Saint of the Day for November 26

(543 – November 21, 615)

Saint Columban’s Story

Columban was the greatest of the Irish missionaries who worked on the European continent. As a young man who was greatly tormented by temptations of the flesh, he sought the advice of a religious woman who had lived a hermit’s life for years. He saw in her answer a call to leave the world. He went first to a monk on an island in Lough Erne, then to the great monastic seat of learning at Bangor.

After many years of seclusion and prayer, he traveled to Gaul with 12 companion missionaries. They won wide respect for the rigor of their discipline, their preaching, and their commitment to charity and religious life in a time characterized by clerical laxity and civil strife. Columban established several monasteries in Europe which became centers of religion and culture. His writings include a treatise on penance and against Arianism, sermons, poetry, and his monastic rule.

Like all saints, he met opposition. Ultimately he had to appeal to the pope against complaints of Frankish bishops, for vindication of his orthodoxy and approval of Irish customs. He reproved the king for his licentious life, insisting that he marry. Since this threatened the power of the queen mother, Columban was deported back to Ireland. His ship ran aground in a storm, and he continued his work in Europe, ultimately arriving in Italy, where he found favor with the king of the Lombards. In his last years he established the famous monastery of Bobbio, where he died.  Saint Columban's liturgical feast is celebrated on November 23.

Reflection

Now that public sexual license is becoming extreme, we need the Church’s memory of a young man as concerned about chastity as Columban. And now that the comfort-captured Western world stands in tragic contrast to starving millions, we need the challenge to austerity and discipline of a group of Irish monks. They were too strict, we say; they went too far. How far shall we go?

"...Say the Rosary every day Pray, pray a lot and offer the sacrifices for sinners. 
I'm the Lady of the Rosary, Only I will be able to help you. 
In the end My Immaculate Heart will triumph."
         - Our Lady of Fatima

Come and pray the rosary live around the world.
The 15 Promises to those who pray the Holy Rosary

The practice of the Rosary dates back to the 11th century, when the illiterate religious recited Pater Nosters and Ave Marias in the place of the office in choir. These monks who could not read recited 150 Ave Marias, in lieu of the 150 psalms: this was called the Psalter of Mary. The Dominican Alain de la Roche spread the recitation of the Rosary in the 15th century. The Catholic rosary, made up of beads grouped in five decades, is the material object used for reciting the Rosary which includes joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious sets of mysteries.

… The word “rosary” means a crown of flowers …and comes from courtly love. A "rosarium," meaning "field of roses," denoted a collection of poems that a knight dedicated to his lady. To greet Mary with Ave Marias is like offering her roses by meditating with her on the gospel.

Pope Francis is very devoted to the Rosary. His secretary shared on Vatican Radio on March 10, 2014, that "the Pope does not waste a minute, he works tirelessly. When he feels the need for a short pause, he sits down and recites the Rosary. He prays three of them a day. He says: ‘It helps me relax.’ "

The Divine Mercy Chaplet is a relatively recent but very popular devotion revealed by Our Lord to St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun. On Good Friday 1937, Christ appeared to Saint Faustina and asked her to recite this chaplet for nine days, starting on Good Friday and ending on the Octave of Easter (the Sunday after Easter Sunday), now known as Divine Mercy Sunday. Click Here for instruction as to how to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Divine Mercy Chaplet sung and prayed by Donna Cori Gibson.

Experience the Power of Divine Mercy Every Day

Start each day off right! Join tens of thousands of Catholics receiving brief, daily reflections from the Diary of St. Faustina every morning.

thedivinemercy.org/dmdsignup

Come, Holy Spirit, Creator blest,

and in our souls take up Thy rest;
come with Thy grace and heavenly aid
to fill the hearts which Thou hast made.
O comforter, to Thee we cry,
O heavenly gift of God Most High,
O fount of life and fire of love,
and sweet anointing from above.

Thou in Thy sevenfold gifts are known;
Thou, finger of God’s hand we own;
Thou, promise of the Father, Thou
Who dost the tongue with power imbue.

Kindle our sense from above,
and make our hearts o’erflow with love;
with patience firm and virtue high
the weakness of our flesh supply.

Far from us drive the foe we dread,
and grant us Thy peace instead;
so shall we not, with Thee for guide,
turn from the path of life aside.

Oh, may Thy grace on us bestow
the Father and the Son to know;
and Thee, through endless times confessed,
of both the eternal Spirit blest.

Now to the Father and the Son,
Who rose from death, be glory given,
with Thou, O Holy Comforter,
henceforth by all in earth and heaven. Amen. 

Heavenly Father,In every age, you have been our refuge.Yet again and still, we stand before you asking for your protection on your holy Church.For the victims of abuse and their families,pour out your healing and your peace.For the Bishops of this country,continue to inspire their decisions,and guide them with your Spirit.For the thousands of good and faithful priests,who have followed yourcall to serve you and your people in holiness,sustain them by your grace.For the faithful who are angry, confused, and searching for answers,embrace them with your love,restore their trust,console them with your clear Gospel message,and renew them with your sacraments.We place our Church in your hands,for without you we can do nothing.May Jesus, our High Priest and true compass,continue to lead her in every thought and action –to be an instrument of justice,a source of consolation,a sacrament of unity,and a manifestation of your faithful covenant.Grant this through that same Jesus Christ, our Lord,who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Credit:Rita Thiron,Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commission

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