I read this in 'Abandonment to Divine Providence', which is a spiritual classic written by Fr Jean-Pierre de Caussade.
I'm sharing this here because it mentions the end-times prophecies that we are ─ absolutely ─ obviously seeing be fulfilled in the world before our very own eyes.
'That, at the coming of the Messiah, only a handful of men should be preserved from
idolatry in the general ruin and overthrow of faith throughout the world: that impiety should prove
always dominant, always powerful, and the small numbers of the upholders of truth should be ever
persecuted and maltreated, seems incredible! Consider the treatment of Jesus Christ. Think of the
plagues of the Apocalypse, yet these are words of God. They are what He has revealed! He has
dictated them! And the effect of these terrible mysteries which will continue till the end of time is
still the living word, teaching us His wisdom, power, and goodness.'
Fr Jean-Pierre de Caussade (7 March 1675 – 8 December 1751) was a French Jesuit priest and writer. He is especially known for the work ascribed to him, 'Abandonment to Divine Providence', and also his work with the Nuns of the Visitation in Nancy, France.
De Caussade was born in Cahors, now in Lot, France. He served as the spiritual director to the Nuns of the Visitation in Nancy, France, from 1733 to 1740. During this time and after he left Nancy, he wrote letters of instruction to the nuns.
Christ ordered him (St Paul) to arise and proceed on his journey to the city, where he should be informed of what he expected from him. Christ would not instruct him immediately by himself, but, St. Austin observes, sent him to the ministry which he had established in the church, to be directed in the way of salvation by those whom he had appointed for that purpose. He would not finish the conversion and instruction of this great apostle, whom he was pleased to call in so wonderful a manner, but by remitting him to the guidance of his ministers; showing us thereby that his holy providence has so ordered it, that all who desire to serve him, should seek his will by listening to those whom he has commanded us to hear, and whom he has sent in his own name and appointed to be our guides. So perfectly would he abolish in his servants all self-confidence and presumption, the source of error and illusion.
The convert, rising from the ground, found that, though his eyes were open, he saw nothing. Providence sent this corporal blindness to be an emblem of the spiritual blindness in which he had lived, and to signify to him that he was henceforward to die to the world, and learn to apply his mind totally to the contemplation of heavenly things. He was led by the hand into Damascus, whither Christ seemed to conduct him in triumph. He was lodged in the house of a Jew named Judas, where he remained three days blind, and without eating or drinking.
He doubtless spent his time in great bitterness of soul, not yet knowing what God required of him. With what anguish he bewailed his past blindness and false zeal against the church, we may conjecture both from his taking no nourishment during those three days, and from the manner in which he ever after remembered and spoke of his having been a blasphemer and a persecutor. Though the entire reformation of his heart was not gradual, as in ordinary conversions, but miraculous in the order of grace, and perfect in a moment; yet a time of probation and a severe interior trial (for such we cannot doubt but he went through on this occasion) was necessary to crucify the old man and all other earthly sentiments in his heart, and to prepare it to receive the extraordinary graces which God designed him.
There was a Christian of distinction in Damascus, much respected by the Jews for his irreproachable life and great virtue; his name was Ananias. Christ appeared to this holy disciple, and commanded him to go to Saul, who was then in the house of Judas at prayer: Ananias trembled at the name of Saul, being no stranger to the mischief he had done in Jerusalem, or to the errand on which he was set out to Damascus.
But our Redeemer overruled his fears, and charged him a second time to go to him, saying: 'Go, for he is a vessel of election to carry my name before Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel: and I will show him how much he has to suffer for my name.' For tribulation is the test and portion of all the true servants of Christ.
Saul in the mean time saw in a vision a man entering, and laying his hands upon him, to restore his sight. Ananias, obeying the divine order, arose, went to Saul, and laying his hands upon him, said: 'Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to thee on thy journey, hath sent me that thou mayest receive thy right, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.'
Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he recovered his eyesight. Ananias added: 'The God of our fathers hath chosen thee that thou shouldst know his will and see the just one, and shouldst hear the voice from his mouth: and thou shalt be his witness unto all men to publish what thou hast seen and heard. Arise, therefore, be baptized and washed from thy sins, invoking the name of the Lord.'
