Day 33, GLORIOUS MYSTERIES, Friday July 31

Spiritual Communion, St. Leonard of Port Maurice:

In order to facilitate a practice of such great excellence, ponder what I have to say. When the priest is about to give himself Communion in holy Mass, do you, keeping composed externally and internally, excite in your heart an act of true contrition, and humbly striking your breast, in token that you acknowledge yourself unworthy of so great a grace, make all those acts of love, of self-surrender, of humility, and the rest, which you are accustomed to make when you communicate sacramentally, and then desire with a lively longing to receive your good Jesus, veiled in the sacrament for your benefit. And to kindle your devotion, imagine that most holy Mary, or some saint, your holy advocate, is holding forth to you the sacred particle; figure yourself receiving it, and then, embracing Jesus in your heart, reply to Him, over and over again, with interior words prompted by love: “Come, Jesus, my Beloved, come within this my poor heart; come and satiate my desires; come and sanctify my soul; come, most sweet Jesus, come!” This said, be still; contemplate your good God within you, and, as if you really had communicated, adore Him, thank Him, and perform all those interior acts to which you are accustomed after sacramental Communion.

Act of Spiritual Communion, St. Alphonsus de Ligouri

MY Jesus, I believe that Thou art present in the Blessed Sacrament. I love Thee above all things and I desire Thee in my soul. Since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. As though Thou wert already there, I embrace Thee and unite myself wholly to Thee; permit not that I should ever be separated from Thee. Amen.

Day 32, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, Thursday July 30

O Precious Blood of Jesus

O Precious Blood of Jesus, infinite price of sinful man's redemption, both drink and laver of our souls, Thou who dost plead continually the cause of man before the throne of infinite mercy; from the depths of my heart, I adore Thee, and so far as I am able, I would requite Thee for the insults and outrages which Thou dost continually receive from human beings, and especially from those who rashly dare to blaspheme Thee. Who would not bless this Blood of infinite value? Who doth not feel within himself the fire of the love of Jesus who shed it all for us? What would be my fate, had I not been redeemed by this Divine Blood? Who hath drawn it from the veins of my Savior, even to the last drop? Ah, this surely was the work of love. O infinite love, which has given us this saving balm! O balm beyond all price, welling up from the fountain of infinite love, grant that every heart and every tongue may be enabled to praise Thee, magnify Thee   and give Thee thanks both now and for evermore.  Amen.

Day 31, JOYFUL MYSTERIES, Wednesday July 29

The Magnificat

My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For He hath regarded the humility of His handmaiden.

For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For He that is mighty hath done great things to me, and holy is His Name. And His Mercy is from generation unto generations upon them that fear Him.

He hath shewed might in His arm, He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty away.

He hath received Israel, His servant, being mindful of His mercy. As He spoke to our Fathers, Abraham and His seed forever.

Day 30, GLORIOUS, Tuesday July 28

St. Margaret Clitherow, Pearl of York

Let us follow the example of the martyrs, and cling tenaciously and with great resolve to the Faith of our Fathers.  The response of St. Margaret Clitherow to her persecutors in the Elizabethan persecution of the Church: 

“I am fully resolved in all things touching my faith which I ground upon Jesus Christ and by Him I steadfastly believe to be saved which faith I acknowledge to be the same that He left to His Apostles and they to their successors from time to time and is taught in the Catholic Church through all Christendom and promised to remain with her unto the world's end and hell gates shall not prevail against it and by God's assistance I mean to live and die in the same faith: for if an angel come from heaven and preach any other doctrine than we have received the Apostle biddeth us not believe him. Therefore if I should follow your doctrine, I should disobey the Apostle's commandment. Wherefore I pray you take this for an answer and trouble me no more for my conscience.”

Saint Margaret Clitherow (1556 – 25 March 1586) is an English saint and martyr.  She is sometimes called "the Pearl of York".  She was born as Margaret Middleton, the daughter of a wax-chandler, after Henry VIII of England had split the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church. She married John Clitherow, a butcher, in 1571 (at the age of 18) and bore him three children. She converted to Roman Catholicism at the age of 21, in 1574. Her husband John was supportive (he having a brother who was Roman Catholic clergy), though he remained Protestant. She then became a friend of the persecuted Roman Catholic population in the north of England. Her son, Henry, went to Reims to train as a Roman Catholic priest. She regularly held Masses in her home in the Shambles in York. There was a hole cut between the attics of her house and the adjoining house to enable a priest to escape in the event of a raid.

In 1586, she was arrested and called before the York assizes for the crime of harbouring Roman Catholic priests. She refused to plead to the case so as to prevent a trial that would entail her children being made to testify, and therefore being subjected to torture. As a result she was executed by being crushed to death, the standard inducement to force a plea, on Good Friday 1586.[5] The two sergeants who should have killed her hired four desperate beggars to do it instead. She was stripped and had a handkerchief tied across her face then laid out upon a sharp rock the size of a man's fist, the door from her own house was put on top of her and slowly loaded with an immense weight of rocks and stones (the small sharp rock would break her back when the heavy rocks were laid on top of her). Her death occurred within fifteen minutes, but her body was left for six hours before the weight was removed. After her death her hand was removed, and this relic is now housed in the chapel of the Bar Convent, York. (From Wikipedia article, Margaret Clitherow) 

Day 29, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, Monday July 27

Novena 4, Day 2, THANKSGIVING

Agony in the Garden

[37] And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to grow sorrowful and to be sad. [38] Then he saith to them: My soul is sorrowful even unto death: stay you here, and watch with me. [39] And going a little further, he fell upon his face, praying, and saying: My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. [40] And he cometh to his disciples, and findeth them asleep, and he saith to Peter: What? Could you not watch one hour with me?  [41] Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak.

