Keep
your eyes open!...
May 29, 2020
(Act 1:12-14) Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount that is
called Olivet, which is nigh Jerusalem, within a sabbath day's journey.
And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where
abode Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew
and Matthew, James of Alpheus and Simon Zelotes and Jude the brother of
James. All these were persevering with one mind in prayer with the
women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
PRAYER:
O God, who instructed the hearts of the faithful by the light of the
Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise and ever to
rejoice in consolation.
Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Holy Spirit, spirit of truth, come into our hearts; shed the brightness
of your light upon the nations, so that they may please you in unity of
faith.
Holy Spirit, sweet Guest of my soul, abide in me and grant that I may ever abide in you.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
May the grace of the Holy Spirit enlighten our senses and our hearts.
May our hearts be cleansed, O Lord, by the inpouring of the Holy Spirit
and may he render them fruitful by watering them with his heavenly dew.
With all our heart and voice, we acknowledge, we praise, and we bless
you God the Father unbegotten; God, the only begotten Son; God, the
Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, O holy and undivided Trinity!
PENTECOST: Welcome the Holy Spirit, the soul of the Church
MSGR POPE BLOG: Five Images of the Holy Spirit from Scripture
VATICAN NEWS: Pope Francis to pray the rosary with the Shrines of the world
"Devoted and with one accord to prayer, together with Mary (cf. Acts
1:14)". On this theme Pope Francis will lead the recitation of the
Rosary on Saturday 30 May, joining the Marian Shrines of the world
which, due to the health emergency, have had to interrupt their normal
activities and pilgrimages.
The Pope will once again be close
to humanity in prayer, to ask the Virgin Mary for help amid the
pandemic. The prayer will be broadcast live to the world from the
Grotto of Lourdes in the Vatican Gardens at 5.30.pm Rome time (11:30 am
ET).
The Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization that
promotes the initiative, has given dozens of rosaries to families and
individuals who represent the areas most involved and most affected by
the coronavirus pandemic. These include doctors and nurses, recovered
patients and people who have suffered a loss, a hospital chaplain, a
pharmacist and a journalist, a Civil Defence volunteer with his family
and a family who welcomed their newest member into the world during
this difficult time. They will all be present to express hope.
The Pontifical Council for
Promoting the New Evangelization writes that at the end of this Marian
month, Pope Francis will place the sorrows of all humanity at the feet
of our heavenly Mother, certain that she will not fail to help.
The largest sanctuaries of the five
continents will be connected online. These include Lourdes, Fatima,
Lujan, Milagro, Guadalupe, San Giovanni Rotondo and Pompeii. Archbishop
Rino Fisichella, President of The Pontifical Council for Promoting the
New Evangelization, sent out a letter addressed to the rectors of the
shrines to invite them to organise and promote this special moment of
prayer in accordance with current health regulations and relevant time
zones.
LINK: Catholic Shrine Webcams
ALETEIA: Pope asks us to add these 2 prayers to end of Rosary in month of May
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
27. We who are passionate must constantly pray
to the Lord. For all the dispassionate have progressed from passion to
dispassion.
May 27, 2020
(Joh 17:9-10) I pray for them. I pray
not for the world, but for them whom thou hast given me: because they
are thine. And all my things are thine, and thine are mine: and I am
glorified in them.
EXCERPT PROPHECY OF PIUS XII: "A
day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the
Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that
man has become God, that God’s Son is only a symbol, a philosophy just
like any other. In the churches, Christians will seek in vain for the
red lamp where Jesus waits for them: like the sinful woman weeping
before the empty tomb, they will cry out: “Where have they taken him?”
It will be then that there will arise priests from Africa, from Asia,
from the Americas – who have been formed in the missionary seminaries –
who will speak out and proclaim that the “Bread of Life” is not
ordinary bread and the Mother of the God-Man is not a mother just like
many others. And they will be torn to pieces for having testified that
Christianity is not a religion just like others, because its Head is
the Son of God and the [Catholic] Church is His Church.”
