Monday, March 18, 2024

Lenten Reflections; The Conversion to Catholicism of Dorothy Day on Fire For the Faith

Selected Lenten Reflections:  Dorothy Day on Fire for the Faith.

The Catholic bishops of the United States has unanimously recommended the canonization of Servant of God, Dorothy Day.  In 2021, her cause for Sainthood moved forward. On March 16, 2000, the Vatican granted the Archdiocese of New York permission to begin Dorthy Day canonization process.


Dorothy Day (1897-1980) was a devoted Catholic convert whose life testified to the radical love of a living God. Not raised particularly religiously, she pursued a rather bohemian lifestyle as a writer in her early adulthood.


Dorothy Day's conversion is described in her 1952 autobiography, The Long Loneliness. Her message is that, women in their life in general, and her specifically, are subject to a deep and long loneliness from the repeated losses of life, and that the only resolution for this long loneliness is to be found in the sacrifice of service to others and in a community doing so.

With the birth of her daughter, she became increasingly interested in faith, and apparently heeding the warning of  St. John the Elder to the church of Laodecia  she 
caught fire for the faith in 1927 when she converted to CatholicismShe never lost her heart for the margins of society:  "To Laodicea“To the angel of the church in Laodicea, write this: “‘The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the source of God’s creation, says this:“I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."

The Catholic Catechism (696) teaches that  "While water signifies birth and the fruitfulness of life given in the Holy Spirit, fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit's actions. The prayer of the prophet Elijah, who "arose like fire" and whose "word burned like a torch," brought down fire from heaven on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel. This event was a "figure" of the fire of the Holy Spirit, who transforms what he touches. John the Baptist, who goes "before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah," proclaims Christ as the one who "will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Jesus will say of the Spirit: "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!" In the form of tongues "as of fire," the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the morning of Pentecost and fills them with himself The spiritual tradition has retained this symbolism of fire as one of the most expressive images of the Holy Spirit's actions. "Do not quench the Spirit."

In Dorothy Day’s ‘Letter to an Agnostic’ essay  first published in America on Aug. 4, 1934, Dorothy writes in part:  "You know the reaction of my friends to religion, that it is a deliberate turning away from life. We Catholics know, with a supernatural knowledge, not with a worldly knowledge, that this is not so, just as we know the existence of God and love Him with our will, which is a power of our souls?" She continues ..." 
As a convert I can say these things, knowing how many times I turned away, almost in disgust, from the idea of God and giving myself up to Him"

Observing that "The thing you do not understand is the elemental fact that our beginning and our last end is God. Once that fact is accepted, half the struggle is won. If we wish to go on struggling, not to be content with the minimum of virtue, of duty done, of “just getting by,” then we should account it a great honor that God has given us these desires, to serve Him and to use ourselves completely in His service."

Conluding "Perhaps the main trouble is that to you Christianity is too simple. To you Christianity is the accepted thing, so you rebel, and knowing that your rebellion deprives your soul of life, you turn on religion and call it morbid."


 In 1933, with Peter Maurin, she published the first Catholic Worker, a newspaper dedicated to promoting Catholic social teaching and pacifism - with roots traced to the 19th century encyclical Rerum novarum of Pope Leo XIII.  Rerum novarum, or Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor, is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891. It is an open letter, passed to all Catholic patriarchs, primates, archbishops and bishops, that addressed the condition of the working class.



Dorothy Day is widely considered one of the great Catholic lay leaders of the 20th century. Co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement and the publication that became its voice, she worked indefatigably to promote peace, social justice, non-violence, and direct aid to the poor and destitute,manifested in Christian voluntary poverty and direct works of mercy. More than 100 Catholic Worker communities and Houses of Hospitality were founded across the U.S. and abroad. Then and now these houses offer food, clothing and shelter to those in need.

Early in her life she was a journalist for The Call and The Masses.   The Masses was a graphically innovative American magazine of socialist politics published monthly from 1911 until 1917, when federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription in the United States during World War I. It was succeeded by The Liberator and then later New Masses. It published reportage, fiction, poetry and art by the leading radicals of the time such as Max Eastman, John Reed, Dorothy Day, and Floyd Dell.


Day was arrested demonstrating for women’s suffrage in 1917 as a member of suffragist Alice⁰ Paul's nonviolent Silent Sentinels. In the 1930s, Day worked closely with fellow activist Peter Maurin to establish the Catholic Worker Movement, a pacifist movement that combines direct aid for the poor and homeless with nonviolent direct action on their behalf. She practiced civil disobedience, which led to additional arrests in 1955,1957, and in 1973 at the age of seventy-five


Day resolutely resisted war and war preparations inclusive of nuclear testing and armament for over half a century. Spear-heading the Catholic Worker, she led the movement in supporting peace, civil rights, worker rights and women's rights through prayer, publications, organizing, demonstrating, and educating.


