Feast of St Martin of Tours

St Martin of Tours (c.316 - 397) was born in the Roman province of Pannonia (approximating to the western half of modern Hungary) in about 316 and was educated at Pavia in Italy. He was baptized, left the army and after spending some time as a hermit on an island off the Ligurian coast, founded a monastery at Ligugé in western France, where he lived a monastic life guided by St Hilary. Later he was ordained priest and became bishop of Tours. In his actions he gave an example of what a good shepherd should be. He founded other monasteries, educated the clergy, and preached the Gospel to the poor. He died in 397.

The famous story about St Martin is that while a soldier in Amiens he gave half of his military cloak to a beggar and later had a dream in which the beggar revealed himself as Christ.

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We Are All One In Christ [St Leo the Great]

Although the universal Church of God is constituted of distinct orders of members, still, in spite of the many parts of its holy body, the Church subsists as an integral whole, just as the Apostle says: We are all one in Christ. No difference in office is so great that anyone can be separated, through lowliness, from the head. In the unity of faith and baptism, therefore, our community is undivided. There is a common dignity, as the apostle Peter says in these words: And you are built up as living stones into spiritual houses, a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And again: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart.

The Franciscan Ideal & The New Monasticism

Profoundly saddened by the misfortunes that the Church was then passing through in his time (13th Century), St. Francis of Assisi conceived the incredible design of renewing everything conformably to the principles of Christian law––the Gospel.

After having founded a double religious family, one of Brothers, the other of Sisters, who pledged themselves by solemn vows (poverty, celibacy, and obedience) to imitate the humility of the Cross, Francis, in the impossibility of opening the cloister (monastery, hermitage) to all whom the desire of being formed in his school drew to him, resolved to provide, even for souls living in the whirlpool of the world, the means to tend to Christian perfection.

He founded then an Order properly called Tertiaries,  differing from the two other Orders in that it would not bear the bond of the religious vows, but would be characterized by the same simplicity of life and the same spirit of penance. The Third Order of St. Francis was born to satisfy this thirst for heroism among those who though having to remain in the world did not wish to be of the world.  Thus was born the project which no founder of a regular Order had yet imagined, to cause the religious life to be practiced by all. Francis first conceived the idea and the grace of God gave him to realize it with the greatest success.

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Everyone Of Us Is A Temple of God [St Caesarius]

My fellow Christians, today is the birthday of this church, an occasion for celebration and rejoicing. We, however, ought to be the true and living temple of God. Nevertheless, Christians rightly commemorate this feast of the church, their mother, for they know that through her they were reborn in the spirit. At our first birth, we were vessels of God’s wrath; reborn, we became vessels of his mercy. Our first birth brought death to us, but our second restored us to life.

On The Blessing of Death [St Ambrose]

St Paul says, "The world is crucified to me, and I to the world." Then he tells us that he means death in this life, and a good death: "We carry with us in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of our Lord Jesus, too, may always be seen in our body."

On The Creed [St Cyril]

In learning and professing the faith, you must accept and retain only the Church’s present tradition, confirmed as it is by the Scriptures. Although not everyone is able to read the Scriptures, some because they have never learned to read, others because their daily activities keep them from such study, still so that their souls will not be lost through ignorance, we have gathered together the whole of the faith in a few concise articles.

Practice What You Preach [St Charles Borromeo]

I admit that we are all weak, but if we want help, the Lord God has given us the means to find it easily. One priest may wish to lead a good, holy life, as he knows he should. He may wish to be chaste and to reflect heavenly virtues in the way he lives. Yet he does not resolve to use suitable means, such as penance, prayer, the avoidance of evil discussions and harmful and dangerous friendships. Another priest complains that as soon as he comes into church to pray the office or to celebrate Mass, a thousand thoughts fill his mind and distract him from God. But what was he doing in the sacristy before he came out for the office or for Mass? How did he prepare? What means did he use to collect his thoughts and to remain recollected?

