Saint Augustine

Saint Augustine of Hippo

Feast: August 28

The Assumption of the Mother of God

The Assumption of the Mother of God

August 15th.

…For the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority,

We pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.

Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith.

___from the Papal Constitution Munificentissimus Deus of Pope Pius XII in which the Assumption of the Mother of God was dogmatically defined as a necessary article of Faith.

Saint Philomina

Print showing principal image of St. Philomina

 over her Altar at her tomb

Feast: August 11

Prayer

O most pure Virgin, glorious Martyr, St. Philomena, whom God in His eternal power has revealed to the world in these unhappy days in order to revive the faith, sustain the hope and enkindle the charity of Christian souls, behold me prostate at thy feet. Deign, O Virgin, full of goodness and kindness, to receive my humble prayers and to obtain for me that purity for which thou didst sacrifice the most alluring pleasures of the world, that strength of soul which made thee resist the most terrible attacks and that ardent love for our Lord Jesus Christ, which the most frightful torments could not extinguish in thee. So, that waring thy holy cord and imitating thee in this life, I may one day be crowned with thee in heaven.

 Amen.

"Pray to St. Philomena, whatever you ask from Her She will obtain for you."

_____(Pope Gregory XVI)

The Cross of Jesus Christ

The Holy Cross

Our understanding, which is enlightened by the Spirit of truth, should receive with purity and freedom of heart the glory of the cross as it shines in heaven and on earth. It should see with inner vision the meaning of the Lord's words when he spoke of the imminence of his passion: The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Afterward he said: Now my soul is troubled, and what am I to say? Father, save me from this hour. But it was for this I came to this hour. Father, glorify your Son. When the voice of the Father came from heaven, saying, I have glorified him, and will glorify him again, Jesus said in reply to those around him: It was not for me that this voice spoke, but for you. Now is the judgment of the world, now will the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself.

How marvelous the power of the cross; how great beyond all telling the glory of the passion. Here is the judgment-seat of the Lord, the condemnation of the world, the supremacy of Christ crucified.

Lord, you drew all things to yourself so that the devotion of all peoples everywhere might celebrate, in a sacrament made perfect and visible, what was carried out in the one temple of Judea under obscure foreshadowings. Now there is a more distinguished order of Levites, a greater dignity for the rank of elders, a more sacred anointing for the priesthood, because your cross is the source of all blessings, the cause of all graces. Through the cross the faithful receive strength from weakness, glory from dishonor, life from death.

The different sacrifices of animals are no more: the one offering of your body and blood is the fulfillment of all the different sacrificial offerings, for you are the true Lamb of God: you take away the sins of the world. In yourself you bring to perfection all mysteries, so that, as there is one sacrifice in place of all other sacrificial offerings, there is also one kingdom gathered from all peoples.

Dearly beloved, let us then acknowledge what Saint Paul, the teacher of the nations, acknowledged so exultantly: This is a saying worthy of trust, worthy of complete acceptance: Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners.

God's compassion for us is all the more wonderful because Christ died, not for the righteous or the holy but for the wicked and the sinful, and, though the divine nature could not be touched by the sting of death, he took to himself, through his birth as one of us, something he could offer on our behalf.

The power of his death once confronted our death. In the words of Hosea the prophet: Death, I shall be your death; grave, I shall swallow you up. By dying he submitted to the laws of the underworld; by rising again he destroyed them. He did away with the everlasting character of death so as to make death a thing of time, not of eternity. As all die in Adam, so all will be brought to life in Christ.

______From one of the sermons of Saint Leo the Great

Blessed jean d'aza

Image of Blessed Jane d'Aza mother of Saint Dominic

Feast: August 2.

Tradition holds that when pregnant with her son Dominic, Blessed Jane of Aza had a vision of a dog running around the whole world, a blazing torch in its mouth.

 The son became the founder of the Order of Preachers; known as the Dominicans thus the prophetic dream was fulfilled as the Dominican friars took the light of the gospel throughout the world. They became known as the Dogs of the Lord.  In Latin the word Dominican would be Domini Canes, literally Dogs of the Lord. 

God the Father

Our Father

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has this morning, July 3rd 2009, approved the publication of the decree of the Congregation for the Cause of Saints thus recognizing officially as true the report of a miracle through the intercession of the Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman.


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