Posted on 11/30/2016 8:59:47 PM PST by Salvation
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The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.
And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.
Amen. "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Lk 1:28) "Blessed are you among women, |
| Matthew | |||
| English: Douay-Rheims | Latin: Vulgata Clementina | Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) | |
| Matthew 7 |
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| 21. | Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. | Non omnis qui dicit mihi, Domine, Domine, intrabit in regnum cælorum : sed qui facit voluntatem Patris mei, qui in cælis est, ipse intrabit in regnum cælorum. | ου πας ο λεγων μοι κυριε κυριε εισελευσεται εις την βασιλειαν των ουρανων αλλ ο ποιων το θελημα του πατρος μου του εν ουρανοις |
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| 24. | Every one therefore that heareth these my words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, | Omnis ergo qui audit verba mea hæc, et facit ea, assimilabitur viro sapienti, qui ædificavit domum suam supra petram, | πας ουν οστις ακουει μου τους λογους τουτους και ποιει αυτους ομοιωσω αυτον ανδρι φρονιμω οστις ωκοδομησεν την οικιαν αυτου επι την πετραν |
| 25. | And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock. | et descendit pluvia, et venerunt flumina, et flaverunt venti, et irruerunt in domum illam, et non cecidit : fundata enim erat super petram. | και κατεβη η βροχη και ηλθον οι ποταμοι και επνευσαν οι ανεμοι και προσεπεσον τη οικια εκεινη και ουκ επεσεν τεθεμελιωτο γαρ επι την πετραν |
| 26. | And every one that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, | Et omnis qui audit verba mea hæc, et non facit ea, similis erit viro stulto, qui ædificavit domum suam super arenam : | και πας ο ακουων μου τους λογους τουτους και μη ποιων αυτους ομοιωθησεται ανδρι μωρω οστις ωκοδομησεν την οικιαν αυτου επι την αμμον |
| 27. | And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof. | et descendit pluvia, et venerunt flumina, et flaverunt venti, et irruerunt in domum illam, et cecidit, et fuit ruina illius magna. | και κατεβη η βροχη και ηλθον οι ποταμοι και επνευσαν οι ανεμοι και προσεκοψαν τη οικια εκεινη και επεσεν και ην η πτωσις αυτης μεγαλη |
Feast Day: December 1
Born: January 24, 1540, London
Died: December 1, 1581, Tyburn, England
Canonized: October 25, 1970 by Pope Paul VI
Feast Day: December 1
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Thursday, December 1
Liturgical Color: Violet
Today the Church honors St.
Edmund Campion, priest and
martyr. He worked as a
missionary in England during the
reign of Queen Elizabeth I,
encouraging English Catholics to
remain loyal to their faith. He
was hanged for his beliefs in
1581.
December 01, 2016 (Readings on USCCB website)
Stir up your power, O Lord, and come to our help with mighty strength, that what our sins impede the grace of your mercy may hasten. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Old Calendar: St. Edmond Campion (Hist); St. Eligius (Hist)
And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, It repented him that he had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, He said: I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them.
Historically today is the feast of St. Edmund Campion, Jesuit martyr, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, also called "the Pope's Champion".
St. Edmond Campion
The most famous of the English martyrs, Edmund Campion (1540-1581) gave up a promising career at Oxford and an invitation to enter Queen Elizabeth's service in order to become a Catholic priest and minister to the abandoned Catholics who greatly desired the sacraments.
Campion was born in London of Catholic parents who later became Protestant. He attended St. John's College, Oxford, where he gained renown as a lecturer and a following of students who called themselves "Campionites." When he was 26 years old, he gave a speech of welcome in Latin to Queen Elizabeth on her visit to Oxford; he made such an impression on the queen that she and Lords Cecil and Leicester tried to recruit him for her service. He probably took the Oath of Supremacy, and was ordained a deacon for the Established Church. The more he studied to be a priest, the more convinced he became that the Catholic Church had the true faith. He moved to Dublin in 1569 in an effort to find a place to live as a Catholic, but the Irish capital showed an anti-Catholic feeling that drove him back to London. In June 1571 he left England for Douai, Belgium where the recently founded English College trained seminarians for England.
