Everyone Has Something To Give

   "Frankly, even the poor have something they can share with others.
Let one lend feet to the lame, another become the eyes of the blind,
another visit the sick, and another bury the dead. These are things
that everyone can do.
   Lastly, bear one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfill the
law of Christ."
--St. Augustine--Sermon 41, 9

Prayer: May he perfect his gifts in us, since he did not hesitate to
take our faults on himself. And may he make us children of God, since
he chose to become the Child of humans for our sakes.
--St. Augustine--Sermon 184, 3

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11 December – Blessed Francesco Lippi O.Carm
also known as Blessed Franco of Siena

 (1211-1291)

– Carmelite Hermit, Mystic, Penitent, with the gift of prophesy. Born
in c 1211 at Grotti-Siena, Italy and died on 11 December 1291 in
Siena, Italy of natural causes, aged 80.

Blessed Francesco was born at Grotti, Italy of the noble parents,
Matteo and Dorotea Lippi.

He spent his dissolute adolescence as a soldier who indulged in many
vices. His military unit captured Sarteano from the Orvientani but,
during the fighting, he was blinded in 1261. In his supplication in
prayer, he promised to change his life if he was healed and regained
his sight. After praying fervently to Saint James for his
intercession, his sight was indeed restored.

He traveled on a pilgrimage to Campostella and to the Basilica di San
Nicola in Bari to visit the tomb of Saint Nicholas. He also traveled
to both Loreto, Rome and Siena, where he heard the preaching of
Blessed Ambrose Sansedoni OP, a renowned preacher whose oratory,
simple rather than elegant, was most convincing and effective.
Thereafter, Blessed Francesco resolved to live the remainder of his
life as a hermit and to do penance for his earlier life.  He shut
himself in a small cell and remained there from 1261 to 1266.

Then he entered the Carmelite Order and continued to live as a hermit.
He experienced visions of Jesus Christ and the Madonna as well as
seeing angels and experiencing the temptations of demons.  He became well-known for his prophetic gifts.
He died on 11 December 1291. Part of his relics were relocated to a
Carmelite convent in Cremona in 1341.
The confirmation of the late Lippi’s ‘cultus’ (or popular devotion) allowed for Pope Clement X to approve his Beatification in 1670.

https://anastpaul.com/2019/12/


Saint Quote:
The measure of charity may be taken from the want of desires. As
desires diminish in the soul, charity increases in it; and when it no
longer feels any desire, then it possesses perfect charity.
--St. Augustine

Bible Quote:
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is
not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If
we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is
not in us.  [1 John 1:8-10]


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Grant us Your Light, O Lord
By The Venerable St Bede (673-735)

Grant us Your light, O Lord,
so that the darkness of our hearts,
may wholly pass away
and we may come at last,
to the light of Christ.
For Christ is that morning star,
who, when the night of this world has passed,
brings to His saints,
the promised light of life
and opens to them,
everlasting day.
Amen

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