MARK MALLET BLOG: Awakening to the Storm
INTERVIEW: “From Fatima to Civitavecchia, we are living in the Third Secret”
HOMILY FR. ALTIER: May 24, 2020, the Seventh Sunday of Easter
In the Gospel reading today we have the beginning of the “High Priestly
Prayer” of Jesus. This was prayed at the Last Supper, just before our
Lord began His Passion. Many important points are included in this
prayer, but these will be highlighted for us because of the situation
we are in at present.
First of all, in this prayer Jesus pronounces that the Father has given
Him authority over all people so He can give eternal life to the people
the Father has given Him. Authority is given to serve, which is what
our Lord is making clear that He is doing for us. But the question is
not about how our Lord exercises His authority, the question for us is
how we respond to His authority. Are we obedient to what He asks? Do we
seek His will or just strive to carry out our own will? Do we have the
proper respect for Him as our King, our Lord, our Savior, and our God?
This becomes important because in this prayer our Lord says to His
Father that those the Father has given Him have accepted His words,
understood Jesus came from the Father, and believed the Father sent
Jesus. Still, within hours the Apostles had all abandoned Him and,
after His death their faith in Him had completely faltered, and even
after His resurrection some of them still entertained doubts.
This is not to point fingers at the Apostles or at any of our Lord’s
disciples because today it is our turn. We believe Jesus is the Son of
God and we accept His words as the Word of God. We profess Him, with
Thomas, to be our Lord and God. But is this just in our minds or have
these convictions entered into our hearts? As things beome
progressively more ugly for the Church and spiritual darkness descends
upon our world, we may be tempted to abandon Jesus. When the Church is
crucified, we may be the ones entertaining doubts.
Before the time of the Church’s crucifixion, there must be a Passion.
This is because the Church is the Mystical Person of Christ and the
Bride of Christ, so the life of Christ must be lived in her and through
her. Therefore, it may happen that some of us will need to suffer
various trials because of our faith in Jesus. Are you willing to do
that? Some trials may be fairly easy. St. Peter tells us in the second
reading that if we are insulted for the Name of Christ we are blessed
and the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon us. And that, just for
being insulted!
Imagine the glory and grace from the Holy Spirit that will be poured
upon those who are arrested, beaten, or even put to death because of
their faith in Jesus. This is why St. Peter tells us to rejoice to the
extent that we share in the sufferings of Christ. On the surface it
does not seem to be a cause for rejoicing, but if we are bearing these
sufferings out of love and, especially if we can understand the grace
and glory given to us for sharing in the sufferings of our Lord, then
we can see there is great cause for rejoicing. After all, in the Gospel
Jesus prayed that His Father would give Him glory so He could glorify
the Father. This refers, not to the resurrection and ascension, but to
our Lord’s Passion and death.
Ask yourself honestly what you think your response would be if you
found yourself in a situation of others harrassing you or threatening
you because of your faith. We would all like to think we would never
deny our Lord, but Peter had that same confidence at the Last Supper
and denied our Lord three times in the subsequent hours. This reminds
us that we are weak and, if the conditions were right, we could also
deny our Lord. It is not that we want to do so, but we can never be
confident of our own strength and ability.
Notice that after the Apostles had learned the very important truth of
their own weakness and the need to be dependent on God, that they
gathered together in prayer. Most importantly, they were there with our
Lady who taught them. Our Lady is the only one who remained completely
faithful to Jesus and never harbored a doubt. This is because she was
convinced of her own nothingness and, therefore, looked to God for
everything.
This is the lesson we all need to learn and it is best learned from our
holy Mother. This is her time, this is her work! Pray and remain close
to Mary; She will keep you faithful to Jesus.
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
26. Faith gives wings to prayer, and without it
we cannot fly up to Heaven.
May 25, 2020
(Mat 10:28) And fear ye not them that
kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him
that can destroy both soul and body in hell.
