We can learn from the Saints!

[libraun]

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Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

July 26, Memorial for Joachim and Ann, parents of Mary
July 29, Memorial for Martha
July 30, Optional Memorial for Peter Chrysologus, bishop and doctor
July 31, Memorial for Ignatius of Loyola, priest

nice ni sis, tiningob..hehehe dili nalang saint of the day, saints of the week na lang..

[koralstratz]

St. Joachim and St. Anne (parents of Mary mother of Jesus)
(Feast day July 26)



St. Joachim



St. Joachim is regarded as the father of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. Tradition has it that Saint Joachim was a retired priest or holy man.

St. Joachim and his wife St. Anne were in the decline of life when Mary was born. Tradition says that while Joachim was away from home he had a vision that Anne was to be blessed with a child, and that on his return home, his wife ran forth to tell of the visitation of an angel who had revealed to her the same good tidings. There was ancient belief that a child born of an elderly mother who had given up hope of having offspring was destined for some high purpose and would be blessed by all the world. He is believed to have given Mary to the service of the Temple when the girl was three years old.

St. Joachim is mentioned in neither historical or canonical writings, but is still widely revered and is the namesake of many church institutions. The only source of information about St. Joachim is the non-biblical Gospel of James, an apocryphal book that was nonetheless widely read. In the 1500s and 1600s, St. Joachim's image appeared on many European coins including the famous Joachim's Taler, a silver coin made for the Counts of Schlick in Bohemia in about 1520.

In the Catholic tradition, St. Joachim is the Patron Saint of fathers, grandfathers, grandparents, married couples, cabinet makers and linen traders. He is shown in old art forms always as an old man often in the company of his wife Anne, and, it is thought, sometimes with the Virgin Mary and Jesus. The traditional tomb of St. Anne and St. Joachim was rediscovered in Jerusalem in 1889. The saints day for St. Joachim is July 26th, as recorded from the 2nd Vaticanum.

Images of Saint Joachim are often identified by the presence of some of his associated symbols, such as a book or scroll representing linen makers and doves representing peace. On the Order's insignia he is shown with a shepherd's staff, a symbol for the Christian word and an emblem of the good shepherd. His robes are of green, a symbol of hope.


St. Anne



The name 'Anne' derives from Hebrew. 'Hannah' meaning 'grace.

Tradition refers to St. Ann as being the mother of Virgin Mary. Although not written of in the Bible, Ann is given credence in the non-biblical gospel of James.

Saint Ann was born in Bethlehem and married Joachim from Nazareth in Galilee. Joachim was a shepherd given the task of supplying the temple of Jerusalem with sheep for sacrifices.

After twenty years of marriage Ann and Joachim had no children. Once, when Joachim overheard ridicule because of their childless state, he is said to have gone into the desert to plead with God to give them a child. After a time of fasting an angel appeared to assure Joachim he and Ann would be given a child they were to name Mary and dedicate to God.

In the meantime Saint Anne wondered where her husband had gone and in her despair at having been barren she prayed while she watched newborn birds in their nests in her garden. She cried out, "Why was I born, Lord?" That is when angel appeared to tell her she would soon give birth to a daughter she was to name Mary. The story continues with Ann and Joachim's joyous reunion at the golden gate of Jerusalem.

After her birth Ann and Joachim dedicated Mary to God at the temple of Jerusalem and she spent much of her childhood there. When Mary was fourteen they betrothed her to Joseph of Nazareth and so Mary's story continues with the birth of her son, Jesus, and his life on earth.

The life of Saint Ann and her connection as holy mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus was very popular to early Christians. In the year 550 a church was built in honor
of St. Anne in Jerusalem. It is believed to be near where Anne, Joachim and Mary lived.

Since the Seventh Century the Greek and Russian Churches have celebrated feasts honoring St. Joachim and St. Ann. The Western Churches began to celebrate the feast of St. Anne in the Sixteenth Century.
The feast of St. Ann is July 26th (western) or July 25th (eastern calendar). There is no mention of Ann in the New Testament. The story of St. Ann comes chiefly from the Protoevangelium of James which only dated back to the second century.

St. Ann, patron saint of mothers and women in labor and minors, is symbolized by Mary in her lap holding the infant Jesus.

[koralstratz]

“Two criminals were crucified with Christ. One was saved – do not despair.
One was not – do not presume.” (St. Augustine)

[koralstratz]

"Suffering borne in the will quietly and patiently is a continual, very powerful prayer before God."
(St. Jane Frances de Chantal)

[koralstratz]

St. Pantaleon of Nicodemia
(Feast day July 27)



Saint Pantaleon was born in Nicomedia of a pagan father and a Christian mother, who died while her son was still a child. He was among the court physicians of the Emperor Galerius Maximianus. Deceived by hearing the false maxims of the world applauded, he was without religion when God decided to rescue his soul from its unhappy darkness. A zealous and prudent Christian named Hermolaus took special notice of him and awakened his conscience, telling him that although the famous physicians of ancient times had possessed the science which cures bodies, Jesus Christ was a far more excellent Physician, able to cure not only bodies, but souls, by His divine doctrine. Hermolaus succeeded in bringing him into the fold of the Church.