Day 28, JOYFUL MYSTERIES, Feast of St. Anne July 26

Novena 4, Day One, FIRST DAY OF THANKSGIVING

Feast of St. Anne, Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Today is the feast day of the Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Grandmother of Our Lord, Jesus Christ

The following is from Tradition in Action

Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

Biographical selection:

According to Catherine Emmerick many ancestors of St. Anne were Essenes. Those pious people were descendants of those priests who in the time of Moses and Aaron carried the Ark of the Covenant. They received their rules in the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah.

The Essenes became numerous and fixed themselves in Mount Sinai and Mount Carmel, where Elias had seen God and had received the symbolic vision of Our Lady. Later they migrated to the region of the Jordan. They wore poor and simple apparel. They married, but observed a great purity of customs in the married state. With mutual consent, husband and wife frequently lived apart in distant huts. They also ate apart.

Even in those early times some of the forefathers of St. Anne and other members of the Holy Family were found among them. From them sprang those called the Children of the Prophets. One of these holy men advised Anne to marry Joachim, from the tribe of David, because he saw some extraordinary thing would come from this marriage.

Anne was especially dear to her parents. Her birth was predicted by an Angel who painted a large “M” on the wall of her parents’ room. She was not strikingly beautiful, though prettier than others. She was extraordinarily pious, pure and innocent. She was the same at every age, as a maiden, as a mother and as an old woman.

When in her fifth year, Anne was taken to the Temple, as Mary was later. There she remained twelve years, returning home in her 17th year.

Joachim, her future husband, was short and thin, and a man of charming manners. In disposition and morals, he was a superior man. Like St. Anne he had something very distinguished about him. Both had a notable seriousness in their behavior. Very few times have I seen them laughing, although they were neither sad nor melancholic. Both possessed a calm, uniform disposition; even in early youth they had a great maturity.

At an advanced age, after having suffered unspeakable humiliation because of her sterility, St. Anne miraculously conceived Our Lady.

Comments of Prof. Plinio:

There are several things in this selection that deserve some comments.

First, there is the part referring to the Essenes. Almost everything in the Old Covenant had a prophetic aspect, because it prefigured the Church. In this regard, the Essenes were prefigures of the religious life in the Church.

You can see that the graces of the Old Testament were not great enough to permit the state of perfect chastity to be possible for a large number of people. This grace is a very elevated, magnificent one. In the Old Testament it existed in a few, like Elias, but it was a very rare grace. Men and women were given sufficient grace to save themselves, but just a few would keep perfect chastity.

hose Essenes lived as married couples. Husband and wives took up a special type of life, observing a kind of religious life. They lived as if they were cenobites, with a house for each family. This life was marked by the men and women eating separately, poverty, and purity. The Essenes were known for an extraordinary purity of customs and having prophets as their leaders.

Second, it is beautiful to see this role of the Prophets: the Essenian movement was an institution directed by a line of Prophets. This institution maintained the good spirit and the salt of orthodoxy in Israel.

Third, you see that the prevision of the birth of Our Lady was somehow communicated to one of those Prophets, who told St. Anne to marry St. Joachim. It is understandable that this would happen, because according to the Carmelite tradition, those Essenes were remote spiritual sons of Elias, who was the Prophet of Our Lady par excellence. So, it is natural that a member of this line of Prophets that began with Elias would announce the birth of the Virgin Mary, who Elias had seen from Mount Carmel prefigured in that small cloud which would bring rain to Israel.

Fourth, it is also interesting that before the birth of St. Anne an angel drew a “M” on the wall of her parents’ bedroom. This was a symbol of her mission to be mother of Mary; she came into the world turned toward the extraordinary maternity of Our Lady, conceived without original sin.

Fifth, perhaps the most beautiful part of the description is the moral profile drawn of St. Anne and St. Joachim. It is very well depicted. They were persons filled with wisdom, not like the modern man and woman, talking about everything superficially, without thinking. No, they used to count, weigh, and measure everything they did and said. This is why they were calm and silent.

St. Anne did not have an extraordinary beauty, but was pretty of feature. St. Joachim was slender, but a man with very good and charming manners. The couple was unjustly scorned because St. Anne was sterile. In the Old Covenant it was considered shameful to be sterile, because all Jews hoped for the honor to be in the ancestral line of the Messiah. Supposedly a childless couple would be excluded from that blessing, and chastised by God. The people did not realize that St. Joachim and St. Anne were the ones who were blessed as being chosen to be in the line of the Messiah, even though St. Anne was sterile.