At their 2012 annual meeting, the Catholic bishops of the United States unanimously recommended the canonization of Dorothy Day. By then the Vatican had already given her the title “Servant of God,” the first step in formally recognizing Dorothy Day as a saint.


More Selected Lenten Reflections: 


Wednesday of the Fourth Week. 
Lenten Reflections: How Many Times Am Forgiven? How Many Times Do I forgive?



Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent: Selected Lenten Reflections: Getting Ready to Celebrate St Patrick's Day - The Blessing of Beer

Mother St. Joseph , Noblewoman sold it all


Selected Lent Reflections: 40 Hours of Devotion


March 8, 2024 Friday Third Week of Lent Selected Reflections: Meet/Salute The Seven Women Saints Named In The Eucharistic Prayer At Mass



March 7, 2024 Thursday of Third Week of Lent Selected Reflections: 40 Hours Devotion


March 5, 2024 Tuesday of Third Week of Lent Selected Reflections: 24 Hours for the Lord

Pope Francis will open the 11th edition of the "24 Hours For The Lord" Lenten initiative this Friday, March 8, at the Roman parish of San Pio V.

March 4, 2024 Monday of Third Week of Lent Selected Reflections: Eucharistic Miracle

Eucharistic Miracle findings presented March 4 1971: Dr. Linoli concluded the "miraculous flesh and blood," were of human origin. He presented his findings on March 4, 1971 and published in "Quaderni Sclavo di Diagnostica Clinica e di Laboratori" the same year.

March 4, 2024 Monday of Third week of Lent - Selected Reflections: See a need, fill a need, Myrtilla Miner

"If God allows me to live, I will devote my entire life to teaching slaves" - Myrtilla Miner

March 2, 2024, Third Saturday of Lent - Selected Reflections: The Power of Prayer, Padre Pio



February 29, 2024, Thursday, the Second Week in Lent - Selected Reflections: Leap for Joy!

The only Leap Year Pope is Pope Paul III, born on Italy on February 29, 1468

February 28, 2024, Wednesday the Second Week in Lent - Selected Reflections: Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican


When my neighbor fails to kill my family, then calls me to visit him in prison. What do I do?


February 26, 2024, Monday of the Second Week in Lent - Selected Reflections

"The only time our Lord asked the apostles for anything was the night He went into agony. Not for activity did he plead but for an hour of companionship." - Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

February 23 2024 Friday, First Week of Lent, Selected Lenten Reflections: Servant of God Julia Greely


February 22 2024 Thursday, First Week of Lent, Selected Lenten Reflections: Blessed Carlo Acutis Highway to Heaven



RELATED



Pope recalls importance of Holy Week in leaving lasting mark on our lives

In a video message to the Confraternities of Mérida, Spain, Pope Francis recalls how Holy Week is "a time of grace" to be dedicated to prayer and to our brothers and sisters most in need



Eucharistic Miracles of the World by Servant of God Carlo Acuti

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Lenten Reflections: How Many Times Am I Forgiven? How Many Times Do I forgive?

Wednesday of the Fourth Week. 
Lenten Reflections: How Many Times Am Forgiven? How Many Times Do I forgive?






In life’s journey, we inevitably encounter pain, hurt, and betrayal moments. These wounds can leave lasting scars on our hearts, burdening us with emotional baggage that weighs us down. How many times are we suppose to forgive those who have wronged us?



In Chapter 17 St. Luke has the answer: "Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.

And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.”

The Catholic Church (CCC 976) teaches about forgiveness. In Day 134 of CIY podcast, Father Mike Schmitz expands on it

Servite Father Lawrence Martin Jenco (1934-1996) was kidnapped in Beirut on Jan. 8, 1985, where he had been acting as Director of Catholic Relief Services. For 564 days he endured harsh treatment as he was held captive by members of the Islamic Jihad.


St. Luke Chapter 11:1



In a compelling interview at the Catholic Center of the University of Southern California where he served as director in the years before his death, Father Lawrence Jenco recounted his experiences in his book Bound to Forgive. As a chronicle of events, this book offers a riveting account of Father Martin Jenco's kidnapping and resultant 19 months as a hostage of Shiite Muslims. With pathos and humor, he unflinchingly journeys back through the time, events, circumstances, and people of his incarceration.

