After the Ascension, he was selected to replace Judas. Our Christian vocation is God’s gratuitous gift; we must correspond with fidelity and gratitude. (Fr James Socias, et al [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1525)
General reflections on Our Lord’s appearances
The Evangelists recorded only nine appearances; but the context of their words imply many more. In St Luke’s words: “... he showed himself alive, after his Passion, by many proofs, for forty days appearing to them, and speaking of the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3)
These frequent manifestations were to confirm the faith of his apostles and disciples in his resurrection, to slowly accustom them to his impending separation from them, and to prove, by so many sudden appearances, that he was always invisibly present with them.
Jesus deals similarly even now with holy souls to whom he sometimes gives sensible tokens of his presence; either by some special illumination or by making them feel a vivid delight of joy and love. This happens frequently in Holy Communion, when he makes them to clearly realize the bread they eat is the ‘living Bread’ which came down from heaven.
It is impossible to define the exact circumstances of our Lord’s numerous apparitions. Not regularly but frequently, depending on the dispositions of those to whom he appeared. Neither were they at any fixed time or place. At night, sometimes in the day; sometimes in the house or open air.
We learn from these considerations that no occupation, however distracting, will be an obstacle to the dialogue between our soul and God. They are never totally lost even if we have been lengthily deprived of them. To be disposed always to receive them by great purity of heart and fervor must be our main concern.
The apostles and disciples vouched that the appearances were ‘sudden, unexpected’, and of ‘short duration’. Jesus appeared to them when they least expected him; and almost always, disappeared from their eyes when they were most enjoying his presence and words.
Jesus acted thus, 1) to show us he reserves these favors for those who are most truly devoted to him; 2) to make us desire his presence and consolations, yet without too great an attachment to them, since they can be neither lasting nor perfect, except in heaven; and 3) that we may keep a constant watch over ourselves, always prepared for his visit.
Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp268-70
` ` ` MAY DEVOTIONS ` ` `
Mary loses and finds the Child Jesus
“The Mother of God, who looked for her son so anxiously when he was lost through no fault of her own, and experienced such great joy in finding him, will help us retrace our steps and put right whatever may be necessary when, because of our carelessness or our sins, we have been unable to recognize Christ. With her help we will know the happiness of holding him in our arms once more, and telling him we will never lose him again.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Friends of God”, 278)
Let us offer our Mother: ‘A good, sincere and sorrowful confession of our sins and failures in the sacrament of Penance.’
Ref: Fr Charles Belmonte and Fr James Socias (Eds), “Handbook of Prayers”, 1988, pp308-9
To Jesus through Mary’s Rosary
To go to God through Mary is the safest and surest way. God made it so when he invited men to that first adoration in the Grotto of Bethlehem, when Mary presented the God-child to all mankind. He emphasized it at Cana, and confirmed it on Calvary.
St Louis Mary Grignon de Montfort declared that there is only one way to go to Jesus: through Mary, His Mother. And why? The answer is very simple. God, the Almighty Father, did not find a better way to send His Beloved Son into the world than to pass through Mary.
For liturgical Marian feast days, the Church interprets ‘Sir 24:11-31’ as referring to Mary, in the so-called ‘accommodated sense’ of scripture. We must be able to find some expressions that serve to emphasize the spiritual value of the Rosary as a way to go to Jesus.
“I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way, and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come over to me, all you that desire me, and be filled with my fruits. For my spirit is sweeter than honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb.”
We find the three characteristics that Christ accommodates to himself when He said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.” (Jn 14:6) Inasmuch as Christ came to us by way of Mary, and wants us to go to Him by way of Mary, the Blessed Virgin also can, with all good reason, say: ‘In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come over to me!’
In saying the Rosary we find the surest way to go to Jesus by the safest way, that is, through Mary.
· “Feeling very keenly the needs of the prayers of Christians, we are aware that of all the forms of prayer, that of the Rosary is more than ever necessary, for it not only addresses itself to her through whom it pleased God to send every grace to us, but more than any other prayer it bears the universal stamp of collective and familial prayer.” -- Benedict XV to Rev C Becchi, OP, 18 September 1915.
· “... the Rosary is perfect because of the praise it offers, because of the lessons it imparts, because of the graces it obtains and because of the triumphs it achieves.” -- Pope Benedict XV
· “The Rosary provides the Christian with sustenance with which to nourish and strengthen his faith.” (Encyclical, “Fidentem piumque”, by Pope Leo XIII, 20 September 1896)
Ref: Rev Joseph A Viano, SSP, “Two Months with Mary”, pp46, 47
Dedication of Our Lady of Noyon, by Hardouin, thirty-seventh bishop of the same city, in the year 998. — Chronicon Annoniae, t. iii. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)
Our Lady of Bavaria (1330) (http://www.divinewill.org/feastofourlady.htm; http://www.starharbor.com/santiago/m feasts.html;
MaryLinks Calendar.htm); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
Our Lady, Patroness of Bavaria (Munich, Germany). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
Ten Day Devotion to the Holy Spirit
Introductory Prayer
Come, O Holy Spirit! Enlighten my understanding in order to know your commands; strengthen my heart against the snares of the enemy; enkindle my will ... I have heard your voice, and I do not want to harden my heart and resist, saying, “Later ... tomorrow.” ‘Nunc coepi!’ Right now! Lest there be no tomorrow for me.
O Spirit of truth and of wisdom, Spirit of understanding and of counsel, Spirit of joy and of peace! I want whatever you want; I want because you want; I want as you want; I want whenever you want ...
