The Joy of a Good Conscience (4)

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The Joy of a Good Conscience (4)

It is characteristic of a humble soul always to do good and to think
little of itself. It is a mark of great purity and deep faith to look
for no consolation in created things. The man who desires no
justification from without has clearly entrusted himself to God: “For
not he who commendeth himself is approved,” says St. Paul, “but he
whom God commendeth.” (2 Cor. 10:18.)
To walk with God interiorly, to be free from any external
affection--this is the state of the inward man.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Book 2, Chapter 6

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July 25th - St. Magnericus, Bishop of Trier

d. 596
This saint was born at the beginning of the sixth century and brought
up in the household of St. Nicetius, Bishop of Trier, who gave him the
priesthood and made him his confidant.

When Nicetius was expelled from his see by King Clotaire I because he
had excommunicated him for his profligacy, Magnericus accompanied him
into exile; they were recalled by Sigebert the following year, and six
years later Magnericus succeeded to the bishopric of Trier. A great
enthusiasm of St. Magnericus was devotion to St. Martin of Tours, and
he built several churches and founded the monastery dedicated in his
honour. In the course of his pilgrimages to the shrine at Tours he
formed a close friendship with St. Gregory, bishop of that city, who
testified in his writings to the sanctity of Magnericus. When
Theodore, Bishop of Marseilles, was in 585 exiled by Guntramnus of
Burgundy, he took refuge at Trier, and St. Magnericus took St. Gregory
with him to plead the cause of the oppressed bishop before King
Childebert II, who had a great regard for the bishop of Trier. So too
had another saint who knew him well, Venantius Fortunatus, who was
impressed by his shining piety and sound learning and praises him as
an ornament of the Church; he attracted numerous fervent disciples,
among others St. Gaugeric (Géry), whom he made one of his deacons and
who became bishop of Cambrai. St. Magnericus died at a great age in
596.

The relatively copious life of the saint, written by Eberwin, abbot of
Saint-Martin at Trier, is printed with introductory matter in the Acta
Sanctorum, July, vol. vi. The more historical portions have been
re-edited in MGH., and by H. V. Sauerland, Trierer Geschichtsquellen
(1889). See also Fortunatus, in MGH.. Epistolae, vol. iii, p. 128 .


Saint Quote:
It is here, my daughters, that love is to be found--not hidden away in
corners but in the midst of occasions of sin. And believe me, although
we may more often fail and commit small lapses, our gain will be
incomparably the greater.
--St. Teresa of Avila


“And so we pray,
that, by the same grace,
which made the Church Christ’s Body,
all its members may remain firm
in the unity of that Body,
through the enduring bond of love.”
--St Fulgentius of Ruspe (c 462 – 533)


The Love of God
The One Thing Necessary!

God alone is in Himself and of Himself, supremely true, beautiful, good, wise and holy.
Created things are only an invitation to love God, their Creator.
God alone, therefore, is supremely lovable in Himself.
In the apt words of St Bernard, “God Himself is the reason why we should love God and, the measure of our love should be measureless.”
Let us not allow ourselves to become entangled in the empty passing things of this world but, let us raise our minds and hearts to God alone.
There is only one thing necessary!”
by Antonio Cardinal Bacci

Part One Here:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/02/10/thought-for-the-day-10-february-the-love-of-god/


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God Our Creator

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power,
because Thou. hast created all things.--(Apoc. iv. 11.)

Why is it that God has such an absolute and all-embracing claim to
ourselves and to all that is ours? It is because we are made by Him,
and not only made, but created. We are His, not only as the statue is
the sculptor's and the picture the painter's, but He made out of
nothing the very materials of which we consist. There is therefore
nothing in us which is not God's. Every sort of excellence, strength,
virtue, talent, beauty, skill, energy, affection--all are God's not our
own.

God created every one with certain gifts of his own that He did not
give to another, and He gave him those gifts to do a special work that
God had for him to do. He created me with a certain object; from all
eternity He had been planning my soul and body, and providing me with
all that I needed, that both one and the other might serve Him. Have I
on the whole carried out God's plan? Shall I be able to say, when I
come to die: "I have finished the work Thou gavest me to do?"

What a serious thought this is, that God had a plan for my life! He
meant me to occupy a certain position in society and to have certain
employments; to influence certain persons for good; to overcome
certain temptations; to practise certain virtues beyond the rest to
attain a certain place in Heaven. Has my life been ordered by God's
holy inspirations; has not my own self-will too often had part in it?

Pray that you may not fail in fulfilling God's intentions concerning you.