Father Jenco had served refugees in Thailand and Yemen before he traveled to Lebanon in late 1984 to direct Catholic Relief Services in Beirut. As he headed for his Beirut office on a January morning in 1985, he was abducted by gunmen. One of them shouted in English, his voice shaking with hatred, "You're a dead man." He was blindfolded, bound with tape, and tossed into the space for spare tires beneath the bed of a truck. As the vehicle careened down the road, the bound and gagged priest realized his nose was bleeding. He feared he was in a hearse and was to be buried alive. Silently, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me."

Father Jenco's first two months of captivity were spent in a clothes closet, a plastic bag over his head, then spent seven months blindfolded, and eight months chained to a radiator. He counted each radiator link as a rosary, and silently celebrated mass every day.

"Whenever I thought that the next minute surely would be death, I didn't think about my sins, but of God's goodness. When you're tethered, refused the use of a toilet, and forced to eat off the floor, you experience the sensation of being an animal," says Father Jenco.

About 13 months into his captivity, a young guard named Sayeed asked Father Jenco for forgiveness. Father leaned against the wall and said, "Oh Sayeed, there were times I hated you. I was filled with anger and revenge for what you did to me and my brothers But Jesus said on a mountaintop that I was not to hate you. I was to love you. Sayeed, I need to ask God's forgiveness and yours "









Happy Camper's in a review of Father Jenco's book characterizes it as life-chsnging: "I decided to read this story aloud to my husband who has glaucoma, and we could hardly put the book down! The story of cruelty and humiliation builds up until one concludes that the whole experience can only be classified as totally unforgivable. Father Jenco's journey to forgiveness puts you to shame when you remember how hard it was for you to forgive a much less onerous offense. Truly inspiring and life-changing!"


The Catholic Church (CCC 976) teaches
that "The Apostle's Creed associates faith in the forgiveness of sins not only with faith in the Holy Spirit, but also with faith in the Church and in the communion of saints. It was when he gave the Holy Spirit to his apostles that the risen Christ conferred on them his own divine power to forgive sins: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained"



In Day 134 of CIY podcast, Father Mike Schmitz explains: "Because it was when Jesus gave the Holy Spiri to the apostles that Jesus gave them his own power, divine power to forgive sins. If you remember back in John's Gospel, chapter 20, Jesus breathed and they received the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. So he gives to the apostles his own divine power ability to forgive sins. That's how the forgiveness of Jesus Christ comes to us. That's how what he merited by his life, death and resurrection on the cross in the death and resurrection and giving us the Holy Spirit. That's how it comes to us. It comes to us. That forgiveness, that mercy, that redemption, it comes to us through the ministry of the church. that forgiveness, that mercy, that redemption, it comes to us through the ministry of the church. This is incredible. Now, first it comes to us, it says in paragraph 977, through baptism, through faith and baptism.



More Selected Lenten Reflections: 

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent: Selected Lenten Reflections: Getting Ready to Celebrate St Patrick's Day - The Blessing of Beer

Mother St. Joseph , Noblewoman sold it all


Selected Lent Reflections: 40 Hours of Devotion


March 8, 2024 Friday Third Week of Lent Selected Reflections: Meet/Salute The Seven Women Saints Named In The Eucharistic Prayer At Mass



March 7, 2024 Thursday of Third Week of Lent Selected Reflections: 40 Hours Devotion


March 5, 2024 Tuesday of Third Week of Lent Selected Reflections: 24 Hours for the Lord

Pope Francis will open the 11th edition of the "24 Hours For The Lord" Lenten initiative this Friday, March 8, at the Roman parish of San Pio V.

March 4, 2024 Monday of Third Week of Lent Selected Reflections: Eucharistic Miracle

Eucharistic Miracle findings presented March 4 1971: Dr. Linoli concluded the "miraculous flesh and blood," were of human origin. He presented his findings on March 4, 1971 and published in "Quaderni Sclavo di Diagnostica Clinica e di Laboratori" the same year.

March 4, 2024 Monday of Third week of Lent - Selected Reflections: See a need, fill a need, Myrtilla Miner

"If God allows me to live, I will devote my entire life to teaching slaves" - Myrtilla Miner

March 2, 2024, Third Saturday of Lent - Selected Reflections: The Power of Prayer, Padre Pio

February 29, 2024, Thursday, the Second Week in Lent - Selected Reflections: Leap for Joy!

The only Leap Year Pope is Pope Paul III, born on Italy on February 29, 1468

February 28, 2024, Wednesday the Second Week in Lent - Selected Reflections: Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican


When my neighbor fails to kill my family, then calls me to visit him in prison. What do I do?


