J.M.J.
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Ongoing Reflections VIII
Thursday, October 7, 2010--Memorial of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary
Tuesday, October 5, 2010--Memorial of Saint Mary Faustina
Monday, October 4, 2010--Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi
Saturday, October 2, 2010--Memorial of the Guardian Angels/First Saturday
Friday, October 1, 2010--Memorial of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face/First Friday
Monday, September 27, 2010--Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul
Friday, September 24, 2010--Memorial of Mary, Queen and Mother of Mercy/Memorial of Our Lady of Ransom
Thursday, September 23, 2010--Memorial of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina
Tuesday, September 21, 2010--Feast of Saint Matthew
Sunday, September 19, 2010--25th Sunday/Memorial of Saint Januarius
Saturday, September 18, 2010--Our Blessed Mother
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Thursday, October 7, 2010--Memorial of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary
On this Memorial of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, I ask myself: What does the Most Holy Rosary mean for me?
Thanks to my parents and teachers, I know how to pray the Holy Rosary. I hope that I comprehend its timeless value.
But what does the Holy Rosary mean for me? This inquiry requires additional pondering.
After some head scratching, I came up with three responses out of a possible multitude, each of which cites a privileged "opportunity."
First, the Holy Rosary is for me an opportunity to adore the Most Blessed Trinity, thereby drawing closer to God and making progress along the challenging path to Paradise. Almost two thousand years ago, Jesus invited His Apostles to pray. Above all, praying is the offering of fitting worship and praise to our Creator. Had the Lord never demonstrated His amazing love and abiding compassion for us after the Fall of Adam and Eve, it still would be right--and absolutely necessary--for us to pray as an expression of laud for our Maker.
The Rosary helps me to adore my Beloved Father in Heaven Who constantly extends His unfathomable mercy towards me, my Savior and Brother Jesus Christ Who lives in Sacred Scripture and the Church’s Apostolic Tradition--and is present in a most unique way, as the Prayer after the Divine Praises during Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament puts it, "in every Tabernacle throughout the world, even until the end of time," and my Counselor the Holy Spirit Who inspires me to embrace good fully and avoid evil.
Second, the Holy Rosary is for me an opportunity to answer the urgent summons of Our Lady of Fatima. Six times during 1917, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary appeared to Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco in Fatima, Portugal, encouraging them to pray the Rosary daily for "the end of the War" (World War I). Although that War has concluded, there are plenty of others that seek our attention and elicit our earnest prayers. And, of course, our prayer list filled with diverse needs never ends. Our Blessed Mother uses my humble prayers to work much benefit throughout the universe. The Mother of God knows better than any other human person that prayer is indispensable.
The Rosary helps me to reply affirmatively to Mary's request to pray her Rosary for all the intentions lodged deep in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Third, the Holy Rosary is for me an opportunity to unite myself to all the holy men and women, boys and girls who are reciting (and who have recited) this prayer that Pope John Paul II hails as his "favorite." Imagine the Poor Souls in Purgatory ("The Church Suffering") who prayed the Rosary. Now they look to us to assist them in their plight as they continue onward to the Everlasting Kingdom. Imagine the Saints in Heaven ("The Church Triumphant") who recited the Rosary. With the abundant grace of God, they have achieved their goal of perfect union with Jesus in Paradise. Now they attentively await our arrival. Imagine the Faithful here on earth ("The Church Militant") who presently pray the Rosary. They are convinced of the intercessory power of Our Blessed Lady and recognize her God-given ability to change hearts and minds.
The Rosary helps me to remember always my strong solidarity especially with all the Christians in Heaven, Purgatory and on earth who had and have recourse to the Madonna through the recitation of her Holy Rosary.
All told, the Holy Rosary is an inestimable treasure that I, through no merit of my own, am delighted to possess. May I understand it better and pray it more!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010--Memorial of Saint Mary Faustina
The message of Divine Mercy, which Jesus Himself enunciated to the world during the Twentieth Century in part through Sister Mary Faustina, never grows old. It cannot, for it is always relevant--and necessary.
