Saint of the day and Feast days.

[odhiambo]

Saint Egwin
Saint Egwin was an English nobleman who became the Bishop of Worcester , England , in 692 or 693
Egwin was a strict disciplinarian and in his zeal to reform the corrupt morals of the clergy, he stirred up opposition against himself. He was expelled from his diocese.
Egwin took the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to Rome.
Upon his return to England, he founded Eversham Monastery with the aid of the king of Mercia,
The founding of this Monastery was reportedly prompted by a vision of Mary.
In 709, Egwin returned to Rome, accompanied by King Cenred of Mercia.
Egwin died on 30th December AD 717 and was buried in his Eversham Monastery to which his shrine brought many pilgrims.
His relics were so popular that, when the abbey church required a major rebuilding in 1077, they were taken on a very successful fund raising tour of southern England, initiating miraculous cures at Dover, Oxford, Winchester and elsewhere.
He is represented in art as a Bishop holding a fish with a key in its mouth.
Saint Egwin,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

31 December

Today is the Memorial of
Saint Sylvester I
Among many other saints.

[odhiambo]

Saint Sylvester I
Sylvester was a Roman, the son of Rufinus.
He was born in Rome towards the close of the third century. He was a young priest when the persecution of the Christians broke out under the tyrant Diocletian. On 31 January 314 Sylvester was elected 33rd Pope.
During his pontificate which lasted 21 years, the first martyrology of Roman Maryrs was compiled, and a Roman school of chant was established.
The insertion of the “Kyrie Eleison” in the Mass is also thought to belong to this period.
It was also during Saint Sylvester I pontificate that Emperor Constantine moved his capital from Rome to Constantinople in 330, giving the Pope his palace of the Lateran where the Pope set up his cathedral and established the Lateran basilica as the cathedral church of Rome. The Pope also erected the first great Basilica of St. Peter’s at the Vatican, besides those of St. Lawrence.
The most far reaching event of Saint Sylvester's pontificate, however, was, reportedly, the First Ecumenical Council of the Church at Nicaea ( Turkey) in 325, when some 320 Bishops , mostly from the East, assembled under the presidency of the Bishop of Cordoba and, in the presence of the pope's two ligates, Vitus and Vincentius. At this First Ecumenical Council, there was formal condemnation of the Arian heresy. The Nicene Crede was also formulated at this First Council.
Pope Sylvester died in 335 and was first buried in the cemetery of St. Priscilla on the Via Salaria. In 762, his remains were transferred by Paul I to the Church of St.Sylvester within the city walls where they are to this day.
Saint Sylvester I
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

1 January
Happy New Year 1012!
This day is packed with The Lord's Blessings:
It is first and foremost the Lord's Day-Sunday.
2:It is the day we celebrate the:Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.
3:It is the day we remember Saint Gregory Nazianzen the Elder
4: It is the World Day of Peace
5:And lastly,it is the First Day of the Year 2012.
Again Happy New Year, " May Mary Mother of God be our Guiding Star!"
From our parish's weekly

[odhiambo]

Mary Mother of God.
On Christmas day our attention was focused on Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God.
Today, seven days later, our attention is centered on His Mother. Jesus is the Son of God, it follows therefore, that Mary is the Mother of God.
The most sublime of Mary’s privileges is her Divine Maternity. Without that Maternity, her other privileges would in fact, not exist; she herself would not exist at all because she was created specifically to be the Mother of God.
Mary’s Divine Maternity is great also because as, stated in the encyclical Fulgens Corona (1953), this privilege is the reason for the other privileges viz: her Immaculate Conception, her miraculous virginity, her fullness of grace, her Assumption and her spiritual maternity of all mankind.
The Divine Maternity explains everything in her. Without this Maternity, nothing in Mary can be explained.
In her teaching concerning the union of the human and the Divine natures in Christ, the Church states that Jesus Christ is God and Man, perfect God and perfect Man, and that this Divinity and Humanity are united in only one Person, that the actions of the Divine Nature or the Human Nature are the actions of one person, the Divine Person.
The precise title, “Mother of God” dates back to the third or fourth century, when in the Greek form, “Theotokos” ( God-bearer) became the pivotal point of the Church’s teaching about the Incarnation. It was on 22 June 431, as a direct response to the Nestorian heresy, the Council of Ephesus insisted that the Church was right in calling the holy Virgin Mary “Theotokos”
Fifteen centuries later, that is , on 25 December 1931, Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical Lux Veritatis, enjoined the celebration of this feast on the whole Western Church..
Finally, Pope Paul VI declared in his encyclical, Marialis Cultus (Marian Cult) that this feast is meant to commemorate the part played by Mary in the mystery of salvation.
Holy Mother of God,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

