The holy women, terrified by the earthquake, knew not what to do. The angel reassured them. “Fear not, for I know you seek Jesus who was crucified.” (Mk 16:6)
The same angel had so alarmed the soldiers on guard that they fled. Why this difference in his action?
The presence of the soldiers and the holy women was for very opposite reasons. Perversity and unbelief had brought the former; love and faith the latter.
Whenever we feel disturbed, we must also go to Jesus crucified. Kneel for a few seconds before the crucifix and we will speedily recover strength and peace of mind.
The angel reassures the holy women as he announces the mystery of the Resurrection. “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, for he is risen, as he said.” (Lk 24:5-6)
Come and see. “Going in, they found not the body of the Lord.” (cf Lk 24:3) Convincing proof!
What would be our happiness, how great the joy of our brothers, if, risen spiritually with Christ, we were indeed changed. If our words and conduct proved we had left behind our evil habits, our many imperfections!
We must join our numerous efforts ‘constantly’, ‘perseveringly’ to the divine grace offered to us this holy season.
“Go quickly, tell his disciples that he is risen.” (Mt 28:6) These were the words of the angel to his overjoyed hearers. See in them the loving kindness of our Lord.
All his disciples had fled from his Passion. After his death they had seemed to discredit the prediction of his resurrection. They yielded to excessive grief, as if his cause and their own were hopeless.
Nevertheless, our Lord hastens to console, reassure, and encourage his disciples by the voice of the angel and the holy women, although they seemed to deserve punishment instead of gracious favors. But Jesus only follows the loving-kindness of his Sacred Heart.
Acknowledge that it is to the loving kindness of this Sacred Heart we owe so many natural and supernatural graces. During many years, our sins have grieved this Divine Heart. Our love had been feeble and lukewarm.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp202-4
Alliance of the Two Hearts and Communion of Reparation
The Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary beat as one in perfect harmony with the Will of the Father. The devotion that has developed from these Two Hearts -- the 'Communion of Reparation', is very close to the heart of Pope John Paul II. (Pope John Paul II, “Message”, 22 Sept 1986)
The revelations about the Two Hearts “are not public revelations or part of the apostolic deposit of faith to which we are committed as dogmas for the sake of salvation. ‘... still the devotions inspired by these private revelations draw upon the great mystery of the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Redemption which are at the very center of our Christian faith’ and which we hold in common with the first disciples of Jesus Christ and with Mary herself. They are at the very heart of the hierarchy of truths in Catholic teaching which Vatican II’s 'Decree on Ecumenism' mentions.” (“Decree on Ecumenism” no. 11)
The opening of the heart of Christ by the lance is the fulfillment of the prophet Zechariah’s prophecy: “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.” (Jn 19:37; Zech 12:10)
“We are sinners and thus we pierce the Heart of Jesus. We must go back to that Heart, with sorrow for our sins.” (“1988 Fatima Consensus Document”, 22)
Since Mary intimately shared in the passion and sufferings of her Son due to our sins, our reparation must reach out to her; for her heart is intimately linked with the Heart of Christ Himself. The first act of reparation is our own conversion.
It extends to our neighbors through the means requested by the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary every first Friday and first Saturday of the month: the Holy Rosary, Holy Communion, Confession and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
Love as the essential motivation makes daily living of the spirit of reparation our main preoccupation.
Ref: “Alliance of the Two Hearts”, 1996, pp349-50
Unity among Christians
The company of those who believed were of one heart and soul. (Acts 4:32) These words summarize the deep unity and fraternal love of the first Christians, which attracted so much attention from their fellow citizens. The disciples bore testimony to the Resurrection not only with their words but also with their virtues. (St John Chrysostom, 'Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles', 11)
Christ expressly wished this Church unity from the very start. He speaks of one Pastor (cf Jn 10:16); emphasizes the Kingdom which cannot be divided (cf Mt 12:25), of the building with a single foundation (cf Mt 16:18). This unity was always founded on the profession of one faith, observance of a single form of worship; and submission to a sole hierarchical authority, constituted by Christ.
There is only one Church of Jesus Christ which is like a big tree into which we are all grafted. It’s a matter of a deep vital unity which is a gift from God. It is not merely, nor above all, an external unity; it is a mystery and a gift ...
This unity then is shown around him who in each diocese has been constituted as Shepherd, the Bishop. In the universal Church it is shown around the Pope, the Successor of Peter. (John Paul II, 'Homily', Madrid, 3 November 1982)
The unity of faith was, among the first Christians, the support of their fortitude and of the inner life which flowed over into the exterior. The same Christian life has been lived since then by very different peoples. ... they shared, experienced and transmitted one single doctrine with the same soul and the same heart and identical voice. (St Irenaeus, 'Adversus Haereses', 1, 10, 2)
The first Christians defended this unity of theirs to the point of facing persecution and even martyrdom. The Church has always encouraged her children to watch over their precious unity and pray for it.
Our Lord prayed for it at the last Supper: that they all may be one; even as thou, Father, are in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us (cf Jn 17:21). Unity is a great benefit; we must daily implore it because every kingdom divided against itself cannot stand (cf Mt 12:25).
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, 'In Conversation with God', 2:349-50
St Bernadette Soubiros, virgin
On this day, in 1879, just after 3:00 o’clock PM, Sister Marie Bernarde, a Crucifix tightly clasped to her breast, left this life as a Sister of Nevers at St Gildard. (G Menotti, “Lourdes”, p16) Thirty years later, her body was exhumed and found to be quite incorrupt and flexible. Her body, clothed in the habit of her Congregation, reposes in a crystal casket near the high altar in the Mother House at Nevers. (C C Martindale, “St Bernadette”, p74)
• Our Lady of Victories, in the Church of St Mark, at Venice. This is the famous image which the Emperors John Zimisces and John Comnenus carried in a triumphal car; it is now borne in procession at Venice to obtain rain or fine weather. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Victory / Victories. Church of St Mark, Venice. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Victories in the Church of St. Mark, Venice. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of Victory (celebrated in the church of St Mark, Venice). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Our Lady of Victories in Saint Mark's Church (Venice, Italy). (http://mariedenazareth.com)
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Saturday, April 14, 2012
15 April 2012
Feast of The Divine Mercy
(First Sunday after Easter [Low Sun], 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 mercy on us and on the whole world. (3x) Amen.
Ref: CatholicCulture.org: Pray. Think. Act.
The holy women at the sepulchre
The burial had been rushed because of the Jewish Sabbath, which began at sunset, Friday. The three Marys -- Magdalene, the mother of James the younger and Joseph, the mother of James -- and Salome, hurried to the tomb on the first day of the week, that they might embalm the body of Jesus. (cf Mk 15:40; 16:1)
Who cannot help but admire the fervor and courage of these holy women who left the town alone while still dark? They climbed the hill of Calvary, and went straight to the tomb despite the soldiers guarding it. Their love made them so fervent and courageous.
If we loved as they did, what would we pursue for the glory of God and the salvation of souls! How perfectly and perseveringly we would perform our spiritual duties! What progress we would make! For love makes all things easy, and never thinks it has done enough.
The stone the chief priests and Pharisees had placed at the tomb and sealed, must surely be an impossible obstacle to the pious plans of these women. They asked each other, “Who shall roll back for us the stone from the door of the sepulchre?” (Mk 16:3) Occupied only with the sole idea of paying last duties to their beloved Master, they went on.
We might meet with apparently insurmountable difficulties in execution of commands, in pious tasks, or in practice of good resolutions. We must not get discouraged; but imitate these holy women and go on with a blind confidence, doing what we can, persuaded that God will supply the rest, if it is necessary for his glory or the good of his creatures.
“... they saw the stone rolled back, for it was very large.” (Mk 16:4) God worked a miracle, an earthquake, for these women who showed such persevering, ardent love. The soldiers, struck with terror, “became as dead men” (Mt 28:4).
Thus does God often come to aid those who trust in him, against all the laws of human wisdom, as St Paul says of Abraham, ‘who against hope believed in hope’. Indeed ordinary means must not be neglected; but confidence in the goodness and power of God should rise above, and often silence human wisdom.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp200-202
... into the whole world
Our Lord’s Resurrection is a call to apostolate. Each of his appearances ends with an apostolic command. To Mary Magdalene, Jesus says: Go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and to your Father (Jn 20:17); and to the other women, Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee and that they shall see me there (Mt 28:10).