The young Christian strove to procure for his father the same grace he himself had received, and his words had already begun to separate his father from his idols, when one day a blind man, led by friends, came to the door and begged Pantaleon to cure him. His father was present and heard the promise his son made to this man to do so, if he would give to the poor the money he was offering him. The father was amazed and feared that the promise could not be fulfilled. But the young Saint prayed and touched the eyes of the blind man, invoking the name of Jesus Christ, and his eyes were opened. Pantaleon’s father and the blind man were both baptized as a result of this miracle. When Eustorgus, his father, died, Saint Pantaleon liberated all his slaves and, having sold most of his possessions, gave to the liberated ones and others the assistance their poverty required. He cured other illnesses and soon became renowned in Nicomedia.

Saint Pantaleon, being a very sincere penitent, ardently wished to expiate his former idolatry by the martyrdom he could foresee. When a bloody persecution broke out at Nicomedia in 303, the blind man he had cured was beheaded upon refusing to admit that it was the gods who had cured him. Saint Pantaleon, to prepare himself for the imminent combat, distributed all he had left among the poor. Not long after this act of charity he was arrested and subjected to various tortures, during which he was preserved from death. Three other Christians, of whom one was Hermolaus, were apprehended. After suffering many torments, the four confessors were all sentenced to be beheaded.

The relics of Saint Pantaleon were translated to Constantinople, and there received great honor. His blood, conserved in a small vial, is said to liquefy on his feast day and become oxygenated. Charlemagne brought a part of his relics into France, where they are presently divided again, a portion being in the abbey of Saint Denys near Paris, and the head at Lyons. Saint Pantaleon, whose name means the “all-compassionate one,” is the patron of physicians.

[Jake_24]

[Arnold Janssen was born on November 5, 1837 in Goch, a small city in lower Rhineland (Germany). The second of ten children, his parents instilled in him a deep devotion to religion. He was ordained a priest on August 15, 1861 for the diocese of Muenster and was assigned to teach natural sciences and mathematics in a secondary school in Bocholt. There he was known for being a strict but just teacher. Due to his profound devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he was named Diocesan Director for the Apostleship of Prayer. This apostolate encouraged Arnold to open himself to Christians of other denominations.
Little by little he became more aware of the spiritual needs of people beyond the limits of his own diocese, developing a deep concern for the universal mission of the church. He decided to dedicate his life to awaking in the German church its missionary responsibility. With this in mind, in 1873 he resigned from his teaching post and soon after founded The Little Messenger of the Sacred Heart. This popular monthly magazine presented news of missionary activities and it encouraged German-speaking Catholics to do more to help the missions.
These were difficult times for the Catholic Church in Germany. Bismark unleashed the “Kulturkampf» with a series of anti-Catholic laws, which led to the expulsion of priests and religious and to the imprisonment of many bishops. In this chaotic situation Arnold Janssen proposed that some of the expelled priests could go to the foreign missions or at least help in the preparation of missionaries. Slowly but surely, and with a little prodding from the Apostolic Vicar of Hong Kong, Arnold discovered that God was calling him to undertake this difficult task. Many people said that he was not the right man for the job, or that the times were not right for such a project. Arnold's answer was, “The Lord challenges our faith to do something new, precisely when so many things are collapsing in the Church.”
With the support of a number of bishops, Arnold inaugurated the mission house on September 8, 1875 in Steyl, Holland, and thus began the Divine Word Missionaries. Already on March 2, 1879 the first two missionaries set out for China. One of these was Joseph Freinademetz.
Aware of the importance of publications for attracting vocations and funding, Arnold started a printing press just four months after the inauguration of the house. Thousands of generous lay persons contributed their time and effort to mission animation in German-speaking countries by helping to distribute the magazines from Steyl. From the beginning the new congregation developed as a community of both priests and Brothers.
The volunteers at the mission house included women as well as men. From practically the very beginning, a group of women, including Blessed Maria Helena Stollenwerk, served the community. But their wish was to serve the mission as Religious Sisters. The faithful, selfless service they freely offered, and a recognition of the important role women could play in missionary outreach, urged Arnold to found the mission congregation of the “Servants of the Holy Spirit,” SSpS, on December 8, 1889. The first Sisters left for Argentina in 1895.
In 1896 Fr. Arnold selected some of the Sisters to form a cloistered branch, to be known as “Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration”, SSpSAP. Their service to mission would be to maintain an uninterrupted adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, praying day and night for the church and especially for the other two active missionary congregations.
Arnold died on January 15, 1909. His life was filled with a constant search for God's will, a great confidence in divine providence, and hard work. That his work has been blessed is evident in the subsequent growth of the communities he founded: more than 6,000 Divine Word Missionaries are active in 63 countries, more than 3,800 missionary Servants of the Holy Spirit, and more than 400 Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration.

"May the Holy Triune God live and reign in our hearts"

[B]"May the darkness of sin and night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the spirit of grace, and may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all. Amen"

[petite fleur]

July 27. Today is the Memorial of Blessed Titus Brandsma, O.Carm. Carmelite,Priest & Martyr

"The person who wants to win the world for Christ…
…must have the courage to come in conflict with it."

‎"Do not yield to hatred. We are here in a dark tunnel but we have to go on. At the end, an eternal light is shining for us."

Pray for us.

[ad_dur]

Nice find ...

[THE KID]

[petite fleur]

St. Francis na? Brother sun sister moon?? St. Francis mana!