ED. CONDON: On the unreasonableness of it all
MINNESOTA CATHOLIC CONFERENCE: Letter to Catholic Faithful of MN Concerning the Resumption of Public Worship
CATHOLIC WORLD REPORT: Let the Dead Bury Their Dead
FROM THE MAILBAG: Father Rutler's Weekly Column
In these days of closures, which must soon end, I am able to offer Mass
quietly for the intentions of parishioners and others, and I often take
the opportunity to use the Extraordinary Form, whose beautiful cadences
end with the “Last Gospel.” This Johannine Prologue in hymnodic verse
concluded the Liturgy from the earliest days of the Faith, as a
reminder that “the Word was made flesh” and, by being received into the
flesh of communicants, makes them living tabernacles commissioned to
take Christ into the world. He is the Light that shines in the
darkness, and “the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).
The present pandemic has spread a cultural darkness that contrasts with
the growing brightness of late spring days. Any amateur artist, if
untutored, must learn by experiment that the brightest colors in his
paint box are brilliant on canvass not by themselves but by contrast
with dark tones. There is remnant evidence that this application in art
goes back about 2,500 years to the Athenian muralist Apollodorus. It
may seem obvious, but it was not so until it was tried, and in fact it
was gradually forgotten until rediscovered in the Renaissance. The
contrast of light and dark, chiaroscuro, was mastered by the likes of
Leonardo, Caravaggio and then Rembrandt and Vermeer. It conveys
brooding as well as rejoicing, and “film noir” of modern cinematography
made as much use of darkness as earlier art made of light.
It remains to be seen if what we call normalcy will be restored. It is
certain that “things will never be the same” because things present by
definition can never be what they used to be. Whether this be good or
bad depends on what is learned from having passed from darkness into
light (cf. Isaiah 9:2). This is the Gospel essence that the first
Christians gave to a world that had accustomed itself to a life of
shadows. “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in
the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).
During these long weeks, the absence of votive lights in a darkened
church has contrasted with the candles that used to burn here, and I
hope that soon there will be even more lit than before. But all this
time, a lamp has burned before the Blessed Sacrament.
One recalls that passage from Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisited
describing the sanctuary lamp in a desolate chapel during the darkness
of a World War: “. . . the flame which the old knights saw from their
tombs, which they saw put out; that flame burns again for other
soldiers, far from home, farther, in heart, than Acre or Jerusalem. It
could not have been lit but for the builders and the tragedians, and
there I found it this morning, burning anew among the old stones.”
SIGN.ORG: How St. Charles Borromeo Fought the Deadly Virus in Milan as Fearless Pastor
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
25. Rise from love of the world and love of pleasure,
lay aside cares, strip your mind, renounce your body; because prayer is
nothing other than estrangement from the world, visible and invisible.
For what have I in heaven? Nothing. And what have I desired on earth beside
Thee? Nothing, but to cling continually to Thee in prayer without distraction.
To some, wealth is pleasant; to others, glory; to others, possessions;
but my wish is to cling to God, and to put the hope (Cf. Ps 72, 26-28)
of my dispassion in Him.
May 21, 2020
(Act 1:10-11) And
while they were beholding him going up to heaven, behold two men stood
by them in white garments. Who also said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand
you looking up to heaven? This Jesus who is taken up from you into
heaven, shall so come as you have seen him going into heaven.
SAINT JOHN PAUL II (1979):
Dear sons, be imbued with the hope that is so much a part of the
mystery of the Ascension of Jesus. Be deeply conscious of Christ’s
victory and triumph over sin and death. Realize that the strength of
Chist is greater than our weakness, greater than the weakness of the
whole world. Try to understand and share the joy that Mary experienced
in knowing that her Son had taken his place with his Father, whom he
loved infinitely. And renew your faith today in the promise of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has gone to prepare a place for us, so that he can
come back again and take us to himself.
This is the mystery of the
Ascension of our Head. Let us always remember: Jesus gave instructions,
and then Jesus took his place. Amen.
