Saint of the day and Feast days - Part 2

[odhiambo]

August 19
Today we remember the following Saints:
Saint Timothy of Gaza
Saint Thecla
Saint Agapius
Among many other Saints.

[Shin]

St. Thecla! Now there's a famous one!

[odhiambo]

August 20
Today we remember
Saint Ronald
Among many other Saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Ronald
Roland was a warrior chieftain in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. He was described as: “elegant and accomplished". Ronald made a vow to build a church and he fulfilled this vow by erecting the Cathedral of Saint Magnus at Kirkwall.
Ronald was murdered in 1158 by a group of warriors rebelling against him, his rule and his religion.  He is considered a martyr in Kirkwall.
Saint Ronald
Pray for us!

[The Reginator]

I was just pondering a way of translating the following into my daily life:


From Divine Office, Office of Readings, for August 20:

Second reading
From a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot

I love because I love, I love that I may love
Love is sufficient of itself, it gives pleasure by itself and because of itself. It is its own merit, its own reward. Love looks for no cause outside itself, no effect beyond itself. Its profit lies in its practice. I love because I love, I love that I may love. Love is a great thing so long as it continually returns to its fountainhead, flows back to its source, always drawing from there the water which constantly replenishes it. Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return; the sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him.
The Bridegroom’s love, or rather the love which is the Bridegroom, asks in return nothing but faithful love. Let the beloved, then, love in return. Should not a bride love, and above all, Love’s bride? Could it be that Love not be loved?
Rightly then does she give up all other feelings and give herself wholly to love alone; in giving love back, all she can do is to respond to love. And when she has poured out her whole being in love, what is that in comparison with the unceasing torrent of that original source? Clearly, lover and Love, soul and Word, bride and Bridegroom, creature and Creator do not flow with the same volume; one might as well equate a thirsty man with the fountain.
What then of the bride’s hope, her aching desire, her passionate love, her confident assurance? Is all this to wilt just because she cannot match stride for stride with her giant, any more than she can vie with honey for sweetness, rival the lamb for gentleness, show herself as white as the lily, burn as bright as the sun, be equal in love with him who is Love? No. It is true that the creature loves less because she is less. But if she loves with her whole being, nothing is lacking where everything is given. To love so ardently then is to share the marriage bond; she cannot love so much and not be totally loved, and it is in the perfect union of two hearts that complete and total marriage consists. Or are we to doubt that the soul is loved by the Word first and with a greater love?

[odhiambo]

would that we all loved thus!  

[odhiambo]

August 21
Today we remember
Saint Quadratus
Among many other Saints.

[odhiambo]

Saint Quadratus
Bishop of Utica.
Martyr.
Quadratus was Bishop of Utica, France, as already noted. The Christians of this region suffered severely under the Romans. Quadratus and most of his flock were martyred in the 3rd century . He was praised by Saint Augustine, who , together  with others in the African Church, reportedly, deeply revered the Saint.
Saint Quadratus,
Pray for us!

[Shin]

I was just pondering a way of translating the following into my daily life:


From Divine Office, Office of Readings, for August 20:

Second reading
From a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot

I love because I love, I love that I may love
Love is sufficient of itself, it gives pleasure by itself and because of itself. It is its own merit, its own reward. Love looks for no cause outside itself, no effect beyond itself. Its profit lies in its practice. I love because I love, I love that I may love. Love is a great thing so long as it continually returns to its fountainhead, flows back to its source, always drawing from there the water which constantly replenishes it. Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return; the sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him.
The Bridegroom’s love, or rather the love which is the Bridegroom, asks in return nothing but faithful love. Let the beloved, then, love in return. Should not a bride love, and above all, Love’s bride? Could it be that Love not be loved?
Rightly then does she give up all other feelings and give herself wholly to love alone; in giving love back, all she can do is to respond to love. And when she has poured out her whole being in love, what is that in comparison with the unceasing torrent of that original source? Clearly, lover and Love, soul and Word, bride and Bridegroom, creature and Creator do not flow with the same volume; one might as well equate a thirsty man with the fountain.
What then of the bride’s hope, her aching desire, her passionate love, her confident assurance? Is all this to wilt just because she cannot match stride for stride with her giant, any more than she can vie with honey for sweetness, rival the lamb for gentleness, show herself as white as the lily, burn as bright as the sun, be equal in love with him who is Love? No. It is true that the creature loves less because she is less. But if she loves with her whole being, nothing is lacking where everything is given. To love so ardently then is to share the marriage bond; she cannot love so much and not be totally loved, and it is in the perfect union of two hearts that complete and total marriage consists. Or are we to doubt that the soul is loved by the Word first and with a greater love?

It's very good to read and very good to hear from you Reginator!

I think about virtue as uniting us with Christ.. and so to practice virtue, some virtue, all the time.. If one is always doing this.. and keeping this in mind..

Practicing, for example, modesty all the time. . . indoors and out..

[odhiambo]

Practicing, for example, modesty all the time. . . indoors and out..

Even when we are alone.

[odhiambo]

August 22
Today we remember
Saint Symphorian of Autun
Among many other Saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Symphorian of Autun
Martyr.
Symphorian was a Christian of noble birth in Autun, Gaul, during the reign of Septimius Severus. He was ordered by the authorities of Autun, to make sacrifices to the goddess Cybele. When he refused, he was tried by Heraclius, the governor. He was beaten, tortured and finally beheaded. ( reportedly beheaded in 178, 180 or even 200, dates vary.)
Saint Symphorian ,
Pray for us!

[Shin]

Practicing, for example, modesty all the time. . . indoors and out..

Even when we are alone.

Yes, exactly!

After all, we never truly are in the end!

[odhiambo]

Yes, exactly!
After all, we never truly are in the end!

So very true!
the Lord is always present; He is the silent witness to all we do or say.

[odhiambo]

August 23
Today we remember
Saint Philip Benizi
Among many other Saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Philip Benizi
Servite Cardinal
Preacher.
Philip was born on 15 August, Feast of the Assumption in 1233 at Florence, Italy. He was born of a noble family. He was educated in Paris and Padua where he received his degrees in Medicine and Phylosophy at the age of nineteen and began to practice medicine at Florence. After one year of medical practice, he joined the Servites at Monte Senario, near Florence in 1253/54. He served here as a lay brother until 1258/59 when his superiors sent him to the Servite house in Siena to be ordained. He soon became known for his preaching. He served as master of novices at Siena; was superior of several friaries and in 1267, despite protests from him, he was elected prior general of the Servites. Philip reportedly reformed the Order.
In 1268, Cardinal Ottobuoni proposed his name as a papal candidate on the death of Pope Clement IV. Philip fled and hid in a cave until a new Pope was elected.
Philip, who already had miracles attributed to him, attracted many converts to the Church.
He attended the General Council of Lyons in 1274. In 1285, with his health in decline, Philip retired to a small Servite house in Todi where he died on 22 August that same year.
He was canonized on 12 April 1671 by Pope Clement X.
Saint Philip Benizi
Pray for us!