Memorial of St Bruno

"Bruno, the Founder of the Charterhouse Monks, was born at Cologne.  From his earliest years he was a very grave child, turning away from childish things, and that so manifestly, that by the grace of God the tokens of holiness already pointed him out as a Father of monks, and a restorer of the life of hermits.  His parents, who were eminent for rank and goodness, sent him to Paris, where he studied so well in Philosophy and Theology, that he took the degree of Doctor in both faculties; and a short while after, for his famous graces, he was made a Canon of Rheims.

After some years, he, and six comrades, forsook the world and betook themselves to Hugh, the holy Bishop of Grenoble, who, when he learned the reason of their coming, and believing them to have been figured by seven stars which he had seen that night in a dream falling at his feet, gave them a grant of land in some very wild mountains in his Diocese, which are called the Chartreuses.  Thither Bruno and his companions, together with Hugh, withdrew themselves, and led for some years the life of hermits.  Pope Urban II, who had formerly been his disciple, commanded him to come to Rome, and amid the afflictions which then scourged the Church, held him for some time as his counsellor.  But at last Bruno, who had refused the Archbishoprick of Reggio, got his leave to go away.

In his love of the wilderness, he betook himself to a certain desert place in the Diocese of Squillaci, in the uttermost coasts of Calabria.  He was praying there one day in a cave, when the hounds of Roger, Sovereign Earl of Sicily and Calabria, who was out a-hunting, came and bayed a the door of it.  Thus was he found by this Prince, who was moved by his holiness, and began to cherish him and his comrades, and treat them very kindly.  The Earl's goodness was rewarded, for when he was one time laying siege to Capua, and one Sergius, who was first groom of his bedchamber, had made a plot to betray him, Bruno, who was still living in the desert above mentioned, appeared to him in a dream, and delivered him from the danger which was hanging over him.  At length Bruno, full of graces and good works, and famous for godliness not less than for learning, fell asleep in the Lord, and was buried in the monastery of St. Stephen, founded by the same Earl Roger, where he is still held in great honour."

-- From the 1911 Breviary of St Pius X

** Painting by Juan Sánchez Cotán

Memorial of St Faustina Kowalska

"St. Faustina was born on August 25, 1905 in Glogowiec in Poland of a poor and religious family of peasants, the third of ten children. She was baptized with the name Helena. From a very tender age she stood out because of her love of prayer, work, obedience, and also her sensitivity to the poor. At the age of nine she made her first Holy Communion living this moment very profoundly in her awareness of the presence of the Divine Guest within her soul. She attended school for three years. At the age of sixteen she left home and went to work as a housekeeper in order to find the means of supporting herself and of helping her parents.

At the age of seven she had already felt the first stirrings of a religious vocation. After finishing school, she wanted to enter the convent but her parents would not give her permission. Called during a vision of the Suffering Christ, on August 1, 1925 she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy and took the name Sister Mary Faustina. She lived in the Congregation for thirteen years and lived in several religious houses. She worked as a cook, gardener and porter.

Externally nothing revealed her rich mystical interior life. She zealously performed her tasks and faithfully observed the rule of religious life. She was recollected and at the same time very natural, serene and full of kindness and disinterested love for her neighbor. Although her life was apparently insignificant, monotonous and dull, she hid within herself an extraordinary union with God.

It is the mystery of the Mercy of God which she contemplated in the word of God as well as in the everyday activities of her life that forms the basis of her spirituality. The process of contemplating and getting to know the mystery of God's mercy helped develop within Sr. Mary Faustina the attitude of child-like trust in God as well as mercy toward the neighbors. O my Jesus, each of Your saints reflects one of Your virtues; I desire to reflect Your compassionate heart, full of mercy; I want to glorify it. Let Your mercy, O Jesus, be impressed upon my heart and soul like a seal, and this will be my badge in this and the future life (Diary 1242). Sister Faustina was a faithful daughter of the Church which she loved like a Mother and a Mystic Body of Jesus Christ. Conscious of her role in the Church, she cooperated with God's mercy in the task of saving lost souls. At the specific request of and following the example of the Lord Jesus, she made a sacrifice of her own life for this very goal. In her spiritual life she also distinguished herself with a love of the Eucharist and a deep devotion to the Mother of Mercy.