It is necessary to emphasize this point. The great plans of God demand that an immense effort be realized. They depend on a long wait, a time that seems wasted. Sometimes we walk in a direction that seems to be the opposite of the plan of God.

Then, at the end of the road, Divine Providence acts. God asks an act of confidence from the person whom He wants to honor by making him part of His plan. He asks him to hope against all hope, to trust against all appearances of reality. The person has to pass through the trial of appearing to be abandoned by God. Afterwards, God confirms his choice and executes His plans with that person. This apparent abandonment and the appearance of being put aside by God is His way to manifest His affection.

In the life of St. Anne this point touches us and is a model for us. Many of the expectations of our vocation put by Our Lady in our souls may not be met for a long time. At times we may even have the impression that they will never be realized. The longer the delay, the more splendidly the promise will be fulfilled. Let us ask St. Anne to help us accept and understand this, and give us the needed strength to follow this road.

Day 27, GLORIOUS MYSTERIES, Feast of St. James, Apostle, Saturday July 25

St. James the Greater, Apostle

O glorious Apostle, St. James, who by reason of thy fervent and generous heart, was chosen by Jesus to be witness of His glory on Mt. Tabor, and of His agony in Gethsemane, thou whose very name symbolizes warfare and victory, obtain for us strength and consolation; that having constantly and generously followed Jesus, we may be victors in the strife and deserve to receive the victor’s crown in heaven. Amen.

Epistle for the Feast of St. James the Greater, Apostle

1 Cor. 4, 9-15

Brethren: I think God has set forth us the Apostles last of all, as men doomed to death, seeing that we have been made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, but we are without honor! To this very hour we hunger and thirst, and we are naked and buffeted, and have no fixed abode. And we toil, working with our own hands. We are reviled and we bless, we are persecuted and we bear with it, we are maligned and we entreat, we have become as the refuse of this world, the offscouring of all, even until now! I write these things not to put you to shame, but to admonish you as my dearest children. For although you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet you have not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, through the gospel, did I beget you.

Day 26, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, Friday, July 24

Sixth Sorrow of the Blessed Virgin Mary ~ Jesus is taken down from the Cross

There is a peculiarity of this sorrow, which it is impossible for us fully to understand, but which must be borne in mind throughout, because it indicates the greatest depth of sorrow which this mystery reached in the soul of our Blessed Mother. It was the withdrawal of the life of Jesus. She herself perhaps did not know till now how much it had supported her, or how many offices it had fulfilled toward her. For three-and-thirty years she had lived upon His life. It had been her atmosphere.

There had been a kind of unity of life between them. Her heart had beaten in His Heart. She had seen with His eyes, and had heard with His ears, and had almost spoken with His lips and thought with His thoughts, as she had done when she composed and sang the Magnificat. Mother and son had never before been so fused into each other. Two lives had never seemed so inseparably one life as these two had done. And how shall one of them, and that the weaker and inferior, now stand alone? The sundering of body and soul looks a less effectual separation than the dividing of the life of Mary from the life of Jesus. Perhaps it was on this account, to supply this mysterious want of the Human Life of Jesus, that the species of the Blessed Sacrament remained incorrupt within her during the remainder of her life, from one Communion to another.

We have sometimes seen mothers and sons approximate to this unity of life, especially when the son has been an only child, and the mother a widow. It has been also in these cases, as with Our Lady, that it is the mother’s life which is drawn into the son’s, not the son’s into the mother’s. The sight of such a mother and son is one of the most pathetic which earth can show— pathetic, because its roots have always been, not in the palpable sunshine of overflowing happiness, but in the unwitnessed depth of domestic sorrow. The grandeur of its beauty has been in proportion to the fiery heat of that furnace of agony in which the two lives had been melted into one. But, when we looked, we have trembled to think how the inevitable separation of death would ever be endured. Yet how faint a shadow of Jesus and Mary are these filial and maternal unities on earth! In order, then, to understand the intolerable suffering which the withdrawal of the life of Jesus caused in the heart of Mary, we must know what His life had been to hers throughout. But this is not within the reach of our comprehension. We can but guess at it, and calculate it, and then be sure that the reality has far outrun our boldest calculations.

Faber, Fr. Frederick William (2015-02-14). The Foot of the Cross with Mary: or The Sorrows of Mary KIC. Kindle Edition.

Day 25, JOYFUL, Thursday July 23

[46] And it came to pass, that, after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions. [47] And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers. [48] And seeing him, they wondered

What a great grace to be present as Jesus Christ, Wisdom Incarnate taught in their very presence. Yet how many took His words to heart? Let us pray today to always be open to the Divine Wisdom.

Day 23, SORROWFUL, July 21, St. Praxedes, Virgin

July 21, Feast of St. Praxedes, Adapted from Dom Gueranger’s Liturgical Year

On this day, the angelic St. Praxedes obtained from her Spouse release from bondage, and from the burden of exile that weighed so heavily on this last scion of a holy and illustrious stock. Her family received the noble title of Host of the Prince of the Apostles, as her grandfather had hailed as his guest St. Peter, and her family had continued the noble tradition of sheltering Christians and encouraging them to remain faithful in persecution. In the time of Pius I, the grandfather’s house was still the shelter of the Vicar of Christ.  Left the sole heiress of such traditions, Praxedes, after the death of her beloved sister, converted her palaces into Churches, which resounded day and night with divine praises, and where pagans hastened in crowds to be baptized. The policy of Antoninus respected the dwelling of a descendant of the Cornelii ; but his adopted son, Marcus Aurelius, would make no such exception.

