(First Sunday after Easter, which is now designated in
the Church’s liturgical books as the Second Sunday of Easter.)
“I shall sing forever the Lord’s mercy.” (Ps 89 [88]) This Sunday is popularly known as Mercy of God Sunday. Between 1930 and 1938 Christ appeared to Sister Faustina, a Sister of Mercy in Poland who initiated the Divine Mercy devotion. She was canonized on April 30, 2000, the Sunday after Easter, the Feast of Divine Mercy.
On Good Friday, 1937, Jesus requested that Blessed Faustina make a special novena before the Feast of Mercy, from Good Friday through the following Saturday. Jesus also asked that a picture be painted according to the vision of Himself as the fountain of mercy. He gave her a chaplet to be recited and said that it was appropriate to pray the chaplet at three o’clock each afternoon (the Hour of Great Mercy).
The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy (for private recitation on ordinary rosary beads)
Begin with: “Our Father ...”, “Hail, Mary ...” “I believe in God ... “
On the “Our Father” beads: Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
On the “Hail, Mary” beads: For the sake of His sorrowful Passion have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Conclude with: Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mecy on us and on the whole world. (3x) Amen.
3 O’clock Prayer
“You died Jesus, but the source of life flowed out for souls and the ocean of mercy opened up for the wole world.”
“O Fountain of Life, immeasurable Divine Mecy, cover the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.”
“Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and the whole world.” (3x) Amen.
Jesus King of Mercy we trust in You!
Jesus to Sr. Faustina
On one occasion, I heard these words: “My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy.
"The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity.
"Everything that exists has come forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.
“[Let] the greatest sinners place their trust in My mercy. They have the right before others to trust in the abyss of My mercy. My daughter, write about My mercy towards tormented souls. Souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight Me. To such souls I grant even more graces than they ask.
"I cannot punish even the greatest sinner if he makes an appeal to My compassion, but on the contrary, I justify him in My unfathomable and inscrutable mercy. Write: before I come as a just Judge, I first open wide the door of My mercy. He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice.
“From all My wounds, like from streams, mercy flows for souls, but the wound in My Heart is the fountain of unfathomable mercy. From this fountain spring all graces for souls. The flames of compassion burn Me. I desire greatly to pour them out upon souls. Speak to the whole world about My mercy.”
Excerpted from “Diary of Sr. M. Faustina Kowalska”.
Ref: CatholicCulture.org: Pray. Think. Act.
St Joseph the Worker
Jesus was called “the son of the carpenter” (Mk 6:3). This feast reminds us that honest work, even if seemingly menial, can be sanctified. Through work, we can sanctify ourselves and others. We become participants in the work of redemption. Many countries honor labor on 1 May. (Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1517)
Work is a gift from God
“By the labor of your hands shall you eat.” (cf Ps 128:2) The Church, in presenting St Joseph to us today as a model, is not endorsing one particular form of work, manual labor, but is testifying to the dignity and value of all honest human occupations. God placed man in the garden of Eden “to till it and keep it” (Gen 2:15).
From the beginning of man’s existence, work is a command of nature, a feature of his being as a creature, an expression of his dignity, whereby he cooperates in the overall task of Divine Providence. What original sin did was to change the ‘form’ of this cooperation. “... In the sweat of your face shall you eat.” (Gen 3:17-9)
For many centuries manual work was seen only as a way of earning a living, basically worthless or degrading. Nowadays some societies tend to classify people according to ‘how much they make’ and to their ability to secure a higher level of material comfort at any cost.
“It is time Christians shout from the rooftops that work is a gift from God and that it makes no sense to classify men according to their occupation, as if some jobs were nobler or of less significance than others. Work, all work, bears witness to the dignity of man, his dominion over creation. It is an opportunity to develop one’s personality. It is a bond of union with others, the way to support one’s family, a means of contributing to improvement of society and to the progress of all humanity.” (cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “Christ is passing by”, 47)
Saint Joseph worked for his living as a tradesman. (cf John Paul II, “Redemptoris custos”, 15 August 1989, 22) We should frequently pray to him so that our work never loses its innate dignity or value. Oftentimes, when God is forgotten, “from the factory dead matter goes out improved, whereas the men there are corrupted and degraded”. (Pius XI, “Quadragesimo anno”, 15 May 1931, 135) Our work, with St Joseph’s help, ought to leave our hands as a prayerful and pleasing offering to God.
Any honest occupation can be a means to perfect the worker and society. Through the unity among all members of Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church, man’s work can become a means of helping others. Every human enterprise, even the most laborious and difficult, must be ‘supernatural’ with a human purpose.
Let us meditate today, with St Joseph’s help, on aspects of love and esteem for our job. Do we endeavor to do things perfectly and punctually? Always careful and considerate in every detail of our work?
Work well done is work done with love. A proper regard for our task is the first step in raising it to the supernatural level. St Joseph teaches us to love the occupation in which we spend so much of our life -- keeping the home, in the factory, at the office, etc. Let us ask St Joseph to teach us the awareness of God’s presence as he had while engrossed at work.
We must not forget our Blessed Mother to whom we lovingly dedicate this month. Let us offer daily in her honor a particular hour of work or study, each day better and more perfectly done.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:208-14
May*, Month of Mary
“Month of sun and flowers ... month of Mary ... Since Advent our thoughts have followed Jesus; now that the great peace that follows the resurrection is in our souls, how can we not return to her who gave Him to us?
“She appeared on earth to prepare His coming; she lived in His shadow, such that we do not see her intervening in the Gospel except as the mother of Jesus, following Him, watching Him. And when Jesus leaves us, she effaces herself. ... but she remains in the memory of the people because we owe Jesus to her.” (cf J Leclerq, “A Year with the Liturgy”)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:519
*A month of pilgrimages to the “Shrine of Our Lady of Antipolo”. The statue of the “Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage” (Antipolo) was brought by Governor Juan Niño de Tavora from Mexico to Manila in 1626. On his death (1636), the statue was turned over to the Jesuits for the church of Antipolo. The “Nuestra Señora dela Paz y Buenviaje” was proclaimed patroness of galleons. The statue crossed the Pacific and returned eight times on board galleons of Acapulco: 1641-1748. The statue was canonically crowned on 26 November 1926 by Archbishop Michael J O’Doherty at the Luneta attended by at least 100,000 people. (Philippine Historical Commission marker)
` ` ` MAY DEVOTIONS ` ` `
Mary is the Mother of God
“When the Blessed Virgin said ‘yes’, freely, to the plans revealed to her by the Creator, the divine Word assumed a human nature: a rational soul and a body, which was formed in the most pure womb of Mary. The divine nature and the human nature were united in a single Person: Jesus Christ, true God and, henceforth, true Man; the only-begotten and eternal Son of the Father and, from that moment on, as Man, the true Son of Mary.
“This is why our Lady is the Mother of the Incarnate Word, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity who has united our human nature to himself forever, without any confusion of the two natures. The greatest praise we can give to the Blessed Virgin is to address her loud and clear by the name that expresses her very highest dignity: Mother of God.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Friends of God”, 274)
Let us offer our Mother: ‘Brief but frequent prayers of love, eg: “Mother of God, you are omnipotent in your petition.”’
Ref: Fr Charles Belmonte and Fr James Socias (Eds), “Handbook of Prayers”, 1988, p304
• In the year 1449, some of the principal goldsmiths of Paris began to give the May-pole to the Church of Our Lady. — Da Breuil, Antiquites de Paris, liv. i. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Queen of May. Donation of May-pole to “Notre Dame” church. 1449. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady Queen of May. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of Miracles. Andria, Italy. Moveable feast -- 1st Sunday in May. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady, Queen of Lebanon. Moveable feast -- 1st Sunday in May. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
30 April 2011: St Pius V, pope
A Dominican, his pontificate was among the most glorious in the 16th century. He enforced decrees of the Council of Trent, published the Roman Catechism; and revised the Missal and Breviary. (Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1516)
It was during his pontificate that the celebrated victory of Lepanto (1571) was won against the Turks and conferred the title, ‘Mary, Help of Christians’. (Fr Charles Belmonte, “Aba Ginoong Maria”, 1990, p175)
As a result of this victory he ordered the feast of the Holy Rosary to be observed on the first Sunday of October. (Rev Hugo Hoever, SOCist, PhD, “Lives of the Saints”, p172)
In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII ordered that the same event be solemnized under the title of “Our Lady of Victory”. (Rev Joseph A Viano, SSP, “Two Months with Mary”, 1984, p49)
‘The Pope of the Rosary’
Pius V was born Antonio Ghislieri, and he sat upon the Chair of St Peter from 1566 till 1572. He is especially known as ‘the Pope of the Rosary’ by reason of the impulse he gave through his example and teaching to the spread of this devotion, so dear to the heart of the Christian people ...
Dearly beloved, the truest and most sincere wish I can offer you is only this: “Turn yourselves into saints, make yourselves holy soon”, and I repeat the words of St Paul to the Thessalonians: “May the God of peace make you perfect in holiness. May he preserve you whole and entire, spirit, soul, and body irreproachable at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thes 5:23)
Let us be glad to live in these times of ours, and let us courageously commit ourselves to the design which Providence is mysteriously accomplishing ...
John XXIII said that “the surpassing personage that was St Pius V is linked with great trials that the Church had to bear in times much more difficult than ours.”
St Pius teaches us as well to have recourse to Mary Most Holy in our difficulties, for she is our heavenly Mother. She has overcome every error and every heresy.
Let us pray to her always especially with the Holy Rosary so that our sole and supreme ideal may ever be the salvation of souls.
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, 1984, p175
Christian family customs
The homes of the early Christians did not differ outwardly from any other. Parents passed on the Faith to their children who in turn did likewise. Thus, the family became the main ground for nurturing Christian faith and morality. Christian homes being steeped in love were havens of peace amidst errors from without.
What parents taught their children came with the naturalness of life itself, and so the family thus fulfilled its mission of education. St John Chrysostom gave the following advice to Christian couples --
“Show your wife you appreciate her company a lot and that you prefer to be at home because she is there. Show her a preference even above the children she has given you; love them because of her ... Pray all together ... Learn the fear of God; everything else will flow from this like water from a fountain and your house will be filled with bounty.” (cf St John Chrysostom, “Twentieth homily, Letter to the Ephesians”)
Sometimes responsibility for bringing Christianity into the family falls on a son or daughter: they attract other brothers and sisters to the Faith; then perhaps their parents, who in turn bring the uncles and aunts ... even the godparents end up being involved.
Many Christian devotions can be practised in the home: reciting the ‘Rosary’ (indulgenced if prayed in a family group), praying the ‘Angelus’, having pictures and statues of Our Lady, making cribs at Christmas, blessing at meals, etc. They will help make the home always a friendly place, characteristic of a Christian family where people are taught from a very early age to speak to God and his Most Holy Mother with naturalness.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:439-40
In the Joy of the Risen Christ
Rejoice at Christ the Lord’s victory over death!
The victory of life, of good over evil. It is from this Christian certainty of the victory over every fear of death that your march toward a more human future should take its steps: a future of liberty for God’s children. In the certainty of this victory -- which is that of everyone who believes in him, you are called to set your thoughts going: on mature and lucid acceptance of reality, reconciliation and hence, alliance among yourselves, with adults and with society in its manifold aspects.
Such an alliance with reality, such adherence to it, so as to improve and alter it, causes a ‘new creativity’ to be loosed from your minds, based on perceptive analysis of situations, forces and mechanisms at work; and finally, on happy recovery of the commitment to liberate, to save, to promote.
As you accomplish this undertaking, it is necessary to bear in mind above all that the very foundation of the alliance with reality, is found in reconciliation with God. If man finds in God that vital reunion with the roots of his own being, of his own harmony and his own unification, he holds the key to overcoming every form of fear. Hence, the key to liberation and fresh creation: ‘Behold, I make all things new.’
Listen to ‘the words of this fundamental alliance with the Lord’, in Christ Jesus and in the Church, his Mystical Body.
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, pp162-3
• Our Lady of Nantes, in Brittany. This church, dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul by Felix Bishop of Nantes, was demolished by the Normans in the year 937; and rebuilt by Alain, Duke of Brittany. — Fortauatus, lib. iii.; Carm., c. 1, 2, 3, and 4. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• “Notre-Dame de Nantes”. Bretagne, France. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Nantes (in Bretagne, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Africa. Algiers. 1876. Celebrated by the White Fathers. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Africa (celebrated by the White Fathers). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Africa, Algiers (1876). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of Quito (Ecuador). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html) [NB: See 28, 29 April.]
It was during his pontificate that the celebrated victory of Lepanto (1571) was won against the Turks and conferred the title, ‘Mary, Help of Christians’. (Fr Charles Belmonte, “Aba Ginoong Maria”, 1990, p175)
As a result of this victory he ordered the feast of the Holy Rosary to be observed on the first Sunday of October. (Rev Hugo Hoever, SOCist, PhD, “Lives of the Saints”, p172)
In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII ordered that the same event be solemnized under the title of “Our Lady of Victory”. (Rev Joseph A Viano, SSP, “Two Months with Mary”, 1984, p49)
‘The Pope of the Rosary’
Pius V was born Antonio Ghislieri, and he sat upon the Chair of St Peter from 1566 till 1572. He is especially known as ‘the Pope of the Rosary’ by reason of the impulse he gave through his example and teaching to the spread of this devotion, so dear to the heart of the Christian people ...
Dearly beloved, the truest and most sincere wish I can offer you is only this: “Turn yourselves into saints, make yourselves holy soon”, and I repeat the words of St Paul to the Thessalonians: “May the God of peace make you perfect in holiness. May he preserve you whole and entire, spirit, soul, and body irreproachable at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thes 5:23)
Let us be glad to live in these times of ours, and let us courageously commit ourselves to the design which Providence is mysteriously accomplishing ...
John XXIII said that “the surpassing personage that was St Pius V is linked with great trials that the Church had to bear in times much more difficult than ours.”
St Pius teaches us as well to have recourse to Mary Most Holy in our difficulties, for she is our heavenly Mother. She has overcome every error and every heresy.
Let us pray to her always especially with the Holy Rosary so that our sole and supreme ideal may ever be the salvation of souls.
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, 1984, p175
Christian family customs
The homes of the early Christians did not differ outwardly from any other. Parents passed on the Faith to their children who in turn did likewise. Thus, the family became the main ground for nurturing Christian faith and morality. Christian homes being steeped in love were havens of peace amidst errors from without.
What parents taught their children came with the naturalness of life itself, and so the family thus fulfilled its mission of education. St John Chrysostom gave the following advice to Christian couples --
“Show your wife you appreciate her company a lot and that you prefer to be at home because she is there. Show her a preference even above the children she has given you; love them because of her ... Pray all together ... Learn the fear of God; everything else will flow from this like water from a fountain and your house will be filled with bounty.” (cf St John Chrysostom, “Twentieth homily, Letter to the Ephesians”)
Sometimes responsibility for bringing Christianity into the family falls on a son or daughter: they attract other brothers and sisters to the Faith; then perhaps their parents, who in turn bring the uncles and aunts ... even the godparents end up being involved.
Many Christian devotions can be practised in the home: reciting the ‘Rosary’ (indulgenced if prayed in a family group), praying the ‘Angelus’, having pictures and statues of Our Lady, making cribs at Christmas, blessing at meals, etc. They will help make the home always a friendly place, characteristic of a Christian family where people are taught from a very early age to speak to God and his Most Holy Mother with naturalness.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:439-40
In the Joy of the Risen Christ
Rejoice at Christ the Lord’s victory over death!
The victory of life, of good over evil. It is from this Christian certainty of the victory over every fear of death that your march toward a more human future should take its steps: a future of liberty for God’s children. In the certainty of this victory -- which is that of everyone who believes in him, you are called to set your thoughts going: on mature and lucid acceptance of reality, reconciliation and hence, alliance among yourselves, with adults and with society in its manifold aspects.
Such an alliance with reality, such adherence to it, so as to improve and alter it, causes a ‘new creativity’ to be loosed from your minds, based on perceptive analysis of situations, forces and mechanisms at work; and finally, on happy recovery of the commitment to liberate, to save, to promote.
As you accomplish this undertaking, it is necessary to bear in mind above all that the very foundation of the alliance with reality, is found in reconciliation with God. If man finds in God that vital reunion with the roots of his own being, of his own harmony and his own unification, he holds the key to overcoming every form of fear. Hence, the key to liberation and fresh creation: ‘Behold, I make all things new.’
Listen to ‘the words of this fundamental alliance with the Lord’, in Christ Jesus and in the Church, his Mystical Body.
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, pp162-3
• Our Lady of Nantes, in Brittany. This church, dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul by Felix Bishop of Nantes, was demolished by the Normans in the year 937; and rebuilt by Alain, Duke of Brittany. — Fortauatus, lib. iii.; Carm., c. 1, 2, 3, and 4. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• “Notre-Dame de Nantes”. Bretagne, France. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Nantes (in Bretagne, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Africa. Algiers. 1876. Celebrated by the White Fathers. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Africa (celebrated by the White Fathers). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Africa, Algiers (1876). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of Quito (Ecuador). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html) [NB: See 28, 29 April.]
