Led by the Spirit of God  

Rom 8:12-17

‘So then, my brothers, we have no obligation to human nature to be dominated by it. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the habits originating in the body, you will have life. All who are guided by the Spirit of God are sons of God; for what you received was not the spirit of slavery to bring you back into fear; you received the Spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself joins with our spirit to bear witness that we are children of God. And if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, provided that we share his suffering, so as to share his glory’. Read More

Remaining in humility  

NOTE: We will return to the readings of the day on days when we do not meditate on the life of a saint.

Lk 18:9-14

He spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being upright and despised everyone else, ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like everyone else, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home again justified; the other did not. For everyone who raises himself up will be humbled, but anyone who humbles himself will be raised up. Read More

Two chaste saints with a special protector  

When we begin to discover the lives of the saints, we often come across extraordinary stories. Such is the case of Saints Chrysanthus and Darius, martyrs of the first centuries, whose memory is celebrated today in the ancient liturgical calendar.

The following is told about today’s saints:

Saint Chrysanthus was the son of pagan parents. His father, Polemius, was a senator in Alexandria and was held in such high esteem by the Emperor Numerianus that he brought him to Rome and made him his counsellor.

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Saint Raphael, Archangel: “True friends”

According to the traditional calendar, today is the feast day of St. Raphael the Archangel. Describing an angel is undoubtedly much more difficult than describing the life of a saint. The latter are usually well documented and more accessible to us. Nevertheless, we should strive to become more familiar with our friends in heaven—without letting our imaginations run away with us.

Angels are often discussed in esoteric circles. However, without clear discernment of spirits, it is easy for our imagination to suggest illusory ideas about angels that do not correspond to reality—or even to be deceived by the devil. We cannot overlook the fact that demons still possess an angelic nature and are therefore endowed with an intelligence superior to ours, making it easy for them to mislead those who are not firmly rooted in the true faith. Therefore, before discussing the Archangel Saint Raphael, it is important to review what the Church teaches us about these beings. This will provide us with the criteria to better recognize faithful angels.

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Saint Anthony Mary Claret: a burning torch of love

What would Spain be without Saint Anthony Mary Claret?

In 1861, a prominent anarchist wrote, “If it hadn’t been for Father Claret, Catalonia would have understood the message of the revolution. With his thousands of extraordinarily popular sermons, this tireless man managed to re-Christianize the whole of Catalonia. After completely transforming Catalonia, he did the same in the Canary Islands and, later, in Cuba, where Catholicism was dying out. But that was not the worst of it. His time in Madrid was a catastrophe for the Spanish revolutionary movement.”

Who was this man who exerted so much influence and had such a profound impact on the political arena despite not being a politician himself?

Antonio María Claret was born in Sallent, near Barcelona, in 1807. Like his brothers, he helped in his parents’ textile business and demonstrated such talent in his higher studies that he was entrusted with taking over a large company. However, the Lord had heard his prayers, as from a very young age he had asked for the grace of the priesthood.

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