Brother Richard

Capuchin Franciscan Priest-Friar living in Ireland, Christian Meditation / Mindfulness teacher to young people. Peace and Blessing!

[Father V @father_rmv]

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

O my Jesus, You have said: “Truly I say to you, ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.”

Behold I knock, I seek and ask for the grace of…

(Mention your Intention Here)

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

O my Jesus, You have said: “Truly I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.” Behold, in Your name, I ask the Father for the grace of…

(Mention your Intention Here)

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

O my Jesus, You have said: “Truly I say to you, heaven and earth will pass away but My words will not pass away.” Encouraged by Your infallible words I now ask for the grace of…

(Mention your Intention Here)

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of You, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Your tender Mother and ours.
Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[Become A Saint @BeSaintly]

Every morning Saint Francis de Sales recommends meditating on this:

God had no need for you, yet He made you

He made you out of nothing

He did not need you, and you do not add to Him

Yet out of nothing, He made you solely out of Love.

Consider also the times you’ve betrayed God, but specifically how He brought you back when you repented…

Likewise, you betrayed God, but He brought you back

He had no need to bring you back, but He did.

Solely out of His immense love for you, and you in particular

Remember that God loves you.

[Catholic Arena @CatholicArena]

ROME 155 AD

Justin Martyr wrote of how he and other early Christians attended Mass:

'This food is called among us Eucharistia [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined.

For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.

For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, ‘This do ye in remembrance of Me, this is My body;’ and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, ‘This is My blood;’ and gave it to them alone.”

[Cian McCarthy @arealmofwonder]

"Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humour, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence, and nothing too much."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

The Gospel is much more than a book: it is Christ Himself, the Good News for humanity that is confused, deceived, and disappointed by many evils. He satisfies our thirst for justice and truth, and He instills in us the courage to persevere in doing good and to place ourselves personally at the service of our neighbor.

[Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. @LawrenceOP]

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
– John 3:16-18, which is the Gospel for today's Solemnity of the Most Holy #Trinity.
https://t.co/nRnprcEeB8
📷 Stained glass window from St Vitus Cathedral, Prague.

[Rae ❤️‍🔥 @FiatLuxGenesis]

As you go through your day remember that even the Blessed Mother did the mundane tasks of life for the Christ child.

Here she does laundry. But she also cooked meals, cleaned a home, and brought water to her family just as all families do.

It is in these mundane tasks of life that we can truly practice the spirit of humility and sacrifice, offering ourselves to those we love.

(Illustration by Margaret Tarrant)

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships, and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean. Nor do they have a moral conscience, since they do not judge good and evil, grasp the ultimate meaning of situations, or bear responsibility for consequences. They may imitate or even simulate, but they do not understand what they produce, for they lack the affective, relational, and spiritual perspective through which human beings grow in wisdom. #MagnificaHumanitas

[Memento Mori @TempusFugit4016]

"Trials are nothing else but the forge that purifies the soul of all its imperfections." - St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi

[Beauty of the Catholic Faith @advoluntas]

♰ Thursdays are dedicated to the Most Blessed Sacrament ♰

"O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! That the Lord of the whole universe, God and the Son of God, should humble himself like this and hide under the form of a little bread, for our salvation."
- Saint Francis of Assisi

[The Husky @Mr_Husky1]

She gave her three-year-old daughter a sedative, wrapped her in a blanket, and placed her in a large leather suitcase. With her heart pounding, she waited in line to leave the Nazi ghetto, watched closely by armed guards. If the little girl made a sound, or if a guard decided to open the heavy bag, they would both be executed on the spot.

When she finally made it outside the gates and her child was safe, she did something completely unthinkable. She went back inside.

And then she saved another child. And another. She did this dozens of times, risking her life with every single step she took.

For most of her life, that little girl, Henia Lewin, believed her mother, Gita Wisgardisky, had performed a single, desperate miracle just for her. It was not until her mother’s funeral many years later that the shattering truth finally emerged.

An elderly survivor approached Henia at the cemetery, looked into her eyes, and revealed a secret kept for decades.

"Your mother saved so many," the survivor told her. "No one knows how many. Maybe she didn’t even know herself. She didn’t count them."

Gita had smuggled countless children out of the Kovno Ghetto in Lithuania, hidden deep inside suitcases or carried through secret passages, right under the noses of the oppressors.

Henia was born in 1940 into a normal, loving Jewish family. That normalcy completely vanished when the Nazis invaded and forced the Jewish population into a cramped, disease-ridden ghetto. Hunger and sudden deportations became the daily reality.

Gita saw through the lies early on. While some people hoped for the best, she understood the dark truth. She knew that when the Nazis spoke of relocating children, they actually meant killing them. Gita refused to wait for the end.