 New races, unknown to her fathers when they laid the world at the feet of Rome, now governed the Eternal City. Nero and Domitian had been actuated by a tyrannical spirit; but the philosophical Caesars showed how absolutely they misconceived the destinies of the great city.   An assault was made upon the title of Praxedes, and many Christians were taken and put to the sword. When the Emperor Marcus Antoninus persecuted the Christians, she devoted both her time and her wealth to consoling them, and doing them every charitable service in her power. Some she concealed in her house: others she encouraged to firmness of faith. She buried the dead, and saw that those who were imprisoned wanted for nothing. But at length being unable to bear the grief caused by such a wholesale butchery of the Christians, she prayed God, that if it were expedient for her to die he would take her away from so much evil. Her prayer was heard, and on the 21^st of July, she was called to heaven, to receive the reward of her charity. Her body was buried by the priest Pastor in the tomb where lay her father and her sister Pudentiana, in the cemetery of Priscilla, on the Salarian Way.

Day 22, JOYFUL MYSTERIES, Monday July 20

And there were in the same country shepherds watching, and keeping the night watches over their flock. And behold an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the brightness of God shone round about them; and they feared with a great fear. And the angel said to them: Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people:

For, this day, is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God, and saying: Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will. And it came to pass, after the angels departed from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another: Let us go over to Bethlehem, and let us see this word that is come to pass, which the Lord hath shewed to us. (Luke 2:8-14)

Day 21, GLORIOUS, Sunday July 19

Padre Pio on assisting at Holy Mass

From a letter to one of his spiritual daughters, St. Pio counsels Anita Rodote on proper conduct at Mass

In order to avoid irreverence and imperfections in the house of God, in church -- which the Divine Master calls the "house of prayer" -- I exhort you in the Lord to practice the following:

Enter the church in silence and with great respect, considering yourself unworthy to appear before the Lord's Majesty. Among other pious considerations, remember that our soul is the temple of God and, as such, we must keep it pure and spotless before God and his angels.

Let us blush for having given access to the devil and his snares many times (with his enticements to the world, his pomp, his calling to the flesh) by not being able to keep our hearts pure and our bodies chaste; for having allowed our enemies to insinuate themselves into our hearts, thus desecrating the temple of God which we became through holy Baptism.

Then take Holy Water and make the Sign of the Cross carefully and slowly.

As soon as you are before God in the Blessed Sacrament, devoutly genuflect. Once you have found your place, kneel down and render the tribute of your presence and devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Confide all your needs to Him along with those of others. Speak to Him with filial abandonment, give free rein to your heart, and give Him complete freedom to work in you as He thinks best.

When assisting at Holy Mass and the sacred functions, be very composed when standing up, kneeling down, and sitting, and carry out every religious act with the greatest devotion. Be modest in your glances; don't turn your head here and there to see who enters and leaves. Don't laugh, out of reverence for this holy place and also out of respect for those who are near you. Try not to speak to anybody, except when charity or strict necessity requests this.

If you pray with others, say the words of the prayer distinctly, observe the pauses well, and never hurry.

In short, behave in such a way that all present are edified by it and, through you, are urged to glorify and love the heavenly Father.

On leaving the church, you should be recollected and calm. Firstly take your leave of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament; ask his forgiveness for the shortcomings committed in his Divine presence and do not leave him without asking for and having received his paternal blessing.

Once you are outside the church, be as every follower of the Nazarene should be. Above all, be extremely modest in everything, as this is the virtue which, more than any other, reveals the affections of the heart.

Day 20, SORROWFUL, July 18, Saturday,

St. Symphorosa and her Seven Sons, Martyrs;

Adapted from Father Francis Xavier Weninger, S.J., 1876

The Catholic Church presents to us today, seven Christian heroes, who in their youth, manifested more than manly firmness in the confession of the true faith. Their names were, Crescentius, Julianus, Nemesius, Primitivus, Justinus, Stacteus, and Eugenius. Symphorosa, their holy and heroic mother, was a native of Rome, and wife of Getulius, a Roman general. When in the reign of the Emperor Adrian, a cruel persecution of the Christians arose, she went with Getulius and Amantius, her brother-in-law, and her seven sons, to Tivoli, to strengthen the Christians in the true faith, and to prepare herself for the approaching struggle. The Emperor, informed of this, despatched Cerealis, one of his officers, to Tivoli, to take Getulius and Amantius, and bring them prisoners to Rome. Cerealis, still a heathen, came to execute the imperial command; but convinced by Getulius and Amantius of the truth of the Christian faith, he embraced it; and hence, all three were beheaded by command of the enraged Emperor, after having suffered a long imprisonment, and many cruel tortures.

