Autumnal

Speculator astat desuper / qui nos diebus omnibus / actusque nostros prospicit / a luce prima in vesperum.








There is One who from above /
Watches how the still hours move.
 



(Latin hymn from the Liturgy of the Hours translated by Bl. John Henry Newman)

More About St. Pius V

                                                                                                                                                                                     

He was a Dominican--no wonder he turned to his Blessed Mother in times of danger. His papacy was marked by manifold crises. To the east, the enemy was Islam; to the north, Protestantism; at home, decadence, nepotism, and corruption. He gathered the Catholic nations together to defeat the Turk. With the aid of St. Charles Borremeo, he vigorously implemented the reforms of the Council of Trent. With the aid of St. Philip Neri and the example of his own holiness, he reformed the clergy of Rome.

He seems to have had a wry sense of humor. On his accession to the papacy, he remarked, "In our Dominican convent, living solely to God, and occupied with our salvation, we firmly hoped to be saved; elected bishop and cardinal, we began to fear; now that we are elected pontiff, we despair of our salvation." He reigned effectively for seven years (1565-1572). He was canonized in 1712.

   














Monday was the feast of the Holy Rosary. On Sunday, October 7, 1571, as the population of Rome processed in honor of the Virgin and prayed the Rosary in the streets, a combined Christian fleet sailed to meet the Ottoman Turks, late conquerors of Cyprus, in the Gulf of Lepanto. With undaunted courage amidst horrific slaughter, they won an overwhelming victory, checking the Islamic advance into the Mediterranean. In gratitude, Pope St. Pius V, a Dominican, added the title "Mary, Help of Christians" to Our Lady's Litany. 

"Whoever knows the Old and New Testaments, and then reads the Koran, clearly sees the process by which it completely reduces Divine Revelation. It is impossible not to note the movement away from what God said about Himself....Islam is not a religion of redemption. There is no room for the Cross and Resurrection....the tragedy of redemption is completely absent. For this reason not only the theology but also the anthropology of Islam is very distant from Christianity." (Pope St. John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope.)

They said to themselves, 'We will utterly subdue them'....Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs, and an impious people reviles your name. Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals....Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of your adversaries. (Psalm 74)

Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

"Thus the Friars Minor, unable to accept in full Francis's Testament, were caught up in the more complex and more rigid network of disciplinary and constitutional regulations. Yet the new life that Francis himself had lived and shown to others remained and remains in the Church...as the model for a type of sanctity which all recognize as Franciscan. It has enriched the spirit of all Europe...as a new manifestation of the brotherhood of all men and of the share of all creatures in the beauty and benevolence of God; as a showing forth of the Gospel lived in its fullness with a detail and clarity rare to equal in any age; and as a revelation of the imitation of Christ crucified, in love and suffering, which, though present in all Christian sanctity, appeared in Francis in a new form." (David Knowles, Saints and Scholars, 1962).

Angels' Week

 The feast day of St. Michael the Archangel is September 29th, a Sunday this year, and the feast of the Guardian Angels is October 2nd.

Bless the lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength,that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.(Psalm 103:20)

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray! And do thou, prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits, who prowl about the world, seeking the destruction of souls. Amen.

Stress

 

Thou hast made the earth to tremble, thou hast broken it; heal the breaches thereof, for it shaketh….Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. (Ps. 60:2,11)
 

"How precious to Him is the oversight of his flock!...Wherefore did God not spare His only begotten Son, but yield him? That He might reconcile us even when we were enemies to Himself, and make us his peculiar people. Wherefore did He pour out His blood? Surely that He might gain those very sheep which He committed to Peter....I know the magnitude of the ministerial office, and the great difficulties which attend it. More are the tempests that assail the soul of a bishop, than those storms which agitate the ocean."--St. John Chrysostom, On the Priesthood.

Today is the feast of St. John Chrysostom (d. 407), Archbishop of Constantinople, Doctor of the Church. Do not read the above, and think how wonderful you are, and how you deserve better priests; rather, pray for the priests you have, and learn from them, for each has something to teach you.