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Franciscan Media Image: Saint Raymond of Peñafort’s Miracle by Jacopo Ligozzi | photo by Sailko Saint Raymond of Peñafort Saint of the Day for January 7 (1175 – January 6, 1275)  Saint Raymond of Peñafort’s Story Since Raymond lived into his hundredth year, he had a chance to do many things. As a member of the Spanish nobility, he had the resources and the education to get a good start in life.By the time he was 20, he was teaching philosophy. In his early 30s he earned a doctorate in both canon and civil law. At 41 he became...

January 7 2019 Monday after Epiphany Reading 1 1 Jn 3:22–4:6 Beloved:We receive from him whatever we ask,because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.And his commandment is this:we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,and love one another just as he commanded us.Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them,and the way we know that he remains in usis from the Spirit whom he gave us. Beloved, do not trust every spiritbut test the spirits to see whether they belong to God,because many false prophets have gone out into...

Franciscan Media Image: photograph of Saint Andre Bessette | Wikimedia Saint André Bessette Saint of the Day for January 6 (August 9, 1845 – January 6, 1937)  Saint André Bessette’s Story Brother André expressed a saint’s faith by a lifelong devotion to Saint Joseph.Sickness and weakness dogged André from birth. He was the eighth of 12 children born to a French Canadian couple near Montreal. Adopted at 12, when both parents had died, he became a farmhand. Various trades followed: shoemaker, baker, blacksmith—all failures. He was a factory worker in the United States during the boom times of the...

January 5 2019 Memorial of Saint John Neumann, Bishop Reading 1 1 Jn 3:11-21 Beloved:This is the message you have heard from the beginning:we should love one another,unlike Cain who belonged to the Evil Oneand slaughtered his brother. Why did he slaughter him? Because his own works were evil,and those of his brother righteous. Do not be amazed, then, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to lifebecause we love our brothers.Whoever does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer,and you know that no...

Franciscan Media Image: Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in St. Paul Catholic Church, Westerville, Ohio | photo by Nheyob Saint of the Day for January 4 (August 28, 1774 – January 4, 1821)  Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton’s Story Mother Seton is one of the keystones of the American Catholic Church. She founded the first American religious community for women, the Sisters of Charity. She opened the first American parish school and established the first American Catholic orphanage. All this she did in the span of 46 years while raising her five children.Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton is a true daughter of...

January 4 2019 Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious Reading 1 1 Jn 3:7-10 Children, let no one deceive you. The person who acts in righteousness is righteous,just as he is righteous. Whoever sins belongs to the Devil,because the Devil has sinned from the beginning. Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the Devil. No one who is begotten by God commits sin,because God's seed remains in him;he cannot sin because he is begotten by God. In this way,the children of God and the children of the Devil are made plain;no one who...

Franciscan Media Image: IHS monogram, on top of the main altar of the Gesù, Rome, Italy | Jastrow Most Holy Name of Jesus Saint of the Day for January 3  The Story of the Most Holy Name of Jesus Although Saint Paul might claim credit for promoting devotion to the Holy Name because Paul wrote in Philippians that God the Father gave Christ Jesus “that name that is above every name” (see 2:9), this devotion became popular because of 12th-century Cistercian monks and nuns but especially through the preaching of Saint Bernardine of Siena, a 15th-century Franciscan.Bernardine used devotion...

Man finds a stethoscope with unusual powers. An interesting advertisement. Watch it until the end! See if you can guess what is being advertised before you get to the end. You WILL be SURPRISED!!!

Franciscan Media Image: Saint Basil the Great Line engraving | Welcome Images Saint Basil the Great Saint of the Day for January 2 (329 – January 1, 379)  Saint Basil the Great’s Story Basil was on his way to becoming a famous teacher when he decided to begin a religious life of gospel poverty. After studying various modes of religious life, he founded what was probably the first monastery in Asia Minor. He is to monks of the East what Saint Benedict is to the West, and Basil’s principles influence Eastern monasticism today.He was ordained a priest, assisted the...

January 2 2019 Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church Reading 1 1 Jn 2:22-28 Beloved:Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist. Anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father,but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well. Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you,then you will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise...

