July 16th, 2021 - Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Santa Rosa) “I want Jesus to be your intimate friend, to
whom you may entrust your heart, tired and filled
with sorrow… Oh how your life would be transformed
if you went to him often as to a friend! … You
can’t imagine how much I’ve prayed for you and
for all your concerns, that they may turn out for
the best…. I’ve especially entrusted you to the
Most Holy Virgin. I trust that she will hear me,
protecting you at every moment.”
~ St. Teresa of the Andes
July 14th, 2021 - Feast of St. Katerina Tekakwitha (Santa Rosa) “O inaccessible Beauty of God most high,
purest Clarity of the Eternal Light, Life
imparting life to every life, Light imparting
light to every light, keeping in eternal
brilliance a thousand times a thousand lamps
that brightly shine ever since the primeval
dawn! O eternal and inaccessible, clear and
sweet Stream from the Fountain invisible to
all mortal eyes: your depth knows no bottom,
your width knows no shore, your vastness no
bounds, your clearness no taint!”
~ St. Bonaventure
July 13th, 2021 - Feast of St. Henry (Santa Rosa) “Let’s not put off any longer our move
into this holy dwelling of self-knowledge.
We so need this, and it is so pleasant for
us—because, as I have said, God’s boundless
infinite goodness is there. This then is the
weapon I want us to take up….
I’ll say no more. Keep living in God’s holy
and tender love. Gentle Jesus! Jesus!”
~ St. Catherine of Siena
July 7th, 2021 - 14th Wednesday of Ordinary Time (Santa Rosa) “May those who will read this letter of
mine learn the happy lesson of fleeing from
evil and always following what is good, right
from their childhood. Think of religion, with
its precepts, not as something you can do
without; rather, it is true consolation, the
only safe path in all circumstances—even the
most sorrowful ones in our lives. Pax et Bonum!”
~ Alessandro Serenelli, who murdered St. Maria Goretti,
“spiritual testament”; found in a sealed envelope
when he died.
July 4th, 2021 - 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Santa Rosa) “Three times I have asked the Lord to
deliver me from this, but he has answered me,
"My grace is sufficient for you, because my
power is made perfect in weakness”
~ 2 Cor 12
July 3rd, 2021 - Saturday of the Blessed Virgin Mary Commemoration of St. Irenaeus (Santa Rosa)
“For surely the efforts of the spirits
of darkness never went to such lengths as
they did in that sad crisis to which thou
didst put an end: nor was their success,
however great in appearance, contrary to the
divine promise: for it is to the teaching of
Peter, not to his silence, that the unfailing
assistance of the Holy Ghost is guaranteed”
~ St. Pope Leo the Second
“Anyone who runs ahead and does not
continue in the teaching of Christ does
not have God; whoever continues in the
teaching has both the Father and the Son.
If anyone comes to you and does not bring
this teaching, do not take them into your
house or welcome them. Anyone who welcomes
them shares in their wicked work.”
~ 2 John 9-11
“If the witness of faith and the arduous
struggle which the Apostles Peter and Paul
had to undertake for the cause of the Gospel
are considered in merely human terms, they
ended in defeat…. Indeed, humanly speaking
the mission of Christ… However, both the
Apostles, with their gaze fixed on the Paschal
Mystery, did not doubt that precisely what to
the eyes of the world seemed a defeat, was in
fact the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s
plan. It was the victory over the forces of
evil won first by Christ and then by his disciples
through faith. The entire community of believers
relies on the firm foundation of the apostolic
faith and gives thanks to Christ for the solid
rock on which its life and mission are built.”
~ St. John Paul II
“He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant. This was
the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to
set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear, holy and
righteous in his sight all the days
of our life.”
~ From the Canticle of Zachariah Luke 1:68-79
“Meditate often,” says St. Paul of the Cross,
“on the sorrows of the holy Mother, sorrows
inseparable from those of her beloved Son. If
you seek the Cross, there you will find the
Mother; and where the Mother is, there
also is the Son.”
“And he that had received the five talents
coming, brought other five talents, saying:
Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents.
Behold I have gained other five over and above.”
~ Mt 25:20
“Just as I am fair and righteous in the
sight of God, all who have devotion to my
Heart will also be chaste, righteous and holy
in His sight. I will fill you with these
graces and virtues, making you grow every
day on the road of holiness.”
June 15th, 2021 - Votive Mass of St. Barnabas (Santa Rosa) “What is God but love? What is religion
without love? We read of the saints dying for
love, and we wonder what they mean. There was
a silly verse I used to hear long ago: “Men
have died from time to time, and worms have
eaten them, but not for love.”
~ Dorothy Day, Servant of God, quoting the play “As you like it”
June 13th, 2021 - 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Santa Rosa) “Have you not read in Sacred Scripture that
the Church of the Lord is like a mustard seed,
which small as it is, grows more and more than
any other through the mercy of God. Our hope is
in Christ. this new mountain will be the
salvation of Spain and of the people of the
Goths. The mercy of Christ will free us from
the multitude of the Moors.”
~ King Pelayo of Asturias
June 6th, 2021 - Feast of Corpus Christi Domini (Santa Rosa) “I welcome the Christian faithful to return
to the regular participation of the Sunday
Eucharist, the source and summit of our
Catholic faith”
Bishop Peter Baldacchino of Las Cruces, NM
“My children, cease your resistance; the
long-expected day is come at last. Scripture
forbids us to resist evil. Let us put our
hope in God: He will save our souls.”
~ St. Boniface
June 3rd, 2021 - Feast of St. Francis Caracciolo (Santa Rosa - TLM) ”The zeal of Thy house hath eaten me up.”
Reflection.--
It is for men, and not for angels, that our
blessed Lord resides upon the altar. Yet angels
throng our churches to worship Him while men
desert Him. Learn from St. Francis to avoid such
ingratitude, and to spend, as he did, every
possible moment before the Most Holy Sacrament.
