light and joy to all
the earth. In Gabriel’s left hand he holds an icon of the Theotokos of the Sign, indicating the Incarnation of the Eternal Word, the Son of God, and in his right he grips a staff surmounted by a lily, symbol of peace, a role he had of sounding the Last Trumpet (cf. Rev. 8:2-5). Christians consider Gabriel to be the angel of mercy and consolation.
Clad in armor and bearing a shimmering sword, the Archangel Michael, Who Is Like God?, is the champion of justice and angel of righteousness. Michael raises up an image of Man clothed in the white robe of Baptism, while casting into hell Satan (cf. Rev.12:7-9) and the fallen angels who serve him. In several ways Michael is like Gabriel because he is the link between the Old and New Covenants: he is invoked in time of warfare, both physical and spiritual, and to rescue souls from the clutches of the Devil, especially at the moment of death. As Pope Leo XIII reminded the Church, Michael is a powerful heavenly being in the struggle against evil.
May we revere the Archangels all the more by invoking their protection.
The psalm response for today’s Novus Ordo Mass is: “In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.” Indeed, this is our position before the Divine Majesty.
On the Novus Ordo liturgical calendar the St Michael is joined with Gabriel and Raphael. The only angels mentioned by name (though Uriel is sometimes noted as an angel). Recall, an angel is a messenger, sent, and is deputed by God for a particular purpose, hence, there is no generic angel doing vague things.
These days attention is drawn to St Michael due to his fighting the fallen angel and his minions –fighting evil in the world. He is invoked for assistance in doing spiritual battle. The image above is that of the famed church in Normandy, Mont Saint-Michel. Dedicated to the honor of St Michael it was for centuries locus of a Benedictine monastery of monks and today it is home for monastic Community of Jerusalem.
Fr. Dennis Brown writes: Gabriel patronize my intellect; Raphael patronze my will; Michael patronize my heart. Take time to reflect here.
Here is a reflection on Michael the Archangel. Pray for his intercession today (and every day).
As often as anything very mighty is to be done, we see that Michael is sent, that by that very thing, and by his name, we may remember that none is able to do as God doeth. Hence that old enemy whose pride hath puffed him up to be fain to be like unto God, even he who said, I will ascend unto heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will be like the Most High, Isa. xiv. 13, 14, this old enemy, when at the end of the world he is about to perish in the last death, having no strength but his own, is shown unto us a-fighting with Michael the Archangel, even as saith John, Apoc. xii. 7: There was war in heaven Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.
From the Sermons of Pope St. Gregory the Great.
34th on the Gospels.
The Prior of Christ the King Priory, Schuyler, Nebraska, Father Mauritius Wilde, has been appointed the next Prior at Sant’Anselmo in Rome. He will work with the recently elected Abbot Primate Gregory Polan.
Father Joel Macul is the new Prior of Schuyler community. His previous ministry saw him elected Abbot of St. Paul’s Abbey in Newton, NJ, a monastery also part of the Missionary Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien.
Visit this link to attain more info on Nebraska’s Christ the King Priory.
Father Mauritius succeeds Abbot Elias Lorenzo as Prior of Sant’Anselmo who is a monk of St Mary’s Abbey, Morristown, NJ. Lorenzo was recently elected the Abbot President of the American Cassinese Congregation.
Blessings upon Fr. Mauritius and the Community in Rome!
“The Church teaches us that mercy belongs to God. Let us implore Him to bestow on us the spirit of mercy and compassion, so that we are filled with it and may never lose it. Only consider how much we ourselves are in need of mercy.”
Saint Vincent de Paul
“If you find the life of Dorothy Day inspiring, if you want to understand what gave her direction and courage and strength to persevere, her deep attentiveness to others, consider her spiritual and sacramental life.”
These are the words of Jim Forest published in an article, “What I learned about justice from Dorothy Day,” that originally appeared in the July/August 1995 issue of Salt of the Earth magazine. This article is really good and I highly recommend it. One reason being you really do locate the source of Day’s thinking and spirituality in the Eucharistic Heart of Our Savior, Jesus. Is there really anything more to be taught/learned by way of praying before the Blessed Sacrament?
Jim Forest began his association with Dorothy Day in 1961, when he moved to New York City to join the Catholic Worker community there. Jim is the author of an excellent introduction on the life and work of Dorothy Day called All Is Grace.
Dorothy Day’s caused for sainthood has been introduced. It would be good to learn from Day on how to be an authentic Catholic and not some secularist: Go to Jesus through the example of Dorothy!
Watch this terrific video on the work of a Benedictine monk, Brother Victor Antoine d’Avila Latourrette, and the vinegars made at Our Lady of the Resurrection Monastery in Langrangeville, NY. What Brother Victor has is a very lovely ministry –a definite way of life–connected at the matrix of the spiritual life, the land and the work of human hands.
https://youtu.be/WPojukzZrek
A brand new website for St Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Church, New Haven, Connecticut.
St Michael’s is a (Byzantine) Greek Catholic Church under the Eparchy of Stamford.