September 15th - Our Lady of Sorrows

If you cannot enter into the warmth of books of devotion, it is a deficiency in you....Depend on it, the way to enter into the sufferings of the Son is to enter into the sufferings of the Mother. Place yourselves at the foot of the Cross, see Mary standing there....Imagine her feelings, make them your own....Feel what she felt and you will believe well. ("Our Lady in the Gospel," sermon of Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman.)

O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth;

O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, show thyself!

Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth!

Lord, how long shall the wicked triumph?

They break in pieces thy people, O Lord, and afflict thine heritage.

They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless;

they condemn innocent blood.

Who will rise up against the evildoers?

Who will stand up against the workers of iniquity?

The Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

 The Lord is our defense, and our God is the rock of refuge.

He shall cut them off in their own wickedness;

 yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off.  (from Psalm 94)

Pray for the Christians of Syria and Iraq, indeed all Christians within Islam's bloody borders, God preserve them.

August 29--Passion of Saint John the Baptist

"Come and see"--John 1:39

... for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody.When he heard him, he was much perplexed--













 and yet he liked to listen to him. (Mark 6:19-20)

The Queenship of Mary

"So it was that she began to taste the fruits of her future reign while still in the flesh. At one moment she would withdraw to God in ecstasy; at the next she would bend down to her neighbors with indescribable love."--St. Amadeus, Bishop of Lausanne, Abbot (d. 1159)

My soul magnifies the Lord...(Luke 1:46)

Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Vitam praesta puram,

iter para tutum,

ut videntes Jesum

semper collaetemur.

Bestow a pure life,

Prepare a safe way,

That seeing Jesus,

We may ever rejoice with you.

("Ave Maris Stella," Marian hymn, 7th (?) century)

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August Days

You have taught me from my  youth, and to this day I declare your wondrous works. 

Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me.






Let my mouth be filled with Your praise and with Your glory all the day. (Psalm 71:8, 17-18)

Recollection

     Ah, my dear angry Lord,

              Since Thou dost love, yet strike;

                        Cast down, yet help afford;

                                       Sure I will do the like.

     I will complain, yet praise;

                  I will bewail, approve;

                  And all my sour-sweet days,

                                      I will lament and love.

--George Herbert, "Bitter-Sweet," 1633