Matt Talbot Misidentifed

There are multiple images of Matt Talbot online. We have posted some but certainly not all of them.
The two images below appear misidentified:


Venerable Matt Talbot drawn by Kathy Ellinger, OFS
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/811140582855534856/

 

It appears that her image matches the following image:



 The original reference accompanying this image:

"The Descendants of Matthew Talbot, Gentleman

umich.edu and www-personal

by James Smith Talbot, Grandson of Matthew Talbot Pension Application and supporting affidavits for James S. Talbot Pictures of James Smith Talbot."

Note: this link might be of interest  

http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/2011/03/this-drawing-of-matt-talbot-is-from.html

A Sculpture Of Matt Talbot

Michael Christie, a figurative sculptor, is a senior teacher at the Tom Bass Sculpture Studio School in Erskineville, an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. 

 

This sculpture of Matt Talbot was commissioned by the St Vincent de Paul Society in Nowra, NSW.

https://www.tbsss.org.au/galleries/teachers/

Inspired by Venerable Matt Talbot

As we have previously posted at http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/search/label/Remembrance%20Day, Venerable

Matt Talbot has been and is being remembered and celebrated as “Saint of the Day,” “Feast Day of Matt Talbot,” or other headings on June 7, June 18 or June 19 depending on the source. 
 

Of course, each of us may (and do) choose to be inspired and learn from Matt Talbot each and every day and to share his life with others.

Variation of a Matt Talbot Image

 

 

From the Darkness of Addiction to Wholeness and the Light of Holiness.

Thought For Today

 Fr. John Cullen 

26/02/2017

Intercom Magazine

All of us, ordinary and flawed, have at heart a seemingly boundless longing for fulfillment. On this Day of Prayer for Temperance, we consider Matt Talbot, who had only seven people at his funeral in 1925, but whom hundreds of thousands came to see as a beacon of hope that reflects the struggles addiction can impose on someone's life. He relied on a higher power that affirmed and accepted him, without preconditions. He made an extraordinary journey from the darkness of excessive addiction to wholeness and the light of holiness. Amidst the anxieties and personal anguishes of his own pain-filled days and nights, he shows us the answer to one of the seven questions that Jesus asks in the Gospel today: 'Can any of you, for all his worrying, add one single cubit to his span of life?'

Matt Talbot could identify with the words of today's Psalm: 'In God is my safety and glory, trust him at all times, pour out your hearts before him'. He imbibed the refreshing waters of grace and renewed his life as a heroic witness of the power and presence of God at work within him.

93rd Anniversity of Venerable Matt Talbot's Death

Today is the 93rd anniversary of the death of Venerable Matt Talbot in Dublin, Ireland.

Venerable Matt Talbot: Hopeless Alcoholic Turned Irish Mystic

This is the first in a series of COFFEE W/ SAINTS podcasts by Trey Shields. It was recorded April 2, 2018 at

https://anchor.fm/coffee-w-saints/episodes/Venerable-Matt-Talbot-Hopeless-Alcoholic-Turned-Irish-Mystic-e18mjm and lasts seven minutes.

 

A print copy with a different title is available at

https://coffeewithsaints.com/blogs/news/venerable-matt-talbot-a-hopeless-drunk-just-like-me

Stained Glass Window of Venerable Matt Talbot

 “Became an alcoholic in his early teens. At the age of 28, he went to confession and never touched alcohol again (41 more years). Lived a life of prayer, daily Mass, hard work and penance.”

Source: https://www.stmarychandler.org/10.-ven.-matt-talbot.html

Mary, Mother of the Church, Help Our Faith

Earlier today Pope Francis celebrated the first feast of Mary, Mother of the Church.

Since Venerable Matt Talbot had a very special relationship with Our Lady, he would greatly appreciate this addition to the liturgical calendar. 
 
A prayer card is available at https://www.ucatholic.com/saints/mary-mother-of-the-church/

MOTHER, HELP OUR FAITH!

Open our ears to hear God’s

word and to recognize his voice

and call. Awaken in us a desire to

follow in his footsteps, to go forth

from our own land and to receive

his promise. Help us to be

touched by his love, that we may

touch him in faith. Help us to

entrust ourselves fully to him and

to believe in his love, especially

at times of trial, beneath the

shadow of the cross, when our

faith is called to mature. Sow in

our faith the joy of the Risen One.

