This is that smoke of the incense

[Rich]

This is that smoke of the incense

Our prayers are so dear to God, that he has appointed the angels to
present them to him as soon as they come forth from our mouths. 'The
angels,' says St. Hilary, 'preside over the prayers of the faithful,
and offer them daily to God.' This is that smoke of the incense, which
are the prayers of saints, which St. John saw ascending to God from
the hands of the angels (Apoc. 8,3); and which he saw in another place
represented by golden phials full of sweet odors, very acceptable to
God.
--St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

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28 December – Saint Caterina Volpicelli
Also known as Katarina Volpicelli

Memorial
28 December
22 January on some calendars

(1839-1894)
Religious and Foundress of the Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
of which Order she is the Patron., Apostle of the the Holy Eucharist
and of Prayer, of the poor and need. Born on 21 January 1839 in
Naples, Italy and died on 28 December 1894 in Naples, Italy of natural
causes.

Caterina Volpicelli was born into an upper middle-class Neapolitan
family on 21 January 1839 from which she received a sound human and
religious formation. She was taught literature, languages and music at
the Royal Educational Institute of St Marcellino by Margherita
Salatino (the future foundress, with Bl Ludovico da Casoria OFM
(1814-1885), of the Franciscan Grey Sisters of St Elizabeth). Both
belong to that array of “apostles of the poor and marginalised” who in
19th-century Naples were a sign of the presence of Christ, the Good
Samaritan, who comes close to all who are injured in body and spirit.

Caterina had been trying to outshine her sister in society, frequently
going to the theatre and the ballet but prompted by the Lord’s Spirit,
who revealed God’s plan to her through the voice of wise and holy
spiritual directors, she soon gave up the transient pleasures of an
elegant and carefree life, to adhere with generous decision to a
vocation of perfection and holiness.

Her chance meeting with Bl Ludovico da Casoria on 19 September 1854 at
La Palma, Naples, as she herself says, was “a rare stroke of
preventive grace, charity and favour from the Sacred Heart, delighted
by the poverty of his servant”. Bl Ludovico led her to join the Third
Order Franciscans and indicated to her the devotion to the Sacred
Heart of Jesus as the one goal of her life, inviting her to remain in
society to be a “fisher of souls.” Guided by her confessor, the
Barnabite Fr Leonardo Matera, on 28 May 1859 Caterina entered the
Perpetual Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament but she soon left, for
serious health reasons. Caterina’s confessor showed her the monthly
leaflet of the Apostleship of Prayer in France; from him she received
detailed information about this new association with the diploma of
Messenger, the first in Naples In July 1867, Fr Ramière visited the
palace of Largo Petrone in Naples, where Caterina was considering
establishing her apostolic activities “to revive love for Jesus Christ
in hearts, in families and in society.” The Apostleship of Prayer
would be the cornerstone of Caterina’s whole spiritual edifice and
would permit her to cultivate her ardent love of the Eucharist and her
outreach to others.

With the first messengers, on 1 July 1874, Caterina founded the new
institute of “Servants of the Sacred Heart”, at first approved by the
Cardinal Archbishop of Naples, the Servant of God Sisto Riario Sforza
and later, on 13 June 1890, by Pope Leo XIII who granted the new
religious family the “Decree of praise”.

Concerned about the lot of the young, she then opened the orphanage of
the Margherites, founded a lending library and set up the Association
of the Daughters of Mary, with the wise guidance of Venerable Mother
Rosa Carafa Traetto (d. 1890).

She soon opened other houses, in Naples, in the Sansevero Palace and
then at the La Sapienza Church in Ponticelli, where the Servants
distinguished themselves in nursing cholera victims in 1884 and in
Minturno, Meta di Sorrento and Rome. On 14 May 1884, the new
Archbishop of Naples, Cardinal Guglielmo Sanfelice, OSB, consecrated
the Shrine dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus which she had had
built, next to the Mother House of her institutions. She built it
specifically for adoration in reparation, as requested by the Pope, to
support the Church in difficult times for religious freedom and Gospel
proclamation.

Caterina’s participation in the first National Eucharistic Congress
celebrated in Naples in 1891 (19-22 November), crowned the Apostolate
of the Foundress of the Servants of the Sacred Heart. Caterina
Volpicelli died in Naples on 28 December 1894, offering her life for
the Church and for the Holy Father.

She was Beatified on 29 April 2001 at Saint Peter’s Square by St Pope
John Paul II and Canonised 26 April 2009 also in Rome by Pope Benedict
XVI.

At her Canonisation, Pope Benedict said:

“St Caterina Volpicelli was also a witness of divine love. She strove
“to belong to Christ in order to bring to Christ” those whom she met
in Naples at the end of the 19th century, in a period of spiritual and
social crisis. For her too the secret was the Eucharist. She
recommended that her first collaborators cultivate an intense
spiritual life in prayer and, especially, in vital contact with Jesus
in the Eucharist. Today this is still the condition for continuing the
work and mission which she began and which she bequeathed as a legacy
to the “Servants of the Sacred Heart”. In order to be authentic
teachers of faith, desirous of passing on to the new generations the
values of Christian culture, it is indispensable, as she liked to
repeat, to release God from the prisons in which human beings have
confined Him. In fact, only in the Heart of Christ can humanity find
its “permanent dwelling place.” St Caterina shows to her spiritual
daughters and to all of us, the demanding journey of a conversion,
that radically changes the heart and is expressed in actions
consistent with the Gospel. It is thus possible to lay the foundations
for building a society open to justice and solidarity, overcoming that
economic and cultural imbalance which continues to exist in a large
part of our planet.”

see
https://anastpaul.com/2019/12/28


Readings
She also knew how to draw from the Eucharist that missionary zeal that
led her to express her vocation in the Church, submitting with
docility to pastors, and [being] prophetically oriented to the
promotion of the laity and new forms of consecrated life. Although not
establishing operational centers or giving life to specific
institutions, as she herself stated, she wanted to find solitude in
activity, and fruitful work in solitude. – Pope John Paul II at the
beatification of Saint Caterina


Bible Quote:
To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Jehovah than
sacrifice. (Pro 21:3)


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28 THE FOSTER-FATHER

At no great distance from the Mother of God stands His holy
foster-father St. Joseph, the third person of that earthly Trinity.
What can we learn from him?

He is the true husband of Mary, united to her by a closer bond than
any on earth save that which exists between the Mother and the Son. He
is moreover the true earthly father of Jesus, in everything except the
fact of carnal generation. He has committed to him the care of God
Himself, and of her who is dearer to God than all the world. He is,
therefore, next to Mary, of all mankind the most privileged and the
most exalted, How then can we honor him enough?

When God gives to any one an office, He gives him the virtues and the
qualities which are required for its perfect exercise. What then must
have been the virtues of St. Joseph? He must have had every virtue,
not only in an eminent degree, but in a degree to which none other of
the sons of men ever attained. Prudence, justice, humility, charity,
in all he was far above all else. I, therefore, may ask of him every
grace that I need.

Above all, St. Joseph was eminent for his unspotted purity. Many
theologians assert that he was sanctified in his mother's womb. None
save Mary was ever so pure as he. This it was that qualified him for
his intimate union with Jesus and Mary. If I desire to be united to
them, I must be pure of heart. St. Joseph, obtain for me this grace of
purity!