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Fasts and vigils
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Weedy
Sep 18, 2014, 2:24:30 PM9/18/14
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Fasts and vigils
Fasts and vigils, the study of Scripture, renouncing possessions and
everything worldly are not in themselves perfection, as we have said;
they are its tools. For perfection is not to be found in them; it is
acquired through them. It is useless, therefore, to boast of our
fasting, vigils, poverty, and reading of Scripture when we have not
achieved the love of God and our fellow men. Whoever has achieved love
has God within himself and his intellect is always with God.
--St. John Cassian
<<>><<>><<>>
September 18th - St. John de Massias, Monk, Visionary
He was born in Ribera, Spain, to a noble family and was orphaned at a young age. John went to Peru to work on a cattle ranch before entering the Dominicans at Lima as a lay brother, assigned to serve as a doorkeeper, or porter. He was known for his austerities, miracles, and visions. John cared for all the poor of Lima, dying there on September 16. Pope Paul VI canonized him in 1975 .
The lessons of his office state that the parents of Bl. John Massias (or Masias) were representatives of noble and ancient families, who "had been deprived of rank and wealth by the various misfortunes of an unreliable world". He was born at Ribera in Estramadura in 1585 and was left an orphan whilst still young, being looked after by an uncle, who made the boy earn his living as a shepherd. During the long hours when there was nothing particular to do except keep his eyes open John would say his rosary and meditate on the Christian mysteries, and it sometimes appeared that the holy ones were there, visible and talking to him, especially our Lady and St. John the Evangelist. He attributed to an instruction of the last named his sudden decision to go to the Americas, as so many others of his countrymen were then doing. He landed in Peru and got work on a cattle-ranch, where he stopped for over two years and saved a little money with which he made his way to Lima. Here he decided to become a religious and, having given away what was left of his savings, he was accepted as a lay-brother by the Dominicans of St. Mary Magdalen's.
Brother John's austerities exceeded the bounds of prudence, and his prior had to insist on moderation: for he would content himself with one hour of sleep, and that on his knees with his head on the bed, and brought on himself a disease which required a painful and dangerous operation. He was made porter and his lodge soon became the meeting-place for the poor, the sick and the wretched of the city; following the example of his friend Bl. Martin de Porres, he begged alms with which to feed and attend to their mental needs, and accompanied his ministrations with good advice and exhortations to good life and the love of God. Those who were too shy to beg he sought out in their homes, and to save time in begging from door to door he trained the priory donkey to go round by itself and receive in its panniers food and clothing for his beloved poor. Many and remarkable were the miracles attributed to Bl. John Massias, and his death at the age of sixty was mourned by the whole city. He was beatified in 1837.
On the occasion of the beatification an Italian life, the Dominicans in Rome published Vita del Beato Giovanni Massias. See also Procter, Lives of Dominican Saints, pp. 263-274. There is a fuller bibliography in Taurisano, Catalogus Historicus OP.
Saint Quote:
Avoid evil practices; indeed, preach against them. Hear your bishop, that God may hear you. Work together in harmony,: struggle together, run together, suffer together, rest together, rise together, as stewards, advisors and servants of God. So be patient and gentle with one another, as God is with you.
--St. Ignatius of Antioch
Bible Quote:
For which cause I admonish thee that thou stir up the grace of God which is in thee by the imposition of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear: but of power and of love and of sobriety. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but labour with the gospel, according to the power of God. (2 Tim 1:6-8) DV
<><><><>
On Humility in Conversation [IX]
Our Lord tells us that by our words we shall be justified and by our words we shall, be condemned, and from our words can be clearly seen whether we are humble or proud. The proud man always wants to take the lead in the conversation, and to lay down the law for the benefit of the rest. The humble man is content to be in the background. The proud man is vexed if he is not listened to; the humble man is ready to accept such disregard with peaceful resignation, as a humiliation from the hand of God. Do I on these points exhibit marks of pride or of humility?
There is in the conversation of the proud an under-current of self-praise. They talk chiefly about themselves and what they have said and done, and in a tone of boastfulness more or less thinly veiled. The humble seem to forget themselves; they consider what is interesting to those to whom they talk, for God's sake they seek to please others rather than themselves. Try and cultivate this humility in conversation. It will make you loved by God and by men.
We perceive the contrast between humility and pride most clearly when some rebuff is given. See the meekness of the one and the indignation of the other; the patience of the one, and the eagerness of the other to assert himself and prove himself in the right. In this respect we shall do well to contemplate the perfect humility of the Holy Mother of God at the marriage-feast at Cana. In answer to the apparent rebuke that she received from her Son, she uttered not a word of self-justification, but an instruction to the servants to be exact in their obedience to Jesus.
