Dear friends,
John Henry Newman,
Who lived from 1801 to 1890,
Was an English theologian.
He was ordained as an Anglican priest and he later converted and became a priest and later a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1854 he was instrumental in the founding of the Catholic University of Ireland,
An institution which over time evolved into what is now University College Dublin.
Cardinal Newman was canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church in 2019.
This is one of his well-known prayers,
A daily prayer.
May he support us all the day long till the shades lengthen and the evening comes and the busy world is hushed and the fever of life is over and our work is done.
Then in his mercy may he give us a safe lodging and a holy rest and peace at the last.
Cardinal Newman also composed a prayer for a happy death.
Oh my Lord and Savior,
Support me in that hour in the strong arms of your sacraments and by the fresh fragrance of your constellations.
Let the absolving words be said over me and the holy isle sign and seal me and your own body be my food and your blood my sprinkling and let my sweet mother Mary breathe on me and my angel whisper peace to me and my glorious Saints smile upon me that in them all and through them all I may receive the gift of perseverance and die as I desire to live in your faith in your church in your service and in your love amen.
Cardinal Newman set down his mission in life as follows.
God has created me to do him some definite service.
He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another.
I have my mission.
I may never know what it is in this life but I shall be told in the next.
I am a link in a chain,
A bond of connection between persons.
He has not created me for nothing.
I shall do good,
I shall do his work,
Therefore I will trust him.
Whatever,
Wherever I am I cannot be thrown away.
If I am in sickness my sickness may serve him.
If I am in sorrow my sorrow may serve him.
He does nothing in vain,
He knows what he is about.
He may take away my friends,
He may throw me among strangers.
He may make me feel desolate,
Make my spirits sink,
Hide my future from me.
Still he knows what he is about.
Words from Cardinal Newman,
Now Saint Henry Newman.
