Saint for the Day

• May 20—St. Bernardine of Siena
  In 1408, St. Vincent Ferrer once suddenly interrupted his sermon to declare that there was among his hearers a young Franciscan who would be one day a greater preacher than himself, and would be set before him in honor by the Church.  This unknown friar was Bernardine.  Of noble birth, he had spent his youth in works of mercy, and had then entered religion.  Owing to a defective utterance, his success as a preacher at first seemed doubtful, but, by the prayers of our Lady, this obstacle was miraculously removed, and Bernardine began an apostolate which lasted thirty-eight years.  By his burning words and by the power of the Holy Name of Jesus, which he displayed on a tablet at the end of his sermons, he obtained miraculous conversions, and reformed the greater part of Italy.  But this success had to be exalted by the Cross.  The Saint was denounced as a heretic and his devotion as idolatrous.  After many trials he lived to see his innocence proved, and a lasting memorial of his work established in the Church.  The Feast of the Holy Name commemorates at once his sufferings and his triumph. He died on Ascension-eve, 1444, while his brethren were chanting the antiphon, “Father, I have manifested Thy Name to men.”  St. Bernardine, when a youth, undertook the charge of a holy old woman, a relation of his, who had been left destitute.  She was blind and bed-ridden, and during her long illness could only utter the Holy Name.  The Saint watched over her till she died, and thus learned the devotion of his life. Reflection—Let us learn from the life of St. Bernardine the power of the Holy Name in life and death.

  Taken from the “Pictorial Lives of the Saints: with Reflections for Everyday in the year

  

Sunday Sermon

• Octave of the Ascension~The Constant Struggle

  “Be prudent, therefore, and watch in prayers.”–St. Peter iv. 7.

   

  What a happiness many Christians have at the Easter-time through Confession and Communion, and how desirable it is that this happiness should continue! I will tell you how to be always thus happy. Wage a constant warfare against your evil passions; for sin is the only thing that can deprive you of the joy which you now have. But you will say, ” It is hard to be always striving.” I answer, that the victorious in any contest do not notice the labor which their triumph costs. Defeat is what makes warfare painful. For your consolation, remember that you have only to be resolute and arm yourself with God’s grace, which is given most abundantly, and defeat is impossible. God has provided help for you in all possible difficulties. He will not abandon you unless you throw down your arms. You have already gained much in obtaining God’s friendship. Your hardest fight was when you were doing penance to get this friendship. What a pity it would be to throw away what has cost you so much labor! “Be prudent, therefore,” and do not let yourselves be ensnared again by evil. Consider the great happiness which you now have, and compare it with your great misery when you were in danger of being lost for ever. Experience is a great teacher, and it is folly not to profit by it. See how it has been with you. When you consented to sin you were cheated by a pleasure that you found to be unreal, you had to suffer an hour of pain for every moment of gratification, and your soul was agitated, depressed, and sorrowful. Besides, in this unhappy state you deserved only everlasting pains. Now that you have the happiness of being in God’s favor, how you ought to strive not to lose it! Show your prudence by “watching in prayers.” Since the Paschal Communion have you watched yourself? or have the old habits of neglect once more begun to appear? Have those morning and evening prayers been omitted? Watch. These are the beginnings which prepare the way for a fall into sin. Your prayers are your chief defence. God’s assistance is continually necessary for all, and it is granted through prayer. The assistance of God continues while the habit of prayer lasts, but no longer. Pray, and all will be well with you. If you do not pray, nothing can save you. Watch for your failings in the duty of prayer, and continually repair and correct them. No temptation can move one who is faithful to prayer. Such a one’s salvation is infallibly certain. If you do not pray, you are without excuse, because all, even the greatest sinners, can pray. It is a maxim of the spiritual life that one who is faithful in prayer is faithful in all things. Prayer cures all the disorders of the soul, diminishes one’s daily faults, takes away the temporal punishment due to sin, increases one’s merits, and finally conducts to Paradise.

  Five-minute Sermons for Low Masses on All Sundays of the Year By the Priests of the Congregation of St. Paul, 1893

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