June 2nd, 2021 - Feast of Saints Marcellinus and Peter (Santa Rosa) “In early times the Christians were called the
children of joy. Let us seek the joy of the
Holy Spirit to sweeten suffering, to temper
earthly delight, till we enter into the
joy of Our Lord.”
~ Alban Butler
May 19th, 2021 - 7th Wednesday of Easter (Santa Rosa) “Grant that we may no longer seek our own
interests in anything…not in order to lose all
interest in you and the world, but in order to
begin, at long last, to love you and the Father
in the Holy Spirit above all things. Amen.”
~ prayer of Adrienne von Speyr
May 18th, 2021 - Sts. Eric, King of Sweden and Venantius, Martyrs - TLM (Santa Rosa) “On no men doth he confer the least degree of
jurisdiction, but with the most severe injunction
and obligation that they employ it according to his
will, and in the first place for the advancement
of his divine honor. This is the primary obligation
of those whom God hath vested with authority.”
~ Rev. Alban Butler
May 13th, 2021 - Ascension Thursday - TLM (Santa Rosa) “O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I
adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious
Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present
in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for
the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is
offended. By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the
conversion of poor sinners.”
~ Prayer of the Angel taught to the Children of Fatima, October 1916
May 12th, 2021 - 6th Wednesday of Easter (Santa Rosa) “Just as God [the Father] has revealed to us the
things that are his, so, too, the Son and so also the
Spirit has revealed the things that are God’s…. Where,
then, there is the manifestation of the Spirit,
there is the power of God….”
~ St. Ambrose of Milan
May 6th, 2021 - Feast of St. John at the Latin Gate - TLM (Santa Rosa)
“O Martyr, O Virgin, O guardian of the Virgin by
whom the world received Him who is its glory! pray
for us to this Jesus, from whom, and in whom, and
by whom, are all things.O thou that wast loved
above the rest! — by thine intercession and prayers,
render propitious unto us the Jesus, by whom thou wast loved.”
~ from the sequence to St. John the Apostle
composed by Adam of Saint-Victor.
May 5th, 2021 - 5th Wednesday of Easter (Santa Rosa)
“by our union with Christ and with his Church,
must offer ourselves as victims of expiation and
petition for the conversion of our brothers and
sisters. Herein lies the essence of our charity:
to love those who perhaps do harm to us, contradict,
or persecute us. Our forgiveness, offered to them
in the light of faith, hope, and charity, will draw
them back into the arms of God.”
~ Servant of God Sister Lucia of Fatima, o.c.d.
May 2nd, 2021 - 5th Sunday of Easter (Santa Rosa)
“Now the pruning-hook or knife by which God
purges the vine-branches, i.e., the faithful, is,
1st The word of God, whence He adds, ver. 3,
—Ye are clean through the word, For the word of God
teaches us, and stirs us up to cleanse our minds
filth. 3d Pruning-hooks are illuminations, terrors,
rebukes, which God sends into the minds of the
faithful, to purge out of them the hindrances
of their faults.”
~ Cornelius A Lapide
April 30th, 2021 - 4th Friday of Easter (Santa Rosa)
“Ponder the fact that you were loved before ever
you loved. For God looked within himself and fell
in love with the beauty of his creature and so
created us. He was moved by the fire of his
ineffable charity to one purpose only: that we
should have eternal life and enjoy the
infinite good God was enjoying in himself.”
~ St. Catherine of Siena
April 28th, 2021 - 4th Wednesday of Easter (Santa Rosa) “[our belief in God’s Love for the Soul]
no longer rests in inclinations or feelings;
it matters little to the soul whether it feels
God or not, whether he sends it joy or suffering:
it believes in his love. The more it is tried,
the more its faith increases because it passes
over all obstacles, as it were, to go rest in
the heart of infinite Love who can perform
only works of love.”
~ St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
April 24th, 2021 - Traditional Latin Mass on Saturday of Our Lady (Santa Rosa) “Whosoever shall say that we can think or choose
any good thing pertaining to everlasting salvation
by the force of nature, or can believe the preached
Gospel without the illumination and inspiration of
the Holy Ghost, is deceived by the spirit of heresy,
not understanding the voice of God, speaking in the
Gospel, Without Me ye can do nothing.”
~ Council of Orange (cap. 7)
April 23rd, 2021 - 3rd Friday of Easter (Santa Rosa) “In simplicity of heart I gladly offer everything,
O Lord. The Lord put me on this path, he will
remember to sustain me in battle. To His mercy I
entrust my frailty....God's will whatever it may
be, this is my joy, my happiness, my peace. I will
never be able to thank enough. I cannot say but
these words:" My God, your Glory."
~ Blessed Maria Gabriella
April 21st, 2021 - 3rd Wednesday of Easter (Santa Rosa) “I want you to follow the Magdalen, that lovely
woman in love, who never let go of the tree of the
most holy cross.…she so filled her memory and heart
and understanding that she became incapable of
loving anything but Christ Jesus. This is what I
want you to do right up to the end of your life,
growing from strength to strength. Persevere
day after day. Never give up….”
~ Jesus to St. Catherine of Siena
April 20th, 2021 - 3rd Tuesday of Easter (Santa Rosa) “Dear children,” [Our Blessed Mother Mary] says,
in the words of divine wisdom, “take your fill of
my fruits,” that is to say, of the Fruit of Life,
Jesus, “whom I brought into the world for you.”
“Come,” she repeats in another passage, “eat the
bread which is Jesus. Drink the wine of his love….”
~ Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort
April 18th, 2021 - 3rd Sunday of Easter (Santa Rosa) “Sinners, if the dust of my body can be of help
to save you, come close, walk over it, kick it
around until it disappears.”
— on the tombstone of Blessed Alexandria de Costa
April 17th, 2021 - 2nd Saturday of Easter - TLM (Santa Rosa) “With what delight does the Risen Jesus not show
the glories of his victories to his Mother! His work
is done, and now he is the beautiful crowned King of
Ages: yes, this is He whom she held for nine months
within her womb, whom she fed at her breast, and who,
for all eternity, will honor her as his Mother.”