Feast of St Paul of the Cross

"Everything is contained in the Passion of Jesus. Do your best to stay hidden in the wounds of Jesus. In this way you will become rich in everything that is good and filled with God’s true light, so that you will be able to fly to perfect holiness. Be as simple as a child: always see the best in everyone and, with good intention, excuse the one who hurts you, seeing whatever harm he does as the result of some temptation. What destroys community is judging other people’s actions while losing sight of one’s own." - In the Heart of God, the Spiritual Teaching of St. Paul of the Cross

Rich in What Matters to God [The Gospel]

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

The Task of Prayer at Appointed Hours [St Agustine]

Let us always desire the happy life from the Lord God and always pray for it. But for this very reason we turn our mind to the task of prayer at appointed hours, since that desire grows lukewarm, so to speak, from our involvement in other concerns and occupations. We remind ourselves through the words of prayer to focus our attention on the object of our desire; otherwise, the desire that began to grow lukewarm may grow chill altogether and may be totally extinguished unless it is repeatedly stirred into flame.

The Earthly & The Heavenly City [Vatican II]

That the earthly and the heavenly city penetrate each other is a fact accessible to faith alone; it remains a mystery of human history, which sin will keep in great disarray until the splendor of God's sons, is fully revealed. Pursuing the saving purpose which is proper to her, the Church does not only communicate divine life to men but in some way casts the reflected light of that life over the entire earth, most of all by its healing and elevating impact on the dignity of the person, by the way in which it strengthens the seams of human society and imbues the everyday activity of men with a deeper meaning and importance. Thus through her individual matters and her whole community, the Church believes she can contribute greatly toward making the family of man and its history more human.

I Am God's Wheat [St Ignatius of Antioch]

I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way. I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God.

The Sacrifice of Christians [St Augustine]

Every work that effects our union with God in a holy fellowship is a true sacrifice; every work, that is, which is referred to that final end, that ultimate good, by which we are able to be in the true sense happy. As a consequence even that mercy by which aid is given to man is not a sacrifice unless it is done for the sake of God. Sacrifice, though performed or offered by man, is something divine; that is why the ancient Latins gave it this name of ‘sacrifice,’ of something sacred. Man himself, consecrated in the name of God and vow to God, is therefore a sacrifice insofar as he dies to the world in order to live for God. This too is part of mercy, the mercy that each one has for himself. Scripture tells us: "Have mercy on your soul by pleasing God.”

The Bad Are Many And The Good Few [St Gregory the Great]

"In the Church, the bad are many and the good few"

From the Gospel for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost according the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite - Matthew 22:11-14: And the king went in to see the guests and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment, and he saith to him: "Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having on a wedding garment?" But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: "Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." For many are called, but few are chosen.

The Sufferings Of This Present Time [St Cyprian]

The sufferings of this present time are not to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us. Who would not strive wholeheartedly to attain to such glory, to become a friend of God and straightway rejoice with Christ, receiving heavenly rewards after earth's torment and suffering?

Oblation: We Become What We Celebrate [St Fulgentius]

In our offering of the holy sacrifice we fulfill the command of our Savior, as recorded by the apostle Paul: "The Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and after he had given thanks, broke it and said: "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, after the supper, he took the cup saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you shall proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes."

Many Kinds of Martyrdom [St Ambrose]

As there are many kinds of persecution, so there are many kinds of martyrdom. Every day you are witnesses to Christ. You were tempted by the spirit of fornication, but feared the coming judgment of Christ and did not want your purity of mind and body to be defiled: you are a martyr of Christ. You were tempted by the spirit of avarice to seize the property of a child and violate the rights of a defenseless widow, but remembered God’s law and saw your duty to give help, not act unjustly: you are a witness to Christ. Christ wants witnesses like this to stand ready, as Scripture says: Do justice for the orphan and defend the widow. You were tempted by the spirit of pride but saw the poor and needy and looked with loving compassion on them, and loved humility rather than arrogance: you are a witness to Christ. What is more, your witness was not in word only but also in deed.