The mission of Sister Mary Faustina consists in 3 tasks: reminding the world of the truth of our faith revealed in the Holy Scripture about the merciful love of God toward every human being.

Entreating God's mercy for the whole world and particularly for sinners, among others through the practice of new forms of devotion to the Divine Mercy presented by the Lord Jesus, such as: the veneration of the image of the Divine Mercy with the inscription: Jesus, I Trust in You, the feast of the Divine Mercy celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter, chaplet to the Divine Mercy and prayer at the Hour of Mercy (3 p.m.). The Lord Jesus attached great promises to the above forms of devotion, provided one entrusted one's life to God and practiced active love of one's neighbor.

The third task in Sr. Mary Faustina's mission consists in initiating the apostolic movement of the Divine Mercy which undertakes the task of proclaiming and entreating God's mercy for the world and strives for Christian perfection, following the precepts laid down by the Blessed Sr. Mary Faustina. The precepts in question require the faithful to display an attitude of child-like trust in God which expresses itself in fulfilling His will, as well as in the attitude of mercy toward one's neighbors. Today, this movement within the Church involves millions of people throughout the world; it comprises religious congregations, lay institutes, religious, brotherhoods, associations, various communities of apostles of the Divine Mercy, as well as individual people who take up the tasks which the Lord Jesus communicated to them through Sr. Mary Faustina.

Sister Mary Faustina, consumed by tuberculosis and by innumerable sufferings which she accepted as a voluntary sacrifice for sinners, died in Krakow at the age of just thirty three on October 5, 1938 with a reputation for spiritual maturity and a mystical union with God. The reputation of the holiness of her life grew as did the cult to the Divine Mercy and the graces she obtained from God through her intercession. In the years 1965-67, the investigative Process into her life and heroic virtues was undertaken in Krakow and in the year 1968, the Beatification Process was initiated in Rome. The latter came to an end in December 1992. On April 18, 1993 our Holy Father John Paul II raised Sister Faustina to the glory of the altars."

-- From the Vatican's website

Memorial of St Francis of Assisi

"Francis was born at Assisi in Umbria.  From his early youth he followed the example of his father, and busied himself with merchandise.  It befell one day that, contrary to his usage, he had thrust from him a beggar, who cried for money for Christ's sake, when, being cut to the heart with regret, he gave him large alms, and promised to God from that day forth never to deny to any that asked of him.  He fell after this into a grievous sickness, and from the time that he was healed thereof, he gave himself more earnestly to works of love for his neighbour.  At length he became fain in this sort to be perfect, even as the Lord hath said in the Gospel, and gave to the poor whatsoever he had.  His father would not have it so, and brought him before the Bishop of Assisi, that he might renounce all right to his inheritance.  He cheerfully gave up all to his father, even to his clothes, telling them that now he should be able with more utter dependence to say: Our Father, who art in heaven.

He heard read the words of the Gospel: Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes.  Thereupon he determined that that should be his rule of living.  He took off his shoes, and contented himself with one coat.  When he had gathered twelve comrades, he founded the Order of Friars Minor.  He went to Rome in the same year, to get from the Apostolic See a confirmation of his Order.  When he came Pope Innocent III thrust him away.  Thereafter he dreamt that he saw the Church of the most Holy Saviour falling, and whom he had cast forth bearing it up with his shoulders.  He bade therefore that he should be sought for and brought again before him, welcomed him kindly, and approved all the Rule which he had established.  Francis therefore sent his Friars into all quarters of the world to preach the Gospel of Christ.  He himself was fain to find some occasion of martyrdom, and therefore made a voyage into Syria, but the Sultan treated him with the greatest kindness, offering him many gifts, and, since he could do no good, he returned again to Italy.