Franciscan Media Image: Head reliquary of Pope Sylvester I. | photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen Saint Sylvester I Saint of the Day for December 31 (d. 335)  Saint Sylvester I’s Story When you think of this pope, you think of the Edict of Milan, the emergence of the Church from the catacombs, the building of the great basilicas—Saint John Lateran, Saint Peter’s, and others—the Council of Nicaea, and other critical events. But for the most part, these events were planned or brought about by Emperor Constantine.A great store of legends has grown up around the man who was pope at...

December 31, 2018 The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas Reading 1 1 Jn 2:18-21 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming,so now many antichrists have appeared. Thus we know this is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of our number;if they had been, they would have remained with us. Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number. But you have the anointing that comes from the Holy One,and you all have knowledge. I write to you not because...

Franciscan Media Image: Virgin and Child with Female Saints | Gérard David | Image designed by Mark Sullivan | Franciscan Media Saint Egwin Saint of the Day for December 30 (d. c. 720)  Saint Egwin’s Story You say you’re not familiar with today’s saint? Chances are you aren’t—unless you’re especially informed about Benedictine bishops who established monasteries in medieval England.Born in the seventh century of royal blood, Egwin entered a monastery, and was enthusiastically received by royalty, clergy, and the people as the bishop of Worcester, England. As a bishop he was known as a protector of orphans and...

December 30, 2018 Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Reading 1 Sir 3:2-6, 12-14 God sets a father in honor over his children;a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.Whoever honors his father atones for sins,and preserves himself from them.When he prays, he is heard;he stores up riches who reveres his mother.Whoever honors his father is gladdened by children,and, when he prays, is heard.Whoever reveres his father will live a long life;he who obeys his father brings comfort to his mother. My son, take care of your father when he is old;grieve him not as...

Franciscan Media Image: Saint Thomas of Canterbury | photo by Lawrence OP | flickr Saint Thomas Becket Saint of the Day for December 29 (December 21, 1118 – December 29, 1170)  Saint Thomas Becket’s Story A strong man who wavered for a moment, but then learned one cannot come to terms with evil, and so became a strong churchman, a martyr, and a saint—that was Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, murdered in his cathedral on December 29, 1170.His career had been a stormy one. While archdeacon of Canterbury, he was made chancellor of England at the age of 36...

December 29, 2018 The Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas Reading 1 1 Jn 2:3-11 Beloved:The way we may be sure that we know Jesus is to keep his commandments. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandmentsis a liar, and the truth is not in him.But whoever keeps his word,the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him:whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked. Beloved, I am writing no new commandment to youbut an...

Franciscan Media Image: The Massacre of the Innocents | Angelo Visconti Holy Innocents Saint of the Day for December 28  The Story of the Holy Innocents Herod “the Great,” king of Judea, was unpopular with his people because of his connections with the Romans and his religious indifference. Hence he was insecure and fearful of any threat to his throne. He was a master politician and a tyrant capable of extreme brutality. He killed his wife, his brother, and his sister’s two husbands, to name only a few.Matthew 2:1-18 tells this story: Herod was “greatly troubled” when astrologers from...

December 28, 2018 Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs Reading 1 1 Jn 1:5—2:2 Beloved:This is the message that we have heard from Jesus Christand proclaim to you:God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” while we continue to walk in darkness,we lie and do not act in truth.But if we walk in the light as he is in the light,then we have fellowship with one another,and the Blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.If we say, “We are without sin,”we deceive ourselves, and the...

Franciscan Media Image: Detail of the central panel of a triptych | Crucifixion with the Virgin and St. John | Pietro Perugino | photo by The Yorck Project Saint John the Apostle Saint of the Day for December 27 (6 – 100)  Saint John the Apostle’s Story It is God who calls; human beings answer. The vocation of John and his brother James is stated very simply in the Gospels, along with that of Peter and his brother Andrew: Jesus called them; they followed. The absoluteness of their response is indicated by the account. James and John “were in...

December 27, 2018 Feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist Reading 1 1 Jn 1:1-4 Beloved:What was from the beginning,what we have heard,what we have seen with our eyes,what we looked uponand touched with our handsconcerns the Word of life —for the life was made visible;we have seen it and testify to itand proclaim to you the eternal lifethat was with the Father and was made visible to us— what we have seen and heardwe proclaim now to you,so that you too may have fellowship with us;for our fellowship is with the Fatherand with his Son, Jesus Christ.We are...