26 June 2010: St Josemaria Escrivá

Founder of 'Opus Dei'. The anniversary of his death in 1975 is now his feast day. (http://opusdei.org)

Zeal of the Heart of Jesus -- ‘Extent of this zeal’

Great was the zeal of our Lord. He restricted its exercise to inhabitants of Palestine because such was his Father’s will, to which he was in all things perfectly conformed. But his Heart embraced the whole world.

He prayed always for its conversion during his hidden life. In the three years of his public ministry he prepared his Apostles for this great work, promising to be with them “even to the consummation of the world”. (Mt 28:20)

After the example of our Lord, let us learn --

1st, to let our zeal be governed by obedience, even should this compel us to restrain it within the narrow bounds of a life apparently common and obscure;

2nd, not to envy those who may be called to a more brilliant career in the exercise of their zeal, but rather to do all we can to help them; and

3rd, to let our zeal embrace the whole world, taking part in the good work everywhere, as much as lies in our power by prayers and alms.

Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp332-3

The heart as foundation of salvation

The Popes did not speak formally of the hearts of Jesus and Mary as the core or foundation of salvation but John Paul II, the best theologian of the Hearts among them gave the following principles as keys and bases of this doctrine:

1. By His vision of Incarnation (and Redemption) as Consecration. Christ God- made- Man (ie, God consecrating humanity), is the source of all the consecrations (according to Jn 17:19).

“I consecrate Myself that they may be consecrated” which are not another or diferent consecration, but the extension of His divine (hypostatic) self-consecration of his humanity born from Mary (“‘under the heart of Mary’, repeats John Paul II”): Consecration accomplished by His self-sacrifice till death.

In this ‘admirable exchange’, Mary, who was the unique human cause of His becoming Man, was also the first to receive God who “is love” (1 Jn 4:8, 14) and became heart by Mary, gave her in turn a perfect and maternal heart, in His divine Image.

This mystery was accomplished in the Redemption. Here, “the piercing of the Heart of Jesus was the piercing of the Heart of Mary” (Lk 2:35). (“John Paul II in Canada”, 15September 1984; “Manila Conference, 1987”, p175)

Then Jesus gave the blood of His body, and Mary the blood of her heart and soul. The cry of the Son’s heart was the cry of His mother’s heart, facing the intolerable violence of sin. (Ibid, 15 September 1984, p175)

2. By His Pneumatology as principle of all consecration. The Holy Spirit who is the Heart of the Trinity by the procession of love, is the immediate and proximate source of all the consecrations. “The heart of Jesus was formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary then the heart was conceived.”(Ibid, “Angelus”, 2 June 1985; “Manila Conference”, p174)

3. The invisible love of God was made humanly visible by the Heart of Jesus and in the heart of Mary His mother, as the feminine and maternal image of the Holy Spirit ... Because of a three-fold affinity to Mary and the Holy Spirit ... as mother of the Church, and as link of unity, where Mary is, the Holy Spirit is.

Mary comes where the Holy Spirit is, as His (her) created sign, icon, expression, and instrument: His Incarnation was described with some poetic exaggeration and far-fetched expressions by St Maximilian Kolbe.

Ref: R Laurentin, in “Alliance of the Two Hearts”, pp157-8

The Lasting Mark of Confirmation

Confirmation is received only once in a lifetime; but nonetheless, must leave ‘a lasting trace’. Precisely because it indelibly marks the soul, it can never be reduced to a distant memory of worn-out, evanescent religious practices. Thus, we must ask ourselves how the sacramental, vital encounter with the Holy Spirit, which we have received from the hands of the Apostles through the chrism, can and ought to ‘endure and be more profoundly rooted’ in the life of each of us.

This is splendidly demonstrated by the sequence sung at Pentecost, ‘Veni, Sancte Spiritus’: “Come, Holy Spirit”. It reminds us that we must invoke that marvelous gift with faith and insistence. It also teaches us how and when we ought to ask for it.

O, come, Holy Spirit, send us the radiance of your light ... Perfect consoler, give us your sweet relief, repose in fatigue and comfort in tears. Give us your strength, because without it nothing is in us, nothing is without fault!

Pentecost is the day of joy. I am glad to express, again, such sentiment because we can thus renew the mystery of Pentecost in St Peter’s Basilica. But the Spirit of God is not circumscribed -- he blows where he will, he penetrates everywhere, with sovereign and universal liberty.

From the depths of this Basilica, as the humble successor of Peter, he who inaugurated the ministry of the Word, just on this day of Pentecost, I find the strength to cry ‘Urbi et Orbi’, to the City and the World: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love.” May it be for the whole Church, for the whole of mankind!

Ref: cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, pp225-6

Our Lady

“Virgin Immaculate, my Mother, do not abandon me. See how my poor heart is filled with tears. I do not want to offend my God!

“I already know, and I trust I shall never forget, that I am worth nothing. My smallness and my loneliness weigh upon me so much! But ...I am not alone. You, Sweet Lady, and my Father God will never leave me.

“Faced with the rebellion of my flesh and all manner of diabolical arguments against my Faith, I love Jesus and I believe -- I do Love and do Believe.”

Ref: St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Forge”, 215

Our Lady of Malabar / Meliapour / Meliapore. India. 1542. Apostle Thomas was said to have preached in India, and founded the Church of Syrian Malabar Christians. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)

Our Lady of Meliapore in the East Indies where St Francis Xavier often retired to pray. — See his Life. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)

Our Lady of Meliapore (East Indies, 1542). (http://www.divinewill.org/feastofourlady.htm); (http://www.starharbor.com/santiago/m feasts.html); (MaryLinks Calendar.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)