Faith, Martyr, patron saints, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Lucy, Feast Day December 13

Quote December 12, 2016 Vicki Scheenstra Leave a comment

The feast day of St. Lucy is celebrated on December 13. She is the patron saint of the blind and visually impaired. She is also a martyr.

St. Lucy was born in 283 in Syracuse (Sicily). The name Lucy means “Light”. Her feast day is celebrated on Dec. 13, the day she was executed.

Lucy was born into a wealthy family of Greek ancestry. She vowed her life to Christ. Her Roman father died when she was young. Her mother tried against her will to arrange a marriage for her. After Lucy prayed at the tomb of St. Agatha, her mother’s illness (probably a hemorrhage), was cured. Her mother then agreed to let Lucy consecrate herself to Christ and to remain a virgin.

The rejected suitor of Lucy denounced her and reported her Christianity to the authorities. The magistrate Paschasius was known for his persecution and torture of Christians. He ordered her to burn a sacrifice to the emperor’s image. When she refused, she was ordered to be executed, in the year 304, at the age of 21. The attempt to burn her to death failed, so she was executed by a sword to the throat. Before the execution, she was tortured, having her eyes gouged. This is why she is the patron of the blind and visually impaired. In art St. Lucy is frequently shown holding a golden plate with her eyes on it.

Legend concludes that God restored her sight before her death.

While some of the history of St. Lucy is legend, her name is mentioned in several different places, including the canon of St. Gregory, indicating that she is a real person. By the sixth century, devotion to St. Lucy was widespread.

“O Jesus, Divine Savior,

grant that I be no longer deaf

to your heavenly call.”

Quote of St. Katherine Drexel; Feast day March 3

December is the Month of the Divine Infancy

Save

Faith, Our Lady, patron saints

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: Our Lady of Guadalupe, Feast Day December 12

December 12, 2016 Vicki Scheenstra Leave a comment

The feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated on Dec. 12. She has been named the patron of the Americas.

Our Lady appeared to a peasant near Mexico City named Juan Diego in 1529. She appeared to him as an Aztec Princess, and spoke in his native tongue. She requested he tell the bishop to build a church on the site. Initially the bishop was skeptical, demanding proof of the vision. Juan Diego returned to the site of the vision to find Castillo Roses blooming in the frozen earth. He collected them and returned to the bishop. When he opened his cloak, the flowers fell to the ground and an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was imprinted on his cloak. (The miracle of the roses) His cloak is under glass, on display, in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe was soon built. Over six million soon converted to the faith because of the apparition.

There have been many apparitions of Mary over time. Not all of them have been approved by the Church. While belief in the apparitions is not a requirement, devotion to the approved apparitions are encouraged. Before an apparition can be approved it is thoroughly investigated by the Vatican.

The church teaches us that Mary always leads us to her Son, Jesus. Jesus is both human and divine; Mary is human only, but the mother of Our Lord. We consider her our spiritual mother, to whom we can always turn to for intercessory prayer. (To Jesus, Thru Mary)

Anyone who is questioning the reverence held for Mary should ask themselves several questions.

Do the commandments require us to honor our father and mother?

Did Jesus honor Mary?

Are we not called to imitate Jesus?

Why then, should we not honor Mary, His mother?

The following prayer to Mary is a sample of intercessory prayer. In this type of prayer, we ask a saint, or another person, to pray for us and with us.

Beautiful Virgin of Guadalupe, I ask you on behalf of all my brothers and sisters of the world that you bless us and protect us. Give us proof of your love and kindness. Oh pure Virgin of Guadalupe, give me through your Son, forgiveness for my sins, blessings for my job, cure for my diseases and needs, and all that you deem necessary. I ask for my family, Oh Mother of God, do not disdain the pleas we present to you in our needs. Amen

“Oh, how happy is the soul

that freely lets herself be

molded to the liking

of this Divine Savior.”

Quote of St. Jane Frances de Chantel; Feast day August 12

December is the Month of the Divine Infancy

Save

Pope, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Damasus I, Feast Day December 11

December 12, 2016 Vicki Scheenstra Leave a comment

The feast day of St. Damasus is celebrated on December 11. He was the Bishop of Rome.

Damasus was born in 306. His father was a Roman priest. Following his father’s footsteps, he began as a deacon. He served in the Basilica of San Lorenzo. He also served Pope Liberius following him into exile. When Pope Liberius died he was elected Pope. At the same time a minority elected Ursinus as the Pope. Ursinus was considered the anti-pope. Unrest and discord were constant during the reign of Pope Damasus.

Pope Damasus commissioned his secretary St.Jerome to translate the scripture into Latin, the Vulgate version of the Bible. He also changed the liturgical language of the Church from Greek to Latin. He worked to preserve the catacombs and the graves of the martyrs, and relics. During his reign, Christianity was declared the official religion of the Roman state.

Pope Damasus I died of natural causes in Rome on Dec. 11, 384.

“For me, prayer means launching out

of the heart toward God;

a cry of grateful love from the

crest of joy or the trough of despair;

It is a vast supernatural force

that opens out my heart,

and binds me close to Jesus.”

Quote of St. Thérèse of Lisieux; Feast day October 1

December is the Month of the Divine Infancy

Save

Pope, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Gregory III, Feast Day December 10

December 11, 2016 Vicki Scheenstra Leave a comment

The feast day of St. Gregory III is celebrated on December 10. He was the Bishop of Rome.

