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Martyrology -21st February
Upon the 21st day of February, were born into the better life:
In Sicily, under the Emperor Diocletian, [fourth century,] seventy-nine holy martyrs, who through diverse torments won the crown of their confession.
At Adrumetum, [Susa] in Africa, [in fourth century,] the holy martyrs Verulus, Secundinus, Syricius, Felix, Servulus, Saturninus, Fortunatus, and sixteen others, who were crowned with martyrdom for their confession of the Catholic faith in the persecution under the Vandals.
At Bethsan, [about 452,] the holy martyr Severian, Bishop of that see.
At Damascus, [in the year 743,] holy Peter Mavimeno. Some Arabs came to see him while he was ill, and to them he said, "Whoever does not embrace the Catholic Christian religion will be damned, as your false prophet Mohammed is," whereupon they killed him.
At Ravenna, [in the year 556,] the holy Confessor Maximian.
At Metz, [about the year 500,] holy Felix, Bishop of that see.
At Brescia, [in the seventh century,] holy Paterius, [twenty-third] Bishop of that see.
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
Tuesday after Quinquagesima: The Gentleness and Humility of Jesus Christ under Outrage
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation
We will consider tomorrow how the mystery of Jesus outraged in the Eucharist causes to shine forth: first, His humility; second, His meekness; third, the perfection of His recollection. We will then make the resolution: first, to treat everyone today with great meekness and humility; second, in the midst of the general licence to maintain ourselves in a spirit of recollection and prayer. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the invitation of the Psalmist: “Come, let us adore and fall down and weep before the Lord” (Ps. xciv:6).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore Jesus, so humble and so meek, in the Blessed Sacrament, addressing to us, from the altar where He is exposed, His favourite maxim: “I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also” (John xiii:15). Let us thank Him for these good words and for His holy example.
How the mystery of Jesus outraged in the eucharist causes his humility to shine forth
If there had been nothing else than this life hidden during eighteen centuries in the obscurity of the tabernacle, it would have been an act of wonderful humility. What must it not be to have to suffer the being forsaken by men, for the love of whom He is there! The majority abandon Him, some through neglect and indifference, others through contempt, and He spends weeks and months in solitude in this dark prison, submitting to the irreverence, the insults, the profanations, the sacrileges committed by many who come into the church, and that to such an extent as to be trodden under foot by malefactors, who steal away from Him the little vessel in which He reposes. O God of tabernacles, how humble Thou art! How, in presence of so much abasement, could I indulge in pride and self-love, in unreasonableness and susceptibilities? How could I desire to be preferred to others, to be brought into notice, and to be honoured? Oh, rather would I say with David: “I will make myself meaner than I have done, and I will be little in my own eyes” (II Sam. vi:32).
How the mystery of Jesus outraged in the eucharist makes his meekness to shine forth
We offend Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament by voluntary distractions, by irreverence, by giving licence to our eyes and our tongues; by an irreligious deportment, by profanation and sacrilege; and yet amidst so many horrors He is meek and patient; He sees all, and appears as though He did not; He suffers all and is silent. During eighteen centuries He has not allowed us to perceive even one single time that He is displeased; not a movement of impatience, not a sign of ill-temper. He might launch His thunders against the profaners, open hell under their feet; but He loves better to say to us, “Learn of Me because I am meek” (Matt. xi:29). What a marvel of meekness! And, also, what a lesson for me! What a condemnation of my hardness and of my impatience! I cannot bear to be opposed, that others should have their defects, and that they should not be angels! O Jesus so meek, teach me to suffer everything with meekness, without making anyone suffer in any way, to moderate my quickness of temper, my anger, my bitter reproaches.
How the mystery of Jesus outraged in the eucharist makes his love to shine forth
Exterior things, above all those which hurt our self-love or which wound our feelings, preoccupy and distract us to such a point that, being entirely given up to outward things, we do not live either with God, in order to respect His presence and offer to Him our actions, or with ourselves, in order to study our defects, to follow the practices of virtue, and all the movements of our heart. Jesus outraged in the Blessed Sacrament teaches us quite the contrary. He does not allow Himself to be distracted by the contradictions of creatures, by contempt and outrages. Always recollected within, always calm, He prays in peace for the poor sinners who offend Him, and the more they offend Him the more He prays for them, the more He recollects Himself in order to make honourable amends to the Divine Majesty for so many outrages. Is it thus that we keep our interior in a peaceful and recollected state amidst the tumult of exterior things, above all amidst events which wound our self-love?
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.
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