- Colossians 3:5-10 -
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:
***ual
immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Because
of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in
the
life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as
these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
Do not
lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its
practices and
have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image
of
its Creator.
________________________________________________________________________
Every Christian is in a continuing education program. The more we know
Christ
and his work, the more we are being changed to be like him. Because this
process
is lifelong, we must never stop learning and obeying. There is no
justification
for drifting along, but there is an incentive to find the rich treasures
of
growing in him. It takes practice, ongoing review, patience and
concentration to
keep in line with his will.
<<>><<>><<>>
November 12th - St. Renatus of Angers B (AC)
(also known as René d'Anjou)
Died c. 422.
"O everlasting fire that never fails, O eternal love that never fades,
give me
your warmth," wrote Saint René d'Anjou, prisoner in chains at Dijon,
captive and
yet Duke of Anjou, Bar, and Lorraine, Count of Provence, King of Sicily
and
Naples; whose ****eld was black with silver tears as a sign of
mortification for
vain pleasures; who also said, "Better to be happy than to be a king;" the
shepherd prince who handled both pen and palette; whose heart was always
"in
love with love."
But the René whom we celebrate today is not the one who watched Van Eyck
at
work, nor that other René, one of the fairest flowers of the garden of
France,
René Cadou, the celt whose eyes were as blue as forget-me-nots. Instead we
must
go to La Possonniere, a small village under a slate-colored sky.
There in the early days of Christianity, a son was born to the sterile
Bononia,
thanks to the fervent prayers of Saint Maurille. But when the child was
born its
breath was as weak as the flame of a dying candle.
Weeping, Bononia begged Maurille to give strength and life to her little
child
and accord him the grace of baptism. But Maurille was celebrating the
divine
Mass and could not leave until the sacred tragedy had been brought to an
end.
When he came to the bedside of the mother, her fair-haired child was cold
with
death. Stricken with grief for having deprived the Lord of a soul,
Maurille beat
his breast and went to hide in the depths of the forest where he lived as
an
anchorite expiating his sin with fasting and prayer.
Seven years later, having come to the end of the term fixed by Providence,
Maurille heard a voice telling him to return to his bishopric. Deaf to the
acclamations of the crowds, advancing like a sleepwalker, he went to press
his
forehead on the tombstone which covered the virginal body.
When tender, ardent prayers he begged the Mother of God, who has pity on
grief,
and the Son to give life and color to the lily-like face of the dead
child.
Soon, a miracle! The child rose up out of the infinite silence, his body
formed
in the shape of Adam, suffused with faith, charity, and hope.
Maurille sprinkled the baptismal waters upon his innocent forehead and
gave him
the name of Renatus (born again), signifying his double birth.
Thereafter René wrote upon the Book of Hours of his soul the suffering
face of
Christ on the Cross. He was a most zealous priest, his heart as white as
snow, a
friend to those afflicted with running sores, to beggars, and to cripples.
Full of virtue and loaded with honors, he succeeded Saint Maurille. But
one day,
laying on the altar his amethyst ring that glittered like a cluster of
stars, he
covered himself with the hermit's sackcloth and retired to a cave near
Sorrento,
where the blue waves lap murmurously; and there, in that distant century,
the
fifth of our Christian era, he heard the first measures of the eternal
symphony
which the elect reveal to the children on earth who are most humbly
devoted to
God.
It is likely that there has been a confusion between two different saints:
one
of whom was bishop of Angers, France, and the second of Sorrento, Italy
(Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Saint Quote
Without Prayer nothing good is done. God's works are done with our hands
joined,
and on our knees. Even when we run, we must remain spiritually kneeling
before
Him.
--Blessed Luigi Orione
Bible Quote:
At that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying: Who thinkest thou is the
greater in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus calling unto him a little
child, set
him in the midst of them, And said: Amen I say to you, unless you be
converted,
and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the
greater
in the kingdom of heaven. And he that shall receive one such little child
in my
name, receiveth me. (Matthew 18:1-5)
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Prayer for the Intercession of Saint James the Confessor.
O God, through the Intercession of your Immaculate Mother, The
Blessed Virgin Mary, and through the Intercession of Saint Joseph,
your Beloved Joseph, and through the Intercession of all of Church
Triumphant, grant me now my prayer to your Dear James, your Saint
James the Confessor.
Through the Intercession of Saint James the Confessor convert me now
from all my sins of pride, from all my sins of lust, from all my sins
of envy, from all my sins of anger, from all my sins of greed, from
all my sins of gluttony, from all my sins of sloth.
Through the Intercession of your Dear James, your Saint James the
Confessor, convert me from all my sins and give me a new heart.
Through the Intercession of your Dear James, your Saint James the
Confessor, convert from sin your human creatures in your World on
Earth and give them new hearts.
Through the Intercession of The Mediatrix of Grace and Co-Redemptrix
and through the Intercession of your Beloved Joseph, Saint Joseph.
Amen.
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