Campion finished his degree in 1573 and set out soon after for Rome with the intention of becoming a Jesuit. Within a month of his arrival in Rome, he was accepted into the Society. At that time there was neither an English province nor an English mission, so he was assigned to the Austrian province and went to Prague and Brno to make his novitiate. He remained in Prague after he took vows and was ordained there, expecting to spend the rest of his life teaching in that city. He wrote and directed plays for his students and won renown as an orator.
The English Jesuit's life changed course suddenly when the Superior General in Rome decided to open a mission in England. Father Campion was one of the first to be assigned to it. He stopped in Rome on his way back to England and joined Father Rober Persons and Brother Ralph Emerson. They turned north and joined other recruits for the new mission at Saint Omer in Flanders. English spies in Flanders learned of their impending departure and informed the English ports of entry, who awaited their arrival. Campion and Emerson left the Continent on the evening of June 24. Campion disguised himself as a "Mr. Edmonds," a jewelry merchant. Port authorities were suspicious, but Campion answered their questions adequately and they let the merchant enter.
It had been eight years since Campion had left England. He briefly remained in London where he wrote a manifesto of the mission which has become known as "Campion's Brag." Its point was that the mission was religious, not political; so well-written and powerful was it, that copies were made and widely distributed to confirm Catholics in their faith. Campion himself moved on to Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire. He would stay at a Catholic house for one or two nights or visit households where Catholics were employed. His pattern was to arrive during the day, preach and hear confessions during the evening, and then celebrate Mass in the morning before moving on to the next location. He continued to write and composed a book addressed to the academic world; entitled Rationes decem ("Ten Reasons"), the book gave arguments to prove the truth of Catholicism and the falsity of Protestantism. It was printed by the end of June 1581. Many of the 400 copies printed were left on the benches of Oxford's University Church of St. Mary. Campion was still well-enough known that the book was eagerly read.
Campion's freedom to minister to Catholics soon ended. In July he left London and stopped at the Yate family in Berkshire. The family's Catholic neighbors learned that the Jesuit priest had been there and pressed the Yates to invite him back. Mrs. Yate sent word to Campion who returned, unfortunately at a time when a professional priest-hunter was in the congregation pretending to be Catholic. After Mass the hunter slipped away to notify the authorities who quickly returned to the house but could not find any priests. The guards remained on the grounds, listening for sounds of unusual activity. They alertly heard a group of people leaving a meeting that Campion had addressed. The guards searched the house again, this time finding Campion and two other priests.
The three were taken to the Tower of London on July 22, where Campion was put in a cell so small he could neither stand upright nor lie down. After three days there he was brought to Leicester house, where he met Queen Elizabeth for a second time. She offered him the opportunity to renounce his Catholic faith and become a Protestant minister, with the offer of great advancement. He refused and was returned to his cell; five days later he was tortured on the rack. He had four conferences with Anglican divines, something he himself had requested in the book rationes decem, but the disputations were inconclusive, partly because the first one was held shortly after he had been tortured. The government determined that he should be executed, but they needed a stronger charge than the fact that he was a Catholic priest. On Nov. 14, the priests were led to Westminster Hall where charges were raised against them that they had formed a conspiracy against the life of the queen, had exhorted foreigners to invade the country and had entered England with the intent of fomenting rebellion to support the invaders. At his trial six days later, Campion was asked to raise his right hand and take an oath; he was unable to do so because of recent torture, so another one of the priests had to lift his arm for him. Campion attempted to defend all the priests by pointing out their motives were religious, not political; but they were found guilty of high treason and condemned to be hanged, drawn and quartered. The priests joined in singing the Te Deum when they heard the verdict.
Campion remained in chains for another 11 days, and then was dragged through the muddy streets of London to Tyburn. With him were Briant, and Father Ralph Sherwin, a diocesan priest. As Campion forgave those who had condemned him, the cart he was standing on was driven from under him and he was left hanging. The executioner then cut him down and tore out his heart and intestines before cutting his body into pieces. Briant had been tried a day after Campion, but was executed soon after the other Jesuit. He was cut down while still alive after being hung so that he could be disemboweled and his body cut into quarters. He was only 25 years old.