When there had already been built many houses of Friars of his Order, he withdrew himself into a most secret place upon Mount Alverno, and began to fast for forty days in honour of the holy Archangel Michael.  Upon the Feastday of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, he saw a vision of a crucified Seraph, which left in his hands and feet holes with nails therein, and in his side a great wound.  Holy Bonaventure hath left it in writing that he once heard Pope Alexander IV, when preaching, testify that he had himself seen these marks.  It was a sign of such love of Christ toward him as stirred up the great wonder of all men.  Two years thereafter he fell sick unto death, and was fain to be carried into the Church of St. Mary of the Angels, that he might give up the breath of life in the same place where God had breathed into him the breath of the life of grace.  Being there laid on the earth, sprinkled with ashes, and covered with an old habit, he exhorted the Friars to be poor and lowly, and to cleave to the faith of the Holy Church of Rome, after which he began to recite the 141st Psalm: I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and in uttering the words, The righteous wait for me, until thou reward me, he gave up the ghost, on the 4th day of October.  He was famous for miracles, and Pope Gregory IX added his name to the list of the Saints."

-- From the 1911 Breviary of St Pius X 

Prayer is not always a spiritual picnic

"... the essence of all prayer - conversation with God. Call prayer whatever you will, call it mental or vocal, infused or acquired, the prayer that is really prayer is the time spent in an intimate chat with the Creator. From this point a soul begins to work; from this point a soul goes out to all degrees of contemplation. And this is possible for anyone.

Is it easy? Well, apparently not. Of course, there must be some who have no difficulty in prayer. They are the ones who cannot tear themselves from chapel, who are restrained as by some divine magnetic force; and although we thank God for their presence among us, we still must admit that their housework usually suffers. But for the greater number of us, prayer is not always a spiritual picnic. But then we are at it not for the pleasure we get from it, but for the pleasure we give to God by our willing sacrifice. And we pray not because it is easy, but because it is hard. Whether we receive consolation or not is of little consequence. The important thing is that we are there. We are trying. We are reaching out for God, searching for this Illusive Stranger, plumbing the depths of our shallow mind in the quest of Him. And we never know but that the next hour of mental prayer might bring with it an experience that is rarely given to men. And, of course, we might never receive anything like it. But if God someday decides to bless us with a special gift of prayer, we want to be there when it comes.

People are bound to ask us, 'You who are professedly contemplatives, how is it that you have difficulty in prayer? We in the world, we are expected to have trouble praying. But not you!'

It all boils down to one thing. If we are all human (and I think we are), then we are all subject to the same blights of human nature. That is why, being men, we meet in our prayer the triple retarder of weariness, dryness, and distraction. These things do not nullify the efficacy of prayer but they do make it increasingly tedious.

First of all, why must we succumb to weariness during prayer? Why must this cross slow down our reactions, numb us, smother us so that all our efforts are aimed at simply staying awake? Yet, sadly enough, this happens sometimes. But we keep trying. In our novitiate days Brother Bertram was always tired. Many times in the silence of the choir, with gentle warmth hissing from the radiator, amid the shadows and the dim lights, Bertram would ask: 'Dear God, why must I always be so tired?' But he never go any answer. The day came when he thought that by making his prayer while standing, he would be able to keep himself alive and radiant, but he toppled over the brother in front of him. That has been known since as 'Bertram's last stand.'

Then there is dryness. You kneel there and look in vain for some light. You seek out a bit of God's warmth, yearn to drink at the fountains of living water like the hart, but there is nothing. So you pray and you pray and you pray.

And distractions! A novice expects so much from his life. He believes that in time he will arrive at a certain stage wherein he will be above such lowly things as distractions. But always they are there. We cannot seem to leave our preoccupations outside the door of the choir. We cannot check our thoughts as we could check our hat or coat. Despite our efforts we drag them into choir with us. Always the unwritten sermon, the unsolved case, the unfulfilled obligation, or the hapless sinner - worries big and small, coming with us to our prayer, stealing our thoughts away from God, making us hate ourselves for our innate weakness. Still we pray.

You see, it is all we have. We have seen the needs of the world. We have divined our own inability to cope with the monstrosity of sin in our midst. We have become aware of the restriction in having only two hands with which to nurse the cosmic illness of our day. So we have turned in prayer to God who can accomplish all  good. We could only work in remote corners but God with His power and His mercy can reach out to the world. So we leave it up to God.

Does it work? Is it worth it? Well, if it isn't, if prayer does not work, if the contemplative life is a big hoax, then we have wasted our lives. And if we have wasted our lives, all I can say is that nobody has ever paid such a high price for failure.

