August 15

Feast of the Assumption

Who is she that ascends so high,

Next the Heavenly King,

Round about whom Angels fly

And her praises sing?

Who is she that, adorned with light,

Makes the sun her robe,

At whose feet the queen of night

Lays her changing globe?

To that crown direct their eyes,

Which her head attires;

There thou mayest her name descry

Writ in starry fires.

This is she in whose pure womb

Heaven’s Prince remained;

Therefore in no earthly tomb

Can she be contained.

Heaven she was, which held that fire,

Whence the world took light,

And to Heaven doth now aspire

Flames with flames t’ unite.

She that did so clearly shine

When our day begun,

See how bright her beams decline

Now she sits with the Sun.

-Sir John Beaumont (1583 – 1627)

August 14

Feast of St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, Martyr (1894 - 1941)

“Obedience raises us beyond the limits of our littleness and puts us in harmony with God’s will. Obedience is the one and the only way of wisdom and prudence for us to offer glory to God.”

-St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe

August 13

Feast of Sts. Pontian and Hippolytus

"Do not devote your attention to the fallacies of artificial discourses, nor the vain promises of heretics, but to the venerable simplicity of unassuming truth.”

-St. Hippolytus

August 12

“If the work of God could be comprehended by reason, it would no longer be wonderful, and faith would have no merit if reason provided proof.”

-Pope St. Gregory the Great

August 11

Feast of St. Clare (1193 – 1253)

“(Jesus Christ) is the splendor of eternal glory, the brightness of eternal light, and the mirror without cloud. Queen and bride of Jesus Christ, look into that mirror daily and study well your reflection, that you may adorn yourself, mind and body, with an enveloping garment of every virtue, and thus find yourself attired in flowers and gowns befitting the daughter and most chaste bride of the king on high.”

-St. Clare of Assisi

August 10

Feast of St. Lawrence, Martyr (D. 258)

When slow consuming had seared

The flesh of Lawrence for a space,

He calmly from his gridiron made

This terse proposal to the judge:

“Pray turn my body, on one side

Already broiled sufficiently,

And see how well your Vulcan’s fire

Has wrought its cruel punishment.”

-From a poem by "Prudentius" on the martyrdom of St. Lawrence

August 9

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross – Edith Stein (1891 – 1942)

“…when night comes, and retrospect shows that everything was patchwork and much that one had planned left undone, when so many things rouse shame and regret, then take all as is, lay it in God’s hands, and offer it up to Him. In this way we will be able to rest in Him, actually to rest and to begin the new day like a new life.”

-St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

August 8

Feast of St. Dominic (1170 – 1221)

“This preacher of the new salvation leaped up like a flame. His words burned like a torch. True teaching was in his mouth. No evil was ever found in his life."

-Responsory from the Liturgy of the Hours

August 7

Feast of St. Cajetan (1480 – 1547)

“My daughter, I want what is good for myself; I beg the same for you. Now there is no other way to bring this about than to ask the Virgin Mary constantly to come to you with her glorious Son. Be bold! Ask her to give you her Son, who in the blessed sacrament of the altar is truly the food of your soul. Readily will she give him to you, still more readily will he come to you, giving you strength to make your way fearlessly through this dark wood. In it large numbers of our enemies lie in wait, but they cannot reach us if they see us relying on such powerful help.”

-St. Cajetan

August 6

Feast of the Transfiguration

“And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves; and he was transfigured before them, and his garments became glistening, intensely white. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of a cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son; listen to him.’”

-Mark 9: 2-3,7