May the recitation of the Divine Mercy Chaplet become part of our daily lives.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, Mercy Incarnate, have mercy on us! Mary, Mother of Mercy, pray for us! Saint Joseph, Guardian of Mercy, pray for us! Saint Mary Faustina, mouthpiece of Mercy, pray for us!
Monday, October 4, 2010--Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi
How the Saint of Assisi loved God! And Our Lady! And God's Creation!
"Dear Lord, make me like Saint Francis--humble . . . forgiving . . . grateful . . . trusting . . . . I want to imitate his goodness. which is really Your goodness."
We pray for all those named "Francis," both living and deceased.
Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for us.
Saturday, October 2, 2010--Memorial of the Guardian Angels/First Saturday
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma (Rockford, Illinois: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1974) by Ludwig Ott is a useful work that identifies and explains the various teachings of the Church. On this Memorial of the Guardian Angels, which is also the First Saturday of October, let us consider, at least in part, what Dr. Ott wrote about our Angels Guardian.
In commenting on the teaching stated thus, "Every one of the faithful has his own special guardian angel from baptism," Dr. Ott argued that theologians generally have taught that "every human being, including unbelievers, has his own special guardian angel from his birth. This view is biblically founded on the words of Our Lord. Mt. 18, 10: 'See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I say to you that their Angels in Heaven always see the Face of My Father Who is in Heaven. Cf. Acts 12, 15: 'It is his (=Peter's) Angel.'" (pages 120-121)
After mentioning that Saint Basil considered the role of the Guardians Angels to be connected to educating, guiding and directing their charges, and Saint Jerome to that of protecting, Dr. Ott addressed the topic of the veneration to be afforded the Good Angels:
"The veneration by men of the Good Angels is justified both by their glorification by God and their relation to men. That which the Council of Trent teaches as to the invovcation and veneration of the Saints (D 984 et. seq.), may also be applied to the Angels. The rejection of the veneration of the Angels by St. Paul (Col. 2, 18) refers to a false, exaggerated veneration of Gnostic false teachers. St. Justin the Martyr is an early witness to the Church's veneration of the Angels." (page 121)
Holy Guardan Angels, pray for us.
Friday, October 1, 2010--Memorial of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face/First Friday
In her superb autobiography Story of a Soul, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face shared her desire to live diverse vocations in the Church out of love for God: " . . . I feel within me other vocations. I feel the vocation of THE WARRIOR, THE PRIEST, THE APOSTLE, THE DOCTOR, THE MARTYR." She also acknowledged that she had been summoned to be "Carmelite, Spouse, Mother."
The Little Flower explained her wish. "I feel in me the vocation of the PRIEST. With what love, O Jesus, I would carry You in my hands when, at my voice, You would come down from Heaven. And with what love would I give You to Souls! But alas! While desiring to be a Priest, I admire and envy the humility of Saint Francis of Assisi and I feel the vocation of imitating him in refusing the sublime dignity of the Priesthood."
Saint Therese was not attempting to refute the Church's ancient doctrine that declares that ordination to the Sacred Priesthood is reserved only to men. Instead, she confessed her relentless prayer to do as the priest does, namely, to give Christ to hungry souls.
Even if she could accept the God-given gift of the Ordained Priesthood, she asserted, she would refuse because of her personal unworthiness to become an alter Christus. Saint Therese referred to the example of Saint Francis of Assisi who consented to being ordained to the Diaconate but not to the Priesthood.
What can ordained priests as well as other disciples of Christ learn from the Little Flower's moving sentiments?
Priests come away with a renewed sense of their own unworthiness in the sight of the Lord. Who can really claim the privilege of acting in persona Christi ("in the person of Christ")? When priests offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, they take the place of Christ; they possess the awesome authority to "command" Jesus, in the words of Saint Therese, to "come down from heaven." No priest can presume to have earned this precious grace, which hails from God alone.
Other members of the Church also are enriched by meditating on this paragraph in the Story of a Soul. Because of his Baptism, each Christian is called to share the Gospel with his neighbor. This is a serious obligation, not a polite recommendation. With genuine concern for the honor of God and the salvation of souls, one is to "carry" the Savior to others, thereby helping to contribute to their eventual everlasting salvation in Christ.