Let the man who does not believe in prayer, forget prayer. We shall pray. And in the end we shall see who comes out on top. For no one can possibly give himself over to prayer without arriving at a greater knowledge of God. No one can possibly dedicate his life to contemplation without someday finding, even while on this earth, a portion of heaven, a share in the divinity, and a wisdom that can be surpassed only by our eventual participation in the Beatific Vision itself."

-- Men in Sandals by Fr Richard of the Immaculate Conception (Madden), ocd

The Holy Guardian Angels

"Oh Raffaelina, what a consolation it is to know one is always in the care of a celestial spirit, who does not abandon us (how admirable) even when we disgust God! How sweet is this great truth for the believer! Who, then, does the devout soul fear who tries to love Jesus, having always close by such a great warrior? Oh, was he not one of the many who, together with the Angel Saint Michael, up there in the Empyrean, defended the honour of God against Satan and against all the other rebellious spirits, and finally reduced them to perdition and bound them in hell?

Well, know that he is still powerful against Satan and his satellites; his charity has not diminished, nor will he ever fail in defending us. Develop the beautiful habit of always thinking of him; that near us is a celestial spirit, who, from the cradle to the tomb, does not leave us for an instant, guides us, protects us as a friend, a brother; will always be a consolation to us especially in our saddest moments.

Know, oh Raffaelina, that this good Angel prays for you; offers to God all the good works you accomplish; your holy and pure desires. In the hours when you seem to be alone and abandoned, do not complain of not having a friendly soul to whom you can unburden yourself and in whom you can confide your sorrows. For pity's sake, do not forget this invisible companion, always present to listen to you; always ready to console you.

Oh delicious intimacy, oh blessed company! Oh if all men could understand this great gift that God, in His excess of love for man, assigned to us; this celestial spirit. Often remember his presence; you must fix on him the eyes of your soul; thank him; pray to him; he is so refined, so sensitive. Respect him; be in constant fear of offending the purity of his gaze.

Invoke often this Guardian Angel, this benevolent Angel and repeat the beautiful prayer: 'Oh Angel of God' (etc.) ... What will be, oh my dear Raffaelina, the consolation when, at the moment of death, your soul will see this Angel, so good, who accompanied you through life and was so liberal in maternal care. Oh may this sweet thought make you grow always more fond of the Cross of Jesus, this being also what your good Angel wants. May the desire to see this inseparable companion arouse in you that charity which incites you to leave this body quickly.

Oh what a holy and salutary thought it is to want to see this our good Angel. it is this thought which should make us want to leave this dark prison in which we are bound. Oh, Raffaelina, where do my thoughts fly to now...? Treat this dear little Angel, I do not say as a friend, but as one of the family. And, to tell you the truth, this little Angel does not seem to be the least little bit offended by my treatment of him. How dear and how good he is."

-- From the letters of St Padre Pio

Feast of St Thérèse of Lisieux

"“Will you remember us?” she was asked when she lay dying. “Oh, I will come down… I will spend my heaven doing good on earth.” Who said these daring words? They were uttered by a 24-year-old Carmelite Nun who was dying of consumption in the Lisieux Carmel. She became St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus.

Thérèse Martin was born on January 2nd, 1873 at Alençon, France. She grew up in a loving and deeply religious family. All the children entered religious life, and the devout parents were recently beatified. When Thérèse was four and a half years old, her mother died. She changed from a sunny, lively child, into a timid and sensitive girl. Then when her favourite sister, Pauline, entered Carmel, she became even worse, and it took Our Lady’s smile to cure her of her resulting illness. Although she continued to grow in her love of God, Thérèse’s extreme sensitivity continued to hamper her until a special grace on Christmas Eve in 1886 changed her for good. At this point, she wanted to pursue her dream of entering the Lisieux Carmel, a dream she had cherished from the age of nine.

Wanting to enter at the early age of fifteen, she encountered much opposition, and in her determination, she even begged the Pope, Leo XIII, to grant her permission. Shortly after this, she did enter the Lisieux Carmel, on April 9, 1888. Here she found what she was looking for: a life of prayer and penance, accompanied by a tremendous peace. However, despite her desire was to become a saint, Thérèse discovered her weakness and inability to do so. Yet she believed that God wouldn’t inspire desires that He didn’t want to grant. So she needed to find a way. In reading the Old Testament, she came across these consoling words: “Whoever is a little one, let him come to me.” (Proverbs 9: 4), “God shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom,” (Isaiah 4: 11) and also, “As one whom a mother caresses, so will I comfort you; you shall be carried at the breasts and upon the knees they will caress you.” (Isaiah 66:12-13). And this led her to her discovery of the Little Way of spiritual childhood. She felt that her way of sanctity was surrender and trust in Jesus, like a child carried in its mother’s arms.