CATHOLIC PODCAST: The Ascension Of Jesus | Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen
EXCERPT B.C. CATHOLIC: We are blessed to be living in post-Ascension times
We sometimes wish we could have
lived in the time of Jesus, when we could actually see, hear, and touch
him. We wonder why he did not stay with us more than 40 days after his
Resurrection (as we hear in the First Reading).
Apparently Jesus did not think it
important for us to see him with our physical eyes. In fact, when
Thomas demanded physical proof that Jesus had risen from the dead (as
we heard a few Sundays ago), Jesus said to him, “You became a believer
because you saw me. Blessed are they who have not seen and have
believed.” In other words, we have the advantage: in fact, we are
“blessed” precisely in not having seen him.
Jesus left us, Pope Leo the Great
said, so that faith “might be more excellent and stronger.” After the
Ascension, the apostles experienced the “blessedness” Jesus had spoken
of to Thomas, for “their faith did not fail, their hope did not waver,
and their love did not grow cold.” Instead, they lifted “the whole
contemplation of their mind to the godhead of him who sat at the
Father’s right hand.”
Bodily sight no longer hindered them from directing their minds to him
who “had never quitted the Father’s side in descending to earth, and
had not forsaken the disciples in ascending to heaven.” When Jesus was
among them bodily, they could touch his body; but by his body “he is
less than the Father,” Pope Leo said.
Now, with their “better instructed
faith,” they “began to draw closer to a conception of the Son’s
equality with the Father,” realizing that “in an ineffable manner” he
had begun to be “nearer to the Father in respect of his godhead, after
having become further away in respect of his manhood.” They began to
realize that “he who descended is the very one who ascended high above
the heavens, that he might fill all men with his gifts.”
VIA UNIVERSALIS: Ascension Hymn
Hail the day that sees him rise, alleluia!
to his throne above the skies; alleluia!
Christ, the Lamb for sinners given, alleluia!
enters now the highest heaven! alleluia!
There for him high triumph waits; alleluia!
lift your heads, eternal gates! alleluia!
he hath conquered death and sin; alleluia!
take the King of glory in! alleluia!
Lo! the heaven its Lord receives, alleluia!
yet he loves the earth he leaves; alleluia!
though returning to his throne, alleluia!
still he calls mankind his own. alleluia!
Still for us he intercedes, alleluia!
his prevailing death he pleads, alleluia!
near himself prepares our place, alleluia!
he, the first-fruits of our race. alleluia!
Lord, though parted from our sight, alleluia!
far above the starry height, alleluia!
grant our hearts may thither rise, alleluia!
seeking thee above the skies. alleluia!
There we shall with thee remain, alleluia!
partners of thy eternal reign, alleluia!
there thy face forever see, alleluia!
find our heaven of heavens in thee, alleluia!
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
24. For everyone, and especially for those who
have come to the King in order to receive remission of their debt, unutterable
contrition is necessary. As long as we are still in prison, let us listen
to Him who speaks to Peter (Vid. Acts 12:8): Put on the garment of obedience,
cast off your own wishes and, stripped of them, approach the Lord in your
prayer, invoking His will alone. Then you will receive God, Who guides
the helm of your soul and pilots you safely.
May 20, 2020
(Joh 6:53-56) Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you:
except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you
shall not have life in you. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last
day. For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink
indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in
me: and I in him.
CRISIS MAGAZINE: Where Do We Go From Here? by Fr. Matthew Solomon
ANGELUS: Catholic doctors behind new ‘road map’ to reopening churches say sacraments are essential
A blue-ribbon panel of Catholic doctors from some of the nation’s top
research hospitals and universities says churches should be able to
reopen “as safely as other essential services,” after being shut down
for more than two months due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
In a document published on the Catholic Medical Association
website and sent out to the nation’s bishops last week, the
seven-member panel offered a “road map” for the nation’s churches,
including guidance on how to hear confessions and resume public
celebrations of the Eucharist.