~ Dom Prosper Gueranger, Benedictine Abbot
April 16th, 2021 - 2nd Friday of Easter (Santa Rosa) “I shall carry your name to heaven with me,
written in my heart, and when the Lord allows me
to cast a glance down to earth, I shall gaze into
a dark little cell where a priest is celebrating
the greatest of all possible sacrifices, uniting
himself each day to crucified love, and then I
shall ask our Lord to cast a gracious glance on
his faithful minister and fill him with blessings.”
~ Servant of God Jacques Fesch
April 14th, 2021 - 2nd Wednesday of Easter (Santa Rosa) “This love opens up to me the whole of everything,
which through love becomes “paradise.” The worst
anxiety of all…is the fear of not being loved, the
loss of love: despair is thus the conviction that
one has forfeited all love forever, the horror of
complete isolation. Hope in the proper sense of the
word is thus the reverse: the certainty that I shall
receive that great love that is indestructible and
I am already loved with this love here and now.”
~ Pope Benedict XVI
April 11th, 2021 - Divine Mercy Sunday (Santa Rosa) Jesus said…”You will go back to earth, and there
you will suffer much, but not for long; you will
accomplish my will and my desires, and a faithful
servant of mine will help you to do this. Now,
rest your head on my bosom, on my heart, and draw
from it strength and power for these sufferings
because you will find neither relief nor help nor
comfort anywhere else. Know that you will have much,
much to suffer, but don’t let this frighten you;
I am with you.”
~ Saint Faustina Kowalska
April 9th, 2021 - Easter Friday (Santa Rosa) —“It’s the Lord!”
My cry sends Peter leaping toward the Man
he’d recently abandoned and denied.
The massive catch he leaves to our command.
Such weight won’t tear the net yet turns the tide.
One hundred-fifty-three we count and pass,
though boundless is the One Who breaks our fast.”
~ Rita A. Simmonds
April 7th, 2021 - Easter Wednesday (Santa Rosa) “Behold I make all things new. Behold I do what cannot
be done.... And I bring you to the Love of which all other
loves speak, the Love which is joy and beauty, and which
you have sought in a thousand streets and for which you
have wept and clawed your pillow.”
~ Thomas Howard
April 6th, 2021 - Easter Tuesday (Santa Rosa) “Perhaps the saints became holy because they never
made peace with the impossibility of seeing God in this
life. Among the poor, or in the midst of hostile or
indifferent souls, they went in search of his face,
only to return again to the silence of prayer where
God once more hid himself. These souls lived as though
always on the verge of finding a treasure.”
~ Father Donald Haggerty
April 4th, 2021 - Easter Sunday (Santa Rosa) Evil doesn’t have the Last Word.
GOD has the Last Word!
Christ is risen! Alleluia Alleluia!!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia Alleluia!!
April 2nd, 2021 - Good Friday Service (Santa Rosa) “Consummatum est, It is finished! Christ came into
the world to accomplish the greatest work of all—greater
than that sheer act of the divine will by which all
things came into being out of nothing…. That God should
make man is an act of power; but to redeem him is an
act of Love. The whole of history up to Calvary is,
looked at from one side, one ceaseless effort of
preparation for Redemption.”
~ Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson
April 1st, 2021 - Holy Thursday - Mass of the Lord's Supper (Santa Rosa) “In our world, is there any greater fulfillment of
our humanity than to be able to re-present every day in
persona Christi the redemptive sacrifice, the same
sacrifice which Christ offered on the cross?...
At Holy Mass, after the consecration, the priest says
the words Mysterium fidei…the mystery of faith! These
words refer of course to the Eucharist. In a way,
however, they also concern the priesthood. There can be
no Eucharist without the priesthood, just as there can be
no priesthood without the Eucharist.”
~ Pope St. John Paul II
~ March 2021 ~
March 31st, 2021 - Holy Week: Spy Wednesday (Santa Rosa) Thou hast said. “This is the modest Hebrew method of
answering. Christ said, “It is not that I say it, and
call thee traitor. It is thou thyself who in reality
dost call thyself so because thou art, in truth, a
traitor. Thus has He fixed for us the bounds and rules
of forbearance and forgetfulness of injuries.”
~ St. John Chrysostom
March 28th, 2021 - Palm Sunday (Santa Rosa) “There is nothing more conducive to the attainment
of eternal salvation than to think every day on the
pains which Jesus Christ has suffered for the love
of us. Nothing is more salutary than to think daily
on what the Man-God has endured for us.”
~ St. Augustine
March 27th, 2021 - Saturday of Passion Week - TLM (Santa Rosa) “But, for this cause I came unto this hour:
Father I glorify Thy name. His soul is now calm;
He once more accepts the hard conditions of our
salvation. After this, his words bespeak a triumph;
by virtue of the sacrifice about to be offered,
satan shall be dethroned: The prince of this
world shall be cast out.... And I, if I be lifted
up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself.”
~ Dom Prosper Gueranger, Benedictine Abbot
March 26th, 2021 - 5th Friday of Lent (Santa Rosa) “Fix your minds on the Passion of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Inflamed with love for us,
he came down from heaven to redeem us. For
our sake he endured every torment of body and
soul and shrank from no bodily pain. He himself
gave us an example of perfect patience and love.
We, then, are to be patient in adversity.”
~ St. Francis of Paola
March 23rd, 2021 - 5th Tuesday of Lent (Santa Rosa) “It was not enough that the Son of God should
come down from the heavens and appear as the
Son of Man, for then he would have been a
great teacher and a great example, but not a
Redeemer. It was important for him to fulfill
the purpose of the coming, to redeem man from
sin while in the likeness of human flesh.
Teachers change men by their lives; our Blessed
Lord would change men by his death. The poison
of hate, sensuality, and envy which is in the
hearts of men could not be healed simply by wise
and social reforms. The wages of sin is death,
and therefore it was to be by death that sin
would be atoned for.”
