30AUGUST2011 - St. Jeanne Jugan

In his homily at the beatification Mass, Pope John Paul II praised "the quiet but eloquent radiance of her life." He continued: "In our day, pride, the pursuit of efficacy, the temptation to use power all run rampant in the world, and sometimes, unfortunately, even in the Church. They become an obstacle to the coming of the Kingdom of God. This is why the spirituality of Jeanne Jugan can attract the followers of Christ and fill their hearts with simplicity and humility, with hope and evangelical joy, having their source in God and in self-forgetfulness."   Read more

29AUGUST2011 - Memorial of the Beheading of John The Baptist

25AUGUST2011 - St. Louis of France

At his coronation as king of France, Louis IX bound himself by oath to behave as God’s anointed, as the father of his people and feudal lord of the King of Peace. Other kings had done the same, of course. Louis was different in that he actually interpreted his kingly duties in the light of faith. After the violence of two previous reigns, he brought peace and justice.  READ MORE

24AUGUST2011 - St. Bartholomew

 

Life:

Not much is known about the life of Saint Bartholomew. He is mentioned by name four times in the New Testament—once in each of the synoptic gospels (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:14) and once in the Acts of the Apostles (1:13). All four mentions are in lists of Christ’s apostles. But the name Bartholomew is actually a family name, meaning the “son of Tholmai” (Bar-Tholmai, or Bartholomaios in the Greek). For that reason, Bartholomew is usually identified with Nathaniel, whom Saint John mentions in his gospel (John 1:45-51; 21:2), but who is not mentioned in the synoptic gospels.  Read more..

19AUG2011 - St. Ezechiel Moreno

St. Ezechiel Moreno was born in Alfaro, Spain in 1848. In 1865, he made his profession of vows in the Order of Augustinian Recollects in Monteagudo, Spain. In 1871, he was ordained a priest in Manila, Philippines and was a missionary for 15 years in the country. He was beatified on November 1, 1975 and canonized on October 11, 1992. Through his intercession, numerous cures, especially from cancer, have been obtained.

18AUGUST2011 - St. Jane Frances de Chantal

St. Jane is the patron of: forgotten people, in-law problems, loss of parents, parents separated from children, and widows.


"When shall it be that we shall taste the sweetness of the Divine Will in all that happens to us, considering in everything only His good pleasure, by whom it is certain that adversity is sent with as much love as prosperity, and as much for our good? When shall we cast ourselves undeservedly into the arms of our most loving Father in Heaven, leaving to Him the care of ourselves and of our affairs, and reserving only the desire of pleasing Him, and of serving Him well in all that we can?"


