Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
On Offering Ourselves wholly to God [V]
1 view
Skip to first unread message
Rich
Apr 2, 2022, 3:36:15 AM4/2/22
to
On Offering Ourselves wholly to God [V]
I offer Thee also all the holy aspirations of devout persons; the
needs of my parents, friends, brothers, sisters, and all who are dear
to me; and the needs of all who have desired or asked me to pray and
offer the Eucharist for them and theirs, whether living or departed. I
pray that all these may enjoy the assistance of Thy grace, the aid of
Thy comfort, protection from dangers, and deliverance from pains to
come; and that, freed from all evils, they may offer glad praise and
thanks to Thee.
--Thomas à Kempis--Imitation of Christ Book 4 Ch.9
<<>><<>><<>>
April 2nd – Bl. Leopold of Gaiche, Founder
d. 1815
BL. LEOPOLD was born at Gaiche in the diocese of Perugia, the son of
humble parents, and was christened John. A neighbouring priest helped
him with his education and in 1751, when he was eighteen, he received
the Franciscan habit in the friary at Cibotola, taking the name
Leopold. After he became a priest in 1757 he was sent to preach Lenten
courses of sermons which soon made him famous. As the result of his
eloquence and fervour, numerous conversions took place, enemies were
reconciled, and penitents besieged his confessional. For ten years,
from 1768 when he was made papal missioner in the States of the
Church, he held missions in several dioceses, and even after he had
become minister provincial he continued his apostolic labours. Fired
by the example of Bl. Thomas of Con and of St Leonard of Port Maurice
he was anxious to found a house to which missioners and preachers
could retire for their annual retreat and where other brethren and
friends of the order could come for spiritual refreshment. He had,
however, many difficulties to overcome and disappointments to meet
before he could realize his desire, on the lonely hill of Monte Luco,
near Spoleto.
When in 1808 Napoleon invaded Rome and imprisoned Pope Pius VII,
religious houses were suppressed and their occupants turned out. Bl.
Leopold, a venerable old man of seventy-seven, was obliged to abandon
his beloved convent, and with three of his brethren to live in a
miserable hut in Spoleto. While there he acted as assistant to a
parish priest, but afterwards he had charge of an entire parish whose
pastor had been driven out by the French. Then he was himself
imprisoned for refusing to take an oath which he considered unlawful.
His imprisonment, however, was of short duration, for we soon find him
giving missions once more. His fame was enhanced by his prophetical
powers and by strange phenomena which attended him: for example, when
he was preaching his head often appeared to his congregation as though
it were crowned with thorns.
With the fall of Napoleon, Bl. Leopold hurried back to Monte Luco,
where he set about trying to establish things as they had been before
but he only survived for a few months, dying on April 15, 1815, in his
eighty-third year. The numerous miracles reported to have taken place
at his grave caused the speedy introduction of the process of his
beatification, which reached a favourable conclusion in 1893.
Abundant information is provided by the documents printed for the
process of beatification and there is a life by Fr. M. Antonio da
Vicenza. See also Kempf, Holiness of the Church in the 19th Century,
pp. 95-96, and Seeböck, Die Herrlichkeit der Katholischen Kirche, pp.
212-213.
Saint Quote:
Be assured that he who shall always walk faithfully in God's presence,
always ready to give Him an account of all his actions, shall never be
separated from Him by consenting to sin.
-- St. Thomas Aquinas
Bible Quote:
And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will
build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And
whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed
also in heaven. [Matt. 16: 18-20]
<><><><>
Christ's whole life was filled with insults
Scripture tells us that for the sake of the joy that lay ahead of
him Christ endured the cross, thinking nothing of the shame of it.
What exactly is meant by thinking nothing of the shame? The simple
fact, as Saint Paul says, that Christ chose an ignominious death, that
he chose it in full freedom because he was not subject to sin. By so
doing Christ taught us to face disgrace boldly and make light of it.
Let me remind you of the goal he achieved: He has taken his seat at
the right hand of God. You see the prize to be won in this conflict.
Even if there were no reward to be gained, Christ's example would be
enough to persuade us to endure all our trials willingly. In point of
fact, we are told that rewards do lie ahead of us, and these no
ordinary honors, but prizes of such magnitude that they cannot be
described.
Therefore, whenever we ourselves have to suffer some disgrace, let
us think of Christ, remembering that his whole life was filled with
insults. He was continuously hearing himself called a madman,
deceiver, and sorcerer, by the very people among whom he went about
doing good, for whom he performed miracles, and to whom he revealed
the works of God.
