Saint Philip Neri

Feast: May 26

Prayer of the Venerable Henry Cardinal Newman
to Saint Philip

Philip, my glorious Advocate, teach me to look at all I see around me after thy pattern, as creatures of God.

Let me never forget that the same God who made me, made the whole world and all animals that are in it.

Give me the grace to love all God’s works for God’s sake, and all men fore the sake of my Lord and savior who has redeemed me on the Cross.

The Ascension

The Ascension of Christ means that he no longer belongs to the world of corruption and death, which conditions our life. It means that he belongs completely to God. He, the eternal Son, has taken our human being to the presence of God; he has taken with him flesh and blood in a transfigured form. Man finds a place in God through Christ; the human being has been taken into the very life of God. And, given that God embraces and sustains the whole cosmos, the Lord's Ascension means that Christ has not gone far away from us, but that now, thanks to the fact he is with the Father, he is close to each one of us forever. Each one of us may address him familiarly; each one may turn to him. The Lord always hears our voice. We may distance ourselves inwardly from him. We can live with our backs turned to him, but he always awaits us, and is always close to us.
_____ H.H. Benedict XVI, 2005

A benedictine quote

“After the Second Vatican Council, the impression arose that the pope really could do anything in liturgical matters, especially if he were acting on the mandate of an ecumenical council. Eventually, the idea of the givenness of the liturgy, the fact that one cannot do with it what one will, faded from the public consciousness of the West. In fact, the First Vatican Council had in no way defined the pope as an absolute monarch. On the contrary, it presented him as the guarantor of obedience to the revealed Word. The pope's authority is bound to the Tradition of faith, and that also applies to the liturgy. It is not "manufactured" by the authorities. Even the pope can only be a humble servant of its lawful development and abiding integrity and identity. . . . The authority of the pope is not unlimited; it is at the service of Sacred Tradition. . . . The greatness of the liturgy depends - we shall have to repeat this frequently - on its unspontaneity.”

_____Pope Benedict XVI

Month of our Lady

This is the Month of our Lady the Queen of Heaven and Earth
The great Daughter of the Father
The Mother of God the Son
The Bride of God the Holy Spirit.

She who is full of Grace
The Gate of Heaven
The Mother of all the Faithful
The first to be Called
She who crushes the head of the enemy.

St George

Feast: April 23

From the Roman Martyrology:

The birthday of St. George, whose illustrious martyrdom is honored by the Church of God among the triumphs of the other martyrs.

Happy Birthday Holy Father

H.H. Benedict XVI

Easter