The disciples of Emmaus reported that same night that Jesus is alive. (cf Lk 24:35) Afterwards he appeared to the eleven as they sat at table ... he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation’ (cf Mk 16:14-5). The Apostles began to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins ... (cf Lk 24:44-7)
What they preach and testify to, are not mere speculations but salvific facts they have personally witnessed. The death of Judas brought the need to complete the number of twelve apostles. One condition is the candidate must be a witness to the Resurrection. (cf Acts 1:21-2)
The Christian vocation is by its very nature a vocation to the apostolate, (Second Vatican Council, Apostolicam actuositatem, 2) and all the faithful, from the Pope to the child who has just been baptized, share one and the same vocation, the same faith, the same Spirit, the same grace ... They all have an active and appropriate share in the single mission of Christ and of the Church. (cf A Del Portillo, Faithful and Laity in the Church
We cannot be prevented from exercising the right in fulfilling this duty. Nor can we remain silent. So much ignorance is around; error, too. Numerous people go through life lost and confused because they don’t know Christ. We must communicate daily to all, the doctrine and the faith.
No one after lighting a lamp puts it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all ... Let your light shine before men, so they may see your good works, and give glory to your Father in heaven. (cf Mt 5:15-6) At the end of his time on earth, Christ commanded: go out and teach. He wants his light to shine in the words and behaviour of his disciples, and in yours, too. (St Josemaria Escrivá, Furrow, 930)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 2:329-31
The Resurrection Shows the Mission of Christians
Jesus came and stood before them. ‘Peace be with you,’ he said ... ‘As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ The Apostles were sent out with the same mission with which Christ was sent to earth by the Father -- to all the world, to announce the Gospel of peace. Only they? The Second Vatican Council teaches that the whole People of God is called to participate in Christ’s mission: of Christ, Priest, Prophet, and King.
He breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. Have you received the Holy Spirit? Have you ‘accepted’ him? Do you know well what receiving and accepting the Spirit means? Remember particularly the Sacraments of Baptism, of Confirmation, of Penance, of the Eucharist, in which the gift of the Spirit is conferred or increased.
Remember again, the Spirit is a gift -- prayer is always necessary for obtaining it. With prayer, too, we dispose ourselves to accepting it properly. The Spirit is actually given to us for active sharing in the Resurrection of Christ.
So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is ... (Col 3:1). At the very center of this mission is found the new man open to the Father who lives in the fulness of his humanity only when he is capable of surpassing himself with the power of truth and love.
Ref: Cf Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II, pp167-8
• In the year 1011, the Blessed Virgin gave the white habit to the blessed Alberic instead of the black which he wore. — See his Life. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady gave Blessed Alberic the white habit. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Our Lady of Kieff. Russia. 1010. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Our Lady of Kiev (Ukraine). (http://mariedenazareth.com)
Feast of The Divine Mercy
(First Sunday after Easter [Low Sun], 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 mercy on us and on the whole world. (3x) Amen.
Ref: CatholicCulture.org: Pray. Think. Act.
The holy women at the sepulchre
The burial had been rushed because of the Jewish Sabbath, which began at sunset, Friday. The three Marys -- Magdalene, the mother of James the younger and Joseph, the mother of James -- and Salome, hurried to the tomb on the first day of the week, that they might embalm the body of Jesus. (cf Mk 15:40; 16:1)
Who cannot help but admire the fervor and courage of these holy women who left the town alone while still dark? They climbed the hill of Calvary, and went straight to the tomb despite the soldiers guarding it. Their love made them so fervent and courageous.
If we loved as they did, what would we pursue for the glory of God and the salvation of souls! How perfectly and perseveringly we would perform our spiritual duties! What progress we would make! For love makes all things easy, and never thinks it has done enough.
The stone the chief priests and Pharisees had placed at the tomb and sealed, must surely be an impossible obstacle to the pious plans of these women. They asked each other, “Who shall roll back for us the stone from the door of the sepulchre?” (Mk 16:3) Occupied only with the sole idea of paying last duties to their beloved Master, they went on.
We might meet with apparently insurmountable difficulties in execution of commands, in pious tasks, or in practice of good resolutions. We must not get discouraged; but imitate these holy women and go on with a blind confidence, doing what we can, persuaded that God will supply the rest, if it is necessary for his glory or the good of his creatures.
“... they saw the stone rolled back, for it was very large.” (Mk 16:4) God worked a miracle, an earthquake, for these women who showed such persevering, ardent love. The soldiers, struck with terror, “became as dead men” (Mt 28:4).
Thus does God often come to aid those who trust in him, against all the laws of human wisdom, as St Paul says of Abraham, ‘who against hope believed in hope’. Indeed ordinary means must not be neglected; but confidence in the goodness and power of God should rise above, and often silence human wisdom.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp200-202
... into the whole world
Our Lord’s Resurrection is a call to apostolate. Each of his appearances ends with an apostolic command. To Mary Magdalene, Jesus says: Go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and to your Father (Jn 20:17); and to the other women, Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee and that they shall see me there (Mt 28:10).
The disciples of Emmaus reported that same night that Jesus is alive. (cf Lk 24:35) Afterwards he appeared to the eleven as they sat at table ... he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation’ (cf Mk 16:14-5). The Apostles began to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins ... (cf Lk 24:44-7)
What they preach and testify to, are not mere speculations but salvific facts they have personally witnessed. The death of Judas brought the need to complete the number of twelve apostles. One condition is the candidate must be a witness to the Resurrection. (cf Acts 1:21-2)
The Christian vocation is by its very nature a vocation to the apostolate, (Second Vatican Council, Apostolicam actuositatem, 2) and all the faithful, from the Pope to the child who has just been baptized, share one and the same vocation, the same faith, the same Spirit, the same grace ... They all have an active and appropriate share in the single mission of Christ and of the Church. (cf A Del Portillo, Faithful and Laity in the Church
We cannot be prevented from exercising the right in fulfilling this duty. Nor can we remain silent. So much ignorance is around; error, too. Numerous people go through life lost and confused because they don’t know Christ. We must communicate daily to all, the doctrine and the faith.
No one after lighting a lamp puts it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all ... Let your light shine before men, so they may see your good works, and give glory to your Father in heaven. (cf Mt 5:15-6) At the end of his time on earth, Christ commanded: go out and teach. He wants his light to shine in the words and behaviour of his disciples, and in yours, too. (St Josemaria Escrivá, Furrow, 930)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 2:329-31
The Resurrection Shows the Mission of Christians
Jesus came and stood before them. ‘Peace be with you,’ he said ... ‘As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ The Apostles were sent out with the same mission with which Christ was sent to earth by the Father -- to all the world, to announce the Gospel of peace. Only they? The Second Vatican Council teaches that the whole People of God is called to participate in Christ’s mission: of Christ, Priest, Prophet, and King.
He breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. Have you received the Holy Spirit? Have you ‘accepted’ him? Do you know well what receiving and accepting the Spirit means? Remember particularly the Sacraments of Baptism, of Confirmation, of Penance, of the Eucharist, in which the gift of the Spirit is conferred or increased.
Remember again, the Spirit is a gift -- prayer is always necessary for obtaining it. With prayer, too, we dispose ourselves to accepting it properly. The Spirit is actually given to us for active sharing in the Resurrection of Christ.
So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is ... (Col 3:1). At the very center of this mission is found the new man open to the Father who lives in the fulness of his humanity only when he is capable of surpassing himself with the power of truth and love.
Ref: Cf Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II, pp167-8
• In the year 1011, the Blessed Virgin gave the white habit to the blessed Alberic instead of the black which he wore. — See his Life. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady gave Blessed Alberic the white habit. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Our Lady of Kieff. Russia. 1010. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Our Lady of Kiev (Ukraine). (http://mariedenazareth.com)
Friday, April 13, 2012
14 April 2012: Mary’s feelings before and after the Resurrection
What greater grief can afflict a mother violently parted from an only son? What must have been the depth of Mary’s grief during the interval between the burial and resurrection of Jesus!
How long must the time have felt to this most loving Mother, sighing for the Son so cruelly snatched from her, ardently longing to behold him again!
Do I, an exile from the sensible presence of my Lord, sigh for the moment when I shall behold his glorified humanity, and be eternally united to him in heaven? Alas, no!
And why? Because I know and love him so little; because I am so attached to earth and creatures.
