Deeper Truth

Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint David of Wales

Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint David of Wales 3/1/2024
David is the patron saint of Wales and perhaps the most famous of British saints. David was a native of Wales, and tradition has preserved a relatively large amount of detail about his life.
He became renowned as a teacher and preacher, founding monastic settlements and churches in Wales
The 12th century St Davids Cathedral, built on the site of a much older religious buildings, is the reason for little St Davids' outsize city status. Constructed from dusky purple sandstone, it's one of Wales' most iconic religious sites and sits tucked away in a sheltered vale beside the River Alun.
It is known that he became a priest, engaged in missionary work, and founded many monasteries, including his principal abbey in southwestern Wales. Many stories and legends sprang up about David and his Welsh monks. Their austerity was extreme. They worked in silence without the help of animals to till the soil. Their food was limited to bread, vegetables and water.
In about the year 550, David attended a synod where his eloquence impressed his fellow monks to such a degree that he was elected primate of the region. The episcopal see was moved to Mynyw, where he had his monastery, now called St. David’s. He ruled his diocese until he had reached a very old age. His last words to his monks and subjects were: “Be joyful, brothers and sisters. Keep your faith, and do the little things that you have seen and heard with me.”

Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Oswald

 Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Oswald 2/29/2024
St. Oswald is the patron saint of soldiers. He always took a cross into battle with him and prayed at the foot of the cross to ask God to protect him and his soldiers.
Saint Oswald (born c. 604—died 642, Maserfelth, Eng.; feast day August 5) Anglo-Saxon king of Northumbria from 633 to 642 who introduced Celtic Christian missionaries to his kingdom and gained ascendancy over most of England.
Oswald himself. Oswald, he says, had a vision of Columba the night before the battle, in which he was told
Be strong and act manfully. Behold, I will be with thee. This coming night go out from your camp into battle, for the Lord has granted me that at this time your foes shall be put to flight and Cadwallon your enemy shall be delivered into your hands and you shall return victorious after battle and reign happily.
Oswald described his vision to his council and all agreed that they would be baptised and accept Christianity after the battle. In the battle that followed, the Welsh (Brytons) were routed despite their superior numbers; Cadwallon himself was killed.
The last acts in the life of today’s saint make for an amazing story. In truth, they merely underscore the holiness he exhibited throughout his life.

Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Blessed Daniel Brottier

Stand In The Gap With Us And  Blessed Daniel Brottier 2/28/2024
Born in France in 1876, Daniel was ordained in 1899 and began a teaching career. That didn't satisfy him long. He wanted to use his zeal for the gospel far beyond the classroom. He joined the missionary Congregation of the Holy Spirit, which sent him to Senegal, West Africa.
A story from his childhood recounts that his mother asked him what he would like to be when he grew up. Daniel's answer was, "I won't be either a general or a pastry chef—I will be the Pope!"
I will be the Pope!" His mother reminded him that to be the pope, he would first have to become a priest. Little Daniel piped up, "Well, then I'll become a priest!"
At the age of 10, Brottier made his First Communion
Daniel spent most of his life in the trenches—one way or another.
Restless in his life as a teacher and determined to be a missionary, the young Abbé Brottier joined the Congregation of the Holy Spirit at Orly in 1902.

Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Conrad of Piacenza

Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Conrad of Piacenza 2/19/2024
1290 – February 19, 1351) Born of a noble family in northern Italy, Conrad as a young man married Euphrosyne, daughter of a nobleman.
One day while hunting he ordered attendants to set fire to some brush in order to flush out the game. The fire spread to nearby fields and to a large forest.
He married an aristocratic young woman named Ephrosyne when he was quite young.
Though pious, he led the normal way of life for a man of his station.
One day, as he was engaged in his usual pastime of hunting within his family's domain, he ordered his attendants to set fire to some brushwood in which game had taken refuge.
The prevailing wind caused the flames to spread rapidly to the surrounding fields and forest.
A peasant who happened to be found near where the fire began was accused of starting the blaze and was imprisoned, tortured to confess, and condemned to death.
Because he ran, an innocent man was convicted for spreading the fire and was condemned to death as punishment.
Upon hearing of this, Conrad stepped forth to accept the blame, saving the innocent man's life. He paid for the damaged property and he and his wife gave everything they owned to the poor in recompense.
Conrad then left to join a group of Franciscan hermits, and his wife joined the Poor Clares.

Mary Visits Gietrzwald, Poland in 1877

Join John Carpenter, Don Hartley, and the Deeper Truth research team as they review another Marian apparition.
Cardinal Karol Wojtyła presided over the formal approval of the apparition in 1977, shortly before he became Pope John Paul II.
Considered the Ermland Lourdes (Diocese of Warmia) already in the past century, Gietrzwald goes back to the Middle Ages (founded in 5/19/1352). The patronal feast since 1500 is of Mary's birth (September 8). The miraculous image revered in Gietrzwald, mentioned first in 1505, shows Mother and Child, surrounded by angels holding a transparent with the following inscription: Ave regina coelorum, ave domina angelorum, hailing thus the queen of angels. The image was crowned in 1717.
The oldest witness to Marian devotion in Gietrzwald is a pieta dated 1425. Our Lady appeared there in the period of June 27 to September 16, 1877 to two children, Justina Schaffrinski and Barbara Samulowski. Mary's message stressed the importance of the rosary.
On September 8, Mary blessed a spring and said, “Now, the sick people can take this water for their healing.” A few days later she appeared again, blessing her own image in the small chapel and blessing those who asked for it. At the end of this apparition she said, “Pray the rosary zealously!”

Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Blessed John of Fiesole

Stand In The Gap With Us And  Blessed John of Fiesole 2/18/2024
The patron of Christian artists was born around 1400 in a village overlooking Florence. He took up painting as a young boy and studied under the watchful eye of a local painting master.
While he was still a youth, he was attracted to the religious life, and asked to be received into a stricter discipline in the Order of Friars Preachers (called the Observance), which had been established in the convent at Fiesole.
He diligently took up all of the duties imposed by the brethren or superiors. It was the fame of his outstanding art work, particularly his painting, that spread far and wide. Therefore, commissions for his work became more frequent and urgent.
The patron of Christian artists was born around 1400 in a village overlooking Florence. He took up painting as a young boy and studied under the watchful eye of a local painting master. He joined the Dominicans at about age 20, taking the name Fra Giovanni. He eventually came to be known as Fra Angelico, perhaps a tribute to his own angelic qualities or maybe the devotional tone of his works.
He continued to study painting and perfect his own techniques, which included broad-brush strokes, vivid colors and generous, lifelike figures. Michelangelo once said of Fra Angelico: “One has to believe that this good monk has visited paradise and been allowed to choose his models there.” Whatever his subject matter, Fra Angelico sought to generate feelings of religious devotion in response to his paintings. Among his most famous works are the Annunciation and Descent from the Cross as well as frescoes in the monastery of San Marco in Florence.
 

Deepertruth:Stand In The Gap With Us And The Seven Founders of the Servite Order

Stand In The Gap With Us And The Seven Founders of the Servite Order 2/17/2024
These seven men decided to withdraw from the city and to lead lives of prayer and penance. They chose to turn their lives over to God and give witness to all that is good and true. It took great courage for these men to leave their prosperous businesses and live a life of prayer and penance.
the seven Italian saints who founded the Servite order in 1233. Saints who founded the order:
Led by Bonfilius, the men became closely knit and devoted themselves to the Virgin Mary, who, appeared to the seven in a vision and bade them withdraw into solitude.
I have chosen you to be my first Servants, and under this name you are to till my Son’s Vineyard. Here, too, is the habit which you are to wear; its dark color will recall the pangs which I suffered on the day when I stood by the Cross of my only Son. Take also the Rule of Saint Augustine, and may you, bearing the title of my Servants, obtain the palm of everlasting life. From a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Buonfiglio Monaldi
Alexis Falconieri
John Buonagiunta Monetti
Benedict dell’Antella
Bartholomew degli Amidei
Gherardino Sostegni
Hugh dei Lippi-Uguccioni
They joined together, living a penitential life,

Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Gilbert of Sempringham

Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Gilbert of Sempringham  2/16/2024 Planting the Good Soil, Perfect for Lent
Gilbert was born at Sempringham, near Bourne in Lincolnshire, the son of Jocelin, an Anglo-Norman lord of the manor, and an unnamed Anglo-Saxon mother. He had a brother, Roger, and a sister, Agnes.
Gilbert was born at Sempringham, near Bourne in Lincolnshire, the son of Jocelin, an Anglo-Normanlord of the manor, and an unnamed Anglo-Saxon mother. He had a brother, Roger, and a sister, Agnes.
After studies in Paris, he was ordained priest in 1123 and became parson of Sempringham. There, in 1131, he founded a home for girls, whom he spiritually guided and to whom he assigned a rule of life fashioned after that of St. Benedict of Nursia.
The Gilbertine Order of Canons Regular was founded around 1130 by Saint Gilbert in Sempringham, Lincolnshire, where Gilbert was the parish priest. It was the only completely English religious order and came to an end in the 16th century at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
When his father died in 1130, Gilbert became lord of the manor of Sempringham and West Torrington. In 1131 he founded the Gilbertine Order,

Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Claude de la Colombière

Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Claude de la Colombière  2/15/2024  Lent, Our Desert Experience
St. Claude de la Colombiere, SJ (1641-1682)
He is remembered principally as the spiritual director who recognized the truth of the revelation that St.Margaret Mary Alacoque received; he also showed heroic virtue in enduring imprisonment that weakened his health and led to an early death.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus  On Feb. 15 the Catholic Church honors Saint Claude de la Colombiere, the 17th century French Jesuit who authenticated and wrote about Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque's visions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
He was born in 1641 from the ancient Province of Dauphiné, the third child of the notary Bertrand La Colombière and of Margaret Coindat. The family soon moved to the nearby city of Vienne, where he began his education, before attending the Jesuit school in Lyon for his secondary studies.
Claude La Colombière, SJ was a Jesuit priest and the confessor of Margaret Mary Alacoque.

Deepertruth: Love and St. Valentine Priest and martyr.

 Love and St. Valentine 2/14/2024
"If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)".
It is clear that love is very central to our relationships. Without love, we serve another master and we deviate off course. So love must be the motivation why we do anything. The Greek language gives four different words that identified love in a person. They are as follows:
1. Agape, which is unconditional love. This expression has come to mean the deeper love between a man and a woman, the love of God for a sinful race, without it a person would hold a low self esteem. Most Christians would see the love between God and man as agape. The supreme act on the cross was agape love.
2. Éros, this is passionate love, romance, the physical love between a man and a woman. This is the desire and the longing. This is specifically felt during 12 -15 month deployments to the Middle East, but it is more than a sexual nature or expression.