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SAINT OF THE DAY (July 23)

Today, July 23, the Church celebrates the feast day of St. Bridget of Sweden.

Bridget received visions of Christ’s suffering many times throughout her life and went on to found the Order of the Most Holy Savior.

Daughter of Birger Persson, governor and provincial judge of Uppland, and Ingeborg Bengtsdotter, Bridget was born in Sweden in 1303.

From the time she was a child, she was greatly devoted to the passion of Jesus.

When she was only ten, it is recorded that she had a vision of Jesus on the cross and heard him say, “Look at me, my daughter."

"Who has treated you like this?" cried little Bridget.

Jesus answered, "Those who despise me and refuse my love for them.” 

From that moment on, Bridget tried to stop people from offending Jesus.

When she was 14, Bridget married an 18-year old man named Ulf. Like Bridget, Ulf had set his heart on serving God.

They had eight children. One of them is now honored as St. Catherine of Sweden.

Bridget and Ulf also served the Swedish court. She was the queen's personal maid.

Bridget tried to help King Magnus and Queen Blanche lead better lives, however, for the most part, they did not listen to her.

All her life, Bridget had marvelous visions and received special messages from God.

In obedience to them, she visited many rulers and important people in the Church. She explained humbly what God expected of them.

After her husband died, Bridget put away her rich clothes and lived as a poor nun.

Later, in 1346, she began the Order of the Most Holy Savior, also known as Bridgettines.

She still kept up her own busy life, traveling and doing good everywhere she went.

And through all this activity, Jesus continued to reveal many secrets to her, which she received without the least bit of pride.

During this stage of her life, St. Bridget's mystical experiences became more pronounced and frequent, so much so that they were contained in a work that became very popular in the middle ages, called the Revelations of St. Bridget of Sweden.

Her vibrant visions, which became famous, were often consulted by artists to aid them in their depiction of scenes from Sacred Scripture.

Out of her special love for Christ's Passion, which she had since childhood, St. Bridget sincerely wanted to know how many times the body of Our Lord was struck during the various scenes of his Passion.

She repeatedly prayed about this so that she could honor each one of them.

One day, Jesus answered her longing and told her:

"I received 5,480 blows upon My Body. If you wish to honor them in some way, recite fifteen Our Fathers and fifteen Hail Marys with the following Prayers, which I Myself shall teach you, for an entire year. When the year is finished, you will have honored each of My Wounds."

Jesus then gave St. Bridget 15 prayers to pray every day for a full year, which she would recite along with Our Father and Hail Mary for each.

In total, these prayers would equal 5,475.

This could be understood as all the wounds other than the Five Wounds in his hands, feet and side, which are more commonly honored separately.

This became known as the Holy Wounds of Jesus devotion.

This is not to be confused with the Five Wounds of Jesus Devotion in his hands, feet and side.

It is also called the Fifteen Prayers of St. Bridget, the Pieta Prayers, or the Magnificent Prayers.

Shortly before she died, the saint went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

At the shrines there, she had visions of what Jesus had said and done in each place.

All St. Bridget's revelations on the sufferings of Jesus were published after her death.

St. Bridget died in Rome on 23 July 1373.

She was proclaimed a saint by Pope Boniface IX on 7 October 1391.

On 1 October 1999, Pope John Paul II named Saint Bridget as patron saint of Europe.

"True wisdom, then, consists in works, not in great talents, which the world admires; for the wise in the world's estimation . . . are the foolish who set at naught the will of God, and know not how to control their passions."

- Saint Bridget of Sweden

Sources: Catholic News Agency / The Catholic Company

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The Immaculate Conception

https://youtu.be/4YEn14zx7UE

set by Ola Gjeilo

Tota pulchra es, Maria, et macula originalis non est in te. Vestimentum tuum candidum quasi nix, et facies tua sicut sol. Tota pulchra es, Maria, et macula originalis non est in te. Tu gloria Jerusalem, tu laetitia Israel, tu honorificentia populi nostri. Tota pulchra es, Maria.

You are all-beautiful, Mary, and the original stain is not in you. Your clothes are white as snow and your face like the sun. You are all-beautiful, Mary, and the original stain is not in you. You are the glory of Jerusalem, you the joy of Israel, You are highest honor of our people. You are all-beautiful, Mary.

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The Immaculate Conception

https://youtu.be/4YEn14zx7UE

set by Ola Gjeilo

Tota pulchra es, Maria, et macula originalis non est in te. Vestimentum tuum candidum quasi nix, et facies tua sicut sol. Tota pulchra es, Maria, et macula originalis non est in te. Tu gloria Jerusalem, tu laetitia Israel, tu honorificentia populi nostri. Tota pulchra es, Maria.

You are all-beautiful, Mary, and the original stain is not in you. Your clothes are white as snow and your face like the sun. You are all-beautiful, Mary, and the original stain is not in you. You are the glory of Jerusalem, you the joy of Israel, You are highest honor of our people. You are all-beautiful, Mary.

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Immaculate Conception, ca. 1628

Peter Paul Rubens, 1577-1640

Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

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Holy Reverence for the words of Scripture:

"You who are accustomed to take part in divine mysteries know, when you receive the body of the Lord, how you protect it with all caution and veneration, lest any small part fall from it, lest anything of the consecrated gift be lost. For you believe, and correctly, that your are answerable if anything falls from neglect. But if you are so careful to preserve his body, and rightly so, how do you think there is less guilt to have neglected God's Word than to have neglected his body?"

(Origen)

We should prepare ourselves to administer and receive the Word of God just as we prepare ourselves to administer and receive the Eucharist, by entering beforehand into a supernatural climate of faith and of holy fear of God as we pray and adore the mystery of God hidden in the Word.

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“The things that we love tell us what we are.”

— Thomas Aquinas

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“I will attempt day by day to break my will into pieces. I want to do God’s holy will, not my own.”

— St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows

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"The pierced Heart

is Love’s last proof.

“For while we were still weak,

while we were yet sinners” (cf. Rom 5:6, 8),

the door was opened in Love’s side.

Plunge then, fearless, into the tide of water and of blood.

Wash your soul’s disfigured face

in the torrent of purity that to the image restores likeness,

giving loveliness to the unlovely,

There every bruise is bathed in love;

there, every old, unsightly thing

made fresh, and new.

This is love’s reparation,

for only love can repair what Love has made.

“Behold,” Love says, “I make all things new” (Rev 21:5)."

(Vultus Christi blog)

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The Feast of Corpus Christi (The Body of Christ)

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Vintage postcards of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

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Blessed be God.

Blessed be His Holy Name.

Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.

Blessed be the Name of Jesus.

Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.

Blessed be His Most Precious Blood.

Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.

Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most Holy.

Blessed be her Holy and Immaculate Conception.

Blessed be her Glorious Assumption.

Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.

Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse.

Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints.

.

Pope Benedict, 2012

Reuters/ Alessandro Bianchi

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Happy Feast of Corpus Christi!

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Crucifixion, icon, 13th century

St. Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai

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Corpus Christi Procession inside Seville Cathedral, 1835

Genaro Perez Villaamil, 1807-1854

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