{"ok":true,"date":"2030-02-08","dateKey":"02-08","liturgicalDay":"St. John of Matha, Confessor","rank":"Double","color":"white","quoteOfTheDay":{"text":"For by the greatness of the beauty, and of the creature, the Creator of them may be seen, to be known thereby.","author":"Holy Scripture","source":"Wisdom 13:5, Original Douay-Rheims","treasuryHref":"/wisdom#the-creator-known-through-creation","category":"Wisdom and Holy Fear"},"season":"Time after Epiphany","novenas":[],"octaveContexts":[],"subject":"City of God in Exile: St. John of Matha, Confessor - 2030-02-08","previewText":"St. John of Matha, Confessor. Christ Is King Over Public Life. Resist secular liberalism, which treats society as though it could be rightly ordered without Christ.","plainText":"CITY OF GOD IN EXILE\nSt. John of Matha, Confessor\n2030-02-08 - Time after Epiphany - Double - white\nPLAIN-LANGUAGE GUIDE FOR TODAY\nEcclesiastical or ecclesial: belonging or relating to the Church; the words refer to her life, law, worship, ministers, or common mission.\nConfessor: in the traditional calendar, a male saint who openly professed the Faith by a holy life but was not killed as a martyr.\nApostolic: belonging to the faith, mission, teaching, or authority handed down from Christ through the apostles.\nTODAY IN THE ROMAN YEAR\nThe mystery of the coming of Christ teaches the pilgrim to wait without surrender, to recognize divine humility, and to adore the King where He truly appears. Sacred time trains hope, but hope must remain disciplined by doctrine and worship. Invite Our Lady to establish within you the dispositions of the predestinate and to drive out the habits of Esau. Ask Our Lady to dwell in your soul and to order your memory, understanding, will, imagination, passions, senses, and works toward Jesus.\n\n\"God the Father wishes to have children by Mary till the consummation of the world; and He has said to her these words, In Jacob inhabita—‘Dwell in Jacob,’—that is to say, Make your dwelling and residence in My predestinated children, figured by Jacob, and not in the reprobate children of the devil, figured by Esau.\"\nSt. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 29\n\nThe language of Jacob and Esau is a summons to conversion, not permission to presume that a devotional label guarantees salvation. A soul in which Mary dwells must welcome what she loves: Jesus Christ, the Catholic Faith, purity, humility, obedience, prayer, sacrifice, and perseverance.\n\nPrepare an interior dwelling for her by expelling mortal sin, rejecting heresy, repairing scandal, and cleansing daily conduct of deliberate compromise. If you fall, return through contrition and the means appointed by Christ. Let the whole household of the soul come under her maternal order.\n\nPRACTICE\nExamine religious claims by asking whether they agree with the Catholic Church identified by her four marks, rather than judging by impression or preference.\n\nQUOTE OF THE DAY\n\"For by the greatness of the beauty, and of the creature, the Creator of them may be seen, to be known thereby.\"\nHoly Scripture, Wisdom 13:5, Original Douay-Rheims\n\nROMAN MARTYROLOGY - February 8\nOT. JOHN of Matha, confessor, founder of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, for the redemption of captives, who reposed in the Lord on the 17th of December. — Also, St. Jerome 2Emiliani, confessor, founder of the Congregation of Somascha, who slept in the Lord on the 8th of this month. He was numbered among the Saints by Clement XIII., his feast being assigned to the 20th of July. — At Rome, the holy martyrs Paul, Lucius, and Cyriacus. — In the Lesser Armenia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Denis, Emilian and Sebastian. — At Alexandria, under the emperor Decius, the martyr St. Cointha, whom the Pagans seized, led to the idols and urged to adore them. As she refused witli horror, they put her feet in chains, and dragged her through the streets of the city, mangling her body in a barbarous manner. — At Constantinople, the birthday of the holy martyrs, monks of the monastery of Dins, who, bringing the letter of pope St. Felix against Acacius, were barbarously killed for their defence of the Catholic faith. — In Persia, in the time of king Cabades, the commemoration of the holy martyrs, who were put to death by various kinds of torments on account of their faith in Christ. — At Pavia, the bishop St. Juventius, who strenuously labored in preaching the Gospel. — At Milan, the demise of St. Honoratus, bishop and confessor. — At Verdun, in France, St. Paul, a bishop renowned for miracles. — At Muret, near Limoges, the birthday of the abboc St. Stephen, founder of the Order of Grandmont, celebrated for his virtues and miracles. — In the monastery of Vallumbrosa, blessed Peter, cardinal and bishop of Albano, of the Congregation of Vallumbrosa, of the Order of St. Benedict, surnamed Igneus, because he passed through fire uninjured.\n\nHIGHLIGHTED SAINT\nSt. John of Matha\nConfessor and founder for the ransom of captives.\nSt. John of Matha founded the Order of the Most Holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives, giving his life to mercy ordered toward deliverance.\nHis feast teaches that charity must sometimes become organized sacrifice. Captivity is not answered by feeling sorry from a distance; Catholic mercy prays, labors, gives, and risks for those in bondage.\nAsk St. John of Matha for mercy with hands and feet. The captive soul needs more than sympathy; it needs prayer, truth, sacrifice, and help toward freedom in Christ.\nFROM MATINS\nThe first Mass that revealed a vocation to ransom captives.\nMatins - Second Nocturn - St. John of Matha, Confessor\nRoman Breviary\n\"He was called to the work of ransoming bondsmen from the power of the unbelievers.\"\n- The Breviary places St. John of Matha's vocation within his first Mass, where prayer and sacrifice disclose an angel freeing captives beneath the sign of the Cross.\n- Three years of prayer with St. Felix of Valois precede institutional action, teaching that supernatural works of mercy require discernment, perseverance, and ecclesiastical approval.\n- The Order of the Most Holy Trinity joined hospitals, almsgiving, preaching, and ransom so that bodily liberation would serve the greater gain of souls.\nLet mercy begin at the altar and mature under prayer. St. John of Matha teaches zeal that builds patiently, seeks the Church's blessing, and continues until captives are free.\nTHE PILGRIM'S SPIRITUAL CONFERENCE\nChrist Is King Over Public Life\nThe Church places this truth before you today: Our Lord's kingship is not confined to private devotion. Men, families, laws, and nations are subject to His authority. Do not hurry past it as though doctrine belonged only to books and controversies. A revealed truth is also a light by which the soul must judge its loyalties, its fears, its habits, and the duties immediately before it. The Church's Catholicity includes the public claim of Christ over all peoples, not merely the private consolation of believers.\nThe grace to be practiced is Mercy ordered to ransom, drawn from today's saintly witness. Ask God for more than the natural appearance of this virtue. Temperament may make an action seem easy for a time, but supernatural virtue remains faithful because God is worthy of obedience, even when feeling offers no assistance and no one notices the cost. Practice interior order by rejecting every deliberate occasion of sin and governing the whole day according to faith and duty.\nThere is also an enemy to recognize: Resist secular liberalism, which treats society as though it could be rightly ordered without Christ. Do not study this danger only in other people. Look quietly for the door by which it seeks entrance into your own soul - perhaps through delay, curiosity, resentment, human respect, attachment to comfort, or the desire to control the outcome. Dying to self today means choosing mercy ordered to ransom when pride, comfort, fear, resentment, or human respect asks for control.