29 April 2011: St Catherine of Siena, virgin and Doctor of the Church
She caused the return of Pope Gregory XI from Avignon to Rome (~1376). Despite her short life, she gave us a lesson in courage -- ‘of telling the truth for love of the Church and of souls’. Imprinted with the stigmata, she died in Rome at thirty-three years of age. Patroness of Italy along with St Francis of Assisi. (Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1514)
Pope Paul VI proclaimed her Doctor of the Church. (cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:201-2; 205)
Love for the Church and the Pope
St Catherine of Siena did not have a formal education (she learned to read and write as an adult). She led an extraordinarily full and fruitful life, “as if she was in a great hurry to reach the eternal tabernacle of the Blessed Trinity”. (John Paul II, “Homily in Siena”, 14 October 1980)
She is a wonderful example of love for the Church and for the Roman Pontiff, whom she described as “the sweet Christ on earth” (St Catherine of Siena, “Letters”, Siena 1913, III, 211); and of forthrightness and courage in making herself heard by the men of her time which was particularly difficult in the Church’s history.
Rome, as the centre of Christianity, had deteriorated. Our Lord made St Catherine see the necessity for the Popes to return from Avignon to Rome and inaugurate the long-awaited urgent reform of Church life. She prayed tirelessly, did penance and wrote unceasingly to the Pope, to cardinals and to various princes of Christendom.
St Catherine always professed unswerving obedience and love for the Roman Pontiff, of whom she wrote: “Anyone who refuses to obey the Christ on earth, who is in the place of Christ in heaven, does not participate in the fruit of the blood of the Son of God.” (St Catherine of Siena, “Letter 207”, III, 270)
She had great respect for the Church’s pastors because “they are ministers of the blood of Christ” (cf Paul VI, “Homily on proclaiming St Catherine a Doctor of the Church”, 4 October 1970). Let us pray to her for this fiery love for our Mother the Church, which is an indivisible closeness to Christ.
Our times, too are days of trial and sorrow for Christ’s Mystical Body. Let us offer the numerous pinpricks of daily life for the welfare of the Church. God will surely bless us and Our Lady will generously pour out his grace upon us.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:201-2; 205
St Catherine of Siena, ‘Teacher’ and ‘Mother’
We look at St Catherine today to admire in her what at once struck those who came close to her: ‘her extraordinarily rich humanity’. This was by no means obscured but rather was ‘increased and perfected by grace’.
This made her a living image of that veracious, healthy Christian ‘humanism’, the fundamental law of which was formulated by St Catherine’s fellow Dominican and teacher, St Thomas Aquinas. His famous maxim is: “Grace does not suppress, but supposes and perfects nature.” A human with complete dimensions is one who acts in the grace of Christ ...
Our saint had a woman’s nature, abundantly endowed with fantasy, intuition, sensibility, ... readiness to give herself in service. She was transfigured, not impoverished, in the light of Christ ... and to identify mystically with him in the depths of ‘interior knowledge’; to commit herself likewise in charitable action, social, and even political action, among the great and small, the rich and the poor, the learned and the ignorant.
She, almost illiterate, became able to make herself heard, to read, to be held in consideration by rulers of cities and realms, by princes and prelates of the Church, by monks and theologians, by many of whom she was actually venerated as ‘teacher’ and ‘mother’.
The daughter of humble dyers showed how she could hearken to the voice of the one Shepherd and Teacher and nourish herself at the table of the Divine Spouse, to whom, as a ‘wise virgin’, she generously consecrated her life.
This was a masterpiece of grace, renewing and elevating the creature to perfection of holiness ...
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, pp173-4
‘For God all the glory’
“Am I seeking human approval or God’s? ... If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Gal 1:10) “It is a very small thing that you should judge me ... The Lord alone is my judge.” (1 Cor 4:3-4)
“Among the surprises which await us on the day of judgment, not least will be the silence with which Our Lord will greet those actions of ours which merited the applause of men ... On the other hand it can happen that he will weigh in positive terms some actions which have drawn down criticism and censorship upon us ...” (G Chevrot, “In Secret”)
A wrong intention destroys the best of actions: the deed can be well done, it can even be beneficial; but, since it is corrupted at source, it loses all value in the eyes of God. Vanity or self-seeking can destroy, sometimes completely, what could have been a deed meriting holiness. Without a right intention, we go astray.
Occasionally, receiving some praise is a sign of friendship and can help along the way of goodness. But this praise must be directed towards God in all simplicity. Besides, it is one thing to receive a word of praise, a sign of being well received; another thing is to look for praise. We must always be careful when we are praised or commended.
“Since many times our poor soul goes off the right path, as soon as it is applauded ... thus it finds its delight more in being called happy than in actually being so. And that thing which should have been a reason for praising God becomes instead a cause of our separation from him.” (St Gregory the Great, “Moralia”, 10, 47-8)
God accepts our actions, even small ones, if we offer them to him with a pure intention. “Do everything for the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10:31) The two small coins that the poor widow put into the box in the Temple (cf Mk 12:42) became a great treasure in heaven. We have a marvellous aspiration to say repeatedly: “Lord, for myself I want nothing. All for your glory and for Love.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 788)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:394-7
• Our Lady of Faith, at the Augustinian convent of Amiens. This image remained a long time in the cabinet of a young lady who made a present of it to the church of the Augustinians, where it has wrought many miracles. — Augustinian Manuscripts, Amiens. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Faith (in the Augustinian Church of Amiens, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Faith, Amiens, France. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady Queen of Orphans. Celebrated by the Somaschians. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of the Earthquake (Quito, Ecuador). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html) [NB: See 28, 30 April.]
• Apparition of Our Lady to St Bonet, Bishop of Clermont in Auvergne, whom she ordered to say mass one night when he had remained in the church to pray. The saint leaning against a pillar, as if to hide himself, the stone became soft and made the place for him, which is seen to this day. But the Blessed Virgin having obliged him to officiate, she left him when mass was over, the chasuble which had been brought him by angels to celebrate in. The heavenly present is still to be seen at Clermont, where it is preserved with great care. — See his Life in Surius, Jan. 15. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Apparition of Our Lady to St Bonet (7th Century). (/www/divinewill.org/feastofourlady.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady, the Source of Life (Zoodochos Pighi). Turkey. 14th Century church. Moveable feast -- Friday after Easter. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady, the Source of Life (Constantinople). Moveable feast -- Friday after Easter. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
Pope Paul VI proclaimed her Doctor of the Church. (cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:201-2; 205)
Love for the Church and the Pope
St Catherine of Siena did not have a formal education (she learned to read and write as an adult). She led an extraordinarily full and fruitful life, “as if she was in a great hurry to reach the eternal tabernacle of the Blessed Trinity”. (John Paul II, “Homily in Siena”, 14 October 1980)
She is a wonderful example of love for the Church and for the Roman Pontiff, whom she described as “the sweet Christ on earth” (St Catherine of Siena, “Letters”, Siena 1913, III, 211); and of forthrightness and courage in making herself heard by the men of her time which was particularly difficult in the Church’s history.
Rome, as the centre of Christianity, had deteriorated. Our Lord made St Catherine see the necessity for the Popes to return from Avignon to Rome and inaugurate the long-awaited urgent reform of Church life. She prayed tirelessly, did penance and wrote unceasingly to the Pope, to cardinals and to various princes of Christendom.
St Catherine always professed unswerving obedience and love for the Roman Pontiff, of whom she wrote: “Anyone who refuses to obey the Christ on earth, who is in the place of Christ in heaven, does not participate in the fruit of the blood of the Son of God.” (St Catherine of Siena, “Letter 207”, III, 270)
She had great respect for the Church’s pastors because “they are ministers of the blood of Christ” (cf Paul VI, “Homily on proclaiming St Catherine a Doctor of the Church”, 4 October 1970). Let us pray to her for this fiery love for our Mother the Church, which is an indivisible closeness to Christ.
Our times, too are days of trial and sorrow for Christ’s Mystical Body. Let us offer the numerous pinpricks of daily life for the welfare of the Church. God will surely bless us and Our Lady will generously pour out his grace upon us.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:201-2; 205
St Catherine of Siena, ‘Teacher’ and ‘Mother’
We look at St Catherine today to admire in her what at once struck those who came close to her: ‘her extraordinarily rich humanity’. This was by no means obscured but rather was ‘increased and perfected by grace’.
This made her a living image of that veracious, healthy Christian ‘humanism’, the fundamental law of which was formulated by St Catherine’s fellow Dominican and teacher, St Thomas Aquinas. His famous maxim is: “Grace does not suppress, but supposes and perfects nature.” A human with complete dimensions is one who acts in the grace of Christ ...
Our saint had a woman’s nature, abundantly endowed with fantasy, intuition, sensibility, ... readiness to give herself in service. She was transfigured, not impoverished, in the light of Christ ... and to identify mystically with him in the depths of ‘interior knowledge’; to commit herself likewise in charitable action, social, and even political action, among the great and small, the rich and the poor, the learned and the ignorant.
She, almost illiterate, became able to make herself heard, to read, to be held in consideration by rulers of cities and realms, by princes and prelates of the Church, by monks and theologians, by many of whom she was actually venerated as ‘teacher’ and ‘mother’.
The daughter of humble dyers showed how she could hearken to the voice of the one Shepherd and Teacher and nourish herself at the table of the Divine Spouse, to whom, as a ‘wise virgin’, she generously consecrated her life.
This was a masterpiece of grace, renewing and elevating the creature to perfection of holiness ...
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, pp173-4
‘For God all the glory’
“Am I seeking human approval or God’s? ... If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Gal 1:10) “It is a very small thing that you should judge me ... The Lord alone is my judge.” (1 Cor 4:3-4)
“Among the surprises which await us on the day of judgment, not least will be the silence with which Our Lord will greet those actions of ours which merited the applause of men ... On the other hand it can happen that he will weigh in positive terms some actions which have drawn down criticism and censorship upon us ...” (G Chevrot, “In Secret”)
A wrong intention destroys the best of actions: the deed can be well done, it can even be beneficial; but, since it is corrupted at source, it loses all value in the eyes of God. Vanity or self-seeking can destroy, sometimes completely, what could have been a deed meriting holiness. Without a right intention, we go astray.
Occasionally, receiving some praise is a sign of friendship and can help along the way of goodness. But this praise must be directed towards God in all simplicity. Besides, it is one thing to receive a word of praise, a sign of being well received; another thing is to look for praise. We must always be careful when we are praised or commended.
“Since many times our poor soul goes off the right path, as soon as it is applauded ... thus it finds its delight more in being called happy than in actually being so. And that thing which should have been a reason for praising God becomes instead a cause of our separation from him.” (St Gregory the Great, “Moralia”, 10, 47-8)
God accepts our actions, even small ones, if we offer them to him with a pure intention. “Do everything for the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10:31) The two small coins that the poor widow put into the box in the Temple (cf Mk 12:42) became a great treasure in heaven. We have a marvellous aspiration to say repeatedly: “Lord, for myself I want nothing. All for your glory and for Love.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 788)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:394-7
• Our Lady of Faith, at the Augustinian convent of Amiens. This image remained a long time in the cabinet of a young lady who made a present of it to the church of the Augustinians, where it has wrought many miracles. — Augustinian Manuscripts, Amiens. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Faith (in the Augustinian Church of Amiens, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Faith, Amiens, France. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady Queen of Orphans. Celebrated by the Somaschians. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of the Earthquake (Quito, Ecuador). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html) [NB: See 28, 30 April.]
• Apparition of Our Lady to St Bonet, Bishop of Clermont in Auvergne, whom she ordered to say mass one night when he had remained in the church to pray. The saint leaning against a pillar, as if to hide himself, the stone became soft and made the place for him, which is seen to this day. But the Blessed Virgin having obliged him to officiate, she left him when mass was over, the chasuble which had been brought him by angels to celebrate in. The heavenly present is still to be seen at Clermont, where it is preserved with great care. — See his Life in Surius, Jan. 15. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Apparition of Our Lady to St Bonet (7th Century). (/www/divinewill.org/feastofourlady.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady, the Source of Life (Zoodochos Pighi). Turkey. 14th Century church. Moveable feast -- Friday after Easter. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady, the Source of Life (Constantinople). Moveable feast -- Friday after Easter. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
28 April 2011: The origin of the Rosary
St Louis de Montfort tells the story of how St Dominic received the Rosary from the Blessed Virgin.
St Dominic, seeing that the gravity of people’s sins was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse where he prayed unceasingly for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances to appease the anger of Almighty God. He used his discipline so much his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma.
Our Lady appeared, accompanied by three angels, and said: ‘Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?’
‘Oh, my Lady’, answered St Dominic, ‘you know far better than I do because next to your Son Jesus Christ you have always been the chief instrument of our salvation’.
Our Lady replied: ‘I want you to know, in this kind of warfare, the battering ram has always been the Angelic Psalter which is the foundation stone of the New Testament. Thus, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter.’
He arose, comforted, and burning with zeal for conversion of the people in that district he went directly to the Cathedral. At once unseen angels rang the bells to gather the people and St Dominic began to preach. At the start of his sermon a storm broke out, the earth shook, the sun was darkened, and there was so much thunder and lightning.
Everybody was very scared. Even greater was their fear when looking at a picture of Our Lady exposed in a prominent place, they saw her raise her arms to heaven three times to call down God’s vengeance upon them if they failed to be converted, to amend their lives, and seek the protection of the Holy Mother of God.
God wished, through these supernatural phenomena, to spread the new devotion of the Holy Rosary and to make it widely known. At last at the prayer of St Dominic, the storm ended, and he went on preaching.
So fervently and compellingly did he explain the importance and value of the Holy Rosary that almost all the people of Toulouse embraced it and renounced their false beliefs. Soon a great improvement was seen in the town; people began leading Christian lives and gave up their former bad habits.
Ref: St Louis M de Montfort, “The Secret of the Rosary”, 1954, 18-9
“Virgo fidelis” -- “Faithful Virgin, pray for us! Teach us to believe as you believed! Make our faith in God, in Christ, in the Church, always be limpid, serene, courageous, strong and generous.” (Pope John Paul II, “The Pope Speaks on Mary”, 1979, p19)
“We ought to perform all our actions through Mary, with Mary and in Mary in order to perform them better through Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus.” -- St Louis Marie de Montfort (In Rev Joseph A Viano,SSP, “Two Months with Mary”, 1984, p19)
“The Holy Spirit, upon entering a soul and finding there Mary, His beloved Spouse, communicates His life to that soul and fills it with gifts.” -- St Louis Marie de Montfort
Ref: Rev Joseph A Viano, SSP, “Two Months with Mary”, 1984, p19
The peace Our Lord gives His disciples
‘Peace be to you’, are our Lord’s first words to his apostles on the evening of his resurrection. Peace of the soul and of the heart; the only true happiness in this life. And he repeats them three times in two successive visits.
Why three times? To make us understand the three kinds of peace he desires for us -- peace with God, our neighbor, ourselves.
How much do we value this highest of heavenly gifts, ‘peace with God’? This peace consists in the full and entire conformity of our will with that of God. His will is manifested through the commandments and counsels, the orders of our directors.
All we need do, then, is to ask, “How have I conformed my words, thoughts, and actions to these standards?”
“... after eight days, again his disciples were within, with Thomas. Jesus came, the doors being shut, stood in their midst, and said, ‘Peace be to you’.” (cf Jn 20:26-7)
Peace with God should always be united to peace with our neighbors. The fulness of this peace, based on charity and fraternal union, is what our Lord desired for his disciples. It was vital to them, for the least division can cause failure of their mission to reunite all nations of the earth by mutual faith, hope, and charity.
The conditions for preserving this peace are: 1) to bear with the defects of others; and 2) to give others nothing to bear from us. Does our rudeness disturb peace and union?
“He said, therefore, to them again, ‘Peace be to you’.” To possess the fulness of peace Jesus desires for his disciples, we must acquire ‘peace with ourselves’. This interior peace consists in a good conscience; the senses and passions subject to reason, and of reason to faith.
This peace is impossible in this world where the flesh and self-love always rebel against the will of God. The peace of our souls must be sought in a perpetual and resolute combat “... resisting the passions, not by serving them, that true peace of heart is to be found.” (Thomas à Kempis, “The Imitation of Christ”)
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp224-6
• St Peter Chanel, priest and martyr -- A religious of the Society of Mary (Marists). (Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1513)
• St Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort -- Founder of the “Missionaries of the Company of Mary” (Montfort Fathers) and “Daughters of Wisdom”. A great lover of Mary, he wrote “The True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary”.
• Our Lady of the Oak, near the town of Sable, in Anjou. This image has wrought so many miracles, that it is at present very famous in the country; Marshal de Bois-Dauphin built a fine church for it, and a house of reception for the pilgrims.— (Triple Couronne, n. 50.) (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of the Oak (“Notre-Dame du Chêne”). Near Sable, Anjou, France. In the Middle Ages. A Druidic custom absorbed by Christianity. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of the Oak, Anjou, France. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of the Oak (near Sable: Anjou, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Quito, Ecuador (1534) “Our Lady of the Earthquake”. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html) NB: See 29, 30 April.