St. Gregory III was born in Syria. His father’s name was John. Little is known about his childhood. He became a Syrian priest. He was proclaimed pope immediately after the death of Pope Gregory II. The most pressing problem was defending the veneration of holy images. Emperor Leo III considered it idolatry.

Pope Gregory called a synod during which he approved measures against anyone who destroyed images of Jesus, Mary or the saints. He taught that icons and images promote worship rather than being the object of worship themselves. He repaired many beautiful churches and promoted monasticism. Pope Gregory was known for his virtue and knowledge.

Pope Gregory III died of natural causes on November 28, 741.

When God is our strength,

it is strength indeed;

when our strength

is our own,

it is only weakness.

Quote of St. Augustine; Feast day August 28

December is the Month of the Divine Infancy

Save

Faith, Our Lady, Saint of the Day, Spirituality, Visionary

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Juan Diego, Feast Day December 9

Quote December 8, 2016 Vicki Scheenstra Leave a comment

St. Juan Diego

The feast day of St. Juan Diego is celebrated on December 9. Juan was born in a ward of Tlayacac in Cuauhtitlan. His birth name was Cuauhtlatzin, which means “The talking eagle”. He was a farmer and a weaver. He is the first indigenous American Saint.

After the arrival of the Franciscans, Juan and his wife, Maria Lucia, converted to the Catholic faith in 1524-1525. Juan was baptized by Father Peter da Gand at the age of 50. He and his wife moved closer to Mexico City to be closer to the Franciscan Catholic Mission.

Juan had a special devotion to the Eucharist. In 1529, several years after his conversion, Maria Lucia died. As a widower, he walked 15 miles three times a week to attend Mass and receive the Eucharist.

One Saturday, on Dec. 9, as he was walking to Mass, a woman’s voice called out to him as he passed Tepeyac Hill. He heard music and saw a cloud encircled by a rainbow. Our Lady appeared to him dressed as an Aztec princess. She told him she was The Virgin Mary and asked him to tell the bishop to build a church on that site. She said to him;

“I vividly desire that a church be built on this site, so that in it I can be present and give my love, compassion, help and defense, for I am your most devoted mother….to hear your laments and to remedy all your miseries, pains, and sufferings.”

When he told the bishop what had happened, the bishop was kind, but skeptical. He requested proof. Before Juan could return to the site, he learned his uncle was dying. On his way to see his uncle, Our Lady appeared to him again, telling him his uncle had been cured. She told Juan to climb to the top of the hill where she had first appeared. When he did this he was shocked to find flowers growing in the frozen earth. He gathered them in his cloak and took them to the bishop. When he opened his cloak, the flowers that fell to the ground were Castilian roses (not native to Mexico). The bishop saw a glowing image of Our Lady imprinted inside Juan’s cloak. This is referred to as The Miracle of the Roses.

Soon after, a church was built at the site. In the seven years following the building of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, six million people converted to the church because of the apparition. Twenty million pilgrims visit the Basilica yearly, second only to St. Peters Basilica in Rome.

An investigation by the Vatican (which included thirty researchers) confirmed that Juan Diego was not a mythical character.

Pope John Paul II praised St. Juan Diego for his simple faith who said to the Virgin Mary,

“I am a nobody, I am a small rope, a tiny ladder, the tail end, a leaf”

Pope John Paul II called him a model of humility.

Our Lady of Guadalupe has been declared the patroness of the Americas.

St. Juan Diego lived the rest of his life as a hermit in a hut near the church, caring for both the church and the first pilgrims.

St. Juan Diego died on May 30, 1548.

The Cloak of Juan Diego was framed and is on display at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It is still intact, showing no signs of decay after nearly five hundred years.

The feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated on Dec. 12th.

God calls and chooses us in the way we will be most pleasing to Him.

Quote of St. Catherine of Sienna; Feast Day April 29

December is the Month of the Divine Infancy

Save

Faith, Feast Days, Our Lady, patron saints, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: Immaculate Conception of Mary, Feast Day December 8

Quote December 6, 2016 Vicki Scheenstra Leave a comment

The Immaculate Conception
by Padre Manuel

The Feast day of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated on Dec. 8 during the season of Advent. The feast day celebrates the belief that Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin. It is often misunderstood as the celebration of the conception of Jesus.

Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception is the Patron Saint of Brazil and the United States.

The feast day became a celebration for the universal church in the 18th century. Pope Pius IX declare;

“The most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin.”

Mary herself confirmed her title to St. Bernadette saying to her;

” I am the Immaculate Conception.”

The largest Marian shrine in the U S. is the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception located in Washington D.C.

Just as Eve was conceived without sin, Mary also was conceived without sin. Mary is considered, ‘the new Eve’.

Rather than disobeying God, Mary said, “Let it be.”

Purer than heaven’s purest angels, brighter than its brightest seraph:

Mary, after her Creator, God, made her and gave her all,

the most perfect of beings, the masterpiece of Infinite Wisdom,

Almighty Power and Eternal Love.

To such a being we cannot reasonably suppose that

a perfection was denied her which had been already

gratuitously bestowed on inferior creatures;

on the angelic spirits.

Quote of St. John N. Newmann; Feast day January 5