fr=Follower

SAINT THERESA OF LISIEUX
SAINT THOMAS THE APOSTLE
SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS
SAINT THOMAS OF VILLANOVA
SAINT TIMOTHY


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SAINT THERESA OF LISIEUX-
Advocate of the Way of Spiritual Childhood/
1873-1897/Feast:Oct.1-#81

fr:Dear Saint,your life is another glowing example of the fact that 
God often acts through humble persons and lowly things.
You did not attain any honors,neither did you perform any 
world-shaking deeds.
Yet you were a perfect vehicle for spreading God's teaching on the 
Way of Spiritual Childhood (or the"Little Way").
*Outwardly,your life was uneventful and even boring.
You served in your Order's laundry,sacristy,and refectory; and finally 
acted as a model novice mistress.Inwardly your life was one of 
surpassing spiritual beauty.
You followed the way of trust and complete self-surrender.

St:My parents,both of whom had desired to live a celibate life 
consecrated to the Divine Bridegroom,were exemplary Christians.
After I lost my mother when I was five years old,
I was reared lovingly by my father and my sisters.
I also received great help from the Mother of Jesus who cured me of a 
grave illness.

fr:You became the precious pearl of a Carmelite Convent.Outstanding 
was your discovery and then your apostolate of Spiritual Childlikeness.
This is not childlikeness in size or age but in a spirit of lowliness coupled 
with the greatest confidence expressed in total"abandonment" to 
God Who is Love.
*You were only twenty-four years old when the- Divine Bridegroom 
took you to heaven.
How necessary are your teaching and example in our age of 
self-reliance and when there is a diabolically inspired rejection of the 
Lord and Creator of all.

St:God knows perfectly what a spoiled child I have been,spoiled,that is,
because of all the unmerited favors and graces I have received,first in 
my family and then in the Convent."
The generosity of the Lord I will sing forever."
*How well I was taught to embrace the heaviest crosses and accept the 
darkness through which I walked constantly toward the end of my life 
when I continually repeated:"Lord,I believe!"

fr:You climbed the heights of sanctity by the dedicated performance of 
the little duties of everyday life and the heroic endurance of petty 
annoyances and ordinary hardships.

pr:0 My God,in order that I may be a living act of Perfect love,
I Offer myself as a whole burnt offering to Your tender love.
Consume me continually,letting my soul overflow with the floods of 
infinite tenderness which are found in You,so that I may become a 
martyr of Your Love.

fr:Dear Saint,countless are those you prayed for during and after your 
life upon earth.
Teach us all childlike confidence in and abandonment to the infinitely 
merciful God.
This is the best way we have of reaching that blessed life in heaven 
when,as we hope,we shall have the privilege to live forever in what 
we can call the Family of the Holy Trinity.

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SAINT THOMAS THE APOSTLE-
Exemplar of Genuine Faith/1st century/
Feast: Dec.21-#10

fr:Dear Saint,you appear in three episodes of Saint John's Gospel.
The first shows your impetuous character but also your love for 
Christ as you exclaim:"Let us go along (with Christ to Bethany),to die 
with Him" (11:16)
*The second shows your love of knowledge and your practical bent as 
you interrupt Christ's discourse at the Last Supper with the words:
"Lord,we do not know where 
You are going.How can we know the way? (14:5).
You thereby elicit for us the beautiful declaration:"
I am the Way,the Truth,and the Life"(14:6).*
And the third episode is the one about your doubt concerning our 
Lord's Resurrection,which concludes with you making the first explicit 
confession of His Divinity':"
My Lord and my God" (20:25-28).

St:The Divine Master was most kind in calling me to be one of 
His Twelve Apostles.
By His grace I remained faithful despite my constant concern for certainty.
*Our Lord had wonderfully instructed me and the others by word and 
example.
We had witnessed His many miracles.
And it was impossible for us to say that He ever committed the slightest 
sin.

fr:There is a strong tradition that you preached the Faith in India and 
were martyred there.
You gave birth to the "Christians of St.Thomas."
*You also inspired an apocryphal but beautiful Gospel known as the 
Acts of Thomas.
It contains the following prayer that can rightly be called your own 
because it mirrors sentiments that you have shown in your life.