Saint Therese had a true sense of her own identity: she suffered from no illusions as to what the Lord required of her in her personal vocation as a "Carmelite, Spouse, Mother." She wanted nothing else than to do the Almighty Himself directed her, realizing that submission to the Divine Will is the path to Heaven.
Whether a member of the clergy, a consecrated person or lay person, each of us has a pressing task: to reveal Jesus to those around us. We imitate the "Little Way" of Saint Therese in sharing the Messiah with others, confident that He will bless and strengthen them as He has fortified us.
Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, pray for us!
Monday, September 27, 2010--Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul
The Apostle of Charity, Saint Vincent de Paul, offers to us an excellent example of charity.
Our Blessed Mother was outstanding in the practice of all the virtues. Concerning charity, Our Lady achieved, with the grace of God, new heights that had never been reached before and will never be attained by any other human person.
From the moment of Her Immaculate Conception, Mary of Nazareth had the supernatural virtue of charity, which is the last and the greatest of the three theological virtues mentioned by Saint Paul (see 1 Corinthians 13:13). Writing in The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910), J. F. Sollier defined charity as "a divinely infused habit, inclining the human will to cherish God for His own sake above all things, and man for the sake of God."
The intense love Mary possessed--and still does in Heaven--for Almighty God is indescribable. The ardent charity she had for Her Divine Son, Who is truly God, is also impossible to note adequately. But a certain precision is possible.
InLa Madonna (Mesi di Maggio) [Padua: Gregoriana, 1966], Passionist Father Giacomo Pesce observed: "Jesus was for Her, at the same time, Her Son and Her God; the divine love and the maternal love were not two loves in Her, but one love; that love had as its object the same Person, Who was God and man, Her Creator and Her Offspring." (page 286)
Our Lady loved Christ above all considerations. She gave Herself completely to Him. Mary not even once said "no” to anything He required. Rather, She, rooted in supernatural charity, did as Our Lord directed Her with great joy and confidence in Him.
This amazing love for Our Blessed Lord was also manifested in Her sincere charity towards Her neighbor. Mary spent Herself in loving, cheerful and extended service of all those whom She met.
The charity deep within Mary's pure soul is attractive to us. It inspires us to imitate Her in the practice of charity. By pondering carefully the charity of Our Blessed Mother, we can become more convinced in the splendor of that unspeakable love Mary had for God and others as well as in the divine call we have received to be charitable after the pattern provided to us by the Most Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
What was the source of Mary's charity? The Holy Spirit. What is the source of our charity? The same Holy Spirit.
If we are serious about being charitable, then we must avail ourselves often of the strength of the Holy Spirit coming to us through the Seven Sacraments. These Sacraments give to us the grace that they signify. The two Sacraments we receive most regularly, Penance and the Most Holy Eucharist, are storehouses of God's power. To have recourse to Confession and Holy Communion helps to ensure that we will enjoy charity in our souls, thereby allowing us to imitate Our Blessed Lady in Her remarkable charity.
When so much of the world is devoid of true charity and instead settles for a mean counterfeit that is far from genuine love, we must do our part to put charity where it does not exist. Saint Paul declared: "For the love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all; therefore, all have died." (2 Corinthians 5:14) Once we are constituted in charity, "we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us." (2 Corinthians 5:20)
Our Blessed Mother: a tower of ardent charity inviting us to love as She does.
Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, tireless disciple of the Mother of God, pray for us.
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(Published on page seven of the April 2007 issue of Missio Immaculatae International. Used with permission.)
Friday, September 24, 2010--Memorial of Mary, Queen and Mother of Mercy/Memorial of Our Lady of Ransom
Not only does Our Blessed Mother extend God's mercy to us but also she teaches us that we, too, must be merciful. We must forgive. We must be compassionate.
The Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate (www.parishvisitorsisters.org), an inspiring Religious Institute of Women whose Motherhouse is located in Monroe, New York, publish The Parish Visitor, a helpful quarterly magazine.
In the issue dated Fall 2005, there is on page 18 a beautiful reflection by the Most Reverend James Timlin, D.D., the Bishop Emeritus of Scranton (Pennsylvania), entitled "Love One Another." This meditation derives from his Homily that was given on the first evening of World Youth Day--not a WORLD away, a retreat held August 18-21, 2005 on the grounds at the Sisters’ Marycrest Motherhouse attended by 95 young people in conjunction with World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany.
