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Today is the 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐁𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩, 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥, 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡, 𝐎𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐫 (𝐎𝐅𝐌)

He is regarded by two popes as one of the greatest Doctors of the Church with Thomas Aquinas. He is known as the Seraphic Doctor (while Saint Thomas Aquinas is the Angelic Doctor) for having "Ardent love for the Lord", since seraphs are associated with fire especially the burning fire of charity.

Let us begin today's Daily

In the name of the Father, ✠
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit,
𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗻.

God our loving Father,
grant us the grace
to hear what we ought to hear,
to see what we ought to see,
that we might do what we ought to do,
in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.

𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲'𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 is from 𝐏𝖘𝖆𝖑𝖒 18 (19):8-15
Grail Psalms from Universalis (c)

𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗼𝗱, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘄

“Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Mt 5:48).

The law of the Lord is perfect,
it revives the soul.
The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,
it gives wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right,
they gladden the heart.
The command of the Lord is clear,
it gives light to the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is holy,
abiding for ever.
The decrees of the Lord are truth
and all of them just.

They are more to be desired than gold,
than the purest of gold
and sweeter are they than honey,
than honey from the comb.

So in them your servant finds instruction;
great reward is in their keeping.
But who can detect all his errors?
From hidden faults acquit me.

From presumption restrain your servant
and let it not rule me.
Then shall I be blameless,
clean from grave sin.

May the spoken words of my mouth,
the thoughts of my heart,
win favour in your sight, O Lord,
my rescuer, my rock!

𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: great reward is in their keeping.

Today we continue on the Psalm from last week. Just recently, I had a thought, because I saw a quote of Saint Bonaventure about Mary (the picture that I use for this Daily). Now, today's reading tells us the greatness of the law, and Fr. Dave Concepcion would always remind us that the most common fault everyone does is that they do good but it is not the will of God.

There are 3 points I want to talk about today. First is the will of God, of course as exampled by Mary, her "Fiat" or "Let it be" is the greatest act of any creature. Now she is regarded as full of grace, in the same way, I think I have said this before, that she did not lose the grace she had received from birth through sin, and instead increased it with love.

That brings us to the second, love or charity. An exercise that I do, to know what the will of God is, I think I have said this before, is to do what is the most loving thing to do. Now this doesn't apply to heavenly orders from mystical revelations because most of them don't have a lot of explanations and requires action already. But we who are ordinary, are called to do what is most loving, and Saint Paul explained already, that Love fulfills, encompasses, and [most especially] surpasses the Law. Those 10 Commandments are fulfilled by loving God and Neighbour, and the Acts of Mercy/Charity (feed the hungry, clothe the naked etc etc) are way beyond (the extra mile) of the Law.

Now the third point that I want to talk about is that, the divine motherhood (to me at least) isn't a grace that is freely given, but a reward that is earned through merit. We can look at the virtues our Blessed Mother possessed—Chastity and Purity, Piety, Prudence, and of course Faith, Hope, and Love etc.—these virtues that our Blessed Mother possessed, does not just merit her sainthood and eternal life in heaven, but also won the favour of God for the office (like a promotion) of being Theotokos.

So we have not just a woman of great virtue deemed to be worthy of being Theotokos, but a woman of greater love who accepted both sorrow and joy of the divine mysteries, closer than anyone with Jesus on earth and second to the Trinity in hevae. She is most acceptable as our own Mother an advocate for Jesus (as Philip Balzofiore O.S.A. did write). Sorry if this became long now, but I want to end it with this, that a poor and humble woman like Mary can be exalted through God's grace, what more should we be. That is, in her example we only have to do and love the will of God, but also going the extra mile to keep ourselves in the favour of God. "Then shall I be blameless, * clean from grave sin. May the spoken words of my mouth, * the thoughts of my heart, win favour in your sight, O Lord, * my rescuer, my rock!"

𝗢 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿
which flowed out from the heart of Jesus
as a Fountain of Mercy for us,
I trust in You!

𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫: I am glad because I have figured out and shared with you why this psalm is dedicated to Mary in the Servite Devotion "Vigil of Our Lady". I found this prayer called, "The Evangelical Praise to the Mother of God" part of a Lutheran version of the rosary. With humble hearts, let us remember that we have a Loving Mother of God, who by Love not just loved Jesus, but loves also the ones loved by Jesus, us. 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐲.

O Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, what great comfort God has shown us in you, by so graciously regarding your unworthiness and low estate. This encourages us to believe that henceforth He will not despise us poor and lowly ones, but graciously regard us also, according to your example.

𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁, unworthy as I am, you took my Cross, poured out your blood, and redeemed the dignity of humanity.
Thank you, and let me repay you with the work of my hands, and the purity of my soul and body being a love-offering like You did. Amen.

In the name of the Father, ✠
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit,
𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗻.

Credits:
📖:Universalis
📸:https://i.pinimg.com/originals/13/5c/5c/135c5cdda8b9809e9559d9b2fbaa89ab.jpg