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Martyrology - 10th of March
On the morrow we keep the feast of the forty holy martyrs who suffered at Sebaste, in Armenia.
Upon the same 10th day of March, were born into a better life:
At Apamea, in Phrygia, the holy martyrs Caius and Alexander, who were crowned with a glorious martyrdom in the persecution under the Emperors Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Verus, as is written by Appolinaris, Bishop of Hierapolis, in his book against the heretics called Cataphrygians.
In Persia, forty-two holy martyrs, [about the year 375.]
At Corinth, the holy martyrs Codratus, Denis, Cyprian, Anectus, Paul, and Crescens, who were slain with the sword under the President Jason, in the persecution under the Emperors Decius and Valerian.
In Africa, the holy martyr Victor, on whose feast day holy Augustine addressed a discourse to the people.
At Jerusalem, the holy Confessor Macarius, Patriarch of that see, at whose exhortation Constantine and Helen cleansed the holy places, and adorned them with hallowed churches, [about the year 334. There is a letter to him from Constantine preserved by Socrates.]
At Paris, [in the year 580,] holy Drostovseus, Abbot [of the monastery of St. Germain des Prés,] the disciple of blessed Germain, Bishop [of Paris.]
In the monastery of Bobbio, holy Attala, Abbot [of that monastery,] famous for miracles, [in the year 627.]
And elsewhere many other Holy Martyrs, Confessors and Holy virgins.
R. Thanks be to God
Morning Prayer
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Place Yourself in the Presence of God, and adore His holy Name.
Most holy and adorable Trinity, one God in three Persons, I believe that Thou art here present: I adore Thee with the deepest humility, and render to Thee, with my whole heart, the homage which is due to Thy sovereign majesty.
An Act of Faith
O my God, I firmly believe that Thou art one God in three divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; I believe that Thy divine Son became man, and died for our sins, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou hast revealed them, who canst neither deceive nor be deceived.
An Act of Hope
O my God, relying on Thy infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of Thy grace, and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.
An Act of Love
O my God, I love Thee above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because Thou art all-good and worthy of all my love. I love my neighbour as myself for the love of Thee. I forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have injured.
Thank God for All Favours and Offer Yourself to Him.
O my God, I most humbly thank Thee for all the favours Thou hast bestowed upon me up to the present moment. I give Thee thanks from the bottom of my heart that Thou hast created me after Thine own image and likeness, that Thou hast redeemed me by the precious blood of Thy dear Son, and that Thou hast preserved me and brought me safe to the beginning of another day. I offer to Thee, O Lord, my whole being, and in particular all my thoughts, words, actions, and sufferings of this day. I consecrate them all to the glory of Thy name, beseeching Thee that through the infinite merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour they may all find acceptance in Thy sight. May Thy divine love animate them, and may they all tend to Thy greater glory.
Resolve to Avoid Sin and to Practice Virtue.
Adorable Jesus, my Saviour and Master, model of all perfection, I resolve and will endeavour this day to imitate Thy example, to be, like Thee, mild, humble, chaste, zealous, charitable, and resigned. I will redouble my efforts that I may not fall this day into any of those sins which I have heretofore committed (here name any besetting sin), and which I sincerely desire to forsake.
Ask God for the Necessary Graces.
O my God, Thou knowest my poverty and weakness, and that I am unable to do anything good without Thee; deny me not, O God, the help of Thy grace; proportion it to my necessities; give me strength to avoid anything evil which Thou forbiddest, and to practise the good which Thou hast commanded; and enable me to bear patiently all the trials which it may please Thee to send me.
The Lord’s Prayer...
The Hail Mary...
The Apostles’ Creed...
At this point, please go to the relevant text of Fr Hamon’s Meditation. Once I have read and meditated on the text, and its various points . I complete my meditation by saying:
Evening Prayer
Friday in the Second Week: The Holy Winding-sheet
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation
In order to conform ourselves to the spirit of the Church, which tomorrow honours the holy winding- sheet, we will consider: first, how just is the devotion of this precious relic; second, how sanctifying it is. We will then make the resolution: first, often to represent to ourselves the holy winding-sheet, bearing the impression of the wounds of Our Saviour and impregnated with His blood; second, to excite ourselves by this souvenir to the love of Jesus crucified, to horror of sin, to zeal for salvation, and to the virtues which lead to it. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of St Peter: “Christ, therefore having suffered in the flesh, be you also armed with the same thought” (I Pet. iv:1).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore Jesus Christ descended from the cross and wrapped in the winding-sheet which Joseph of Arimathea had bought; let us venerate His sacred body always united to the person of the Word, and therefore always worthy of the supreme worship of latria. Let us unite ourselves with the adoration which was then rendered to Him by the most Holy Virgin.
How just is the devotion to the Holy winding-sheet
This devotion dates from the very era itself of Christianity. The gospel, in fact, shows us several winding- sheets carefully folded by the angels in the tomb (John xx:5). The chief of these winding-sheets, preserved by Nicodemus, passed from his hands to Gamaliel, from Gamaliel to St James, who transmitted it to St Simeon, and it was kept in the church of Jerusalem until the year 1137. Carried away at that date by Guy de Lusignan to Cyprus, it was taken from thence to France in 1450 by the widow of the last of the Lusignans, who made a present of it to the Duchess of Savoy. Since that time the royal house of Savoy has kept it until the present day, an object of veneration to the people. God has made known, by many miracles, how acceptable to Him is this devotion, and the Holy See, obeying the indication given by Heaven, authorised to receive the precious treasure a church which Paul II elevated to the rank of a collegiate church, to which Sixtus IV gave the title of the Holy Chapel, and where Julius II permitted the office of the holy winding-sheet to be said. Encouraged by such authorities, the devotion to the holy winding-sheet increased on every side. St Charles came to oblate his heart in the presence of this venerable relic. Madame de Boissy, before she brought into the world St Francis de Sales, came there to recommend, with abundant tears, the blessed fruit which she bore in her womb. St Francis de Sales himself came to Turin to venerate the holy relic, and could not restrain his tears at the sight of the wounds of the Saviour impressed upon the winding-sheet. This devotion of the Church and of the saints has nothing in it which ought to astonish us; for, if we honour the cross as a memorial of the Passion of the Saviour, if a crucifix painted by a skilful hand excites our devotion, how much more ought it to be excited by the representation of the wounds and sufferings of the Saviour, made not by the hand of man, but by the contact of the very body itself of Jesus Christ!
How sanctifying is the devotion to the Holy winding-sheet
Is it possible indeed for us to represent to ourselves what the holy winding-sheet offers to the eyes of him who contemplates it; that body all bloody, that head crowned with thorns, those feet and those hands pierced with nails, that side opened by the lance, in a word, all the wounds which tore the sacred flesh of the Saviour, from the top of His head down to the soles of His feet, without saying to ourselves: Since my Saviour suffered so much in order to save me, I will not lose the fruit of so many sufferings; since my salvation cost Jesus Christ so dear, I will not lose my soul by refusing to do myself violence infinitely less painful? I will be a saint. At the sight of this holy winding-sheet I detest the sins for which my Saviour shed so much blood, and I embrace the penance which expiates it. Could I be effeminate and sensual after looking at the semblance of this wounded body? Could I shut my heart to the cry which comes forth from the wounds impressed upon this winding- sheet: “God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son” (John iii:16), and not myself cry from the bottom of my heart: “Let us, therefore, love God, because God first hath loved us” (I John iv:19). Oh, what a hard heart we must have not to allow ourselves to be touched by so many sufferings endured for love of us (St Augustine).
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.
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