~ Ven Fulton Sheen
March 20th, 2021 - 4th Saturday of Lent - TLM (Santa Rosa) “fear not! How can you fear? He has given
you to his own Son; he has told him to save,
heal, and comfort you. Are you in the bonds of
sin? Jesus can break them. Are you in spiritual
darkness? He is the Light of the world, and can
dispel the thickest gloom. Are you hungry? He is
the Bread of Life. Are you thirsty? He is the
Fountain of living Water. Are you scorched, are
you burnt to the very core, by the heat of
concupiscence? Even so, poor sufferers! you
must not lose courage; there is a cool fountain
ready to refresh you, and heal all your wounds;
not indeed the First Font, which gave you the
life you have lost; but the second Baptism, the
divine Sacrament of Penance, which can restore
you to grace and purity!”
March 19th, 2021 - Feast of St. Joseph (Santa Rosa) “Knowing by experience St. Joseph’s astonishing
influence with God, I would wish to persuade
everyone to honor him with particular devotion.
I have always seen those who honored him in a
special manner make progress in virtue, for
this heavenly protector favors in a striking
manner the spiritual advancement of souls who
commend themselves to him.”
~ St. Teresa of Avila
“In Joseph … heads of the household are
with the unsurpassed model of fatherly
watchfulness and care.”
~ Pope Leo XIII
March 18th, 2021 - 4th Thursday of Lent - TLM (Santa Rosa) “The young man of Naim is a figure of a sinner,
who makes no effort to return to God, and whose
will has lost its energy: he is being carried to
the grave; and but for Jesus’ passing that way,
he would soon have been of the number of them
that are forever dead.”
March 17th, 2021 - 4th Wednesday of Lent Commemoration of Feast of St. Patrick of Ireland (Santa Rosa) “Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ in me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.”
~ The Lorica of Saint Patrick
March 16th, 2021 - 4th Tuesday of Lent (Santa Rosa - Dcn Marvin) “There is little enough time left for me to try to
love him as I ought. It is not I who love Jesus, it
is Jesus who loves me. I am conscious of my total
powerlessness and my misery as always. Also, I have
to keep calling for help all the time and like a
generous Father the Lord strengthens me, fills me
with powerful graces, and marks off my way of the
cross with fragrant shrines which make me long to
hasten to him. I believe in his love, but my human
confidence, which I should like to be total, is
still very weak. I ought to give him everything,
and I want to achieve this.”
~ Servant of God Jacques Fesch
March 14th, 2021 - 4th Sunday of Lent (Santa Rosa) “The Fathers see in this [healing] the direct
continuation of the creation of Adam. In the beginning,
they say, God formed a body from the earth and breathed
the breath of life into it. Now, in the fullness of
time, the Logos made man, the right hand of the Father
and creator, comes to heal the man whom Satan’s
darkness has made blind.”
~ Sister Aemiliana Löhr, o.s.b.
March 13th, 2021 - 3rd Saturday of Lent - TLM (Santa Rosa) “Go and sin no more. This is what Jesus says to me
every time I go to confession.... When my soul is sad
and weary through desolation and abandonment, where
shall I find refreshment, and peace, if not in your
most precious blood, which rejoices the soul by the
visits of its grace. When I am overcome with weakness
and discouragement, when temptations surround me on
every side, to whom shall I have recourse, but to him
who is consolation and strength itself? And when my
soul is flooded and filled with consolation, and peace
and happiness reign in my heart, to whom shall I go,
if not to you, O my Jesus, that I may share my joy
and happiness with you.”
~ Blessed Concepción Cabrera de Armida
March 12th, 2021 - 3rd Friday of Lent - Dcn Marvin “I long to see you so clothed in the garment of
blazing charity…. But you will say to me, “Since I
have no such love, and without it I am powerless,
how can I get it?” I will tell you. Love is had only
by loving. If you want love, you must begin by loving —
I mean you must want to love. Once you want it, you
must open the eye of your understanding to see where
and how love is to be found. And you will find it
within your very self. How? When you recognize
your nothingness.”
~ Saint Catherine of Sienna
March 11th, 2021 - 3rd Thursday of Lent - TLM (Santa Rosa) “Acknowledge your dignity, O Christian. You partake
of divine nature. Do not return to your old sin by
adopting a way of life unworthy of your race. Remember
the head and the body of which you are a member.
Remember that you were snatched away from the powers
of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of light,
that of God.”
~ Saint Leo the Great
March 10th, 2021 - 3rd Wednesday of Lent (Santa Rosa) “You see…greater reward [will be] given when through
and constant instruction people lead the slothful and
the recalcitrant along the right path, showing them
the ugliness of evil and the beauty of a good life
lived for God.
Accordingly, since we are familiar with all these
matters, let us converse with our neighbors about
saving their soul ahead of all the other concerns
of their life, and awaken them to a care for that.”
~ Saint John Chrysostom
March 9th, 2021 - 3rd Tuesday of Lent (Santa Rosa) “How do you prove to yourself that you have not
consented? Well, say to yourself, “If I meet this
person who has made me suffer, for whom I feel such
antipathy, will I be kind to him? Am I ready to do him
a favor? To ask a favor of him (which is more difficult,
for I would then owe him gratitude)? To smile at him?”
Answer “yes” with all your might!
Perhaps when the time comes you will not have the
courage to do it. This is possible, but let your
disposition of soul and will be such that you would
hope to do it.”
~ Father Jean du Cœur de Jésus d’Elbée
March 8th, 2021 - 3rd Monday of Lent (Fort Sumner) “By these words of the Lord, our great Physician, we
are plainly taught and urged to put our trust in the
Adorable God, since we see that none was healed, or
cleansed from bodily plague-spots, save him who took a
religious means to regain health. For the blessings of
God are not given to them who close their eyes in sleep,
but to them that look to Him [that stay awake, keep vigil].”