\nDo the faithful act and entrust its fruit to divine Providence, God's wise and loving governance of all things. Place effort and outcome into Our Lady's hands so that the whole offering may be presented to her Divine Son. Confidence in God is not passivity: obey, pray, work, and accept that visible success, consolation, or immediate relief may not be given. God remains faithful when the duty is hidden and the outcome uncertain. Therefore, perform the duty that belongs to you, use the lawful means God has provided, and then surrender the fruit. Permit the painful removal of attachments, habits, entertainments, and compromises that cannot remain in Mary's household. Make your home, speech, labor, recreation, prayer, and relationships fitting for the presence of the Mother of Jesus.\nThe Church's witness: this truth manifests the Church's mark of catholic; the witness placed beside it is Pope Pius XI.\nYour resolution before God: Examine religious claims by asking whether they agree with the Catholic Church identified by her four marks, rather than judging by impression or preference.\nCarry this word: Christ's true Church is known by four identifying marks: she is one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic. These marks protect the pilgrim from counterfeit religion.\nTHE PILGRIM'S MIRROR\n\"As long as we live in this world we may not be fully without temptation.\"\nThomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book I, chapter 13, p. 21\nThe presence of temptation does not itself prove that you have consented or that prayer has failed. The Christian remains in warfare. Temptation humbles presumption, reveals the need for grace, and gives the will an occasion to prefer God in deed rather than merely in desire.\n\nDo not converse needlessly with the temptation. Call upon Jesus and Mary, leave the occasion when you can, turn the imagination toward something lawful, and perform the nearest duty. If you fall, repent promptly; do not let wounded pride delay your return to mercy.\nToday's Practice: Prepare a firm response for today's habitual temptation: an aspiration, departure from the occasion, and prompt return to duty.\nDAILY EXAMEN\nExamine what welcomed Our Lady's dispositions and what made the soul resemble Esau rather than Jacob.\n- For what grace or mercy should I thank God today?\n- What sin, fault, neglected duty, or resistance to grace must I confess?\n- What definite amendment will I carry into tomorrow?\nPRAYER\nO Lord, keep my mind beneath the Church that is one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic. Do not let feeling, family custom, fear, or numbers replace Thy marks.\nDAILY RULE FOR THE PILGRIM\nA brief rule to keep every day:\nBegin with morning prayer\nAdore the Blessed Trinity and offer the whole day to Jesus through Mary before other duties claim the mind.\nKeep the Angelus\nPause morning, noon, and evening to remember the Incarnation.\nSeek Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament\nAttend Holy Mass when duty permits; otherwise make a Spiritual Communion and renew desire for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.\nReturn to Jesus and Mary\nUse frequent holy aspirations during work, waiting, suffering, and temptation.\nPray the Rosary\nKeep the mysteries of Christ before the mind with Our Lady and learn to imitate what they contain.\nEnd with night prayer and examen\nGive thanks, confess faults, forgive injuries, make a practical amendment, and entrust the night to Our Lady.\nCONTINUE STUDY\nAuthority and the Kingship of Christ: https://cityofgodinexile.com/authority-and-revolt/authority-the-modernist-revolt-against-the-kingship-of-christ?entered=1\nOpen this day in the Sacred Calendar: https://cityofgodinexile.com/sacred-calendar?date=2030-02-08&entered=1\nOpen this day's Daily Pilgrimage: https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-dispatch?date=2030-02-08&entered=1\nBrowse the Formation Index: https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-dispatch/formation?entered=1","html":"\n\n \n \n \n City of God in Exile: St. John of Matha, Confessor - 2030-02-08\n \n \n
\n St. John of Matha, Confessor. Christ Is King Over Public Life. Resist secular liberalism, which treats society as though it could be rightly ordered without Christ.\n
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City of God in Exile

