Go to Mass in honor of Jesus' Grandma-St. Ann
Saints, Feast, Family
- Traditions passed down with Cooking, Crafting, & Caring -
July 26
Saint of the day:
Patron Saints of Grandparents
NIC’s Corner-Bucket List-Take an Alaskan Cruise
Indeed, goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the LORD for endless days. Psalm 23:6
· Let Freedom Ring Day 20 Freedom from Lack of Trust in God's Providence
· Summer Olympics start today
I am exalted among the nations,
exalted on the earth.” Psalm 46:11
Friday-Feast of Saint Ann
Joshua, Chapter 4, Verse 23-24
23
For the LORD, your
God, dried up the waters of the Jordan in front of you until you crossed over,
just as the LORD, your God, had done at the Red Sea, drying it up in front of
us until we crossed over, 24
in order that all the
peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, and that you
may FEAR the LORD, your God, forever.”
Often,
we are afraid of shadows but when are eyes are fixed on the promise of God we
are filled with optimism. When Joshua crossed the Jordan, he had a
representative from each tribe take up a stone from the river to immortalize
the day God stopped the Jordan and to recall the day Israel received the
promise of God. So today I would like you to reflect on what have been the 12
most memorial events for you in the past year to focus ourselves on the light
rather than the shadows.
So,
what are the 12 memorial stones of your life you would like to present to the
Lord? Are there some areas where you need help from the Lord to be successful?
1.
Emotional: How have I grown in love?
2.
Mental: Have I developed any new
paradigms?
3.
Physical: Have I overcome a physical
weakness?
4.
Spiritual: Have I developed Holy Fear and
walked with the Lord? Have I developed any new virtues?
5.
Career: Have I progressed in my career or
aided someone in theirs?
6.
Family: Have I had family successes and
been open to new life?
7.
Financial: Have I made progress in
stewardship of the resources that God has given me?
8.
Learning: Has my mind been open to the Lord
and new learning?
9.
Community: Has there been success in areas
where I work with my local community?
10. Church: Has there been growth in my
participation with my parish?
11. Environment: Have I done my part to be
environmentally responsible?
12. Companionship: Have I listened, been nurturing,
and positive?
Remember
when you finish reflecting to thank the Lord for your successes and have a
grateful heart.
Feast of Saint Ann,
Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary[1]
ALL that we know of St. Ann is that she was married to St.
Joachim of the tribe of David, and lived with him in all virtue and piety, but
for a long time was childless. This she bore with all patience, till at last
the Lord heard her supplications, and made her the mother of the most blessed
Virgin. This distinction on the part of God is praise enough for her. On this
account the faithful have always shown great veneration for her, and
continually invoke her intercession. “Let us all rejoice in the Lord, keeping
festival in honor of St. Ann, on whose solemnity the angels rejoice, and with
one voice praise the Son of God. My heart hath uttered a good word; I speak my
works to the King.”
Prayer.
O God, Who wast pleased
to confer upon St. Ann the grace whereby she became the mother of her who
brought forth Thine only-begotten Son, mercifully grant that we, who keep her
festival, may, through her intercession, find help with Thee.
Aspiration to St.
Ann.
Hail, O blessed
mother Ann! Blessed art thou, who, for our consolation, didst bear the Mother
of our Redeemer. With the greatest veneration, therefore, and full of
confidence, we approach thee, beseeching thee that thou wouldst supplicate our
divine Savior to bestow upon us the graces which we need to follow thy ardent
devotion, thy fear of God, and to render us worthy one day to behold in heaven
the blessed fruit of thy virgin daughter’s womb, Jesus, and to rejoice forever
in the contemplation of Him.
The
Mysterious Relics of Saint Anne[2]
On Easter AD 792,
Charlemagne discovered the relics of Saint Anne. Below is the account,
preserved in the correspondence of Pope Saint Leo III, concerning the
mysterious discovery of the relics of Saint Anne.
Fourteen years after Our
Lord’s death, Saint Mary Magdalen, Saint Martha, Saint Lazarus, and the others
of the little band of Christians who were piled into a boat without sails or
oars and pushed out to sea to perish — in the persecution of the Christians by
the Jews of Jerusalem — were careful to carry with them the tenderly loved body
of Our Lady’s mother. They feared lest it be profaned in the destruction, which
Jesus had told them was to come upon Jerusalem.
When, by the power of God,
their boat survived and finally drifted to the shores of France, the little
company of saints buried Saint Anne’s body in a cave, in a place called Apt, in
the south of France.