St. Symphorosa had every reason to believe that she and her children would not long remain unmolested; and as she feared that one or more of her children, owing to their tender age, might be induced to abandon their faith for fear of the tortures, she left Tivoli, and concealed herself for a time in an unfrequented place, in order to gain time to inspire her children with Christian fortitude. She represented to them the priceless grace of dying for Christ's sake, and the glory which awaits martyrs in heaven. The shortness of the pains of martyrdom, and the never-ending rewards of heaven were the chief points which she almost hourly presented to their consideration, while, at the same time, she exhorted them to follow the example of their uncle and their father, and remain faithful to the true faith. The pious mother admonished them to pray that God might give them the strength they needed to suffer for Him; a prayer which she herself ceaselessly sent up to the throne of the Most High. Not long after, her anticipations were realized.

Adrian had her and her children apprehended and brought before him, and commanded them immediately to sacrifice to the gods, or to prepare themselves for a most cruel death. The fearless heroine replied: "There is no need of further preparations, of further consideration. My resolution is taken; I will not sacrifice to idols, and I have only one wish, to give my life for Him who has given His for me." The tyrant, who had not expected this answer, was doubly enraged, and commanded her to be taken to the temple of the idols, and to be hung up by the hair of the head, after having been most cruelly buffeted. This command was immediately executed. Symphorosa, during this torture, courageously said to her children: " Be not terrified, my children, at my sufferings; I bear it joyfully; joyfully do I give my life for Christ's sake. Remain steadfast. Fight bravely. Remember the example your father gave you; look at me, your mother, and follow in our footsteps. This suffering is short, but the glory prepared for us will be everlasting." With such words, the Christian mother fortified her children who were willing to conduct themselves according to her precepts. The tyrant who would no longer listen to Symphorosa's exhortations, ordered her to be cast into the river, with a great stone fastened around her neck. In this manner ended her glorious martyrdom, in the 138th year of the Christian Era.

On the following day, her seven sons were brought before the Emperor, who represented to them that, as they had neither father nor mother, he would adopt them as his own children and provide for them most bountifully, if they would obey him and sacrifice to the gods. Should they, however, prove as obstinate as their parents had been, they had nothing to expect but torments and death. "This is what we desire," answered Crescentius," that we, like our parents, may die for the sake of Christ. Neither promises, nor threats, nor torments can make us faithless to Christ." The Emperor, being unwilling to put his menaces immediately into execution, still endeavored to win over the children, alternately by promises and threats; but finding all unavailing, he ordered seven stakes to be raised in the idolatrous temple, to which the seven valiant confessors of Christ were tied, and tormented in all possible ways. Their limbs were stretched until they were dislocated, and the witnesses of these awful scenes were filled with compassion. The pain must have been most dreadful; but there was not one of these young heroes who did not praise God, and rejoice in his suffering. The tyrant, ashamed of being conquered by children, ordered an end to be made of their torments, which was accordingly done in various ways. Crescentius had his throat cut with a dagger; Julianus was stabbed in the breast with a sword; Nemesius was pierced through the heart, and Primitivus through the lower part of his body. Justinus was cut in pieces; Stacteus shot with arrows, and Eugenius, the youngest, was cut in two.

Thus gloriously died the seven sons of St. Symphorosa, reminding us of the illustrious martyrdom of the several Machabees, in the reign of the wicked King Antiochus.

Day 19, JOYFUL, July 17, St. Alexius, Confessor

St. Alexius, June 17, Dom Gueranger, Liturgical Year

Although we are not commanded to follow the Saints to the extremities where their heroic virtue leads them, nevertheless, from their inaccessible heights, they still guide us along the easier paths of the plain. As the eagle upon the orb of day, they fixed their unflinching gaze upon the Sun of Justice ; and, irresistibly attracted by his divine splendour, they poised their flight far above the cloudy region where we are glad to screen our feeble eyes. But however varied be the degrees of brightness for them and for us, the light itself is unchangeable, provided that, like them, we draw it from the authentic source. When the weakness of our sight would lead us to mistake false glimmerings for the truth, let us think of these friends of God ; if we have not courage enough to imitate them, where the com mandments leave us free to do so or not, let us at least conform our judgments and appreciations to theirs: their view is more trustworthy, because farther reaching ; their sanctity is nothing but the rectitude wherewith they follow up unflinchingly, even to its central focus, the heavenly ray, whereof we can scarcely bear a tempered reflection. Above all, let us not be led so far astray by the will-o'-the- wisps of this world of darkness, as to wish to direct, by their false light, the actions of the saints : can the owl judge better of the light than the eagle ?

The Church, in the breviary gives us the following very short notice of our hero, St. Alexius:

V. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. May God the Father Omnipotent, be to us merciful and clement. Amen. 

Reading 4
Alexis was a member of one of the noblest Roman families. Through his exceeding great love for Jesus Christ, he received a particular command from God to leave his bride untouched upon his wedding night, and to undertake a pilgrimage to the most famous Churches of the world. For seventeen years he remained occupied in these journeys and utterly unknown. At the end of that time, his name was spoken from an image of the most holy Virgin Mary in the city of Edessa, in Syria, and when he found himself recognised he took ship from thence. He landed at Porto near Rome, and fared to the house of his own father, who gave him shelter as a strange beggar. He lived there unrecognised by any for seventeen years more, and then passed away to heaven, in the time of Pope Innocent I. He left behind him a writing giving his name, family, and the story of his life.
V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to God.

