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Thursday

<April 5, 2018>

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.5

Daily Devotional: The Holy Eucharist/Priesthood Gift of the Holy Spirit: Counsel—the gift that assists decision making and helps to guard against rashness; as an interior guide, it assists one to counsel others and to extend compassion to them. Proclamation of Faith: “I believe in the Communion of Saints.” The Blessed Mother: In imitation of the Blessed Mother after the passion, may we refrain from judging others. Mary’s example was an encouragement to the apostles. Jesus: In imitation of Jesus, may we treat all those we encounter with kindness.
Glorious Characteristic: Quality—our bodies will be youthful and will retain our original gender. (Practice seeing all as a child of God.) (Rev 1:12-18) Spiritual Work of Mercy: Counsel the doubtful. Corporal Work of Mercy: Bury the dead. Sacrament: Holy Orders Commandment:
  1. You shall not steal.
 Thought for the Day: Padre Pio: “Pray, hope and don’t worry.”

Today’s Reading

Blessed Juliana of Mount Cornillon, Virgin (A.D. 1258)

Day 7 Divine Mercy Novena. Pray for the souls who especially venerate and glorify Jesus’ mercy.

“The introduction of the feast of Corpus Christi was primarily due to one woman, whose mind first conceived it and whose efforts brought about its observance. Juliana was born near Liege in 1192, but being left an orphan at the age of five, she was placed by guardians in the care of the nuns of Mount Cornillon, a double Augustinian monastery of men and women devoted to the care of the sick, more especially of lepers…Juliana grew up into a studious girl who had an intense devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and who loved to pore over volumes of St. Augustine, St. Bernard and other fathers on the library shelves. Strangely enough, from the time when she was about sixteen she was haunted day and night by the appearance of a bright moon streaked with a dark band…she feared lest it might be a device of the Devil to distract her from prayer, but usually she felt convinced that it had some deep spiritual meaning if only she could grasp it. At last she had a dream or vision in which our Lord explained that the moon was the Christian year with its round of festivals and that the black band denoted the absence of the one holy day required to complete the cycle-a feast in honour of the Blessed Sacrament.>br>
The years passed and Juliana became a nun at Mount Cornillon; but she was unknown, without influence and in no position to do anything in the matter of the desired feast. Then in 1225 she was elected prioress and began to speak about what she felt to be her mission to some of her friends…opposition arose…Juliana was criticized as a visionary, and worse..These accusations so infuriated the people of Liege that they compelled Juliana to leave…she lived as a recluse for the rest of her days in poverty and sickness. She died on April 5, 1258…

Juliana’s great mission was carried on and completed by her old friend…After the elevation to the papacy of Urban IV…to sanction the new feast of the Blessed Sacrament…the beautiful office for Corpus Christi which St. Thomas Aquinas had composed at his desire. The bull was confirmed in 1312 by the Council of Vienne under Pope Clement V, and the celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi has from that time become of universal obligation…The observance of a feast in honour of Blessed Juliana was allowed by the Holy See in 1869.

May we ponder the beatitude: Blessed are those that are persecuted for righteousness’sake; for theirs is the kingdom of God.

Edited, Revised and Supplemented by Herbert j. Thurston, S.J. and Donald Attwate Christian Classics Westminster, Maryland 1990 Butler’s Lives of the Saints, Volume II, page 37

About Us

Mission

We could find no better way to describe the purpose of Daily Beatitude than the Prologue of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 1:

God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.

Content

We are called to live in beatitude. This contemplation is one designed to help us incorporate the beatitudes into our day. This work is not one of absolutes. It is just one way to incorporate the countenance of Jesus into each day. It is not the only way. View our rationale.

Each day a different beatitude is presented with several points of focus that provide meditation. An additional reading is included daily related to the beatitude or one of the points of focus. All readings are archived for your convenience.

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