Sunday<\/p>\n
Continuation of lives of Saints from late November<\/p>\n
St. Cecelia, a patrician maiden, dedicated her virginity to Christ, but her father betrothed her to Valerian, a young pagan. Forced into marriage, Cecelia determined to keep her commitment. According to the legend:<\/p>\n
As the wedding day approached, she fasted for two or three days. On her nuptial day she wore a hair shirt next to her flesh, concealed by her gown of cloth of gold. She sang in her heart to God alone, saying, \u201cO Lord, let my heart and my body be undefiled.\u201d That night, when with her spouse she sought the secret silences of the bridal chamber, she spoke to him as follows: \u201cO sweetest and most loving youth, there is a secret that I may confess to you, if only you will swear to guard it faithfully.\u201d Then Valerian swore that no necessity would make him betray it in any way. Then she said: \u201cI have for my lover an angel of God, who guards my body with exceeding zeal! If he sees you but lightly touch me for sordid love, he will smite you, and you will lose the fair flower of your youth. But if he knows that you love me with a pure love, he will love you as he loves me, and will show you his glory!\u201d<\/p>\n
Then Valerian, guided by the will of God, said: \u201cIf you will have me believe you, show me the angel! If I find that he is really an angel, I shall do as you ask me!\u201d<\/p>\n
We might wonder if bad breath from fasting and the stink of the hair shirt might not have been enough to protect Cecelia from Valerian\u2019s touch. However, the youth followed Cecelia\u2019s directions and sought baptism from Pope Urban I. Upon his return Valerian saw Cecelia\u2019s angel, who crowned both of them with floral wreaths. Then Valerian\u2019s brother, Tiburtius, was also converted. The two new Christians were soon beheaded for burying the bodies of those who had been martyred.<\/p>\n
Cecelia herself was condemned for refusing to worship the gods. An attempt to suffocate her in her own bathroom failed. So a soldier was ordered to behead her, but he bungled the job. Cecelia lay dying for three days, during which she bequeathed her property to the church.<\/p>\n
Prayer:\u00a0 Having risen from sleep I hasten to Thee, O Lord, Lover of men, and by Thy loving-kindness I strive to do Thy work, and I pray to Thee:\u00a0 help me at all times, in everything, and deliver me from every evil thing of the world and every attack of the devil, and lead me into Thine eternal Kingdom. For Thou art my Creator, the Giver and Provider of everything good, and all my hope is in Thee, and to Thee I send up glory, now and ever, and to the ages of ages.\u00a0 Amen.
\n*Prayer for the next day\u2019s morning<\/p>\n
Monday
\n**This is a modern Catholic Saint martyr showing death for Christ continues to modern times…<\/p>\n
On November 23, 1927, Father Miguel Pro, a fun-loving young Jesuit, faced the firing squad. He refused a blindfold and asked only for time to pray. He had offered his life for the faith of Mexican people. Now God was accepting his sacrifice.<\/p>\n
Miguel Pro had been born January 13, 1891, in Guadalupe, Mexico, one of eleven children of a mining engineer. He joined the Jesuits in 1911, a year after a persecution had begun in Mexico. The Jesuit novices were sent to study in other countries, and Miguel was ordained in Belgium in 1925. Father Pro returned to Mexico City in 1926, and within a month, the government banned public worship. Disguised as a mechanic, an office worker, or a beggar, Father Pro rode on his bicycle, distributing Communion and providing clothing for those who were poor. His quick thinking and pranks helped him in many narrow escapes.<\/p>\n
On November 13, 1927, an assassination attempt was made on a Mexican general. A bomb was thrown from a car that had once belonged to one of Father Pro\u2019s brothers. Police arrested Father Pro and his two younger brothers. When the man behind the plot heard that Father Pro had been arrested, he confessed. But to teach Catholics a lesson, with no witnesses and no trial, Father Pro and his two brothers were condemned to death by officials. One of the officers who had captured Father Pro led him out of jail to be executed. He begged Father to forgive him. Miguel put his arm around him and said, \u201cYou have not only my forgiveness but my thanks.\u201d He also softly told the firing squad, \u201cMay God forgive you all.\u201d Then with arms spread as if on a cross, Father Pro shouted, \u201cLong live Christ the King!\u201d before a bullet silenced him. Although the real criminal and one of Miguel\u2019s brothers were also shot, the other brother was pardoned at the last moment. Despite the government\u2019s ban on a public funeral, thousands came to Father Pro\u2019s wake. Miguel Pro was beatified in 1988.<\/p>\n
Prayer:\u00a0 Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace good will among men.