~ St. Ambrose of Milan
March 5th, 2021 - 2nd Friday of Lent (Santa Rosa) “O my God, as you have restored the loss of the human
race by the price of the blood of your Son Jesus, true God
and true man, give me the grace to know the dignity and
excellence of my soul, won by such a price. Grant that I
may value the true worth of the grace of divine adoption,
which admits me to participate in your eternal richness.”
~ Blessed Hyacinthe-Marie Cormier, o.p
March 4th, 2021 - 2nd Thursday of Lent (Santa Rosa) “...[The Rich Man, Dives,] loved the happiness of the
world and wished to seek no other life nor to love anything
except that life in which he was puffed up with pride….
Therefore, as we meditate upon these truths…let us in a
kindly spirit devise mercy for the poor as much as our
strength allows, in order that we may deserve to be
crowned by the Lord on the day of judgment.”
~ St. Caesarius of Arles
March 3rd, 2021 - 2nd Wednesday of Lent (Santa Rosa) “Although it was a mistake, it was a mistake of love. For a
mother's love knoweth no moderation. Yet, although it was a
greedy prayer, that was a pardonable greed, which hungered,
not for riches, but for grace. Neither was that request
shameless which sought, not her own good, but her children's.
Remember that she was a mother. Think how that she was a mother.”
~ St. Augustine of Hippo
March 1st, 2021 - 2nd Monday of Lent (Fort Sumner) “Let us think less of humanity and more of men and women;
or rather, let us remember that humanity is only made of human
beings and that each one of them needs the strength that God
gives, and it belongs to us to spread this light as far as we
can. What a mission for weak and sinful creatures!”
~ Elisabeth Leseur
February 28th, 2021 - 2nd Sunday of Lent (Santa Rosa) “The great reason for this transfiguration was to remove the
scandal of the cross from the hearts of his disciples, and to
prevent the humiliation of his voluntary suffering from
disturbing the faith of those who had witnessed the surpassing
glory that lay concealed.”
~ St. Gregory the Great
February 27th, 2021 - Ember Saturday of Lent - TLM (Santa Rosa) God here assures us that a nation which is faithful in
observing the laws regarding the Divine Service shall be blessed
above other nations. History is one long illustration of the
truth of this promise. Of all the nations which have fallen,
there is not one that has not brought the chastisements upon
itself by its neglect of the Law of God. At times, the Almighty
delays to strike; but it is only that the chastisements may be
the more evident and produce a more salutary effect upon mankind.
February 26th, 2021 - Ember Friday of Lent (Santa Rosa) “Such is the affection of his fatherly heart, that he will
forget the outrage offered him by his son, if this son will but
return to his duty. Thus, then, our Penitents are to be reconciled;
and on the Feast of the Resurrection, they will be associated with
the just, because God will have forgotten their iniquities; they
themselves will be just men.”
~ Dom Prosper Guéranger
February 24th, 2021 - 1st Thursday of Lent (Santa Rosa) “Wonderful are shewn the faith, patience, and humility of
this woman; faith, that she believed that her daughter could be
healed; patience, that so many times overlooked, she yet
perseveres in her prayers; humility, that she compares herself
not to the dogs, but to the whelps.”
~ St. Jerome
February 24th, 2021 - Ember Wednesday of Lent (Santa Rosa)
GOD, Who, when the disciples ministered to the Lord and fasted,
ordered that Saul and Barnabas be set aside for the work to which
You called them, be with Your Church as she prays now, and You, who
know the hearts of all of us, show those whom You have chosen for
Your ministry. Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
“The word St Mark uses for "was tempted" is a construction in Greek
meaning that it was constant and continuous, unrelenting. So it wasn't
just the three paradigmatic temptations Matthew recalls, but He was
tempted non-stop the whole 40 days. It also gives an encouragement for
those who feel constantly tempted in an unrelenting fashion. See in
Jesus the victory over that type of temptation as well.”
~ Fr. Simon Carian
February 19th, 2021 - Friday After Ash Wednesday (Santa Rosa) “Lent is a time of going very deeply into ourselves... What is it that
stands between us and God? Between us and our brothers and sisters? Between
us and life, the life of the Spirit? Whatever it is, let us relentlessly tear
it out, without a moment's hesitation."
~ Catherine Doherty
February 16th, 2021 - Feast of the Holy Face (Santa Rosa)
Collect of today’s Mass
O God, who willed that your only-begotten Son should become man,
and show us in his human nature a perfect image of your divinity, grant,
we beseech you, that by venerating the image of his Holy Face we may be
united with him in the mysteries of his Passion and Death, and so come to
contemplate forever his glorious Face in the joy of the resurrection.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.
February 7th, 2021 - 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Santa Rosa) The essence of perfection is to embrace the will of God in all things,
prosperous or adverse. In prosperity, even sinners find it easy to unite
themselves to the divine will; but it takes saints to unite themselves to
God’s will when things go wrong and are painful to self-love. Our conduct in
such instances is the measure of our love of God. St. John of Avila used to say:
“One ‘Blessed be God’ in times of adversity, is worth more than a thousand
acts of gratitude in times of prosperity.”
~ St. Alphonse’s Ligouri, Uniformity with God’s Will
February 5th, 2021 - Feast of St. Agatha; First Friday (Santa Rosa) “Let your life be free from love of money but be content with what you have,
for he has said, I will never forsake you or abandon you. Thus we may say
with confidence:
The Lord is my helper,
and I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?” Hebrews 13
January 31st, 2021 - 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Santa Rosa)
For Ecclesiastical Vocations.
2021 Vocations Discernment Retreat (Santa Rosa)
What can free us from being “anxious about the things of the world”? The authority
of Jesus, who “commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.” The people in
the time of Moses begged for such a prophet. That promise is fulfilled definitively
in Jesus Christ, whose authority astonishes the assembled crowd. “If today you hear
his voice,” adhere “to the Lord without distraction.” “To him you shall listen,”
because obeying the authority of Christ makes us more human and fills us with a
burning desire for things truly great.
