On the Need for Careful Preparation for Holy Communion [II]

[Weedy]

On the Need for Careful Preparation for Holy Communion [II]

CHRIST.
However, know that even your best efforts cannot make a worthy
preparation for Me, although you were to prepare for a whole year and
do nothing else beside. It is of My mercy and grace alone that you are
allowed to approach My table; as though a beggar were invited to a
rich man's supper and could offer no return for his kindness save
humble gratitude. (Luke 14:12) Do whatever lies in your power and do
it earnestly, not out of habit or necessity, but with awe and reverent
love receive the Body of your Lord and God, who deigns to come to you.
It is My invitation and My bidding: I will supply whatever is lacking
in you. Come, therefore and receive Me.
--Thomas à Kempis--Imitation of Christ Book 4 Ch. 12

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18 September – Saint Richardis

(839-c 895)
Holy Roman Empress, Benedictine Abbess – born in 839 at Andlau,
Alsace, France and died in c 895 at Andlau, Alsace, France of natural
causes. Patronages – Andlau, protection against fire. She was renowned
for her piety and was the first abbess of Andlau. Repudiated by her
husband, Richardis later became a Christian model of devotion and just
rule.

She was born in Alsace, the daughter of Erchanger, count of the
Nordgau, of the family of the Ahalolfinger. She married Charles in 862
and was crowned with him in Rome by Pope John VIII in 881. The
marriage was childless.

Charles’ reign was marked by internal and external strife, caused
primarily by the constant plundering of Norman raiders on the northern
French coast. These attacks had intensified as the aggressors, no
longer content to pillage the coastline, had moved their attentions to
cities and towns along the rivers. The Carolingian world was unable to
effectively deal with these external threats.

By 887, Charles appears to have succumbed to fits of madness. During
this crisis, Richardis attempted to rule in her husband’s stead but
was unsuccessful. In an effort to bring down the over-powerful and
hated Liutward, Charles’ Archchancellor, he and Richardis were accused
by Charles and his courtiers of adultery. Charles asserted that their
marriage was unconsummated and demanded a divorce. She was put to the
ordeal by fire, which she passed successfully.

Protected by her family, she then withdrew to Andlau Abbey, which she
had founded on her ancestral lands in 880 and where her niece Rotrod
was abbess. (Richardis herself was previously lay abbess of religious
houses at Säckingen and Zurich). She died at Andlau on 18 September
and was buried there.
Richardis was later Canonised and remains translated in November 1049
by Pope Leo IX to a more impressive tomb in the newly rebuilt abbey
church. The present tomb dates from 1350.

https://anastpaul.com/2019/09/18/


Thought for the Day – The Memorial of St Joseph of Cupertino (1603-1663)

Joseph of Cupertino is most famous for levitating at prayer. Already
as a child, Joseph showed a fondness for prayer. After a short career
with the Capuchins, he joined the Conventual Franciscans. Following a
brief assignment caring for the friary mule, Joseph began his studies
for the priesthood. Though studies were very difficult for him, Joseph
gained a great deal of knowledge from prayer. He was ordained in 1628.

Joseph’s tendency to levitate during prayer was sometimes a cross,
some people came to see this much as they might have gone to a circus
sideshow. Joseph’s gift led him to be humble, patient and obedient,
even though at times he was greatly tempted and felt forsaken by God.
He fasted and wore iron chains for much of his life.

The friars transferred Joseph several times for his own good and for
the good of the rest of the community. He was reported to and
investigated by the Inquisition; the examiners exonerated him. Joseph
was Canonized in 1767. In the investigation preceding the
Canonisation, 70 incidents of levitation are recorded.

While levitation is an extraordinary sign of holiness, Joseph is also
remembered for the ordinary signs he showed. He prayed even in times
of inner darkness and he lived out the Sermon on the Mount. He used
his “unique possession”–his free will–to praise God and to serve God’s
creation. He said:

“Clearly, what God wants above all, is our will, which we received as
a free gift from God, in creation and possession, as though our own.
When a man trains himself to acts of virtue, it is with the help of
grace from God, from whom all good things come, that he does this. The
will is what man has as his unique possession.”
St Joseph of Cupertino, pray for us!


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) DRB


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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.