Imagine the joy of a mother who unexpectedly sees the son she has believed dead, and for whom she has long wept. We will then have a faint idea of our Lady’s joy when Jesus appeared to her after his glorious resurrection.
Her joy was in proportion to her grief and to the glory she was to share with her Son in heaven.
To her applies the words of King David, “According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, Thy comforts have given joy to my soul” (Psalm).
Here we find powerful motives for rejoicing in slights and crosses suffered for our Lord, for self-sacrifice and continual mortification. These things are naturally hard and bitter; but the joys of the resurrection will enable us to bear them and will make them sweet and easy.
Let us remember the words of the Apostle, verified in our blessed Mother, “As you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation” (2 Cor 1:7).
Beyond doubt our Lord who appeared so often to his apostles, appeared still oftener to his Mother, always filling her heart with fresh joy by his presence. But these appearances were brief, leaving a void in her loving heart.
Thus, during the forty days between the Resurrection and Ascension, Our Lady experienced alternating joys and sorrows.
Our Lord treats his servants in like manner. Sometimes he overwhelms them with consolation and sweeetness of his presence. Then leaves, their mind and heart dry.
We, too frequently experience such cycles. Let us learn to profit by them, to grow strong; and advance in service and love of God as advised by all masters of spiritual life.
How has my conduct been in conforming to such teaching?
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp198-200
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, p218
Personal holiness
As soon as the Apostles began with courage and daring to teach the truth about Christ, the obstacles also began to arise. Eventually, persecution and martyrdom followed.
However, soon belief in Christ had extended beyond Palestine, arriving in Asia Minor, Greece and Italy; reaching men of every culture, social position and race.
We, too can expect to meet with misunderstanding, a sure sign of divine disposition, certain that we are following the footsteps of Our Lord, because a disciple is not above his teacher (cf Mt 10:24). We accept our setbacks joyfully as being permitted by God for our own good.
We welcome them as opportunities to enliven our faith and hope and love. They help us to persevere in our prayer and mortification, confident that prayer and sacrifice always produce fruit (St Josemaria Escrivá, 'The Way', 694-7), because the Lord’s chosen ones will not labour in vain (cf Isaiah 65:23).
And we always treat other people well, with understanding, drowning evil in abundance of good (cf Rom 12:21). It should not be surprising that very often, we have to go against the current.
In this world that seems to distance itself every day more and more from God, material well-being is its goal, giving no importance to spiritual values or simply relegating them to a low-priority.
Along with the deep and disordered attraction to material goods, there is the added unfortunate bad example of some Christians.
Thus, when religious education is neglected, doctrine misleadingly expounded or shortcomings made evident in religious, moral and social life of believers, then we must admit that the true face of God and of religion is veiled rather than revealed. (Second Vatican Council, 'Gaudium et spes', 19) As in the early Christians, what is truly important is to deal with souls one by one ... (Alvaro del Portillo, 'Letter', 25 December 1985, 9)
Holy Mary, Queen of Apostles, will set us aflame with faith, hope and love for her Son so we may effectively contribute in and from our environment, to christianization of today’s world as the Pope encourages us to do.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, 'In Conversation with God', 2:331-5
Lukewarmness
325 Fight against the softness that makes you lazy and careless in your spiritual life. Remember that it might well be the beginning of tepidity ... and, in the words of the Scriupture, God will vomit out the lukewarm.
327 I already know that you avoid mortal sins. You want to be saved! But you are not worried about that constant and deliberate falling into venial sins, even though in each case you feel God’s call to conquer yourself.
It is your lukewarmness that makes you so badly disposed.
Ref: Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, 'The Way'
• Apparition of Our Lady to St Ludwina, in the year 1433. — John Brnshman. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com); (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Apparition of Mary to St. Ludivina. 1433. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Guam (1825). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (http://mariedenazareth.com)
How long must the time have felt to this most loving Mother, sighing for the Son so cruelly snatched from her, ardently longing to behold him again!
Do I, an exile from the sensible presence of my Lord, sigh for the moment when I shall behold his glorified humanity, and be eternally united to him in heaven? Alas, no!
And why? Because I know and love him so little; because I am so attached to earth and creatures.
Imagine the joy of a mother who unexpectedly sees the son she has believed dead, and for whom she has long wept. We will then have a faint idea of our Lady’s joy when Jesus appeared to her after his glorious resurrection.
Her joy was in proportion to her grief and to the glory she was to share with her Son in heaven.
To her applies the words of King David, “According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, Thy comforts have given joy to my soul” (Psalm).
Here we find powerful motives for rejoicing in slights and crosses suffered for our Lord, for self-sacrifice and continual mortification. These things are naturally hard and bitter; but the joys of the resurrection will enable us to bear them and will make them sweet and easy.
Let us remember the words of the Apostle, verified in our blessed Mother, “As you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation” (2 Cor 1:7).
Beyond doubt our Lord who appeared so often to his apostles, appeared still oftener to his Mother, always filling her heart with fresh joy by his presence. But these appearances were brief, leaving a void in her loving heart.
Thus, during the forty days between the Resurrection and Ascension, Our Lady experienced alternating joys and sorrows.
Our Lord treats his servants in like manner. Sometimes he overwhelms them with consolation and sweeetness of his presence. Then leaves, their mind and heart dry.
We, too frequently experience such cycles. Let us learn to profit by them, to grow strong; and advance in service and love of God as advised by all masters of spiritual life.
How has my conduct been in conforming to such teaching?
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp198-200
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, p218
Personal holiness
As soon as the Apostles began with courage and daring to teach the truth about Christ, the obstacles also began to arise. Eventually, persecution and martyrdom followed.
However, soon belief in Christ had extended beyond Palestine, arriving in Asia Minor, Greece and Italy; reaching men of every culture, social position and race.
We, too can expect to meet with misunderstanding, a sure sign of divine disposition, certain that we are following the footsteps of Our Lord, because a disciple is not above his teacher (cf Mt 10:24). We accept our setbacks joyfully as being permitted by God for our own good.
We welcome them as opportunities to enliven our faith and hope and love. They help us to persevere in our prayer and mortification, confident that prayer and sacrifice always produce fruit (St Josemaria Escrivá, 'The Way', 694-7), because the Lord’s chosen ones will not labour in vain (cf Isaiah 65:23).
And we always treat other people well, with understanding, drowning evil in abundance of good (cf Rom 12:21). It should not be surprising that very often, we have to go against the current.
In this world that seems to distance itself every day more and more from God, material well-being is its goal, giving no importance to spiritual values or simply relegating them to a low-priority.
Along with the deep and disordered attraction to material goods, there is the added unfortunate bad example of some Christians.
Thus, when religious education is neglected, doctrine misleadingly expounded or shortcomings made evident in religious, moral and social life of believers, then we must admit that the true face of God and of religion is veiled rather than revealed. (Second Vatican Council, 'Gaudium et spes', 19) As in the early Christians, what is truly important is to deal with souls one by one ... (Alvaro del Portillo, 'Letter', 25 December 1985, 9)
Holy Mary, Queen of Apostles, will set us aflame with faith, hope and love for her Son so we may effectively contribute in and from our environment, to christianization of today’s world as the Pope encourages us to do.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, 'In Conversation with God', 2:331-5
Lukewarmness
325 Fight against the softness that makes you lazy and careless in your spiritual life. Remember that it might well be the beginning of tepidity ... and, in the words of the Scriupture, God will vomit out the lukewarm.
327 I already know that you avoid mortal sins. You want to be saved! But you are not worried about that constant and deliberate falling into venial sins, even though in each case you feel God’s call to conquer yourself.
It is your lukewarmness that makes you so badly disposed.
Ref: Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, 'The Way'
• Apparition of Our Lady to St Ludwina, in the year 1433. — John Brnshman. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com); (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Apparition of Mary to St. Ludivina. 1433. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Guam (1825). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (http://mariedenazareth.com)
Thursday, April 12, 2012
13 April 2012: The sepulchre of Jesus Christ becomes glorious
How many people have made worldly glory the mainspring of all their actions? If their names are remembered, “what do they gain by being praised where they are not, while they are tormented where they are now?” (St Augustine)
How different was our Lord! He sought only the glory of his Father throughout his whole life. He died the victim of love, blasphemed and despised; but the greater his humiliation, the greater his glory which began in the tomb.
“His sepulchre shall be glorious.” (Isaiah) Since then it is the object of honor and veneration of pilgrims from every part of the world.