• “Nuestra Señora de Quito” (Our Lady of Quito); Our Lady of the Earthquake. Quito, Ecuador. 1534. Discussed in the visit of John Paul II to Quito. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
St Dominic, seeing that the gravity of people’s sins was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse where he prayed unceasingly for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances to appease the anger of Almighty God. He used his discipline so much his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma.
Our Lady appeared, accompanied by three angels, and said: ‘Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?’
‘Oh, my Lady’, answered St Dominic, ‘you know far better than I do because next to your Son Jesus Christ you have always been the chief instrument of our salvation’.
Our Lady replied: ‘I want you to know, in this kind of warfare, the battering ram has always been the Angelic Psalter which is the foundation stone of the New Testament. Thus, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter.’
He arose, comforted, and burning with zeal for conversion of the people in that district he went directly to the Cathedral. At once unseen angels rang the bells to gather the people and St Dominic began to preach. At the start of his sermon a storm broke out, the earth shook, the sun was darkened, and there was so much thunder and lightning.
Everybody was very scared. Even greater was their fear when looking at a picture of Our Lady exposed in a prominent place, they saw her raise her arms to heaven three times to call down God’s vengeance upon them if they failed to be converted, to amend their lives, and seek the protection of the Holy Mother of God.
God wished, through these supernatural phenomena, to spread the new devotion of the Holy Rosary and to make it widely known. At last at the prayer of St Dominic, the storm ended, and he went on preaching.
So fervently and compellingly did he explain the importance and value of the Holy Rosary that almost all the people of Toulouse embraced it and renounced their false beliefs. Soon a great improvement was seen in the town; people began leading Christian lives and gave up their former bad habits.
Ref: St Louis M de Montfort, “The Secret of the Rosary”, 1954, 18-9
“Virgo fidelis” -- “Faithful Virgin, pray for us! Teach us to believe as you believed! Make our faith in God, in Christ, in the Church, always be limpid, serene, courageous, strong and generous.” (Pope John Paul II, “The Pope Speaks on Mary”, 1979, p19)
“We ought to perform all our actions through Mary, with Mary and in Mary in order to perform them better through Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus.” -- St Louis Marie de Montfort (In Rev Joseph A Viano,SSP, “Two Months with Mary”, 1984, p19)
“The Holy Spirit, upon entering a soul and finding there Mary, His beloved Spouse, communicates His life to that soul and fills it with gifts.” -- St Louis Marie de Montfort
Ref: Rev Joseph A Viano, SSP, “Two Months with Mary”, 1984, p19
The peace Our Lord gives His disciples
‘Peace be to you’, are our Lord’s first words to his apostles on the evening of his resurrection. Peace of the soul and of the heart; the only true happiness in this life. And he repeats them three times in two successive visits.
Why three times? To make us understand the three kinds of peace he desires for us -- peace with God, our neighbor, ourselves.
How much do we value this highest of heavenly gifts, ‘peace with God’? This peace consists in the full and entire conformity of our will with that of God. His will is manifested through the commandments and counsels, the orders of our directors.
All we need do, then, is to ask, “How have I conformed my words, thoughts, and actions to these standards?”
“... after eight days, again his disciples were within, with Thomas. Jesus came, the doors being shut, stood in their midst, and said, ‘Peace be to you’.” (cf Jn 20:26-7)
Peace with God should always be united to peace with our neighbors. The fulness of this peace, based on charity and fraternal union, is what our Lord desired for his disciples. It was vital to them, for the least division can cause failure of their mission to reunite all nations of the earth by mutual faith, hope, and charity.
The conditions for preserving this peace are: 1) to bear with the defects of others; and 2) to give others nothing to bear from us. Does our rudeness disturb peace and union?
“He said, therefore, to them again, ‘Peace be to you’.” To possess the fulness of peace Jesus desires for his disciples, we must acquire ‘peace with ourselves’. This interior peace consists in a good conscience; the senses and passions subject to reason, and of reason to faith.
This peace is impossible in this world where the flesh and self-love always rebel against the will of God. The peace of our souls must be sought in a perpetual and resolute combat “... resisting the passions, not by serving them, that true peace of heart is to be found.” (Thomas à Kempis, “The Imitation of Christ”)
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp224-6
• St Peter Chanel, priest and martyr -- A religious of the Society of Mary (Marists). (Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1513)
• St Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort -- Founder of the “Missionaries of the Company of Mary” (Montfort Fathers) and “Daughters of Wisdom”. A great lover of Mary, he wrote “The True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary”.
• Our Lady of the Oak, near the town of Sable, in Anjou. This image has wrought so many miracles, that it is at present very famous in the country; Marshal de Bois-Dauphin built a fine church for it, and a house of reception for the pilgrims.— (Triple Couronne, n. 50.) (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of the Oak (“Notre-Dame du Chêne”). Near Sable, Anjou, France. In the Middle Ages. A Druidic custom absorbed by Christianity. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of the Oak, Anjou, France. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of the Oak (near Sable: Anjou, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Quito, Ecuador (1534) “Our Lady of the Earthquake”. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html) NB: See 29, 30 April.
• “Nuestra Señora de Quito” (Our Lady of Quito); Our Lady of the Earthquake. Quito, Ecuador. 1534. Discussed in the visit of John Paul II to Quito. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
27 April 2011: Our Lady of Montserrat
The veneration of Our Lady of Montserrat, Patroness of Catalonia, is extremely ancient, predating the seventh-century Arab invasion of Spain. The statue was hidden at the time of the Islamic incursion and discovered in the ninth century, at which point a chapel was built to venerate it. King Wilfrid later founded a Benedictine abbey there.
The shrine was originally regional in appeal, but the miracles attributed to the Virgin of Montserrat became so numerous, news of them was carried far and wide; the fame of the shrine spread well beyond the borders of Catalonia.
In Italy one can find more than one-hundred and fifty churches or chapels dedicated to Our Lady of Montserrat. Some of the first churches to be founded in Mexico, Chile and Peru were also dedicated to her, not to mention numerous monasteries, towns, mountains and islands throughout the American continent named in her honor.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:195-7
Marian shrines are ‘divine signs’
Countless pilgrims daily visit numerous shrines of Our Lady to discover God’s ways or to renew them to find peace of soul and consolation in affliction. In these places of prayer, the Blessed Virgin makes the soul’s encounter with her Son easier, his presence more accessible. Every Marian shrine is a “permanent antenna of the Good News of salvation”. (John Paul II, “Address to rectors of Marian shrines”, 22 January 1981, in F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:195)
For centuries countless Christians have had recourse to Our Lady of Montserrat for her intercession to keep them going when life was hard. At her shrine they all found what they sought: peace of soul, God’s call to a greater self-giving, a cure, or consolation in tribulation. The liturgy of this feast is centred on the mystery of the Visitation, “which is the first undertaking of the Blessed Virgin. Montserrat offers us, therefore, very worthwhile lessons for our journey as pilgrims.” ((John Paul II, “Address at Montserrat”, 17 November 1982)
We must remember our goal is specific and very well defined: heaven. The destination determines to a great extent what transport to use, the baggage to bring and provisions along the way. The Blessed Virgin tells us not to carry too many things, nor wear cumbersome clothes, and to walk briskly towards our Father’s house.
She reminds us that nothing on this earth is permanent; and that everything must be subordinated to the completion of the journey, of which perhaps we have already covered a considerable portion. Moreover, on the journey we have to do as Mary did when she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth: She “arose and went with haste” (Lk 1:39), with a quick and joyful gait.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:195-6
The Significance of Marian Shrines
A particular manifestation of the motherhood of Mary with regard to mankind is to be found in places where she meets with them -- ‘houses which she inhabits’; houses where a particular presence of the Mother is felt.
Such places and such houses are very numerous; and very varied -- alcoves in dwellings or wayside shrines where the image of the Mother of God shines out, chapels and churches erected in Her honor. But there are also some places where people ‘feel the presence of the Mother to be particularly alive’.
Sometimes these places radiate their light fulsomely; they attract people from afar. Their brightness may cover a diocese, an entire nation, sometimes more nations and even continents. These are ‘Marian shrines’.
In all these places that singular testament left by the Crucified Lord is realized in a marvelous manner: man there feels consigned and entrusted to Mary. Man hastens there in order to be with her as with his own Mother, man opens his heart to her and talks about everything.
‘He takes Her into his house’, that is, into all his problems, which are sometimes difficult; and others’ problems: of families, of society, of nations, of the whole of mankind.
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, p204
The Holy Spirit, the Gift of Holiness
We must now reflect on the fact that Pentecost began ‘on the very evening of the Resurrection’ when the Risen Lord breathed on those in the Cenacle and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven them.’
This is the Easter gift whereby, according to a relationship of causality even before that of chronology, ‘Christ gave the Holy Spirit to the Church’ as the divine gift; and as the incessant and inexhaustible ‘fount of sanctification’.
‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ ... And sanctification begins with remission of sins. First there is ‘Baptism’, the sacrament of total cancellation of sins; then ‘Penance’, the sacrament of reconciliation with God and the Church; then the ‘Anointing of the Sick’. But this work of sanctification always attains its culmination in the ‘Eucharist’, the sacrament of the fulness of holiness and grace.
In this marvellous flow of supernatural life, what place is due to ‘Confirmation’? The same sanctification is expressed in reinforcement of it as well, that is, in ‘Confirmation’. In it, too, is the superabundant fulness of the Holy, sanctifying Spirit, operating in a special dynamism, the efficacy of inner-inspired and directed action.
The nature of the Sacrament of Confirmation flows out in this ‘conferring strength’, communicated to each of the baptized, to make him or her a perfect Christian and soldier of Christ, ready to testify courageously to his resurrection and its redemptive power: ‘Then you are to be my witnesses ...’
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, 1984, p218
The School of Prayer
The Lord will grant you the ability to discover many other aspects of the faithful response to grace of the Blessed Virgin. To know these facets of her life is to want to imitate them: her purity, humility, fortitude, generosity, fidelity ... But now I want to speak to you of an aspect that in a way encompasses all the others because it is a condition for spiritual growth -- her life of prayer.
Ref: Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “Christ is passing by”, 174
Our Lady -- “Holy Mary is the ‘Queen of peace’, and thus the Church invokes her. So when your soul or your family are troubled, or things go wrong at work, in society or between nations, cry out to her without ceasing. Call to her by this title: ‘Queen of peace, pray for us.’ Have you at least tried it when you have lost your calm? You will be surprised at its immediate effect.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Furrow”, 874)
• It is said that in the year 1419, Our Lady de Haut, in Hainault, restored a child to life who had been dead three days. — Justus Lipsius, History of Our Lady of Haut, c. 19. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Haut (Hainaut, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• “Notre Dame d'Haut”. Hainaut, France. Church built by Le Corbusier, 1955. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• “Nuestra Señora de Montserrat”. Spain. 1535. “Patrona de Cataluña”. ... Black madonna. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady “La Moreneta”, Spain. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
The shrine was originally regional in appeal, but the miracles attributed to the Virgin of Montserrat became so numerous, news of them was carried far and wide; the fame of the shrine spread well beyond the borders of Catalonia.
In Italy one can find more than one-hundred and fifty churches or chapels dedicated to Our Lady of Montserrat. Some of the first churches to be founded in Mexico, Chile and Peru were also dedicated to her, not to mention numerous monasteries, towns, mountains and islands throughout the American continent named in her honor.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:195-7
Marian shrines are ‘divine signs’
Countless pilgrims daily visit numerous shrines of Our Lady to discover God’s ways or to renew them to find peace of soul and consolation in affliction. In these places of prayer, the Blessed Virgin makes the soul’s encounter with her Son easier, his presence more accessible. Every Marian shrine is a “permanent antenna of the Good News of salvation”. (John Paul II, “Address to rectors of Marian shrines”, 22 January 1981, in F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:195)
For centuries countless Christians have had recourse to Our Lady of Montserrat for her intercession to keep them going when life was hard. At her shrine they all found what they sought: peace of soul, God’s call to a greater self-giving, a cure, or consolation in tribulation. The liturgy of this feast is centred on the mystery of the Visitation, “which is the first undertaking of the Blessed Virgin. Montserrat offers us, therefore, very worthwhile lessons for our journey as pilgrims.” ((John Paul II, “Address at Montserrat”, 17 November 1982)
We must remember our goal is specific and very well defined: heaven. The destination determines to a great extent what transport to use, the baggage to bring and provisions along the way. The Blessed Virgin tells us not to carry too many things, nor wear cumbersome clothes, and to walk briskly towards our Father’s house.
She reminds us that nothing on this earth is permanent; and that everything must be subordinated to the completion of the journey, of which perhaps we have already covered a considerable portion. Moreover, on the journey we have to do as Mary did when she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth: She “arose and went with haste” (Lk 1:39), with a quick and joyful gait.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:195-6
The Significance of Marian Shrines
A particular manifestation of the motherhood of Mary with regard to mankind is to be found in places where she meets with them -- ‘houses which she inhabits’; houses where a particular presence of the Mother is felt.
Such places and such houses are very numerous; and very varied -- alcoves in dwellings or wayside shrines where the image of the Mother of God shines out, chapels and churches erected in Her honor. But there are also some places where people ‘feel the presence of the Mother to be particularly alive’.
Sometimes these places radiate their light fulsomely; they attract people from afar. Their brightness may cover a diocese, an entire nation, sometimes more nations and even continents. These are ‘Marian shrines’.
In all these places that singular testament left by the Crucified Lord is realized in a marvelous manner: man there feels consigned and entrusted to Mary. Man hastens there in order to be with her as with his own Mother, man opens his heart to her and talks about everything.
‘He takes Her into his house’, that is, into all his problems, which are sometimes difficult; and others’ problems: of families, of society, of nations, of the whole of mankind.
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, p204
The Holy Spirit, the Gift of Holiness
We must now reflect on the fact that Pentecost began ‘on the very evening of the Resurrection’ when the Risen Lord breathed on those in the Cenacle and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven them.’
This is the Easter gift whereby, according to a relationship of causality even before that of chronology, ‘Christ gave the Holy Spirit to the Church’ as the divine gift; and as the incessant and inexhaustible ‘fount of sanctification’.
‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ ... And sanctification begins with remission of sins. First there is ‘Baptism’, the sacrament of total cancellation of sins; then ‘Penance’, the sacrament of reconciliation with God and the Church; then the ‘Anointing of the Sick’. But this work of sanctification always attains its culmination in the ‘Eucharist’, the sacrament of the fulness of holiness and grace.
In this marvellous flow of supernatural life, what place is due to ‘Confirmation’? The same sanctification is expressed in reinforcement of it as well, that is, in ‘Confirmation’. In it, too, is the superabundant fulness of the Holy, sanctifying Spirit, operating in a special dynamism, the efficacy of inner-inspired and directed action.
The nature of the Sacrament of Confirmation flows out in this ‘conferring strength’, communicated to each of the baptized, to make him or her a perfect Christian and soldier of Christ, ready to testify courageously to his resurrection and its redemptive power: ‘Then you are to be my witnesses ...’
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, 1984, p218
The School of Prayer
The Lord will grant you the ability to discover many other aspects of the faithful response to grace of the Blessed Virgin. To know these facets of her life is to want to imitate them: her purity, humility, fortitude, generosity, fidelity ... But now I want to speak to you of an aspect that in a way encompasses all the others because it is a condition for spiritual growth -- her life of prayer.
Ref: Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “Christ is passing by”, 174
Our Lady -- “Holy Mary is the ‘Queen of peace’, and thus the Church invokes her. So when your soul or your family are troubled, or things go wrong at work, in society or between nations, cry out to her without ceasing. Call to her by this title: ‘Queen of peace, pray for us.’ Have you at least tried it when you have lost your calm? You will be surprised at its immediate effect.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Furrow”, 874)
• It is said that in the year 1419, Our Lady de Haut, in Hainault, restored a child to life who had been dead three days. — Justus Lipsius, History of Our Lady of Haut, c. 19. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Haut (Hainaut, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• “Notre Dame d'Haut”. Hainaut, France. Church built by Le Corbusier, 1955. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• “Nuestra Señora de Montserrat”. Spain. 1535. “Patrona de Cataluña”. ... Black madonna. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady “La Moreneta”, Spain. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
Monday, April 25, 2011
26 April 2011: Mother of Good Counsel
‘Mater Boni Consilii.’ You who profess a special devotion to the Mother of God may you obtain help and comfort from her for your renewed resolves to tighten the bonds of the common life and, exactly by reason of that interior strengthening of roots, to project that life to the whole Church.
May we above all obtain from her that higher ‘counsel’ which is discernment and sagacity in decisions, but even more the individualization of the increased spiritual needs of our age, vision of social and human reality in the light of the Gospel, and consequently courage to give adequate responses to these needs and that vision.