February 26, 2024, Monday of the Second Week in Lent - Selected Reflections

"The only time our Lord asked the apostles for anything was the night He went into agony. Not for activity did he plead but for an hour of companionship." - Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

February 23 2024 Friday, First Week of Lent, Selected Lenten Reflections: Servant of God Julia Greely


February 22 2024 Thursday, First Week of Lent, Selected Lenten Reflections: Blessed Carlo Acutis Highway to Heaven

RELATED


Eucharistic Miracles of the World by Servant of God Carlo Acuti

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Pope Francis Worldwide Prayer Network, the Apostleship of Prayer

Join me and others around the world and pray with Pope Francis.  Each month the Pope entrusts a prayer intention to his Worldwide Prayer Network, the Apostleship of Prayer. These intentions, express the Pope’s concern for humanity and the mission of the Church.  While praying can be done at anytime, hour house will do the Divine Office - Liturgy of the Hours three times a day:  Lauds, Vesper and Compline plus the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
An excellent time to pray for Pope Francis' Intentions.


Pope’s Intention March 2024

We pray that those who risk their lives for the Gospel in various parts of the world inflame the Church with their courage and missionary enthusiasm.





RELATED 


Persecution of Catholics in the USA:

DOJ  War On Catholics


Hundreds of churches have been vandalized, the FBI has been weaponized against people of faith – sounds like a dystopian novel, but that’s the state of our country the past three years.


How should we react to the anger and resentment fueling the surge in violence against American Catholics?



After witnessing the vandalization of his own parish, Fr. Joseph Krupp explains in this EDIFY video why the recent rise in anti-Catholicism.





RESOURCES:


Sacred Place - Daily Online Prayer

Divine Office - Liturgy of the Hours.



Sunday, March 10, 2024

Selected Lenten Reflections: The Blessing of Beer

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent: Selected Lenten Reflections: Getting Ready to Celebrate St Patrick's Day - The Blessing of Beer

The period of Lent in the Catholic faith is a time for sacrifice and reflection. it is the solemn Christian religious observance in the liturgical year commemorating the 40 days Jesus Christ spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, before beginning his public ministry


The Catechism of the Catholic Church, (2290) teaches that "The virtue of temperance disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine. Those incur grave guilt who, by drunkenness or a love of speed, endanger their own and others' safety on the road, at sea, or in the air. That is, drunkenness is a form of gluttony, and a grave sin. Excessive eating is also gluttony, but we can still eat and enjoy good food. Catholics are taught to be temperate in the consumption of both food and drink. In Day 299 of his CIY podcast titled Respect for Health, Father Mike Schmitz cover four brief paragraphs 2288-2291 on respect for health


While Christian views on alcohol are varied, throughout the first 1,800 years of Church history, Christians generally consumed alcoholic beverages as a common part of everyday life. They held that both the Bible and Christian tradition taught that alcohol is a gift from God that makes life more joyous, they mostly agree on the temperance principle.


Pope Francis famously declared wine a necessity in 2016, and former Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his 90th birthday with a beer and bretzels in August, 2017.


The Benedictio Cerevisiae is included in the 17th-century Roman Ritual. Chapter VIII of the Rituale Romanum, a liturgical manual dated 1614, includes special blessings for almost anything you might use on a daily basis, literally — the chapter is titled “Blessings of things designated for ordinary use.” In it, you will findblessings for cheese or butter, for seeds, for salt or oats for animals, fishing boats, tools used by mountain climbers and, naturally, for beer.





Beer BlessingThe Benedictio Cerevisiae - Blessing of Beer

V. Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini.
R. Qui fecit caelum et terram.
V. Dominus vobiscum.
R. Et cum spiritu tuo.

Oremus.
Bene+dic, Domine, creaturam istam cerevisiae, quam ex adipe frumenti producere dignatus es: ut sit remedium salutare humano generi, et praesta per invocationem nominis tui sancti; ut, quicumque ex ea biberint, sanitatem corpus et animae tutelam percipiant. Per Christum Dominum nostrum.
R. Amen.

Et aspergatur aqua benedicta.

English translation
V. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
R. Who made heaven and earth.
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray.
Bless, + O Lord, this creature beer, which thou hast deigned to produce from the fat of grain: that it may be a salutary remedy to the human race, and grant through the invocation of thy holy name; that, whoever shall drink it, may gain health in body and peace in soul. Through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.