R. The Lord made him honourable, and defended him from his enemies, and kept him safe from those that lay in wait for him
* And gave him perpetual glory.
V. He went down with him into the pit, and left him not in bonds.
R. And gave him perpetual glory.

Epistle, from the Mass of the Day (1 Tim:6)

[6] But godliness with contentment is great gain. [7] For we brought nothing into this world: and certainly we can carry nothing out. [8] But having food, and wherewith to be covered, with these we are content. [9] For they that will become rich, fall into temptation, and into the snare of the devil, and into many unprofitable and hurtful desires, which drown men into destruction and perdition. [10] For the desire of money is the root of all evils; which some coveting have erred from the faith, and have entangled themselves in many sorrows.

[11] But thou, O man of God, fly these things: and pursue justice, godliness, faith, charity, patience, mildness. [12] Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life.

Day 18, GLORIOUS MYSTERIES, Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel July 16

The  Carmelite Order has a truly remarkable history dating back to Old Testament times and the holy prophet Elias. Dom Gueranger reviews some of this history in his entry in The Liturigical Year that is reproduced here.  For brevity’s sake, I include only what concerns the origin of today’s feast and the wonderful gift of Our Lady to mankind: the Brown Scapular, with the great blessings that have, since the thirteenth century been ratified by the Church by many Popes, and by Our Lady again herself in her message at Fatima.  There are two major privileges associated with the Brown Scapular. As Our Lady told St. Simon Stock:

“Whosoever dies wearing this Scapular shall not suffer eternal fire.”

And, for those who fulfill the conditions of the Sabbatine Privilege (see below) Our Lady’s words to Pope John XXII:

“I, the Mother of Grace, shall descend on the Saturday after their death and whomsoever I shall find in purgatory I shall free so that I may lead them to the holy mountain of life everlasting.”

We continue with the account by Dom Gueranger:

In the night between the 15th and 16th of July of the year 1251, the gracious Queen of Carmel confirmed to Her sons by a mysterious sign the right of citizenship She had obtained for them in their newly adopted countries; as Mistress and Mother of the entire religious state She conferred upon them with Her queenly hands the Scapular, hitherto the distinctive garb of the greatest and most ancient religious family of the West. On giving St. Simon Stock this badge, ennobled by contact with Her sacred fingers, the Mother of God said to him: "Whosoever shall die in this habit shall not suffer eternal flames." But not against hellfire alone was the all-powerful intercession of the Blessed Mother to be felt by those who should wear Her Scapular. In 1316, when every holy soul was imploring Heaven to put an end to that long and disastrous widowhoood of the Church, which followed on the death of Pope Clement V, the Queen of Saints appeared to James d'Euse, whom the world was soon to hail as Pope John XXII; She foretold to him his approaching elevation to the Sovereign Pontificate, and at the same time recommended him to publish the privilege She had obtained from Her Divine Son for Her children of Carmel—viz., a speedy deliverance from Purgatory. "I, their Mother, will graciously go down to them on the Saturday after their death, and all whom I find in Purgatory I will deliver and will bring to the mountain of life eternal." These are the words of Our Lady Herself, quoted by Pope John XXII in the Bull which he published for the purpose of making known the privilege, and which was called the Sabbatine Bull on account of the day chosen by the glorious Benefactress for the exercise of Her mercy.

The Sabbatine Privilege

The Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel has promised to save those who wear the scapular from the fires of hell; She will also shorten their stay in purgatory if they should pass from this world still owing some debt of punishment.

This promise is found in a Bull of Pope John XXII. The Blessed Virgin appeared to him and, speaking of those who wear the Brown Scapular, said, “I, the Mother of Grace, shall descend on the Saturday after their death and whomsoever I shall find in purgatory I shall free so that I may lead them to the holy mountain of life everlasting.”

 The Blessed Virgin assigned certain conditions which must be fulfilled:

1. Wear the Brown Scapular continuously.

2.  Observe chastity according to one’s state in life (married/single).

3.  Recite daily the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin OR Observe the fasts of the Church together with abstaining from meat on Wednesdays and Saturdays OR With permission of a priest, say five decades of Our Lady’s Most Holy Rosary OR With permission of a priest, substitute some other good work.

Pope Benedict XV, the celebrated World War I Pontiff, granted 500 days indulgence for devoutly kissing your scapular.

Day 17, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, Wednesday July 15

Novena 2, Day 8, PETITION

PSALM 21

[2] O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins. [3] O my God, I shall cry by day, and thou wilt not hear: and by night, and it shall not be reputed as folly in me. [4] But thou dwellest in the holy place, the praise of Israel. [5] In thee have our fathers hoped: they have hoped, and thou hast delivered them.

[2] The words of my sins: That is, the sins of the world, which I have taken upon myself, cry out against me, and are the cause of all my sufferings.

[6] They cried to thee, and they were saved: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. [7] But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people. [8] All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips, and wagged the head. [9] He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him: let him save him, seeing he delighteth in him. [10] For thou art he that hast drawn me out of the womb: my hope from the breasts of my mother.