- St. Jane Frances de Chantal

Vespers Reflection with Bishop Carlito Cenzon - 17AUGUST2011

16AUG2011 St. Stephen of Hungary

15AUGUST2011 - Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary

CHURCH BELIEVES IN MARY’S ASSUMPTIONPope John Paul II

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The Church teaches that the Immaculate Virgin, by a special privilege, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory at the end of her earthly life"The Assumption is the culmination of the struggle which involved Mary's generous love in the redemption of humanity and is the fruit of her unique sharing in the victory of the Cross", the Holy Father said at the General Audience of Wednesday, 2 July, as he reflected on the Assumption of Mary as a truth of faith. Here is a translation of his catechesis, which was the 54th in the series on the Blessed Mother and was given in Italian.
1. Following the Bull Munificentissimus Deus of my venerable Predecessor Pius XII, the Second Vatican Council affirms that the Immaculate Virgin "was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, when her earthly life was over" (Lumen gentium, n. 59).
The Council Fathers wished to stress that Mary, unlike Christians who die in God's grace, was taken up into the glory of heaven with her body. This age-old old belief is expressed in a long iconographical tradition which shows Mary "entering" heaven with her body.
The dogma of the Assumption affirms that Mary's body was glorified after her death. In fact, while for other human beings the resurrection of the body will take place at the end of the world, for Mary the glorification of her body was anticipated by a special privilege.
2. On 1 November 1950, in defining the dogma of the Assumption, Pius XII avoided using the term "resurrection" and did not take a position on the question of the Blessed Virgin's death as a truth of faith. The Bull Munificentissimus Deus limits itself to affirming the elevation of Mary's body to heavenly glory, declaring this truth a "divinely revealed dogma".
Belief spread rapidly from East to WestHow can we not see that the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin has always been part of the faith of the Christian people who, by affirming Mary's entrance into heavenly glory, have meant to proclaim the glorification of her body?
The first trace of belief in the Virgin's Assumption can be found in the apocryphal accounts entitled Transitus Mariae, whose origin dates to the second and third centuries. These are popular and sometimes romanticized depictions, which in this case, however, pick up an intuition of faith on the part of God's People.
Later, there was a long period of growing reflection on Mary's destiny in the next world. This gradually led the faithful to believe in the glorious raising of the Mother of Jesus, in body and soul, and to the institution in the East of the liturgical feasts of the Dormition and Assumption of Mary.
Belief in the glorious destiny of the body and soul of the Lord's Mother after her death spread very rapidly from East to West, and has been widespread since the 14th century. In our century, on the eve of the definition of the dogma it was a truth almost universally accepted and professed by the Christian community in every corner of the world.
3. Therefore in May 1946, with the Encyclical Deiparae Virginis Mariae, Pius XII called for a broad consultation, inquiring among the Bishops and, through them, among the clergy and the People of God as to the possibility and opportuneness of defining the bodily assumption of Mary as a dogma of faith. The result was extremely positive: only six answers out of 1,181 showed any reservations about the revealed character of this truth.
Citing this fact, the Bull Munificentissimus Deus states: "From the universal agreement of the Church's ordinary Magisterium we have a certain and firm proof demonstrating that the Blessed Virgin Mary's bodily Assumption into heaven ... is a truth revealed by God and therefore should be firmly and faithfully believed by all the children of the Church" (Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus: AAS 42 [1950], 757).
The definition of the dogma, in conformity with the universal faith of the People of God, definitively excludes every doubt and calls for the express assent of all Christians.
After stressing the Church's actual belief in the Assumption, the Bull recalls the scriptural basis for this truth.
Although the New Testament does not explicitly affirm Mary's Assumption, it offers a basis for it because it strongly emphasized the Blessed Virgin's perfect union with Jesus' destiny. This union, which is manifested, from the time of the Saviour's miraculous conception, in the Mother's participation in her Son's mission and especially in her association with his redemptive sacrifice, cannot fail to require a continuation after death. Perfectly united with the life and saving work of Jesus, Mary shares his heavenly destiny in body and soul.
Assumption is fruit of Mary's sharing in the Cross
4. The Bull Munificentissimus Deus cited above refers to the participation of the woman of the Proto-gospel in the struggle against the serpent, recognizing Mary as the New Eve, and presents the Assumption as a consequence of Mary's union with Christ's saving work. In this regard it says: "Consequently, just as the glorious Resurrection of Christ was an essential part and the final sign of this victory, so that struggle which was common to the Blessed Virgin and her divine Son should be brought to a close by the glorification of her virginal body" (Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus: AAS 42 [1950], 768).
The Assumption is therefore the culmination of the struggle which involved Mary's generous love in the redemption of humanity and is the fruit of her unique sharing in the victory of the Cross.

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Taken from:
L'Osservatore Romano
Weekly Edition in English
9 July 1997, page 11

L'Osservatore Romano is the newspaper of the Holy See.
The Weekly Edition in English is published for the US by:

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SOURCE:  http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2bvm54.htm
www.ewtn.com

12AUGUST2011 Ordinary Time Week III

Vespers Reflection - 11AUGUST2011 - St. Clare, Virgin

10AUGUST2011 - Feast of St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

09AUG2011 St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

04AUGUST2011 - St. John Marie Vianney

03 August 2011 - Ordinary Time (Week 2)

02AUG2011 St. Peter Julian Eymard

01AUG2011 Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori

29July2011 - St. Martha