Through prayer, St. Thérèse perceived how Our Lord thirsts to pour His Love into our hearts, and often His Love is not welcomed. She longed to console Him by surrendering herself totally to His Love. On June 9, 1895, she made her oblation to Merciful Love with her novices. This act so increased her love that it caused her a veritable martyrdom. She wanted to suffer every martyrdom, to preach on all five continents, and to do everything for Christ. In reading St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians (chapter 12-13), she found her vocation, to be Love in the heart of the Church. In this discovery, she found her peace.

Sister Thérèse’s sister, Mother Agnes of Jesus, who was then Prioress, asked her to write down her childhood memories as a family souvenir. This became the basis of her autobiography, the Story of a Soul. After her death on September 30, 1897, this was published and it met immediate success.

St. Thérèse has been called the greatest saint of modern times, and her doctrine has been approved by many Popes. She was canonized on May 17, 1925; on December 14, Pope Pius XI proclaimed her Patroness of the Missions. And October 19, 1997 she was declared a Doctor of the Church."

-- From the Carmel of St Joseph, Ontario

Memorial of St Jerome

"Jerome was the son of one Eusebius, and was born at Sdrigni in Dalmatia, in the reign of the Emperor Constantius.  He was baptized at Rome when a young boy, and studied there, under the instruction of Donatus and other very learned personages.  He travelled in Gaul for the sake of improving his mind, and there sought the friendship of divers godly men learned in the Scriptures, and made with his own hand many copies of the holy books.  He afterwards betook himself to Greece, where he attained eminence as a philosopher and orator, in the following of the most famous theologians.  At Constantinople, in especial, he sat at the feet of Gregory of Nazianzus, from whom he professeth himself to have learnt his theology.  Then, for godliness' sake, he went to see the home of the Lord Christ, and so throughout all Palestine.  He witnesseth that this pilgrimage, where he got the help of the most learned of the Jews for the understanding of the Holy Scriptures, did him much good.

He withdrew himself into the wild deserts of Syria, where he passed four years in studying the Holy Scriptures and in considering the blessedness of heaven, afflicting his body by alway denying himself, by bitter tears, and by chastisement of the flesh.  He was ordained Priest by Paulinus, Patriarch of Antioch.  He went to Rome on account of the quarrelling of certain Bishops with Paulinus and Epiphanius, and there helped Pope Damasus in the writing of his letters upon Church affairs.  But the longing for his old solitude came upon him, and he went back to Palestine, where, in the monastery at Bethlehem, built beside the cradle of the Lord Christ by the Lady Paula of Rome, he set himself to enter on earth upon the life of heaven, serving God in reading and writing without ceasing, regardless of the sufferings of a body tormented by divers diseases and pains.

Hard questions upon the interpretation of the Holy Scripture were sent to him from all parts of the earth, as to an oracle.  He was oftentimes consulted by Pope Damasus and by the holy Augustine upon the meaning of the most obscure passages of the Scripture, because of his extraordinary learning, and that he knew not the Latin and Greek tongues only, but also the Hebrew and Chaldee, and, as the same Augustine testifieth, had read nearly all writers.  He attacked heretics with keen publications, and ever undertook the defence of the godly and Catholic.  He translated the Old Testament from Hebrew into Latin, and, at the command of Damasus, reformed, according to the original Greek, the existing version of the New.  Upon great part of the Scriptures he wrote commentaries.  He translated likewise into Latin the works of many learned men, and himself contributed to the Christian life many monuments of his own wit.  He lived to an extreme old age, and passed away to heaven, famous for learning and holiness, in the reign of the Emperor Honorius.  His body was buried at Bethlehem, but hath since been brought to Rome, where it lieth in the Church of St. Mary-at-the-Manger."

-- From the 1911 Breviary of St Pius X (1950 ed)

** Painting by Anthony van Dyck