 Jesus
multiplies the bread
Mark 8:1-10
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"Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to Heaven." --Saint Pope Pius X |
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INDEX: | PLEASE PRAY FOR THE END OF ABORTION IN THE UNITED STATES Pray for a constitutional amendment to ban all abortion 
"Then people brought little children to him, for him to lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples scolded them, but Jesus said, 'Let the little children alone, and do not stop them from coming to me; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of Heaven belongs.' Then he laid his hands on them and went on his way." The Bible, Matthew 21:13-15 "You created every part of me; you put me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because you are to be feared; all you do is strange and wonderful. I know it with all my heart. When my bones were being formed, carefully put together in my mother's womb, when I was growing there in secret, you knew that I was there you saw me before I was born. The days allotted to me had all been recorded in you book, before any of them ever began." The Bible: Psalm 139: 13-16 DIVINE MERCY PRAYER TO END ABORTION IN U.S. : You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.
(Repeat three times) O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You! PRAY THE DIVINE MERCY CHAPLET FOR AN ABORTION BAN 

SEE MORE ON ABORTION
MISSOURI'S BAN ON ABORTION
Missouri's ban on abortion began on June 24, 2022, when the
state's "trigger law" took effect.
The law was signed into effect by
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt in response to the U.S. Supreme
Court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.
Officials in Missouri signed the state's "trigger law" into effect after
the Supreme Court ruled that abortion was not a constitutional right. (The
Beacon) |
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"At the evening of life, you will be examined in love. Learn to love as God desires to be loved and abandon your own ways of acting." Saint John of the Cross |
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MASS READINGS FOR TODAY
Tuesday, February
18, 2025Tuesday
of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Reading I
Genesis 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10
When the LORD saw how great was mans wickedness on earth,
and how no desire that his heart conceived
was ever anything but evil,
he regretted that he had made man on the earth,
and his heart was grieved.
So the LORD said:
I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created,
and not only the men,
but also the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air,
for I am sorry that I made them.
But Noah found favor with the LORD.
Then the LORD said to Noah:
Go into the ark, you and all your household,
for you alone in this age have I found to be truly just.
Of every clean animal, take with you seven pairs,
a male and its mate;
and of the unclean animals, one pair,
a male and its mate;
likewise, of every clean bird of the air, seven pairs,
a male and a female,
and of all the unclean birds, one pair,
a male and a female.
Thus you will keep their issue alive over all the earth.
Seven days from now I will bring rain down on the earth
for forty days and forty nights,
and so I will wipe out from the surface of the earth
every moving creature that I have made.
Noah did just as the LORD had commanded him.
As soon as the seven days were over,
the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 29:1a, 2, 3ac-4, 3b & 9c-10
R. (11b) The Lord will bless his people with peace.
Give to the LORD, you sons of God,
give to the LORD glory and praise,
Give to the LORD the glory due his name;
adore the LORD in holy attire.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The voice of the
LORD is over the waters,
the LORD, over vast waters.
The voice of the LORD is mighty;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The God of glory
thunders,
and in his temple all say, Glory!
The LORD is enthroned above the flood;
the LORD is enthroned as king forever.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
John 14:23
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord;
and my Father will love him
and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mark 8:14-21
The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod.
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?
They answered him, Twelve.
When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?
They answered him, Seven.
He said to them, Do you still not understand?
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SAINT FOR TODAY OR FEAST DAY
February 18
SEVEN FOUNDERS OF THE SERVITE ORDER
(1233-1310)

THE great impetus to the pursuit of holy
poverty given by St Francis of Assisi, and the Friars Minor in the early decades
of the thirteenth century, led in Italy especially, to the growth of much
asceticism, and the desire of perfection through a life of retirement and
mortification. In 1233 there were in Florence seven merchants of patrician rank,
named respectively Buon figlio de Monaldi, Giovanni di Buonaguinta, Bartolomeo
degli Amidei, Ricovera dei Lippi-Ugguccioni, Benedetto dell' Antella, Gheradino
di Sostegno and Alessio di Falconieri. They were accustomed to meet together to
sing the praises of Our Lady, and on the Feast of the Assumption, 1233, while
engaged in this pious exercise, it is said that the Blessed Virgin appeared to
them, and bade them devote themselves entirely to the spiritual life. They
formed themselves into a brotherhood, and for greater seclusion retired to Monte
Senario, a wild and lonely spur of the Apennines. The fraternity left Florence
in the order of a pro-cession, carrying the Cross and an image of Our Lady. A
small rustic oratory was erected on the Mount at once, but until the permanent