“Martina, Obtain for us from Jesus, thy Spouse, the courage to destroy
those idols of our affections, to which we are so prone to offer the sacrifice
of our hearts. The enemies of our salvation are untiring in their attacks
upon our frailty — oh! stretch out to us thy helping hand”
— Ancient hymn to St. Martina
Prayer for Vocations:
Lord, You told us that "The harvest indeed is great but the laborers are few.
Pray, therefore, the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His fields." We
ask You to strengthen us as we follow the vocation to which You have called us.
We pray particularly for those called to serve as priests, sisters, brothers,
and deacons: Those whom You have called, Those You are calling now, Those You will
call in the future. May they be open and responsive to the call of serving Your
people. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
O Jesus, Eternal Priest, keep all Thy priests within the shelter of Thy Sacred Heart,
where none may harm them. Keep unstained their anointed hands which daily touch
Thy Sacred Body. Keep unsullied their lips purpled with Thy Precious Blood. Keep
pure and unearthly their hearts sealed with the sublime marks of Thy glorious
priesthood. Let Thy holy love surround them and shield them from the world's
contagion. Bless their labors with abundant fruit, and may the souls to whom
they have ministered, be here below, their joy and consolation and in Heaven
their beautiful and everlasting crown. Amen
January 24th, 2021 - 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Santa Rosa)
At a moment when “time was running out” for evil Nineveh, God did something
extraordinary: he raised up Jonah to preach repentance to “the great city.”
When “Jesus came proclaiming the Gospel of God,” Christ’s first action was to
call men from the sea to preach to the world. Nothing convinces us of the
compassion, the love, the kindness, and the goodness of God like the witness
of these humble believers who leave nets, boats, and father to follow Jesus.
To us who beg, “Teach me your paths,” Jesus beckons: “Come after me.”
In presenting principles and moral evaluations regarding…human life, the
Catholic Church draws upon the light both of reason and of faith and seeks
to set forth an integral vision of man and his vocation, capable of
incorporating everything that is good in human activity….
The Magisterium also seeks to offer a word of support and encouragement
for the perspective on culture which considers science an invaluable
to the integral good of the life and dignity of every human being. The
Church therefore views scientific research with hope and desires that
many Christians will dedicate themselves to the progress of biomedicine
and will bear witness to their faith in this field. She hopes moreover
that the results of such research may also be made available in areas
of the world that are poor and afflicted by disease, so that those who
are most in need will receive humanitarian assistance.
Finally, the Church seeks to draw near to every human being who is suffering,
whether in body or in spirit, in order to bring not only comfort, but also
light and hope. These give meaning to moments of sickness and to the
experience of death, which indeed are part of human life and are present
the story of every person, opening that story to the mystery of the
Resurrection. Truly, the gaze of the Church is full of trust because “Life will triumph: this is a sure hope for us. Yes, life will triumph
because truth, goodness, joy and true progress are on the side of life.
God, who loves life and gives it generously, is on the side of life” (Saint John Paul II).”
— Dignitas personae, From the Instruction On Certain Bioethical Questions of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith
January 21st, 2021 - Feast of St. Agnes - TLM (Santa Rosa)
“First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions,
and thanksgiving be offered for everyone— for kings and all those in
authority—so that we may lead tranquil and quiet lives in all
godliness and dignity. This is good and pleasing in the sight of
God our Savior, 4who wants everyone to be saved and to come to
the knowledge of the truth.”
1 Timothy 2:1-3
January 17th, 2021 - 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Santa Rosa)
"What are you looking for?”
“They followed him from a distance, afraid and embarrassed, yet
strangely, profoundly, obscurely, magnetically moved to curiosity.
Those two disciples, hearing him speak like that, followed Jesus. Mbr/>
Jesus turned around, saw that they were following him, and said, What
are you seeking? They answered, Rabbi, where do you live? He said to
them, Come and see. Come and see. This is the Christian formula, the
Christian method. They came and saw where he was staying; and they stayed
with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.…”
~ Servant of God Monsignor Giussani
January 15th, 2021 - 1st Friday of Ordinary Time (Santa Rosa) There are some whom the Word of God did not profit because “they were not united in faith.” It is just such a union of faith
that captures Christ’s attention today— “when Jesus saw their faith”
— moving him to heal the paralytic. We are blessed to receive that Good News
just as our ancestors did: “Your sins are forgiven.”
Obedient faith gives us new legs to walk.
“The utter folly of our time is lamentable, that men should think to assist
God with human help and to protect the Church of Christ by worldly ambition.”
“In this we see the wondrous virtue of the Lord: that the power dwelling in
His body should communicate to perishable things the efficacy to heal, and
that the divine activity should issue forth even from the hem of His garment.”
~ St. Hilary of Poitiers
January 10th, 2021 - Baptism of the Lord (Santa Rosa)
“Christ is baptized and the whole world is made holy,” sings today’s liturgy;
“he wipes out the debt of our sins; we will all be purified by water and
the Holy Spirit”
(Antiphon to the Benedictus, Office of Lauds)
January 8th, 2021 - Friday after Epiphany (Santa Rosa)
“Oh, Jesus, how much I could say to all little souls about how ineffable your
condescension is, I feel that if (though this would be impossible) you were to
find a soul more weak and little than mine, you would be pleased to shower upon
it even greater favors, if it abandoned itself to you, with complete
confidence in your infinite mercy.”
St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Little flower of the Holy Face of Jesus
“It is with the smallest brushes that the Artist paints the best paintings.”
St André Bessette
January 3rd, 2021 - Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord (Santa Rosa)
The Magi reveal that our search for meaning, our search for eternal life, concludes in worship.
