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Martyrology -13th February
Upon the same 13th day of February, were born into the better life:
At Antioch, the holy prophet Agabus, [first century,] of whom blessed Luke writeth in the Acts of the Apostles.
At Ravenna, the holy women the Virgin Fusca, and Maura her fostermother, who after suffering many things under the President Quinctian, by order of the Emperor Decius were run through with the sword, and so finished their testimony, [third century.]
At Melitina, in Armenia, the holy martyr Polyeuctus, who suffered many things in the persecution under the Emperor Decius, and received the crown of martyrdom, [in the year 259.]
At Lyon, the holy martyr Julian.
At Todi, [under Diocletian,] the holy martyr Benignus.
At Rome, [in the year 731,] the holy Pope Gregory II, who sharply withstood the ungodliness of the Emperor Leo the Isaurian, and who sent holy Boniface into Germany to preach the Gospel there.
At Angers, holy Lucinius, Bishop of that city, a man of reverend holiness.
At Lyon, [about the year 512,] the holy Confessor Stephen, Bishop of that see.
At Riete, [sixth century,] the holy Abbot Stephen, a man of wonderful patience, at whose passing away the presence of the holy angels, as is stated by blessed Pope Gregory, was visible.
At Prati, in Tuscany, Catherine de Ricci, a Virgin of Florence, of the Order of Preachers, illustrious in the number of her heavenly gifts, whom Pope Benedict XIV added to the roll of Holy Virgins. She died full of graces and merit on the 2nd of February, but her Feast is celebrated today.
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 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.
Ask the Prayers of the Blessed Virgin, your Guardian Angel, and your Patron Saint.
I complete my meditation by saying:
Holy Virgin, Mother of God, my Mother and Patroness, I place myself under thy protection, I throw myself with confidence into the arms of thy compassion. Be to me, O Mother of mercy, my refuge in distress, my consolation under suffering, my advocate with thy adorable Son, now and at the hour of my death.
Angel of God, my guardian dear, To whom His love commits me here, Ever this day be at my side, To light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.
O great Saint whose name I bear, protect me, pray for me, that like thee I may serve God faithfully on earth, and glorify Him eternally with thee in heaven. Amen.
Litany of the Most Holy Name of Jesus
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus, hear us.
Jesus, 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, ... Jesus, Son of the living God, ... Jesus, splendour of the Father, ... Jesus, brightness of eternal light, ... Jesus, king of glory, ... Jesus, sun of justice, ... Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary, ... Jesus, most amiable, ... Jesus, most admirable, ... Jesus, mighty God, ... Jesus, father of the world to come, ... Jesus, angel of great council, ... Jesus, most powerful, ... Jesus, most patient, ... Jesus, most obedient, ... Jesus, meek and humble of heart, ... Jesus, lover of chastity ... Jesus, lover of us, ... Jesus, God of peace, ... Jesus, author of life, ... Jesus, model of virtues, ... Jesus, zealous for souls, ... Jesus, our God, ... Jesus, our refuge, ... Jesus, father of the poor, ... Jesus, treasure of the faithful, ... Jesus, good shepherd, ... Jesus, true light, ... Jesus, eternal wisdom, ... Jesus, infinite goodness, ... Jesus, our way and our life, ... Jesus, joy of angels, ... Jesus, king of patriarchs, ... Jesus, master of apostles, ... Jesus, teacher of evangelists, ... Jesus, strength of martyrs, ... Jesus, light of confessors, ... Jesus, purity of virgins, ... Jesus, crown of all saints, ...
Be merciful, Spare us, O Jesus. Be merciful, graciously hear us, O Jesus.
From all evil, Jesus, deliver us. From all sin, Jesus, deliver us. From Thy wrath, ... From the snares of the devil, ... From the spirit of fornication, ... From everlasting death, ... From the neglect of Thy inspirations, ... Through the mystery of Thy holy incarnation, ... Through Thy nativity, ... Through Thine infancy, ... Through Thy most divine life, ... Through Thy labours, ... Through Thine agony and passion, ... Through Thy cross and dereliction, ...Through Thy faintness and weariness, ... Through Thy death and burial, ... Through Thy resurrection, ... Through Thine ascension, ... Through Thy joys, ... Through Thy glory, ...
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Jesus. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Jesus.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us, O Jesus.
Jesus, hear us. Jesus, graciously hear us.
Let us pray.
O Lord Jesus Christ, who hast said: Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; grant, we beseech Thee, unto us who ask, the gift of Thy most divine love, that we may ever love Thee with all our hearts, and in all our words and actions, and never cease from showing forth Thy praise. Make us, O Lord, to have a perpetual fear and love of Thy holy Name; for Thou never failest to govern those whom Thou dost solidly establish in Thy love. Who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.