pr:0 Lord and Vivifier,
Your grace has achieved for us all that You had spoken 
and promised.
Grant us access to the place of Your peace.
For You are our Vivifier,
You are our Consoler,You are our life Remedy,
You are our Standard of victory.
Blessed are we,O Lord,because we have known You! 
Blessed are we,because we have believed in You! 
Blessed are we,because we bear Your wounds and the sign of 
Your blood on our countenances! 
Blessed are we,because You are our greathope! 
Blessed are we,because You are our God forever!

fr:Dear Saint,help us to imitate your love for Christ and your 
dedication to truth.
*Pray for a renaissance of faith in the Risen Lord and make us strive 
to bear testimony (even unto death if necessary) to Christ,the Way,
the Truth,and the Life,
Son of Mary and Son of God.

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SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS-Supreme 
Theologian and Angelic Doctor/1225-1274/
Feast:Jan.28-#42

fr:Dear Saint,in you there is no sign of the tension between the religious 
and the intellectual life that afflicts some people in our day.
Your sanctity was achieved in and through the main work of your 
ife--your intellectual activity.
*For you knew how to remain humble despite your great intellectual 
exploits and sought only union with our Lord.As a result,you were 
thought to be stupid in school and even called the "Dumb Ox." 
But such dumbness is the wisdom of Saints,and your freedom from sin 
earned for you the name of "Angelic Doctor."

St:That is true.
I came to regard all that I had written as so much straw compared with 
what God had shown and revealed to me in a vision.
Not that I deserved such graces--but it pleased Him to make use of me 
for His greater glory and the salvation of souls.
*At another time our Lord was kind enough to appear to me and say:
"You have written well about Me,
Thomas.What reward do you desire to receive?" 
What a stupendous thing--that the Lord of all should accede to the desires 
of a lowly creature! 
I could only exclaim with joy:"I desire nothing but You,my Lord!"

fr:From early youth you were full of love for God Whom you desired to 
know ever better.
You were also most eager to spread the proper interpretation of revealed 
Truth.
You constantly refuted false doctrines and answered countless 
objections in matters of faith.
*Your devotion to the precious Reality of the Holy Eucharist was 
outstanding..
And even though you had studied at the famous centers of learning in 
Paris,Bologna,and Rome,you declared that you learned more from the 
Crucifix than from books.

St:it is true that I accepted the truths expressed by philosophers like 
Aristotle,and indeed that I "Christianized" their works.
Yet it is even truer that whatever I taught in lectures and in writings 
I learned principally through prayerful meditation on the Crucifix and 
on God's revealed Word or in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

pr:Hidden God,devoutly I adore You,
Truly present underneath these veils:
All my heart subdues itself before You,
Since it all before You faints and fails..
Not to sight,or taste,or touch be credit,
Hearing only do we trust secure;
I believe,for God the Son has said it--
Word of Truth that ever shall endure.
On the cross was veiled Your Godhead's splendor,
Here Your manhood lies hidden too; 
Unto both alike my faith I render,
And,as sued the contrite thief,I sue.
Though I look not on Your wounds with Thomas,
You,my Lord,and You,my God,
I call:Make me more and more believe Your promise,
Hope in You,and love You over all.
0 memorial of my Savior dying,
Living Bread,that gives life to man; 
Make my soul,its life from You supplying,
Taste Your sweetness,as on earth it can.
Deign,O Jesus,Pelican of heaven,
Me,a sinner,in Your Blood to lave,
To a single drop of which is given All the world from all its sin to save.
Contemplating,

*Lord,Your hidden presence,Grant me what I thirst for and implore,
In the revelation of Your essence To behold Your glory evermore.

fr:Dear Saint,you are the most acclaimed intellectual genuis in the 
Church even among non-Catholics,and you are known as the 
Patron of Schools.
*Let all Christian teachers have a respect for truth no matter where they 
find it.Above all,let them learn through prayerful meditation on the 
written Word of God (Scripture) and on the life and conduct of 
Jesus Christ,the "Word of God" become Man.

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SAINT THOMAS OF VILLANOVA-
Outstanding Exemplar of Almsgiving/
1486-1555/Feast:Sept.22-#50

fr:Dear Saint,you are remembered for many things -- ardent love for God,
zeal for the promotion of studies and the missions of your 
Augustinian Order,and wholehearted service to the Church.
Most of all,however,you are remembered as an Apostle of Charity and 
Almsgiving.
*Taught by the example of your dedicated Christian parents,you could 
never resist giving alms from your boyhood onward.
Your school lunch,clothes,shoes,and supplies from your parents' store -- 
all were given away freely.