Our response to the Father’s offer of salvation must be that of the Magi: “To offer gold is to
proclaim Christ’s kingship, to offer incense is to adore his Godhead, and to offer myrrh is to
acknowledge his mortality” (Saint Odilo of Cluny)
Creation responds as well: “When the king of heaven was born, the heavens knew that he was God
because they immediately sent forth a star; the sea knew him because it allowed him to walk upon it;
the earth knew him because it trembled when he died; the sun knew him because it hid the rays
of its light” (Saint Gregory the Great)
January 2nd, 2021 - 1st Saturday - TLM (Santa Rosa)
“We seemed to be two bodies with a single spirit. ... Our single object and ambition was virtue,
and a life of hope in the blessings that are to come; we wanted to withdraw from this world before
we departed from it. With this end in view we ordered our lives and all our actions. We followed the
guidance of God’s law and spurred each other on to virtue. If it is not too boastful to say, we found in
each other a standard and rule for discerning right from wrong.
Different men have different names, which they owe to their parents or to themselves, that is, to their
own pursuits and achievements. But our great pursuit, the great name we wanted, was to be Christians,
to be called Christians.”
St. Gregory Nanzianzen on his friend St. Basil
January 1st, 2021 - Solemnity of Mary Mother of God (Santa Rosa)
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola, 1491-1556
~ December 2020 ~
December 31st, 2020 - 7th Day within the Octave of Christmas - TLM (Santa Rosa)
“Do our lives express put Faith? Does it triumph in our hearts? It is one of its first precepts
that in all our actions we make God our beginning and end, and have only his divine honor and his
holy law in view. All our various employments, all our thoughts and designs must be referred to,
and terminate in this, as all the lines drawn from the circumference of a circle meet in the centre.
We ought therefore so to live that the days, hours, and moments of the year may form a crown made up
of good works, which we may offer to God. Our forgetfulness of him who is our last end, in almost
all that we do, calls for a sacrifice of compunction in the close of the year: but this cannot be
perfect or acceptable to God unless we sincerely devote our whole hearts and lives to his holy love
for the time to come. Let us therefore examine into the sources of former omissions, failures, and
transgressions, and take effectual measures for our amendment, and for the perfect regulation of
all our affections and actions for the future, or that part of our life which may remain.”
December 30th, 2020 - 6th Day within the Octave of Christmas (Santa Rosa)
“You should not possess anything so beautiful or so delightful as to fully occupy your mind.
Use earthy goods on by the way [out of necessity]. We must use the goods of this earth as our
food for the journey through it and not as an allurement to abide [remain] in it.”
~ St. Augustine commenting on the first Letter of Saint John
December 27th, 2020 - Feast of the Holy Family (Santa Rosa)
“I cannot separate Mary and Joseph from Jesus. That would be opposed to Jesus’ example,
who, after the Father, loved Joseph and Mary the most. And in heaven, he loves them eternally.
No one ever reflected Jesus’ life more perfectly than Mary and Joseph.
If Jesus could say to Philip, He who sees me sees the Father, then I can say, “The one who sees
Mary and Joseph sees Jesus.” Mary and Joseph form the most faithful image of Jesus; and for this
reason I can formulate the shortest path to holiness: “For me, to live is Christ, it is Mary and Joseph.”
Mary, my mother, Joseph my father, give me your eyes to contemplate Jesus; give me your hearts and spirits
to understand him, and to be impassioned for him.
Give me your will so that I may work for him with my whole heart and mind without growing weary
Give me your soul that I may endlessly proclaim: Jesus, my Lord and my all!”
~ Venerable Francis Xavier Nguyên Văn Thuân
December 25th, 2020 - Solemnity of Christmas (Santa Rosa)
“O Child, who willed to have for your crib a manger; O Creator of the universe,
who stripped yourself of divine glory; O Redeemer, who offered your vulnerable body
in sacrifice for the salvation of humanity! May the radiance of your birth light
up the night of the world…. For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given!
What an unfathomable mystery is hidden in the humility of this Child!… You, Mary,
who keep watch over your all-powerful Son, grant us your eyes to contemplate him
with faith; grant us your heart to worship him with love…. O Holy Night,
so long awaited, which has united God and man for ever! You rekindle our hope.
You fill us with ecstatic wonder. You assure us of the triumph of love over hatred,
of life over death. For this reason we remain absorbed in prayer. In the luminous
silence of your Nativity, you, Emmanuel, continue to speak to us. And we are ready
to listen to you. Amen!”
~ Saint John Paul II
December 24th, 2020 - Vigil of Christmas - TLM (Santa Rosa)
At length, at length we have got from the stormy sea in to the
tranquil port; hitherto it was the promise; now it is the prize;
hitherto labor, now rest; hitherto despair, now hope; hitherto the way,
now our home. The heralds of the divine promise came to us; but they gave
us nothing but rich promises. Hence, our Psalmist himself grew wearied,
and slept, and with a seeming reproachful tone, thus sings his lamentation
to God: But thou hast rejected and despised us; thou hast deferred the
coming of thy Christ. (Psalms 88) At another time he assumes a tone of
demand, and thus prays: O thou that sittest upon the Cherubim, show thyself!
(Psalms 79)
Seated on thy high throne with myriads of adoring Angels around thee, look down upon
the children of men, who are victims of that sin which was committed indeed by Adam,
but permitted by thy justice. Remember what my substance is;
(Psalms 88)
thou didst make it to the likeness of thine own; for though every living man is vanity,
yet inasmuch as he is made to thy Image, he is not a passing vanity.
(Psalms 88)
Bend thy heavens and come down, and turn the eyes of thy mercy upon us thy miserable suppliants,
and forget us not unto the end!”
- St. Peter Damian in his Sermon for Christmas Eve
December 20th, 2020 - 4th Sunday of Advent (Santa Rosa)
Jesus to St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta: “the reason the don’t Love me is because they don’t know me.
They aren’t thankful to me because they don’t know what I’ve done [for them].”
“Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thess 5:16
December 12th, 2020 - Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Santa Rosa)
O Our Lady of Guadalupe,
mystical rose,
make intercession for Holy Church,
protect the Sovereign Pontiff,
help all those who invoke thee in their necessities,
and since thou art the ever Virgin Mary
and Mother of the true God,
obtain for us from thy most holy Son
the grace of keeping our faith,
sweet hope in the midst of the bitterness of life,
burning charity and the precious gift of final perseverance.