“I believe that churches can be just as safe, if not at times safer
than so-called ‘essential businesses,’ provided they take the
precautions that are recommended in this document,” said Dr. Anushree
Shirali, a nephrologist at the Yale University School of Medicine who
has been treating coronavirus dialysis patients since the pandemic
broke out in March.
CATHOLIC WORLD REPORT: Bishop Joseph Strickland on the COVID-19 pandemic, resuming public Masses
VIA FACEBOOK:
DESMOND BIRCH, AUTHOR OF TRIAL, TRIBULATION, AND TRIUMPH: The Difference Between Trusting and Tempting God!
Brothers and Sisters, I received questions as to whether I had
personally been experiencing such pressures or demands that I violate
my well-formed conscience on something. I told them yes, but didn’t go
into details – as I wasn’t out to embarrass anyone. Requests were then
made that I at least explain my last post more closely. So here goes.
It begins in a Gospel admonition of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is based
on Mt. 4:7: THOU SHALT NOT TEMPT THE LORD THY GOD. But am including
what precedes it, beginning with 4:5 in order to get the context.
5 Then the devil took him [Jesus] to the Holy City, and set him on the
pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of
God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will give his angels
charge of you.’ And ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you
strike your foot against a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again
it is written, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ “
Now comes the commentary from The Navarre Bible on this same verse
seven above: 7. Jesus rejects the second temptation as he did the
first; to do otherwise would have been to tempt God. In rejecting it,
he uses a phrase from Deuteronomy (6:16): “You shall not put the Lord
your God to the test”. In this way he alludes also to the passage in
Exodus where the Israelites demand a miracle of Moses. The latter
replies, “Why do you put the Lord to the proof” (Ex 17:2).
The Commentary now explains the meaning of Verse 7: To tempt God is the
complete opposite of having trust in him. IT MEANS PRESUMPTUOUSLY
PUTTING OURSELVES IN THE WAY OF UNNECESSARY DANGER, gratuitously
counting on his extraordinary help. We would also tempt him if, by our
unbelief and arrogance, if we were to ask him for signs of proof. The
very first lesson from this passage of the Gospel is that if a person
were to ask or demand extraordinary proofs or signs from God, he would
clearly be tempting him. [The Navarre commentary ends here.]
So, the point to the above which is of particular concern here, is that
one is not to put oneself unnecessarily in danger – and then attempt to
justify such reckless acts by saying, “I’ll go ahead and engage in
unnecessarily dangerous acts - because I trust in God. I’m then not
afraid to jump into a fire due to my erroneous belief/thought that
since I believe in God he will keep the fire from burning me. That is
NOT what Our Lord teaches us to do in the Gospel. Jesus tells the devil
that the Scriptures say not to do that – thereby assuming that God will
keep us from suffering the consequences of our own stupidity.
I’ll give you an example. My diocese has, during the coronavirus,
approved public Masses in the parishes – i.e., Masses which do not
unnecessarily compromise people who have underlying conditions – thus
making the Covid-19 virus particularly dangerous and deadly for them.
Rather than unnecessarily flirting with danger to such people during
crowded Sunday Masses – the Masses are primarily being held in the
parking lots of parishes. That is a quite reasonable answer to the
problem – and is quite viable.
That approach does not “tempt the Lord” – does not expect the Lord to
directly intervene such that people at risk will not have to
unnecessarily place themselves in great danger by attending Mass where
sufficient distance between people CANNOT be maintained – and there is
NOT sufficient air circulation to keep contaminants from building up
from people who have been infected by the virus. Sts. Augustine, Thomas
Aquinas et al. make the same point. One cannot presume upon God
divinely intervening in some unnecessary danger in which we
PRESUMPTIOUSLY place ourselves.
When we run into a fellow Catholic Christian who does not appear to
understand these traditional teachings of the Church and is pressuring
for or recommending unnecessarily dangerous activities – we should
always give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are
simply ignorant of them. We should never assume that they are willfully
in dissent from them.
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
23. If we are not alone at the time of prayer,
then let us imprint within ourselves the character of one who prays.