Remind us that those who believe

are never alone. Teach us to see

all things with the eyes of Jesus,

that he may be light for our path.

And may this light of faith always

increase in us, until the dawn of

that undying day which is Christ

himself, your Son, our Lord!

AMEN.

New Icon of Venerable Matt Talbot

On February 5, 2018 Gregory posted the following comment at https://www.facebook.com/VenerableMattTalbot/: “Some time ago I wrote to Juliet Venter asking if she would like to prepare a new icon of Venerable Matt Talbot. After some time a beautiful icon was created.”

Juliet's commentary in creating this icon can be read at 
http://www.juliet-icons.co.uk/blog/venerable-matt-talbot

A Friend of God

There are saints who sweep across the sky of their generation like blazing comets signaling the reality and glory of God. Others silently earn grace for a world blind to their presence. Matt Talbot, the friend of God whose life began on 2 May 1856, conversion and sobriety in 1884, and ended on Dublin’s Granby Lane on 7 June 1925, was one of those hidden holy. 


“Lord, you give us the example of Venerable Matt Talbot as a man who seemed completely lost and beyond your grace. In a single moment, you pierced his heart and changed his mind, leading him back to you. Jesus, I pray for this same conversion and transformation for _________ in your perfect will and timing and for your greater glory. Amen.”

An Example of Matt Talbot’s Virtue

Having mentioned Matt Talbot in this keynote speech probably has expanded awareness about Matt and his life.

Keynote Speech by Sr Catherine Joseph Droste OP (Vice-Dean of Theology, Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas) at Diocesan Forum on Marriage in Helsinki on October 28, 2017 (https://www.studium.fi/uploads/4/2/7/2/42724907/sr_catherine_joseph_droste_op_keynote_the_beauty_of_marriage_helsinki_2017.pdf

“Virtue, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, is a good quality of mind, by which a person lives righteously, and of which he / she cannot make bad use...”

“...A concrete example of Thomas’s definition of virtue arises in the life of Matt Talbot, an Irish drunk of the early 20th century. Talbot spent his evenings and weekends getting drunk in local pubs. One Friday evening, he found himself in sorry situation, not only had he spent his week’s wages, but none of his friends were willing to buy him a pint. In a moment of grace, Matt realized just how low he had sunk. He didn’t get drunk that night but went home to bed. Talbot knew that one night of sobriety did not mean he possessed any virtue, and that the slightest temptation would send him headlong into a drunken stupor. But firmly determined to change his life, and to avoid temptation, he not only changed his normal path of walking to work (to avoid the pubs) but kept no money in his pockets. Eventually his perseverance paid off and he acquired the virtue – ‘a permanent disposition’ not only to avoid getting drunk, but to do it with facility, promptly, and with joy. That’s virtue.”

Matt Talbot Prayer Cards Sent to Pope Francis

A few months ago Archbishop Diarmuid Martin invited people to write Pope Francis to encourage him to visit the tomb of Venerable Matt Talbot while visiting Dublin in August of this year http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/2017/06/world-meeting-of-families-21-26-august.html and http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/2017/12/personally-invite-pope-francis-to-visit.html

Gregory (Grzegorz Jakielski) did so last week and enclosed prayer cards with three new images of Matt 
(https://www.facebook.com/VenerableMattTalbot/photos/a.305602539561773.67924.304690079653019/1577210962400918/?type=3&theater).

“Yesterday I sent a letter to the Holy Father Francis inviting him to visit Shrine of Venerable Matt Talbot during the August pilgrimage to Dublin. I also included several cards with the image of Venerable Matt.”

 

 

Pray for Families Affected by Addictions

Let us pray for families suffering the scourge of addictions. (Mention your intentions here.)
Pray the Act of Consecration of the Family to The Divine Mercy (below).
Venerable Matt Talbot, pray for us.

 

 

Act of Consecration of the Family to The Divine Mercy 

O Jesus, you showed us
your infinite compassionate love
by exhausting the very last drop
of blood and water from your body.
From this day forward, with full confidence,
we entrust our families to Your Divine Mercy.
We abandon our past,
our present and our future.
We place into your wounds
all of our wounds
which are caused by lack of love,
understanding and trust.
Jesus, expel Satan
and all evil from our families,
free us from the consequence of sin
and protect us from further harm.
Heal our wounds.
May our families learn
to venerate your Divine Image
that they will never perish
but experience your loving mercy.
Amen.