The following may be added.
Dearest Lady,
fruitful Mother of Holiness,
teach me Your ways of gentleness and strength.
Hear my prayer,
offered with deep felt confidence to beg this favor...
(State your prayer request here.)
O Mary,
conceived without sin,
I come to your throne of grace
to share the fervent devotion
of your faithful Mexican children
who call to Thee under the glorious title "Guadalupe" -
the Virgin who crushed the serpent.
Queen of Martyrs,
whose Immaculate Heart was pierced
by seven swords of grief,
help me to walk valiantly
amid the sharp thorns strewn across my path.
Invoke the Holy Spirit of Wisdom
to fortify my will to frequent the Sacraments so that,
thus enlightened and strengthened,
I may prefer God to all creatures
and shun every occasion of sin.
Help me,
as a living branch of the Vine
that is Jesus Christ,
to exemplify His divine charity
always seeking the good of others.
Queen of Apostles,
aid me to win souls
for the Sacred Heart of my Savior.
Keep my apostolate fearless,
dynamic, and articulate,
to proclaim the loving solitude of Our Father in Heaven
so that the wayward may heed His pleading
and obtain pardon,
through the merits of Your Merciful Son,
Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
December 11th, 2020 - Feast of Pope St. Damascus I (Santa Rosa)
“He who walking on the sea could calm the bitter waves, who gives life to the dying seeds
of the earth; he who was able to loose the mortal chains of death, and after three days
darkness could bring again to the upper world the brother for his sister Martha: he,
I believe, will make Damasus rise again from the dust.” - Pope St. Damascus I
"Be ever engaged, so that whenever the devil calls he may find you occupied."
- St. Jerome (347 - 420)
“it was just that this Holy Virgin should be adorned with the greatest purity which can be
conceived after that of God himself, since God the Father was to give to her, as her Child,
that only Begotten Son, whom he loved as himself, as being begotten to him from his own bosom;
and this in such a manner, that the self-same Son of God was, by nature, the Son of both
God the Father, and of this Blessed Virgin. This same Son chose her to be substantially
his Mother; and the Holy Ghost willed that in Her womb he would operate the conception
and birth of Him, from whom he himself proceeded.”
St. Anselm
December 7th, 2020 - 2nd Monday of Advent (Santa Rosa)
“It seems, sir, that you do not yet rightly apprehend the enormity of the massacre lately
committed. Let not the splendor of your purple robes hinder you from being acquainted with
the infirmities of that body which they cover. You are of the same mould with those subjects
which you govern; and there is one common Lord and Emperor of the world. With what eyes will
you behold his temple? With what feet will you tread his sanctuary? How will you lift up to him
in prayer those hands which are still stained with blood unjustly spilled? Depart, therefore,
and attempt not by a second offence, to aggravate your former crime; but quietly take the yoke
upon you which the Lord has appointed for you. It is sharp, but it is medicinal, and
conducive to your health.”
St Ambrose on the Excommunication of Emperor Theodosius
December 4th, 2020 - 1st Friday of Advent (Santa Rosa)
“Evil is nothing else than absence of goodness, just as darkness also is absence
of light. For goodness is the light of the mind, and, similarly, evil is the
darkness of the mind.”
“Images are books for the illiterate and silent heralds of the honor of the saints,
teaching those who see with a soundless voice and sanctifying the sight.”
St. John of Damascus
December 2nd, 2020 - 1st Wednesday of Advent (Santa Rosa)
“[the Eucharist] is the body which is truly united to the Godhead, the same which
is from the blessed Virgin. This is not because that body which was taken up to heaven
comes down from heaven, but because the very bread and wine are changed into the
Body and Blood of God…. Wherefore, in all fear and with a pure conscience and
undoubting faith let us approach…and let us honor it with all purity of body and soul….
Let us approach it with burning desire.”
Saint John Damascene
December 1st, 2020 - 1st Tuesday of Advent (Santa Rosa)
Prayer to St. Joseph Before MassO blessed Joseph, happy man, to whom it was given
not only to see and to hear that God Whom many kings longed to see, and saw not, to hear,
and heard not; but also to carry Him in your arms, to embrace Him, to clothe Him,
and guard and defend Him.V. Pray for us, O Blessed Joseph.R. That we may be made worthy
of the promises of Christ.O God, Who has given us a royal priesthood, we beseech Thee,
that as Blessed Joseph was found worthy to touch with his hands, and to bear in his arms,
Thy only-begotten Son, born of the Virgin Mary, so may we be made fit, by cleanness of heart
and blamelessness of life, to minister at Thy holy altar; may we, this day, with
reverent devotion partake of the Sacred Body and Blood of Thy Only-begotten Son,
and may we in the world to come be accounted worthy of receiving an ever-lasting reward.
Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
November 25th, 2020 - 34th Wednesday of Ordinary Time (Santa Rosa)
“Lord Jesus Christ, my God, I thank Thee for having firmly set my feet on the
rock of the Faith and directed my steps on the pathway of salvation. Open now Thy
arms wounded on the cross to receive my soul, which I offer in sacrifice to the
glory of Thy Name.
“Forgive the faults I committed in ignorance and wash my soul in the blood I will
shed for Thee. Do not leave my body, slaughtered by love for Thee, in the power of
those who hate me. Kindly regard this people and give them the knowledge of the truth.
Finally, O Lord, in Thy infinite mercy exalt those who will invoke Thee through me so
that Thy name be always glorified.”
Last words of St. Catherine of Alexandria
November 20th, 2020 - 33rd Friday of Ordinary Time (Santa Rosa)
“Think how much,” says St. John Chrysostom, “and how often thy mouth has sinned,
and thou wilt devote thyself entirely to the conversion of sinners. For by this
one means thou wilt blot out all thy sins, in that thy mouth will become the mouth of God.”
“How truly blessed we shall be if at the price of even very great
sacrifices we shall have made God known and loved by one more soul!”
~ St. Rose Philippine Duchesne