Saul then arose, was baptized, and took some refreshment. He stayed some few days with the disciples at Damascus, and began immediately to preach in the synagogues, that Jesus was the Son of God, to the great astonishment of all that heard him, who said: 'Is not this he who persecuted at Jerusalem those who invoked the name of Jesus, and who is come hither to carry them away prisoners?'
Thus a blasphemer and a persecutor was made an apostle, and chosen to be one of the principal instruments of God in the conversion of the world.
Saint Paul never recalled to mind this his wonderful conversion, without raptures of gratitude and praise to the divine mercy. The church, in thanksgiving to God for such a miracle of his grace, from which it has derived such great blessings, and to commemorate so miraculous an instance of his almighty power, and to propose to penitents a perfect model of a 'true conversion', has instituted this festival, which we find mentioned in several calendars and missals of the eighth and ninth centuries, and which pope Innocent III commanded to be observed with great solemnity.
It was for some time kept a holy day of obligation in most churches in the West; and we read it mentioned as such in England in the council of Oxford in 1222, in the reign of King Henry III.
This great apostle was a Jew, of the tribe of Benjamin. At his circumcision, on the eighth day after his birth, he received the name of Saul. His father was by sect a Pharisee, and a denizen of Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia: which city had shown a particular regard for the cause of the Cæsars; on which account Cassius deprived it of its privileges and lands; but Augustus, when conqueror, made it ample amends by honouring it with many new privileges, and with the freedom of Rome, as we read in the two Dions and Appian.
Hence Saint Paul, being born at Tarsus, was by privilege a Roman citizen, to which quality a great distinction and several exemptions were granted by the laws of the empire. His parents sent him young to Jerusalem, where he was educated and instructed in the strictest observance of the law of Moses, by Gamalie, a learned and noble Jew, and probably a member of the Sanhedrim; and was a most scrupulous observer of it in every point. He appeals even to his enemies to bear evidence of how conformable to it his life had been in every respect.
He embraced the sect of the Pharisees, which was of all others the most severe, though by its pride the most opposite to the humility of the gospel. It was a rule among the Jews that all their children were to learn some trade with their studies, were it but to avoid idleness, and to exercise the body, as well as the mind, in something serious. It is therefore probable that Saul learned in his youth the trade which he exercised even after his apostleship, of making tents.
Saul, surpassing all his equals in zeal for the Jewish law and their traditions, which he thought the cause of God, became thereby a blasphemer, a persecutor, and the most outrageous enemy of Christ. He was one of those who combined to murder Saint Stephen, and by keeping the garments of all who stoned that holy martyr, he is said by Saint Austin to have stoned him by the hands of all the rest; to whose prayers for his enemies he ascribes the conversion of Saint Paul: ' “If Stephen,” ' said he, ' “had not prayed, the church would never have had Saint Paul.” '
After the martyrdom of the holy deacon, the priests and magistrates of the Jews raised a violent persecution against the church at Jerusalem, in which Saul signalised himself above others. By virtue of the power he had received from the high priest, he dragged the Christians out of their houses loaded them with chains, and thrust them into prison. He procured them to be scourged in the synagogues and endeavoured by torments to compel them to blaspheme the name of Christ. And as our Saviour had always been represented by the leading men of the Jews as an enemy to their law, it was no wonder that this rigorous Pharisee fully persuaded himself that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
By the violences he committed, his name became everywhere a terror to the faithful. The persecutors not only raged against their persons, but also seized their estates and what they possessed in common, and left them in such extreme necessity, that the remotest churches afterwards thought it incumbent on them to join in charitable contributions to their relief. All this could not satisfy the fury of Saul; he breathed nothing but threats and the slaughter of the other disciples. Wherefore, in the fury of his zeal, he applied to the high priest and Sanhedrim for a commission to take up all Jews at Damascus who confessed Jesus Christ, and bring them bound to Jerusalem, that they might serve as public examples for the terror of others.