Thus also will be glorified the faithful servants of our Lord. Like their Master, they have trodden under foot the glories of the world, and sought in all, the greater glory of God. Unknown and despised of men, their sepulchre will also be glorious in the great day of the resurrection. They, too will leave it to receive a crown of everlasting glory.
A great prince, on his deathbed, exclaimed -- ‘Today, I have treasures, palaces, and an army at my disposal; tomorrow what will be mine? Perhaps nothing but the horrors of the tomb.’ Such thoughts overwhelm the dying who have placed all their happiness in wealth and power.
Our Lord, whose whole life is poverty and voluntary obedience, received in the tomb fullness of life, power of judging all men, and the empire of the universe. Thus also his faithful servants, who, after his example and ‘for his name’s sake’, have chosen poverty and self-renunciation, will be glorified.
How unhappy is the fate of the man of pleasure at the moment of death. He has ever before his eyes the awful thought that terrified and finally converted St Augustine: ‘A few moments of pleasure, and an eternity of torment.’
The faithful disciple’s deathbed is different! He can say with his Lord, “It is consummated; the sacrifice that I made of worldly pleasures and all that it has cost me; You have turned into joy and has compassed me with gladness” (‘Psalm’).
He can conclude, “I have fought a good fight; I have ran the course; I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7). Laid up for me is a crown of justice which the just Judge will render to me on that day.
If we do not forget these truths, we shall count as nothing the sacrifice of every earthly enjoyment. We shall secure eternal bodily enjoyment in proportion to our sacrifices.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp 196-8
Seeing Christ in the events of our life
The real tragedy for a Christian begins when he can no longer see Jesus in his life; when because of sin or pride or lukewarmness, the horizon is clouded over; when things are done as if Jesus were not beside him, as if the Lord had never risen from the dead.
Beside Christ, when faith is with us, our days are enriched. With Jesus by our side, pain and illness are converted into a treasure that lasts beyond death.
The matter of living with those around us becomes a whole world of possibilities for doing good: opportunities for attention, encouragement, cordiality, prayers for others. Our efforts alone no matter how earnest do not suffice; we need God for them to bear fruit.
We should pray a lot to Our Lady asking her to help us to discover Our Lord amidst all the events of our lives; so we may be able to say very often, 'It is the Lord!' (Jn 21:7) And this, too, whatever the circumstances, be it a case of suffering or of joy. By Christ’s side, we will be apostles in the middle of the world, in all conditions and situations. (cf F Carvajal, Lukewarmness -- The Devil in Disguise)
We don’t know how or when but apostolic effort always bears fruit, although oftentimes we do not see it. Our Lord asks from us Christians the capacity for patient waiting as he found in the fishermen. He expects us to be constant in our personal apostolate with friends and acquaintances, never to give up on anybody as being impossible.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, 'In Conversation with God', 2:323-6
Christ is Everyone’s Life
Jesus Christ is the Chief way for the Church. He himself is our way to the Father’s house and is the way to each man.
On this way leading from Christ to man, on which Christ unites himself with each man, nobody can halt the Church. This is an exigency of man’s temporal and eternal welfare.
Out of regard for Christ and in view of the mystery that constitutes the Church’s own life, the Church cannot remain insensible to whatever serves man’s true welfare any more than she can remain indifferent to what threatens it.
In various passages in its documents the Second Vatican Council has expressed the Church’s fundamental solicitude that life in the world should conform more to man’s surpassing dignity in all its aspects so as to make that life ever more human. This is the solicitude of Christ himself, the good Shepherd of all men.
In the name of this solicitude, as we read in the Council’s Pastoral Constitution, the Church must in no way be confused with the political community, nor bound to any political system. She is at once a sign and a safeguard of the transcendence of the human person.
What is in question here is man in all his truth, in his full magnitude. We are not dealing with the ‘abstract’ man but the real ‘each’ man, for each one is included in the mystery of the Redemption and with each one Christ has united himself for ever through this mystery.
Ref: Cf 'Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II', p252
Our Lady
508 Marvel at the courage of Mary -- at the foot of the cross, in the greatest of human sorrow (there is no sorrow like hers) filled with fortitude.
And ask her for that same fortitude, so that you, too, will know how to remain close to the cross.
509 Mary, teacher of the sacrifice that is hidden and silent. See her, nearly always in the background cooperating with her Son: she knows and remains silent.
Ref: Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, 'The Way'
The greatest promise of Mary
The gates of hell will be closed on the First Saturdays of each month. Nobody will go to hell on those days. However, the gates of Purgatory will be open. So many souls will be able to reach heaven. It is the result of the merciful Love of My Son -- It is the reward of these souls who venerate My Immaculate Heart.
Ref: “Imprimatur:” Local bishop of Hungary. Taken from the “Revue de Coeur Immacule Reine de la Paix”, Vol. I, No. 4
• Apparition of Our Lady to the Blessed Jane of Mantua. — See her Life. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Apparition of Our Lady to Blessed Jane of Mantua (1640). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Apparition of Our Lady to Blessed Jane of Mantua. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Mantua. Apparition of Mary to Blessed Jane of Mantua. 1640. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Tears (Italy) (http://mariedenazareth.com)
How different was our Lord! He sought only the glory of his Father throughout his whole life. He died the victim of love, blasphemed and despised; but the greater his humiliation, the greater his glory which began in the tomb.
“His sepulchre shall be glorious.” (Isaiah) Since then it is the object of honor and veneration of pilgrims from every part of the world.
Thus also will be glorified the faithful servants of our Lord. Like their Master, they have trodden under foot the glories of the world, and sought in all, the greater glory of God. Unknown and despised of men, their sepulchre will also be glorious in the great day of the resurrection. They, too will leave it to receive a crown of everlasting glory.
A great prince, on his deathbed, exclaimed -- ‘Today, I have treasures, palaces, and an army at my disposal; tomorrow what will be mine? Perhaps nothing but the horrors of the tomb.’ Such thoughts overwhelm the dying who have placed all their happiness in wealth and power.
Our Lord, whose whole life is poverty and voluntary obedience, received in the tomb fullness of life, power of judging all men, and the empire of the universe. Thus also his faithful servants, who, after his example and ‘for his name’s sake’, have chosen poverty and self-renunciation, will be glorified.
How unhappy is the fate of the man of pleasure at the moment of death. He has ever before his eyes the awful thought that terrified and finally converted St Augustine: ‘A few moments of pleasure, and an eternity of torment.’
The faithful disciple’s deathbed is different! He can say with his Lord, “It is consummated; the sacrifice that I made of worldly pleasures and all that it has cost me; You have turned into joy and has compassed me with gladness” (‘Psalm’).
He can conclude, “I have fought a good fight; I have ran the course; I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7). Laid up for me is a crown of justice which the just Judge will render to me on that day.
If we do not forget these truths, we shall count as nothing the sacrifice of every earthly enjoyment. We shall secure eternal bodily enjoyment in proportion to our sacrifices.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp 196-8
Seeing Christ in the events of our life
The real tragedy for a Christian begins when he can no longer see Jesus in his life; when because of sin or pride or lukewarmness, the horizon is clouded over; when things are done as if Jesus were not beside him, as if the Lord had never risen from the dead.
Beside Christ, when faith is with us, our days are enriched. With Jesus by our side, pain and illness are converted into a treasure that lasts beyond death.
The matter of living with those around us becomes a whole world of possibilities for doing good: opportunities for attention, encouragement, cordiality, prayers for others. Our efforts alone no matter how earnest do not suffice; we need God for them to bear fruit.
We should pray a lot to Our Lady asking her to help us to discover Our Lord amidst all the events of our lives; so we may be able to say very often, 'It is the Lord!' (Jn 21:7) And this, too, whatever the circumstances, be it a case of suffering or of joy. By Christ’s side, we will be apostles in the middle of the world, in all conditions and situations. (cf F Carvajal, Lukewarmness -- The Devil in Disguise)
We don’t know how or when but apostolic effort always bears fruit, although oftentimes we do not see it. Our Lord asks from us Christians the capacity for patient waiting as he found in the fishermen. He expects us to be constant in our personal apostolate with friends and acquaintances, never to give up on anybody as being impossible.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, 'In Conversation with God', 2:323-6
Christ is Everyone’s Life
Jesus Christ is the Chief way for the Church. He himself is our way to the Father’s house and is the way to each man.
