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Martyrology -16th February
Upon the 16th day of February, were born into the better life:
Blessed Onesimus, of whom the holy Apostle Paul writeth unto Philemon, and whom also he ordained Bishop of Ephesus after holy Timothy, and committed unto him the preaching of the Word. In the end he was brought to Rome in chains, and there stoned to death for Christ's faith's sake. His body was first buried there, but was thence taken to the place where he had been ordained bishop.
On the same day is commemorated at Camee in Campania the translation of the holy Virgin and martyr Juliana.
At Nicomedia, under the Emperor Maximian, she was cruelly beaten by her own father Africanus, then put to diverse torments by the Prefect Evilasius, whom she refused to marry, and afterwards cast into prison, where she fought visibly with the devil she overcame fire and boiling water, and at length finished her martyrdom by being beheaded, [in the year 299.]
In Egypt, the holy martyr Julian, and five thousand others, [in the year 309.]
At Caesarea, in Palestine, the holy Egyptian martyrs Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Samuel, and Daniel. They went of their own accord to Cilicia to minister to the Confessors who had been condemned to penal servitude in the mines; when they were returning thence, they were apprehended, and most cruelly tortured by the President Firmilian under the Emperor Galerius Maximian, and in the end were beheaded, [in the year 309.]
After whom holy Porphyry, the servant of the martyr Pamphilus, and holy Seleucus the Cappadocian, who had oftentimes contended and always been conquerors, were put to the torture again, and [in the year 309] received their crowns Porphyry by fire, and Seleucus by the sword.
At Arezzo, in Tuscany, [in the year 1276,] the blessed Pope Gregory X he was a man of Piacenza, and was raised to the Supreme Pontificate from the arch-deaconry [of Liege.]
He held the Second Council of Lyon, received the Greeks into the unity of the faith, healed the dissensions of Christendom, set forward the recovery of the Holy Land, and governed the Church in holiness.
At Brescia, [in the year 350,] the holy Confessor Faustinus, 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
Thursday after Sexagesima: The Means of Profiting by the Word of God
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation
We will meditate tomorrow on the means for profiting by the word of God, and we shall see: first, that we must listen to it with faith; second, we must make the application of it to ourselves; third, we must deduce practical resolutions from it. We will then make the resolution: first, at each instruction or at each reading to represent to ourselves God Himself who instructs us and to apply what He says to ourselves; second, to draw from each instruction or reading practical resolutions for the reformation of our life. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the advice of St James: “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only: deceiving your own selves” (James i:22).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore Our Saviour Jesus Christ teaching His apostles the science of salvation; let us admire the faith and silence with which they listened to their adorable Master, and how they applied to themselves the words He said and put them in practice. Let us ask for a share in their dispositions and their graces, in order that we may rightly profit by the word of God.
We must listen with faith to the word of God
Too often we listen to the divine word as though it were the word of man, as though it were a secular discourse, through curiosity, to appreciate the merit of it, or with carelessness as though it were something indifferent. This is an error which results in fatal consequences. At the sound of this holy word we must say to ourselves: It is not a man, it is God who speaks to me, the same God who will one day be my Judge. The day will come when He will ask an account from me of all that I hear. His word never returns to Him empty; it either bears fruits of benediction, if we profit by it, or fruits of condemnation, if we leave it sterile. It is God who speaks to me, God with His sovereign authority. I ought then to listen to Him religiously, with perfect docility of mind and of heart, without permitting myself to find anything in it to censure, without prejudice, or rather sacrificing to it all my prejudices, if anything of the kind should present itself to my mind. It is God who speaks to me, and who speaks to me for my good, to teach me the way to heaven and urge me to walk in it (Luke i:77). I ought, therefore, to listen with this design in view: to seek nothing in the divine word but the means of becoming better, and to pray to God to enlighten me, to touch me, to make me put in practice His holy counsels (I Sam. iii:9). Is it thus that I listen to the word of God? Do I see in him who announces it to me the God whom he represents, without paying attention to what is human in him, his style, his gestures, his voice, the whole of his exterior? Do I listen to him as though God Himself were there and had come down from heaven to instruct me?
We must apply the word of God to ourselves
The word which we do not apply to ourselves is like the arrow which flies above the head of the enemy without touching him; it is the seed carried away by the wind, which, not sinking into the earth, cannot germinate there, or produce fruit. This is why so many sermons and readings have been useless to me. I have said to myself: “This applies excellently well to such and such a person,” and scarcely ever have I said to myself: “This applies exactly to me. This is indeed the faithful portrait of my conscience, of my character, of the state of my soul.” If, instead of reasoning thus, I had, seriously reflecting upon myself, opened the door of my heart to the divine word, it would have revealed to me, through the many foldings of my soul, hidden passions, secret attachments, and the voluntary imperfections which exist in me. For the word of God, says St Paul, is living and efficacious; more penetrating than a two-edged sword, it pierces the very marrow of the heart, dividing the soul and spirit, that it may discern its hidden miseries (Heb. iv:12). Let us examine whether we are faithful in applying to ourselves the lessons that we hear and our readings of the holy word.
From all the instructions we receive we must draw practical lessons tending to the reformation of our life
“Be ye doers of the word” says St James, “and not hearers only: deceiving your own selves” (James i:22); it would be to imitate the man who looks for a moment at his face in a faithful mirror, then goes away and forgets it (Ibid. 24). Of what use is it to see our miseries in the faithful mirror of the divine word, if, forgetting what we have seen, we do nothing to correct ourselves and take no resolution tended to render us better? We profit by the divine word only so far as we have patience to reform ourselves and to conquer ourselves, like those of whom it is said that they bring forth fruit by dint of patience (Luke viii:15). Can that be said of us? Let us examine our conscience and correct ourselves.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.
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