Feast of St Bruno

St. Bruno was born in 1030 in Cologne, Germany. He became a priest and achieved fame as a professor of theology at Rheims. He decided to leave the world and pursue a life of complete solitude and prayer. He established his hermitage in Chartreuse, near Grenoble, France. Soon he attracted disciples and he established the first monastery of Carthusian monks. Pope Urban II called him to Rome, but later Bruno was able to establish a second monastery in Italy. He died in 1101 at Calabria. This feast is celebrated today both in the Ordinary Form and the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

The Transitus of St. Francis of Assisi & Oblates of the Last Martyrdom

Dear Members & Friends of Transitus,

Today is an exciting day for Transitus Oblates of the Last Martyrdom, as this evening we celebrate the Transitus of St. Francis of Assisi - the passing of his soul from this life to eternity - on the eve of the feastday of our patron (October 4). It is also the occasion on which certain members are admitted into Transitus as well as an opportunity for all members to recommit themselves to the life of monks according the Transitus Rule and "School of Perfection" either as a Postulant, Novice, Guest, or fully admitted Oblate.

In the Heart Of The Church I Will Be Love

Ah! my Jesus, pardon me if I am unreasonable in wishing to express my desires and longings which reach even unto infinity. Pardon me and heal my soul by giving her what she longs for so much!

To be Your Spouse, to be a Carmelite, and by my union with You to be the Mother of souls, should not this suffice me? And yet it is not so. No doubt, these three privileges sum up my true vocation: Carmelite, Spouse, Mother, and yet I feel within me other vocations. I feel the vocation of THE WARRIOR, THE PRIEST, THE APOSTLE, THE DOCTOR, THE MARTYR. Finally, I feel the need and the desire of carrying out the most heroic deeds for You, 0 Jesus.

Feast of St Matthew

Because he saw him
through the eyes of mercy...

Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him: Follow me. Jesus saw Matthew, not merely in the usual sense, but more significantly with his merciful understanding of men.

He saw the tax collector and, because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him, he said to him: Follow me. This following meant imitating the pattern of his life – not just walking after him. St. John tells us: Whoever says he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

Transitus Oblates & The Stigmata

LETTER FROM THE SUPERIOR GENERAL #1
“Transitus has gone public!”
September 17, 2007 Original >>

“Two years before his death, while at prayer on Mount Alverna, the Seraphic Patriarch St. Francis of Assisi, was rapt in contemplation, and received in his own body the impression of the sacred wounds of Christ. Pope Benedict XI ordered the Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis to be observed on September 17. Pope Paul V extended it to the whole Catholic world.” (Roman Missal)                                 

The Martyrdom of Mary

The martyrdom of the Virgin is set forth both in the prophecy of Simeon and in the actual story of our Lord’s passion. The holy old man said of the infant Jesus: He has been established as a sign which will be contradicted. He went on to say to Mary: And your own heart will be pierced by a sword.

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

We are celebrating the feast of the cross which drove away darkness and brought in the light. As we keep this feast, we are lifted up with the crucified Christ, leaving behind us earth and sin so that we may gain the things above. So great and outstanding a possession is the cross that he who wins it has won a treasure. Rightly could I call this treasure the fairest of all fair things and the costliest, in fact as well as in name, for on it and through it and for its sake the riches of salvation that had been lost were restored to us.

Life Is Christ, Death Is Gain [Chrysostom]

The waters have risen and severe storms are upon us, but we do not fear drowning, for we stand firmly upon a rock. Let the sea rage, it cannot break the rock. Let the waves rise, they cannot sink the boat of Jesus. What are we to fear? Death? Life to me means Christ, and death is gain. Exile? ‘The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord. The confiscation of goods? We brought nothing into this world, and we shall surely take nothing from it. I have only contempt for the world’s threats, I find its blessings laughable. I have no fear of poverty, no desire for wealth. I am not afraid of death nor do I long to live, except for your good. I concentrate therefore on the present situation, and I urge you, my friends, to have confidence.

The Most Unlikely Person

Today's First Reading: 1 Timothy 1:1-2, 12 -14

Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, to Timothy, my true child in faith: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I am grateful to him who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me trustworthy in appointing me to the ministry. I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man, but I have been mercifully treated because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief. Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Christ Will Forgive No Sin Without the Church

There are two things that are God’s and God’s alone: the honor of receiving confession and the power of granting forgiveness. Confession is what we must make to him, and forgiveness is what we must hope to receive from him. The power to forgive sins belongs only to God, and this is why we must confess them to him.