SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ JANUARY 5, 2024
Greetings beloved family and Happy Friday, Weekday of Christmas season!
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Today’s Bible Readings: Friday January 5, 2024
Reading 1, First John 3:11-21
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 100:1-2, 3, 4, 5
Gospel, John 1:43-51
DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF JANUARY – MONTH OF THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS: The month of January is traditionally dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus. After the Blessed Virgin Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit, the Angel Gabriel appeared to St. Joseph and told him that the Child’s name should be called Jesus, meaning “God Saves.” According to Jewish law, on the 8th day after his birth a male child was to be circumcised, receive his name, and become a full member of God’s covenant people. According to the old Roman liturgical calendar, the Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus was celebrated on January 1st, eight days after Christmas, the same day that He was given His sacred name. Currently we celebrate the Solemnity of the Mother of God on January 1st and honor the Holy Name of Jesus on January 3rd. For Catholics, Jesus’ sacred name is the object of a special devotion symbolized by the monogram “IHS,” (sometimes called a Christogram), which is the first three letters of the Greek spelling of His name.
On this feast day, we continue to remember our beloved late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on the first memorial anniversary of his death. We pray for the repose of his gentle soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, may the Lord receive them into the light of Eternal Kingdom. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May the gentle soul of Pope Benedict XVI and souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in perfect peace with our Lord Jesus Christ… Amen 🙏 ✝️🕯✝️🕯✝️🕯
Please let us continue to pray for peace all over the world, particularly in the Middle East, for an end to the current war in Israel-Palestine, and the Ukraine-Russia conflicts and for peace in our families and throughout our divided and conflicted World. Amen 🙏
PRAYER FOR THE DEAD: In your hands, O Lord, we humbly entrust our brothers and sisters. In this life, you embraced them with your tender love; deliver them now from every evil, and bid them eternal rest. The old order has passed away: welcome them into paradise, where there will be no sorrow, no weeping or pain, but fullness of peace and joy with your Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen🙏
A PRAYER FOR PEACE: Lord Jesus Christ, You are the true King of peace. In You alone is found freedom. Please free our world from conflict. Bring unity to troubled nations. Let Your glorious peace reign in every heart. Dispel all darkness and evil. Protect the dignity of every human life. Replace hatred with Your love. Give wisdom to world leaders. Free them from selfish ambition. Eliminate all violence and war. Glorious Virgin Mary, Saint Michael the Archangel, Every Angel and Saint: Please pray for peace. Pray for unity amongst nations. Pray for unity amongst all people. Pray for the most vulnerable. Pray for those suffering. Pray for the fearful. Pray for those most in need. Pray for us all. Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on us. Jesus, hear our prayers. Jesus, I trust in You! Amen 🙏
Prayers for Peace | https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/prayers-for-peace/
Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint John Neumann, Bishop; Saint Simeon Stylites, Hermit and Saint Telesphorus, Pope, Martyr.
SAINT JOHN NEUMANN, BISHOP: St. John Nepomucene Neumann (1811-1860) was born on March 28, 1811, in Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. His parents were Philip, a stocking knitter and his wife, Agnes Neumann in the village of Prachatitz in Bohemia. The third of six children, he had four sisters and a brother. From his mother he acquired the spirit of piety and through her encouragement entered the Seminary at Budweis after college.When the day came for his ordination to the priesthood, his bishop fell ill and couldn’t proceed with the ceremony. However, because Bohemia had an over-abundance of priests at the time, John’s ordination was never rescheduled. Undeterred in pursuing his priestly vocation, St. John decided to go to America to seek ordination. Since he had been reading about missionary activities in the United States, St. John decided to go to the United States in 1836 as a missionary priest to serve America’s European immigrant population. He walked most of the way to France and then boarded a ship to New York. St. John arrived in Manhattan on June 9, 1836, where he was gladly welcomed by Bishop John Dubois, who at that time had only 36 priests for the 200,000 Catholics living in the state of New York and part of New Jersey. Just 16 days after his arrival, St. John was ordained a priest in New York in 1836 by Bishop Dubois and sent to Buffalo.
Father John established himself in a small log parish house. He hardly ever lit a fire and often lived on only bread and water. On January 16, 1842, St. John joined the Redemptorist order and made his profession as a Redemptorist, the first to do so in America. He continued his missionary work and labored in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. In 1852, he was consecrated Bishop of Philadelphia. St. John Neumann as bishop left his impact on the United States by building a vast number of churches, schools, hospitals, and orphanages. The number of parochial school students greatly increased in his diocese and the erection of many parishes, especially national parishes for the numerous immigrants. St. Neumann built 50 churches and began the construction of a cathedral. He opened almost 100 schools, and the number of parochial school students grew from 500 to 9,000. St. John Neumann had a strong effect on the religious life of the laity in the United States, especially in his promotion of devotion to the Holy Eucharist. He was also the first Bishop of the United States to prescribe the Forty Hours Devotion in his diocese. He founded the first church in America for Italian-speaking people. He also founded the Glen Riddle group of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis. At 48 years of age, completely exhausted from all his apostolic endeavors, he collapsed in the street on January 5, 1860. He is buried beneath the altar of the lower Church in St. Peter the Apostle Church in Philadelphia. He became the first American bishop to be beatified. St. Neumann was canonized by Pope Paul VI on June 19, 1977. He is famous for knowing twelve languages and for being the first American man and American bishop to be canonized. He is the Patron Saint of Catholic Education. His feast day is January 5th.
