Saints, Feast, Family
- Traditions passed down with Cooking, Crafting, & Caring -
April 21
Saint of the day:
Fourth Sunday after Easter
·
Start Total Consecration to Mary April 21 to end
on May 24, the feast of Mary, Help of Christians
Job, Chapter 6, Verse 14
A friend owes kindness to one in
despair, though he has forsaken the FEAR
of the Almighty.
Job
now speaks and goes on to chide his frienemies for not giving kindness to him
when he is destitute. Even the ungodly treat their friend with respect. I can
imagine that when Job was at his height of power and prestige before the
devil’s attack; his friends were sucking up to him and fondling his ego to
great extremes but now they have nothing but contempt for him. True friends are
faithful to the end. Job longs for a true friend.
We
should reflect on this that Job longed for what we have received by the grace
of God; an intimate relationship with Him via the Holy Spirit and the action of
the Son of God; Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ is our true friend and our
closest ally he will never abandon us.
Let
us not wait until the end to discover this; trying to make a death-bed
repentance.
Lessons
upon Death-Bed Repentance[1]
Can the sinner rely upon being
converted at the end of his life?
By no means, for this would be to sin against the
mercy of God, which is much the same as the sin against the Holy Ghost. “God”
says St. Augustine, “usually punishes such sinners by allowing them at the last
to forget themselves, who in the days of their health and strength have allowed
themselves to forget Him.” God Himself also says: “They have turned their back
to Me and not their face, and in the time of their affliction they will say,
Arise and deliver us. Where are thy gods whom thou hast made thee? Let them
arise and deliver thee in the time of thy affliction”. It is true we have a
consoling example of conversion at the moment of death in the penitent thief,
but, as St. Augustine further says, while this one example is given so that no
sinner may despair, it is the only one, so that no sinner may defer repentance
through presumption.
What may we hope for those who are
converted at the close of life?
Everything
that is good, if they be really converted; but this is a most rare thing. Of
the hundreds of thousands whose lives have been wicked,” writes St. Jerome,
“hardly one will be converted at the hour of death and obtain forgiveness of
his sins.” And St. Vincent Ferrer says it would be a greater miracle for a
person who has lived wickedly to die well than for one who is dead to be
restored to life. And no wonder; for repentance at the hour of death is
generally but an extorted repentance. It is not so much that the sinner
forsakes his sins as that his sins forsake him; and the resolution of amendment
is one which he would hardly make, were he not driven to it by the agonies of
death.
What is there to expect from such a
repentance? When, therefore, ought we to do penance?
While we are in possession of our reason and strength;
for, as St. Augustine says, the repentance of the sick is a sickly repentance.
In time of sickness, as experience teaches, the pains of disease, the hope of
recovery, the fear of death, the torments of conscience, the temptations of the
devil, and the care of all depending on him, so continually distract a man that
he can hardly collect his thoughts at all, much less bestow them upon a work of
a true repentance. If to many it is so difficult to do penance while they are
yet in health and hindered by nothing from raising their thoughts to God, how
much more difficult will it be when the body has already become weak! We have
heard a number of persons who had been sick admit after their recovery that
they had no knowledge of what happened to them during their illness, and even
had no recollection of having received the holy sacraments. Accordingly, Isaias
admonishes us: “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He
is near. And Christ says: You shall seek Me and shall not find Me, and you
shall die in your sin” (John vii. 34; viii. 21). If, therefore, you have
committed mortal sin, delay not to return to God, by perfect contrition and a
good confession. Put it not off from one day to another; for repentance thereby
becomes more and more difficult; for, as St. Gregory says, one unrepented sin
by its own weight impels a man to still further sins, and all the while makes
him the weaker, and his adversary, the devil, the stronger; so that at last he
cannot be converted without the extraordinary grace of God. But how can the
presumptuous sinner expect such grace? God will laugh in his destruction, in
like manner as he has despised His instruction, counsel, and reproof (Prov. i.
26-28). “Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good” (Gal. vi. 10), for
who knows whether we may not be suddenly prevented, by severe sickness, from
working out our salvation!
ON KEEPING THE LORD'S DAY HOLY[2]
CHAPTER III
DIES ECCLESIAE
The Eucharistic Assembly:
Heart of Sunday
The Eucharistic assembly
33.
At Sunday Mass, Christians relive with particular intensity the experience of
the Apostles on the evening of Easter when the Risen Lord appeared to them as
they were gathered together (cf. Jn 20:19). In a sense, the People of
God of all times were present in that small nucleus of disciples, the first
fruits of the Church. Through their testimony, every generation of believers
hears the greeting of Christ, rich with the messianic gift of peace, won by his
blood and offered with his Spirit: "Peace be with you!" Christ's
return among them "a week later" (Jn 20:26) can be seen as a
radical prefiguring of the Christian community's practice of coming together
every seven days, on "the Lord's Day" or Sunday, in order to profess
faith in his Resurrection and to receive the blessing which he had promised:
"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe" (Jn
20:29). This close connection between the appearance of the Risen Lord and the
Eucharist is suggested in the Gospel of Luke in the story of the two disciples
of Emmaus, whom Christ approached and led to understand the Scriptures and then
sat with them at table. They recognized him when he "took the bread, said
the blessing, broke it and gave it to them" (24:30). The gestures of Jesus
in this account are his gestures at the Last Supper, with the clear allusion to
the "breaking of bread", as the Eucharist was called by the first
generation of Christians.