O Mother of Jasna Gora, I am, O Mother, all yours, and everything mine is yours! All that is mine, so also my homeland, my nation.
O Mother, I have been called to serve the Universal Church on the Chair of St Peter at Rome. Thinking of this universal service, I constantly repeat, ‘Totus tuus -- wholly yours’. I desire to be the servant of all!
Mother, everything that is mine is yours! What more can I say to you? In what other way entrust this land, this people, this heritage, to You? I confide them to you just as I can.
You are the Mother. You will understand and will accept.
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, p170
The fruits of difficulties
After the martyrdom of St Stephen there arose a persecution against the Christians of Jerusalem which caused them to scatter throughout other areas of the Middle East. (Acts 8:1-8) Providence made use of that circumstance to carry the seed of the faith to other places which otherwise would have taken longer to get to know Christ.
Our Lord always has more complete plans. What seemed the end of the primitive Church in fact led to its strengthening and expansion. So those who persecuted the Church, whose objective was to stifle the recently-born seed of faith, were the indirect cause why so many more people, otherwise unreachable because of their dwelling in faraway places, got to know the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
The Christians expressed their apostolic spirit during times of peace, which were the majority, and in times of calumny and persecution. They never ceased to announce the Good News which they had in their hearts, convinced the doctrine of Jesus Christ is the only one that can make this world a more just and humane place.
Trials and difficulties can differ considerably. Some may be due to a materialist and anti-christian environment which opposes Christ’s reign in the world: calumnies, professional discrimination, anti-Catholic fanaticism. Or Our Lord permits sickness, financial disaster, failures, fruitless apostolic enterprise after much effort or lack of understanding.
Whatever, we should understand that God is very close to us. He helps us, with more graces, to mature in virtue and to bear fruit in the apostolate. God wants to purify us like gold in the furnace, cleansing our soul of its dross, leaving it more refined and valuable.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:399-400
The communion of graces
The doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ shows the profound unity among Christians due to union with their head, Christ. “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it.” (1 Cor 12:26)
This stable union of the faithful with one another led St Paul to ask for prayers from the first Christians at Rome. He always felt very united with his brothers in the Faith, whom he always addressed as ‘saints’ in his letters. (cf Phil 1:1) From the beginning of the Church, Christians have professed among the principal truths of faith in the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in the Communion of Saints.”
It is a community of spiritual qualities from which everyone benefits. It is not a sharing of material, cultural or artistic favors, but of imperishable goods. Offering Our Lord our work, prayer, joy and difficulties brings an immense good to people who are far from us and to the entire Church.
St Teresa, aware of the damage caused by Protestant errors in the Church, knew also of this desirable mutual support. “The things of God’s service are so bad that those of us who do serve Him have to stand back to back in order to make progress at all.” (St Teresa, “Life”, 7-8) This doctrine was always practised throughout Church history. (cf St Ignatius of Antioch, “Letter to the Ephesians”, 2, 2-5; St Cyprian, “Letter 60”; St Clement of Rome, “Letter to the Corinthians” 36, 1 ff; St Ambrose, “Treatise on Cain and Abel”, 1 ff)
What does the Communion of Saints mean for us in practise? “... that all of us who are united in Christ, the saints in heaven, the souls in purgatory, and we on earth -- must be mindful of the needs of one another ... The saints ‘must’ love the souls whom God loves. The love the blessed in heaven have for the Souls in Purgatory and the souls on earth is not a passive love. ... [but] an active, ‘hungry’ love. The saints long to help onward to heaven all souls ... And if the prayer of a good man on earth has power with God, there is no estimating the power of prayers which the saints offer for us. ...” (Leo Trese, “The Faith Explained”, p146)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:411-3
Fortitude and Its Rewards
This virtue can become rare in the pleasure-loving and success-hungry environment where most of us live. Religious convictions can easily be suppressed by fear of being criticized, belittled or even ridiculed.
About fortitude, Fr Leo J Trese said it is hard not to laugh at the obscene joke, especially if the teller happens to be the boss or a good customer. When the malicious gossip starts, it is hard to insist on changing the conversation or to speak up in defense of the person under attack -- particularly when the subject really is a stinker. It is hard to make the boyfriend behave when everybody says a little loving never hurt anyone; especially when boyfriends are rare.
Our world of work and recreation may frequently be uynsympathetic to virtue. Businessmen often find under-the-table deals as standard operating procedure. Risqué shows are bandied about as hilarious entertainment. It is consoling to find that fortitude also brings rewards. The courage of the man born blind in glorifying Jesus before the council was magnificently rewarded.
“Jesus heard they had driven him away, and when he found him he said to him, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ ‘Sir’, the man replied, ‘tell me who he is so that I may believe in him’. Jesus said, ‘You are looking at him; he is speaking to you’. The man said, ‘Lord, I believe’, and worshipped him.” (Jn 9:35-8 ) Before, sight was restored to his eyes. Now, sight was given to his soul.
Christians who stand by their conscience inevitably discover that they have grown in stature in the eyes of other people. Initially, they might have been somewhat afraid they would lose their friends. Afterwards, they realize they have gained respect as well as affection. Their friends find in them a reassuring source of strength.
Ref: Cf Fr M Guzman, “Encounters With Christ”, 1990, pp109-10
• Our Lady of Naiera, in Navarre. This image was found miraculously in the year 1048; Dom Garcias de Naïera, King of Navarre, built a church for it, which several kings of Navarre visited. — Andre Favin, liv. iii.. Hist. de Navarre. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Naïera, Navarre (1048). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of Naïera (Navarre, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Good Counsel. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Mother of Good Counsel. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Mother / Our Lady of Good Counsel. Detailed history. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• “Nuestra Señora de Salera”. Aliaga, Nueva Ecija. (“The 1997 Catholic Directory of the Philippines”, p51)
May we above all obtain from her that higher ‘counsel’ which is discernment and sagacity in decisions, but even more the individualization of the increased spiritual needs of our age, vision of social and human reality in the light of the Gospel, and consequently courage to give adequate responses to these needs and that vision.
O Mother of Jasna Gora, I am, O Mother, all yours, and everything mine is yours! All that is mine, so also my homeland, my nation.
O Mother, I have been called to serve the Universal Church on the Chair of St Peter at Rome. Thinking of this universal service, I constantly repeat, ‘Totus tuus -- wholly yours’. I desire to be the servant of all!
Mother, everything that is mine is yours! What more can I say to you? In what other way entrust this land, this people, this heritage, to You? I confide them to you just as I can.
You are the Mother. You will understand and will accept.
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, p170
The fruits of difficulties
After the martyrdom of St Stephen there arose a persecution against the Christians of Jerusalem which caused them to scatter throughout other areas of the Middle East. (Acts 8:1-8) Providence made use of that circumstance to carry the seed of the faith to other places which otherwise would have taken longer to get to know Christ.
Our Lord always has more complete plans. What seemed the end of the primitive Church in fact led to its strengthening and expansion. So those who persecuted the Church, whose objective was to stifle the recently-born seed of faith, were the indirect cause why so many more people, otherwise unreachable because of their dwelling in faraway places, got to know the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
The Christians expressed their apostolic spirit during times of peace, which were the majority, and in times of calumny and persecution. They never ceased to announce the Good News which they had in their hearts, convinced the doctrine of Jesus Christ is the only one that can make this world a more just and humane place.
Trials and difficulties can differ considerably. Some may be due to a materialist and anti-christian environment which opposes Christ’s reign in the world: calumnies, professional discrimination, anti-Catholic fanaticism. Or Our Lord permits sickness, financial disaster, failures, fruitless apostolic enterprise after much effort or lack of understanding.
Whatever, we should understand that God is very close to us. He helps us, with more graces, to mature in virtue and to bear fruit in the apostolate. God wants to purify us like gold in the furnace, cleansing our soul of its dross, leaving it more refined and valuable.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:399-400
The communion of graces
The doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ shows the profound unity among Christians due to union with their head, Christ. “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it.” (1 Cor 12:26)
This stable union of the faithful with one another led St Paul to ask for prayers from the first Christians at Rome. He always felt very united with his brothers in the Faith, whom he always addressed as ‘saints’ in his letters. (cf Phil 1:1) From the beginning of the Church, Christians have professed among the principal truths of faith in the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in the Communion of Saints.”
It is a community of spiritual qualities from which everyone benefits. It is not a sharing of material, cultural or artistic favors, but of imperishable goods. Offering Our Lord our work, prayer, joy and difficulties brings an immense good to people who are far from us and to the entire Church.
St Teresa, aware of the damage caused by Protestant errors in the Church, knew also of this desirable mutual support. “The things of God’s service are so bad that those of us who do serve Him have to stand back to back in order to make progress at all.” (St Teresa, “Life”, 7-8) This doctrine was always practised throughout Church history. (cf St Ignatius of Antioch, “Letter to the Ephesians”, 2, 2-5; St Cyprian, “Letter 60”; St Clement of Rome, “Letter to the Corinthians” 36, 1 ff; St Ambrose, “Treatise on Cain and Abel”, 1 ff)
What does the Communion of Saints mean for us in practise? “... that all of us who are united in Christ, the saints in heaven, the souls in purgatory, and we on earth -- must be mindful of the needs of one another ... The saints ‘must’ love the souls whom God loves. The love the blessed in heaven have for the Souls in Purgatory and the souls on earth is not a passive love. ... [but] an active, ‘hungry’ love. The saints long to help onward to heaven all souls ... And if the prayer of a good man on earth has power with God, there is no estimating the power of prayers which the saints offer for us. ...” (Leo Trese, “The Faith Explained”, p146)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:411-3
Fortitude and Its Rewards
This virtue can become rare in the pleasure-loving and success-hungry environment where most of us live. Religious convictions can easily be suppressed by fear of being criticized, belittled or even ridiculed.
About fortitude, Fr Leo J Trese said it is hard not to laugh at the obscene joke, especially if the teller happens to be the boss or a good customer. When the malicious gossip starts, it is hard to insist on changing the conversation or to speak up in defense of the person under attack -- particularly when the subject really is a stinker. It is hard to make the boyfriend behave when everybody says a little loving never hurt anyone; especially when boyfriends are rare.
Our world of work and recreation may frequently be uynsympathetic to virtue. Businessmen often find under-the-table deals as standard operating procedure. Risqué shows are bandied about as hilarious entertainment. It is consoling to find that fortitude also brings rewards. The courage of the man born blind in glorifying Jesus before the council was magnificently rewarded.
“Jesus heard they had driven him away, and when he found him he said to him, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ ‘Sir’, the man replied, ‘tell me who he is so that I may believe in him’. Jesus said, ‘You are looking at him; he is speaking to you’. The man said, ‘Lord, I believe’, and worshipped him.” (Jn 9:35-8 ) Before, sight was restored to his eyes. Now, sight was given to his soul.
Christians who stand by their conscience inevitably discover that they have grown in stature in the eyes of other people. Initially, they might have been somewhat afraid they would lose their friends. Afterwards, they realize they have gained respect as well as affection. Their friends find in them a reassuring source of strength.
Ref: Cf Fr M Guzman, “Encounters With Christ”, 1990, pp109-10
• Our Lady of Naiera, in Navarre. This image was found miraculously in the year 1048; Dom Garcias de Naïera, King of Navarre, built a church for it, which several kings of Navarre visited. — Andre Favin, liv. iii.. Hist. de Navarre. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Naïera, Navarre (1048). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of Naïera (Navarre, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Good Counsel. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Mother of Good Counsel. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Mother / Our Lady of Good Counsel. Detailed history. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• “Nuestra Señora de Salera”. Aliaga, Nueva Ecija. (“The 1997 Catholic Directory of the Philippines”, p51)
Sunday, April 24, 2011
25 April 2011: Feast -- St Mark, Evangelist
St Peter’s secretary in Rome. Author of the second Gospel which emphasizes the Saviour’s miraculous powers. (Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1511)
Despite his Roman name, Mark was Jewish by birth. He was also known by his Hebrew name John. Not one of the twelve Apostles, he probably knew Jesus personally.
Many ecclesiastical writers see in the episode of the young man, who let go the sheet and fled at Jesus’ arrest in Gethsemane, a reference to Mark in his Gospel. Mark alone mentions it. This tallies with the fact that he was the son of a woman named Mary, who seems to have been a wealthy widow in whose house the first Jerusalem Christians used to meet. According to ancient tradition this house was in fact the Cenacle, where Our Lord celebrated the Last Supper and instituted the Blessed Eucharist. (cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:189-93)
The apostolic mandate
From his early youth Mark was among the first Christians of Jerusalem who had lived with Our Lady and the Apostles, all of whom he knew well. His mother was one of the first women to provide for Jesus and the Twelve. He is a cousin of Barnabas, one of the chief figures of those first days; and who initiated him in the task of spreading the Gospel.
Mark went with Paul and Barnabas on their apostolic journey (cf Acts 13:5-13), but on arriving in Cyprus he probably felt he was unable to carry on any further, for at that point he left them and went back to Jerusalem (cf Acts 13:13). Paul seems to have been disgusted at Mark’s inconstancy. Many years later in Rome, Paul finds him “a comfort” and faithful companion. (cf 1 Pet 5:13)
About ten years later we find him in Rome, helping Peter who refers to him as “my son, Mark” (cf Phil 24), thereby testifying to a long-standing close relationship. Being interpreter for the Prince of Apostles provided him with a privileged vantage-point, reflected in the Gospel he wrote later.
St Jerome writes that “Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, wrote down his Gospel at the request of the brethren living in Rome, according to what he had heard Peter preach. And Peter, having heard it, approved it with his authority to be read in the Church.” (“De script eccl”) This was no doubt Mark’s principal mission in life: to faithfully transmit Peter’s teaching.
The Church proposes St Mark to us today as a model. It can be a great source of hope and consolation to contemplate the life of this holy Evangelist, because despite weaknesses we can, like him, trust in divine grace and in the assistance of our Mother the Church. Our imperfections should not cause us to turn away from God or to abandon our apostolic mission.
At times we may have failed to respond properly to God’s grace. In these and other circumstances, if they occur, we should not be discouraged. Failures and acts of cowardice can serve a purpose and that is why we turn to Our Lord asking his pardon and help. But precisely because he trusts us and that we can count on receiving grace anew, we ought to begin again immediately and resolve to be more faithful. With Our Lord’s help we learn to draw good from our weaknesses, especially when the enemy, who never rests, tries to discourage us and get us to give up. Jesus wants us to be his despite any history of weakness on our part.
“Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15) is the apostolic mandate. Moved by the Holy Spirit, St Mark testifies that this command was fulfilled: the Apostles “went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by signs that attended it” (Mk 16:20).
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:189-93
‘Evangelical Leaven’
The Gospel St Mark wrote brings out the contrast between Christ who pardons (Mk 2:10), overcomes demons (Mk 1:24-7), heals the sick (Mk 1:31), those men who jeer at him (Mk 5:40) and desire his ruin (Mk 3:36).
In this ‘scandalous’ contrast Mark sees the guiding line of God’s activity; he surprises people and induces them to ask about Christ’s identity. “Who is he?” (Mk 4:41) Through the very experience of their humiliation, he prepared them for the act of faith in his saving mission. “Truly this man was God’s Son” (Mk 15:39) is the centurion’s confession at the foot of the Cross.
How can we fail to see all this as a clear indication for whoever wishes to follow Christ’s footsteps and become his witness in the contemporary world? Meekness in the face of opposition and clashes, dominion over the passions and forces of evil, and commitment to alleviating every form of suffering: the concrete modes whereby the Christian can provoke a query about Christ in people of today as well, for hearts to be disposed to accepting this message. Thus, enable him to work effectively for the coming of God’s kingdom and construction of the earthly City, in accord with the Christian vision of the world and of history, which is irreconciliable with materialistic ideologies.
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, p169
Christ, Son of the Living God
We are here, we, your Church: the Body from your Body and from your Blood. We are here, we are keeping watch.
We are by your sepulchre. We keep watch. We remain awake, so as to be before those women who “at dawn will come to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared” (cf Lk 24:1) to anoint your body, in the tomb since the evening of the day before.
We keep watch in order to be near your tomb, before Peter, summoned by the words of the three women, comes too; before Peter sees only the wrappings ... We wish to be before the women and the Apostles ... We wish to be with you, we, your Church, the body from your body and from your blood shed on the Cross.
We are your Body, we are your People. We are many. We gather in many parts of the world. ... We are all united by the faith, born of your Easter, of your passage through death to new Life, the faith born of your Resurrection.
Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, p158
Our Lady -- “Mary, teacher of prayer. See how she asks her Son at Cana. And how she insists, confidently, perseveringly ... And how she succeeds.
“Learn.”
