Saint of the day and Feast days.

[odhiambo]

Prayer...
Saint Blaise,
Pray for us that we may not suffer from illnesses of the throat,
and pray that all who are suffering be healed by God's love.
Amen!

[Patricia]

I have a bad throat for the past couple days. It is healing but I can't yell at the kids because then i start croaking. Its frustrating when I'm trying to yell a point across and all that comes out is a squeak. 

St Blaise , pray for us! Last year our parish priest had given us the throat blessing during Sunday Mass. I expect he will do the same this Sunday. 

[Shin]

St. Blaise, pray for us!

May we bear our crosses well!  Great and small!

[odhiambo]

St. Blaise, pray for us!

May we bear our crosses well!  Great and small!

Amen!
Shin, this morning I finished reading Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence.
I can tell you that what I learned from it will have a definite bearing on my life.
I thank you for that.

[odhiambo]

4 February

Today is the Memorial of
Saint Joseph of Leonissa
Among many other saints.

[odhiambo]

Joseph of Leonissa
Joseph was born and named  Eufranio Desiderio at Leonessa, a small town then in Umbria, Italy in 1556. He was born into a humble and holy family.
It is said, that from his childhood, he showed remarkable piety;  he used to erect little altars and spend much time in prayer before them, and often he would gather his companions and induced them to pray with him.
We are also told that Joseph was a humble man who was drawn to a life of penance. At the age of about 18, he joined the Capuchin reform of the Franciscan Order. He made his novitiate in the convent of the Carcerelle near Assisi. As a student and a young priest, Joseph was satisfied with the contemplative life of the Capuchin. He soon became a preacher and finally was appointed Guardian (Superior) at the friary in Assisi.
Joseph slept on boards, wore poor clothes, kept his body in almost continual pain and prayed day and night. Desiring martyrdom he asked and obtained permission to go to Constantinople in 1587 with three companions.
Once in Constantinople, they worked as missionaries among the Christian slaves of the Turks. Joseph preached to them daily, bound their wounds and changed their attitudes to their suffering.
The guards became suspicious of Joseph and thinking him a spy threw him in a dungeon. After sometime, he was released. Not deterred in anyway, Joseph tried to preach to the Sultan, but was arrested again. This time he was beaten and condemned to death. He was suspended by his right hand and left foot by hooks for three days. A fire was lit below him; a large crowd gathered and Joseph forgot all about his torment and started to preach to them about Jesus Christ. On the third day of his torments, apparently quite miraculously, he was set free!
Joseph returned to Italy where he was renowned for his work in the confessional. He became famous as a peacemaker. He continued to do penance and spend long hours in the confessional.
The saint died of cancer in Italy on February 4, 1612.
He was canonized in 1745.
Saint Joseph,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

5 February

Today is the Memorial of
Saint Agatha
Among many other saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Agatha
Martyr
 Patron of Catania
Agatha was born in Catania, Sicily, south of Italy. Her parents were Christians, rich and illustrious. Agatha was reportedly very beautiful. She had consecrated herself to God from her youth and was not desirous of marriage with anyone. A Roman senator, named Quintianus, said to be the then governor of Sicily, heard of Agatha’s beauty and wealth. He asked Agatha to marry him. When she refused, he had her placed in a brothel. It is said that she remained miraculously unharmed. She remained true and constant in her faith and resolve.
After learning of Agatha’s constancy Quintianus ordered her to be brought before him. He tried to frighten her with threats, but she remained undaunted.
Quintianus then had her tortured. As part of the torture, Agatha’s breasts were cut off! She was thrown into prison and deprived of medical attention and food. God Himself, however, attended to her; in a vision, Saint Peter reportedly comforted her and healed her wounds.
Completely unmoved by this miraculous cures, Quintianus commanded Agatha be rolled naked across a bed of live coals mixed with glass. This was done.
She was carried back to the prison where she died from this latest torture, with the following prayers on her lips:
“ Lord, my Creator, You have always protected me from the cradle, You have taken me from the love of the world and given me patience to suffer. Receive now my soul.”
It is said that many people who witnessed her faced cheerfully and bravely the cruel sufferings at the hands of the governor, became Christians.
Quintianus himself did not survive long after the martyrdom of Saint Agatha. He was reportedly thrown by his horse and drowned in a river.
Saint Agatha,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

"Now hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
 Who have eyes but do not see;
 Who have ears but do not hear"
Jeremiah 5:21
New American Standard Bible

[Patricia]

St Agatha pray for us!! Kind of similar to St. Philomena story!

[Shin]

St. Blaise, pray for us!

May we bear our crosses well!  Great and small!

Amen!
Shin, this morning I finished reading Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence.
I can tell you that what I learned from it will have a definite bearing on my life.
I thank you for that.

Thanks be to God and His angels and His saints!

I love that book!

[odhiambo]

6 February

Today is the Memorial of
Saint Paul Miki and his Companions
Among many other saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Paul Miki and his Companions
Martyrs of Japan.
Paul was a member of the noble Miki family, a samurai clan of Harima Province.
 He was educated by the Jesuits in the missionary seminary and planned to join the Society of Jesus. He was famous as a preacher and evangelist. His plans were however, cut short when On December 8, 1596, he was arrested by officials of the general of Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Many others were arrested with him and condemned to death. Among the twenty six arrested were three Japanese Jesuits, six Franciscans (four of them Spanish), and seventeen Japanese laymen. Charged with attempting to harm the government, they were sentenced to crucifixion. Some of these men were very young: Louis was 10; Anthony, 13; Thomas, 16; and Gabriel, 19. The best known is Paul Miki.
The hill on which Paul and his companions died is now called “the Hill of the Martyrs.” ( It isalso called the Holy Mountain).
A stone cross and twenty six trees stand upon the summit.
The martyrs were canonized on Pentecost Sunday 1862 by Blessed Pope Pius IX.
Saint Paul and Companions
Pray for us!

[Shin]

St. Paul Miki and Companions, pray for us.

Sentenced to crucifixion..

[odhiambo]

7 February

Today is the Memorial of
Saint Colette
Among many other saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Colette
Colette was born on January 13,1381, at Corby Abbey in Picardy, France. She was christened Nicolette in honor of St. Nicholas of Myra.
Her parents, who were both in their 60's when she was born, nicknamed her Colette from the time she was a baby.
Colette's father, a quiet and har working man, was a carpenter at an abbey in Picardy. Colette was a pious child, who prayed frequently, eagerly assisted her mother with household chores, and demonstrated a sensitive and loving nature.
Aged 17, both her parents died. She was left in the care of a Benedictine abbot. Her guardian wanted her to marry, but she was drawn to religious life.
She distributed her inheritance to the poor, and became a Franciscan tertiary, living at Corby as a solitary; walled into a cell whose only opening was a grilled window into a church .She soon became well known for her holiness and spiritual wisdom.
In 1406, Colette left her cell in response to a dream directing her to reform the Poor Clares. She traveled to visit Pope Benedict XIII, who professed her as a Poor Clare. He was so impressed with her that he made her superioress general of the whole order of St. Clare, with full power to establish whatever regulations and rules she thought were needed to reform the order. She attempted to revive the primitive rule and spirit of St. Francis, but had to deal with considerable opposition. Eventually, she succeeded.
She founded seventeen convents with the reformed rule and reformed several older convents.
Collette foretold her own death.
She passed away in one of her convents in Ghent, Flanders, on March 6, 1447. She was sixty-seven.
She was proclaimed a saint by Pope Pius VI in 1807.
Saint Colette,
Pray for us!