But God was pleased to show forth in him his patience and mercy; and, moved by the prayers of Saint Stephen and his other persecuted servants, for their enemies, changed him, in the very heat of his fury, into a vessel of election, and made him a greater man in his church by the grace of the apostleship, than Saint Stephen had ever been, and a more illustrious instrument of his glory. He was almost at the end of his journey to Damascus, when about noon, he and his company were on a sudden surrounded by a great light from heaven, brighter than the sun. They all saw the light, and being struck with amazement, fell to the ground. Then Saul heard a voice, which to him was articulate and distinct; but not understood, though heard by the rest: 'Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?'
Christ said not: 'Why dost thou persecute my disciples?' but 'me': for it is he, their head, who is chiefly persecuted in his servants. Saul answered: 'Who art thou, Lord?' Christ said: 'Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the goad: to contend with one so much mightier than thyself. By persecuting my church you make it flourish, and only prick and hurt yourself.'
This mild expostulation of our Redeemer, accompanied with a powerful interior grace, strongly affecting his soul, cured his pride, assuaged his rage, and wrought at once a total change in him. Wherefore, trembling and astonished, he cried out: 'Lord, what will thou have me to do? What to repair the past? What to promote your glory? I make a joyful oblation of myself to execute your will in every thing, and to suffer for your sake afflictions, disgraces, persecutions, torments, and every sort of death.'
The true convert expressed this, not in a bare form of words, nor with faint languid desires, nor with any exception lurking in the secret recesses of his heart; but with an entire sacrifice of himself, and an heroic victory over the world with its frowns and charms, over the devils with their snares and threats, and over himself and all inclinations of self-love; devoting himself totally to God. A perfect model of a true conversion, the greatest work of almighty grace!
St Timothy
Bishop & Martyr
24th of January
'St Timothy was born at Lystra, in Lycaonia. His was a Gentile, and his mother a Jewess. When the Apostle Paul came into those parts, Timothy was a follower of the Christian religion.
The Apostle had heard much of his holy life, and was thereby induced to take him as the companion of his travels: but, on account of the Jews, who had become converts to the faith of Christ, and were aware that the father of Timothy was a Gentile, he administered to him the rite of circumcision.
As soon as they arrived at Ephesus, the Apostle ordained him Bishop of that Church.
The Apostle St Paul addressed two of his Epistles to him – one from Laodicea, the other from Rome – to instruct him how to discharge his pastoral office.
He could not endure to see sacrifice, which is due to God alone, offered to the idols of devils; and finding that the people of Ephesus were offering victims to Diana, on her festival, he strove to make them desist from their impious rites. But they, turning upon him, stoned him.
The Christians could not deliver him from their hands, till he was more dead than alive.
They carried him to a mountain not far from the town, and there, on the ninth of the Calends of February (24th of January), he slept in the Lord.'
(The Liturgical Year, 1841-1875, Dom Prosper Louis Pascal Guéranger)
18th of January, the Feast Day of St Paul, who was the Top Persecutor of Catholics & Christianity but who turned to become the Proselytising Apostle who was most inspired by the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth.
Four Virgins grace the Christmas cycle with their presence; the brightness they cast around is interspersed with rays of a darker hue denoting that the aureola of martyrdom is theirs as well. Truly is is those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and who have likewise shed their own for Him that have the double right to enter in by the gates to the city and be presented to the new-born King. Perhaps this is the thought of the church in choosing for such an honour those only who have been twice crowned. They are the gift that Rome herself offers to the Emmanuel; each of this glorious band achieved her triumph within her walls. Today we have Prisca, but she will be followed by Agnes, Emerentiana, and Martina.
