Category Archives: Saints and Blesseds

First Sunday of Advent

In the lord’s advent which we are celebrating, If i fix my gaze on the person of the one who is coming, i will fail to grasp the wondrousness of his majesty. If i fix my attention on those to whom he comes, i am overwhelmed by the magnitude of his condescension. Surely the angels are astonished by the strange situation – seeing below themselves the One whom above them they ever adore and now manifestly both ascending and descending to the Son of Man. (John 1:51)

Once a year the universal Church celebrates a solemn remembrance of the coming of such majesty, such humility, such godly love and indeed such a glorification of ourselves. Would that this be done always as it is done this once ! How much more fitting that would be. What madness for people to desire or to dare to occupy themselves with any other business after the coming of so great a King ! should they not leave all else aside and free themselves entirely for worshiping him, and in his presence be mindful of nothing else ?

Virtues not possessions are the true riches. These conscience carries with itself that it may be rich forever. When our Savior comes, he will transform the body of our humiliation, conforming it to the body of his glory only if our heart has first been transformed and conformed to the humiliation of his heart. That is why he told us, Learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart. Consider well these words for humility is twofold: one of thinking the other of feeling – here called the heart. By the former we realize that we are nothing and this we learn from ourselves and from our weakness. By the later we spurn worldly glory and this we learn from Him who emptied himself taking the form of a servant. When they sought him for a kingdom he fled. When they sought him for the great test and shameful suffering of the cross, he willingly offered himself.

All our virtue is far from true virtue as it is from the appearance and all our wings are good for nothing if they are not covered with silver. Great is the wing of poverty by which we fly so swiftly to the kingdom of heaven ! But in the case of the virtues that follow the use of the future tense indicates a promise; poverty is not promised as given ( Mat 5:3 ) . So we are told in the present tense that theirs is the kingdom of heaven while in other cases they will inherit, they shall be comforted and so on.

Let us cover our wings with silver then, in our way of life in Christ just as the holy martyrs washed their robes in his passion. As much as we can, let us imitate him who so loved poverty that although the ends of the earth were in his hand, he had yet no place to lay his head.

From the Sermons of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot

Jesus our King and Lord

The coming of the kingdom of God, says our Lord and Saviour, does not admit of observation, and there will be no-one to say “Look here! Look there!” For the kingdom of God is within us and in our hearts. And so it is beyond doubt that whoever prays for the coming of the kingdom of God within himself is praying rightly, praying for the kingdom to dawn in him, bear fruit and reach perfection.

For God reigns in every saint, and every saint obeys God’s spiritual laws — God, who dwells in him just as he dwells in any well-ordered city. The Father is present in him and in his soul Christ reigns alongside the Father, as it is said: We will come to him and make our dwelling with him.

Therefore, as we continue to move forward without ceasing, the kingdom of God within us will reach its perfection in us .. For this reason let us pray without ceasing, our souls filled by a desire made divine by the Word himself.

From a Discourse of Origen

Dedication of St Peter and St Paul

Basilicas of St Peter and Paul

This feast combines the standard celebration of the dedication of a church for St. Peter’s Basilica and the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, which were both built by the Emperor Constantine the Great during the 4th century. These sites had already been visited by pilgrims for over a century when the basilicas were built to honor the apostles traditionally believed to have been buried there.

Their significance in the Catholic Church is emphasized in the reference made to them in the obligation on Catholic bishops to make a Quinquennial visit ad limina in which they are required to go “to the tombs of the Apostles” in Rome every five years to report on the status of their dioceses or prelatures.

This requirement was initially set out in 1585 by Pope Sixtus V, who issued the papal bull Romanus Pontifex, which established the norms for these visits.