[11] I was cast upon thee from the womb. From my mother' s womb thou art my God, [12] Depart not from me. For tribulation is very near: for there is none to help me. [13] Many calves have surrounded me: fat bulls have besieged me. [14] They have opened their mouths against me, as a lion ravening and roaring. [15] I am poured out like water; and all my bones are scattered. My heart is become like wax melting in the midst of my bowels.

[16] My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue hath cleaved to my jaws: and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death. [17] For many dogs have encompassed me: the council of the malignant hath besieged me. They have dug my hands and feet. [18] They have numbered all my bones. And they have looked and stared upon me. [19] They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots. [20] But thou, O Lord, remove not thy help to a distance from me; look towards my defence.

[21] Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword: my only one from the hand of the dog. [22] Save me from the lion' s mouth; and my lowness from the horns of the unicorns. [23] I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the church will I praise thee. [24] Ye that fear the Lord, praise him: all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him. [25] Let all the seed of Israel fear him: because he hath not slighted nor despised the supplication of the poor man. Neither hath he turned away his face from me: and when I cried to him he heard me. 

[26] With thee is my praise in a great church: I will pay my vows in the sight of them that fear him. [27] The poor shall eat and shall be filled: and they shall praise the Lord that seek him: their hearts shall live for ever and ever. [28] All the ends of the earth shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord: And all the kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight. [29] For the kingdom is the Lord' s; and he shall have dominion over the nations. [30] All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and have adored: all they that go down to the earth shall fall before him.

[31] And to him my soul shall live: and my seed shall serve him. [32] There shall be declared to the Lord a generation to come: and the heavens shall shew forth his justice to a people that shall be born, which the Lord hath made.

Day 16, JOYFUL MYSTERIES, Tuesday July 14

I love them that love me: and they that in the morning early watch for me, shall find me. (Proverbs 8:17)

Our morning prayer is vitally important to our spiritual lives.  By it, we offer to God the first fruits of our day. It sets the tone for our day, and we have the opportunity to renew our resolve to become saints.

Morning Offering

O my God, in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary (here kiss the Brown Scapular), I offer Thee the Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, joining with it my every thought, word and action of this day.

O my Jesus, I desire today to gain every indulgence and merit I can, and I offer them, together with myself, to Mary Immaculate, that she may best apply them to the interests of Thy Most Sacred Heart.

Precious Blood of Jesus, save us!

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

CHAPTER X. Morning Prayer. (From Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales)

BESIDES your systematic meditation and your other vocal prayers, there are five shorter kinds of prayer, which are as aids and assistants to the great devotion, and foremost among these is your morning prayer, as a general preparation for all the day’s work. It should be made in this wise.

1. Thank God, and adore Him for His Grace which has kept you safely through the night, and if in anything you have offended against Him, ask forgiveness. 

2. Call to mind that the day now beginning is given you in order that you may work for Eternity, and make a steadfast resolution to use this day for that end.

3. Consider beforehand what occupations, duties and occasions are likely this day to enable you to serve God; what temptations to offend Him, either by vanity, anger, etc., may arise; and make a fervent resolution to use all means of serving Him and confirming your own piety; as also to avoid and resist whatever might hinder your salvation and God’s Glory. Nor is it enough to make such a resolution — you must also prepare to carry it into effect. Thus, if you foresee having to meet someone who is hot-tempered and irritable, you must not merely resolve to guard your own temper, but you must consider by what gentle words to conciliate him. If you know you will see some sick person, consider how best to minister comfort to him, and so on.

4. Next, humble yourself before God, confessing that of yourself you could carry out nothing that you have planned, either in avoiding evil or seeking good. Then, so to say, take your heart in your hands, and offer it and all your good intentions to God’s Gracious Majesty, entreating Him to accept them, and strengthen you in His Service, which you may do in some such words as these: “Lord, I lay before Thee my weak heart, which Thou dost fill with good desires. Thou knowest that I am unable to bring the same to good effect, unless Thou dost bless and prosper them, and therefore, O Loving Father, I entreat of Thee to help me by the Merits and Passion of Thy Dear Son, to Whose Honour I would devote this day and my whole life.”

All these acts should be made briefly and heartily, before you leave your room if possible, so that all the coming work of the day may be prospered with God’s blessing; but anyhow, my daughter, I entreat you never to omit them.

Day 15, GLORIOUS MYSTERIES, Monday July 13

July 13, 1917 Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, 98^th Anniversary

The apparition of July 13, 1917, is the most significant of the Fatima messages. It is well worth meditating.  The following is from Sister Lucia’s memoirs and appears on the webpages of the Fatima Center’s website.

The third apparition brought to the Cova da Iria a crowd of 5,000 people. Lucy led the Rosary and the crowd answered. At noon she rose and looked toward the east, crying, "Close the umbrellas! Close the umbrellas! (They used umbrellas to protect themselves from the intense noontime sun) ... Our Lady is arriving!"

The apparition then began in the usual way, with a flash of something like lightning and the appearance of Our Lady atop the holm-oak. Lucy relates the apparition in her memoirs:

‘What does Your Grace want of me?’ I asked.