Let's allow the Bishop to speak to us.
* * *
When the allied soldiers found the Nazi concentration camp at Ravensbruck where about 92,000 women and children died, they found a note tied to a rock alongside a dead woman and child. It is actually a prayer written by one of the women:
"O Lord, when I shall come with glory into Your kingdom, remember not only the men and women of good will; remember also those of ill will.
"But do not only remember the suffering they have inflicted on us. Remember the fruits we bought thanks to this suffering: our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, the courage, the generosity, the greatness of heart which have become part of our lives because of our suffering here.
May the memory of us not be a nightmare to them when they stand in judgment. When they come to judgment, let all the fruits that we have borne be their forgiveness. Amen. Amen. Amen."
Those are the exact words of the prayer that was written on that note.
You look at yourself. Put yourself up against that kind of great love and forgiveness to see how far we have to go. How much road we have to travel to become people who can be so loving and forgiving under those horrendous circumstances, just like our Lord as He was being nailed to the Cross. "Father, forgive them," He said. "They don't know what they are doing."
This is what we mean by "love one another." It's not easy; it never was easy to love your enemies, to love your neighbor. It’s not ever going to be easy. Yet, that is what we are called to be. To be people like that . . . to be young people like that."
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We can't forgive our brothers and sisters unless we are first rooted in the grace of Christ. And what is the primary source of God's sanctifying grace for us? The Seven Sacraments! When we receive the Sacraments worthily and often, we increase in conformity to Jesus Our Risen Lord.
We ask Our Blessed Lady to intercede for us before the throne of the Most Holy Trinity, that we may grow in the likeness of Christ Our King.
Thursday, September 23, 2010--Memorial of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina
Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968) was to the middle part of the twentieth century what Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) was to the latter: a spiritual giant who captured the interest of the world.
Like Mother Teresa, Padre Pio was the real thing. There was nothing pretentious or false about the Franciscan Conventual priest who bore the Stigmata in imitation of the Holy Wounds of Jesus. Using modern parlance, Padre Pio "walked the talk." The same exemplary Christian life he encouraged others to embrace he himself lived.
As the Universal Church commemorates his obligatory liturgical Memorial on September 23, she gladly praises the Lord Who gives the stirring example and lasting legacy of Padre Pio to His sons and daughters.
The quotations of Saint Pio are legion and edifying. Each in itself is matter for reflection and impetus for growth in closer conformity to the Risen Lord Jesus. Here is only a taste of the vast array of "Pioisms."
"You must speak to Jesus also with the heart, besides the lips; indeed, in certain cases you must speak to Him only with the heart."
"Suffering is a gift of God. Blessed is he who knows how to take advantage of it."
"When the Lord will call me, I will say to Him: 'Lord, I will remain at the Gate of Paradise. I will enter there when I see the last of my spiritual children enter.'"
"With what care she (Mary) accompanied me to the Altar this morning! It seemed to me as though she had nothing to think about other than me, filling my heart completely with saintly affections."
"May your soul always be the Temple of the Holy Spirit."
"I would desire to ask you in the Lord to lay down, as much as possible, every fear and to have confidence, faith, love."
"I should like to have a voice strong enough to invite the sinners of the whole world to love Our Lady!"
"I exhort you, through the meekness of Jesus, to have your eyes fixed on Him Who guides you, and on your heavenly homeland, to which He will lead you."
"The world would be better off without the sun than without the Holy Mass."
"The Heart of our Divine Master has no more amiable law than that of sweetness, humility, charity. Often place your confidence in Divine Providence and be assured that sooner Heaven and earth shall pass away than that the Lord neglect to protect you."
"Love the Madonna and pray the Rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today."
"Do not worry over things that generate preoccupation, derangement and anxiety. One thing only is necessary: to lift up your spirit and love God."
"My past, O Lord, to Your Mercy; my present, to Your Love; my future, to Your Providence."
"Crosses are the necklaces of the Spouse and I am jealous of them. My sufferings are pleasant. I only suffer when I don't suffer."
