- Psalm 16:7-9 -
I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure...
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God is real and present in this world. He wants to share Himself with us
so
we can draw contentment, courage and joy from His presence. We must be
willing to slow down and listen to what He's saying. So many people pursue
substitutes for His presence. Friends, hobbies and busy schedules provide
momentary pleasure while gobbling up time that should be spent in
quietness
before God.
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April 1st - St. Hugh, Bishop of Grenoble
(1053-1132)
It was the good fortune of Saint Hugh to receive, from his cradle, strong
impressions of piety through the example and solicitude of his illustrious
and holy parents. He was born at Chateauneuf in Dauphiné, France, in 1053.
His father, Odilo, who served his country in an honorable post in the
army,
labored by all means in his power to make his soldiers faithful servants
of
their Creator, and by severe punishments, to restrain vice. By the advice
of
his son, Saint Hugh, in his later years he became a Carthusian monk, and
died at the age of one hundred, having received Extreme Unction and
Viaticum
from the hands of his son. Under his direction, his mother had served God
in
her own house for many years by prayer, fasting, and abundant almsgiving;
and Saint Hugh also assisted her in her last hours.
Hugh, from the cradle, appeared to be a child of benediction; in his youth
he was recognized as such through his exceptional success in his studies.
Having chosen to serve God in the ecclesiastical state, he accepted a
canonry in the cathedral of Valence. His great sanctity and learning
rendered him an ornament of that church, and at the age of twenty-seven he
was chosen Bishop of Grenoble. Pope Gregory VII consecrated him in Rome,
and
inspired in him an ardent zeal for the Church's liberty and the
sanctification of the clergy. He at once undertook to reprove vice and
reform abuses, at that time rampant in his diocese, but found his efforts
without fruit. He resolved therefore, after two years, to resign his
charge,
and retired to the austere abbey of Casa Dei, or Chaise-Dieu, in Auvergne.
There Saint Hugh lived for a year, a perfect model of all virtues in a
monastery filled with saints, until Pope Gregory commanded him, in the
name
of holy obedience, to resume his pastoral charge, saying: "Go to your
flock;
they need you." This time his sanctity effected great good in souls. His
forceful preaching moved crowds and touched hearts; in the confessional he
wept with his penitents, and aroused in them a deeper contrition. After a
few years the face of his diocese had changed. His charity for the poor
led
him to sell even his episcopal ring and his chalice to assist them. During
his episcopate the young Saint Bruno came to him for counsel, and it was
Saint Hugh who assisted him in the foundation of the Carthusian Monastery
in
the mountains of the diocese of Grenoble, whose renown after a thousand
years has not diminished.
Always filled with a profound sense of his own unworthiness, he earnestly
solicited three Popes for leave to resign his bishopric, that he might die
in solitude, but was never able to obtain his request. God was pleased to
purify his soul by a lingering illness before He called him to Himself. He
closed his penitential course on the 1st of April in 1132, two months
before
completing his eightieth year. Miracles attested the sanctity of his
death,
and he was canonized only two years afterwards, by Pope Innocent II.
Reflection. Let us learn from the example of the Saints to shun the tumult
of the world as much as our circumstances will allow, and apply ourselves
to
the exercises of holy solitude, prayer, and pious reading.
Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on
Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea
(Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894); Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de
l'année, by Abbé L. Jaud (Mame: Tours, 1950); Les Petits Bollandistes:
Vies
des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 4.
Spiritual Bouquet: I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will,
but
the Will of Him who sent Me. St. John 6:38
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Litany of Saint Joseph
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us
Christ, graciously hear us
GOD, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us
GOD, the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us
GOD, the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us
HOLY TRINITY, One GOD, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary *pray for us
Saint Joseph*
Illustrious Son of David,*
Light of the Patriarchs*
Spouse of the Mother of GOD*
Chaste Guardian of the Virgin*
Foster-Father of the Son of GOD*
Watchful Defender of Christ*
Head of the Holy Family*
Joseph most just*
Joseph most chaste*
Joseph most prudent*
Joseph most valiant*
Joseph most obedient*
Joseph most faithful*
Mirror of patience*
Lover of poverty*
Model of workmen*
Glory of domestic life*
Guardian of virgins*
Pillar of families*
Solace of the afflicted*
Hope of the sick*
Patron of the dying*
Terror of demons*
Protector of Holy Church*
Lamb of GOD, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Spare us O Lord
Lamb of GOD, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us O Lord
Lamb of GOD, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
- He made him the Lord of His house
- and the ruler of all his possessions.
Let us pray
O GOD, Who in Your unspeakable providence did choose Blessed Joseph
To be the spouse of Your most Holy Mother, grant that as we venerate him
as
Our protector on earth, we may deserve to have him as our intercessor in
heaven,
Who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.
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