The church, which was
later built over the spot, fell into decay because of wars and religious
persecutions, and as the centuries passed, the place of Saint Anne’s tomb was
forgotten.
The long years of peace,
which Charlemagne’s wise rule gave to southern France, enabled the people to
build a magnificent new church on the site of the old chapel at Apt.
Extraordinary and painstaking labor went into the building of the great
structure, and when the day of its consecration arrived, the beloved
Charlemagne, little suspecting what was in store for him, declared himself
happy indeed to have journeyed so many miles to be present for the holy
occasion. At the most solemn part of the ceremonies, a boy of fourteen, blind,
deaf and dumb from birth — and usually quiet and impassive — to the amazement
of those who knew him, completely distracted the attention of the entire
congregation by becoming suddenly tremendously excited. He rose from his seat,
walked up the aisle to the altar steps, and to the consternation of the whole
church, struck his stick resoundingly again and again upon a single step. His
embarrassed family tried to lead him out, but he would not budge. He continued
frantically to pound the step, straining with his poor muted senses to impart a
knowledge sealed hopelessly within him.
The eyes of the people
turned upon the emperor, and he, apparently inspired by God, took the matter
into his own hands. He called for workmen to remove the steps. A subterranean
passage was revealed directly below the spot, which the boy’s stick had indicated.
Into this passage the blind lad jumped, to be followed by the emperor, the
priests, and the workmen. They made their way in the dim light of candles, and
when, farther along the passage, they came upon a wall that blocked further
advance, the boy signed that this also should be removed. When the wall fell,
there was brought to view still another long, dark corridor. At the end of
this, the searchers found a crypt, upon which, to their profound wonderment, a
vigil lamp, alight and burning in a little walled recess, cast a heavenly
radiance. As Charlemagne and his afflicted small guide, with their companions,
stood before the lamp, its light went out. And at the same moment, the boy,
blind and deaf and dumb from birth, felt sight and hearing and speech flood
into his young eyes, his ears, and his tongue.
“It is she! It is she!” he
cried out. The great emperor, not knowing what he meant, nevertheless repeated
the words after him. The call was taken up by the crowds in the church above,
as the people sank to their knees, bowed in the realization of the presence of
something celestial and holy. The crypt at last was opened, and a casket was
found within it. In the casket was a winding sheet, and in the sheet were
relics, and upon the relics was an inscription that read, “Here lies the body
of Saint Anne, mother of the glorious Virgin Mary.” The winding sheet, it was
noted, was of eastern design and texture. Charlemagne, overwhelmed, venerated
with profound gratitude the relics of the mother of Heaven’s Queen.
Things to
Do[3]
·
See more about the Shrine
of Sainte Anne de Beaupré in Quebec, Canada. Several relics of St. Anne are also located in this shrine. Take a
video tour of the Shrine here accompanied by beautiful Gregorian chant.
·
Foods related to St. Ann and Joachim: It
seems shellfish, particularly lobster, is one traditional type of food served
in France for this feast day.
o Catholic
Recipe: Langouste a la Creme (Lobster with Cream)
The
Modern Church Also Honors Saint Joachim on this day.[4]
St. Joachim, the father of the Blessed Virgin, was a native of Nazareth,
a little town in Galilee. His parents, though occupying a humble position in
the world, were descendants of the holy king David. It was not without
inspiration that, at his circumcision, the name of Joachim was given him; it
means “Preparation for the Lord,” or, as others translate it, a preparation for
the arrival of the Lord. It has been understood by many to signify that he
would have a daughter whom he would prepare, by a holy education, to be the
mother of Our Lord. Arriving at the years of manhood, he married Anna, a
virtuous and chaste maiden of Bethlehem, whom, without doubt, God gave special
graces, as she was chosen by Him to be the mother of the Queen of Heaven.
Joachim and Anna continued, after their union, to serve God with the greatest
fidelity. The most perfect charity and harmony reigned in their dwelling. They
had divided their possessions into three parts.
The first they devoted exclusively to the honor of God and to the
adornment of the Temple; the second, to the poor; and the third they kept for
themselves. One thing saddened the lives of Joachim and Anna. They had been
married many years without being blessed with a child, and their advancing age
made them despair of ever having one. Barrenness was considered a great
disgrace and Joachim lived under that cross for many years. He never ceased to
implore God with tears, prayers, and fasts to remove it from him; but it seemed
that he was not heard, which gave him great grief. He, however, never murmured
against the Almighty, but, submitting to His will, continued his prayer. It is
also believed that he and his spouse made a vow that, if they were blessed with
a child, they would consecrate it to His service. St. Epiphanius relates that,
one day, while St. Joachim was praying, an angel appeared to him and assured
him that God had heard his prayer, and that a daughter should be given him, who
would become the mother of the promised Messiah. The angel informed him also of
the name which God had destined for her. When he heard this, the joy of St.