PRAYER: Almighty God, You called St. John Neumann to a life of service, zeal, and compassion in guiding Your people in the new world. By his prayers enable us to build up the community of the Church through our dedication to the Christians education of youthu and through our witness of brotherly love. Amen.🙏
SAINT SIMEON STYLITES, HERMIT: St. Simeon Stylites, also called Simeon the Elder, (390-459) was a Syrian Christian hermit who was the first known stylite, or pillar hermit. He was called Simeon the Elder to distinguish him from several other stylites also named Simeon. He was a son of a shepherd, born in 390 in Sisan, Cilicia, near modern Aleppo, Syria. During winter in about the year 401, as a shepherd boy, who could not lead his sheep to the fields on account of the cold, he went to the church instead and listened to the eight Beatitudes, which were read that morning. He asked how these blessings were to be obtained, and then, when he was told of the monastic life, a thirst for perfection arose within him. He became the wonder of the world, the great Saint Simeon Stylites, given by God in spectacle to Angels and men. St. Simeon entered a monastic community but was expelled because of his excessive austerities and became a hermit. His reputed miracle-working generated popular veneration to such a degree that, to escape the importunities of the people, he began his pillar life northwest of Aleppo about 420. His first column was 2 metres (6 feet) high, later extended to about 15 metres (50 feet), and the platform is said to have been about 1 square metre (about 11 square feet).
He remained atop the column for 37 years, permanently exposed to the elements, standing or sitting day and night in his restricted area, protected from falling by a railing, and provided with a ladder to communicate with those below or to receive meagre gifts of food from disciples. Visitors sought spiritual counsel, relief from sickness, intervention for the oppressed, enlightenment in prayer and doctrine. Simeon apparently converted many people, the words which God put into his mouth brought crowds of pagans to Baptism and sinners to penance and he influenced the Eastern Roman emperor Leo I to support the orthodox Chalcedonian party during the 5th-century controversy over the nature of Christ. At last, he died on September 2, 459, Telanissus, Syria. When he died, those who watched from below noticed that he had been motionless for three whole days. They ascended, and found the old man’s body still bent in the attitude of prayer; but his soul was with God. His pillar became a pilgrimage site, and Simeon’s reputation inspired ascetics, both men and women, to emulate and surpass his austerities; some stylites appeared as late as the 19th century in Russia.
Saint Simeon Stylites, Hermit ~ Pray for us 🙏
SAINT TELESPHORUS, POPE AND MARTYR: St. Telesphorus, who governed the Church from 126 to 136 during a period of violent persecution, suffered martyrdom for the faith. Saint Telesphorus was of Greek ancestry and born in Terranova da Sibari, Calabria, Italy. St. Telesphorus was the seventh Roman bishop in succession from the Apostles, and, according to the testimony of St. Irenæus he suffered a glorious martyrdom. In the fragment of the letter of Irenæus of Lyons to Pope Victor concerning the celebration of Easter, St. Telesphorus is mentioned as one of the Roman bishops who always celebrated Easter on Sunday but maintained church fellowship with those communities that did not follow this custom.
He started the tradition of Christmas Midnight Masses, the celebration of Easter on Sundays, the keeping of a seven-week Lent before Easter and the singing of the Gloria, all these are usually attributed to his pontificate, but some historians doubt that such attributions are accurate. Some legends say he was a hermit before his election, and that he instituted the tradition of Lent, but these are doubtful. He is the only 2nd-century pope whose martyrdom can be verified. According to St. Irenaeus, he was “an illustrious martyr”. His remains are interred in the Vatican. The Carmelites venerate Telesphorus as a patron saint of the order since some sources depict him as a hermit living on Mount Carmel. The town of Saint-Télesphore, in the southwestern part of Canada’s Quebec province, is named after him.