On this way leading from Christ to man, on which Christ unites himself with each man, nobody can halt the Church. This is an exigency of man’s temporal and eternal welfare.
Out of regard for Christ and in view of the mystery that constitutes the Church’s own life, the Church cannot remain insensible to whatever serves man’s true welfare any more than she can remain indifferent to what threatens it.
In various passages in its documents the Second Vatican Council has expressed the Church’s fundamental solicitude that life in the world should conform more to man’s surpassing dignity in all its aspects so as to make that life ever more human. This is the solicitude of Christ himself, the good Shepherd of all men.
In the name of this solicitude, as we read in the Council’s Pastoral Constitution, the Church must in no way be confused with the political community, nor bound to any political system. She is at once a sign and a safeguard of the transcendence of the human person.
What is in question here is man in all his truth, in his full magnitude. We are not dealing with the ‘abstract’ man but the real ‘each’ man, for each one is included in the mystery of the Redemption and with each one Christ has united himself for ever through this mystery.
Ref: Cf 'Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II', p252
Our Lady
508 Marvel at the courage of Mary -- at the foot of the cross, in the greatest of human sorrow (there is no sorrow like hers) filled with fortitude.
And ask her for that same fortitude, so that you, too, will know how to remain close to the cross.
509 Mary, teacher of the sacrifice that is hidden and silent. See her, nearly always in the background cooperating with her Son: she knows and remains silent.
Ref: Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, 'The Way'
The greatest promise of Mary
The gates of hell will be closed on the First Saturdays of each month. Nobody will go to hell on those days. However, the gates of Purgatory will be open. So many souls will be able to reach heaven. It is the result of the merciful Love of My Son -- It is the reward of these souls who venerate My Immaculate Heart.
Ref: “Imprimatur:” Local bishop of Hungary. Taken from the “Revue de Coeur Immacule Reine de la Paix”, Vol. I, No. 4
• Apparition of Our Lady to the Blessed Jane of Mantua. — See her Life. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Apparition of Our Lady to Blessed Jane of Mantua (1640). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Apparition of Our Lady to Blessed Jane of Mantua. (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Mantua. Apparition of Mary to Blessed Jane of Mantua. 1640. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Tears (Italy) (http://mariedenazareth.com)
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
12 April 2012: The Resurrection -- Model of our spiritual resurrection
The Lord is risen! He has left the grave, entered upon a new life more perfect than the first; and subject to none of its infirmities. So must we at this holy season rise from the grave of sin, imperfection and tepidity; to a more perfect and fervent life exempt, as far as possible, from our past defects.
The Lord is risen ‘indeed’. Not only in appearance, as Samuel raised up Saul. Nor for a time only, as our Lord raised Lazarus. Christ rising from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has dominion over him. (Rom 6:9)
Such should also be our spiritual resurrection -- ‘indeed!’ A real passage from a life more or less tepid to one of fervor. To a life based upon the resolution to persevere in the grace of God, and to fall no more into our former state of infidelity.
Our Lord put the fact of his resurrection beyond dispute by appearing to his apostles and disciples several times during the forty days he remained on earth. He allowed them to touch him, and ate with them.
The third mark of our spiritual resurrection must be exterior. It must not be known only to God, but be seen by our colleagues or subordinates -- before everybody we come in contact.
They must perceive the change in us, and rejoice at it. Perhaps our former negligences and defects have annoyed or grieved them; or even scandalized our neighbors.
Ref: Cf Practical Meditations by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp194-6
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
The visit to the Blessed Sacrament
Eucharistic piety should be centred above all on the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, which perpetuates the pouring out of His love on the Cross. But it has a logical prolongation in the adoration of Christ in this divine Sacrament, in the Visit to the Blessed Sacrament, in prayer beside the Tabernacle, as well as in those exercises of devotion, personal and private.
... Jesus awaits us in this Sacrament of Love. Let us not be mean with our time when it comes to going to meet him in adoration, in contemplation that is filled with faith, and disposed to make reparation for the grave faults and crimes of the world. (John Paul II, Address, 31 Oct 1982)
Jesus is in the nearest Tabernacle; maybe just a few miles away or perhaps a few yards only.
How easy it is to understand the ancient custom of daily visits to the divine tabernacles! (Pius XII, Mediator Dei, 20 November 1947) There Jesus has been awaiting us for the past 20 centuries (cf St Josemaria Escrivá, 'The Way', 537); we can be together with him like Mary, the sister of Lazarus, she who chose the better part (cf Lk 10:42), in that house in Bethany.
Jesus is awaiting our visit; in a way, a return of his visit to us in Holy Communion; and a proof of gratitude, an expression of love, an acknowledgement of the Lord’s presence (Paul VI, 'Mysterium Fide'i, 3 September 1965). A continuation of our act of thanksgiving for the previous Communion and a preparation for the next.
In front of the tabernacle, we can accurately say in all truth: God is here! In the presence of this mystery of faith the only attitude should be that of adoration: ... 'O hidden God, devoutly I adore You' ('Adoro te devote' by St Thomas in Belmonte & Socias [Eds], 'Handbook of Prayers', 1988, pp214-5; of respect and astonishment; and, simultaneously, of unlimited confidence.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 2:319-20
'Adoremus in Aeternum Sanctissimum Sacramentum'
Let us adore for all eternity the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Ref: Rev FX Lasance, 'The New Missal for Every Day', 1925, p132*
This is my Body ...
The immolation of Jesus took place hidden under the appearances of the bread. He is now there, with his Flesh and with his Blood, with his Soul and with his Divinity. He is the same as on the day that Thomas placed his fingers in His glorious Wounds.
And yet, on so many occasions, you saunter by, giving not even a hint of a greeting out of simple good manners that you would give to any person you knew when you met him.
You have much less faith than Thomas!
Ref: Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, 'Furrow', 684
Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary
Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary, I consecrate my entire self to the Most Holy Love of Your Two Hearts. I wish to make reparation for all the sins of the world including my own. I offer these things to the love of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
I will keep my mind on beauty and turn my thoughts from evil things. I will hold my temper and bear the mistakes of others with love and a forgiving heart. I will admit when I am wrong and ask others to forgive me. I will not show off but remain humble.
I will offer up all my sufferings, sickness and hurts. I will seek God’s will not my own. I will show appreciation for all the kindness, the blessings that I receive, and thank God for all things. I will do everything in my life for love of God.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary receive the offering and consecration I now make of my self to You. Keep me faithful unto death.
Bring me one day to the happy home in heaven. I desire to live forever with God the Father and the Most Holy Spirit and You my Jesus together with your Most Immaculate Mother. Amen.
Ref: “Imprimatur:” Local bishop of Hungary. Taken from the “Revue de Coeur Immacule Reine de la Paix”, Vol. I, No. 4
• Our Lady of Charity, in the Abbey of the Feuillants, seven leagues from Toulouse. It is said that this image has several times wept. — Triple Couronne, n. 34. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Charity. Toulouse, France; Cobre, Cuba. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Charity (near Toulouse, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Charity, Cobre, Cuba. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Interior Life of the Blessed Virgin ('Marianist Missal'). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
The Lord is risen ‘indeed’. Not only in appearance, as Samuel raised up Saul. Nor for a time only, as our Lord raised Lazarus. Christ rising from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has dominion over him. (Rom 6:9)
Such should also be our spiritual resurrection -- ‘indeed!’ A real passage from a life more or less tepid to one of fervor. To a life based upon the resolution to persevere in the grace of God, and to fall no more into our former state of infidelity.
Our Lord put the fact of his resurrection beyond dispute by appearing to his apostles and disciples several times during the forty days he remained on earth. He allowed them to touch him, and ate with them.
The third mark of our spiritual resurrection must be exterior. It must not be known only to God, but be seen by our colleagues or subordinates -- before everybody we come in contact.
They must perceive the change in us, and rejoice at it. Perhaps our former negligences and defects have annoyed or grieved them; or even scandalized our neighbors.
Ref: Cf Practical Meditations by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp194-6
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
The visit to the Blessed Sacrament
Eucharistic piety should be centred above all on the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, which perpetuates the pouring out of His love on the Cross. But it has a logical prolongation in the adoration of Christ in this divine Sacrament, in the Visit to the Blessed Sacrament, in prayer beside the Tabernacle, as well as in those exercises of devotion, personal and private.
