STUDY TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
Do you wish to study to your advantage? Let devotion accompany all your studies. Consult God more than your books. Ask Him to make you understand what you read. Never begin or end your study except by prayer. Science is a gift of God. Do not consider it merely the work of your own mind and effort. -- St Vincent Ferrer
The Lord said, "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher." (Luke 6:39-40)
Devotion is a feeling of strong love or loyalty and the use of time, money, energy, etc., for a particular purpose. When you love to study, it does not only sink deep into your mind but it penetrates your heart as well. What you have learned automatically becomes part of your growth and being.
This is why you must first consult God so that you may not be misguided on what you read. In prayer, seek and claim the wisdom of Christ in order to gain knowledge and understanding of the truth. He will teach you everything there is to know in accordance with God's will and purpose for your life.
Friend, pursue your studies with God. Do not allow others to influence you over false teachings and precepts. Only the Lord can bring to light the truth in all that you have to learn.
For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding (Prv 2:6). God gives knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom (Dn 1:17).
The Lord promises "I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be." (1 Kgs 3:12)
Lord, give your servant an understanding heart. And this I pray, that our love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment. We continually ask that you fill us with the knowledge of your will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. All these we humbly ask and pray, in Jesus Name. Amen.
Vincent Ferrer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
He is Patron Saint of builders, construction workers, plumbers, fishermen (Brittany) and orphanages (Spain). His attributes are tongue of flame; pulpit; trumpet; prisoners; wings; Bible.
He would fast on Wednesdays and Fridays and he loved the Passion of Christ very much. He would help the poor and distribute many alms to them. He began his classical studies at the age of eight, his study of theology and philosophy at fourteen. At the age of eighteen, Ferrer entered the Order of Preachers, commonly called the Dominican Order.
For a period of three years, he read solely Sacred Scripture and eventually committed it to memory. He published a treatise on Dialectic Suppositions after his solemn profession, and in 1379 was ordained a Catholic priest at Barcelona. He eventually became a Master of Sacred Theology and was commissioned by the Order to deliver lectures on philosophy. He was then sent to Barcelona and eventually to the University of Lleida, where he earned his doctorate in theology.
The Western Schism divided Christianity first between two, then three, popes. Clement VII lived at Avignon in France, Urban VI in Rome. Vincent was convinced the election of Urban was invalid though Catherine of Siena was just as devoted a supporter of the Roman pope. In the service of Cardinal de Luna, Vincent worked to persuade Spaniards to follow Clement. When Clement died, Cardinal de Luna was elected at Avignon and became Benedict XIII.
Ferrer was loyal to the Avignon Benedict XIII, better known as "Papa Luna" in Castile and Aragon.[1] He worked for Benedict XIII as apostolic penitentiary and Master of the Sacred Palace. Nonetheless Vincent labored to have Benedict XIII end the schism. But Benedict XIII did not resign as all candidates in the conclave had sworn to do, despite losing the support of the French king and nearly all of the cardinals. After an extended period of receiving empty promises, Vincent encouraged King Ferdinand of Castile to withdraw his support from Benedict XIII. Vincent Ferrer later claimed that the Great Schism had such a depressing effect on his mind that it caused him to be seriously ill at the age of forty.
Many biographers believe that he could speak only Valencian, but was endowed with the gift of tongues.He preached to St. Colette of Corbie and to her nuns, and it was she who told him that he would die in France. Too ill to return to Spain, he did, indeed, die in Brittany. Breton fishermen still invoke his aid in storms. In Spain, he is also the patron of orphanages.
Conversion of Jews and controversy
Vincent is said to be responsible for the conversion of many Jews to Catholicism, often by questionable means; for instance, he is said to have made their lives difficult until they converted and to have "dedicated" synagogues as churches on the basis of his own authority. One of his converts, a former rabbi by the name of Solomon ha-Levi, went on to become the Bishop of Cartagena and later the Archbishop of Burgos. Vincent is noted to have contributed to anti-Semitism in Spain, as violence accompanied his visits to towns that had Jewish communities. He promulgated various anti-Jewish laws banning Jews from trading food with Christians, having Christian employees, changing their residence, or cutting either their hair or beards.
Sources are contradictory concerning Vincent's achievement in converting a synagogue in Toledo, Spain, into the Church of Santa María la Blanca; one source says he preached to the mobs whose riots led to the appropriation of the synagogue and its transformation into a church in 1391; a second source says he converted the Jews of the city who changed the synagogue to a church after they embraced the Faith, but hints at the year 1411; a third source identifies two distinct incidents, one in Valencia in 1391 and one in Toledo at a later date, but says he put down an uprising against Jews in one place and defused a persecution against them in the other.
Vincent intervened during a political crisis in his homeland, which resulted in the Compromise of Caspe, by which the Crown of Aragon was given to a Castilian prince, Ferdinand of Antequera.
Death and legacy
Vincent died on 5 April 1419 at Vannes in Brittany, at the age of sixty-nine,[3] and was buried in Vannes Cathedral. He was canonized by Pope Calixtus III on 3 June 1455. His feast day is celebrated on 5 April. The previously-schismatic Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer, a pontifical religious institute founded in 1979, is named after him.
