Monthly Archives: March 2023

Hold the Cross High

“In my deepest wound I saw your glory and it dazzled me.”
– St. Augustine of Hippo

The Cross of Christ is the source of all blessings

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

How marvellous the power of the cross; how great beyond all telling the glory of the passion: here is the judgement-seat of the Lord, the condemnation of the world, the supremacy of Christ crucified.

Your cross is the source of all blessings, the cause of all graces. Through the cross the faithful receive strength from weakness, glory from dishonour, life from death. The different sacrifices of animals are no more: the one offering of your body and blood is the fulfilment 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.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 a sermon of Saint Leo the Great

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Saint Augustine on Psalms

Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer. Who is speaking? An individual, it seems. See if it is an individual: I cried out to you from the ends of the earth while my heart was in anguish .. What does it cry? What I said before: Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer; I cried out to you from the ends of the earth.’ That is, I made this cry to you from the ends of the earth; that is, on all sides.

Why did I make this cry? While my heart was in anguish. The speaker shows that he is present among all the nations of the earth in a condition, not of exalted glory but of severe trial. Our pilgrimage on earth cannot be exempt from trial. We progress by means of trial. No one knows himself except through trial, or receives a crown except after victory, or strives except against an enemy or temptations.

The one who cries from the ends of the earth is in anguish, but is not left on his own. Christ chose to foreshadow us .. He made us one with him when he chose to be tempted by Satan. We have heard in the gospel how the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Certainly Christ was tempted by the devil. He suffered temptation in your nature, but by his own power gained victory for you.

If in Christ we have been tempted, in him we overcome the devil. Do you think only of Christ’s temptations and fail to think of his victory? See yourself as tempted in him, and see yourself as victorious in him. He could have kept the devil from himself; but if he were not tempted he could not teach you how to triumph over temptation.

What did the Baptist cry ?

on Jordan’s bank . VID

  • On Jordan’s bank, the Baptist’s cry
    Announces that the Lord is nigh;
    Awake, and hearken, for he brings
    Glad tidings of the King of kings
  • Then cleansed be every christian breast
    And furnished for so great a Guest.
    Yea, let us each our hearts prepare
    For Christ to come and enter there.
  • For Thou art our Salvation, Lord,
    Our Refuge, and our great Reward.
    Without Thy grace we waste away,
    Like flowers that wither and decay.
  • To heal the sick stretch out Thine hand,
    And bid the fallen sinner stand;
    Shine forth, and let Thy light restore
    Earth’s own true lovliness once more.
  • All praise, eternal Son, to Thee
    Whose advent sets Thy people free,
    Whom, with the Father, we adore,
    And Holy Ghost, forevermore. AMEN

St Frances of Rome

After the plague swept through Rome and left one of Frances’ children dead, she began to turn again to charitable work. Frances gave up all her wealth to the sick and poor and began to go door to door raising money to aid the sick and poor. After the plague claimed Frances’ daughter, she opened up a wing of her home as a hospital for the poor.

As Frances became more deeply involved in charitable work, she began to realize the great need for it in the world and began to seek permission from the pope to form a charitable society of women to do this work. The women followed the ideals of the Benedictine order and carried on active charity and assistance of the poor.

Source CNA news

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Angels and Saints

Angels and Saints Pray for us

Rest in the Lord for he is our refuge.

Let us take refuge from this world. You can do this in spirit, even if you are kept here in the body. You can at the same time be here and present to the Lord. Your soul must hold fast to him, you must follow after him in your thoughts, you must tread his ways by faith, not in outward show. You must take refuge in him. He is your refuge and your strength. David addresses him in these words: I fled to you for refuge, and I was not disappointed.

Since God is our refuge, God who is in heaven and above the heavens, we must take refuge from this world in that place where there is peace, where there is rest from toil, where we can celebrate the great sabbath, as Moses said: The sabbaths of the land will provide you with food. To rest in the Lord and to see his joy is like a banquet, and full of gladness and tranquillity.

Let us take refuge like deer beside the fountain of waters. Let our soul thirst, as David thirsted, for the fountain. What is that fountain? Listen to David: With you is the fountain of life. Let my soul say to this fountain: When shall I come and see you face to face? For this fountain is God himself. 

Saint Ambrose 

icon by Gallery Zograf Nadia