\nTuesday<\/p>\n
November 23:<\/p>\n
St Columban was born in Ireland before the middle of the sixth century. He entered a monastery and led a life of prayer and study for 30 years. Then in 591, he and 12 companions were sent to Europe as missionaries.<\/p>\n
They made their way through France, Switzerland, and Italy, establishing the monasteries that were to become centers for Christianity, learning, and prayer. Columban wrote a strict rule for these monasteries, and he tried to reform the lives of the clergy, the nobility, and the laypeople. He attacked abuses and evil wherever he saw them. He spoke out loudly against the immorality that was common among royalty. Finally, he was exiled for pointing out the king\u2019s sins and for criticizing the bishops for not also speaking out against the king. While Columban was being deported, he was shipwrecked and ended up in Italy, where he was befriended. While he was there, he founded a monastery in Bobbio. There he died in 615<\/p>\n
Prayer:\u00a0\u00a0 Blessed by the name of the Lord from henceforth and forever more.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Wednesday<\/p>\n
In A.D. 88, Saint Clement I became the fourth pope. His reign lasted until A.D. 97. Though we have few facts about Clement, we do know that he wrote a very important letter to the Church in Corinth.<\/p>\n
The city of Corinth in Greece had a large Christian population, but it also had a number of problems. A group of people in Corinth refused to follow the legitimate Church authority there. They split off from the main group of believers. Clement, as the shepherd of the Church, wrote to the people, explaining the role of authority and the role of the people, encouraging peace and harmony. So powerful and clear was the letter that in some places in the early Church, it was ranked next to the accepted books of Scripture. It is one of the earliest Christian documents we have. Clement was martyred.<\/p>\n
Prayer:\u00a0\u00a0 May the Strength of God guide us. May the Power of God preserve us. <\/p>\n Thursday<\/p>\n St. Flora was raised in Spain (9th centuary) by a Christian mother in a Muslim household. After her father died, her mother formed her in the faith. But her older brother, a totally committed follower of Mohammed, forced her to go through the motions of practicing Islam.<\/p>\n One day, Flora slipped away from home and sought to live as a Christian. Her influential brother had her priest friends arrested and punished. Because she saw that her flight had caused suffering in the church, she came out of hiding and boldly confronted her brother. She said: \u201cI know how eagerly you seek me and how keen you are about it. Well, now you have me! I come, like a good Christian, armed with the sign of the cross. Now, tear this faith from me, separate me from Christ if you can. I think it will be very difficult, for I am ready to suffer every torture for him. I speak strongly\u2014do I not? Well, during martyrdom, I shall speak more strongly.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoping to compel her to change her mind, her brother accused her before the cadi. He said: \u201cJudge, this is my youngest sister who always practiced our holy religion with me. But the Christians have perverted her, making her hate our prophet and believe that Christ is God.\u201d<\/p>\n The judge turned to Flora and asked: \u201cDoes your brother tell the truth?\u201d And she replied, \u201cEverything he said was a lie. I have never been a Muslim. From my infancy I have known none but Christ. He is my God and I have consecrated myself to him as his bride.\u201d<\/p>\n The judge decided that severe punishment would correct such an intelligent young woman. So he had her scourged until she fainted under the blows. Then he turned her over to her brother, charging him to make her into a good Muslim. However, soon Flora escaped again and withdrew to a town in the mountains. There one day in church she met a woman named Mary, whose younger brother had recently been martyred in Cordoba. Together they decided to give themselves up as martyrs and presented themselves to the cadi. Flora said:<\/p>\n \u201cI was ill-treated some time ago in the most cruel manner by the Muslims because I refused to renounce Christ. Since then I have been weak enough to hide myself. But today, full of confidence in my God, I am not afraid to come forward to declare, as resolutely as before, that Christ is God. . . .\u201d<\/p>\n When the judge threatened to sell both Flora and Mary as prostitutes, they considered backing down. St. Eulogius, himself in prison, heard of their temptation and wrote Flora an encouraging letter. Even if their bodies were violated, he said, their souls would remain pure. So the two women gathered their strength and endured shameful suffering in a brothel until their captors finally beheaded them. They promised that in heaven they would pray for the release of all the other prisoners. And a week after Flora and Mary died, those prisoners were freed.<\/p>\n Eulogius wrote a celebratory piece about the martyrdom of Flora, his spiritual daughter. He frankly described her weakness and fears that almost caused her to compromise her faith in order to avoid shame and death.<\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (3X)<\/p>\n Friday She was about eighteen and her name was Catherine. She lived in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, the city that Antony the Great of Egypt had once visited and that was the home of Athanasius.<\/p>\n St Catherine lived during the reign of the Roman emperor Maxentius and was famous throughout the city for her beauty. Despite this, she was the sort of person who liked to spend her time reading and studying. Indeed, she was just as famous for her intelligence as she was for her good looks.