Saint of the day and Feast days.

[Shin]

Isn't it splendid? 

[Patricia]

Oh my Lord! How true it is that whoever works for you is paid in troubles! And what a precious price to those who love you if we understand its value.

-- Saint Teresa of Avila

Saint Teresa was the recipient of the extraordinary piercing of heart.
This was proved after her death, when her heart was found to have been pierced.

I didn't know this fact!

[odhiambo]

I didn't know this fact!

We live and learn Patricia.
I came across it last year when I first read about the Saint to post for the same thread at CAF.
Before that I did not even know of "mystical wounding."

[odhiambo]

October 16

Today is the Memorial  of
Saint Gerard Majella
Among many other Saints

[Shin]

'Consider the shortness of time, the length of eternity and reflect how everything here below comes to an end and passes by. Of what use is it to lean upon that which cannot give support?'

St. Gerard Majella

'Who except God can give you peace? Has the world ever been able to satisfy the heart?'

St. Gerard Majella

 

[odhiambo]

'Consider the shortness of time, the length of eternity and reflect how everything here below comes to an end and passes by. Of what use is it to lean upon that which cannot give support?'
St. Gerard Majella

So true!
Problem is, we never consider how brief life on earth is. We are so busy wasting the little time that we have. "Late I have loved Thee...."

[odhiambo]

'Who except God can give you peace? Has the world ever been able to satisfy the heart?'

St. Gerard Majella

 

"You have made us for yourself,
O Lord, and our hearts are restless
until they rest in You.”
Saint Augustine.
The truth is the same. All the saints tell us that, but do we ever listen?

[odhiambo]

Saint Gerard Majella
Redemtorist

Gerard was born in a small town called Muro, in the south of Italy. He was born in a poor family. His father Dominic Majella, a tailor, died while Gerard was still a child. His mother, because of poverty, was obliged to apprentice him to a tailor.
Even as a child, Gerard’s only ambition was to be like Jesus Christ in his sufferings and humiliations.
According to the Magnificat’s account of his life, as a child of five, when he would go to pray before the statue of the Virgin with her Child, the Infant Jesus regularly descended to give him a little white bun.
He would then take the bread home and tell his mother who gave it to him. One day his sister was sent to observe secretly and she witnessed the miracle herself.
At the age of seven, he wanted very much to receive the Holy Communion one day and so he went to the Communion railing with the other Communicants. The priest however, passed him up on account of his age.
Gerard returned to his place in tears. The following night, Saint Michael the Archangel is said to have brought him the Communion he so much desired.
Gerard was devoted to his widowed mother; he also devoted his life to God and to serving others. His selfless help to others in various circumstances endeared him to all sorts of people. He often gave away his earnings and his own food or money to the poor.
In 1749, at the age of 23, Gerard entered the then newly founded Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. This congregation was founded by Saint Alfonso Liguori of Naples in 1732 for missionary work among the poor. He was professed lay brother in 1752.
Saint Gerard had mystical abilities including powers of prophecy, levitation, healing bilocation, etc.
He is said to have predicted his own death.
He performed many miracles, in fact he was “known as Thaumaturge, a Saint who works miracles not just occasionally, but as a matter of course.”
Again, from the Magnificat’s account of Saint Gerard Majella, the most famous of his many miracles is when a man fell (or was in the process of falling) from the scaffolding during the construction of a building. Gerard had been forbidden by his superiors to work any more miracles without permission. He stopped the man in mid-air, telling him to wait until he had obtained permission to save him. He received his permission and the man descended gently to the ground.
When a plague broke out, he exhibited the gift of bilocation; he was seen in more than one house at the same time, assisting the sick.
False accusations disrupted Gerard’s life and he was sent to Naples, then to Caposele. His female accuser later admitted she had lied.
Saint Gerard contracted tuberculosis from which he died in 1755 aged just 29.
He was beatified in 1895 by Pope Leo XIII and canonized in 1904 by Saint Pope Pius X
Saint Gerard Majella
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Saint of Happy Deliveries
During his short life, Saint Gerard helped many and performed many miracles.
It seems that God has given him, in particular, the special power to help mothers in need.
In life and since his death he has helped so many women who have prayed for his intercession during labour that he earned the nickname the “Saint of Happy Deliveries”
Many mothers from all over the world have even named their children “Gerard” in his honor and in gratitude to him.
He is invoked as the patron of expectant mothers.

[odhiambo]

Let us also take time to remember another saint whose Memorial is today.
Saint Gall
Saint Gall was born in Ireland in 550, of pious , noble and rich parents.
He was raised in a monastery during his youth, under Saint Colomban ( Colombanus) and Saint Comgall , his Abbot. When Saint Colomban left Ireland on his mission to the continent, Gall was one of the twelve companions he traveled with. They went first to England and then to France, where they arrived in 585. They founded two monasteries, one at Annegray and another in Luxeuil, before moving on to Switzerland, near Bregentz, a village on Lake Constance. Here Saint Gall and Saint Colomban preached against idolatry and converted many to the faith.
From here, Saint Colomban moved on to Italy but Saint Gall, because of ill health, stayed on and settled near Lake Constance. He had earlier been ordained a priest.
He lived here in peace with wild animals, cast out demons , drove serpents from the valley and converted a great number of idolaters.
Saint Gall died in 646.
Saint Gall,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

October 17

Today is the Memorial of
Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.
Among many other Saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
Margaret was born on 22nd July 1647 in L’Hautercour, Burgundy now France.
She was the fifth of seven children of Claude Alacoque and Philberte Lamyn. She was baptized Margaret, adding the name Mary at the time of her confirmation.
Margaret’s father died when she was eight years old. Her mother sent her to the school of the Urbanist Nuns ( Poor Clare) at Charolles where she received her only two years of formal education.
She developed rheumatic fever, and for five years she was bedridden. She regained her health when she was fifteen years old.
In 1671, Margaret Mary entered the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial and took her vows the following year.
The Saint experienced visions in the convent and on 27th December 1673, she began having revelations that lasted eighteen months. She was informed by Christ that she was His instrument in spreading devotion to His Sacred Heart.
After being rebuffed by her superior and local church man, Margaret Mary’s visions were declared genuine by St. Claude de la Colombiere.
In 1683, she was given position in her community and witnessed the spread of devotion to the Sacred Heart.
Saint Margaret died at Paray-le –Monial on 17th October 1690.
She was canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.
With Saint John Eudes and Saint Claude-de-la Colombiere, Margaret is called a “saint of the Sacred Heart” The devotion was approved by Pope Clement XIII in 1765.
Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque,
Pray for us!

[Shin]

The autobiography of St. Margaret Mary is a special book. I heartily recommend it.

St. Gall and St. Margaret pray for us!

'You can walk in the way that God has traced out for you only by continual self-denial and by renouncing that strong attachment you have for creatures. Die, therefore, to all these useless affections, so that Jesus may live in you.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

[odhiambo]

The autobiography of St. Margaret Mary is a special book. I heartily recommend it.

I have noted your recommendation Shin 

[Shin]

I remember when I first read it, it was one of the earlier works I picked up. It was always a difficult read in some ways because of her suffering.. and so I always felt it was good for me, because it prompted me to overcome the difficulties.. 

[Shin]

The Twelve Promises of the Sacred Heart.