A Monthly Venerable Matt Talbot Novena Mass

A Venerable Matt Talbot Novena Mass will be celebrated on the first Friday of every month at 7:30 pm at St. Bernadette’s Church, Clogher Road, Dublin 12.

The parish priest is Very Reverend Brian Lawless, P.P. who also continues to serve as the Vice Postulator: Cause of the Venerable Matt Talbot.

Pope confirms plans to visit Dublin in August

The World Meeting of Families will take place in Dublin Aug. 21-26  2018.  Vatican  News (and numerous news sources)  stated today that Pope Francis will preside at the closing ceremonies on the final two days (http://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-03/pope-francis-to-visit-ireland-for-world-meeting-of-families.html

While most of us would like for the pope to visit Venerable Matt Talbot’s Shrine, the brevity of his visit probably precludes it, but we can hope that he at least acknowledges Matt during his visit.

Related references: http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/2017/06/world-meeting-of-families-21-26-august.html and

http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/2017/12/personally-invite-pope-francis-to-visit.html

A Parable of Two Wolves

An old Cherokee Chief is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”

He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”


Footnote: A group of Native Americans visited Dublin in 2000 for a special Mass to support the beatification of Matt Talbot. http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/2010/01/native-americans-support-campaign-for.html

Venerable Matt Talbot: Pray For Us

 

This is just one of many online photographs of the Matt Talbot Monument, near Dublin’s Matt Talbot Bridge. The sculpture is by James Power (1918-2009), one of Ireland’s most respected sculptors. 

More about Power’s life is available at http://www.pressreader.com/ireland/sunday-independent-ireland/20090419/282497179602373

Pope Paul VI and Venerable Matt Talbot

On 6 November 1931, Archbishop Byrne of Dublin opened a sworn inquiry into the alleged claims of holiness of the former dock worker named Matt Talbot.

The Apostolic Process, the official sworn inquiry at the Vatican, began in 1947.

On 3 October 1975 Pope Paul VI declared him to be Venerable Matt Talbot, which is a step on the road to his canonisation, a process which needs evidence of a physical miracle in order to be successful.  

While Matt remains “Venerable,” Pope Francis  stated  earlier this month that he will proclaim Blessed Paul VI a saint later this year. Details are available at http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/pope-francis-paul-vi-to-be-canonized-this-year

Learning to Pray

Last week a young man who was beginning to address
the possibility of being an alcoholic asked, "How does one pray?" He stated that praying and religious faith were not part of his upbringing.  Had this article been read and printed, it might have been helpful.

Lesson One in Praying

by Dr. Peter Kreeft

January 31, 2018

 http://www.integratedcatholiclife.org/2018/01/dr-kreeft-prayer-lesson-one-on-prayer/

Let’s get very, very basic and very, very practical about prayer. The single most important piece of advice I know  about prayer is also the simplest: Just do it! How to do it is less important than just doing it. Less-than-perfect prayer is infinitely better than no prayer; more perfect prayer is only finitely better than less perfect prayer.

Nancy Reagan was criticized for her simple anti-drug slogan: “Just say no.” But there was wisdom there: the wisdom that the heart of any successful program to stop anything must be the simple will to say no. (“Just say no” doesn’t mean that nothing else was needed, but that without that simple decision nothing else would work. “Just say no” may not be sufficient but it is necessary.)

Similarly, no program, method, book, teacher, or technique will ever succeed in getting us to start doing anything unless there is first of all that simple, absolute choice to do it. “Just say yes.”

The major obstacle in most of our lives to just saying yes to prayer, the most popular and powerful excuse we give for not praying, or not praying more, or not praying regularly, is that we have no time.

The only effective answer to that excuse, I find, is a kind of murder. You have to kill something, you have to say no to something else, in order to make time to pray. Of course, you will never find time to pray, you have to make time to pray. And that means unmaking something else. The only way to install the tenant of prayer in the apartment building of your life is to evict some other tenant from those premises that prayer will occupy. Few of us have any empty rooms available.

