2023

Saint Getulius

Saint Getulius was a native of Gabii in Sabina. Getulius was an officer in the Roman army who resigned when he became a Christian. According to tradition, Saint Getulius was the husband of Saint Symphorosa.

Some say Getulius was killed on the Via Salaria and is called the father of the Seven Martyrs and the husband of Symphorosa. Their seven sons, according to their legend, suffered a different kind of martyrdom. Crescens was pierced through the throat, Julian through the breast, Nemesius through the heart, Primitivus was wounded at the navel, Justinus was pierced through the back, Stracteus (Stacteus, Estacteus) was wounded at the side, and Eugenius was cleft in two parts from top to bottom.

He is venerated venerated together with Amantius, Cerealus, and Primitivus as a Christian martyr and saint. They were imprisoned, thrown into the flames but emerged unharmed, and then beaten to death with clubs. The legend further states that Saint Symphorosa buried them in an arenarium on her estate.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getulius

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Philippians 4:20

Daily Reflections, Verse

Verse:

“To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” - Philippians 4:20

Prayer Glorifying God For His Abundant Provision

Thank You, Father, for Your abundant provision and generous hand of blessing, which You lavish on each one of us day by day. You are a good and mighty God, Whose great compassion and tender mercies are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness to us and to all men.

We praise You, we worship You, we glorify, we give thanks to You for Your great glory. We lift up our hands in worship and praise before You, for You alone are worthy of our reverential fear and humble praise.

But Father, not only do we praise and thank You for faithfully providing our daily needs, but for the amazing gift of Salvation which You have given freely, to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, by grace through faith.

May we never cease to worship You in thought and in deed, and may our lives never cease to be lived in awe and wonder, knowing that the eternal Creator and almighty God of the universe should die to save a sinner such as I. Praise Your holy name, for ever and ever,

Amen.

Sources:

https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/Prayers-about-the-Glory-of-God

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Ecclesiastes 7:14

Daily Reflections, Verse

Verse:

“When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.” - Ecclesiastes 7:14

A Prayer To God In Time Of Great Sadness

O Lord God, we come to You at this time of great shock and grief and ask that in Your grace, You would shed Your peace and comfort to all who are mourning this death that was so sudden and so very unexpected.

Lighten our darkness O Lord we pray, and comfort our sorrowing hearts. Pour Your peace that passes all understanding into the hearts of all that are grieving and shower the assurance of Your love on all, at this time of sadness.

Lord, we are not to grieve as those who have no hope, those that have not trusted in Christ as Saviour, for our hope and trust is in You and our eyes are looking to You for strength, encouragement and comfort at this time of great sadness.

Lord, it is at a time like this that we suddenly begin to realise the great frailty of life and the brief portion that we are permitted on this earth. Cause all who are grieving here today to take stock of our own individual lives, and help us to be wise to number our days. Help us to live our lives as unto the Lord, knowing that at any time You may choose to call us home as well.

Thank You, Father, that our times are in Your hands and there are no sudden deaths in Your economy. May we live wisely from this day forward and use us we pray, to be a comfort to others who may experience similar times of great sadness. In Jesus' name we pray,

Amen.

Sources:

https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/prayer/a-prayer-to-god-in-time-of-great-sadness-924#

Ecclesiastes 7:14 Read More »

Saint Ephrem

Daily Saints

Saint Ephrem, also referred to as Saint Ephrem the Syrian, he was born in Nisibis, served as a deacon and later lived in Edessa. He was a prominent Christian theologian and writer, who is revered as one of the most notable hymnographers of Eastern Christianity.

He was born around the year 306 in the city of Nisibis. Internal evidence from Ephrem’s hymnody suggests that both his parents were part of the growing Christian community in the city, although later hagiographers wrote that his father was a pagan priest. Saint Ephrem was baptized as a youth and almost certainly became a son of the covenant, an unusual form of Syriac proto-monasticism. He was appointed as a teacher and eventually ordained as a deacon.