And it is sprinkled with holy water


Beer, the English Coffeehouse and the Enlightment


Steven Johnson in his Ted Talk Where Ideas Come From argues that the English coffeehouse was crucial to the development and spread of one of the great intellectual flowering of the last 500 years known as the Enlightment. One of the things that made the coffeehouse important was the architecture: a place where people would get together from different backgrounds, different fields of expertise and share. An agora of ideas the focal point of all the day-to-day activity, creating a marketplace of ideas where vigorous debate was encouraged and the best ideas emerged victorious.
In ancient Greece, the agora (/ˈæɡərə/; romanized: agorá, meaning "market" was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states, the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order of the polis. Antithetical to today's Big Tech's social media and AI tools like Google's Gemini: In 2003 GW Bush proposed to stop the suppression of free speech, hate and division in the Muslim World. Big Tech followed through promising to democratize the world by offering free Internet access. But it quickly carved out silos, monetized hate and division and is developing close-architcture AI tools with predictable results: Pope Francis Laudate Deum is Spot on "29. The ethical decadence of real power is disguised thanks to marketing and false information, useful tools in the hands of those with greater resources to employ them to shape public opinion. .. Artificial intelligence and the latest technological innovations start with the notion of a human being with no limits, whose abilities and possibilities can be infinitely expanded thanks to technology. In this way, the technocratic paradigm monstrously feeds upon itself."

Johnson also argued that "an astonishing number of innovations from this period have a coffeehouse in their story." Johnson also attributed the popularity of the coffeehouse :..in part because of what people drank before coffee and tea through British culture: alcohol because water wasn't safe to drink."


Others agree with Johnson that water in the Middle Ages was polluted, full of bacteria and, and not a healthy choice for hydration forcIng everyone, from commoners to royalty to turn to beer.

Yet others like Tim O'Neill say that "contrary to what is found all over the Internet on the subject, the most common drink was water, for the obvious reason: It’s free. Medieval villages and towns were built around sources of fresh water. This could be fresh running water, a spring or, in many cases, wells. All of these could easily provide fresh, disease- and impurity-free water "

Whether beer was a suitable replacement for water, or not, in is generally agreed it was a more nutritious alternative than water. Even though it was weakly brewed from barley, at the time beer was the energy drink of choice - a calorie-laden beverage popular with workers and farmers who were thirsty and in need of energy. In the end, it would still have been more costly to drink than water. Unless home-brewed, beer had to be purchased, and like wine, there often were taxes and transportation fees involved


Beer as the Energy Drink of the Middle Ages


According to HowStuffWorks, the beer of Medieval Europe was weaker than that of today, with the ABV speculated to have been around three percent. People didn't drink it to get drunk — instead, they drank it as a source of carbs and calories.



Three pints of stout will give you roughly the equivalent of a single yolk egg and contain 3% of an adult's recommended daily dose of iron, which can help boost your energy levels if you're feeling a bit sluggish. For centuries alcohol has always played an important, and sometimes decisive, role in warfare. As it brought the troups moral and courage in many armies the intake of booze was allowed or even stimulated. Other commanders believed it was best to keep their troops as sober as possible, so they wouldn’t go out of control. But no matter if we’re talking wine for the Roman legions, gin and rum for the British soldiers in the colonies, whisky during the American Civil War or vodka for the Red Army during World War II, alcohol has always been an important issue in combat.


The proverb “an army marches on its stomach” is widely attributed to Napoleon, and on campaign it seems that he did make the most of the local resources, despite his abstemiousness his general predilection was for “whatever the boys were drinking”


Beer and the Holy Happy HourIn his book Drinking wth the Saints: The Sinner’s Guide to a Holy Happy Hour, Michael Foley begins by explaining the joy of drinking in moderation. He shows that, in fact, many of the saints we know and love today relished a good happy hour—which is why Foley wrote a book with different cocktail recipes to honor our favorite saints.


Foley explains that the purpose of his book is to promote the type of drinking which the saints embraced. He writes: "Drinking with the Saints has as one of its aims the promotion of the refined and temperate art of drinking, an art which involves a discerning palate, a sense of moderation, and a generous dose of self-knowledge. The art also calls for a certain mindfulness or contemplative presence…You can be sure that when Our Lord made wine so good that it impressed even the seasoned steward at the Wedding of Cana, He was endorsing only the best forms of imbibing."

Beer is one of the oldest human-produced drinks. The first chemically confirmed barley-beer, from modern-day Iraq, dates back to the 5th millennium BCE. And in China, beer was brewed using barley and other grains, from around 5,000 years ago.

Beer produced before the Industrial Revolution continued to be made and sold on a domestic scale, although by the 7th century CE beer was also being produced and sold by European monasteries. Occasionally a batch of beer would go bad and people would blame the devil for the problem. To keep the demons away, brewers would place religious statues in their brew house, and ask a local priest to bless a new batch.