Fasts and vigils, the study of Scripture, renouncing possessions and
everything worldly are not in themselves perfection, as we have said;
they are its tools. For perfection is not to be found in them; it is
acquired through them. It is useless, therefore, to boast of our
fasting, vigils, poverty, and reading of Scripture when we have not
achieved the love of God and our fellow men. Whoever has achieved love
has God within himself and his intellect is always with God.
--St. John Cassian
<<>><<>><<>>
September 18th - St. John de Massias, Monk, Visionary
He was born in Ribera, Spain, to a noble family and was orphaned at a young age. John went to Peru to work on a cattle ranch before entering the Dominicans at Lima as a lay brother, assigned to serve as a doorkeeper, or porter. He was known for his austerities, miracles, and visions. John cared for all the poor of Lima, dying there on September 16. Pope Paul VI canonized him in 1975 .
The lessons of his office state that the parents of Bl. John Massias (or Masias) were representatives of noble and ancient families, who "had been deprived of rank and wealth by the various misfortunes of an unreliable world". He was born at Ribera in Estramadura in 1585 and was left an orphan whilst still young, being looked after by an uncle, who made the boy earn his living as a shepherd. During the long hours when there was nothing particular to do except keep his eyes open John would say his rosary and meditate on the Christian mysteries, and it sometimes appeared that the holy ones were there, visible and talking to him, especially our Lady and St. John the Evangelist. He attributed to an instruction of the last named his sudden decision to go to the Americas, as so many others of his countrymen were then doing. He landed in Peru and got work on a cattle-ranch, where he stopped for over two years and saved a little money with which he made his way to Lima. Here he decided to become a religious and, having given away what was left of his savings, he was accepted as a lay-brother by the Dominicans of St. Mary Magdalen's.
Brother John's austerities exceeded the bounds of prudence, and his prior had to insist on moderation: for he would content himself with one hour of sleep, and that on his knees with his head on the bed, and brought on himself a disease which required a painful and dangerous operation. He was made porter and his lodge soon became the meeting-place for the poor, the sick and the wretched of the city; following the example of his friend Bl. Martin de Porres, he begged alms with which to feed and attend to their mental needs, and accompanied his ministrations with good advice and exhortations to good life and the love of God. Those who were too shy to beg he sought out in their homes, and to save time in begging from door to door he trained the priory donkey to go round by itself and receive in its panniers food and clothing for his beloved poor. Many and remarkable were the miracles attributed to Bl. John Massias, and his death at the age of sixty was mourned by the whole city. He was beatified in 1837.
On the occasion of the beatification an Italian life, the Dominicans in Rome published Vita del Beato Giovanni Massias. See also Procter, Lives of Dominican Saints, pp. 263-274. There is a fuller bibliography in Taurisano, Catalogus Historicus OP.
Saint Quote:
Avoid evil practices; indeed, preach against them. Hear your bishop, that God may hear you. Work together in harmony,: struggle together, run together, suffer together, rest together, rise together, as stewards, advisors and servants of God. So be patient and gentle with one another, as God is with you.
--St. Ignatius of Antioch
Bible Quote:
For which cause I admonish thee that thou stir up the grace of God which is in thee by the imposition of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear: but of power and of love and of sobriety. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but labour with the gospel, according to the power of God. (2 Tim 1:6-8) DV
<><><><>
On Humility in Conversation [IX]
Our Lord tells us that by our words we shall be justified and by our words we shall, be condemned, and from our words can be clearly seen whether we are humble or proud. The proud man always wants to take the lead in the conversation, and to lay down the law for the benefit of the rest. The humble man is content to be in the background. The proud man is vexed if he is not listened to; the humble man is ready to accept such disregard with peaceful resignation, as a humiliation from the hand of God. Do I on these points exhibit marks of pride or of humility?
There is in the conversation of the proud an under-current of self-praise. They talk chiefly about themselves and what they have said and done, and in a tone of boastfulness more or less thinly veiled. The humble seem to forget themselves; they consider what is interesting to those to whom they talk, for God's sake they seek to please others rather than themselves. Try and cultivate this humility in conversation. It will make you loved by God and by men.
We perceive the contrast between humility and pride most clearly when some rebuff is given. See the meekness of the one and the indignation of the other; the patience of the one, and the eagerness of the other to assert himself and prove himself in the right. In this respect we shall do well to contemplate the perfect humility of the Holy Mother of God at the marriage-feast at Cana. In answer to the apparent rebuke that she received from her Son, she uttered not a word of self-justification, but an instruction to the servants to be exact in their obedience to Jesus.
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