Ref: St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 502
• Dedication of the Lower Holy Chapel of Paris, in honor of Our Lady, by Philip, Archbishop of Bonurges, in the year 1248. — Du Breuil, Theatre des Antiquites. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Dedication of the Lower Holy Chapel of Paris in honor of Our Lady (1248). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Dedication of the Lower Holy Chapel in honor Mary. Paris. 1248. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Dedication of the Holy Chapel of Paris in Our Lady's honor, 1248. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Good Counsel, Genazzano, Italy. 1467. History. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
Despite his Roman name, Mark was Jewish by birth. He was also known by his Hebrew name John. Not one of the twelve Apostles, he probably knew Jesus personally.
Many ecclesiastical writers see in the episode of the young man, who let go the sheet and fled at Jesus’ arrest in Gethsemane, a reference to Mark in his Gospel. Mark alone mentions it. This tallies with the fact that he was the son of a woman named Mary, who seems to have been a wealthy widow in whose house the first Jerusalem Christians used to meet. According to ancient tradition this house was in fact the Cenacle, where Our Lord celebrated the Last Supper and instituted the Blessed Eucharist. (cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:189-93)
The apostolic mandate
From his early youth Mark was among the first Christians of Jerusalem who had lived with Our Lady and the Apostles, all of whom he knew well. His mother was one of the first women to provide for Jesus and the Twelve. He is a cousin of Barnabas, one of the chief figures of those first days; and who initiated him in the task of spreading the Gospel.
Mark went with Paul and Barnabas on their apostolic journey (cf Acts 13:5-13), but on arriving in Cyprus he probably felt he was unable to carry on any further, for at that point he left them and went back to Jerusalem (cf Acts 13:13). Paul seems to have been disgusted at Mark’s inconstancy. Many years later in Rome, Paul finds him “a comfort” and faithful companion. (cf 1 Pet 5:13)
About ten years later we find him in Rome, helping Peter who refers to him as “my son, Mark” (cf Phil 24), thereby testifying to a long-standing close relationship. Being interpreter for the Prince of Apostles provided him with a privileged vantage-point, reflected in the Gospel he wrote later.
St Jerome writes that “Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, wrote down his Gospel at the request of the brethren living in Rome, according to what he had heard Peter preach. And Peter, having heard it, approved it with his authority to be read in the Church.” (“De script eccl”) This was no doubt Mark’s principal mission in life: to faithfully transmit Peter’s teaching.
The Church proposes St Mark to us today as a model. It can be a great source of hope and consolation to contemplate the life of this holy Evangelist, because despite weaknesses we can, like him, trust in divine grace and in the assistance of our Mother the Church. Our imperfections should not cause us to turn away from God or to abandon our apostolic mission.
At times we may have failed to respond properly to God’s grace. In these and other circumstances, if they occur, we should not be discouraged. Failures and acts of cowardice can serve a purpose and that is why we turn to Our Lord asking his pardon and help. But precisely because he trusts us and that we can count on receiving grace anew, we ought to begin again immediately and resolve to be more faithful. With Our Lord’s help we learn to draw good from our weaknesses, especially when the enemy, who never rests, tries to discourage us and get us to give up. Jesus wants us to be his despite any history of weakness on our part.
“Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15) is the apostolic mandate. Moved by the Holy Spirit, St Mark testifies that this command was fulfilled: the Apostles “went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by signs that attended it” (Mk 16:20).
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:189-93
‘Evangelical Leaven’
The Gospel St Mark wrote brings out the contrast between Christ who pardons (Mk 2:10), overcomes demons (Mk 1:24-7), heals the sick (Mk 1:31), those men who jeer at him (Mk 5:40) and desire his ruin (Mk 3:36).
In this ‘scandalous’ contrast Mark sees the guiding line of God’s activity; he surprises people and induces them to ask about Christ’s identity. “Who is he?” (Mk 4:41) Through the very experience of their humiliation, he prepared them for the act of faith in his saving mission. “Truly this man was God’s Son” (Mk 15:39) is the centurion’s confession at the foot of the Cross.
How can we fail to see all this as a clear indication for whoever wishes to follow Christ’s footsteps and become his witness in the contemporary world? Meekness in the face of opposition and clashes, dominion over the passions and forces of evil, and commitment to alleviating every form of suffering: the concrete modes whereby the Christian can provoke a query about Christ in people of today as well, for hearts to be disposed to accepting this message. Thus, enable him to work effectively for the coming of God’s kingdom and construction of the earthly City, in accord with the Christian vision of the world and of history, which is irreconciliable with materialistic ideologies.
Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, p169
Christ, Son of the Living God
We are here, we, your Church: the Body from your Body and from your Blood. We are here, we are keeping watch.
We are by your sepulchre. We keep watch. We remain awake, so as to be before those women who “at dawn will come to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared” (cf Lk 24:1) to anoint your body, in the tomb since the evening of the day before.
We keep watch in order to be near your tomb, before Peter, summoned by the words of the three women, comes too; before Peter sees only the wrappings ... We wish to be before the women and the Apostles ... We wish to be with you, we, your Church, the body from your body and from your blood shed on the Cross.
We are your Body, we are your People. We are many. We gather in many parts of the world. ... We are all united by the faith, born of your Easter, of your passage through death to new Life, the faith born of your Resurrection.
Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, p158
Our Lady -- “Mary, teacher of prayer. See how she asks her Son at Cana. And how she insists, confidently, perseveringly ... And how she succeeds.
“Learn.”
Ref: St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 502
• Dedication of the Lower Holy Chapel of Paris, in honor of Our Lady, by Philip, Archbishop of Bonurges, in the year 1248. — Du Breuil, Theatre des Antiquites. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Dedication of the Lower Holy Chapel of Paris in honor of Our Lady (1248). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Dedication of the Lower Holy Chapel in honor Mary. Paris. 1248. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Dedication of the Holy Chapel of Paris in Our Lady's honor, 1248. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Good Counsel, Genazzano, Italy. 1467. History. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
Saturday, April 23, 2011
24 April 2011: Easter Sunday
“He has risen, he is not here!” (Lk 24:6) Such was the angel’s greeting to the holy women who had come at early dawn to visit the place where Jesus was laid.
What joy must have overwhelmed their hearts at the words! What joy even now fills the hearts of the faithful when they hear them repeated in the Mass of this great day! He, Jesus, our King, over whose sorrowful Passion we have been so lately mourning, dies no more. Death has no more dominion over him.
Conqueror over death and all his enemies, he rejoices in his glorified humanity, and all power is given to him in heaven and on earth, even in hell itself. Therefore, let us rejoice with him and with his Church this day with the oft-repeated, ‘Alleluia, Alleluia!’
No one doubts that our Lord first appeared to his Blessed Mother; but how can we form an idea of the joy that filled her heart at the sight of this beloved Son, now as radiant and beautiful as he had been disfigured by his agony and crucifixion?
The sorrows and joys of a mother are the sorrows and joys of her children. Mary is our Mother. So, let our joy today be as deep as our previous sorrow; and in proportion to the childlike love we bear her. Let our joy go beyond this day and produce in us all its holy and blissful effects.
What great joy springs from the thought that the resurrection of our Lord is the type and pledge of our resurrection! This is no pious belief but an express article of faith “... knowing”, as St Paul says, “that he who raised up Jesus will raise us up also with Jesus, and those who have slept through Jesus will God bring with him”.
This makes us cry out with the Apostle, “O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” (1 Cor 15:55)
Deeply impress this thought on our minds; we shall never suffer long from sadness. In all our tribulations of soul or body let us say, ‘I believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting’. If we suffer, we will also reign with him.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp186-8
Our Lord’s Resurrection: The basis of our Faith
The glorious resurrection of the Lord is the key to interpreting his whole life, and the ground of our faith. Without this victory over death, all our preaching would be useless and our faith in vain. (cf 1 Cor 15:14-7)
Furthermore, the guarantee of our future resurrection is secured upon the resurrection of Christ, because although we were dead through sin, merciful God, his love moved by infinite compassion, gave us Christ ... and he raised us with him. (cf Eph 2:4-6)
Easter is the celebration of our Redemption; of thanksgiving and joy. The Resurrection of the Lord is a central reality of the Catholic faith, and has been preached as such since the beginning of Christianity. The importance of this miracle is so great that the Apostles are, above all else, witnesses of Jesus’ Resurrection. (cf Acts 1:22; 2:32; 3:15)
Each year on this holy day St Thomas Aquinas counselled his hearers not to fail to congratulate the Blessed Virgin on the Resurrection of her Son. (Fr JFP, “Life and Mercies of Our Lady, according to St Thomas Aquinas”) That is exactly what we do, beginning today, by reciting the ‘Regina Cœli’ in lieu of the ‘Angelus’ during Eastertide. “Queen of Heaven, Rejoice. Alleluia! ...”
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:291-2, 298
“Regina Cœli”
V. Queen of Heaven, Rejoice! Alleluia. R. “For He whom you did merit to bear. Alleluia.”
V. Has risen, as He said. Alleluia. R. “Pray for us to God. Alleluia.”
V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary. Alleluia. R. “For the Lord is truly risen. Alleluia.”
Let us pray. O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, grant, we beseech you, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, his Mother, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Ref: “Handbook of Prayers”, edited by Fr Charles Belmonte and Fr James Socias, 1982, p23
Renewal of Baptismal Promises
‘Immediately after the blessing of the water, all present stand and renew their baptismal profession of faith. The priest speaks to the people in these or similar words’:
Dear friends, through the paschal mystery, we have been buried with Christ in baptism, so that we may rise with him to a new life. Now that we have completed our lenten observance, let us renew the promises we made in baptism when we rejected Satan and his works, and promised to serve God faithfully in his holy Catholic Church. And so: V. Do you reject Satan? ‘R. I do.’
V. And all his works? ‘R. I do.’ V. And all his empty promises?
‘R. I do.’
‘or’
V. Do you reject sin, so as to live in the freedom of God’s children?
‘R. I do.’
V. Do you reject the glamor of evil, and refuse to be mastered by sin?
‘R. I do.’
V. Do you reject Satan, father of sin and prince of darkness? ‘R. I do.’
‘(According to circumstances, this second form may be adapted to local needs by the conference of bishops.)’
‘Then the priest continues.’
V. Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth?
‘R. I do.’
V. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father? ‘R. I do.’
V. Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting? ‘R. I do.’
‘The priest concludes:’
V. God, the all-powerful Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and forgiven all our sins. May he also keep us faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ for ever and ever. ‘R. Amen.’
Ref: Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ (Eds), “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, pp389-90
• Dedication of Our Lady of Reparation, at Florence, by Eugenius IV., in the year 1436.—(Balingham on the Calendar.) (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Bonaria (Sardinia). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Bonaria, Island of Sardinia (1370). Declared Patron of Sardinia in 1908. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Madonna della Bonaria. Sardinia, Italy. 1370. Mary is declared Patron of Sardinia in 1908. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
What joy must have overwhelmed their hearts at the words! What joy even now fills the hearts of the faithful when they hear them repeated in the Mass of this great day! He, Jesus, our King, over whose sorrowful Passion we have been so lately mourning, dies no more. Death has no more dominion over him.
Conqueror over death and all his enemies, he rejoices in his glorified humanity, and all power is given to him in heaven and on earth, even in hell itself. Therefore, let us rejoice with him and with his Church this day with the oft-repeated, ‘Alleluia, Alleluia!’
No one doubts that our Lord first appeared to his Blessed Mother; but how can we form an idea of the joy that filled her heart at the sight of this beloved Son, now as radiant and beautiful as he had been disfigured by his agony and crucifixion?
The sorrows and joys of a mother are the sorrows and joys of her children. Mary is our Mother. So, let our joy today be as deep as our previous sorrow; and in proportion to the childlike love we bear her. Let our joy go beyond this day and produce in us all its holy and blissful effects.
What great joy springs from the thought that the resurrection of our Lord is the type and pledge of our resurrection! This is no pious belief but an express article of faith “... knowing”, as St Paul says, “that he who raised up Jesus will raise us up also with Jesus, and those who have slept through Jesus will God bring with him”.
This makes us cry out with the Apostle, “O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” (1 Cor 15:55)
Deeply impress this thought on our minds; we shall never suffer long from sadness. In all our tribulations of soul or body let us say, ‘I believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting’. If we suffer, we will also reign with him.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp186-8
Our Lord’s Resurrection: The basis of our Faith
The glorious resurrection of the Lord is the key to interpreting his whole life, and the ground of our faith. Without this victory over death, all our preaching would be useless and our faith in vain. (cf 1 Cor 15:14-7)
Furthermore, the guarantee of our future resurrection is secured upon the resurrection of Christ, because although we were dead through sin, merciful God, his love moved by infinite compassion, gave us Christ ... and he raised us with him. (cf Eph 2:4-6)
Easter is the celebration of our Redemption; of thanksgiving and joy. The Resurrection of the Lord is a central reality of the Catholic faith, and has been preached as such since the beginning of Christianity. The importance of this miracle is so great that the Apostles are, above all else, witnesses of Jesus’ Resurrection. (cf Acts 1:22; 2:32; 3:15)
Each year on this holy day St Thomas Aquinas counselled his hearers not to fail to congratulate the Blessed Virgin on the Resurrection of her Son. (Fr JFP, “Life and Mercies of Our Lady, according to St Thomas Aquinas”) That is exactly what we do, beginning today, by reciting the ‘Regina Cœli’ in lieu of the ‘Angelus’ during Eastertide. “Queen of Heaven, Rejoice. Alleluia! ...”
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:291-2, 298
“Regina Cœli”
V. Queen of Heaven, Rejoice! Alleluia. R. “For He whom you did merit to bear. Alleluia.”
V. Has risen, as He said. Alleluia. R. “Pray for us to God. Alleluia.”
V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary. Alleluia. R. “For the Lord is truly risen. Alleluia.”
Let us pray. O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, grant, we beseech you, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, his Mother, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Ref: “Handbook of Prayers”, edited by Fr Charles Belmonte and Fr James Socias, 1982, p23
Renewal of Baptismal Promises
‘Immediately after the blessing of the water, all present stand and renew their baptismal profession of faith. The priest speaks to the people in these or similar words’:
Dear friends, through the paschal mystery, we have been buried with Christ in baptism, so that we may rise with him to a new life. Now that we have completed our lenten observance, let us renew the promises we made in baptism when we rejected Satan and his works, and promised to serve God faithfully in his holy Catholic Church. And so: V. Do you reject Satan? ‘R. I do.’
V. And all his works? ‘R. I do.’ V. And all his empty promises?
‘R. I do.’
‘or’
V. Do you reject sin, so as to live in the freedom of God’s children?
‘R. I do.’
V. Do you reject the glamor of evil, and refuse to be mastered by sin?
‘R. I do.’
V. Do you reject Satan, father of sin and prince of darkness? ‘R. I do.’
‘(According to circumstances, this second form may be adapted to local needs by the conference of bishops.)’
‘Then the priest continues.’
V. Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth?
‘R. I do.’
V. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father? ‘R. I do.’
V. Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting? ‘R. I do.’
‘The priest concludes:’
V. God, the all-powerful Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and forgiven all our sins. May he also keep us faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ for ever and ever. ‘R. Amen.’
Ref: Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ (Eds), “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, pp389-90
• Dedication of Our Lady of Reparation, at Florence, by Eugenius IV., in the year 1436.—(Balingham on the Calendar.) (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Bonaria (Sardinia). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Bonaria, Island of Sardinia (1370). Declared Patron of Sardinia in 1908. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Madonna della Bonaria. Sardinia, Italy. 1370. Mary is declared Patron of Sardinia in 1908. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
Friday, April 22, 2011
23 April 2011: Holy Saturday
Admire the providence of God in all these circumstances: in the new sepulchre, near where our Lord was crucified, hewn out of a rock as well as the sealing of the stone and placing a guard; the precautions taken by his enemies making it impossible even to approach him in his grave. Our Lord permitted it, to place the truth of his resurrection beyond dispute -- a truth which is the basis of his Gospel.
We believe in an ever-working Providence. We must not look on events in life as accidents; that despondency overpower us at beholding the temporary triumphs of impiety.
It was when the disciples of Jesus thought all was lost that their Master overcame the grave and confounded his enemies forever. Let us also avoid that melancholy which a funeral sometimes produces; but conquer it by the consoling thought of the resurrection, from which we shall pass, as did our Lord, from death unto life eternal.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp184-6
The Apostles beside Our Lady
The Body of Christ lay in the tomb. The world was in darkness; Mary, the only light still burning. “The Mother of Our Lord, my Mother, and the women who have followed the Master from Galilee, after taking careful note of everything also take their leave. Night falls.
“Now it is all over. The work of our Redemption has been accomplished. We are now children of God, because Jesus has died for us and his death has ransomed us. ‘... you and I have been bought at a great price.’ (1 Cor 6:20)
“We must bring into our own life, the life and death of Christ. We must die through mortification and penance, so that Christ may live in us through love. And then follow in the footsteps of Christ, with a zeal to co-redeem all mankind. We must give our life for others. ... the only way to live the life of Jesus Christ, to become one and the same with him.” (cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way of the Cross”, 14th Station)
We don’t know where the Apostles were that evening. Perhaps they were hovering around, disorientated and confused. We see them united once more on the Sunday (cf Lk 24:9) because on this Saturday or perhaps on Friday evening, they had turned to Our Lady. With her faith, hope and love, she protected the nascent Church, still weak and startled.