Deciding to do that is the first thing. And you probably won’t decide to do it, only wish to do it, unless you see prayer for what it is: a matter of life or death, your lifeline to God, to life itself.

Is this exaggerated? Are there more important things? Love, for instance? We need love absolutely; but the love we need is agape, the love that only God has and is; so unless we go to God for it, we won’t get it. And going to God for it means prayer. So unless we pray, we will not love.

Having got that clear and having made prayer your number one priority, having made a definite decision to do it, we must next rearrange our lives around it. Rearranging your time, preparing time to pray, is like preparing your house to paint. As everyone knows who has done any painting, preparation is three-quarters the work, three-quarters the hassle, and three-quarters the time. The actual painting is a breeze compared with the preparation. 

The same is true of prayer: the hardest step is preparing a place, a time, a sacred and inviolable part of each day for it. Prayer is like Thanksgiving dinner. It takes one hour to eat it and ten hours to prepare it. Prayer is like Christmas Day: it took a month of preparation, decoration, and shopping to arrange for that one day. Best of all, prayer is like love. Foreplay is, or should be, most of it. For two people truly and totally in love, all of their lives together is foreplay. Well, prayer is like spiritual love-making. God has waited patiently for you for a long, long time. He longs for you to touch the fringe of his being in prayer, as the woman touched the hem of Christ’s garment, so that you can be healed. How many hours did that woman have to prepare for that one-minute touch?

The first and most important piece of practical preparation is scheduling. You absolutely must schedule a regular time for prayer, whether you are a “scheduler” with other things in your life or not. “Catch as catch can” simply won’t work for prayer; it will mean less and less prayer, or none at all. One quick minute in the morning to offer your day to God is better than nothing at all, of course, but it is as radically inadequate as one quick minute a day with your wife or husband. You simply must decide each day to free up your schedule so you can pray.

How long a time? That varies with individuals and situations, of course; but the very barest minimum should certainly be at least fifteen minutes. You can’t really count on getting much deep stuff going on in less time than that. If fifteen minutes seems too much to you, that fact is powerful proof that you need to pray much more to get your head on straight.
After it becomes more habitual and easy, expand it, double it. And later, double it again. Aim at an hour each day, if you want radical results. (Do you? Or are you only playing?)

What time of day is best? The most popular time—bedtime—is usually the worst possible time, for two reasons. First, it tends not to be prime time but garbage time, when you’re the least alert and awake. Do you really want to put God in the worst apartment in your building? Should you offer him the sickest sheep in your flock?

Second, it won’t work. If you wait until every other obligation is taken care of first before you pray, you simply won’t pray. For life today is so cruelly complicated for most of us that “every other obligation” is never taken care of. Remember, you are going to have to kill other things in order to pray. No way out of that.

The most obvious and usually best time is early in the morning. If you can’t delay the other things you do, you simply must get up that much earlier.

Should it be the very first thing? That depends. Some people are alert as soon as they get up; others need to shower and dress to wake up. The important thing is to give God the best time, and “just do it.”

Place is almost as important as time. You should make one special place where you can be undisturbed. “Catch as catch can” won’t work for place either.

What place? Some people are not very sensitive to environment and can even use a bathroom. Others naturally seek beauty: a porch, yard, garden, or walk. (I find praying while you take a walk a good combination of spiritual and physical exercise.)

You probably noticed I haven’t said a word about techniques yet. That’s because three-quarters is preparation, remember? But what about methods?

I can only speak from my own experience as a continuing beginner. The two most effective that I have found are very simple. One is praying Scripture, reading and praying at the same time, reading in God’s presence, receiving the words from God’s mouth. The second is spontaneous verbal prayer. I am not good at all at silent prayer, mental prayer, contemplative prayer; my thoughts hop around like fleas. Praying aloud (or singing) keeps me praying, at least. And I find it often naturally leads to silent prayer often, or “mental prayer,” or contemplation.

Most advice on prayer focuses on higher levels: contemplative prayer. But I suspect many of my readers are prayer infants too and need to learn to walk before they can run. So these are some lessons from one man’s prayer kindergarten. Let’s “just do it” even if “it” is only crawling towards God. 

Note: Peter Kreeft, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and popular author of over 55 books.