Today, September 2
Feast of the Day
No feast of the day
Saint of the Day
André Grasset was born in Montreal on April 3, 1758. His father was French, from Montpellier, and had arrived in Canada in 1749, when appointed secretary of the new governor general of New France. After the death of his first wife, he married the daughter of a rich merchant, with whom he had five children. André was the second. They lived close to the Chapel of Bon Secours.
After the Treaty of Paris, on February 10, 1763, Mr Grasset decides to sell his property and to return to France. André is six years old. He is sent, together with his brothers, to the Collège Sainte-Barbe in Paris where he finishes his classical studies, before going on to preparing for priesthood. His bishop recognizes his qualities and piety and appoints him as canon of the Cathedral. Two years later, in 1783, he is ordained priest.
When the French Revolution begins, in 1789, André is 31 years old. In 1790 the National Constituent Assembly suppresses the Cathedral Chapters and, in 1791, obliges all members of clergy to sign the “Constitution civile du clergé”. André finds refuge with the Eudist Fathers in Tourettes, Paris.
Here, in 1792, he is captured and made prisoner in the Carmelite convent, where today is the Institut Catholique de Paris. On September 2, 1792, together with other 92 priests and 3 bishops he is asked to answer the question: “Have you signed the Constitution civile du clergé?” By answering “no, my conscience forbids me to do so”, he is thrown down in the garden where guards, with bayonets, swords and spikes, kill him. The pope Pius XI beatified him, together with the other Martyrs of September, on October 17, 1926.
André Grasset is the first Canadian to be beatified.
Readings of the Day
First Letter to the Corinthians 3,1-9.
Brothers and sisters, I could not talk to you as spiritual people, but as fleshly people, as infants in Christ. I fed you milk, not solid food, because you were unable to take it. Indeed, you are still not able, even now, for you are still of the flesh. While there is jealousy and rivalry among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving in an ordinary human way? Whenever someone says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely human? What is Apollos, after all, and what is Paul? Ministers through whom you became believers, just as the Lord assigned each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters are equal, and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor. For we are God's co-workers; you are God's field, God's building.
Psalms 33(32),12-13.14-15.20-21.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he has chosen for his own inheritance. From heaven the LORD looks down; He sees all mankind. From his fixed throne he beholds All who dwell on the earth, He who fashioned the heart of each, He who knows all their works. Our soul waits for the LORD, who is our help and our shield, For in him our hearts rejoice; In his holy name we trust.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 4,38-44.
After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon. Simon's mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her. He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them. At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them. And demons also came out from many, shouting, "You are the Son of God." But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Messiah. At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, "To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent." And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
Daily Reflection
Lead me away, meanwhile, my refuge and my strength, into the heart of the desert as once you led your servant Moses; lead me where the bush burns, yet is not burnt up, where the holy soul that… is all aflame with the I fullness of the fire of your Holy Spirit, and, burning like the seraphim, is not consumed but cleansed… The soul attains to the holy place where none may stand or take another step, except he be bare-footed—having loosed the shoe-strings of all fleshly hindrances… This is the place where He Who Is, who cannot be seen as he is, is notwithstanding heard to say, "I Am Who Am," the place where, for the time, the soul must cover her face so that she does not see the face of God, and yet in humble obedience must use her ears to hear what the Lord God will say concerning her. Hide me then in the day of evil, O Lord, in the secret place of your tabernacle, in the hidden recesses of your face, “far from the strife of tongues” (Ps 26[27],5; 30[31],21); for your yoke is easy and the burden you have laid on me is light (Mt 11,30). And when you show me the difference between your service and the service of the world, gently and tenderly you ask me if it is not better to serve you, the living God, than to serve strange gods (Cf 2 Chron 12,8). And I, for my part, adore the hand that lays the load, I kiss the yoke, and I embrace the burden; and it is very sweet to me to sweat beneath its weight. For masters other than you have long possessed me… I acknowledge your yoke, and your light burden that lifts me up and does not crush me down.