... Jesus awaits us in this Sacrament of Love. Let us not be mean with our time when it comes to going to meet him in adoration, in contemplation that is filled with faith, and disposed to make reparation for the grave faults and crimes of the world. (John Paul II, Address, 31 Oct 1982)
Jesus is in the nearest Tabernacle; maybe just a few miles away or perhaps a few yards only.
How easy it is to understand the ancient custom of daily visits to the divine tabernacles! (Pius XII, Mediator Dei, 20 November 1947) There Jesus has been awaiting us for the past 20 centuries (cf St Josemaria Escrivá, 'The Way', 537); we can be together with him like Mary, the sister of Lazarus, she who chose the better part (cf Lk 10:42), in that house in Bethany.
Jesus is awaiting our visit; in a way, a return of his visit to us in Holy Communion; and a proof of gratitude, an expression of love, an acknowledgement of the Lord’s presence (Paul VI, 'Mysterium Fide'i, 3 September 1965). A continuation of our act of thanksgiving for the previous Communion and a preparation for the next.
In front of the tabernacle, we can accurately say in all truth: God is here! In the presence of this mystery of faith the only attitude should be that of adoration: ... 'O hidden God, devoutly I adore You' ('Adoro te devote' by St Thomas in Belmonte & Socias [Eds], 'Handbook of Prayers', 1988, pp214-5; of respect and astonishment; and, simultaneously, of unlimited confidence.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 2:319-20
'Adoremus in Aeternum Sanctissimum Sacramentum'
Let us adore for all eternity the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Ref: Rev FX Lasance, 'The New Missal for Every Day', 1925, p132*
This is my Body ...
The immolation of Jesus took place hidden under the appearances of the bread. He is now there, with his Flesh and with his Blood, with his Soul and with his Divinity. He is the same as on the day that Thomas placed his fingers in His glorious Wounds.
And yet, on so many occasions, you saunter by, giving not even a hint of a greeting out of simple good manners that you would give to any person you knew when you met him.
You have much less faith than Thomas!
Ref: Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, 'Furrow', 684
Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary
Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary, I consecrate my entire self to the Most Holy Love of Your Two Hearts. I wish to make reparation for all the sins of the world including my own. I offer these things to the love of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
I will keep my mind on beauty and turn my thoughts from evil things. I will hold my temper and bear the mistakes of others with love and a forgiving heart. I will admit when I am wrong and ask others to forgive me. I will not show off but remain humble.
I will offer up all my sufferings, sickness and hurts. I will seek God’s will not my own. I will show appreciation for all the kindness, the blessings that I receive, and thank God for all things. I will do everything in my life for love of God.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary receive the offering and consecration I now make of my self to You. Keep me faithful unto death.
Bring me one day to the happy home in heaven. I desire to live forever with God the Father and the Most Holy Spirit and You my Jesus together with your Most Immaculate Mother. Amen.
Ref: “Imprimatur:” Local bishop of Hungary. Taken from the “Revue de Coeur Immacule Reine de la Paix”, Vol. I, No. 4
• Our Lady of Charity, in the Abbey of the Feuillants, seven leagues from Toulouse. It is said that this image has several times wept. — Triple Couronne, n. 34. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Charity. Toulouse, France; Cobre, Cuba. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Charity (near Toulouse, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Charity, Cobre, Cuba. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Interior Life of the Blessed Virgin ('Marianist Missal'). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
11 April 2012: Fruits of the Resurrection
Our Lord often used the miracle of his coming Resurrection to support the doctrines which he taught. He also decreed that all precautions taken by the Jews only served to prove even more the wonderful fact.
The apostles, besides, always cited it as the basis of the faith they preached. 'If Christ had not risen again, your faith is vain, for you are yet in your sins.' (1 Cor 15:17)
How happy am I to possess a faith so clearly divine; and all the graces belonging to my state in life! Do I show my gratitude by my works as well as my words?
My own resurrection to life and bliss eternal, if I only take care to secure it, is as certain as the resurrection of Jesus.
In the words of the Holy Spirit, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ as first fruits, then they who are Christ’s, who have believed, at his coming.” (1 Cor 15:22-3)
What consolation there is in the thought that this body, which I care for so much, will one day be given back to me endowed with new and wonderful powers! Immortal, with an immensely increased capacity for enjoyment.
Death viewed in such a light is no loss, but rather a gain to the Christian, a source of the sweetest hope and inexpressible comfort.
A man sadly regards the crumbling of the house he lives in; but if he learns that it is to be rebuilt more beautifully than before, his sorrow turns into joy. Our body, the dwelling-place of the soul, is not a very stable one.
Despite all our care, sooner or later it deteriorates. It is a saddening thought.
However, we know God has promised to raise it up infinitely more beautiful; never again to be destroyed.
“If our earthly house of this habitation be dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven.” (2 Cor 5:1) Should we fall and die, still in the prime of life, we may say with St Paul, ‘to die is gain’.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp192-4
The value of pain suffered for Christ
Physical sufferings: pain, illness, tiredness -- if borne for Christ become true treasures for us. This is the great revolution brought about by Christ.
It can be understood only through prayer and with the light that faith gives. Therefore, pain be it physical or moral can truly be a treasure which unites us with Christ.
Do we know how to immediately and calmly offer to God those small mortifications which are foreseen and those which arise during the day? The contemplation of God will satisfy our longing for happiness.
This consummation will take place when we wake up to reality. As St Paul comments, 'our life is like a dream' (cf 1 Thess 4:14).
My kingdom is not of this world, the Lord had said. Thus, when He declared I have come that you may have life: 'life in all its fulness' (Jn 10:10), he was not referring to an earthly life without difficulties; but to eternal life, which begins in the one we are now living.
He came to free us from what prevents our reaching definitive happiness; from sin, the only absolute evil.
'If the Son sets you free then you will be truly free' (Jn 8:36), the Lord tells us. He also made it possible for us to overcome the effects of sin -- oppression, injustice, excessive economic differences, envy, hatred.
Or to suffer them cheerfully when they are inevitable. Such is the value of the life that Christ has gained for us.
However, this does not mean that Christians should be passive amidst pain and injustice. On the contrary, out of charity and a desire for justice, we must remain committed to a more humane and just world, beginning in our homes and places of work; and always seeking above everything else the absolute good for man.
Christ paid for our freedom with his own life. Thus, he showed us the gravity of sin, the worth of our eternal salvation and the means to achieve it.
'You have been bought at a great price, ... glorify God and carry him in your body.' (1 Cor 6:20) The Lord went that far precisely to show us his love, because 'no greater love has any man than that he gives his life for his friends' (Jn 15:13).
How much do I value the life of grace Christ obtained for me on Calvary? Do I strive to increase this life of grace by frequenting the sacraments, through prayer, and good works?
Do I avoid occasions of sin, resolutely struggling against sensuality, pride, laziness? I tell you that 'whoever commits sin is a slave of sin'. (Jn 8:34)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 2:223-6
The Gospel of Suffering
The Redeemer himself wrote this Gospel, above all by his own suffering accepted in love, so that man 'should not perish but have eternal life' (Jn 3:16). This suffering together with the living word of his teaching, became a rich source for all those who shared in Jesus’ sufferings among the first generation of his disciples and confessors, and among those who have come after them down the centuries.
It is especially consoling to note that at the side of Christ, in the first and most exalted place, there is always his Mother through the exemplary testimony that she bears by her whole life to this particular Gospel of suffering. In her, the many and intense sufferings were amassed in such an interconnected way that they were not only a proof of her unshakeable faith but also a contribution to the redemption of all.
It was on Calvary that Mary’s suffering, beside the suffering Jesus, reached an intensity which can hardly be imagined from a human point of view; but which was mysterious and supernaturally fruitful for the redemption of the world. Her ascent of Calvary and her standing at the foot of the Cross together with the Beloved Disciple were a special sort of sharing in the redeeming death of her Son.
And the words which she heard from his lips were a kind of solemn handing-over of this Gospel of suffering so that it could be proclaimed to the whole community of believers.
Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, 'Salvifici Doloris', p52-3
Our Lady -- When you see yourself with a dry heart, without knowing what to say, go with confidence to the Virgin Mary. Say to her, “My Mother Immaculate, intercede for me.”
If you invoke her with faith, she will make you taste in the midst of your dryness the proximity of God.
Ref: Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, Furrow, 695
Resolutions -- Make this firm and determined resolution: to recall, when you receive honors and praise, everything that brings you shame and embarassment.
The shame and embarassment are yours; the praise and the glory are God’s.
