- Jeremiah 7:23 -
. . . but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God
and you
will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well
with
you.
________________________________________________________________________
"One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons."
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August 15th - Bl. Isidore Bakanja
1887-1909
Isiidore Bakanja worked as an assistant mason for white colonists in what
was
then the Belgian Congo and later known as Zaire. Convert, baptized 6 May
1906 at
age 18 after receiving instruction from Trappists missionaries. Rosary in
hand,
he used any chance to share his faith; though untrained, many thought of
him as
a catechist. He left his native village because there were no fellow
Christians.
He further worked as a domestic on a Belgian rubber plantation. Many of
the
Belgian agents were atheists who hated missionaries due to their fight for
native rights and justice; the agents used the term "mon pere" for anyone
associated with religion. Isidore encountered their hatred when he asked
leave
to go home. The agents refused, and he was ordered to stop teaching fellow
workers how to pray: "You'll have the whole village praying and no one
will
work!" He was told to discard his scapular, and when he didn't, he was
flogged
twice. The second time the agent tore the scapular from Isidore's neck,
had him
pinned to the ground, and then beaten with over 100 blows with a whip of
elephant hide with nails on the end. He was then chained to a single spot
24
hours a day.
When an inspector came to the plantation, Isidore was sent to another
village.
He managed to hide in the forest, then dragged himself to the inspector.
"I saw
a man," wrote the horrified inspector, "come from the forest with his back
torn
apart by deep, festering, malodorous wounds, covered with filth, assaulted
by
flies. He leaned on two sticks in order to get near me - he wasn't
walking; he
was dragging himself". The agent tried to kill "that animal of mon pere",
but
the inspector prevented him. He took Isidore home to heal, but Isidore
knew
better. "If you see my mother, or if you go to the judge, or if you meet a
priest, tell them that I am dying because I am a Christian."
Two missionaries who spent several days with him reported that he devoutly
received the last sacraments. The missionaries urged Isidore to forgive
the
agent; he assured them that he already had. "I shall pray for him. When I
am in
heaven, I shall pray for him very much." After six months of prayer and
suffering, he died, rosary in hand and scapular around his neck.
Born-c.1887 at northeast Republic of the Congo
Died-martyred 15 August 1909
Venerated 2 April 1993 by Pope John Paul II
Beatified 24 April 1994 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized pending; if you have information relevant to the canonization of
Blessed Isidore contact:
Archevêché, B.P. 1064
Mbandaka, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
Saint Quote:
And we ourselves experience this, that when we enter ornate and clean
Basilicas,
adorned with crosses, sacred images, altars, and burning lamps, we most
easily
conceive devotion. But, on the other hand, when we enter the temples of
the
heretics, where there is nothing except a chair for preaching and a wooden
table
for making a meal, we feel ourselves to be entering a profane hall and not
the
house of God.
-St. Robert Bellarmine
Bible Quote
1 The wise men will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients, and will be
occupied in the prophets. 2 He will keep the sayings of renowned men, and
will
enter withal into the subtilties of parables. (Ecclesiasticus 39:1-2)
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This prayer taken from venerable Pope Pius XII's solemn pronunciation of
the
Assumption, "Munificentissimus Deus,".
O most merciful God our Father, Thou hast bestowed on Thy creation a plan
for the salvation all souls that would adore Thee and follow Thy
commandments. By the power of the Holy Ghost, Holiness Incarnate willed
to
be made man and be born of a chaste and sanctified vessel. In Thine
infinite wisdom and purpose of Mind, Thou didst choose our Mother Mary as
that blessed abode, the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant.
For this purpose of Redemption of mankind, we render praise to Thee that
the Mother of God wast kept from every stain of Original Sin, and by this
entirely unique privilege was completely absolved through her Immaculate
Conception. We know in the wonderful harmony and order of those privileges
which Thee, most provident God, hath lavished upon this loving associate
of
our Redeemer, that there are graces which reach such an exalted plane
that,
except for her, nothing created by Thee, other than the human nature of
Jesus Christ, hath ever reached.
By her Immaculate Conception, when her life here had finished, our Blessed
Mother was not subject to the law of remaining in the corruption of the
grave, but instead was given glory in her Divine appointment by her
glorious Assumption into Heaven with Thee, body and soul.
It was fitting that she, who hath kept her virginity intact in childbirth,
should be kept in body free from all corruption, even after death; and she
who hath carried the Creator as a Child at her breast, should dwell in the
Divine tabernacles; and whom you, Father, hath taken to yourself, should
live in the Divine mansions; and who hath seen her Son upon the tree of
the
Cross and had thereby received into her heart the sword of sorrow which
she
had escaped in the act of giving birth to Him, should look upon Him as He
sits at Thy right Hand; and that the Mother of God should possess what
belongs to Thy Divine Son; and that she should be honored by every
creature
as the Mother of Thy Son and as the handmaiden of the Lord.
And so, O God, we joyfully celebrate this wondrous Feast that glories not
only that the perished body of the Blessed Virgin Mary remained incorrupt,
but that she gained a triumph out of death, and by Thy Son she obtained a
Heavenly glorification in her Assumption. As she was assumed to a place
of
honor in Heaven, we desire too for a share of her eternal glory, and
beseech the perpetual intercession of our Blessed Lady that we may praise
Thee without ceasing, and we ask this as we ask all things through Jesus
Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee in the Unity of the Holy
Ghost, one God, forever, and ever. Amen.
Saint Quote
If the world goes against the truth, then Athanasius goes against the
world.
-St. Athanasius
Bible Quote
I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be
afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made
as
grass; And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the
heavens,
and laid the foundations of the earth. (Isaiah 51:12-13)
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Prayer to Our Lady, Assumed into Heaven:
O Virgin Immaculate! Queen of Heaven and earth! Hail to thee O Mother of
God
and our Mother! We profess our faith in thy triumphant Assumption into
Heaven,
where the Angels and Saints acclaimed thee as Queen of all creation. We
join
the heavenly court in praising thee, and give praise to the Holy Trinity,
Who
from the moment of thy Conception raised thee above all creatures, and at
thy
passing drew thee gloriously into Heaven.
O Mother of the servants of God, we beseech that our will and our very
lives be
rendered unto the service of the Lord, so that we may join in union with
the
legions of Heaven, and offer thee our deepest devotion and love.
O Mother of the Afflicted, do thou watch over and intercede for us in our
daily
misfortunes and necessities. Transform our fear of the Judgment into a
lively
hope through thy blessed comfort, so that on that dreadful Day when Christ
will
come to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire, we may be
granted
not the Divine Justice but the Divine Mercy.
O Mediatrix of all graces, as we make our spiritual pilgrimage we look to
thee
as our life, our sweetness, and our hope. After this earthly life, pray
our
souls, full of contrition and penitence, may be delivered unto the blessed
fruit
of thy womb, Jesus; O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Amen.
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