‘I want you to come here on the 13th of next month, to continue reciting the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace in the world and the end of the war, because only She can help you.’

‘I should like to ask You to tell us who You are, and to work a miracle so that everyone will believe that Your Grace is appearing to us.’

‘Continue to come here every month. In October, I will say who I am and what I want, and I will perform a miracle so that all might see and believe.’

Here I made some requests which I do not remember. What I do remember, is that Our Lady said it was necessary to say the Rosary in order to obtain these graces throughout the year.

Our Lady continued: ‘Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say often to Jesus, especially whenever you make a sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’

As Our Lady spoke these last words, She opened Her hands once more, as She had done during the two previous months. The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. (It must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. That vision lasted only a moment, thanks to our good Mother of Heaven, Who, at the first apparition, had promised to bring us to Heaven. Without that, I think we would have died of terror and fear.

Terrified and as if to plead for succor, we looked up at Our Lady, who said to us, so kindly and so sadly:

‘You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.

‘To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, etc. Do not tell this to anybody. Francisco, yes, you may tell him.

‘When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.’

After this, there was a moment of silence, and then I asked, ‘Is there anything more that You want of me?’

‘No, I do not want anything more of you today.’

Then, as before, Our Lady began to ascend towards the east, until She finally disappeared.

Day 14, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, Sunday July 12

Novena 2, Day 5, PETITION

PRAYER BEFORE A CRUCIFIX

Behold, O kind and most sweet Jesus,  * I cast myself upon my knees in Thy sight,  * and with the most fervent desire of my soul,  * I pray and beseech Thee that Thou wouldst impress upon my heart  * lively sentiments of faith, hope and charity,  * with true contrition for my sins  * and a firm purpose of amendment;  * while with deep affection and grief of soul,  * I ponder within myself and mentally contemplate Thy five wounds,  * having before my eyes the words which David the prophet  * put on Thy lips concerning Thee:  * "They have pierced My hands and My feet,  * they have numbered all My bones."

5 Our Fathers, 5 Hail Marys, 5 Glory Be and prayers for the good intentions of the Holy Father for a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions of sacramental confession and communion

Day 13, JOYFUL MYSTERIES, Saturday July 11

Novena 2, Day 4, PETITION

 [25] And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was in him.

[26] And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. [27] And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, [28] He also took him into his arms, and blessed God, and said: [29] Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace; [30] Because my eyes have seen thy salvation,

[31] Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: [32] A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. [33] And his father and mother were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him. [34] And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; [35] And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed. (Luke 2)

In Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary, taken from the Oration on Simeon and Anna ~ St. Methodius of Olympus (died c. 311 A.D.)

For the praise even of her who is not man's work exceeds the power of man. Wherefore the dimness of my poverty I will make bright with the splendour of the gifts of the spirits that around you shine, and offering to you of your own, from the immortal meadows I will pluck a garland for your sacred and divinely crowned head. With your ancestral hymns will I greet you, O daughter of David, and mother of the Lord and God of David. For it were both base and inauspicious to adorn you, who in your own glory excellest with that which belongs unto another. Receive, therefore, O lady most benignant, gifts precious, and such as are fitted to you alone, O you who art exalted above all generations, and who, among all created things, both visible and invisible, shinest forth as the most honourable. Blessed is the root of Jesse, and thrice blessed is the house of David, in which you have sprung up. God is in the midst of you, and you shall not be moved, for the Most High has made holy the place of His tabernacle. For in you the covenants and oaths made of God unto the fathers have received a most glorious fulfilment, since by you the Lord has appeared, the God of hosts with us. That bush which could not be touched, (Exodus 3:2) which beforehand shadowed forth your figure endowed with divine majesty, bare God without being consumed, who manifested Himself to the prophet just so far as He willed to be seen. Then, again, that hard and rugged rock, (Exodus 17:6) which imaged forth the grace and refreshment which has sprung out from you for all the world, brought forth abundantly in the desert out of its thirsty sides a healing draught for the fainting people. Yea, moreover, the rod of the priest which, without culture, blossomed forth in fruit, (Numbers 17:8) the pledge and earnest of a perpetual priesthood, furnished no contemptible symbol of your supernatural child-bearing. (Hebrews 9:4) What, moreover? Hath not the mighty Moses expressly declared, that on account of these types of you, hard to be understood, (Exodus 25:8) he delayed longer on the mountain, in order that he might learn, O holy one, the mysteries that with you are connected? For being commanded to build the ark as a sign and similitude of this thing, he was not negligent in obeying the command, although a tragic occurrence happened on his descent from the mount; but having made it in size five cubits and a half, he appointed it to be the receptacle of the law, and covered it with the wings of the cherubim, most evidently pre-signifying you, the mother of God, who hast conceived Him without corruption, and in an ineffable manner brought forth Him who is Himself, as it were, the very consistence of incorruption, and that within the limits of the five and a half circles of the world. On your account, and the undefiled Incarnation of God, the Word, which by you had place for the sake of that flesh which immutably and indivisibly remains with Him forever. (Hebrews 9:4)