monastery was built, the little community led an austere life in the caves and
holes of the neighbouring rocks. It was near this eremitical abode that occurred
the rapid and marvellous growth of a vine planted by the brethren —a growth
which was taken to prognosticate the future and wonderful expansion of the
Order, and the dissemination of its spiritual fruits among men. It was at Monte
Senario, so it is alleged, that the vision of Our Lady was repeated,
during which they were ordered to follow the rule of St Augustine, wear a black
habit and girdle, and live under the three usual vows. Ten years later, St Peter
Martyr, Inquisitor-General of Italy, brought the new Society to the favourable
notice of the Pope, but no official approval was given by the Holy See till 13th
March, 1249. In 1251, Innocent IV made Cardinal Gugelielmo Fieschi first
Protector of the Order. The name " Servites, or Religious Servants of the Holy
Virgin " is said to have arisen from the following occurrence. Some embers of
the Order were begging their bread one day in the streets of Florence (?), when
suddenly some infants in their mothers' arms cried out to the amazement of the
bystanders " See the Servants of the Virgin or, as another version relates it "
See the Servants of Mary ! " One of the children who spoke out in this
marvellous manner was Philip Benizi, who later became General of the Order and
one of the, chief of its Saints.Ή
The great trial of the Order came in
1276, when Innocent V meditated, oppressing it in accordance with the Resolution
of the Council of Lyons against the multiplication of religious orders. But the
danger passed way, and, after more than two centuries of continued progress,
Innocent VIII, by the Constitution Mare Magnum (1487), not only confirmed all
former grants and privileges, but also bestowed on the Servites the same
perogatives enjoyed by the great mendicant and preaching orders. When the last
of the " Seven Founders,” St Alexis Falconieri died, 1310, the brethren already
numbered over 10,000, chiefly in Italy and Germany. There were no houses of the
foundation in England at the time of the Great Pillage, 1536—39, but at present
there are three houses of men in this country, one in the Fulham Road, London,
S.W., Our Lady of Dolours (1867) ; the Priory at Bognor, commenced in a
temporary chapel, 1880, and transferred to the new church-residence, opened 16th
August, 1882. The third house, St Wilfred's Priory and School, is at Todmorden,
Lancashire. The number of Servite Convents in England amounts to about twelve.
The object of the Servite
Order may be described as twofold. The first and temporary one was the
pacification of Italy, torn by the factions of Guelph and Ghibelline, and the
local feuds of the great Italian families which followed the lead of either of
these parties. The second and permanent intention, after the sanctification of
its own members, was the spiritual betterment of populations and communities,
schools and universities. This is effected in the ordinary way by parochial
ministration, by missions and retreats. The principal devotion is to the Dolours
of the Blessed Virgin and the Passion of Our Lord—those dual exercises of piety
that have led so many to repentance and so many to perfection ! The Seven Holy
Founders were beatified in 1752 by Bye most learned of the Popes, Benedict XIV,
and solemnly canonized in 1888 by Leo XIII, the great Pontiff, part of whose
mission it apparently was to disseminate in a world gone astray the true
principles of Catholic philosophy.
Ή Similar stories of
prophetic voices are narrated even in connection with pagan history, as, for
instance, the famous case of the child who cried "Triumph ! " on one occasion
when the Roman populace was greatly dejected by the early reverses of the Second
Punic War. But the Romans were a " Chosen People "—a nation raised up to mould
the civil and religious destinies of the world and the infantine prediction in
question, if uttered, may well have been the audible expression of the will of
Providence.
Among the other members of the Order publicly
honoured by the Church must be reckoned St Philip Benizi (Feast, 23rd August),
St Peregrine Tatiosi (30th April), and St Juliana Falconieri(19th June) At the
other end of the scale may be mentioned the noted or notorious Fr. Pietro Sarpi,
better known from his professed name as Fra Paolo (1552-1623). Most of his life
was spent at Venice as Provincial of the Servites, which office he first
received in 1575. The "Theologian of the Republic," as Sarpi came to be styled,
strenuously defended the Government of the Doge in its quarrel with Paul V,
1606, and as in most Church and State disputes, certainly in this one, the
secular party had, in one respect, much right to maintain. This was on the
subject of criminal clerks and their amenability to the civil power. Considering
the social condition of Venice and of Italian cities generally at that time,
owing to great moral relaxation, the numbers of merely nominal ecclesiastics,
and the prevalence of duelling, assassination and other scandals, few will
disposed to deny that the contemporary privilegium fori stood in need of
considerable revision. Sarpi's History of the Council of Trent is,
however so anti-papal and anti-catholic generally, that many writers are of
opinion that the author had at heart the establishment of some kind of
Protestantism at Venice! The book has been criticized by many non-Catholic
authorities including von Ranke, who, nevertheless, considers the author as the
greatest Italian historian after Machiavelli—a judgment which, of course, may be
taken in more senses than one.
[Histoire des Sept Saints Fondateurs, Paris, 1888 ;
Historica Sketch, published by the Catholic Truth Society.] [This account was
taken from Butler's Lives of the Saints]
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