<\/p>\n Now it so happened that Emperor Maxentius made a visit to Alexandria, which was part of his empire. While he was there, he heard about Catherine\u2019s beauty and intelligence. He commanded his servants to bring her to meet him. As soon as he saw her, he decided he wanted to marry her. Immediately. But there was a problem.<\/p>\n Maxentius already had a wife.<\/p>\n Maxentius (who continued to worship the ancient Roman gods) didn\u2019t think this mattered at all. \u201cOh, don\u2019t worry,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll have two wives at the same time. I\u2019m the emperor, I can do what I like.\u201d Catherine was having none of this. She refused his proposal, saying that as a Christian she couldn\u2019t possibly agree to such a relationship.<\/p>\n Maxentius then gathered together a great number of teachers and professors who also believed in the Roman gods. He told them to persuade Catherine that her Christian faith was nonsense. She listened to them for a while and then started answering their points convincingly and persuasively. The result was that, far from getting Catherine to change her mind, these wise men began to change their own minds.<\/p>\n The emperor was not only angry; he was alarmed. What would happen if Rome gave up its worship of the old gods? He didn\u2019t want any of what he described as \u201cthis Christian nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n So he gave orders that Catherine should be put to death in a particularly horrible way. He had a large wheel made, with sharp blades set into the outside rim. Then Catherine was to be tied around this edge, and the blades were intended to cut her to pieces as the wheel was rolled along.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t go according to plan. When Catherine was bound to the wheel, it broke and the blades flew off in all directions, flashing in the light and wounding the soldiers who were supposed to be putting her to death. Some people say all this was caused by lightning striking the wheel. Whether that is true or not, Catherine\u2019s executioners didn\u2019t try making another wheel. They beheaded her at once.<\/p>\n It is said that a flight of angels then descended from heaven and carried her body to Mount Sinai, where, centuries before, God had given the Ten Commandments to Moses. Even today there is a monastery named Saint Catherine\u2019s there.<\/p>\n People also remember the death of Saint Catherine with the firework that is named after her, which is supposed to spin around as her wheel did.<\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 \u00a0May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Saturday November 26:<\/p>\n The charisma of one person often generates spiritual renewal for many others, as did the gift of St. Leonard [of Port Maurice]. The churches could not hold the crowds that gathered for Leonard\u2019s parish missions, so he often held open-air meetings. He used the stations of the cross as illustrations in his talks and popularized the devotion by installing 571 sets of stations throughout Italy. He even built stations of the cross in the Coliseum, thus reclaiming for the church the place where many early Christians imitated Christ\u2019s passion in heroic martyrdoms.<\/p>\n Many sought out Leonard for spiritual direction. His letters to advisees convey a commonsense Christianity, still fresh today, as the following example demonstrates:<\/p>\n To speak quite frankly, my dear brother, I believe you are under a delusion. You seem to have got into your head the silly notion that it is impossible for you to live chastely. With this false principle fixed in your mind, at each temptation you immediately give up. True, without God\u2019s grace we cannot live a chaste life. But it is also true that God gives his grace to those who try their best. \u201cFrom the man who does what lies in him God withholds not grace\u201d (see Psalm 84:11). So when temptation comes, turn straight to God, and he will help you. He said so, clearly: \u201cSeek and you shall receive\u201d (see Matthew 7:7). With God\u2019s help you will keep from sin. Impress, then, on yourself this great truth. Even if all hell\u2019s devils came against you to tempt you, you won\u2019t sin unless you want to\u2014 provided that you trust not in your own powers, but in the assistance of God. He doesn\u2019t refuse help to those who ask it with a lively faith. Of course, you must avoid dangerous occasions and keep guard over your eyes. Try it, and you will see the good results. Meanwhile, I recommend you to God, that he may give you the true spirit of penance and mortification without which it is no easy thing to triumph over so degrading a vice. May God bless you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n With his voice faltering, he continued to preach until his death at Rome on November 26, 1751.<\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 O my God I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all-good and worthy of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Sunday Continuation of lives of Saints from late November St. Cecelia, a patrician maiden, dedicated her virginity to Christ, but her father betrothed her to Valerian, a young pagan. Forced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-orthodox-daily-devotional","has_no_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14603"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14604,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14603\/revisions\/14604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMay the Wisdom of God instruct us. May the Hand of God protect us.
\nMay the Way of God direct us. May the Shield of God defend us.
\nMay the Angels of God guard us. – Against the snares of the evil one.
\nPrayer for the Faithful of St. Patrick Part 1<\/em><\/p>\n
\nNovember 24:<\/p>\n
\n*This Catholic saint did much to advance the Stations of the Cross devotional which is practiced in Catholic as well as Western Orthodox churches.<\/p>\n
\n*Act of Contrition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"