Louis IX was born in 1215 and became King of France at the age of 12. Feeling that he had no nobler title than Christian, he liked to call himself Louis of Poissy, the place where he was baptized. He heard two Masses every day and rose at midnight for Matins and began the day with Prime. In his chapel he originated two pious practices afterwards adopted by the Church – the genuflections at the words Et homo factus est. in the Credo, and at the mention of Christ’s death in the reading of the Passion. He undertook two crusades for the Holy Land dying on the second in 1270 saying “We shall go to Jerusalem”. Collect: O God, who didst remove blessed Louis, Thy confessor, from and earthly throne to the glory of Thy heavenly kingdom; grant, we beseech Thee, through his merits and prayers, that we may be permitted to share in the kingdom of Christ, Thy Son, the King of kings.
Postcommunion: O God, who didst give Thy blessed confessor Louis renown on earth and glory in heaven; do Thou, we beseech Thee, appoint him a defender of Thy Church.
4 comments:
Liz,
I actually think you're already preaching to the converted. I mean, can you imagine describing our friend Aaron here as either 'pious' or 'devout'?
But on a serious note, you are quite right in your analysis. I'm not sure what the comparison of St Louis and the others was supposed to demonstrate - that crusading, preaching and healing are all good vocations?
Yes, a tendency to focus too much on that which is explicitly 'holy' may cloud one's judgement about the secular world, and lead to further reclusion - a kind of vicious cycle that makes it increasingly hard to engage in and evangelise the world.
While allowing us to better recognise the various evils and pitfalls in world, our faith also enables us to find in it beauty, truth, and even happiness at times, manifestations of the sacred in our lives that might otherwise be considered mundane.
This is a subject too extensive for such a short discourse, but I must end my rant. All this talk about holy things is making me think of beer, and oh, look at the time...
Elizabeth, you've got me completely confused. I don't understand your last point. (But then again apparently I'm not neither pious nor devout enough!)
St. Louis was also a crusader. But to be a good leader one must be holy as well. It comes hand-in-hand.
AAron,
Just out of curiousity, why didn't yo post the Secret?Præsta, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus: ut, sicut beatus Ludovicus Confessor tuus, spretis mundi oblactamentis, soli Regi Christo placere studuit; ita ejus oratio nos tibi reddat acceptos. Per eumdem Dominum.
Grant, we bessech Thee, O almighty God, that as blessed Louis, Thy confessor, spurning the delights of the world, strove only to please Christ, his King, so his prayer may render us acceptable to Thee. Through our Lord.
Only because of time and space -- so I have to chose what prayers I post from feast to feast.
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