Ref: St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 252
• On this day a blind man is said to have recovered his sight in the Church of Our Lady of Montserrat, in the year 1538. — Balinghain or. Calend. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Montserrat (cure of a blind man, Spain). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Montserrat. Spain. (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• “Nuestra Señora de Montserrat”. Spain. Restoration of sight to a blind man. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Fourviere, France. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• “Notre Dame de Fourviere”. France. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
The apostles, besides, always cited it as the basis of the faith they preached. 'If Christ had not risen again, your faith is vain, for you are yet in your sins.' (1 Cor 15:17)
How happy am I to possess a faith so clearly divine; and all the graces belonging to my state in life! Do I show my gratitude by my works as well as my words?
My own resurrection to life and bliss eternal, if I only take care to secure it, is as certain as the resurrection of Jesus.
In the words of the Holy Spirit, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ as first fruits, then they who are Christ’s, who have believed, at his coming.” (1 Cor 15:22-3)
What consolation there is in the thought that this body, which I care for so much, will one day be given back to me endowed with new and wonderful powers! Immortal, with an immensely increased capacity for enjoyment.
Death viewed in such a light is no loss, but rather a gain to the Christian, a source of the sweetest hope and inexpressible comfort.
A man sadly regards the crumbling of the house he lives in; but if he learns that it is to be rebuilt more beautifully than before, his sorrow turns into joy. Our body, the dwelling-place of the soul, is not a very stable one.
Despite all our care, sooner or later it deteriorates. It is a saddening thought.
However, we know God has promised to raise it up infinitely more beautiful; never again to be destroyed.
“If our earthly house of this habitation be dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven.” (2 Cor 5:1) Should we fall and die, still in the prime of life, we may say with St Paul, ‘to die is gain’.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp192-4
The value of pain suffered for Christ
Physical sufferings: pain, illness, tiredness -- if borne for Christ become true treasures for us. This is the great revolution brought about by Christ.
It can be understood only through prayer and with the light that faith gives. Therefore, pain be it physical or moral can truly be a treasure which unites us with Christ.
Do we know how to immediately and calmly offer to God those small mortifications which are foreseen and those which arise during the day? The contemplation of God will satisfy our longing for happiness.
This consummation will take place when we wake up to reality. As St Paul comments, 'our life is like a dream' (cf 1 Thess 4:14).
My kingdom is not of this world, the Lord had said. Thus, when He declared I have come that you may have life: 'life in all its fulness' (Jn 10:10), he was not referring to an earthly life without difficulties; but to eternal life, which begins in the one we are now living.
He came to free us from what prevents our reaching definitive happiness; from sin, the only absolute evil.
'If the Son sets you free then you will be truly free' (Jn 8:36), the Lord tells us. He also made it possible for us to overcome the effects of sin -- oppression, injustice, excessive economic differences, envy, hatred.
Or to suffer them cheerfully when they are inevitable. Such is the value of the life that Christ has gained for us.
However, this does not mean that Christians should be passive amidst pain and injustice. On the contrary, out of charity and a desire for justice, we must remain committed to a more humane and just world, beginning in our homes and places of work; and always seeking above everything else the absolute good for man.
Christ paid for our freedom with his own life. Thus, he showed us the gravity of sin, the worth of our eternal salvation and the means to achieve it.
'You have been bought at a great price, ... glorify God and carry him in your body.' (1 Cor 6:20) The Lord went that far precisely to show us his love, because 'no greater love has any man than that he gives his life for his friends' (Jn 15:13).
How much do I value the life of grace Christ obtained for me on Calvary? Do I strive to increase this life of grace by frequenting the sacraments, through prayer, and good works?
Do I avoid occasions of sin, resolutely struggling against sensuality, pride, laziness? I tell you that 'whoever commits sin is a slave of sin'. (Jn 8:34)
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 2:223-6
The Gospel of Suffering
The Redeemer himself wrote this Gospel, above all by his own suffering accepted in love, so that man 'should not perish but have eternal life' (Jn 3:16). This suffering together with the living word of his teaching, became a rich source for all those who shared in Jesus’ sufferings among the first generation of his disciples and confessors, and among those who have come after them down the centuries.
It is especially consoling to note that at the side of Christ, in the first and most exalted place, there is always his Mother through the exemplary testimony that she bears by her whole life to this particular Gospel of suffering. In her, the many and intense sufferings were amassed in such an interconnected way that they were not only a proof of her unshakeable faith but also a contribution to the redemption of all.
It was on Calvary that Mary’s suffering, beside the suffering Jesus, reached an intensity which can hardly be imagined from a human point of view; but which was mysterious and supernaturally fruitful for the redemption of the world. Her ascent of Calvary and her standing at the foot of the Cross together with the Beloved Disciple were a special sort of sharing in the redeeming death of her Son.
And the words which she heard from his lips were a kind of solemn handing-over of this Gospel of suffering so that it could be proclaimed to the whole community of believers.
Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, 'Salvifici Doloris', p52-3
Our Lady -- When you see yourself with a dry heart, without knowing what to say, go with confidence to the Virgin Mary. Say to her, “My Mother Immaculate, intercede for me.”
If you invoke her with faith, she will make you taste in the midst of your dryness the proximity of God.
Ref: Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, Furrow, 695
Resolutions -- Make this firm and determined resolution: to recall, when you receive honors and praise, everything that brings you shame and embarassment.
The shame and embarassment are yours; the praise and the glory are God’s.
Ref: St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 252
• On this day a blind man is said to have recovered his sight in the Church of Our Lady of Montserrat, in the year 1538. — Balinghain or. Calend. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Montserrat (cure of a blind man, Spain). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
• Our Lady of Montserrat. Spain. (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• “Nuestra Señora de Montserrat”. Spain. Restoration of sight to a blind man. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Fourviere, France. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• “Notre Dame de Fourviere”. France. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
Monday, April 9, 2012
10 April 2012: The marks of the five wounds in Our Lord’s glorified Body
A prince returning to his kingdom is proud of the wounds he has received in battle. Therefore, we must not be surprised that our Lord chose to bear in his now glorified body the marks of the wounds he received in his glorious combat against sin and death.
He also wished to show us his esteem for suffering and infamy endured in the cause of God, and to encourage us to endure them, too. Suffering and humiliation shall bring us to glory and eternal happiness.
The saints drew their generosity and contempt for the world from contemplating the wounds and humiliations of their Lord. It enabled them to regard fame, honor, and pleasures as nothing.
They rejoiced in suffering as he did hardships, labor, and ignominy. We are stimulated by the desire to resembling him than of acquiring merit by so doing.
These wounds also remind us of what he has done for love of us. To assure us of his never-failing protection; ever open to receive and shelter us.
They are eloquent voices pleading for us before the heavenly throne. How can he who sits thereon refuse his beloved Son whatever he asks?
We often complain of dryness in prayer, even in our visits to the Blessed Sacrament. Of the little love, almost the indifference, we feel for the Person of our Lord; and of our weakness against the innumerable difficulties and temptations.
Our remedy? Let us seek it in the wounds of Jesus.
Let us contemplate them and enter therein in spirit. All causes of complaint will disappear.
In every misery I have found no more efficacious remedy than the wounds of Jesus. Within them I rest in peace and safety. (St Augustine)
Our Lord has, furthermore, retained these wounds to confound the wicked, at the last judgment, who have not profited by his Passion. And to rejoice the elect who have corresponded with the designs of his wonderful and merciful Providence by respecting them.
We wish to be among the elect. Our desire and confidence will be well founded if we earnestly endeavor to form within ourselves the likeness of our crucified God.
Then with what joy shall we press our dying lips upon the five wounds of the crucifix! How we shall rejoice throughout all eternity!
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp190-92
Life of piety
Our Lord withdrew often to pray, perhaps for hours at a time. And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed. (Mk 1:35)
At other times he turned to his Father God with a short prayer, and ejaculation: I give thee praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth ... (Mt 11:25) I thank you, Father, for you have heard me. (Jn 11:41)
Jesus is also moved by the petitions of those who approach him. They are prayers that we, too can use: there is the prayer of the leper who says, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean ... (Mt 8:2-3); of the blind man from Jericho, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me (Lk 18:38-9); and of the good thief’s, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingly power (Lk 23:42-3).
Jesus, moved by these prayers, granted their petitions at once. We may use them as a way of seeking forgiveness, just as the tax collector did, he who returned home justified: God, be merciful to me a sinner (cf Lk 18:13).