   
"Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin Mary too much.
You can never love her more than Jesus did
 and If anyone does not wish to have Mary Immaculate for his mother,
 he will not have Christ for his brother."
Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe

[Brigid]

Even tho' I honor Our Mother quite a bit and therefore feel safe - I really need to be constantly reminded of St. Maximillian Maria Kolbe's quote. I am continually losing any humility and taking Our Lord for granted. Our Lady, pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Even tho' I honor Our Mother quite a bit and therefore feel safe - I really need to be constantly reminded of St. Maximillian Maria Kolbe's quote. I am continually losing any humility and taking Our Lord for granted. Our Lady, pray for us!

I have a niece, raised a Catholic by her mom to whom we are all indebted, spiritually and otherwise. My niece became 'saved' when she married. I suspect the challenges and heartbreak that goes hand in hand with many marriages had something to do with it. Once I heard her berate her mom about The BVM. Jesus only and no other, she will have us believe. Which is OK only that, according to her and others who think like her, Our Lady should be obliterated from the map, so to speak.
I will send her the above quote. Please say a prayer that the Lord uses it to bring her to her senses.

[odhiambo]

2 January

Today is the Memorial of
Saint Basil the Great
And Saint Gregory Nazianzen
Among many other saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Basil the Great.
Bishop of Caesarea and
Doctor of the Church.
Basil was born in Caesarea, the capital of Cappadocia in Asia Minor about the year 330 A.D.
He was born in a remarkably holy family, for the Church honors his parents , Saint Basil the Elder, and his mother, Saint Emelia ( the daughter of a martyr), his brothers saints Gregory of Nyssa and Peter of Sebaste, his sister, Saint Macrina the Younger , as well as both the parents of his father! Wow!
Basil was one of ten children. His early years were spent at the country house of his grandmother, Saint Macrina the Elder, whose example and teaching, he never forgot.
He studied letters at Caesarea, rhetoric and philosophy at Constantinople, and astronomy and geometry as well as medicine at Athens.
In Athens, Basil had as fellow students Saint Gregory Nanzianzen who became his inseparable friend, and Saint Julian, the future emperor and apostate.
Basil and Gregory associated with the most serious minded of their contemporaries and, reportedly the two streets they knew best were those leading to the Church and to the schools!
With his brother Saint Gregory of Nyssa and his friend Saint Gregory Nanzianzus, Basil is one of the “The Three Cappadocians” who distinguished themselves in Church history.
As soon as Basil had learned all that his masters could teach him, he returned to Caesarea. For some years he taught rhetoric in the city, but, on the very threshold of a brilliant career, he abandoned the world, through the influence of his saintly sister Macrina the Younger and his friend Gregory. He became a monk.
He visited some monasteries and hermits in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia in 357. On his return, he lived as a hermit, devoting himself to prayer and study for some five years. Numerous followers, including his brother Peter, kept attaching themselves to him, until he founded a monastic colony on his family property, on the river Iris in Pontus. He composed for them the famous Rule of Saint Basil (manual labor, study and prayer), which gained rapid acceptance everywhere and made him the “Father of Eastern monasticism”. Basil’s Rule is followed to this day by all the orthodox monks.
Basil was ordained priest in 364 by Archbishop Esebius of Caesarea. He played a major role in the administration of the diocese of Caesarea under Esebius. Six years later, in 370, when the Archbishop died, he was elected to succeed him.
Saint Basil actively fought against Arianism and defended the poor. His concern for the destitute, led him to establish poor houses in various districts of the diocese. In a suburb of Caesarea, he erected the famous “Basilios”, a magnificent and extensive complex of buildings in which the sick, the poor, the helpless, the aged, the ostracized lepers and homeless strangers could be cared for or given medical attention by resident physicians and nurses.
There were also shops where unskilled workers could receive technical training. All work was supported by an aroused social responsibility of the wealthy. Basil himself practiced the Christian precept of poverty and continued to live in ascetic austerity. His entire inheritance was spent to support the starving population during a famine.
Saint Basil is the patron of Russia and hospital administrators. He is numbered among the greatest figures in the history of the Church.
The Greeks venerate him as one of the three great ecumenical doctors, the others being Saint Gregory Nanzianzen and Saint John Chrysostorm.
Outstanding among his doctrinal writings is his famous work on the Holy Spirit.
Well known also, is his able defense of the Catholic faith before Emperor Valens, and the Eucharistic liturgy which he formulated and which is still named after him.
Saint Basil died on 1 January 379 at the age of 50.
Saint Basil the Great,
Pray for us