Working secretly with a brave Lithuanian Catholic priest, she found kind families willing to hide Jewish children in the countryside. But getting the children out of the heavily guarded gates was a suicide mission.

The children had to be perfectly still and silent. This was why Gita used sedatives. She put her own daughter into a deep, heavy sleep, placed her in that suitcase, and walked toward the guards.

When a soldier stopped her, Gita did not panic. She calmly offered her watch and her best pair of leather boots as a bribe. The guard took them, looked away, and she passed through the gates.

Little Henia was taken in by a Christian family. She was taught to call strangers mom and dad, and she learned to never mention her real name. Though she was only three, she understood the danger and kept the secret for two long years.

Meanwhile, Gita went right back into the nightmare. She returned to the ghetto to find more children. Each trip involved a new suitcase, more sedatives, and a fresh set of bribes. She never asked for recognition. She simply acted.

Miraculously, Gita, her husband Jonas, and Henia all survived the war. They eventually moved to the United States, where Henia grew up to become a school teacher and a passionate voice for Holocaust education.

Today, Henia shares this story because memory is a torch that must be passed from hand to hand. It reminds us that even in the darkest corners of human history, love can conquer the greatest fears.

Gita went to her grave without ever boasting about her heroism, but her legacy lives on in the generations of children who got to grow up, laugh, and have families of their own because one mother refused to leave anyone behind.

Some stories are not meant to be closed—they are meant to be carried forward.

[Sr. Mary Joseph Calore, SSCJ @sscjusa]

"Union with the divine will produces strength and courage. If you act according to the will of God, you will obtain the assurance of the help of God. If you are promised the help of God, why do you suffer from fear? You may declare with the Prophet: 'The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want' (Ps. 23:1)."

St. Joseph Sebastian Pelczar

Image: Los Angeles Cathedral

[jacque boatman @jacqueboatman]

“…‘chronological snobbery’, the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate common to our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that account discredited.”

- C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy

[Mark Rees @reviewwales]

Today is the feast day of St Melangell, the patron saint of hares. 🐇⛪️
The daughter of an Irish king, she fled to Wales and founded a community of women in Powys.
According to legend she was gifted the land after saving a hare from a pack of dogs.
🎨 Jemima Jameson

[Pray The Rosary @PrayTheRosary]

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee

[Jmy @JmyLss]

« Seigneur, vous me réjouissez par tout ce que vous faites. »

Sainte Thérèse de l'Enfant Jésus

[Jan 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @RosaryMum]

“Peace I give you.”

Little Fawn sleeps peacefully at Jesus’ feet

[☩ 𝕁𝕄𝕋 ☩ @SecretFire79]

On January 2, 40 AD, something extraordinary happened in Zaragoza, Spain, one of the most beautiful and mysterious moments in Church history🇻🇦

While the Apostle St. James the Greater was discouraged and struggling in his mission to bring the Gospel to Spain, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him. What makes this apparition unique is that Mary was still alive, living in Jerusalem at the time. This was a true bilocation, the Mother of God was physically present in two distant places at once.

Standing upon a pillar of jasper, surrounded by angels, Mary consoled St. James, strengthened his faith, and gave him a small wooden image of herself with the Child Jesus. She promised that this place would be a powerful center of her maternal protection.

This tender encounter reminds us that Mary is truly the Mother of the Church. Even before the Church was fully born at Pentecost, she was already caring for the Apostles, encouraging them, and guiding the early Christian mission with her maternal love.

Just as she came to St. James in his moment of difficulty, Mary continues to come to us today, as our Mother, our Queen, and our powerful intercessor.
“I am your Mother, and in this place, my love and protection will always be with you.”

Let us entrust ourselves to the maternal heart of Our Lady of the Pillar, Mother of the Church, Comfort of the Afflicted, and Help of Christians.

Our Lady of the Pillar, pray for us!

[Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. @LawrenceOP]

O God, Father of mercies,
whose Only Begotten Son, as he hung upon the Cross,
chose the Blessed Virgin Mary, his Mother, to be our Mother also;
grant, we pray,
that with her loving help,
your Church may be more fruitful day by day,
and exulting in the holiness of her children,
may draw to her embrace all the families of the peoples.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
— Collect for the feast of Mary, Mother of God.
https://t.co/GKxtDfYoKz
This medieval painting is from the entrance to the former Benedictine church of Our Lady in Sopron, Hungary.

[Boze Herrington, Library Owl 😴🧙‍♀️ @SketchesbyBoze]

Pope Leo writes, “The speed and ease with which answers or summaries can be obtained risk extinguishing the desire to ask questions.” Curiosity and the human hunger to learn are under attack. They are trying to build a world in which no one *wants* to know anything.