- Psalm 100:4 -
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
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Call upon God, adore, confess,
Petition, plead, and then declare
You are the Lord's, give thanks and bless,
And let Amen confirm the prayer.
- Isaac Watts
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November 14th - St Nicholas Tavelich
Nicholas was the son of a noble and wealthy family of Dalmatia. His
illustrious
parents gave him a good education, and his progress in learning was
marvelous.
But no less marvelous was his progress in virtue.
When Nicholas finished his studies, a bright future smiled upon him.
Everything
the world could give was at his command and awaited his pleasure. However,
he
resolved to quit the world and enter the Order of St. Francis. In spite of
the
great obstacles and the stubborn opposition he met, he received the humble
habit
of St. Francis and made his novitiate with the simplicity and docility of
a
child.
Manual labor, study, power, and mortification were his delight and chief
employment. After he was ordained a priest, his fervor in saying Mass
produced
edification and all were impressed by his sermons.
Due to his great learning and piety, he was sent as a missionary to
Bosnia,
a
most difficult field of labor. Undaunted, Nicholas labored with ardent
zeal
among the heretics. refuting their false doctrines, repaying insult with
blessing, visiting the sick, comforting the afflicted. He gained
innumerable
souls for Christ by his extreme kindness and charity.
Many esteemed him another Christ, while others persecuted him with
relentless
hatred. At heart he loved the latter more, for he desired martyrdom and
thought
they might procure for him the coveted crown. This thought gave him
tremendous
supernatural strength. It increased his charity and zeal, his spirit of
prayer,
meditation and penance. But, after 12 years of tireless labor in Bosnia,
all
opposition died down, and Nicholas was convinced he must seek martyrdom
elsewhere.
He now asked for permission to go to the Holy Land, where so many of his
brethren had already attained the martyr's crown. The permission was
granted
to
him, and he was sent to Jerusalem. Once more he led a hidden life of
prayer,
penance, and study, but more than ever he yearned to die the death of a
martyr,
desiring, like Christ, to be an oblation of love for the salvation of
others.
On November 11, 1391, he entered the Turkish mosque and with the zeal of a
Saint
Paul preached to a vast assembly there. He pleaded with tact and eloquence
that
Christ and His religion be accepted by the Turks in their hearts and
homes.
Before he had finished, he was apprehended and taken to the magistrates.
Questioned as to his faith, Nicholas joyfully professed his belief in the
one
true Church of Christ, defending it against every objection. This incensed
the
court to such an extent that he was knocked to the ground and attacked
with
great fury. Beaten almost to death, he was dragged into a dungeon, chained
hand
and foot, and kept for three days without food or drink.
On the fourth day he was taken out into the street, where he died the
glorious
death of a martyr, slashed to pieces with scimitars. God glorified His
martyr by
miracles, and Pope Leo XIII solemnly confirmed the veneration paid to him
from
time immemorial.
ON ETERNAL GOODS
1. Eternal goods should be treasured above all things. Reflecting on the
permanence of heavenly goods, Blessed Nicholas left everything the world
offered
him and became a poor Franciscan. He followed the admonition of our Lord:
"Lay
not up to yourselves treasures on earth, where the rust and the moth
consume,
and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves
treasures in
heaven, where neither the rust nor the moth consume, and where thieves do
not
break through nor steal" (Matt 6:19-20). -- Which treasures do you seek to
acquire?
2. Eternal goods are not properly evaluated. Most people are bent on
acquiring
tem****al goods, money, possessions, distinctions, honor, and pleasure.
They
put
themselves to much trouble by day and by night to acquire them. How many
there
are who ignore the goods of eternity for the sake of some tem****al
benefit,
a
momentary pleasure! The words of our Lord are directed to them: "I have
sworn in
My wrath! They shall not enter into My rest" (Heb 3:11). -- Which goods
are
you
trying to acquire?
3. Tem****al goods are quite worthless. They are transient and cannot
satisfy
the
heart of man. Solomon reveled in worldly luxury, and in the end he was
forced to
admit: "I was weary of my life when I saw that all things under the sun
are
evil, and all vanity and vexation of spirit" (Eccl 2:17). -- Do you permit
yourself to be dazzled by the things of this world?
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
O God, who didst glorify Thy confessor Blessed Nicholas by spreading the
Gospel
and by the palm of martyrdom, grant in answer to our prayer, that we may
merit
to walk in his footsteps and through his intercession deserve to receive
the
victor's reward of eternal life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
http://www.paxetbonum.net/saints/november.html#14
Saint Quote:
Understanding, knowledge, and wisdom must increase and powerfully grow in
one
and in all, both in each individual man and in the Church, during the
passage of
time and of the ages, but grow solely within its own species, that is to
say,
within the same dogma, in the same sense, and in the same meaning [in
eodem
dogmate, eodem sensu, eademque sententia].
-St. Vincent of Lerins
Bible Quote
3 And Jesus answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying: Is it
lawful
to heal on the sabbath day? 4 But they held their peace. But he taking
him,
healed him, and sent him away. 5 And answering them, he said: Which of you
shall
have an ass or an ox fall into a pit, and will not immediately draw him
out,
on
the sabbath day? 6 And they could not answer him to these things. (Luke
14:3-6)
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Prayer to the Sacred Heart
May all the words that I speak be dipped in the Blood of Thy Sacred Heart,
O
Jesus, that they may be so many arrows to pierce the hearts of all who
hear
them with love for Thee. - Amen.
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A prayer to Holy Mary, Mother of God:
Rejoice Mary, Mother of God, Virgin, full of grace, the Lord is with
thee: blessed art thou among women and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb,
for thou hast borne the Savior of our souls. Meet it is in truth, to
glorify thee, O Birth-giver of God, ever blessed, and all undefiled, the
Mother of our God. More honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare
more glorious than the Seraphim, thou who without stain didst bear God the
Word, true Birth-giver of God, we magnify thee. Amen.
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