Tuesday 13 June, 2023

**“Heart of Jesus, bless the homes where Thy picture is exposed and honoured.“** St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Holy Face Devotion (Tuesdays): https://traditionalcatholicprayers.com/2019/11/15/devotions-to-the-holy-face-of-jesus/

James 2:24-26; Hebrews 11:31

A man pleases God by what he does, and not by Faith alone.
Rahab pleased Him when she sheltered the messengers
and sent them on their way by a different route.
– Just as a body without breath is dead,
so Faith without works is dead

By Faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies with kindness
and so escaped death.
– Just as a body without breath is dead,
so Faith without works is dead.

Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Anthony of Padua, Confessor, Doctor of the Church

SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA, CONFESSOR AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

Anthony began religious life as an Augustinian Cannon in his native Portugal. Moved by the witness of the first Franciscan martyrs, he joined the Friars Minor, hoping for martyrdom, but the sickness got him sent to the hermitage in Forli, Italy, where he performed menial tasks. He preached throughout Italy and France. Although primarily associated in devotional prayer with the finding of lost objects, Saint Anthony was also an extremely gifted preacher and teacher of God’s Word. He sought out those lost in unbelief and denial and brought them back to the fold of the Faith by the power of the Word he preached. In 1221 Saint Francis held a general chapter at Assisi; when the others dispersed, there lingered behind, unknown and neglected, a poor Portuguese Friar, resolved to ask for and to refuse nothing. Nine months later, Fra. Antonio rose under obedience to preach to the religious assembled at Forli, Anthony humbly stepped forward and delivered and addressed that stunned his listeners. As the discourse proceeded, “the Hammer of Heretics,” “the Ark of Testament,” “the eldest son of Saint Francis,” stood revealed in all his sanctity, learning, and eloquence before his rapt and astonished brethen. Devoted from earliest youth to prayer and study among the Canons Regular, Ferdinand de Bulloens, as his name was in the world, had been stirred, by the spirit and example of the first five Franciscan martyrs, to put on their habit and preach the Faith to the Moors in Africa. Denied a martyr’s palm, and enfeebled by sickness, at the age of 27 he was taking silent but merciless revenege upon himself in the humblest offices of his community. From this obscurity he was now called forth, and for nine years France, Italy, and Sicily heard his voice, saw his miracles, and men’s hearts turned to God. One night, when St. Anthony was staying with a friend in the city of Padua, his host saw brilliant rays streaming under the door of the Saint’s room, and on looking through the keyhole he beheld a little Child of marvellous beauty standing upon a book which lay open upon the table, and clinging with both arms round Anthony’s neck. With an ineffable sweetness he watched the tender caresses of the saint and his wondrous Visitor. At last the child vanished, and Fr. Antonio, opening the door, charge his friend, by the love of Him Whom he had seen, to “tell the vision to no man” as long as he was alive. Suddenly, in 1231, our saint’s brief apostolate was closed, and the voices of children were heard crying along the streets of Padua, “Our father, Saint Anthony, is dead.” The following year, the church bells of Lisbon rang without ringers, while at Rome one of its sons was inscribed among the saints of God. Both during his lifetime, and after his death in 1231, Saint Anthony became renowned as a worker of miracles, and there are few cities which do not possess a church or an altar dedicated to him.

From a sermon by Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church

Actions speak louder than words

The man who is filled with the Holy Ghost speaks in different languages. These different languages are different ways of witnessing to Christ, such as Humility, Poverty, Patience and Obedience; we speak in those languages when we reveal in ourselves these Virtues to others. Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak.We are full of words but empty of actions, and therefore are cursed by the LORD, since He Himself cursed the fig tree when He found no fruit but only leaves. Gregory says: “A law is laid upon the preacher to practice what he preaches.”It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law if he undermines its teaching by his actions.

But the Apostles spoke as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech. Happy the man whose words issue from the Holy Ghost and not from himself! For some men speak as their own character dictates, but steal the words of others and present them as their own and claim the credit for them. The LORD refers to such men and others like them in Jeremiah: So, then, I have a quarrel with the prophets that steal My words from each other. I have a quarrel with the prophets, says the LORD, who have only to move their tongues to utter oracles. I have a quarrel with the prophets who make prophecies out of lying dreams, who recount them and lead My people astray with their lies and their pretensions. I certainly never sent them or commissioned them, and they serve no good purpose for this people, says the LORD.

