The cross on which Jesus was crucified was thrown into a ditch or well and covered with stones and earth.  This was so that no one could find it.  In 312 AD Constantine the Great, while doing battle with Maxentius for the throne of the Roman Empire, prayed to the God of the Christians to help him.  At this time Constantine was not yet a Christian.  A luminous cross of Christ appeared in the heavens.  It bore the inscription “In This Sign You Will Conquer.”  He defeated Maxentius and had the sign of Christianity placed on the Roman standards and shields of his soldiers in 312.  In 326, St. Helena found the True Cross in Jerusalem.  A  feast day celebrated the finding of the Cross on May 3.  In 614 the King of Persia sacked Jerusalem and took the True Cross along with other treasures.  Emperor Heraclius of Constantinople retrieved the Cross in 626 and brought it back to Calvary.  After divesting himself of every sign or royalty and clothing himself in sackcloth and barefoot, he carried the Cross up to Calvary and restored it to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

FEAST DAY:  September 14

CROSSES & CRUCIFIXES FOR THE HOME

Responsorial Psalm

Do not forget the works of the Lord!

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

b) The Prodigal Son

Today’s Question-

What is the major penitential season of the liturgical year?

He was born around the year 344 in Antioch to Christian parents.  His mother was widowed at the age of 20.  He lived the life of an anchorite in 374 in the mountains near Antioch, but because of ill health, he had to return to Antioch.  He was ordained a priest.  He was called Chrysostom, meaning golden-mouthed, because of his oratory, and he was elevated to the See of Constantinople in 398.  He suffered much from enemies, even ecclesiastics who were offended by the apostolic freedom of his discourses.  He was sent into exile.  He found great peace and happiness in his suffering.  He was consoled by the fact that the Pope remained his friend and did what he could for him.  Not being satisfied with his suffering, his enemies banished him to Pythius.  He died on his way there on September 14, 407.

FEAST DAY:  September 13

PATRON OF:  Epilepsy, orators, preachers

FULTON SHEEN BOOKS

Responsorial Psalm

To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

a) My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink

Today’s Question-

What parable of Jesus perhaps best describes the process of conversion and the merciful love of the Father?

a) the Lost Sheep    b) the Prodigal Son    c) the Good Samaritan

This feast began in Spain in 1513.  It extended to all of Spain and the Kingdom of Naples by 1671.  In 1683, the king of Poland, John Sobieski, while fighting the Muslim armies under Mohammed IV in Constantinople, entrusted himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  His army defeated the Muslims.  Pope Innocnet XI proclaimed the feast to the whole church.

FEAST DAY:  September 12

ROSARIES

Responsorial Psalm

How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

True

Today’s Question-

What teaching of Jesus given in John’s Gospel is too difficult for some of the disciples?

a) My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink    b) the Son of Man must suffer and die    c) one must be reborn to enter this kingdom

He lived during the 5^th century in Metz.  The information on his life is generally regarded as legendary.  According to “Life”,  an angel appeared to his mother in a dream shortly before his birth and said: “Hail, beloved of God.  Rejoice because you will conceive and bring forth a new Paul, the Bishop of Adelphus.  “Life” goes on narrating his birth, his youth, and finally the fulfillment of the prophecy of his election as Bishop of Metz.  He was the tenth Bishop of Metz.

FEAST DAY 11:  September

CHILDREN’S CROSSES

Responsorial Psalm

Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

True

Today’s Answer-

It is necessary to go to a priest to receive the sacrament of reconciliation.  True or false?

St. Nicholas was born at St. Angelo in Italy in 1245.  He practiced more than ordinary virtue from his early infancy.  His extraordinary merit as a young student caused him to be appointed to a canonry, a position that allowed him to be constantly employed in God’s service.  An Augustinian friar preached a sermon on the vanity of the world which caused Nicholas to enter the Augustinian Order at Tolentine.  He spent the greater part of his life in Tolentine, thus, the surname was given him.  He distinguished himself by his virtue, sanctity, and humility.  He was sent to several convents of his Order, and he was ordained priest by the Bishop of Osimo.  From then on his ministry was preaching and hearing confessions.  God gave him many heavenly gifts, but he also suffered from various painful diseases.  He died on September 13, 1306.

FEAST DAY:  September 10

BIBLES

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Listen to me, daughter; see and bend your ear.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

False

Today’s Question-

The lives of God’s people acquire a new worth through the offering of he Mass. 

