St. Jerome

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September 30.—ST. JEROME, Doctor.
ST. JEROME, born in Dalmatia, in 329, was sent to school at Rome. His boyhood was not free from fault. His thirst for knowledge was excessive, and his love of books a passion. He had studied under the best masters, visited foreign cities, and devoted himself to the pursuit of science. But Christ had need of his strong will and active intellect for the service of His Church. St. Jerome felt and obeyed the call, made a vow of celibacy, fled from Rome to the wild Syrian desert, and there for four years learnt in solitude, penance, and prayer a new lesson of divine wisdom. This was his novitiate. The Pope soon summoned him to Rome, and there put upon the now famous Hebrew scholar the task of revising the Latin Bible, which was to be his noblest work. Retiring thence to his beloved Bethlehem, the eloquent hermit poured forth from his solitary cell for thirty years a stream of luminous writings upon the Christian world.


Reflection.—"To know," says St. Basil, "how to submit thyself with thy whole soul, is to know how to imitate Christ."

Taken from Lives of the Saints p. 327, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894], at sacred-texts.com

Feast of the Archangel St. Michael

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September 29.—ST. MICHAEL, Archangel.
"MI-CA-EL," or "Who is like to God?" Such was the cry of the great Archangel when he smote the rebel Lucifer in the conflict of the heavenly hosts, and from that hour he has been known as "Michael," the captain of the armies of God, the type of divine fortitude, the champion of every faithful soul in strife with the powers of evil.
Thus he appears in Holy Scripture as the guardian of the children of Israel, their comfort and protector in times of sorrow or conflict. He it is who prepares for their return from the Persian captivity, who leads the valiant Maccabees to victory, and who rescues the body of Moses from the envious grasp of the Evil One. And since Christ's coming the Church has ever venerated St. Michael as her special patron and protector. She invokes him by name in her confession of sin, summons him to the side of her children in the agony of death, and chooses him as their escort from the chastening flames of purgatory to the realms of holy light. Lastly, when Antichrist shall have set up his kingdom on earth, it is Michael who will unfurl once more the standard of the Cross, sound the last trumpet, and binding together the false prophet and the beast, hurl them for all eternity into the burning pool.

Reflection.—"Whenever," says St. Bernard, "any grievous temptation or vehement sorrow oppresses thee, invoke thy guardian, thy leader; cry out to him, and say, 'Lord, save us, lest we perish!'"

Taken from Lives of the Saints p. 326, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894], at sacred-texts.com

40 Days for Life

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Today starts the 40 Days for Life prayers. These prayers are specifically aimed at praying for the pro-life cause/end to abortion in our nation. As we all know, in 40 days, Americans will go to the polls to determine the next president. His agenda will either save or kill the unborn; consequently, we need to "storm heaven with our prayers" between now and then. Fasting is an additional practice could undertake for this cause. The link is here.

Saint Pio of Pientrelcina

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Padre Pio is famous for receiving Christ's stigmata, his strictness with modest dresses (he only allowed long sleeves at Mass and women had to have skirts at least 8" below the knee, and for his gift of bilocation. The following is a vidoe of his life.

Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Mary

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In honor of today's feast, I have decided to post the following three videos:








For further information, one may wish to read Splendor of Sorrow by Fr. Eddie Doherty, which can be found at http://www.sophiainstitute.com/productdetails.cfm?sku=334.

September 14.—THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

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CONSTANTINE was still wavering between Christianity and idolatry when a luminous cross appeared to him in the heavens, bearing the inscription, "In this sign shalt thou conquer." He became a Christian, and triumphed over his enemies, who were at the same time the enemies of the Faith. A few years later, his saintly mother having found the cross on which Our Saviour suffered, the feast of the " Exaltation" was established in the Church; but it was only at a later period still, namely, after the Emperor Heraclius had achieved three great and wondrous victories over Chosroes, King of Persia, who had possessed himself of the holy and precious relic, that this festival took a more general extension, and was invested with a higher character of solemnity. The feast of the "Finding" was thereupon instituted, in memory of the discovery made by St. Helena; and that of the "Exaltation" was reserved to celebrate the triumphs of Heraclius. The greatest power of the Catholic world was at that time centred in the Empire of the East, and was verging toward its ruin, when God put forth His hand to save it: the re-establishment of the great cross at Jerusalem was the sure pledge thereof. This great event occurred in 629.

Reflection.—Herein is found the accomplishment of the Saviour's word: "If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all things to Myself."

Taken from Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894], at sacred-texts.com

The Catholic Vote

This video says it all:

Legion of Mary

+JMJ+ The Legion of Mary is an Association of Catholics who, with the sanction of the Church and under the powerful leadership of Mary Immaculate, Mediatrix of all Graces (who is fair as the moon, bright as the sun, and - to satan and his legionaries - terrible as an army set in battle array), have formed themselves into a Legion for service in the warfare which is perpetually waged by the Church against the world and its evil powers (Legion of Mary Handbook, 1).

The first meeting of the Legion of Mary was held in Dublin, Ireland, on September 7, 1921, the eve of the Birthday of the Blessed Mother. There are now praesidiums (Legoin of Mary groups) in loads of dioceses throughout the would. The object of this organization is to help the laity to bring Mary to the world through prayer and volunteer work. In a way, this is a military organization for Our Lady. After all, we become Soldiers of Christ at Confirmation. This is a good way to live that call out, in union with His and Our Blessed Mother.

I belong to my local praesidium and attend weekly meetings with fellow active members. We pray the Tessara (rosary plus additional prayers), report on assigned volunteer work and adoration hours spent in front of the Blessed Sacrament, and read from the handbook and other spiritual works related to Mary. We also do an annual consecation to Mary via St Louis de Montfort's method, and we host a tea each summer for our auxiliary members (who pray the Tessara prays daily but do not do volunteer work nor come to weekly meetings). For more information regarding this lay organization, click on the title.