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St. John of Matha, Confessor

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2030-02-08 - Time after Epiphany - Double - white

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“Walk whilst you have the light, that the darkness overtake you not.”
John 12:35
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Plain-Language Guide for Today

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Ecclesiastical or ecclesial
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belonging or relating to the Church; the words refer to her life, law, worship, ministers, or common mission.
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Confessor
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in the traditional calendar, a male saint who openly professed the Faith by a holy life but was not killed as a martyr.
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Apostolic
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belonging to the faith, mission, teaching, or authority handed down from Christ through the apostles.
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Today in the Roman Year

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The mystery of the coming of Christ teaches the pilgrim to wait without surrender, to recognize divine humility, and to adore the King where He truly appears. Sacred time trains hope, but hope must remain disciplined by doctrine and worship.

Invite Our Lady to establish within you the dispositions of the predestinate and to drive out the habits of Esau.

Ask Our Lady to dwell in your soul and to order your memory, understanding, will, imagination, passions, senses, and works toward Jesus.

“God the Father wishes to have children by Mary till the consummation of the world; and He has said to her these words, In Jacob inhabita—‘Dwell in Jacob,’—that is to say, Make your dwelling and residence in My predestinated children, figured by Jacob, and not in the reprobate children of the devil, figured by Esau.”

St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 29

The language of Jacob and Esau is a summons to conversion, not permission to presume that a devotional label guarantees salvation. A soul in which Mary dwells must welcome what she loves: Jesus Christ, the Catholic Faith, purity, humility, obedience, prayer, sacrifice, and perseverance.

Prepare an interior dwelling for her by expelling mortal sin, rejecting heresy, repairing scandal, and cleansing daily conduct of deliberate compromise. If you fall, return through contrition and the means appointed by Christ. Let the whole household of the soul come under her maternal order.

Examine religious claims by asking whether they agree with the Catholic Church identified by her four marks, rather than judging by impression or preference.

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Quote of the Day

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“For by the greatness of the beauty, and of the creature, the Creator of them may be seen, to be known thereby.”
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Holy Scripture, Wisdom 13:5, Original Douay-Rheims

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Roman Martyrology - February 8

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OT. JOHN of Matha, confessor, founder of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, for the redemption of captives, who reposed in the Lord on the 17th of December. — Also, St. Jerome 2Emiliani, confessor, founder of the Congregation of Somascha, who slept in the Lord on the 8th of this month. He was numbered among the Saints by Clement XIII., his feast being assigned to the 20th of July. — At Rome, the holy martyrs Paul, Lucius, and Cyriacus. — In the Lesser Armenia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Denis, Emilian and Sebastian. — At Alexandria, under the emperor Decius, the martyr St. Cointha, whom the Pagans seized, led to the idols and urged to adore them. As she refused witli horror, they put her feet in chains, and dragged her through the streets of the city, mangling her body in a barbarous manner. — At Constantinople, the birthday of the holy martyrs, monks of the monastery of Dins, who, bringing the letter of pope St. Felix against Acacius, were barbarously killed for their defence of the Catholic faith. — In Persia, in the time of king Cabades, the commemoration of the holy martyrs, who were put to death by various kinds of torments on account of their faith in Christ. — At Pavia, the bishop St. Juventius, who strenuously labored in preaching the Gospel. — At Milan, the demise of St. Honoratus, bishop and confessor. — At Verdun, in France, St. Paul, a bishop renowned for miracles. — At Muret, near Limoges, the birthday of the abboc St. Stephen, founder of the Order of Grandmont, celebrated for his virtues and miracles. — In the monastery of Vallumbrosa, blessed Peter, cardinal and bishop of Albano, of the Congregation of Vallumbrosa, of the Order of St. Benedict, surnamed Igneus, because he passed through fire uninjured.

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Highlighted Saint

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St. John of Matha

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Confessor and founder for the ransom of captives.

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St. John of Matha founded the Order of the Most Holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives, giving his life to mercy ordered toward deliverance.

His feast teaches that charity must sometimes become organized sacrifice. Captivity is not answered by feeling sorry from a distance; Catholic mercy prays, labors, gives, and risks for those in bondage.

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Ask St. John of Matha for mercy with hands and feet. The captive soul needs more than sympathy; it needs prayer, truth, sacrifice, and help toward freedom in Christ.

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From Matins

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The first Mass that revealed a vocation to ransom captives.

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Matins - Second Nocturn - St. John of Matha, Confessor

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Roman Breviary, Proper lessons for St. John of Matha

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“He was called to the work of ransoming bondsmen from the power of the unbelievers.”
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  • The Breviary places St. John of Matha's vocation within his first Mass, where prayer and sacrifice disclose an angel freeing captives beneath the sign of the Cross.
  • Three years of prayer with St. Felix of Valois precede institutional action, teaching that supernatural works of mercy require discernment, perseverance, and ecclesiastical approval.
  • The Order of the Most Holy Trinity joined hospitals, almsgiving, preaching, and ransom so that bodily liberation would serve the greater gain of souls.
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Let mercy begin at the altar and mature under prayer. St. John of Matha teaches zeal that builds patiently, seeks the Church's blessing, and continues until captives are free.