"St. Arnold of Metz, the patron saint of brewers, once blessed the kettle used to brew beer to convince the people of the city to drink beer instead of water during a plague, which saved many lives, It became clear that if you drank the monk’s beer you lived and if you drank the water you died"

Blessed Serendipity

 It was the Paulaner monks, who were moving from Southern Italy to the Cloister Neudeck ob der Au in Bavaria in the early 1600s, observed a strict 40-day fast for Lent. The fast meant that they could not consume solid food. Needing nutrition during their fast, the Paulaner monks designed a strong beer that was dubbed sankt-vater-bier or “Holy Father Beer.” The name eventually evolved into Salvator, which is Latin for “savior.” The monks liked the beer so much that they felt it might not be appropriate for Lent. At about 1629 they sought the opinion of the pope. The beer supposedly spoiled during the trek from Munich to Rome. Upon tasting it, the pope thought it was so horrendous that anyone who would dare to drink it for sustenance would be humbled by the experience. Thus, Salvator became a papal approved beer. Maffeo Barberini reigned as Pope Urban VIII from 1623 until his death in 1644.


During the Industrial Revolution, the production of beer moved from artisanal manufacture to industrial manufacture, and domestic manufacture ceased to be significant by the end of the 19th century

Patron Saints of Beer 

Brewing has always been honored as a noble and honorable art, and through the centuries, many brew masters have called upon saintly patrons to aid them in their craft.
The catholic church has a number of saints whose patronage has something to with beer, brewers, brewing ingredients or related occupations. Perhaps the most famous of brewing patrons is St. Arnulf of Metz. St. Arnulf was a bishop and advisor to king Theudebert II of Austrasia. After his death at Remiremont Abbey, parishioners from his former diocese of Metz, who already venerated him as a saint, went to recover his body. The journey was during a particularly hot part of the year, and the travelers were ready to faint of thirst. One of the parishioners, by the name of Duc Notto, cried out, “By his powerful intercession the Blessed Arnold will bring us what we lack.” Miraculously, their supply of beer was replenished and lasted until they returned home.

St. Gambrinus, Technically not a saint, but treated as one, especially in Belgium

St. Augustine of Hippo
: Patron saint of brewers


St. Luke the Evangelist – Patron saint of brewers.

St. Wenceslaus – Known for his heroic almsgiving and compassion for outcasts, St. Wenceslaus was venerated immediately upon his martyrdom in 935 A.D.



Conclusion










Whether you are using alcohol to help you live in the moment, grow in friendship, replicate the English coffeehouse, create an agora  or  simply enjoy life more, drinking  too much distorts the goodness of alcohol. The Bible always condemns drunkenness, and in the video above
Fr. Mike points out why. In doing so, he also shows how to really enjoy a drink with friends or family, and enjoying a drink the right way is much better than getting drunk and getting drunk is a sin. If you enjoy beer, drink responsibly.


More Selected Lenten Reflections





Selected Lenten Reflections: Mother St. Joseph , Noblewoman sold it all



Selected Lent Reflections: 40 Hours of Devotion


March 8, 2024 Friday Third Week of Lent Selected Reflections: Meet/Salute The Seven Women Saints Named In The Eucharistic Prayer At Mass



March 7, 2024 Thursday of Third Week of Lent Selected Reflections: 40 Hours Devotion




March 5, 2024 Tuesday of Third Week of Lent Selected Reflections: 24 Hours for the Lord

Pope Francis will open the 11th edition of the "24 Hours For The Lord" Lenten initiative this Friday, March 8, at the Roman parish of San Pio V.

March 4, 2024 Monday of Third Week of Lent Selected Reflections: Eucharistic Miracle

Eucharistic Miracle findings presented March 4 1971: Dr. Linoli concluded the "miraculous flesh and blood," were of human origin. He presented his findings on March 4, 1971 and published in "Quaderni Sclavo di Diagnostica Clinica e di Laboratori" the same year.

March 4, 2024 Monday of Third week of Lent - Selected Reflections: See a need, fill a need, Myrtilla Miner

"If God allows me to live, I will devote my entire life to teaching slaves" - Myrtilla Miner

March 2, 2024, Third Saturday of Lent - Selected Reflections: The Power of Prayer, Padre Pio

February 29, 2024, Thursday, the Second Week in Lent - Selected Reflections: Leap for Joy!

The only Leap Year Pope is Pope Paul III, born on Italy on February 29, 1468

February 28, 2024, Wednesday the Second Week in Lent - Selected Reflections: Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican


When my neighbor fails to kill my family, then calls me to visit him in prison. What do I do?


February 26, 2024, Monday of the Second Week in Lent - Selected Reflections

"The only time our Lord asked the apostles for anything was the night He went into agony. Not for activity did he plead but for an hour of companionship." - Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

February 23 2024 Friday, First Week of Lent, Selected Lenten Reflections: Servant of God Julia Greely


February 22 2024 Thursday, First Week of Lent, Selected Lenten Reflections: Blessed Carlo Acutis Highway to Heaven
RELATED


Eucharistic Miracles of the World by Servant of God Carlo Acuti

Saturday, March 09, 2024

Lenten Reflection: Meet/Salute The Seven Women Saints Named In The Eucharistic Prayer At Mass

March 8, 2024 Friday Third Week of Lent Selected Reflections: Meet/Salute The Seven Women Saints Named In The Eucharistic Prayer At Mass

The early Christians were persecuted, throughout the Roman Empire. Seven Women Saints stand out and are often venerated during Mass.