Saint Telesphorus, Pope and Martyr ~ Pray for us 🙏
Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints, on this feast day, we humbly pray and thank God for blessing us all with the gift of His precious son, may we be saved by the name of our Savior Jesus Christ! We pray for the safety and well-being of all our children, school children, teachers and other school staff as they return to school this new year after the Christmas holiday. We pray for peace, love and unity in our marriages, our families and our world today, as we face these incredibly challenging times. We pray for God’s deliverance from impossible causes or situations. We pray for the sick and dying, especially sick children, those who are mentally and physically ill, strokes, heart diseases, and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for an end to wars, political and religious unrest. We pray for torture victims, the poor, the needy and the most vulnerable in our communities and around the world. We pray for the souls in Purgatory and the repose of the souls of the faithful departed and for all widows and widowers. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Bishops, the Clergy and all those who preach the Gospel. We pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted christians, for all the innocent who suffer violence due to political or religious unrest, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world… Amen🙏
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:
Bible Readings for today: Memorial of Saint John Neumann, Bishop | USCCB |
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010524.cfm
Gospel Reading ~ John 1:43-51
“You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel”
“Jesus decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” And he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Our Gospel reading today, describes something of Nathanael’s faith journey. He starts from a position of scepticism. When Philip tells him that he has found the Messiah and that he is Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth, Nathanael’s initial assessment of Jesus was rather negative, and he dismissively asks ‘Can anything good come from Nazareth?’ However, when Philip subsequently invites him to ‘come and see’, Nathanael suspends his scepticism for the moment and responds to Philip’s invitation; he comes to Jesus. When Jesus then addresses him in a very personal way, Nathanael goes on to confess Jesus as the Messiah, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel’. Like Philip, he too has found the Messiah. However, Jesus then tells Nathanael that he has only begun to see, and promises him, ‘you will see greater things’. His journey is only beginning. Nathanael began his journey in a very inauspicious place, but he soon made progress and Jesus assured him that he would make greater progress. We can sometimes feel that our own relationship with the Lord is not all we would like it to be; we can feel ourselves in an inauspicious place with regard to the Lord. However, such a place need not determine our future relationship with the Lord. With the Lord’s help, we can make unexpected progress, like Nathanael, and, like him, we journey onwards sustained by the Lord’s promise, ‘You will see greater things… you will see heaven opened’. This promise will only come to pass fully in eternity when we will truly see heaven opened, but even now we can begin to see and to experience something of that heavenly destiny that the Lord desires for us all.
In our first reading today, from the Epistle of St. John the Apostle to the faithful people of God in which the Apostle exhorted and reminded all the people of God of their obligation to love and to practice love in their lives, so that they can indeed show that they belong to Christ, and are worthy to call themselves as Christians. If Christians do not practice love and instead cause hurt and harm to each other, then they are no better than hypocrites and unbelievers. St. John told the people of God not to follow the example of Cain who killed his brother out of jealousy, as a reminder that as Christians, all of us are brothers and sisters to one another, and we cannot look upon others with hatred or mischief in our hearts and minds, or else, we cannot call ourselves as Christians or followers and disciples of Christ. The Lord Himself has shown us the perfect and pure love that He has always had for us. By His coming into this world He has shown us the love of God manifested through Himself, His actions and works in our midst. He touched us and healed us, as He has shown us by His healing of all those who were sick and brought to Him, and even those who died, He had raised from the dead. Through the most generous and enduring love of God, Christ has also shown us the most perfect and ultimate love as He bore His Cross, taking up all of our sins and wickedness, our faults and troubles, all upon His own shoulders, and bore it all up to Calvary. He chose to suffer and die for us to show us that we are truly beloved by God, from the very beginning, and that love endures even through our many sins and wickedness.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are called to keep in mind that as the followers and disciples of the Lord, we must always be righteous and just, loving and compassionate just as Our Lord Himself has shown and taught us all how we ought to love, loving both God and one another with genuine and tender love. We have to be filled with love because to be Christians is indeed to love, both of God and one another, just as much as we love ourselves. Without love we cannot truly call ourselves as Christians, or as disciples and followers of the Lord, because the Lord’s actions, everything that He has done for us, all of them were done because of His ever enduring and great love for each one of us. May the Lord our God continue to guide us with His love and kindness, and keep on blessing us and helping us to get ever closer to Him, with each and every passing days. May He continue to love us and to strengthen us in our journey of life, that we may persevere and grow ever more resilient and more courageous in standing up for our faith in our every moments of life. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and bless our every efforts and endeavours, now and always, forevermore. Amen🙏
Let us pray:
Lord of all holiness, please continuously draw me closer to You. Help me to convert in my life, to turn from all sin and to choose to follow You with all my heart. Help me, also, to be open in my faith journey so that others will see all that You are doing in me and receive Your invitation, through me, to follow You. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen 🙏
Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Blessed Mother Mary and Saint John Neumann; Saint Simeon Stylites and Saint Telesphorus ~ Pray for us 🙏
Thanking God for the gift of this new year and praying for justice, peace, love and unity in our families and our world and for God’s Divine Mercy and Grace upon us all. Journey mercies for all those traveling during this Christmas season and new year. Wishing all of us a most blessed, safe, healthy, prosperous and grace-filled New Year! Amen🙏
Blessings and love always, Philomena💖
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