"Remember that it is not a feeling of guilt that constitutes sin but the consent to sin."
"Temptations, discouragement and unrest are the wares offered by the enemy. Remember this: if the Devil makes noise it is a sign that he is still outside and not yet within. That which must terrify us is his peace and concord with the human soul."
"To doubt is the greatest insult to Divinity."
"Let us always think of Heaven."
Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, pray for us!
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Sources:
Padre Pio of Pietrelcina: Letters, Volume I. Correspondence With His Spiritual Directors (1910-1922). Edited by Melchiorre of Pobladura and Alessandro of Ripabottoni. English version edited by Father Gererdo Di Flumerti, O.F.M. Cap. (San Giovanni Rotondo [Foggia], Italy: Our Lady of Grace Capuchin Friary, 1985).
Padre Pio of Pietrelcina:Saint (Goleta, California: Queenship Publishing Company, 2002).
Tuesday, September 21, 2010--Feast of Saint Matthew
On the papal airplane to Great Britain for his recent pilgrimage, Pope Benedict XVI offered a superb answer to the following question posed by a journalist:
"The United Kingdom, like many other Western countries, is considered to be a secular State. There is a strong culturally-motivated atheist movement. Nonetheless, there are also signs that religious faith--particularly faith in Jesus Christ--remains alive at a personal level. What does this mean for Catholics and Anglicans? Can anything be done to make the Church a more credible and attractive institution?"
"In my view, a Church which seeks above all to be attractive is already on the wrong path, because the Church does not work for herself, she does not work to increase her numbers and her power. The Church is at the service of Another. She serves not herself, not to become strong; rather, she serves to make the announcement of Jesus Christ more accessible: the great truths, the great powers of love and reconciliation which appeared in Him and which always come from the presence of Jesus Christ."
Sunday, September 19, 2010--25th Sunday/Memorial of Saint Januarius
Pope Benedict XVI, at the conclusion of today's Beatification Mass for John Henry Cardinal Newman, introduced the recitation of the Angelus thus:
Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ,
I am pleased to send my greetings to the people of Seville where, just yesterday, Madre María de la Purísima de la Cruz was beatified. May Blessed María be an inspiration to young women to follow her example of single-minded love of God and neighbour.
When Blessed John Henry Newman came to live in Birmingham, he gave the name "Maryvale" to his first home here. The Oratory that he founded is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. And the Catholic University of Ireland he placed under the patronage of Mary, Sedes Sapientiae. In so many ways, he lived his priestly ministry in a spirit of filial devotion to the Mother of God. Meditating upon her role in the unfolding of God’s plan for our salvation, he was moved to exclaim: "Who can estimate the holiness and perfection of her, who was chosen to be the Mother of Christ? What must have been her gifts, who was chosen to be the only near earthly relative of the Son of God, the only one whom He was bound by nature to revere and look up to; the one appointed to train and educate Him, to instruct Him day by day, as He grew in wisdom and in stature?" (Parochial and Plain Sermons, ii, 131-2). It is on account of those abundant gifts of grace that we honour her, and it is on account of that intimacy with her divine Son that we naturally seek her intercession for our own needs and the needs of the whole world. In the words of the Angelus, we turn now to our Blessed Mother and commend to her the intentions that we hold in our hearts.
Blessed John Henry Newman, pray for us!
Saturday, September 18, 2010--Our Blessed Mother
On Sunday, September 13, 2009, Pope Benedict gave this reflection before reciting the Angelus with the Faithful who had gathered in the Courtyard of the Papal Residence in Castel Gandolfo:
The Virgin Mary, who believed in the word of the Lord, did not lose her faith in God when she saw her Son rejected, abused and crucified. Rather she remained beside Jesus, suffering and praying, until the end. And she saw the radiant dawn of His Resurrection. Let us learn from her to witness to our faith with a life of humble service, ready to pay personally the price of staying faithful to the Gospel of love and truth, certain that nothing we do will be lost.
Our Blessed Lady is the perennial "good example" from whom we draw much inspiration to go forward in faith even--and especially--when all seems hopeless.
O Sorrowful Mother, pray for us!