Thus was the Church born under the mantle of Mary. From the beginning she has been the ‘Comforter of the afflicted’, of those under pressure. This Saturday, when everyone fulfilled the festival day of rest ‘as the law required’ (Lk 23:56), was not a sad day for Our Lady. Her Son had stopped suffering. She serenely awaited the Resurrection. Thus, she did not go with the holy women to embalm the Body of Jesus.
“Our Lady is rest for those who work, consolation for those who weep, medicine for the sick, a harbour for those assailed by tempests, pardon for sinners, sweet relief for the sad, succour for those who implore.” (St John Damascene, “Homily on the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary”) Beside her we live the immense joy of the Resurrection.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:291-2
The Cross Reveals All of Christ
Glory to you, Word of God!
This greeting is repeated day by day in the liturgy of Lent. It precedes the reading of the Gospel and testifies that the season of Lent is, in the Church, a period of particular ‘concentration on the word of God’. Such concentration was, especially in the early centuries, linked with preparation for Baptism on the night of the eve of Easter. The catechumens prepared themselves for that with increasing intensity.
However, it is not only in consideration of Baptism and the catechumenate that Lent raises us to such intense concentration on God’s Word. The need arises from the very nature of the liturgical period, that is, from the ‘depth of the Mystery’, which the Church enters from the beginning of Lent.
The mystery of God reaches the hearts and minds above all through God’s word. We are actually in the period of ‘initiation’ to Easter, the central mystery of Christ as well as of the faith and life of those who confess Him. Praise be to you, Word of God! This ‘word’ in the penultimate week of Lent becomes ‘particularly intense; dramatic’. The readings taken from St John’s Gospel bring this out.
Christ says ever more clearly, when talking with the Pharisees, who He is, who sent Him; and His words do not meet with welcome.
Who are you? “When you lift up the Son of Man, you will come to realize ...” (Jn 8:28): you will know, you will find the answer to this question which you put to Me now, without trusting to the words I say to you.
‘Lifting up’ by means of the Cross ‘in a certain sense’ constitutes ‘the key to getting to know the whole truth’, which Christ proclaimed.
Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, p155
Fortitude in difficult circumstances
In our circumstances, when attitudes draw people away from God, we must feel a call from Our Lord to show with the example of our lives that the Risen Christ is among us; for without him, man and this world will always be disoriented. If darkness is great, need for light is greater.
We must struggle against the current, relying on a life of personal prayer, fortified by the presence of Jesus Christ in the Tabernacle. Our interior struggle to reject worldly values must be more meaningful. Among the greatest fruits we must draw from difficulties, whatever they are, is to be more aware of Our Lord, to be more generous in prayer and sacrifice.
We cannot forget that our supernatural objective is an arduous good which demands a vigorous response full of fortitude, a cardinal virtue which helps remove obstacles and the fears which can hinder the will from resolutely following Our Lord. (cf St Thomas, “Summa Theologiae”, II-II, q122, a3) God always gives the necessary graces at every moment and in all circumstances.
When we face contradictions in our environment we should be nonetheless serene and cheerful. It will be the same joy as the Apostles had, “because they had been worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus” (Acts 5:41). St John Chrysostom points out: “... it does not say that they did not suffer, but that the suffering caused them joy. ...
“We can see this in the account of the freedom which they immediately put to good use; immediately after being scourged they gave themselves up to preaching with admirable intensity.” (St John Chrysostom, “Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles”, 14)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:401-2
• Grant of indulgences by Pope Calixtus III in the year 1455, to whoever visit the cathedral of Arras where a veil and girdle of Our Lady are preserved. — Andreas Herby, from the Manuscripts of the Church of Arras.) (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Pope Calistus III grants Indulgences to visitors of the Cathedral of Arras, which holds a Marian veil and cincture (sash). 1455. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Pope Calixtus III grants indulgences to those who visit the Cathedral of Arras, where a veil and cinture of Our Lady are kept (1455). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Indulgences granted to whoever visit the Cathedral of Arras where a veil and a cincture of Our Lady are preserved. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Mende, Africa (16th Century). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Good Counsel. (Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1907)
We believe in an ever-working Providence. We must not look on events in life as accidents; that despondency overpower us at beholding the temporary triumphs of impiety.
It was when the disciples of Jesus thought all was lost that their Master overcame the grave and confounded his enemies forever. Let us also avoid that melancholy which a funeral sometimes produces; but conquer it by the consoling thought of the resurrection, from which we shall pass, as did our Lord, from death unto life eternal.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp184-6
The Apostles beside Our Lady
The Body of Christ lay in the tomb. The world was in darkness; Mary, the only light still burning. “The Mother of Our Lord, my Mother, and the women who have followed the Master from Galilee, after taking careful note of everything also take their leave. Night falls.
“Now it is all over. The work of our Redemption has been accomplished. We are now children of God, because Jesus has died for us and his death has ransomed us. ‘... you and I have been bought at a great price.’ (1 Cor 6:20)
“We must bring into our own life, the life and death of Christ. We must die through mortification and penance, so that Christ may live in us through love. And then follow in the footsteps of Christ, with a zeal to co-redeem all mankind. We must give our life for others. ... the only way to live the life of Jesus Christ, to become one and the same with him.” (cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way of the Cross”, 14th Station)
We don’t know where the Apostles were that evening. Perhaps they were hovering around, disorientated and confused. We see them united once more on the Sunday (cf Lk 24:9) because on this Saturday or perhaps on Friday evening, they had turned to Our Lady. With her faith, hope and love, she protected the nascent Church, still weak and startled.
Thus was the Church born under the mantle of Mary. From the beginning she has been the ‘Comforter of the afflicted’, of those under pressure. This Saturday, when everyone fulfilled the festival day of rest ‘as the law required’ (Lk 23:56), was not a sad day for Our Lady. Her Son had stopped suffering. She serenely awaited the Resurrection. Thus, she did not go with the holy women to embalm the Body of Jesus.
“Our Lady is rest for those who work, consolation for those who weep, medicine for the sick, a harbour for those assailed by tempests, pardon for sinners, sweet relief for the sad, succour for those who implore.” (St John Damascene, “Homily on the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary”) Beside her we live the immense joy of the Resurrection.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:291-2
The Cross Reveals All of Christ
Glory to you, Word of God!
This greeting is repeated day by day in the liturgy of Lent. It precedes the reading of the Gospel and testifies that the season of Lent is, in the Church, a period of particular ‘concentration on the word of God’. Such concentration was, especially in the early centuries, linked with preparation for Baptism on the night of the eve of Easter. The catechumens prepared themselves for that with increasing intensity.
However, it is not only in consideration of Baptism and the catechumenate that Lent raises us to such intense concentration on God’s Word. The need arises from the very nature of the liturgical period, that is, from the ‘depth of the Mystery’, which the Church enters from the beginning of Lent.
The mystery of God reaches the hearts and minds above all through God’s word. We are actually in the period of ‘initiation’ to Easter, the central mystery of Christ as well as of the faith and life of those who confess Him. Praise be to you, Word of God! This ‘word’ in the penultimate week of Lent becomes ‘particularly intense; dramatic’. The readings taken from St John’s Gospel bring this out.
Christ says ever more clearly, when talking with the Pharisees, who He is, who sent Him; and His words do not meet with welcome.
Who are you? “When you lift up the Son of Man, you will come to realize ...” (Jn 8:28): you will know, you will find the answer to this question which you put to Me now, without trusting to the words I say to you.
‘Lifting up’ by means of the Cross ‘in a certain sense’ constitutes ‘the key to getting to know the whole truth’, which Christ proclaimed.
Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, p155
Fortitude in difficult circumstances
In our circumstances, when attitudes draw people away from God, we must feel a call from Our Lord to show with the example of our lives that the Risen Christ is among us; for without him, man and this world will always be disoriented. If darkness is great, need for light is greater.
We must struggle against the current, relying on a life of personal prayer, fortified by the presence of Jesus Christ in the Tabernacle. Our interior struggle to reject worldly values must be more meaningful. Among the greatest fruits we must draw from difficulties, whatever they are, is to be more aware of Our Lord, to be more generous in prayer and sacrifice.
We cannot forget that our supernatural objective is an arduous good which demands a vigorous response full of fortitude, a cardinal virtue which helps remove obstacles and the fears which can hinder the will from resolutely following Our Lord. (cf St Thomas, “Summa Theologiae”, II-II, q122, a3) God always gives the necessary graces at every moment and in all circumstances.
When we face contradictions in our environment we should be nonetheless serene and cheerful. It will be the same joy as the Apostles had, “because they had been worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus” (Acts 5:41). St John Chrysostom points out: “... it does not say that they did not suffer, but that the suffering caused them joy. ...
“We can see this in the account of the freedom which they immediately put to good use; immediately after being scourged they gave themselves up to preaching with admirable intensity.” (St John Chrysostom, “Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles”, 14)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:401-2
• Grant of indulgences by Pope Calixtus III in the year 1455, to whoever visit the cathedral of Arras where a veil and girdle of Our Lady are preserved. — Andreas Herby, from the Manuscripts of the Church of Arras.) (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Pope Calistus III grants Indulgences to visitors of the Cathedral of Arras, which holds a Marian veil and cincture (sash). 1455. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Pope Calixtus III grants indulgences to those who visit the Cathedral of Arras, where a veil and cinture of Our Lady are kept (1455). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Indulgences granted to whoever visit the Cathedral of Arras where a veil and a cincture of Our Lady are preserved. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Mende, Africa (16th Century). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Good Counsel. (Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1907)
Thursday, April 21, 2011
22 April 2011: Good Friday
Let us carefully meditate on these last words of our Lord, what the priest will use by our deathbed.
“My Father ...” What sweetness dwells in that word! How well fitted it is to soften the bitterness of death, and to give confidence in the last struggle! “Into your hands I commend my spirit.” (Lk 23:46) [‘Commend’ signifies, according to the Greek text, ‘deposit’, or ‘place’.]
I place my spirit into your hands, into the hands which created it, which gave it to me, for a time united to a mortal body, to glorify you on earth; now death separates it from its lifelong companion, till the moment of the resurrection. Until then, I commend it into your fatherly hands.
“And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.” (Jn 19:30) Thus dies our loving Saviour, at the precise moment He willed to die, without suffering the agony he had previously endured in the Garden of Gethsemane. He dies abandoned and calumniated, but his death is followed by an immediate testimony to both his innocence and his divinity.
The centurion at the foot of the cross exclaims, “Indeed this was a just man; indeed this man was the Son of God!” (Mk 15:39)
Jesus is dead! But he has overcome death, and opened to us the gates of everlasting life. He is dead; but from his heart, pierced by the lance, flows the life-giving Sacraments of his spouse, the Church, which is to bring forth till the end of time countless children worldwide.
His dead body remains nailed to the cross; but his Soul enjoys the Beatific Vision, and has received the adoration of the inhabitants of limbo.
Contemplate the lifeless Body of our loving Redeemer. Eyes that shed so many tears of tenderness and compassion over sinners; mouth which opened only to glorify God or comfort man; pierced hands, ever ready to aid and bless; wounded feet, moving only by obedience, never weary of seeking his lost sheep.
Behold the mournful scene at the foot of the cross: the three Mary’s and Apostle John remain; the crowd and soldiers gone. God sends two men to help who, before their conversion were weak, fearful; but now grace has made bold and resolute. They mount ladders, unfasten and place Jesus in his Blessed Mother’s arms. They, too aid this most sorrowful Mother to bind his sacred Body in linen cloths, with spices, and entomb in the sepulchre.
Consider how God regarded his well-beloved Son. Formerly humiliated and abandoned he is now honored and cared for after death. So will God treat us if we humbly and lovingly accept his will in adversity.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp182-4
Christ is Crucified: Our Redemption is accomplished
Crucifixion was the most cruel and insulting form of execution in ancient times. A Roman citizen could not be crucified. Death followed after a prolonged agony. At times, the executioners hastened the end of the crucifixion by breaking the legs of the crucified.
From apostolic times till today, many still cannot accept a God made man who died on a piece of timber to save us. The drama of the cross continues to be a “scandal for the Jews and folly to the gentiles” (1 Cor 1:23). There has always been and there remains today, a temptation to detract from the value of the Cross.
The intimate union of each Christian with his Lord requires a full knowledge of his life, this chapter of the Cross, too. Here the Redemption is accomplished; the key to suffering in the world. Here we learn a little about the malice of sin and the love of God for each man. We can never be indifferent in front of a crucifix.
“It was not necessary for him to undergo such torment. But he wanted to suffer all this for you and for me. ... are we not going to respond? Very likely there will be times when, alone in front of a crucifix, you find tears coming to your eyes. Don’t try to hold them back. But try to ensure those tears give rise to a resolution.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way of the Cross”, Eleventh Station, 1)
Beside Jesus is his Mother with the other holy women. There too is John, the youngest of the Apostles. “When Jesus saw his Mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his Mother, ‘Woman, here is your son!’ Then to the disciple, ‘Here is your Mother!’ From that hour the disciple took her into his home.” (Jn 19:26-7)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:282-3, 285
The Cross, Beginning of the Resurrection
“The One who sent me is with me. He has not deserted me since I always do what pleases Him.” (Jn 8:29) As if to say, first of all, even in this supreme abandonment, I shall not be alone! I will do at that time ‘what pleases Him’, that which is the will of the Father!
The Father will not leave me in the hands of death, because the Cross is the beginning of the resurrection. Thus, ‘the crucifixion’ will become ‘the lifting up’ by definition. ‘Then you shall know who I am.’ Then, too, you shall know that ‘I only tell the world what I have heard from him’.
The ‘unlimited solitude’ which Christ had to experience on the cross in his ‘lifting up’ is revealed to us. That solitude was to begin during the prayer in the garden of ‘Gethsemani’.
This must have been a real spiritual death agony and was to be completed in the crucifixion when Christ cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46)
The crucifixion really becomes Christ’s elevation. In the Cross is the beginning of the resurrection. Therefore, the Cross becomes the definitive measure of all things, those which stand between God and man. Christ measures them exactly with this yardstick. ...
The dimension of the world ‘meets with’ the dimension of God exactly ‘in the Cross’: in the Cross and in the resurrection. In his talk with Pilate, Christ was to say, “My kingdom does not belong to this world” (Jn 18:36).
Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, p156
Our Lady -- “Mary spent three days and three nights looking for the son who was lost. May you and I also be able to say that our willingness to find Jesus knows no rest.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Furrow”, 794)
• Our Lady of Betharam, in the diocese of Lescar, in the province of Bearn. This image was found in the year 1503 by some shepherds who, seeing an extraordinary light on the spot where the high altar of the chapel now stands, came up and found an image of Our Lady, for which they at once erected a chapel. — Triple Couronne. n. 32. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Betharam, France (1503). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of Betharam (Diocese of Lescar: Bearn, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• “Notre Dame de Betharam”. Diocese of Lescar, Bearn, France. 1503. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• The Compassion of Mary. The Sorrows of Our Blessed Mother. Moveable feast -- Friday after Passion Sunday. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• The Sorrows of Our Blessed Mother. Moveable feast -- Friday after Passion Sunday. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
“My Father ...” What sweetness dwells in that word! How well fitted it is to soften the bitterness of death, and to give confidence in the last struggle! “Into your hands I commend my spirit.” (Lk 23:46) [‘Commend’ signifies, according to the Greek text, ‘deposit’, or ‘place’.]
I place my spirit into your hands, into the hands which created it, which gave it to me, for a time united to a mortal body, to glorify you on earth; now death separates it from its lifelong companion, till the moment of the resurrection. Until then, I commend it into your fatherly hands.
“And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.” (Jn 19:30) Thus dies our loving Saviour, at the precise moment He willed to die, without suffering the agony he had previously endured in the Garden of Gethsemane. He dies abandoned and calumniated, but his death is followed by an immediate testimony to both his innocence and his divinity.
The centurion at the foot of the cross exclaims, “Indeed this was a just man; indeed this man was the Son of God!” (Mk 15:39)
Jesus is dead! But he has overcome death, and opened to us the gates of everlasting life. He is dead; but from his heart, pierced by the lance, flows the life-giving Sacraments of his spouse, the Church, which is to bring forth till the end of time countless children worldwide.
His dead body remains nailed to the cross; but his Soul enjoys the Beatific Vision, and has received the adoration of the inhabitants of limbo.
Contemplate the lifeless Body of our loving Redeemer. Eyes that shed so many tears of tenderness and compassion over sinners; mouth which opened only to glorify God or comfort man; pierced hands, ever ready to aid and bless; wounded feet, moving only by obedience, never weary of seeking his lost sheep.
Behold the mournful scene at the foot of the cross: the three Mary’s and Apostle John remain; the crowd and soldiers gone. God sends two men to help who, before their conversion were weak, fearful; but now grace has made bold and resolute. They mount ladders, unfasten and place Jesus in his Blessed Mother’s arms. They, too aid this most sorrowful Mother to bind his sacred Body in linen cloths, with spices, and entomb in the sepulchre.