[odhiambo]

“ Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd, leading him to life”
St. Basil the Great.

[Shin]

A family of saints!

And one 'the great'! Well no wonder, coming from a family like that!

I'm always glad to be reminded about guardian angels. We do not think enough of them!

Thanks odhiambo!

'When you sit down to eat, pray. When you eat bread, do so thanking Him for being so generous to you. If you drink wine, be mindful of Him who has given it to you for your pleasure and as a relief in sickness. When you dress, thank Him for His kindness in providing you with clothes. When you look at the sky and the beauty of the stars, throw yourself at God's feet and adore Him who in His wisdom has arranged things in this way. Similarly, when the sun goes down and when it rises, when you are asleep or awake, give thanks to God, who created and arranged all things for your benefit, to have you know, love and praise their Creator.'

St. Basil the Great

'As bees are expelled from their hives by smoke, so also the wisdom of God is expelled by revellings and drunkenness; and this wisdom is, as it were, like a bee in our soul, producing the honey of virtue, of grace, and every heavenly consolation.'

St. Basil the Great

'The reason why sometimes you have asked and not received, is because you have asked amiss, either inconsistently, or lightly, or because you have asked for what was not good for you, or because you have ceased asking.'

St. Basil the Great

'A woman who deliberately destroys a fetus is answerable for murder. And any fine distinction between its being completely formed or unformed is not admissible among us.'

St. Basil the Great

[Shin]

"Lux Veritatis"

I like the title of that encyclical you mentioned odhiambo!

[odhiambo]

A family of saints!

And one 'the great'! Well no wonder, coming from a family like that!

I'm always glad to be reminded about guardian angels. We do not think enough of them!

Thanks odhiambo!

It is Saint Basil you are to thank Shin; it is his quote.
I am just passing on the message. 

[odhiambo]

3 January

Today we commemorate the
Most Holy Name of Jesus.

[odhiambo]

The Most Holy Name of Jesus.

“Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth,
And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
To the glory of God the Father.”
" (Phil 2:9-11)

The Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus has been celebrated in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, since the end of the fifteenth century. The veneration of the Holy Name was extended to the entire Roman Catholic Church on 20 December 1721, during the pontificate of Pope Innocent XIII
The celebration has been held on different dates. It is observed on 3 January by Catholics following the present General Roman Calendar, and on the Sunday between the Octave of Christmas and Epiphany (or 2 January) by Catholics following calendars of the 1914-1969 period.
The famous preacher Saint Bernardino of Siena placed great emphasis on the Holy Name. He was probably the author of the Litany of the Holy Name and he used, with remarkable success, the trigram HIS, an abbreviation for the name of Jesus ( IHS or JHS monogram of the name of Jesus)
The monogram was reportedly invented by Bernadine himself and was to be a way of leading all back to Christ. He was, however, maliciously accused of introducing a new and quasi –idolatrous devotion. He and Saint John Capistrano, however were able to give explanations and clarifications before the Pope and he was triumphantly vindicated.