Excerpted from Jesuit Saints and Blesseds © 2011 Society of Jesus
Bl. Charles de Foucauld (Brother Charles of Jesus)
Blessed Charles de Foucauld was born in Strasbourg, France on September 15th, 1858. Orphaned at the age of six, he and his sister Marie were raised by their grandfather in whose footsteps he followed by taking up a military career.
He lost his faith as an adolescent. His taste for easy living was well known to all and yet he showed that he could be strong willed and constant in difficult situations. He undertook a risky exploration of Morocco (1883-1884). Seeing the way Muslims expressed their faith questioned him and he began repeating, “My God, if you exist, let me come to know you.”
On his return to France, the warm, respectful welcome he received from his deeply Christian family made him continue his search. Under the guidance of Fr. Huvelin he rediscovered God in October 1886. He was then 28 years old. “As soon as I believed in God, I understood that I could not do otherwise than to live for him alone.”
A pilgrimage to the Holy Land revealed his vocation to him: to follow Jesus in his life at Nazareth. He spent 7 years as a Trappist, first in France and then at Akbès in Syria. Later he began to lead a life of prayer and adoration, alone, near a convent of Poor Clares in Nazareth.
Ordained a priest at 43 (1901) he left for the Sahara, living at first in Beni Abbès and later at Tamanrasset among the Tuaregs of the Hoggar. He wanted to be among those who were, “the furthest removed, the most abandoned.” He wanted all who drew close to him to find in him a brother, “a universal brother.” In a great respect for the culture and faith of those among whom he lived, his desire was to “shout the Gospel with his life”. “I would like to be sufficiently good that people would say, “If such is the servant, what must the Master be like?”
On the evening of December 1st 1916, he was killed by a band of marauders who had encircled his house.
He had always dreamed of sharing his vocation with others: after having written several rules for religious life, he came to the conclusion that this “life of Nazareth” could be led by all. Today the “spiritual family of Charles de Foucauld” encompasses several associations of the faithful, religious communities and secular institutes for both lay people and priests.
Excerpted from the Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Things to Do:
St. Eligius
Eligius, a goldsmith at Paris, was commissioned by King Clotaire to make a throne. With the gold and precious stones given him he made two. Struck by his rare honesty, the king gave him an appointment at court, and demanded an oath of fidelity sworn upon holy relics; but Eligius prayed with tears to be excused, for fear of failing in reverence to the relics of the Saints.
On entering the court he fortified himself against its seductions by many austerities and continual ejaculatory prayers. He had a marvellous zeal for the redemption of captives, and for their deliverance would sell his jewels, his food, his clothes, and his very shoes, once by his prayers breaking their chains and opening their prisons. His great delight was in making rich shrines for relics.
His striking virtue caused him, a layman and a goldsmith, to be made Bishop of Noyon, and his sanctity in this holy office was remarkable.
He possessed the gifts of miracles and prophecy, and died in 665.
Excerpted from Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Patron: Horses, jockeys, veterinarians, craftspeople (of all trades), electricians, computer scientists, mechanics, miners, security guards, gas station workers, taxi cab drivers, farmers, servants, and coin collectors
Things to Do:
1st Week of Advent
This gate is the Lord’s; the just shall enter it. (Psalm 118:20)
You join the parade as it passes through the city, gathering scope and momentum with every person who joins in. Joyful music rings out as you surge toward the Temple. Then suddenly, the noise of prayer, song, and conversation ceases: you have come to a halt at a massive gate, the door to the Temple courts. From the head of the procession, a voice cries out, “Open the gates!” You smile in recognition—it’s the king’s voice! A reply comes from the wall, “This is the gate of the Lord, through which the just may enter.”
What does it mean to be among that seemingly elite group, “the just,” who are permitted to step through the gate? Do you have to be flawless? Do you have to be a recognized saint like Mother Teresa or Pope John Paul II? Maybe as you stand in that crowd, fear rises in your heart. If that gate is only for the righteous, do I really deserve to step through it? Let’s try to answer that question.