"One day, however, I realized something incredible: In this long Eucharistic Prayer, several women are mentioned. Stunned, my thoughts crowded together. This prayer has been around since th" early days of the Church. For CENTURIES, in societies where women were looked down upon, Catholic priests have been mentioning specific women right after the Consecration!"' AnneMarie Miller. The Women of the Canon (and why they’re awesome)









In Day 187 of Father Mike Schmitz's CIY podcast titled Sacrificial Unity, he covers paragraphs 1369 to 1372 of the Catholic Catechism. The Catholic Catechism Part Two, paragraphs 1322 - 1419 covers the Celebration of the Christian Mystery


Originally the Roman Empire was polytheistic and emperors were deified. As Christianity spread through the empire, it came into ideological conflict with the imperial cult of ancient Rome. Pagan practices such as making sacrifices to the deified emperors or other gods were abhorrent to Christians as their beliefs prohibited idolatry. The state, the elites and other members of civic society punished Christians for treason, rumored crimes, illegal assembly, and for introducing an alien cult that led to Roman apostasy. The first, localized Neronian persecution occurred under Emperor Nero (r. 54–68
According to Tacitus, Nero blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome in 64,  which destroyed portions of the city and economically devastated the Roman population.

During this period, anti-Christian activities were accusatory and not inquisitive. Christians were accused and prosecuted through a process termed cognitio extra ordinem. Trials and punishments varied greatly, and sentences ranged from acquittal to death. Many early Christians were jailed or exiled and some, refusing to renounce their faith, were tortured and killed in public stadiums for all to see.

The names of some of these saints, and specifically seven women are mentioned as part of the First Eucharistic Prayer of the
Mass known as the Roman Canon. The Canon of the Mass is the first of four general eucharistic prayers in the Roman Missal from which the priest may select. More commonly called Eucharistic Prayer 1, it is also known by its former title, “the Roman Canon,” and it served as the only eucharistic prayer in the Roman rite for more than a thousand years. Regarding mentioning the saints, the final seven names listed in the Roman Canon, each Eucharistic Prayer has its own characteristics. Before Pope John XXIII added St. Joseph, the Roman Canon traditionally listed 24 saints (12 apostles and 12 martyrs) in two separate groups.

The full list is:

First: Peter and Paul, Andrew, (James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Jude [apostles], Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, [5 Popes] Cyprian [bishop of Carthage], Lawrence [deacon], Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian [5 laymen]).

Second: John the Baptist, Stephen [deacon protomartyr], Matthias, Barnabas [apostles], (Ignatius [bishop of Antioch], Alexander [Pope], Marcellinus [priest, Peter [exorcist], Felicity, Perpetua [2 married laywomen of Carthage], Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia [4 virgins], Anastasia [laywoman of Sirmium]).


The final seven names listed in the Roman Canon (the “First Eucharistic Prayer” or “Eucharistic Prayer I”) are women saints of the Church. Sts. Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, and Anastasia are all saints of the Roman Empire in the early Church. Of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary is also mentioned by name in the Roman Canon;

Sts. Felicity and Perpetua

St. Felicity was the pregnant servant girl of St. Perpetua. They were both thrown to the lions in the Roman province of Carthage in Africa in the very early third century. A high-born noblewoman, Perpetua cared for her young infant while in prison. She was 22 years old at the time.

St. Felicity gave birth just days before her martyrdom. Despite the torrent of suffering at the end of their young lives, these women exuded the care of a mother’s heart. St. Perpetua and her servant St. Felicity were martyred by beheading for refusing to denounce Christ.

St. Agatha was a third-century Sicilian woman who was accused of being Christian and imprisoned. As a young girl, she was said to have chosen Jesus as her spouse. A martyr, St. Agatha finally gave up her spirit in prayer while being horrendously tortured.


St. Lucy, like St. Agatha, was a Sicilian noblewoman. She was blinded, and was also pulled by oxen, covered in pitch, resin, and hot oil, and then died by having her throat cut. She died along many other Christian martyrs under the persecution of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.

St. Agnes was the daughter of a wealthy Roman in the fourth century. She was a twelve-year-old girl whose name means “Lamb” in Latin. St. Jerome writes of her: “Agnes is praised in the literature and speech of all peoples, especially in the Churches, she who overcame both her age and the tyrant, and consecrated by her martyrdom to chastity.”