Consider how God regarded his well-beloved Son. Formerly humiliated and abandoned he is now honored and cared for after death. So will God treat us if we humbly and lovingly accept his will in adversity.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp182-4
Christ is Crucified: Our Redemption is accomplished
Crucifixion was the most cruel and insulting form of execution in ancient times. A Roman citizen could not be crucified. Death followed after a prolonged agony. At times, the executioners hastened the end of the crucifixion by breaking the legs of the crucified.
From apostolic times till today, many still cannot accept a God made man who died on a piece of timber to save us. The drama of the cross continues to be a “scandal for the Jews and folly to the gentiles” (1 Cor 1:23). There has always been and there remains today, a temptation to detract from the value of the Cross.
The intimate union of each Christian with his Lord requires a full knowledge of his life, this chapter of the Cross, too. Here the Redemption is accomplished; the key to suffering in the world. Here we learn a little about the malice of sin and the love of God for each man. We can never be indifferent in front of a crucifix.
“It was not necessary for him to undergo such torment. But he wanted to suffer all this for you and for me. ... are we not going to respond? Very likely there will be times when, alone in front of a crucifix, you find tears coming to your eyes. Don’t try to hold them back. But try to ensure those tears give rise to a resolution.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way of the Cross”, Eleventh Station, 1)
Beside Jesus is his Mother with the other holy women. There too is John, the youngest of the Apostles. “When Jesus saw his Mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his Mother, ‘Woman, here is your son!’ Then to the disciple, ‘Here is your Mother!’ From that hour the disciple took her into his home.” (Jn 19:26-7)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:282-3, 285
The Cross, Beginning of the Resurrection
“The One who sent me is with me. He has not deserted me since I always do what pleases Him.” (Jn 8:29) As if to say, first of all, even in this supreme abandonment, I shall not be alone! I will do at that time ‘what pleases Him’, that which is the will of the Father!
The Father will not leave me in the hands of death, because the Cross is the beginning of the resurrection. Thus, ‘the crucifixion’ will become ‘the lifting up’ by definition. ‘Then you shall know who I am.’ Then, too, you shall know that ‘I only tell the world what I have heard from him’.
The ‘unlimited solitude’ which Christ had to experience on the cross in his ‘lifting up’ is revealed to us. That solitude was to begin during the prayer in the garden of ‘Gethsemani’.
This must have been a real spiritual death agony and was to be completed in the crucifixion when Christ cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46)
The crucifixion really becomes Christ’s elevation. In the Cross is the beginning of the resurrection. Therefore, the Cross becomes the definitive measure of all things, those which stand between God and man. Christ measures them exactly with this yardstick. ...
The dimension of the world ‘meets with’ the dimension of God exactly ‘in the Cross’: in the Cross and in the resurrection. In his talk with Pilate, Christ was to say, “My kingdom does not belong to this world” (Jn 18:36).
Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, p156
Our Lady -- “Mary spent three days and three nights looking for the son who was lost. May you and I also be able to say that our willingness to find Jesus knows no rest.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Furrow”, 794)
• Our Lady of Betharam, in the diocese of Lescar, in the province of Bearn. This image was found in the year 1503 by some shepherds who, seeing an extraordinary light on the spot where the high altar of the chapel now stands, came up and found an image of Our Lady, for which they at once erected a chapel. — Triple Couronne. n. 32. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Betharam, France (1503). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of Betharam (Diocese of Lescar: Bearn, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• “Notre Dame de Betharam”. Diocese of Lescar, Bearn, France. 1503. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• The Compassion of Mary. The Sorrows of Our Blessed Mother. Moveable feast -- Friday after Passion Sunday. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• The Sorrows of Our Blessed Mother. Moveable feast -- Friday after Passion Sunday. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
21 April 2011: Holy Thursday -- The Last (Paschal) Supper
Jesus left Jerusalem on Wednesday evening, and slept at Bethania, returning to the city towards sunset of Thursday, first day of the Azymes.
The Apostles came to him, asking, ‘Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Pasch?’ ... he sends two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the city ... there you will meet a man carrying a jar of water; follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, “The Teacher asks, Where is my refectory, where I may eat the Pasch with my disciples?”...’ (Mk 14:12-5)
His disciples went into the city, and found the place, furnished, as he had told them. They prepared the Pasch undoubtedly, with the help of the Blessed Mother and the pious women (they procure a paschal lamb, slaughtering it in the Temple then roasted; unleavened bread [azymes], wine, and lettuce or other vegetables).
This chamber is an image of our heart which our Lord makes his dwelling-place in Holy Communion. To receive him, our heart must be large and spacious in desires and generosity. Never give our Lord only what we cannot refuse him under pain of mortal sin. It must also be well-furnished: adorned with virtues, true humility, ardent love.
He sat down with the twelve Apostles and said, “I have desired to eat this Pasch with you before I suffer” (Lk 22:15). In the Paschal lamb Jesus must have forcibly seen his imminent passion; but he remained calm.
Thus the paschal Supper, institution of the Eucharist, agony in the Garden, his death and burial, all took place in one day, consummated on the cross.
Judas had, on the day before, promised to deliver his Lord into the hands of his enemies for thirty pieces of silver. To be consistent with our Lord’s glory and not appear ignorant of this base betrayal, Jesus predicted it during the Paschal Supper: “Amen, I say to you one of you who eats with me will betray me.” (Lk 22:21)
The Apostles began to be sorrowful and one by one asked him, “Is it I?” Judas does not seem to show any emotion despite our Lord’s denunciation: “It were better for him if that man had never been born.” (Mt 26:24)
Let us, at this sad spectacle of weakness and treachery in the person of an Apostle, humiliate ourselves profoundly before God, and beg him to preserve us in his holy fear with the aid of his all-powerful grace.
The Paschal Supper will shortly become the Eucharistic feast in which the Lamb of God gives himself as food of his creatures. Before instituting this mystery, Jesus chose to act with utmost humility: wash the feet of his apostles including Judas. By it he intends to give us some idea of the purity of soul with which we must receive Holy Communion.
“... rising from supper and removing his garments, he tied a towel around himself. He poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet; and to wipe them with the towel ...” (Jn 13:4-5)
Then he sat down and said, “You call me Master and Lord. ... If, then I, being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you ought also to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also.” (Jn 13:13-5): His example as the rule of our words, thoughts, and actions.
The institution of the Holy Eucharist is narrated in the Gospel: “... while they were at supper, Jesus took bread, blessed, broke, gave to his disciples, and said, ‘Take and eat; this is my Body’. Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, gave to them, saying, ‘Drink from it all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’.” (Jn 13:22; Lk 22:19-20; Mt 26:26-7)
At Holy Mass imagine hearing Jesus say, ‘Do this for commemoration of me’; and behold him, in the person of the priest, changing bread and wine into his adorable Body and Blood.
Jesus, knowing his hour has come, showed a deeper love for his followers. For the first time he calls them: “Little children, yet a little while I am with you.” (Jn 13:33)
“... if I go and prepare a place for you” (Jn 14:3), “I will ask the Father ... he shall give you the Paraclete, to be with you forever” (cf Jn 14:16). “... In the world you face persecution; but take courage, I have conquered the world.” (Jn 16:33) “Amen, I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you.” (Jn 14:13-4)
As a dying father exhorts his weeping children, Jesus commands his Apostles -- “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 13:35)
Jesus had begun his public life by prayer, and ends it similarly. “He looked up to heaven, and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, so that the Son may glorify you’ ...” (Jn 17:1)
He asks to be loved, known, and served by all men, but only for the glory of his Father. We here learn: To begin and end all our good works by prayer, asking God’s blessing on them.
He prays further, “that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”; and asks it as the price of his merits: “I have glorified you on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.” (Jn 17:3-4)
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp756-64
The ‘New Commandment’ of Our Lord
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” (Jn 13:34-5)
New because the reasons for it are new: the neighbor, one with Christ and the object of the Father’s special love; the Model, always current, establishing a new relationship with men; its degree of fulfilment “... as I have loved you”; and a fresh approach between men.
Let us recall Mary’s dedication to the accomplishment of God’s Will and her service to others. So great is Mary’s love for all mankind that she, too, fulfilled Christ’s words when he affirmed: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). (cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “Friends of God”, 287)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:278-80
• Institution of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception, at Toledo, in the year 1506, by Cardinal Francis Ximenes, archbishop of that city. — See his Life by Gormez, etc. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Institution of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception, Toledo, Spain (1506). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Institution of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception in 1503. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
The Apostles came to him, asking, ‘Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Pasch?’ ... he sends two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the city ... there you will meet a man carrying a jar of water; follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, “The Teacher asks, Where is my refectory, where I may eat the Pasch with my disciples?”...’ (Mk 14:12-5)
His disciples went into the city, and found the place, furnished, as he had told them. They prepared the Pasch undoubtedly, with the help of the Blessed Mother and the pious women (they procure a paschal lamb, slaughtering it in the Temple then roasted; unleavened bread [azymes], wine, and lettuce or other vegetables).
This chamber is an image of our heart which our Lord makes his dwelling-place in Holy Communion. To receive him, our heart must be large and spacious in desires and generosity. Never give our Lord only what we cannot refuse him under pain of mortal sin. It must also be well-furnished: adorned with virtues, true humility, ardent love.
He sat down with the twelve Apostles and said, “I have desired to eat this Pasch with you before I suffer” (Lk 22:15). In the Paschal lamb Jesus must have forcibly seen his imminent passion; but he remained calm.
Thus the paschal Supper, institution of the Eucharist, agony in the Garden, his death and burial, all took place in one day, consummated on the cross.
Judas had, on the day before, promised to deliver his Lord into the hands of his enemies for thirty pieces of silver. To be consistent with our Lord’s glory and not appear ignorant of this base betrayal, Jesus predicted it during the Paschal Supper: “Amen, I say to you one of you who eats with me will betray me.” (Lk 22:21)
The Apostles began to be sorrowful and one by one asked him, “Is it I?” Judas does not seem to show any emotion despite our Lord’s denunciation: “It were better for him if that man had never been born.” (Mt 26:24)
Let us, at this sad spectacle of weakness and treachery in the person of an Apostle, humiliate ourselves profoundly before God, and beg him to preserve us in his holy fear with the aid of his all-powerful grace.
The Paschal Supper will shortly become the Eucharistic feast in which the Lamb of God gives himself as food of his creatures. Before instituting this mystery, Jesus chose to act with utmost humility: wash the feet of his apostles including Judas. By it he intends to give us some idea of the purity of soul with which we must receive Holy Communion.
“... rising from supper and removing his garments, he tied a towel around himself. He poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet; and to wipe them with the towel ...” (Jn 13:4-5)
Then he sat down and said, “You call me Master and Lord. ... If, then I, being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you ought also to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also.” (Jn 13:13-5): His example as the rule of our words, thoughts, and actions.
The institution of the Holy Eucharist is narrated in the Gospel: “... while they were at supper, Jesus took bread, blessed, broke, gave to his disciples, and said, ‘Take and eat; this is my Body’. Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, gave to them, saying, ‘Drink from it all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’.” (Jn 13:22; Lk 22:19-20; Mt 26:26-7)
At Holy Mass imagine hearing Jesus say, ‘Do this for commemoration of me’; and behold him, in the person of the priest, changing bread and wine into his adorable Body and Blood.
Jesus, knowing his hour has come, showed a deeper love for his followers. For the first time he calls them: “Little children, yet a little while I am with you.” (Jn 13:33)
“... if I go and prepare a place for you” (Jn 14:3), “I will ask the Father ... he shall give you the Paraclete, to be with you forever” (cf Jn 14:16). “... In the world you face persecution; but take courage, I have conquered the world.” (Jn 16:33) “Amen, I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you.” (Jn 14:13-4)
As a dying father exhorts his weeping children, Jesus commands his Apostles -- “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 13:35)
Jesus had begun his public life by prayer, and ends it similarly. “He looked up to heaven, and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, so that the Son may glorify you’ ...” (Jn 17:1)
He asks to be loved, known, and served by all men, but only for the glory of his Father. We here learn: To begin and end all our good works by prayer, asking God’s blessing on them.
He prays further, “that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”; and asks it as the price of his merits: “I have glorified you on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.” (Jn 17:3-4)
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp756-64
The ‘New Commandment’ of Our Lord
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” (Jn 13:34-5)
New because the reasons for it are new: the neighbor, one with Christ and the object of the Father’s special love; the Model, always current, establishing a new relationship with men; its degree of fulfilment “... as I have loved you”; and a fresh approach between men.
Let us recall Mary’s dedication to the accomplishment of God’s Will and her service to others. So great is Mary’s love for all mankind that she, too, fulfilled Christ’s words when he affirmed: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). (cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “Friends of God”, 287)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:278-80
• Institution of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception, at Toledo, in the year 1506, by Cardinal Francis Ximenes, archbishop of that city. — See his Life by Gormez, etc. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Institution of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception, Toledo, Spain (1506). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Institution of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception in 1503. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
20 April 2011: Wednesday in Holy Week
On this eve of Holy Thursday the princes and doctors of the nation, gathered in council under Caiphas, have determined to put our Lord to death. Judas had agreed to betray him to them for thirty pieces of silver. Jesus, as usual, taught in the Temple, and denounced the Pharisees who misled the people by an outward semblance of virtue and religion.
“Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill and cummin, and have neglected weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy and faith. ... blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel; ... you are like white-washed tombs, outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones and all filth.” (cf Mt 23:23-7)
Did our Lord address these bitter reproaches to the Pharisees alone? Did he have in mind Christians who are prone to scruples and accuse themselves of trifles, while they ignore grave omissions in the discharge of their duties? Truly, when they examine their conscience, ‘strain out a gnat and swallow a camel’.
Are there not others who only care for appearances, who wish to be virtuous in the eyes of men, while in the sight of heaven they are unclean and mere whited sepulchres? Do we belong to either of these two classes?
In general, hypocrites loudly censure others, while they allow themselves great liberties. The Pharisees belonged to this class. Our Lord again denounced them, saying, “... you hypocrites, you shut the kingdom of heaven against men! You neither enter nor allow those who were entering to do so.” (cf Mt 23:13) “... they bind heavy and oppressive loads, lay them on men’s shoulders, but will not lift a finger to move them.” (cf Mt 23:4)
We condemn the conduct of these hypocritical Pharisees, as did our Lord; but are we not disposed to exact as much from others, our subordinates, which we do not consider is required of us? Do we practise what we teach?
Jesus also condemned the Pharisees for their pride and self-interest. Doing all their works to be seen by men; they make their phylacteries* broad, and enlarge their fringes. They love first places at feasts, and first chairs in synagogues; while they devour the houses of widows. “They will receive the greater judgment.” (Mk 12:40)
The world often complains that some Christians are proud and self-interested. May we never give it any excuse for such reproaches. Let us carefully examine our conscience regarding our intentions, words, and behavior before God.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp753-5
*Little boxes containing Scripture texts bound to the forehead and left arm when the Jews say their prayers. (In Juan MH Ledesma, SJ, STD, “The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ”, p233)
Jesus meets His Mother
‘In the Way of the Cross’, we meditate on the meeting of Jesus with his mother in one of the narrow streets where the cruel procession passed. Jesus stopped for a moment.
“With immense love Mary looks at Jesus, and Jesus at his Mother. Their eyes meet, and each heart pours into the other its own deep sorrow. Mary’s soul is steeped in bitter grief, the grief of Jesus Christ.
“O all you that pass by the way, look and see, was there ever a sorrow to compare with my sorrow? (Lamentations 1:12) But no one notices, no one pays any attention: only Jesus ...
“In the dark loneliness of the Passion, Our Lady offers her Son a comforting balm of tenderness, of union, of faithfulness: a ‘yes’ to the divine will. Hand in hand with Mary, you and I also want to console Jesus, by accepting always and in everything the Will of his Father, of our Father.
“The Lord continues on his way, and Mary accompanies him a few yards behind, right up to Calvary. Simeon’s prophecy is being fulfilled to the letter. What man would not weep seeing the Mother of Christ in such a cruel torment?” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way of the Cross”, Fourth Station)
Her Son so stricken ... we, cowards, keep our distance, not wanting to accept the Will of God. My Mother and Lady, teach me how to pronounce a ‘Yes’, which, like yours, will identify with the cry Jesus made before his Father: “not my will but God’s be done” (cf Lk 22:42).
When we suffer pain or affliction, when these are all the more piercingly severe, we turn to Our Lady, to the ‘Mater dolorosa’, to implore her to strengthen us and so we may learn to sanctify them with peace and serenity.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:272-3
Not Momentary Practices but Constant Attitudes
During Lent we often hear directed at us these words: ‘prayer’, ‘fasting’, ‘almsgiving’.
We are accustomed to think of these things as good, pious works, which every Christian ought to do at this time above all. This is a correct, but incomplete way of thinking. Prayer, almsgiving and fasting require to be more deeply understood.