True or false?

St. Peter was born in Catalonia, Spain, of poor parents.  After studying at the Jesuit College, he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Tarragona.  He took his final vows in 1604.  St. Alphonsus Rodriguez was a strong influence on him.  He went to Cartagena, the principal slave market of the New World.  Thousand of slaves were landed every month.   He was ordained in 1616 and dedicated his life by a special vow to service of negro slaves.  This was to last 33 years.  Not only did he serve them bodily but he instructed them in Christianity.  His efforts garnered three hundred thousand souls to the Church.  He kept up with them when they were working on the plantations and encouraged them to live as Christians.  He prevailed on their masters to treat them humanely.  He died in 1654.

FEAST DAY:  September 9

PATRON OF:  Against Slavery

HOLY WATER FONTS

Responsorial Psalm

The Lord takes delight in his people.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

Passover

Today’s Answer-

After baptism one does not need to go to confession to be forgiven grave sins?

True or false?

Joachim and Ann were advanced in age and had almost no hope of having a child.  In Nazareth in Galilee, they were gratified by the birth of a daughter who they named Mary.  Mary was chosen to be the mother of Jesus Christ, the savior of the world.  September 8 is her feast day and August 15 the feast day of the Solemnity of Mary originated in Jerusalem. 

FEAST DAY:  September 8

SPORTS & MILITARY MEDALS

Responsorial Psalm

With delight I rejoice in the Lord.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

The Gospel of John

Today’s Question-

What Jewish feast day was the occasion for Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples?

Little is known of the life of this saint.  Her mother died at her birth, and her father gave her to a Christian nurse who baptized her.  When the father learned of this, he gave up his daughter.  The nurse, who had little means, took the child to live with her.  She helped with the sheep, talked to God, and meditated on the lives of the saints. In the year 251, the prefect of Gaul was attracted to her and determined to wed her.  When he found that she was from a noble family and a Christian, he tried to get her to deny her Faith.  When she refused his proposal, she was thrown into prison and chained to a wall.  When the prefect (Olybrius) returned from war, he found that she had not changed her mind.  She was whipped, scorched, burned with pincers, but by the grace of God she was sustained.  She was killed by having her throat severed. 

FEAST DAY:  September 7

ART

Responsorial Psalm

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer

g) all of the above

Today’s Question

What Gospel does not give us an account of the institution of the eucharist at the Last Supper?

Blessed Bertrand was born in the latter part of the 12^th century in Garrigues, France and educated by Cistercian nuns.  He became a priest and joined a Cistercian group that was to counteract the evil effected by the Albigensian heresy.  The Cistercian legate was assassinated in 1208.  This left the Crusade of Simon de Montfort loose, leaving Bertrand stranded.  He met St. Dominic who was combating the heresy by prayer, fasting, and preaching.  Bertrand and five other preachers formed the nucleus for the Order of Preachers begun by St. Dominic.  He was appointed Prior Provincial of Provence and spent the last nine years of his active life preaching the Faith  throughout southern France.  He founded the great Priory of Marseillis. 

FEAST DAY:  September 6

DVD & VIDEO

Responsorial Psalm

The Lord is near to all who call upon him.

Quiz

Yesterday’s Answer-

True

Today’s Question-

What name is given for the eucharist?

a) Mass    b) Breaking of the bread    c) Communion   d) Holy Sacrifice    e) Divine Liturgy   f) the Lord’s Supper  g) all of the above

Mother Teresa was born August 26, 1910.  She entered the Loreto Covent in Rathfarnam, Ireland, in 1928.  In 1929, she left Ireland, and she was sent to India.  In 1937, she took her final vows in India.  After spending 15 years in India, Mother Teresa “heard the call to give up all and follow Christ into the slums to serve him among the poorest of the poor.”  In 1948, Mother Teresa, with the permision of the Pope, left her community.  She lived as an independent nun in India.  Instead of wearing her habit from the Loreto sisters, she wore a plain white sari and sandals like the women of India.  She served the poor in the slums of India.  Other women volunteered to help.  In 1950, she founded the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity.   The Missionaries of Charity are in 123 countries and number around 4,000 sisters.  Mother Teresa died in Calcutta on September 5, 1997.  Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa on October 19, 2003.

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Responsorial Psalm

The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

True

Today’s Question-

The Second Vatican Council said that the eucharist is “the source and summit of the whole Christian life.”

True or false?