Trusting in the Lord

[Rich]

Trusting in the Lord

"If you put your trust in money, you are paying futile regard to
vain things; if you put your trust in high office or some exalted rank
in human government, you are paying futile regard to vain things...
When you put your trust in all these, either you expire and leave them
all behind, or they will crumble while you are still alive, and what
you trusted will have let you down... For my part, I do not put my
trust in empty things as they do or pay futile regard to them; I have
put my trust in the Lord."
--St. Augustine--(excerpt from Exposition on the Psalms 31,12))

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18 April – Blessed James Oldo OFS
He is also known as James of Oldo, James D’Oldo, James of Lodi, Jakob,
Jacopo, Giacomo.

– Priest, widower, Apostle of Charity, Preacher, painter, musician
– born in 1364 in Lodi, near Milan, Italy and died on 18 April 1404 of
an unknown natural cause, though it is believed it was the plague.
His body is incorrupt.

Blessed James came from a wealthy family. He was a painter, a singer,
a musician and – it was said at the time – the best dancer in town.
James fell in love with Catherine in their home town and they found
each other equally in love with the amusements that made up so much of
their lives. All was directed towards the finer goods of this world.

The plague broke out in Lodi, however and the, by now, parents of
three young daughters, found themselves in danger. So they left their
city dwelling for Catherine’s father’s place in the country. Despite
those precautions, two of his daughters died from the plague. James
determined to use whatever time he had left to build up treasures in
heaven and to build God’s realm on earth. From then on he avoided the
luscious pleasures of this life. At that point he realised what a fool
he had been in chasing down all these passing things. He still painted
but now it was only religious art designed to point the soul to Christ
Jesus. He spent the rest of this time in prayer, study, penance and
in serving the poor and the sick, in doing all he could to make up for
lost time.

His wife too turned to God in her sorrow. She and her husband James,
took vows of continence and became Secular Franciscans. They converted
their home into a chapel where small groups of people, many of them
fellow Secular Franciscans, came for prayer and support. They tore up
all their fine clothing making vestments. They dismantled their
jewellery in order to decorate the sacred vessels.

There home became a place of succour for all who needed care, one was
a sick priest, who taught him Latin. Upon the death of his wife, James
himself became a priest. He worked diligently until his dying day for
the ill, the lonely, the imprisoned. Indeed, he contracted the illness
that killed him because he was so careless in embracing those who were
suffering from unknown diseases.

Blessed James was beatified on 26 March 1934 by Pope Pius XI (cultus
confirmed). When his relics were moved seven years after his death,
his body was found incorrupt and was then re-interred in the nearby
Church of Sant’Egidio in 1580 and again it was re-interred in the
Cathedral of Lodi in 1789, where his shrine now resides.

https://anastpaul.com/2019/04/18/


The Ladder of Divine Ascent; 30,6-9.21.16

God is love. (1Jn 4:8) So he who wishes to define this, tries with
bleary eyes to measure the sand in the ocean.

Love, by reason of its nature, is a resemblance to God, as far as
that is possible for mortals. In its activity it is inebriation of the
soul and by its distinctive property, it is a fountain of faith, an
abyss of patience, a sea of humility.
Love is essentially the banishment, of every kind of contrary, for
love thinks no evil. Love, dispassion and adoption, are
distinguished, as sons from one another, by name and name only. Just
as light, fire and flame combine to form one power, it is the same
with love, dispassion and adoption.
He who has perfectly united his feeling to God is mystically led by
Him to an understanding of His words. But without this union, it is
difficult to speak about God.
If the face of a loved one, clearly and completely changes us and
makes us cheerful, joyous and carefree, what will the face of the Lord
not do, when He makes His presence felt, invisibly in a soul?
--St John Climacus (579-649)


Bible Quote:
10 Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you
have spoken, saying: Our iniquities, and our sins are upon us, and we
pine away in them: how then can we live?
[11] Say to them: As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the
death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live.
Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of
Israel?
[Ezechiel (Ezekiel) 33:10-11] DRV


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O Lamb of God
By St Irenaeus (c130 – c202)
Bishop & Martyr,
Father of the Church

O Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world,
look upon us
and have mercy upon us,
Thou who art Thyself,
both Victim and Priest,
Thyself, both Reward and Redeemer,
keep safe from all evil
those whom Thou hast redeemed,
O Saviour of the world!
Amen