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The Pilgrim's Spiritual Conference

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Christ Is King Over Public Life

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The Church places this truth before you today: Our Lord's kingship is not confined to private devotion. Men, families, laws, and nations are subject to His authority. Do not hurry past it as though doctrine belonged only to books and controversies. A revealed truth is also a light by which the soul must judge its loyalties, its fears, its habits, and the duties immediately before it. The Church's Catholicity includes the public claim of Christ over all peoples, not merely the private consolation of believers.

The grace to be practiced is Mercy ordered to ransom, drawn from today's saintly witness. Ask God for more than the natural appearance of this virtue. Temperament may make an action seem easy for a time, but supernatural virtue remains faithful because God is worthy of obedience, even when feeling offers no assistance and no one notices the cost. Practice interior order by rejecting every deliberate occasion of sin and governing the whole day according to faith and duty.

There is also an enemy to recognize: Resist secular liberalism, which treats society as though it could be rightly ordered without Christ. Do not study this danger only in other people. Look quietly for the door by which it seeks entrance into your own soul - perhaps through delay, curiosity, resentment, human respect, attachment to comfort, or the desire to control the outcome. Dying to self today means choosing mercy ordered to ransom when pride, comfort, fear, resentment, or human respect asks for control.

Do the faithful act and entrust its fruit to divine Providence, God's wise and loving governance of all things. Place effort and outcome into Our Lady's hands so that the whole offering may be presented to her Divine Son. Confidence in God is not passivity: obey, pray, work, and accept that visible success, consolation, or immediate relief may not be given. God remains faithful when the duty is hidden and the outcome uncertain. Therefore, perform the duty that belongs to you, use the lawful means God has provided, and then surrender the fruit. Permit the painful removal of attachments, habits, entertainments, and compromises that cannot remain in Mary's household. Make your home, speech, labor, recreation, prayer, and relationships fitting for the presence of the Mother of Jesus.

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The Church's witness: this truth manifests the Church's mark of catholic; the witness placed beside it is Pope Pius XI.

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Your Resolution Before God

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Examine religious claims by asking whether they agree with the Catholic Church identified by her four marks, rather than judging by impression or preference.

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Christ's true Church is known by four identifying marks: she is one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic. These marks protect the pilgrim from counterfeit religion.
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The Pilgrim's Mirror

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How shall I imitate Christ today?

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“As long as we live in this world we may not be fully without temptation.”
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Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book I, chapter 13, p. 21

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The presence of temptation does not itself prove that you have consented or that prayer has failed. The Christian remains in warfare. Temptation humbles presumption, reveals the need for grace, and gives the will an occasion to prefer God in deed rather than merely in desire.

Do not converse needlessly with the temptation. Call upon Jesus and Mary, leave the occasion when you can, turn the imagination toward something lawful, and perform the nearest duty. If you fall, repent promptly; do not let wounded pride delay your return to mercy.

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Today's Practice

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Prepare a firm response for today's habitual temptation: an aspiration, departure from the occasion, and prompt return to duty.

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Daily Examen

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Three questions before night prayer

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Examine what welcomed Our Lady's dispositions and what made the soul resemble Esau rather than Jacob.

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  • For what grace or mercy should I thank God today?
  • What sin, fault, neglected duty, or resistance to grace must I confess?
  • What definite amendment will I carry into tomorrow?
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Prayer

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O Lord, keep my mind beneath the Church that is one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic. Do not let feeling, family custom, fear, or numbers replace Thy marks.

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Daily Rule for the Pilgrim

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A brief rule to keep every day:

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Begin with morning prayer

Adore the Blessed Trinity and offer the whole day to Jesus through Mary before other duties claim the mind.

Keep the Angelus

Pause morning, noon, and evening to remember the Incarnation.

Seek Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament

Attend Holy Mass when duty permits; otherwise make a Spiritual Communion and renew desire for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

Return to Jesus and Mary

Use frequent holy aspirations during work, waiting, suffering, and temptation.

Pray the Rosary

Keep the mysteries of Christ before the mind with Our Lady and learn to imitate what they contain.

End with night prayer and examen

Give thanks, confess faults, forgive injuries, make a practical amendment, and entrust the night to Our Lady.

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Continue Study

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Carry today's lesson into a focused chapter from the library.

\n Authority and the Kingship of Christ\n
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Persevere, pilgrim.

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The gates remain open to the faithful.

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