--St. John Chrysostom:
I offer Thee also all the holy aspirations of devout persons; the
needs of my parents, friends, brothers, sisters, and all who are dear
to me; and the needs of all who have desired or asked me to pray and
offer the Eucharist for them and theirs, whether living or departed. I
pray that all these may enjoy the assistance of Thy grace, the aid of
Thy comfort, protection from dangers, and deliverance from pains to
come; and that, freed from all evils, they may offer glad praise and
thanks to Thee.
--Thomas à Kempis--Imitation of Christ Book 4 Ch.9
<<>><<>><<>>
April 2nd – Bl. Leopold of Gaiche, Founder
d. 1815
BL. LEOPOLD was born at Gaiche in the diocese of Perugia, the son of
humble parents, and was christened John. A neighbouring priest helped
him with his education and in 1751, when he was eighteen, he received
the Franciscan habit in the friary at Cibotola, taking the name
Leopold. After he became a priest in 1757 he was sent to preach Lenten
courses of sermons which soon made him famous. As the result of his
eloquence and fervour, numerous conversions took place, enemies were
reconciled, and penitents besieged his confessional. For ten years,
from 1768 when he was made papal missioner in the States of the
Church, he held missions in several dioceses, and even after he had
become minister provincial he continued his apostolic labours. Fired
by the example of Bl. Thomas of Con and of St Leonard of Port Maurice
he was anxious to found a house to which missioners and preachers
could retire for their annual retreat and where other brethren and
friends of the order could come for spiritual refreshment. He had,
however, many difficulties to overcome and disappointments to meet
before he could realize his desire, on the lonely hill of Monte Luco,
near Spoleto.
When in 1808 Napoleon invaded Rome and imprisoned Pope Pius VII,
religious houses were suppressed and their occupants turned out. Bl.
Leopold, a venerable old man of seventy-seven, was obliged to abandon
his beloved convent, and with three of his brethren to live in a
miserable hut in Spoleto. While there he acted as assistant to a
parish priest, but afterwards he had charge of an entire parish whose
pastor had been driven out by the French. Then he was himself
imprisoned for refusing to take an oath which he considered unlawful.
His imprisonment, however, was of short duration, for we soon find him
giving missions once more. His fame was enhanced by his prophetical
powers and by strange phenomena which attended him: for example, when
he was preaching his head often appeared to his congregation as though
it were crowned with thorns.
With the fall of Napoleon, Bl. Leopold hurried back to Monte Luco,
where he set about trying to establish things as they had been before
but he only survived for a few months, dying on April 15, 1815, in his
eighty-third year. The numerous miracles reported to have taken place
at his grave caused the speedy introduction of the process of his
beatification, which reached a favourable conclusion in 1893.
Abundant information is provided by the documents printed for the
process of beatification and there is a life by Fr. M. Antonio da
Vicenza. See also Kempf, Holiness of the Church in the 19th Century,
pp. 95-96, and Seeböck, Die Herrlichkeit der Katholischen Kirche, pp.
212-213.
Saint Quote:
Be assured that he who shall always walk faithfully in God's presence,
always ready to give Him an account of all his actions, shall never be
separated from Him by consenting to sin.
-- St. Thomas Aquinas
Bible Quote:
And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will
build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And
whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed
also in heaven. [Matt. 16: 18-20]
<><><><>
Christ's whole life was filled with insults
Scripture tells us that for the sake of the joy that lay ahead of
him Christ endured the cross, thinking nothing of the shame of it.
What exactly is meant by thinking nothing of the shame? The simple
fact, as Saint Paul says, that Christ chose an ignominious death, that
he chose it in full freedom because he was not subject to sin. By so
doing Christ taught us to face disgrace boldly and make light of it.
Let me remind you of the goal he achieved: He has taken his seat at
the right hand of God. You see the prize to be won in this conflict.
Even if there were no reward to be gained, Christ's example would be
enough to persuade us to endure all our trials willingly. In point of
fact, we are told that rewards do lie ahead of us, and these no
ordinary honors, but prizes of such magnitude that they cannot be
described.
Therefore, whenever we ourselves have to suffer some disgrace, let
us think of Christ, remembering that his whole life was filled with
insults. He was continuously hearing himself called a madman,
deceiver, and sorcerer, by the very people among whom he went about
doing good, for whom he performed miracles, and to whom he revealed
the works of God.
--St. John Chrysostom:
0 new messages