Joachim was beyond all description. He went immediately to tell his spouse of
it, who, according to some authors, had received the same revelation. Both gave
fervent thanks to the Almighty and praised His mercy. The angel’s prophecy was
fulfilled, and St. Anna gave birth to a daughter, who was born free from the
stain of original sin, full of the Holy Spirit, blessed above all women, and
destined by heaven to be the mother of the only begotten Son of God. St.
Joachim, renewing his thanks to the Almighty, redoubled his zeal in His
service. As soon as the lawful time arrived, St. Joachim and his holy spouse
carried their new-born child into the temple and offered her with great
devotion to God, redeemed her again according to the custom, and returned with
her to their home. Three years they kept their daughter with them, after which
they brought the tender child, who was, however, gifted with the full use of
mind, into the Temple of Jerusalem, and having consecrated her, with the usual
ceremonies, to the service of the Almighty, gave her in charge of the priests
for education and instruction. In this manner, St. Joachim fulfilled his vow
and showed how truly he loved God. For although his love for his daughter, no
doubt, surpassed the love of most parents for their children, yet he deprived
himself of that which was most dear to him on earth and consecrated it to the
Most High. It cannot be doubted that God rewarded his self-sacrificing love
with great graces and favors. After having made this sacrifice to the Almighty,
Joachim and Anna lived for many years in great sanctity. It is believed that
St. Joachim expired in the eightieth year of his age.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Day 42
II. CREATION - WORK OF THE HOLY TRINITY
290 "In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth": three things are affirmed in
these first words of Scripture: the eternal God gave a beginning to all that
exists outside of himself; he alone is Creator (the verb "create" -
Hebrew bara - always has God for its subject). the totality of what exists
(expressed by the formula "the heavens and the earth") depends on the
One who gives it being.
291 "In the beginning was
the Word. . . and the Word was God. . . all things were made through him, and
without him was not anything made that was made." The New Testament
reveals that God created everything by the eternal Word, his beloved Son. In
him "all things were created, in heaven and on earth.. . all things were
created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things
hold together." The Church's faith likewise confesses the creative
action of the Holy Spirit, the "giver of life", "the Creator
Spirit" (Veni, Creator Spiritus), the "source of every good".
292 The Old Testament suggests
and the New Covenant reveals the creative action of the Son and the
Spirit, inseparably one with that of the Father. This creative
co-operation is clearly affirmed in the Church's rule of faith: "There
exists but one God. . . he is the Father, God, the Creator, the author, the
giver of order. He made all things by himself, that is, by his Word and by his
Wisdom", "by the Son and the Spirit" who, so to speak, are
"his hands". Creation is the common work of the Holy Trinity.
III. "THE WORLD WAS
CREATED FOR THE GLORY OF GOD"
293 Scripture and Tradition
never cease to teach and celebrate this fundamental truth: "The world was
made for the glory of God." St. Bonaventure explains that God created
all things "not to increase his glory, but to show it forth and to
communicate it", for God has no other reason for creating than his
love and goodness: "Creatures came into existence when the key of love
opened his hand." The First Vatican Council explains:
This one,
true God, of his own goodness and "almighty power", not for
increasing his own beatitude, nor for attaining his perfection, but in order to
manifest this perfection through the benefits which he bestows on creatures,
with absolute freedom of counsel "and from the beginning of time, made out
of nothing both orders of creatures, the spiritual and the corporeal. . ."
294 The glory of God consists
in the realization of this manifestation and communication of his goodness, for
which the world was created. God made us "to be his sons through Jesus
Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious
grace", for "the glory of God is man fully alive; moreover man's
life is the vision of God: if God's revelation through creation has already
obtained life for all the beings that dwell on earth, how much more will the
Word's manifestation of the Father obtain life for those who see
God." The ultimate purpose of creation is that God "who is the
creator of all things may at last become "all in all", thus
simultaneously assuring his own glory and our beatitude."