He began to compose hymns and write biblical commentaries as part of his educational office. The most important of his works are his lyric, teaching hymns. These hymns are full of rich, poetic imagery drawn from biblical sources, folk tradition, and other religions and philosophies. Particularly influential were his Hymns Against Heresies. Ephrem used these to warn his flock of the heresies that threatened to divide the early church.

Saint Ephrem is popularly credited as the founder of the School of Nisibis, which, in later centuries, was the centre of learning of the Church of the East. He was declared a Doctor of the Church in the Roman Catholic Church in 1920.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephrem_the_Syrian

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Romans 6:23

Daily Reflections, Verse

Verse:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 6:23

Prayer For Greater Confidence In God's Love

Dear Heavenly Father, for most of my life I have tried to earn Your love and gain Your approval and whatever I tried to do, never made me feel that I had done enough. In fact, the more I tried to get You to love me, the more I found that I failed You miserably.

And as I look back on the mission trips, ministry activities, times of prayer and the many bible studies I attended, the more I believed that I must be disappointing to You, because I was not doing as much as I ought to do. Father, as I look back at this period of my life, is saddens me to realise what an incorrect perception I had of You and Your unconditional love to all Who are saved by grace, through faith in Christ Jesus.

Father, forgive me for misrepresenting Your Father-heart of love, and thank You for showing me that Your love for me is not dependent on what I can do for You but rests entirely on what the Lord Jesus did for me, on the cross. Thank You, that Your approval does not rely on me at all but simply rests on the fact that I believed on the Lord Jesus as my Saviour, and that I am accepted by You because of Him. Accepted in the Beloved because I am a new creation in Christ, clothed in His righteousness and without condemnation. All because of Jesus.

Father, thank You for this liberating truth. May I never again be drawn into wrong thinking about Your Father-heart of love and may I gain greater confidence and understanding of what my position in Christ truly means. This I ask in the precious name of my Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for me that I might be free from any condemnation and receive Your unconditional and everlasting love. Praise His holy name.

Amen.

Sources:

https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/Prayers-about-the-Love-of-God#

Romans 6:23 Read More »

Saint Medardus

Daily Saints

Saint Medardus, also known as Medard, was the Bishop of Noyon. He was born around 456. He lived during the immediate aftermath of the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The last Western Roman emperor was deposed in 476.

At the age of 33, he was ordained. His piety and knowledge, considerable for that time, caused Bishop Alomer of Vermand to confer on him Holy Orders. At the death of Alomer in 530, Medardus was chosen to succeed him as bishop of Vermand. Despite his objections, he found himself obliged to accept the heavy responsibilities of the position, to which he devoted himself zealously.

He is held to have removed the seat of his bishopric from Vermand, a little city with no defences, to Noviomagus Veromanduorum (modern Noyon), the strongest place in that region of Neustria, in 531. In 532, at the death of Eleutherius, bishop of Tornacum, Medardus was invited to assume the direction of that diocese also. He refused at first, but being urged by King Clotaire himself, he at last accepted. The union of the two dioceses of Noviomagus/Noyon and Tornacum/Tournai lasted until 1146, when they were again separated.

Medardus was one of the most honored bishops of his time. His memory has always been popularly venerated, first in the north of France, then in Cologne and extending to western Germany. He became the hero of numerous legends. He was often depicted laughing, with his mouth wide open, therefore he was invoked against toothache. He is also invoked against bad weather (but also for rain), sterility and imprisonment. He is patron saint of vineyards, brewers, captives and prisoners, the mentally ill, and peasants.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medardus

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1 John 5:11

Daily Reflections, Verse

Verse:

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” - 1 John 5:11

Prayer To Glorify God For Our Saviour Jesus Christ

Father, how we love to hear the wonderful angelic message to mankind, that You sent that first Christmas morning, when a heavenly choir sang its glorious refrain, “Glory to God In the Highest.. and peace on earth to men.” How we rejoice to recall the glorious reason that You gave Your only begotten Son, to be born into a race of sinners and to live a perfect life, so that by Your grace He would become the propitiation for our sins, and reclaim that peace between God and man that was lost in the garden, so many years ago.