The first thing is to remember that Jesus is not just the king who commands the gate to be opened; he is also the gate itself. “I am the gate,” he once told his followers. “Whoever enters through me will be saved” (John 10:9). On the other side of that gate are the courts of heaven, eternal life in the presence of God.
Second, remember that the gate has already been opened. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus has removed all the barriers that have kept you from entering heaven. You can live on the other side of that gate as he showers you with gifts like prayer, the Eucharist, and his word.
Third, remember that no sin is so great, no sense of guilt so heavy, to keep you from entering through the gate. There is no unpardonable sin. We have all been made righteous through Jesus’ sacrifice!
So go back, and picture yourself at the threshold of the Temple. Go ahead, and walk in confidently and joyfully. Jesus is waiting to welcome you with open arms.
“All praise to you, King Jesus! Thank you for opening the gate to salvation.”
Isaiah 26:1-6
Matthew 7:21, 24-27
Daily Marriage Tip for December 1, 2016:
What’s your spouse’s primary love language – Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, or Physical Touch? (Take the test here!) Is yours the same or different?
Father Edward McIlmail, LC
Matthew 7:21, 24-27
Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I come before you in humility and with a spirit of hope. You no doubt have something to tell me. I approach you in prayer, confident of your love and trustful of your grace to enable me to carry out whatever you ask. I offer this prayer for those in my family who might be far away from you.
Petition: Lord, help me deepen my life of faith and charity, to better prepare for the trials ahead.
1. The Façade: It is easy to address Jesus as “Lord, Lord.” After all, we know by faith that he is the Son of God. His miracles and the endurance of his Church attest to his divine nature. Yet, our recognition of his divinity isn’t enough. Our admission that “Jesus is my savior” won’t guarantee us a place in heaven. Faith in Christ can’t just remain on our lips; it must penetrate our hearts and minds as well. Faith, then, implies doing the will of God the Father – in thoughts, words and deeds. How does my faith in Christ translate into acts? Am I satisfied with saying a few prayers, and little else?
2. Out of Sight: Christ exhorts his disciples to build their faith on rock, not on sentimentality. To dig a solid foundation of faith takes hard work. It demands constancy in prayer, charity and generosity. It also requires humility and purity of intention, since the work of preparing a foundation is not glamorous. There’s nothing particularly beautiful about a big hole in the ground at a construction site. So it is in the spiritual life, too; digging a foundation forces us to go deep, to remove our worst faults. The process isn’t pretty. It forces us to face our vices honestly and to rip away the mask we might wear in front of others. Without this step we risk building our lives on sand. How well am I digging my foundation?
3. Too Late: Foundations seem firm when all is calm. Fair weather doesn’t test the strength of a building. The real test comes when the climate turns nasty. The same occurs in the spiritual life. When serenity reigns around us, peace blossoms effortlessly. But when a crisis befalls us – a rejection, an illness, a bit of opposition over a moral matter – that’s when we learn the sturdiness of our faith. Peter, who boasted that he would stand by Our Lord “though all may have their faith in you shaken” (Matthew 26:33), learned the hard way that his courage wasn’t what he thought it was. He abandoned Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, as did all the apostles. How well do I face ordinary temptations and setbacks? How well could I face a serious crisis?
Conversation with Christ: Lord, I fear sometimes that I’m not much better than Peter, who bragged that he would stand by you, but then fled when the guards arrested you on Holy Thursday night. I want to be a true Christian witness in the world, but I need your help to overcome my human respect and laziness.
Resolution: I will do one external act of witness to the faith.
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Now at the end of life,
O Holy Mother of the Redeemer,
we, the elderly of (your city),
come to you with hope.
Be our walking staff when we stumble.
Be our eyes when we no longer see.
Give us your hand, O sure, unfailing guide,
as now the light here fades.
Singing, we will journey together.
and on our cross joined to you,
we will go together with you
to heaven, there where youth is eternal.
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Jesse Tree ~ Abraham