St. Cecilia, patron saint of musicians, married a pagan man named Valerian. Seeing her love of the Lord, her husband and his brother converted to Christianity. The pagan prefect of the city learned this and ordered that she be killed in her own home. She survived and was stabbed in the neck; according to legend, she lived for three more days building others up in the faith and asking that her home be converted into a church. Her husband and his brother also met the death of a martyr.

Anastasia, which in Greek means “to rise again” or “resurrection” was from Rome and was martyred in modern-day Serbia in 304 A.D. along with 270 other men and women. She was known to be a miraculous healer and an exorcist.






In Catholic Mom, AnneMarie Miller in her piece
"The Women of the Canon (and why they’re awesome)," writes:


"One day, however, I realized something incredible: In this long Eucharistic Prayer, several women are mentioned. Stunned, my thoughts crowded together. This prayer has been around since the early days of the Church. For CENTURIES, in societies where women were looked down upon, Catholic priests have been mentioning specific women right after the Consecration! As I think about these women of the early Church, I’m touched by what I can learn from them. First off, there’s the Blessed Virgin Mary. Next, there’s Felicity and Perpetua. Then, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, and Cecilia. Finally, there’s Anastasia. All of these women gave their lives completely to God. Mary said “yes” to becoming the mother of our Savior, and she continued offering this “yes” all throughout her life. The other women followed Mary’s example in their own lives of service to others and dedication to God. For example, before she was tortured and killed, St. Anastasia would visit and feed imprisoned Christians. Perpetua, while being imprisoned, cared for her young baby, and Felicity gave birth just before she was killed. Lucy, Agnes, Agatha, and Cecilia were all very young when they were martyred. All of these women were bold, courageous, and loving. Mothers and virgins, married and unmarried, they embodied sacrificial love in their lives. The eight women of the Roman Canon remind me that we all may have different lifestyles and vocations, but all of us are called to be holy in a radical way. St. Perpetua wrote an account of her imprisonment in 203 A.D., and after recounting a vision she had, makes a declaration that throbs with hope:

And I awoke; and I understood that I should fight, not with beasts but against the devil; but I knew that mine was the victory. (The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity)



As AnneMarie so aptly puts it: Let’s ask them to help us as we pursue God, and as we struggle to accept His will in an increasingly secular culture. Mary, Mother of God, pray for us! Sts. Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, and Anastasia, pray for us!


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Friday, March 08, 2024

Selected Lenten Reflections: Mother St. Joseph , Noblewoman sold it all



Mother St. Joseph, SNDdeN, also known as Marie Louise Françoise Blin de Bourdon was born 8 March 1756, Gézaincourt. Françoise Blin de Bourdon, a wealthy French noblewoman and a close friend of St. Julie Billiart, together co-founded the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.





Françoise grew up with a doting grandmother, a home on a luxurious estate, and access to the upper echelons of 18th-century French society. As a member of the nobility, she was taught by the Bernardine Sisters and later the Ursuline Sisters.

Françoise, whose family belonged to the French aristocracy and nobility, had been presented at the court of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in Versailles. French revolutionists imprisoned and guillotined the king and queen. Then they began executing members of the aristocracy and clergy. Françoise herself was imprisoned, while awaiting execution. Just one day before her date with the guillotine, Maximilian Robespierre, the mastermind of the French Revolution, fell from power, and Françoise was freed.


When her mother died in 1784, it was a life-changing experience: she attended daily Mass and spent her time on charitable works.



She returned to visiting the sick and the poor and that led her to St. Julie Billiart who, paralyzed and bedridden, was a guest in the home of Françoise’s brother in Amiens.

At first, Françoise found visiting the sick woman distasteful. Gradually a strong friendship grew between them. With St. Julie’s guidance, she spent her whole life letting go of anything that could come between her and God. Eventually Francoise told St. Julie of her dream to join the Carmelites.
Francoise never become a Carmelite, instead she and St. Julie co-founded the Sisters of Notre Damede Namur, a religious community that educated poor, young girls and trained teachers.


Francoise wrote the “Memoirs” that tell us so much about St. Julie and the early history of the Congregation. Françoise also provided a spiritual foundation by writing the first “Rule,” which described the spirit of the religious congregation and the way of life for the Sisters. She was the Congregation’s first “donor,” providing the financial support from her family inheritance which enabled the Sisters to expand during the early years. She succeeded St. Julie as the superior general (worldwide leader) of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.



Saint Mathew tells us: " 21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. 22 When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions" Chapter 19

Before her death, Mother St. Joseph had given away all her material goods.

Mother St. Joseph, pray that we may learn to store treasure in heave.


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