Prisca, a noble virgin of Rome, aged thirteen, was accused of being a Christian in the reign of the emperor Claudius. By his command she was led to the temple of Apollo that she might sacrifices to the idols, and when she had shown her detestation of them, was beaten and cast into prison. When brought out of prison she persevered in her steadfast confession of faith and was therefore scourged, tormented with boiling fat and again cast into prison. After three days she was exposed to a lion in the ampitheatre, but the beast, forgetting its natural fierceness, crouched humbly at her feet. After another three days in prison with nothing to eat, she was racked, torn with iron hooks, and cast on a funeral pyre, but was wonderfully preserved from harm. Finally she was beheaded outside the city walls, thus adding the crown of martyrdom to her virginity. Her body was buried by the Christians on the Ostian Way about ten miles from the city on the fifteenth of the Kalends of February.
From: The Liturgical Year, authored by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)
The 18th of January is the Feast of St Peter's Chair at Rome.
May Saint Hilarion of Gaza, Sacred Catholic & Abbot, pray for the conversion of the inhabitants of Gaza to Christianity on this Feast Day of his, the 21 October 2023. Amen.
St Peter Canisius:
This is a brilliant, must-watch video by Bro. Peter Dimond O.S.B. of Most Holy Family Monastery on St Peter Canisius:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCfbF...
Here are more facts about St Peter Canisius from an essay I wrote about this dear saint whose feast day is today:
St Peter Canisius was a Jesuit priest and theologian who played a significant role in the Catholic Reformation in Germany. He was born in Nijmegen, Netherlands in 1521 and studied at the University of Cologne where he earned a master’s degree in 1540. In 1543, he changed his original plan to remain at the university and study theology when he heard about a newly-founded religious order, the Society of Jesus. He travelled to Mainz to meet one of its founders, Father Peter Faber, who received him into the Society.
Canisius taught at the universities of Cologne, Ingolstadt, and Vienna and founded colleges at Munich (1559), Innsbruck (1562), Dillingen (1563), Würzburg (1567), Augsburg, and Vienna. He also participated in religious discussions at Worms (1557) and at the Council of Trent and the Diet of Augsburg (1559). He did important work in southern Germany and Austria, Bohemia, and Switzerland, where in 1580 he settled in Fribourg and founded a Jesuit college (now the University of Fribourg).
Canisius was known for his strong defence of the Catholic faith against Protestantism. He wrote several catechisms that were widely used for religious instruction and were translated into many languages. His most famous work is the “Summa Doctrinae Christianae” (Summary of Christian Doctrine), which was published in 1555. This work proved immensely popular and important in the revival of Catholicism. In Canisius’ own lifetime it was reprinted over two hundred times and translated into at least twelve different languages.
Canisius was also known for his pastoral work. He visited prisons and hospitals and cared for the sick and dying. He was a prolific writer and left behind many letters, sermons, and other writings that provide insight into his life and work.
St Peter Canisius died in Fribourg on December 21, 1597. He was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1864 and canonised by Pope Pius XI in 1925. His feast day is correctly celebrated on April 27, and not December 21st as the modernist haeretics of the Vatican II Counterchurch do.
St Peter Canisius was a man of great faith who dedicated his life to spreading the Gospel and defending the Catholic faith. His legacy lives on through his writings and the many institutions he founded.
Sint Petrus Canisius (St Pieter Kanis): pray for us Catholics to keep the One, Holy Roman and Catholic, Apostolic faith you always held. Bete für uns, damit wir den einen, heiligen römischen und katholischen, apostolischen Glauben bewahren, den du immer gehalten hast.
St Basil, Letter 146: ‘In every deed and every word hold before your eyes the judgment of Christ, so that every individual action, being referred to that exact and awful examination may bring you glory in the day of retribution…’
‘Francisco! Francisco, are you going to pray with me? It is necessary to pray a great deal to save souls from Hell. So many are going there! So many!’ And they said the prayer again together, for those who said no prayers.’ (William Thomas Walsh, Our Lady of Fatima, p. 90)
‘For how is a man the better for having his belly filled yesterday, if his natural hunger fails to find its proper satisfaction in food today? In the same way, the soul gains nothing by yesterday’s virtue unless it be followed by the right conduct of today. For it is said I shall judge you as I shall find you.’ (St Basil, Letter 42, 4th century)
‘How wretched must it be for a man to be shut from the glory of the saints and to be consigned with the devil to eternal flames!’(Saint Bede)