St:You are right about the example of my parents.
They taught me so well that all my life I had little regard for any kind 
of possessions but much concern for the welfare of others,especially 
their eternal welfare.*
God was very good to me and gave me many graces,both internal and 
external -- in the people I encountered,the things I did,and the 
circumstances of my life.

fr:Educated at the University of Alcala,you were a brilliant student and 
then became an outstanding Professor of Philosophy.
But your primary interest was always in the Science of the Saints,
the science of revealed teaching,and your life was always edifying.
Joining the Augustinian Order,you became a Priest,rose to be Provincial 
twice,and finally were made Archbishop of Valencia against your 
inclinations.
All your life you strove for holiness and service to souls--becoming a 
veritable Apostle of Spain.

St:Living as I did in a time when many were breaking away from the 
Church,
I tried to keep my people faithful to her.
She is the only one founded by our Lord and she brings Christ to the 
world through the Scriptures,the Liturgy,and her sacred Tradition.
*Because of ill health I was unable to attend the Council of 
Trent but I was present at it in spirit through my brother Bishops and I 
endorsed what it decreed through the Holy Spirit.

pr:Lord,it is good for us to be here; do not let me descend from this 
height.
Your presence is enough for me;do not,
I beg You,leave me.
Let me spend 
my whole life here and all my days.
What more could I desire?
It is this that 
I seek and this alone that I ask.

fr:Dear Saint,in our day charity has become a Part of government and 
big business.
It has become organized and been converted into a religion-less 
philanthropy.
*Teach us to turn this type of giving into a religious act.
Make us give out of love for Christ and in union with Christ.
Raise up self-less 
apostles of charity after your image.

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SAINT TIMOTHY-
Zealous Evangelizer and Faithful Friend/1st century/
Feast:Jan.26-#11

fr:Dear Saint,many are the things that make you most attractive.
Your name (Timothy) means "respectful fear of God" and fits you 
perfectly.
No wonder you became a most beloved and loving bosom friend of Paul.
*The Apostle came several times to Lystra,your birthplace,
and through his ministry you were reborn through Baptism--in company 
with your mother and grandmother.

St:It was Paul who prompted me to become a true follower of the 
Savior Jesus Christ.
My father was Creek and my mother was Jewish,but in order to avoid 
trouble Paul had me circumcised.
*I know from personal experience that Paul was a zealous and 
indefatigable Apostle,always seeking souls for Christ.
I was permitted to accompany him on many of his journeys,and I was 
also with him when he was a prisoner for the Faith.

fr:We are fortunate in knowing much about you through two letters 
which Paul addressed to you as well as through many other letters in 
which he mentioned you,whom he called his "son."
*Paul was happy because you were well versed as a devout student of 
the Holy Scriptures.
No wonder he desired to ordain you and made you the Bishop of Ephesus.

St:Paul gave me a wonderful instruction in what you call pastoral theology.
His instruction of me as a shepherd of souls was that of a most loving 
and exemplary father.
*The Lord gave me many great graces through this wonderful convert to 
Christianity who continues to influence millions.
A learned man,he declared that he wanted to know nothing but 
"Christ and Him crucified."

fr:Let me quote from Paul's first letter to you which contains a prayer 
that can rightly be called yours,for it contains sentiments that must have 
been the basis of your spiritual life.

pr:God is the blessed and only Ruler,the King of kings and Lord of lords 
Who alone has immortality and Who dwells in unapproachable light,
Whom no human being has even seen or can see.
To Him be honor and everlasting rule!

fr:Dear Saint,intercede for us that we may have bishops and priests who 
will follow in your footsteps and those of Saint Paul.
Let us all be able to repeat those magnificent sentiments expressed by 
Saint Paul to you.
*"I have fought the good fight,I have finished the race,
I have kept the Faith.
From now on a merited crown awaits me; 
on that Day the Lord,just judge that He is,will award it to me--and not 
only to me,but to all who have looked for 
His appearing with eager longing" (2 Tm 4:7-8).

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