Although that heavenly choir sang their joyful refrain some 2000 years ago, may the light of its glorious message of grace shine deep into the hearts of men and women everywhere, so that Jesus Christ may be lifted up in the hearts and minds of many, for Jesus Himself promised, “ if I am lifted up I will draw all men unto Myself.”

We pray that You would draw many into Your forgiving arms of grace and mercy.

May we never cease to glory in the eternal message of peace on earth and goodwill towards men, for You alone are worthy of all honour and praise. In Jesus' name we pray,

Amen.

Sources:

https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/Prayers-about-the-Glory-of-God

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Saint Robert of Newminster

Daily Saints

Saint Robert of Newminster was born in Gargrave in Yorkshire, England. He studied at the University of Paris, where he is said to have composed a commentary – since lost – on the Psalms. He became a parish priest, returning to serve Gargrave where he was made rector. He became a Benedictine joining the monks of Saint Mary’s Abbey in York.

About 1138, Saint Robert headed a group of monks sent out from Fountains to establish Newminster Abbey near the castle of Ralph de Merlay and his wife, Juliana, daughter of Gospatric II, Earl of Lothian, west of Morpeth in Northumberland. Abbot Robert was said to be was favoured with the gift of prophecy and miracles. During his abbacy three colonies of monks were sent to found new monasteries at Pipewell in Northamptonshire (1143), Roche in South Yorkshire (1147), and Sawley in Lancashire (1148).

Saint Robert ruled and directed the monks at Newminster for 21 years. The small monastery of only 17 monks was one of the first to be dissolved in 1535 by Henry VIII, and the site has been privately owned since.

Saint Robert was described as a devout, prayerful, and gentle man. He is known for being merciful in his judgment of others and a warm and considerate companion. He was zealous regarding his own vows of poverty.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_of_Newminster

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Psalm 105:4

Daily Reflections, Verse

Verse:

“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” - Psalm 105:4

Prayer To Know God

Father, I am not worthy to gather up the crumbs under Your table but You are a gracious God, whose nature is loving and merciful and in Your wisdom You have unveiled the building blocks of Your very character and revealed Yourself to us, within the pages of scripture.

Thank You for Your incomparable grace, in that despite my unworthiness You have lifted me up out of the miry clay and set my feet on the rock of my salvation and seated me in heavenly places in Christ.

I pray Lord, that in the power of the Holy Spirit, You would endow me the spirit of wisdom and understanding, so that I may know You more and love You better, with every passing day. I pray also that the eyes of my heart may be illumined by Your Word of truth, so that I may know more fully the hope to which I have been called.

Give me a deeper understanding of what it actually meant for You to die on the cross for my sins. Give me a deeper reverence for Who You truly are. In Jesus' name I pray,

Amen.

Sources:

https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/Prayers-for-Knowing-Jesus-More

Psalm 105:4 Read More »

Saint Norbert of Xanten

Daily Saints

Saint Norbert of Xanten, also known as Norbert Gennep, was a bishop of the Catholic Church and founder of the Premonstratensian order of canons regular.

He adopted such strict discipline that it killed his first three disciples. This may be why he failed to reform the canons of Xanten, who denounced him as an innovator at the Council of Fritzlar in 1118. He then resigned his benefice, sold all his property and gave the proceeds to the poor. In settlement after settlement he encountered a demoralized clergy, lonely, often practicing concubinage and feeling that the official Church cared little about them.

He also became acquainted with the Cistercian administrative system that created an international federation of monasteries with fair amount of centralized power, though local houses had a certain amount of independence. These reforms, written up in their “Charter of Charity” would affect him significantly in his own future work.

In 1126 Pope Honorius II appointed Norbert to the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, where he put into practice the precepts he instituted at Prémontré. Several assassination attempts were made as he began to reform the lax discipline of his see. He was instrumental in protecting the Church’s rights against the secular power during the Investiture Controversy.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_of_Xanten

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Prayer Glorifying God For His Abundant Provision

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A Prayer To God In Time Of Great Sadness

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Prayer For Greater Confidence In God's Love

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Verse:

Prayer To Glorify God For Our Saviour Jesus Christ

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Prayer To Know God

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