IV. THE MYSTERY OF CREATION
God creates by wisdom and love
295 We believe that God created
the world according to his wisdom. It is not the product of any necessity
whatever, nor of blind fate or chance. We believe that it proceeds from God's
free will; he wanted to make his creatures share in his being, wisdom and
goodness: "For you created all things, and by your will they existed and
were created." Therefore the Psalmist exclaims: "O LORD, how
manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all"; and "The
LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has
made." God creates "out of nothing"
296 We believe that God needs
no pre-existent thing or any help in order to create, nor is creation any sort
of necessary emanation from the divine substance. God creates freely
"out of nothing":
If God
had drawn the world from pre-existent matter, what would be so extraordinary in
that?
A human artisan makes from a given material whatever he
wants, while God shows his power by starting from nothing to make all he wants.
297 Scripture bears witness to
faith in creation "out of nothing" as a truth full of promise and
hope. Thus the mother of seven sons encourages them for martyrdom:
I do not
know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and
breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you. Therefore the
Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of man and devised the origin of
all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you
now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws. . . Look at the heaven and the
earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make
them out of things that existed. Thus also mankind comes into being.
298 Since God could create
everything out of nothing, he can also, through the Holy Spirit, give spiritual
life to sinners by creating a pure heart in them, and bodily life to the
dead through the Resurrection. God "gives life to the dead and calls into
existence the things that do not exist." and since God was able to
make light shine in darkness by his Word, he can also give the light of faith
to those who do not yet know him.
Fitness Friday-The 5 Switches
of Manliness: Legacy[5]
We started the last post in this
series with a surprising fact–that only about 33% of our ancestors were male.
We’ll begin this post the same way: When
the Titanic sunk, the survival rate for the rich, first-class men (34%), was
lower than that for the poor, third-class women (46%). Most people know that
the Titanic had less lifeboats than were needed for the number of passengers,
and that the richest passengers were given first dibs on those limited seats.
And yet, the numbers tell an interesting tale.
What happened?
Many of the wealthy
men decided to let the women, regardless of class, get on the lifeboats first,
choosing instead to go down with the ship themselves.
The Expendability of Men
Say its not so Joe!
The answer goes back to what we
discussed last time in the Switch of Challenge and can be traced to the
biological differences between men and women. A woman can only get pregnant by
one man (at a time) while one man can impregnate multiple women. A group with
five men and one woman is not going to be able to have as many babies as a
group of five woman and one man. This is why a woman’s eggs, and her womb, have
always been much more valuable than a man’s seed. And why, coupled with our
greater physical strength and propensity for risk, men have always been slotted
for society’s dirtiest and most dangerous jobs. Like hunting and war. This is
true from primitive times down until the present day. Societies had to protect
their women if they wanted to survive and thrive. We know what the practical
result of the greater expendability of men is–men have historically been called
upon to do society’s most dangerous jobs and have often lost their lives in
doing so.
When a woman had a baby, that in most
cases forced her to grow up. But a man needed an external push to propel him
into maturity, to keep him from wanting to slide back into infantile
dependency. And this is why the mark of a manhood, according to sociologist
Steven L. Nock, became whether or
not he produced more than he consumed…did he do his part to add value, power,
and wealth to society?
When he passed from the earth,
would he leave the tribe stronger than he came into it?
Or was he a lazy leech?
Did he leave Legacy?
The Chance for Immortality
Thus, every man should be a Johnny
Appleseed of sorts, scattering their seeds of creation wherever they go, and
being content to know that the seeds may not bear fruit until long after they
have moved on. It requires patience, and a sort of faith, a faith in the idea
that we have not lived in vain, that the world is a little different from our
being here.
And legacy comes not just from the
creation of physical and literary objects. A legacy can come from an idea, a
business, a tradition, a thought…anything that changes a person, the world,
just a little and gets passed on, anything that lasts.
There are lots of little ways to
create your legacy. A man never knows when an encouraging word given to another
may change the course of that person’s life, and in turn, alter the course of
history and add value to the world. Here are a few ways to create your legacy
every day:
·
Keep a journal.
·
Start a manliness club at your college or high
school.
·
Begin a new tradition at your fraternity.
·
Take steps to start your own business.
·
Start a blog.
·
Be a mentor–become a Big Brother, coach Little
League, take someone new at work under your wing, etc.
· Share your ideas in a Master Mind Group
· Start a Bible Study or small group at church.
·
Figure out new and better ways of doing things
at work.
·
Make a piece of furniture or another item that
you can pass on to your children, and they can pass on to their children.
·
Start a new program in your community–a rec
league, a recycling program, etc.
·
Tinker with an invention
·
Become
a priest or religious
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Growth
of Catholic Families and Households
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: July
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
FROM LAST YEAR
dwell in the house of the LORD for endless days.
o Catholic Recipe: Langouste a la Creme (Lobster with Cream)
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