I can repeat with St Peter after his denials, Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you (Jn 21:17) -- despite my failings.
To ask for more faith: I believe; help my unbelief (Mk 9:23).
Strengthen my faith: My Lord and my God (Jn 20:28), says Thomas when Jesus appears to him after the Resurrection; a wonderful act of faith as we genuflect before the Tabernacle.
We say, like the disciples of Emmaus, 'Stay with us for it is toward evening; the day is now far spent' (Lk 24:29).
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 2:219-21
Mary, Mother of Knowledge
All the wonders of this earth, the fulfilment of our every ambition, are worthless if the living flame of love burns not within us, unless the light of holy hope gives us a foretaste of never-ending love in our true homeland, heaven. It is with Mary, the Mother of Knowledge that we learn the most important lesson of all, that nothing is worthwhile if we are not close to our Lord.
In me is to be found every grace of doctrine and of truth, every hope of life and of virtue. (Sirach 24:25)
How wise the Church is to put these words on our Mother’s lips so that we, Christians do not forget them. She is our safety, the Love that never fails, the refuge ever open to us, the hand ever ready to caress and console.
One of the early Church Fathers said that we should try to keep in our minds and memories a clear summary of the life of the Mother of God. (cf St John Damascene, Homilies in dormitionem B V Mariae, 2, 19 (PG 96, 751)
I expect you have often referred to handbooks on medicine, mathematics or other subjects for immediate measures to be taken so as to avoid elementary mistakes in these subjects.
In the calm quiet of our prayer, we must often meditate on all we have heard about our Mother. The reward will be that the story of her life will become engraved on our souls. We will find ourselves going to her without hesitation, especially when we have no one else to turn to.
This may sound like self-interest on our part. It is, of course; but then don’t all mothers know that we, children often turn to them only as a last resort?
They know this very well, but it doesn’t worry them. That comes with being a mother. Their disinterested love is able to discern, through our apparent selfishness, our filial affection and our trusting confidence.
I am not suggesting our devotion to Mary should be limited to times of urgent need. Nevertheless, we should not feel humiliated if this happens to us from time to time. Mothers don’t keep a record of their children’s tokens of affection; nor measure them with petty calculations.
Ref: Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, 'Friends of God', 279, 280
Our Lady
-- The love of our Mother will be the breath that kindles into a living flame the embers of virtue that are hidden under the ashes of your indifference. (Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, 'The Way', 492)
-- Most Sweet Heart of Mary, prepare a safe way. Guide our steps on earth with strength and security. Become for us the path we are to follow, since you in your love know the way, a sure short-cut to the love of Jesus Christ.
Ref: St Josemaria Escrivá, 'Christ is passing by', 178
• Our Lady of Laval, in Viverais. This church is much visited for obtaining rain to preserve the fruits of the earth. — Triple Couronne, n. 41. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• “Notre Dame de Laval”. Viverais, France. 1646. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Laval. Viverais, France 1646. (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Our Lady of Laval (1646). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of Laval (Viverais, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
He also wished to show us his esteem for suffering and infamy endured in the cause of God, and to encourage us to endure them, too. Suffering and humiliation shall bring us to glory and eternal happiness.
The saints drew their generosity and contempt for the world from contemplating the wounds and humiliations of their Lord. It enabled them to regard fame, honor, and pleasures as nothing.
They rejoiced in suffering as he did hardships, labor, and ignominy. We are stimulated by the desire to resembling him than of acquiring merit by so doing.
These wounds also remind us of what he has done for love of us. To assure us of his never-failing protection; ever open to receive and shelter us.
They are eloquent voices pleading for us before the heavenly throne. How can he who sits thereon refuse his beloved Son whatever he asks?
We often complain of dryness in prayer, even in our visits to the Blessed Sacrament. Of the little love, almost the indifference, we feel for the Person of our Lord; and of our weakness against the innumerable difficulties and temptations.
Our remedy? Let us seek it in the wounds of Jesus.
Let us contemplate them and enter therein in spirit. All causes of complaint will disappear.
In every misery I have found no more efficacious remedy than the wounds of Jesus. Within them I rest in peace and safety. (St Augustine)
Our Lord has, furthermore, retained these wounds to confound the wicked, at the last judgment, who have not profited by his Passion. And to rejoice the elect who have corresponded with the designs of his wonderful and merciful Providence by respecting them.
We wish to be among the elect. Our desire and confidence will be well founded if we earnestly endeavor to form within ourselves the likeness of our crucified God.
Then with what joy shall we press our dying lips upon the five wounds of the crucifix! How we shall rejoice throughout all eternity!
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp190-92
Life of piety
Our Lord withdrew often to pray, perhaps for hours at a time. And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed. (Mk 1:35)
At other times he turned to his Father God with a short prayer, and ejaculation: I give thee praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth ... (Mt 11:25) I thank you, Father, for you have heard me. (Jn 11:41)
Jesus is also moved by the petitions of those who approach him. They are prayers that we, too can use: there is the prayer of the leper who says, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean ... (Mt 8:2-3); of the blind man from Jericho, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me (Lk 18:38-9); and of the good thief’s, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingly power (Lk 23:42-3).
Jesus, moved by these prayers, granted their petitions at once. We may use them as a way of seeking forgiveness, just as the tax collector did, he who returned home justified: God, be merciful to me a sinner (cf Lk 18:13).
I can repeat with St Peter after his denials, Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you (Jn 21:17) -- despite my failings.
To ask for more faith: I believe; help my unbelief (Mk 9:23).
Strengthen my faith: My Lord and my God (Jn 20:28), says Thomas when Jesus appears to him after the Resurrection; a wonderful act of faith as we genuflect before the Tabernacle.
We say, like the disciples of Emmaus, 'Stay with us for it is toward evening; the day is now far spent' (Lk 24:29).
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, In Conversation with God, 2:219-21
Mary, Mother of Knowledge
All the wonders of this earth, the fulfilment of our every ambition, are worthless if the living flame of love burns not within us, unless the light of holy hope gives us a foretaste of never-ending love in our true homeland, heaven. It is with Mary, the Mother of Knowledge that we learn the most important lesson of all, that nothing is worthwhile if we are not close to our Lord.
In me is to be found every grace of doctrine and of truth, every hope of life and of virtue. (Sirach 24:25)
How wise the Church is to put these words on our Mother’s lips so that we, Christians do not forget them. She is our safety, the Love that never fails, the refuge ever open to us, the hand ever ready to caress and console.
One of the early Church Fathers said that we should try to keep in our minds and memories a clear summary of the life of the Mother of God. (cf St John Damascene, Homilies in dormitionem B V Mariae, 2, 19 (PG 96, 751)
I expect you have often referred to handbooks on medicine, mathematics or other subjects for immediate measures to be taken so as to avoid elementary mistakes in these subjects.
In the calm quiet of our prayer, we must often meditate on all we have heard about our Mother. The reward will be that the story of her life will become engraved on our souls. We will find ourselves going to her without hesitation, especially when we have no one else to turn to.
This may sound like self-interest on our part. It is, of course; but then don’t all mothers know that we, children often turn to them only as a last resort?
They know this very well, but it doesn’t worry them. That comes with being a mother. Their disinterested love is able to discern, through our apparent selfishness, our filial affection and our trusting confidence.
I am not suggesting our devotion to Mary should be limited to times of urgent need. Nevertheless, we should not feel humiliated if this happens to us from time to time. Mothers don’t keep a record of their children’s tokens of affection; nor measure them with petty calculations.
Ref: Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, 'Friends of God', 279, 280
Our Lady
-- The love of our Mother will be the breath that kindles into a living flame the embers of virtue that are hidden under the ashes of your indifference. (Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, 'The Way', 492)
-- Most Sweet Heart of Mary, prepare a safe way. Guide our steps on earth with strength and security. Become for us the path we are to follow, since you in your love know the way, a sure short-cut to the love of Jesus Christ.
Ref: St Josemaria Escrivá, 'Christ is passing by', 178
• Our Lady of Laval, in Viverais. This church is much visited for obtaining rain to preserve the fruits of the earth. — Triple Couronne, n. 41. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• “Notre Dame de Laval”. Viverais, France. 1646. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
• Our Lady of Laval. Viverais, France 1646. (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• Our Lady of Laval (1646). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• Our Lady of Laval (Viverais, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
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