The Angelus
℣ The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
℟ And she conceived of the Holy Ghost.
Hail, Mary...
℣ Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
℟ Be it done unto me according to thy word.
Hail, Mary...
℣ And the Word was made flesh.
℟ And dwelt among us.
Hail, Mary...
℣ Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
℟ That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord! Thy grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may, by His passion and Cross, be brought to the glory of His resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Evening Prayer
Fr Hamon's Meditations - Monday after Sexagesima: Obstacles to the Word of God
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation
We will meditate tomorrow upon three obstacles which prevent the word of God from producing fruit in the soul. Our Lord has pointed them out to us in the three kinds of ground where the seed falls. The first obstacle is worldliness, figured by the beaten road, open to all passers-by; the second is cowardice, figured by the inert, stony ground, which does not allow vegetation to take root; the third is attachments, figured by the stones which cover the earth. We will then make the resolution: first, throughout the day to preserve a spirit of more than ordinary recollection, in order to profit by the good sentiments which the Spirit of God may suggest to us; second, not to refuse any sacrifice to grace. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of the Apostle: “The earth that drinketh in the rain which cometh often upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is tilled, receiveth blessing from God; but that which bringeth forth thorns and briars is reprobate, and very near unto a curse” (Heb. vi:7–8).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us render to Jesus Christ our homage of adoration, of praise, and of thanksgiving for His goodness in pointing out the obstacles calculated to render His divine word sterile in us. Oh, how precious is this lesson! May we understand it well, and profit abundantly by it.
The first obstacle to the word of God is worldliness
The soul which is worldly is indeed the beaten road, open to all passers-by, where all the world comes and goes, passes and repasses, treading under foot the divine seed which is afterwards devoured by the birds of heaven (Luke viii:5). Traversed in every direction by a thousand vain and useless thoughts, full of the world and its affairs, but empty of the interior spirit of recollection and union with God, the poor soul is always occupied with what is passing around it, and hardly ever occupied with itself. The past, the present, the future, all absorb it; and in this deplorable state there is no means of preventing the divine seed from being on the one side trodden under foot by all the vain thoughts which ceaselessly pass and repass, and on the other from being carried away by the birds of heaven, that is to say, the vain imaginations which also traverse the atmosphere. Such a soul may still make laudable resolutions to pray, to read spiritual books, and that will be the word of God ready to take root; but it will not watch over itself; ideas from without will arrive and will cast themselves upon the seed; it will be recollected no longer, worldliness will soon have ruined everything. Is not this our history?
The second obstacle to the word of God is cowardice
Another portion of the seed, said Jesus Christ, falls upon stony ground, germinates at first without difficulty, but meeting with stones, dries up and dies (Luke viii:6). By this is meant, said the Saviour, those who receive the divine word without repugnance and even with joy, who love to hear about God and religion, to read pious books, but who on being exposed to the trial of a sacrifice or of a difficulty lose courage and withdraw (Ibid. 13). Cowardice in the service of God, this then is the stone which is at the bottom of the heart, which dries up the divine grain, and prevents it from growing. As long as there is no sacrifice to make, all is well, the grain germinates and springs up in good sentiments and holy affections; but as soon as a difficulty to be surmounted presents itself, a temptation to be vanquished, a sacrifice to be made, there is a stoppage. The stone is there: it is cowardice; the seed cannot penetrate it, it dries up and dies. The soul desires to love God, but on condition that it costs nothing; it desires indeed to be saved, but without doing any violence to itself. It admires the saints, but without imitating them; it has not the courage to do so; the stone is there: it is cowardice. It reads indeed in the gospel that it must renounce itself and take up the cross; but these words hardly touch its surface, and it does neither less nor more, because the stone is below, which hinders them from sinking into it: it is cowardice. Oh, who will remove this stone (Mark xvi:3) that the new man may come forth and that the word may fructify.
The third obstacle to the word of God is attachments
This is what Jesus Christ points out to us by the thorns and briars which stifle the seed (Luke viii:7). The earth is good in itself, for the abundance of briars proves the fertility of the soil; there is a certain amount of courage and energy in the soul; it welcomes the virtues recommended by the divine word and decides to practise them; but in the midst of these good resolutions it allows to grow and be rooted in it certain attachments which it will not break off; attachments to a comfortable and sensual life, to pleasure, to money, to glory, to reputation, to its own will, to its character, to its own opinion and its own views. All these attachments grow and are developed, they cover the good resolutions which have been made, stifle them in the bud, and thus render the divine word sterile at the very moment when it was about to form itself into ears of corn. Is not this our history?
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.
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