If we wish to bring them more into our lives, it is not simply as passing practices but ‘constant attitudes of mind’, which give lasting form to our conversion to God.
We mature spiritually by converting to God, and conversion is effected through prayer as well as through fasting and almsgiving, properly understood. As a liturgical season, Lent lasts only forty days in each year; but we have to stretch out to God always, that is, converting continually.
Lent ought to leave a strong and indelible imprint on our lives. It ought to renew the knowledge in us of our union with Jesus Christ, who makes us see the need for conversion and shows us the way to accomplish it. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are exactly the way pointed out to us by Christ.
Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, pp145-6
• Our Lady of Scheir, in Bavaria. This church was built on the spot where the castle stood, which those of the house of Scheir voluntarily ceded to Our Lady, except Arnaud, who, in punishment of his obstinacy, was drowned in a neighboring lake. — Herith, de origine gentis et principibus Bavariae. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Schier, Bavaria. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Scheir. Bavaria, Germany. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Mary, Mother of Vocations. (“2002 Calendar”, Rogationist Fathers)
“Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill and cummin, and have neglected weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy and faith. ... blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel; ... you are like white-washed tombs, outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones and all filth.” (cf Mt 23:23-7)
Did our Lord address these bitter reproaches to the Pharisees alone? Did he have in mind Christians who are prone to scruples and accuse themselves of trifles, while they ignore grave omissions in the discharge of their duties? Truly, when they examine their conscience, ‘strain out a gnat and swallow a camel’.
Are there not others who only care for appearances, who wish to be virtuous in the eyes of men, while in the sight of heaven they are unclean and mere whited sepulchres? Do we belong to either of these two classes?
In general, hypocrites loudly censure others, while they allow themselves great liberties. The Pharisees belonged to this class. Our Lord again denounced them, saying, “... you hypocrites, you shut the kingdom of heaven against men! You neither enter nor allow those who were entering to do so.” (cf Mt 23:13) “... they bind heavy and oppressive loads, lay them on men’s shoulders, but will not lift a finger to move them.” (cf Mt 23:4)
We condemn the conduct of these hypocritical Pharisees, as did our Lord; but are we not disposed to exact as much from others, our subordinates, which we do not consider is required of us? Do we practise what we teach?
Jesus also condemned the Pharisees for their pride and self-interest. Doing all their works to be seen by men; they make their phylacteries* broad, and enlarge their fringes. They love first places at feasts, and first chairs in synagogues; while they devour the houses of widows. “They will receive the greater judgment.” (Mk 12:40)
The world often complains that some Christians are proud and self-interested. May we never give it any excuse for such reproaches. Let us carefully examine our conscience regarding our intentions, words, and behavior before God.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp753-5
*Little boxes containing Scripture texts bound to the forehead and left arm when the Jews say their prayers. (In Juan MH Ledesma, SJ, STD, “The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ”, p233)
Jesus meets His Mother
‘In the Way of the Cross’, we meditate on the meeting of Jesus with his mother in one of the narrow streets where the cruel procession passed. Jesus stopped for a moment.
“With immense love Mary looks at Jesus, and Jesus at his Mother. Their eyes meet, and each heart pours into the other its own deep sorrow. Mary’s soul is steeped in bitter grief, the grief of Jesus Christ.
“O all you that pass by the way, look and see, was there ever a sorrow to compare with my sorrow? (Lamentations 1:12) But no one notices, no one pays any attention: only Jesus ...
“In the dark loneliness of the Passion, Our Lady offers her Son a comforting balm of tenderness, of union, of faithfulness: a ‘yes’ to the divine will. Hand in hand with Mary, you and I also want to console Jesus, by accepting always and in everything the Will of his Father, of our Father.
“The Lord continues on his way, and Mary accompanies him a few yards behind, right up to Calvary. Simeon’s prophecy is being fulfilled to the letter. What man would not weep seeing the Mother of Christ in such a cruel torment?” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way of the Cross”, Fourth Station)
Her Son so stricken ... we, cowards, keep our distance, not wanting to accept the Will of God. My Mother and Lady, teach me how to pronounce a ‘Yes’, which, like yours, will identify with the cry Jesus made before his Father: “not my will but God’s be done” (cf Lk 22:42).
When we suffer pain or affliction, when these are all the more piercingly severe, we turn to Our Lady, to the ‘Mater dolorosa’, to implore her to strengthen us and so we may learn to sanctify them with peace and serenity.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:272-3
Not Momentary Practices but Constant Attitudes
During Lent we often hear directed at us these words: ‘prayer’, ‘fasting’, ‘almsgiving’.
We are accustomed to think of these things as good, pious works, which every Christian ought to do at this time above all. This is a correct, but incomplete way of thinking. Prayer, almsgiving and fasting require to be more deeply understood.
If we wish to bring them more into our lives, it is not simply as passing practices but ‘constant attitudes of mind’, which give lasting form to our conversion to God.
We mature spiritually by converting to God, and conversion is effected through prayer as well as through fasting and almsgiving, properly understood. As a liturgical season, Lent lasts only forty days in each year; but we have to stretch out to God always, that is, converting continually.
Lent ought to leave a strong and indelible imprint on our lives. It ought to renew the knowledge in us of our union with Jesus Christ, who makes us see the need for conversion and shows us the way to accomplish it. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are exactly the way pointed out to us by Christ.
Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, pp145-6
• Our Lady of Scheir, in Bavaria. This church was built on the spot where the castle stood, which those of the house of Scheir voluntarily ceded to Our Lady, except Arnaud, who, in punishment of his obstinacy, was drowned in a neighboring lake. — Herith, de origine gentis et principibus Bavariae. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Schier, Bavaria. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Scheir. Bavaria, Germany. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Mary, Mother of Vocations. (“2002 Calendar”, Rogationist Fathers)
Monday, April 18, 2011
19 April 2011: Tuesday in Holy Week
Jesus, back to Jerusalem, spent most of the day in the Temple teaching, chiefly in parables. “He saw how the people put money into the collection box. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny.
“He called his disciples, and told them, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow put in more than all those who donated to the treasury. They gave from their abundance, but she of her want cast in all she has to live on.’” (Mk 12:41-4)
The Scribes and Pharisees, in order to ensnare Jesus, hoping to make him look bad to the people, or a criminal in the eyes of the Roman government, came to him with a cunning question--
“Tell us what you think. ‘Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why do you test me, hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.’ They brought him a small Roman coin and he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose inscription?’ They replied, ‘Caesar’s’. At that he said to them, ‘Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ ... taken aback by this reply, they went away.” (Mt 22:17-22)
We do wrong to yield to fear and discouragement when we see the enemies of religion craftily endeavoring to ensnare us. Such a weakness is injurious to God and hurtful to ourselves.
After Jesus had confounded the Scribes, the Sadducees came on a similar task. “Master”, they said, speaking of a woman who had successively married seven brothers, “at the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven shall she be, for they all had her?” (Lk 20:32)
“Our Lord answered, ‘In the resurrection they will neither marry nor be married, but will be as the angels of God in heaven’.” (Lk 20:34-6)
What consoling words! Like angels who are pure spirits? Yes, as the Apostle says, because our body shall rise a spiritual body, possessed of angelic qualities -- agile, lucid, subtle, and incorruptible.
“There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug in it a wine-press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went into a far country.” (Mt 21:33)
It must have been almost impossible for the Jewish priests and rulers not to have understood the meaning of this parable. So clearly does it refer to Almighty God and his chosen people, whom he blessed above all others, and who made so ungrateful a return.
The vineyard is our religion. The fence is our norms; the wine-press, pouring its costly juice, is an image of our spiritual life from which flows an inexhaustible stream of grace and merit. The tower represents the tabernacle, from where our Lord watches with a special care over those admitted into his vineyard.
He has let out to us this vineyard that we may labor in, and cultivate, it. He appears to be distant, hidden from our eyes, though near in reality, observing if we are faithful and diligent; preparing a reward proportioned to our efforts.
“When harvest time had come, he sent his servants to the tenants, to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first; they were treated in like manner.” (Mt 21:33)
“Finally, he sent his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son’. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him and get his inheritance’. So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.” (Mt 21:34-9)
Here our Lord refers not only to the obstinate and ungrateful Jews, but to those unhappy Christians who despite warnings of their spiritual directors, the representatives of God, and the inspirations of their guardian angels -- leave the vine committed to their care uncultivated, and consequently, produce no fruit.
Jesus concludes, “When, therefore, the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” (Mt 21:40) The Jews reply, unconsciously pronouncing their condemnation: “He will put those wretches to a miserable death; and lease the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him the fruits at harvest time.” (Mt 21:41)
Jesus confirms it in these words: “I tell you, the kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and given to a people that produces fruits of the kingdom.” (Mt 21:43)
Many of us after long years in spiritual formation and direction, deserve such penalty. Let us be truly sincere with our spiritual director. As to our sins, temptations, fears and doubts, follow his advice.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp747-51
On the ‘Via Dolorosa’
“The Saviour walked, his body bowed down under the weight of the Cross, his eyes swollen and almost blinded by blood and sweat and tears; each step made painfully slow and difficult by his failing strength. His knees buckled as he virtually dragged himself along behind his two companions in punishment. The Jews laughed; the executioners and the soldiers pushed them forward.” (L de la Palma, “The Passion of the Lord”)
In the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary, we contemplate Jesus carrying his cross. “We are sad, living the Passion of Our Lord Jesus. See how lovingly He embraces the Cross. Learn from him. Jesus carries the Cross for you: you carry it for him.
“But don’t drag the Cross ... Carry it squarely on your shoulder, because your Cross, if you carry it like that, will not just be any cross ... It will be the Holy Cross.
"Don’t carry your Cross with resignation: resignation is not a generous word. Love the Cross. When you really love it, your Cross will be ... a Cross without a Cross.
“And surely you will find Mary on the way, as Jesus did.” (cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “Holy Rosary”, Fourth Sorrowful Mystery)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:271-2
The little we do, Our Lord increases
Sometimes, Jesus makes us see the problems are too great for us, that we are helpless. He asks us not to focus on the material resources, because they may only cause us to be pessimistic. Instead, we should rely more on the supernatural means ie, to count on him and his power.
Our Lord wants us to avoid thinking the solution lies in human effort alone. He also wants us to avoid passivity, which under the pretext of total abandonment in God’s hands, converts hope into a disguised spiritual laziness. Jesus asks us for faith, obedience, daring and always to do whatever we can; not to omit available human means.
“The farmer, as he proceeds to turn over the furrows of his field, or scatter seed, suffers cold, bears the discomfort of rain, looks at the sky ... sees it overcast, nevertheless, continues sowing. The only thing he fears is he may be held by woes of life and time will go by, leaving him with nothing to harvest. Don’t put it off till later; do your sowing now.” (cf St Augustine, “Commentary on Psalm 125, 5”, PL 36, 164)
Do this even if probably the field will not yield anything. Don’t wait until we have all the human means or when all difficulties disappear. On the supernatural plane Our Lord blesses our efforts, multiplies them; always brings fruit.
As in the multiplication of the loaves and fishes Jesus makes use of whatever is available. He added the rest. But he did not wish to do without the human means (in reality he desires our cooperation) although they were few. To count on God always is a good sign of humility.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:367-70
• Confirmation of the Feast of the Conception of Our Lady, by the Council of Trent, in the year 1545. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Confirmation of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Council of Trent 1545). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Council of Trent confirms the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. 1545. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Lyons, France (1643). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• “Notre Dame de Lyons”. France. 1643. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
“He called his disciples, and told them, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow put in more than all those who donated to the treasury. They gave from their abundance, but she of her want cast in all she has to live on.’” (Mk 12:41-4)
The Scribes and Pharisees, in order to ensnare Jesus, hoping to make him look bad to the people, or a criminal in the eyes of the Roman government, came to him with a cunning question--
“Tell us what you think. ‘Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why do you test me, hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.’ They brought him a small Roman coin and he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose inscription?’ They replied, ‘Caesar’s’. At that he said to them, ‘Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ ... taken aback by this reply, they went away.” (Mt 22:17-22)
We do wrong to yield to fear and discouragement when we see the enemies of religion craftily endeavoring to ensnare us. Such a weakness is injurious to God and hurtful to ourselves.
After Jesus had confounded the Scribes, the Sadducees came on a similar task. “Master”, they said, speaking of a woman who had successively married seven brothers, “at the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven shall she be, for they all had her?” (Lk 20:32)
“Our Lord answered, ‘In the resurrection they will neither marry nor be married, but will be as the angels of God in heaven’.” (Lk 20:34-6)
What consoling words! Like angels who are pure spirits? Yes, as the Apostle says, because our body shall rise a spiritual body, possessed of angelic qualities -- agile, lucid, subtle, and incorruptible.
“There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug in it a wine-press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went into a far country.” (Mt 21:33)
It must have been almost impossible for the Jewish priests and rulers not to have understood the meaning of this parable. So clearly does it refer to Almighty God and his chosen people, whom he blessed above all others, and who made so ungrateful a return.
The vineyard is our religion. The fence is our norms; the wine-press, pouring its costly juice, is an image of our spiritual life from which flows an inexhaustible stream of grace and merit. The tower represents the tabernacle, from where our Lord watches with a special care over those admitted into his vineyard.
He has let out to us this vineyard that we may labor in, and cultivate, it. He appears to be distant, hidden from our eyes, though near in reality, observing if we are faithful and diligent; preparing a reward proportioned to our efforts.
“When harvest time had come, he sent his servants to the tenants, to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first; they were treated in like manner.” (Mt 21:33)
“Finally, he sent his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son’. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him and get his inheritance’. So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.” (Mt 21:34-9)
Here our Lord refers not only to the obstinate and ungrateful Jews, but to those unhappy Christians who despite warnings of their spiritual directors, the representatives of God, and the inspirations of their guardian angels -- leave the vine committed to their care uncultivated, and consequently, produce no fruit.
Jesus concludes, “When, therefore, the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” (Mt 21:40) The Jews reply, unconsciously pronouncing their condemnation: “He will put those wretches to a miserable death; and lease the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him the fruits at harvest time.” (Mt 21:41)
Jesus confirms it in these words: “I tell you, the kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and given to a people that produces fruits of the kingdom.” (Mt 21:43)
Many of us after long years in spiritual formation and direction, deserve such penalty. Let us be truly sincere with our spiritual director. As to our sins, temptations, fears and doubts, follow his advice.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp747-51
On the ‘Via Dolorosa’
“The Saviour walked, his body bowed down under the weight of the Cross, his eyes swollen and almost blinded by blood and sweat and tears; each step made painfully slow and difficult by his failing strength. His knees buckled as he virtually dragged himself along behind his two companions in punishment. The Jews laughed; the executioners and the soldiers pushed them forward.” (L de la Palma, “The Passion of the Lord”)
In the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary, we contemplate Jesus carrying his cross. “We are sad, living the Passion of Our Lord Jesus. See how lovingly He embraces the Cross. Learn from him. Jesus carries the Cross for you: you carry it for him.
“But don’t drag the Cross ... Carry it squarely on your shoulder, because your Cross, if you carry it like that, will not just be any cross ... It will be the Holy Cross.
"Don’t carry your Cross with resignation: resignation is not a generous word. Love the Cross. When you really love it, your Cross will be ... a Cross without a Cross.
“And surely you will find Mary on the way, as Jesus did.” (cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “Holy Rosary”, Fourth Sorrowful Mystery)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:271-2
The little we do, Our Lord increases
Sometimes, Jesus makes us see the problems are too great for us, that we are helpless. He asks us not to focus on the material resources, because they may only cause us to be pessimistic. Instead, we should rely more on the supernatural means ie, to count on him and his power.
Our Lord wants us to avoid thinking the solution lies in human effort alone. He also wants us to avoid passivity, which under the pretext of total abandonment in God’s hands, converts hope into a disguised spiritual laziness. Jesus asks us for faith, obedience, daring and always to do whatever we can; not to omit available human means.
“The farmer, as he proceeds to turn over the furrows of his field, or scatter seed, suffers cold, bears the discomfort of rain, looks at the sky ... sees it overcast, nevertheless, continues sowing. The only thing he fears is he may be held by woes of life and time will go by, leaving him with nothing to harvest. Don’t put it off till later; do your sowing now.” (cf St Augustine, “Commentary on Psalm 125, 5”, PL 36, 164)
Do this even if probably the field will not yield anything. Don’t wait until we have all the human means or when all difficulties disappear. On the supernatural plane Our Lord blesses our efforts, multiplies them; always brings fruit.
As in the multiplication of the loaves and fishes Jesus makes use of whatever is available. He added the rest. But he did not wish to do without the human means (in reality he desires our cooperation) although they were few. To count on God always is a good sign of humility.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:367-70
• Confirmation of the Feast of the Conception of Our Lady, by the Council of Trent, in the year 1545. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Confirmation of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Council of Trent 1545). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Council of Trent confirms the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. 1545. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Lyons, France (1643). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• “Notre Dame de Lyons”. France. 1643. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
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