Ref: St Josemaria Escrivà, “Prayer to the Holy Spirit”. In Postulation for the Cause of Beatification and Canonization, “Historical Registry of the Founder of Opus Dei” 20172, p145.
Decenary to the Holy Spirit: 2nd Day
Consideration --
Proper dispositions to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit God, says St Augustine, desires to bestow the gifts of the Holy Spirit abundantly upon us; but he wills that we should rightly dispose ourselves to receive them. How then shall we do this?
The example of the Apostles will teach us best. They retired into an upper chamber, where they passed their time in recollection and silence. They meditated on all that Jesus had taught them, especially on the attributes and operations of the Holy Spirit.
If I desire to receive an abundant outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I must, during this novena, keep myself recollected. I ought to be more fervent in my norms, to guard my senses, and to avoid every irregular affection which tend to the least sin, the chief obstacle to interior peace and reception of God’s gifts.
The Apostles joined their recollection to continual and earnest prayer, mindful of their Divine Master’s words, ‘How much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask Him?’ (Luke, 11:13) Their prayer was efficacious and pleasing to God because they were united in the same words, asking the same favor.
This, too, Jesus had taught them -- ‘If two of you shall consent upon earth concerning anything whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father who is in heaven.’ (Matthew, 18:19)
During this novena we, too, must add to our ordinary devotions some especially addressed to the Holy Spirit. God will surely hear and answer these prayers. We recall St Luke’s words-- ‘All these were persevering with one mind in prayer.’ (Acts 1:14)
Convinced of the power of Mary over the Heart of Jesus, the Apostles strove to increase their fervor by her example and begged her to make up for their imperfections, and to present their humble petitions to her Son. They persevered in prayer ‘with Mary the Mother of Jesus’ (cf Acts 1:14).
Many of the Church Fathers also expressed the opinion that the powerful intercession of Mary helped hasten the coming of the Holy Spirit. Let us all seek her intercession-- to beg of her to aid our efforts, to be in our midst, and to present our desires to her Divine Son. That she may obtain for each of us the grace not to forfeit any of the special graces which God may intend to bestow on the Feast of Pentecost.
Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp274-6
Mary, docile resting place of the Holy Spirit
The Spirit guided Mary her entire life, especially in the most salient moments, just as he leads the children of God (see Rom 8:14) and as he guided Jesus in the desert (see Lk 4:1). At the time of the ‘Anunciation’, sustained and inspired by the Spirit, she freely consented to become the mother of the Word.
She “responded with all her human and feminine ‘I’, and this response of faith included both perfect cooperation with ‘the grace of God that precedes and assists’, and perfect openness to the action of the Holy Spirit, who constantly brings faith to completion by his gifts” (John Paul II, “Redemptoris Mater”, Encyclical Letter on the Blessed Virgin Mary, 25 March 1987).
She cooperated with the Spirit in the visit to her cousin Elizabeth when, inspired by the Spirit, she ‘prophesied’, interpreted the history of salvation according to the ‘logic’ of God, and proved to be the ‘humble one of God’ always disposed to fulfill the Lord’s will.
The ‘Magnificat’ is the inspired expression of her sentiments. This became possible because she ‘had personal experience through the Holy Spirit who illuminated and instructed her... [In this way] she learned from the Holy Spirit the great knowledge that God did not want to manifest his power in any way other than elevating that which is low and lowering that which is high.’ (“Martin Luther, Werke, Kritsche Gesamtausgabe, Weimar, 1883”)
Ref: cf Theological-Historical Commission, “The Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life”, 81-2, 1997
Oh Holy Spirit, Fill Our Hearts
The Cenacle in Jerusalem opens before the eyes of our faith, the upper room from which the Church came and in which the Church ever remains. It was exactly there that the Church was born as the living community of the People of God, and as a community conscious of its mission in the history of man.
During these days the Church prays: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love!” These words are very often repeated, but today they sound with particular ardor.
‘Fill the hearts!’ Reflect what is the measure of the human heart, if only God can fill it through the Holy Spirit! The marvelous world of human science opens up before us with its manifold branches. Your self-consciousness certainly develops side by side with this science of the world.
You certainly have often put the question to yourself, “Who am I?” I would say that this is the most interesting question. The fundamental question. With what measure is man to be measured? Shall we measure him by the physical powers at his disposal? With the senses which enable him to make contact with the outer world? Or measure him by the gauge of the intelligence, ascertained through various tests and examinations?
The answer given today, the answer given by the liturgy of Pentecost indicates two gauges: ‘the need to measure man with the measure of the heart’ .... In the language of the Bible, the heart signifies man’s ‘spiritual inner part’, it particularly means the ‘conscience’ ....
So we must measure man according to the gauge of the conscience, with the measure of the spirit open to God. Only the Holy Spirit can fill up this heart, ie, lead it to self-realization through love and wisdom.
Ref: cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, pp213-4
Concluding Prayer
Holy and divine Spirit! Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, your spouse, bring the fullness of your gifts into our hearts. Comforted and strengthened by you, may we live according to your Will and may we die praising your infinite mercy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Ref: Fr James Socias, et al (Editors), “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p2080
To fight once more -- Our Lord, with his arms outstretched, is continually begging for your love. (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Forge”, 404)
Descent of the Holy Ghost upon Our Lady and the apostles, in the year 34 of our Lord and the forty-eighth of the age of the Blessed Virgin. — Christopher a Cstro, Historia Virginis. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)
Descent of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles and Our Lady. Our Lady was 48 years old.(maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
Our Lady of France (1860). (http://www.divinewill.org/feastofourlady.htm); (MaryLinks Calendar.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
'Notre-Dame de France' (1860). (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment