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Saints, Feast, Family
- Traditions passed down with Cooking, Crafting, & Caring -
August 3
Saint of the day:
Lydia of Thyatira
Saint Lydia the Purpuraria
Patron Saint of dyers
Vincent’s Corner-Move it, move it, move it for the Lord
The most dominant sin, that characterizes our culture today is "Acedia." Acedia has been referred to as the "noontime devil."
"Acedia" originates from the Greek, akèdia, meaning "lack of care." It's a kind of "indifference" or a "lack of spiritual energy," which is a phrase from the book by Jean-Charles Nault, O.S.B., The Noonday Devil: Acedia, the Unnamed Evil of Our Times. Nault, the abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Wandrille in France, is one of the world's experts on acedia. I recall the acclaim this book had in 2015, and I ordered it, right away. I highly recommend it.
· Let Freedom Ring Day 28 Freedom from Acedia
A Prayer Before Mass (Saturday) (by Saint Ambrose)
I entreat Thee also, O Lord, by this most holy mystery of Thy Body and Blood, wherewith we are daily fed, and cleansed, and sanctified in Thy Church, and are made partakers of the one Supreme Divinity, grant unto me Thy holy virtues, that filled therewith I may with a good conscience draw near unto Thy holy Altar, so that these heavenly mysteries may be made unto me salvation and life; for Thou hast said with Thy holy and blessed lips: The Bread which I will give is My Flesh, for the life of the world. I am the living Bread which came down from heaven. If any man eats of this Bread, he shall live forever. O most sweet Bread, heal the palate of my heart, that I may taste the sweetness of Thy love. Heal it of all infirmities, that I may find sweetness in nothing out of Thee. O most pure Bread, having all delight and all savor, which ever refreshest us, and never failest, let my heart feed on Thee, and may my inmost soul be filled with the sweetness of Thy savor. The Angels feed on Thee fully; let pilgrim man feed on Thee after his measure, so that, refreshed by this nourishment, he may not faint by the way. Holy Bread! Living Bread! Pure Bread! Who didst come down from heaven, and who givest life to the world, enter into my heart and cleanse me from all impurity of flesh and spirit. Come into my soul; heal and cleanse me within and without; be the protection and continual health of my soul and body. Drive far from me all foes that lie in wait: let them flee afar off at the presence of Thy power; that, strengthened by Thee without and within, I may by a straight way arrive at Thy kingdom, where, not as now in mysteries, but face to face, we shall behold Thee; when Thou shalt have delivered up the kingdom to God Thy Father, and shalt be God All in all. Then shalt Thou satisfy me with Thyself by a wondrous fullness, so that I shall never hunger nor thirst any more forever. Who with the same God the Father, and the Holy Ghost, ever livest and reignest world without end.
AUGUST 3 First Saturday
Matthew, Chapter 14, verse 5
Although he wanted to kill him, he FEARED the
people, for they regarded him as a prophet.
This verse talks about
Herod as he wanted to kill John the Baptist. Herod’s main problem was he could
not control his emotions. When he wanted his brother’s wife, He took her. When
he wanted Salome to dance, He bribed her. Lastly his fear gave
into pride the pride of looking like a fool and he forgot his fear of the
people and killed John.
The Finding of the Body of St. Stephen[1]
The second festival in honor of the holy protomartyr St. Stephen is on the 3rd
of August and was instituted by the Church on the occasion of the discovery of
his precious remains. His body lay long concealed, under the ruins of an old
tomb, in a place twenty miles from Jerusalem, called Caphargamala, where stood
a church which was served by a venerable priest named Lucian.
In the year 415, on
Friday, the 3rd of December, at about nine o'clock at night, Lucian was
sleeping in his bed in the baptistery, where he commonly lay in order to guard
the sacred vessels of the church. Being half awake, he saw a tall, comely old
man of a venerable aspect, who approached him, and, calling him thrice by his
name, bid him go to Jerusalem and tell Bishop John to come and open the tombs
in which his remains and those of certain other servants of Christ lay, that
through their means God might open to many the gates of His clemency. This
vision was repeated twice. After the second time, Lucian went to Jerusalem and
laid the whole affair before Bishop John, who bade him go and search for the
relics, which, the bishop concluded, would be found under a heap of small
stones which lay in a field near his church. In digging up the earth here,
three coffins or chests were found. Lucian sent immediately to acquaint Bishop
John with this. He was then at the Council of Diospolis, and, taking along with
him Eutonius, Bishop of Sebaste, and Eleutherius, Bishop of Jericho, came to
the place.
Upon the opening of St.
Stephen's coffin, the earth shook, and there came out of the coffin such an
agreeable odor that no one remembered to have ever smelled anything like it.
There was a vast multitude of people assembled in that place, among whom were
many persons afflicted with divers’ distempers, of whom seventy-three recovered
their health upon the spot. They kissed the holy relics, and then shut them up.
The Bishop consented to leave a small portion of them at Caphargamala; the rest
were carried in the coffin with singing of psalms and hymns, to the Church of
Sion at Jerusalem. The translation was performed on the 26th of December, on
which day the Church has ever since honored the memory of St. Stephen,
commemorating the discovery of his relics on the 3rd of August probably on
account of the dedication of some church in his honor.
—Excerpted
from Butler's Lives of the Saints
Highlights and Things
to Do:
- Read
the more about the Finding:
- Read
about the relics of St. Stephen and also about the rock relic.
Five consecutive Saturdays in
reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The practice of the First
Saturday devotion was requested by Our Lady of Fatima, who appeared to three shepherd
children in Fatima, Portugal, multiple times starting in 1917. She said to
Lucia, the oldest of the three children: “I shall come to ask . . . that on the
First Saturday of every month, Communions of reparation be made in atonement
for the sins of the world.” Years later she repeated her request to Sr. Lucia,
the only one still living of the three young Fatima seers, while she was a
postulant sister living in a convent in Spain: “Look, my daughter, at my Heart,
surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce me at very moment by
their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me, and say that
I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for
salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months,
shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the rosary, and
keep me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries of the
rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”
Conditions to Fulfill the First
Saturday Devotion
There are five
requirements to obtain this promise from the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On five
consecutive first Saturdays of the month, one should:
1. Have the intention of
consoling the Immaculate Heart in a spirit of reparation.
2. Go to confession
(within eight days before or after the first Saturday).
3. Receive Holy Communion.
4. Say five decades of the
Holy
Rosary.
5. Meditate for 15 minutes
on the mysteries
of the Holy Rosary
with the goal
of keeping Our Lady company (for example, while in church or before an image or
statue of Our Lady).
Read How to Make
Your First Saturday Rosary Meditation According to Sr. Lucia
Why Five Saturdays?
Our Lord appeared to Sr.
Lucia on May 29, 1930 and gave her the reason behind the five Saturdays
devotion. It is because there are five types of offenses and blasphemies
committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
1. Blasphemies against the
Immaculate Conception
2. Blasphemies against Our
Lady’s perpetual virginity
3. Blasphemies
against her divine maternity, in refusing at the same time to recognize her as
the Mother of men
4. Blasphemies of
those who publicly seek to sow in the hearts of children, indifference or scorn
or even hatred of their Immaculate Mother
5. Offenses of those
who outrage Our Lady directly in her holy images
Never think that Jesus is
indifferent to whether or not His mother is honored!
Novena
in Honor of Saint John Marie Vianney[3]
Desire
for Heaven
O Holy Priest of Ars, your precious remains are contained in a magnificent reliquary, the donation from the priests of France. But this earthly glory is only a very pale image of the unspeakable glory which you are enjoying with God. During the time you were on earth, you used to repeat in your dejected hours, 'one will rest in the other life." It is done, you are in eternal peace, and eternal happiness. I desire to follow you one day. Until then, I hear you saying to me:
"You
should work and fight as long as you are in the world."
Teach
me then to work for the salvation of my soul, to spread the good news and good
example and to do good towards those around me in order that I will receive the
happiness of the Elect with you. Holy Priest of Ars, I have confidence in your
intercession. Pray for me during this novena especially for ... (mention
silently your special intentions).
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.
O
St John Vianney, Patron of Priests, pray for us and for all priests!
Catechism of the
Catholic Church
PART ONE: THE PROFESSION
OF FAITH
SECTION
TWO-I. THE CREEDS
CHAPTER ONE-I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER
Article 1-"I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER
ALMIGHTY, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH"
Paragraph 6. MAN
Day 50
355 "God created man in
his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created
them." Man occupies a unique place in creation: (I) he is "in
the image of God"; (II) in his own nature he unites the spiritual and
material worlds; (III) he is created "male and female"; (IV) God
established him in his friendship.
I. "IN THE IMAGE OF
GOD"
356 Of all visible creatures
only man is "able to know and love his creator". He is "the
only creature on earth that God has willed for himself", and he alone
is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God's own life. It was for this
end that he was created, and this is the fundamental reason for his dignity:
What made you establish man in so great a dignity? Certainly the incalculable
love by which you have looked on your creature in yourself! You are taken with
love for her; for by love indeed you created her, by love you have given her a
being capable of tasting your eternal Good.
357 Being in the image of God
the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just
something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and
of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. and he
is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of
faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead.
358 God created everything for
man, but man in turn was created to serve and love God and to offer all
creation back to him:
What is it that is about to be created, that enjoys such honour? It is man that
great and wonderful living creature, more precious in the eyes of God than all
other creatures! For him the heavens and the earth, the sea and all the rest of
creation exist. God attached so much importance to his salvation that he did
not spare his own Son for the sake of man. Nor does he ever cease to work,
trying every possible means, until he has raised man up to himself and made him
sit at his right hand.
359 "In reality it is only
in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes
clear."
St. Paul
tells us that the human race takes its origin from two men: Adam and Christ. .
. the first man, Adam, he says, became a living soul, the last Adam a
life-giving spirit. the first Adam was made by the last Adam, from whom he also
received his soul, to give him life... the second Adam stamped his image on the
first Adam when he created him. That is why he took on himself the role and the
name of the first Adam, in order that he might not lose what he had made in his
own image. the first Adam, the last Adam: the first had a beginning, the last
knows no end. the last Adam is indeed the first; as he himself says: "I am
the first and the last."
360 Because of its common
origin the human race forms a unity, for "from one ancestor (God) made all
nations to inhabit the whole earth":
O wondrous
vision, which makes us contemplate the human race in the unity of its origin in
God. . . in the unity of its nature, composed equally in all men of a material
body and a spiritual soul; in the unity of its immediate end and its mission in
the world; in the unity of its dwelling, the earth, whose benefits all men, by
right of nature, may use to sustain and develop life; in the unity of its
supernatural end: God himself, to whom all ought to tend; in the unity of the
means for attaining this end;. . . in the unity of the redemption wrought by
Christ for all.
361 "This law of human
solidarity and charity", without excluding the rich variety of
persons, cultures and peoples, assures us that all men are truly brethren.
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: The
Pope
·
Saturday Litany of the Hours
Invoking the Aid of Mother Mary
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: August
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
[3]http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=1129
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