President’s Friday Message
Posted on Dec 10, 2021
by Daniel Minter
Dear Assumption Catholic Schools
Continued blessings as we journey through this Advent season. Keeping in mind the great Joy that awaits us on Christmas morning, the gift of Jesus to mankind as our Savior.
Sunday is the the 3rd Sunday of Advent. Gaudete Sunday.
Why is the 3rd Sunday of Advent pink?
It is called the “Shepard’s Candle,” and is pink because rose is a liturgical color for joy. The third Sunday of Advent is Gaudete Sunday and is meant to remind us of the joy that the world experienced at the birth of Jesus, as well as the joy that the faithful have reached the midpoint of Advent.
Our virtue this week is meekness
“O Jesus, meekest Lamb,
who being cursed did not curse,
who suffering injuries did not threaten,
who receiving the greatest contempt, answered
with divine meekness or preserved an admirable
silence,
help me to follow Your example,
to repress my anger,
to embrace meekness,
and armed with patience,
to suffer willingly any labor so that I may come to
enjoy eternal repose with You.”
Venerable Leo Du Pont,
known as the Holy Man of Tours
and the Apostle of the Holy Face
who being cursed did not curse,
who suffering injuries did not threaten,
who receiving the greatest contempt, answered
with divine meekness or preserved an admirable
silence,
help me to follow Your example,
to repress my anger,
to embrace meekness,
and armed with patience,
to suffer willingly any labor so that I may come to
enjoy eternal repose with You.”
Venerable Leo Du Pont,
known as the Holy Man of Tours
and the Apostle of the Holy Face
This week our strength building on the virtue of
HUMILITY is MEEKNESS.
The strength to restrain anger and
discouragement in the midst of adversity
enabling a person to do good
in response to evil.
Meekness is not weakness!
It is strength under control.
HUMILITY is MEEKNESS.
The strength to restrain anger and
discouragement in the midst of adversity
enabling a person to do good
in response to evil.
Meekness is not weakness!
It is strength under control.
The real POWER of meekness lies in its capacity
to defuse anger.
Meekness is particularly meritorious when practiced toward
those who make us suffer; then it can only be supernatural,
without any admixture of vain sensibility.
It comes from God and sometimes has a profound effect on
our neighbor who is irritated against us for no good reason.
Let us remember that the prayer of St. Stephen called down
grace on the soul of St. Paul, who was holding the garments
of those who stoned the first martyr.
Meekness disarms the violent.
to defuse anger.
Meekness is particularly meritorious when practiced toward
those who make us suffer; then it can only be supernatural,
without any admixture of vain sensibility.
It comes from God and sometimes has a profound effect on
our neighbor who is irritated against us for no good reason.
Let us remember that the prayer of St. Stephen called down
grace on the soul of St. Paul, who was holding the garments
of those who stoned the first martyr.
Meekness disarms the violent.
MATTHEW 11: 28-30
“Come to me, all you that labour, and are
burdened, and I will refresh you.
Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me,
because I am meek, and humble of heart: and
you shall find rest to your souls.
For my yoke is sweet and my burden light.”
“Come to me, all you that labour, and are
burdened, and I will refresh you.
Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me,
because I am meek, and humble of heart: and
you shall find rest to your souls.
For my yoke is sweet and my burden light.”
“See the Face of God in everyone.”
– St. Catherine Laboure
– St. Catherine Laboure
The opposing vice is
WRATH
THE WEAKNESS OF VENGEFUL ANGER AND RETALIATION.
THE WEAKNESS OF VENGEFUL ANGER AND RETALIATION.
DEALING WITH WRATH
One must never speak nor act when one is angry.
One should do as mariners do; when a storm arises they cast anchor,
and wait until the tempest is over.
St. Francis of Sales, on being asked how he could remain so calm and
peaceful in regard to persons who were raging with anger, replied: “I
have made an agreement with my tongue never to utter a word while
my heart is excited.”
Prayer is very efficacious as a means of dispelling anger. When we feel
the rising of passion within us, we should do as the apostles did when
a storm arose on the lake. They went to Our Lord for succor. If we do
so, God will command the waves of anger to be still, and calm will
ensue.
The saints counsel us to repeat silently an Ave Maria as a means of
driving away the devil who tempts us. Or one may recite the Gloria
Patri; at any rate we must have recourse to prayer immediately, for if we
delay, our anger will gain ground, and will not be easily quelled.
Wrath frequently begets hatred. “It is better,” says St. Francis of Sales,
“never to let anger into thy heart, than to keep it within the bounds of
prudence and moderation; for it is like a viper which if it once gets its
head through a hole, slips its whole body through; and once admitted,
it is no easy matter to drive it out.”
One must never speak nor act when one is angry.
One should do as mariners do; when a storm arises they cast anchor,
and wait until the tempest is over.
St. Francis of Sales, on being asked how he could remain so calm and
peaceful in regard to persons who were raging with anger, replied: “I
have made an agreement with my tongue never to utter a word while
my heart is excited.”
Prayer is very efficacious as a means of dispelling anger. When we feel
the rising of passion within us, we should do as the apostles did when
a storm arose on the lake. They went to Our Lord for succor. If we do
so, God will command the waves of anger to be still, and calm will
ensue.
The saints counsel us to repeat silently an Ave Maria as a means of
driving away the devil who tempts us. Or one may recite the Gloria
Patri; at any rate we must have recourse to prayer immediately, for if we
delay, our anger will gain ground, and will not be easily quelled.
Wrath frequently begets hatred. “It is better,” says St. Francis of Sales,
“never to let anger into thy heart, than to keep it within the bounds of
prudence and moderation; for it is like a viper which if it once gets its
head through a hole, slips its whole body through; and once admitted,
it is no easy matter to drive it out.”
CLOSING PRAYER
“When I find that I have fallen, in spite of my efforts, I will
meekly rise again and say:
‘Come, my poor heart. Behold, we have fallen again into the
ditch which we have so often resolved to avoid. Let us rise
now, and leave it forever. Let us have recourse to God’s
mercy; let us place our hopes in it, and it will help us.’
Trusting in You, O Lord, I will begin again, and keep to the
path of humility and meekness.”
St. Francis de Sales
“When I find that I have fallen, in spite of my efforts, I will
meekly rise again and say:
‘Come, my poor heart. Behold, we have fallen again into the
ditch which we have so often resolved to avoid. Let us rise
now, and leave it forever. Let us have recourse to God’s
mercy; let us place our hopes in it, and it will help us.’
Trusting in You, O Lord, I will begin again, and keep to the
path of humility and meekness.”
St. Francis de Sales
In Christ’s Peace
Daniel Minter
President
Assumption Catholic Schools