Good Shepard Sunday[3]
I am the good shepherd.
A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a
shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the
sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he
works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I
know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;
and I will lay down my life for the sheep (Jn 10:11-15).
Today
is the World Day of
Prayer for Vocations.
Fourth
Sunday after Easter[4] A description of
the meekness and patience of Christ's flock and an explanation of the necessity
of the Ascension.
THE
Introit of the Mass of to-day is a song of praise and thanksgiving.
Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle,
alleluia, for the Lord hath done wonderful things, alleluia. He hath revealed
His justice in the sight of the gentiles, alleluia, alleluia. His right hand
hath wrought for Him salvation, and His arm is holy.
Prayer.
O God, Who dost unite the hearts of
the faithful in one will, grant to Thy people to love what Thou commandest, and
to desire what Thou dost promise, that among the changes of this world our
hearts may be fixed on that place where true joys reside.
EPISTLE. James i. 17-21.
Dearly
Beloved: Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down
from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change, nor shadow of
alteration. For of His own will hath He begotten us by the word of truth, that
we might be some beginning of His creatures. You know, my dearest brethren. And
let every man be swift to hear but slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the
anger of man worketh not the justice of God. Wherefore casting away all
uncleanness, and abundance of naughtiness, with meekness receive the engrafted
word, which is able to save your souls.
Practice.
In
this epistle the Church teaches us that every good gift comes from God. But the
most precious gift is, that He of His grace through the doctrines and
institutions of Christianity, has made us new men, children of God, and heirs
of the kingdom of heaven. The Church admonishes us, further, to walk worthy of
this grace; to love God as our Father, to listen to His word willingly, without
complaining when He chastises us, and to shun all impurity, anger, and
multiplicity of words, in which “there shall not want sin” (Prov. x. 19).
Aspiration.
Help me, O God, to preserve the
grace received in baptism; give me, therefore, a great love for Thy word.
Deliver me from all inordinate passions, that I may walk worthy of Thee, purely
and with patience.
GOSPEL. John xvi. 5-14.
At that time Jesus said to His
disciples: I go to Him that sent Me; and none of you asketh Me: Whither goest
Thou? But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow hath filled your
heart. But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go: for if I go
not, the Paraclete will not come to you: but if I go, I will send Him to you.
And when He is come, He will convince the world of sin, and of justice, and of
judgment; of sin: because they believed not in Me. And of justice: because I go
to the Father: and you shall see Me no longer. And of judgment: because the
prince of this world is already judged. I have yet many things to say to you:
but you cannot bear them now. But when He the Spirit of truth is come, He will
teach you all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself; but what things soever
He shall hear, He shall speak, and the things that are to come He shall show
you. He shall glorify Me because He shall receive of Mine and shall show it to
you.
Why
did Jesus say, “I go to My Father”?
To reprove
His disciples for giving way to excessive sorrow over His departure, which was
to be the means of purifying and strengthening their virtue, and of perfecting
the work of redemption, for them and for all the world. Learn from this, not to
give way to too much sorrow in adversity.
How
has the Holy Ghost convinced the world of sin, of justice, and of judgment?
He has
convinced the world:
1.
of
sin, by making the Jews know and lament the monstrous crime which they
committed against Christ, and this He effected particularly at Pentecost.
2.
Of
justice, by teaching the innocence and holiness of Jesus, on account of which
God gave Him a kingdom, and required men to worship Him as the true God.
3.
Of
judgment, by everywhere overcoming the prince of darkness, destroying his
kingdom, casting down the temples of idolatry, and in their place, by seemingly
weak means, establishing the kingdom of truth and virtue.
How
does the Holy Ghost teach all truths?
By
preserving the pastors and teachers of the Church from all errors, in their
teaching of faith and morals, and by instructing each member of the Church in
the truths of salvation.
Aspiration.
Whither am I going? Will my life
bring me to God? O my God and my Lord direct my feet in the way of Thy commandments,
and keep my heart free from sin, that the Holy Ghost, finding nothing in me
worthy of punishment, may teach me all truth, and bring me safely to Thee, Who
art the eternal truth. Amen.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER
SECTION ONE-PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
CHAPTER ONE-THE REVELATION OF PRAYER - THE
UNIVERSAL CALL TO PRAYER
Article 3-IN THE AGE OF THE CHURCH
IV. Prayer of Thanksgiving
2637 Thanksgiving characterizes
the prayer of the Church which, in celebrating the Eucharist, reveals and
becomes more fully what she is. Indeed, in the work of salvation, Christ sets
creation free from sin and death to consecrate it anew and make it return to
the Father, for his glory. The thanksgiving of the members of the Body
participates in that of their Head.
2638 As in the prayer of
petition, every event and need can become an offering of thanksgiving. the
letters of St. Paul often begin and end with thanksgiving, and the Lord Jesus
is always present in it: "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is
the will of God in Christ Jesus for you"; "Continue steadfastly in
prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving."
PRAYERS AND TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Memorare
(in time of need)[5]
REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it
known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy
intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O
Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful
and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in
thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.
Claire's
Corner
Today is National Tea Day
22 Best Spots for Afternoon Tea Across The
US
Daily
Devotions
·
Today in honor of the
Holy Trinity do the Divine Office giving your day to God. To honor God REST: no
shopping after 6 pm Saturday till Monday. Don’t forget the internet.
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: For
the intercession of the angels and saints
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
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