We should speak, then, as the Holy Ghost gives us the gift of speech. Our humble and sincere request to the Spirit for ourselves should be that we may bring the day of Pentecost to fulfillment, insofar as He infuses us with His Grace, by using our bodily senses in a perfect manner and by keeping the Commandments. Likewise we shall request that we may be filled with a keen sense of sorrow and with fiery tongues for confessing the Faith, so that our deserved reward may be to stand in the blazing splendour of the saints and to look upon the Triune God.

“Your light must shine before others”

The world is like a field, and to bear fruit there is as difficult as it is praiseworthy. How glorious is it if a Christian brings forth fruit in an open field, the world, for all too easily the twin sprouts of grace—the spirit of a life of virtue and the fragrance of a good name—wither there and die….

The power of fire overcomes all things and is not itself subdued; it imparts its action to the things it encompasses, renews everything that comes near it, and does not decrease as it spreads itself. So too does the Holy Ghost pervade all things by His Power, for He is ineffable in His might. When He enters a soul, He fills it with His fire and lets it enkindle others. All things that draw near Him feel His renewing warmth. He leads all hearts upwards to Heaven….

When it is cold, the leaves drop off the tree and one looks in vain for fruit; a proof that warmth is the good and nourishment, so to speak, of all living things. In us, that warmth is the Grace of the Holy Ghost . When it is lacking the heart of a man grows cold and ceases to bear fruit, and soon the frost of sin destroys all the life that was in him. Wisdom will never…. stay in a body that is in debt to sin (Ws 1:4).

The saints are like the stars…. They are always ready to exchange the quiet of contemplation for the works of mercy as soon as they perceive in their heart the invitation of Christ.

Saint Anthony of Padua

DAILY MEDITATION

At the appointed time, the saint (St. Anthony) arrived with the Blessed Sacrament, accompanied by many Catholics, and addressing the ass, which was held by Bonovillus, he said: “I command thee, in the name of thy Creator and my Saviour, Whom I, although an unworthy priest, carry at this moment in my hands, that you come, in all humility, and pay Him due honours.”Bonovillus, at the same time, threw down the animal’s food and called him to come and eat. But without touching the food, the ass fell down on his fore knees, and bent his head. The Catholics rejoiced at this incontestable miracle, but the heretics hid their heads and Bonovillus was converted.

St. Anthony commands a senseless animal to fall down before the Blessed Eucharist and to honour it; the animal obeys and thus honours its Creator. You have, in the Holy Sacrament, your LORD and God, your Redeemer and Judge before you. You know the command of the Most High: “The LORD thy God thou shalt adore” (Mt 4:10).“For every knee shall be bowed to Thee” (Is 45:24). The Church of Christ says to you and others: “Come, let us bow down and worship God: let us weep before God Who has created us because He is our God and we are His people.” Are you not then ashamed, if, notwithstanding all this, you conduct yourself, in the presence of the Holy Eucharist, with less reverence than an unreasonable animal? That those who are not Catholics should not manifest due honour to the Blessed Sacrament is wrong in them, but they have, at least before man, the excuse that they do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ. But how can you excuse yourself, either before God or man, you who believe in the Presence of Christ, and yet give not due honour to your God?

“If I believed,“ said, a Turkish ambassador, one day, speaking of the little respect, evinced, by some Catholics in the Church, “that my God were substantially here, I would humble myself to the ground, and if possible, even beneath it.” And what do you think, who believe it, and are still too indolent to bend your knee before your God? Do you not consider that your Divine Judge, Whom you honour, so little, will one day punish your irreverence toward Him? Reform, while you have time.

Fr Francis Xavier Weninger (d.1888)-Austrian priest, professor, and author; joined the Jesuits as a missionary preacher to the United States

Hosea 14:6; Psalm 92:13; Sirach 24:4

The just man shall blossom like the lily;
– he shall flourish for ever in the Courts of our God.

He will be praised by all of God’s chosen ones.
– He shall flourish for ever in the Courts of our God.

“The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The Tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.” – Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Daily Reflections