But if the ministers of praise are not with us, we may make even our outward
attitude conform to a state of prayer. For in the case of the imperfect,
the mind often conforms to the body.
May 18, 2020
(Jas 2:12-13) So speak ye and so do, as being to be judged by the law
of liberty. For judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy.
And mercy exalteth itself above judgment.
CNA: Polish bishops launch #ThankYouJohnPaul2 campaign for pope’s birth centenary
POLISH BISHOPS CONFERENCE: Benedict XVI: John Paul II is not a moral rigorist, he showed forth the Mercy of God
The Pope emeritus notes, that Let us leave open the question of whether
the epithet „the great” will prevail or not. It is true that God’s
power and goodness have become visible to all of us in John Paul II. In
a time when the Church is again suffering from the oppression of evil,
he is for us a sign of hope and confidence” – highlighted the Pope
Emeritus.
Benedict XVI reminds us that Karol
Wojtyla was born at a time when Poland regained its independence, which
gave birth to great hope, but also demanded much hardship, as the new
State, in the process of Her reorganization, continued to feel the
pressure of the two Powers of Germany and Russia..” ” Of course, Karol
not only studied theology in books but also through his experience of
the difficult situation that he and his Country found itself in. This
is somewhat a characteristic of his whole life and work. He studied
books but the questions that they posed became the reality that he
profoundly experienced and lived. As a young Bishop – as an Auxiliary
Bishop since 1958 and then Archbishop of Kraków from 1964 – the Second
Vatican Council became the school of his entire life and work” – wrote
the Pope Emeritus.
He added that at the time of the
election of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla as successor of Saint. Peter, the
church was in a dramatic situation. „The deliberations of the Council
had been presented to the public as a dispute over the Faith itself,
which seemed to deprive the Council of its infallible and unwavering
sureness”. „Therefore, in essence, an almost impossible task was
awaiting the new Pope. Yet, from the first moment on, John Paul II
aroused new enthusiasm for Christ and his Church. His words from the
sermon at the inauguration of his pontificate: “Do not be afraid! Open,
open wide the doors for Christ!” This call and tone would characterize
his entire pontificate and made him a liberating restorer of the
Church. This was conditioned by the fact that the new Pope came from a
country where the Council’s reception had been positive: one of a
joyful renewal of everything rather than an attitude of doubt and
uncertainty in all” – emphasizes Benedict XVI.
He also reminded that Saint Pope
John Paul II “traveled the world, having made 104 pastoral voyages,
proclaiming the Gospel wherever he went as a message of joy, explaining
in this way the obligation to defend what is Good and to be for
Christ”. „In his 14 Encyclicals, he comprehensively presented the faith
of the Church and its teaching in a human way. By doing this, he
inevitably sparked contradiction in Church of the West, clouded by
doubt and uncertainty” – he stressed.
The Pope Emeritus also recalls his
own personal reflection, remembering the situation, where St. John Paul
II suggest to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which he,
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger headed, that on dominica in albis, which
traditionally falls in the week after Easter, the whole church
celebrate the new feast day, that of the Divine Mercy. “We responded
negatively because such an ancient, traditional and meaningful date
like the Sunday “in Albis” concluding the Octave of Easter should not
be burdened with modern ideas. It was certainly not easy for the Holy
Father to accept our reply. Yet, he did so with great humility and
accepted our negative response a second time. Finally, he formulated a
proposal that left the Second Sunday of Easter in its historical form
but included Divine Mercy in its original message. There have often
been similar cases in which I was impressed by the humility of this
great Pope, who abandoned ideas he cherished because he could not find
the approval of the official organs that must be asked according
established norms” – recalls Benedict XVI „It is finally, beyond this
objective historical significance, indispensable for everyone to know
that in the end God’s mercy is stronger than our weakness. Moreover, at
this point, the inner unity of the message of John Paul II and the
basic intentions of Pope Francis can also be found: John Paul II is not
the moral rigorist as some have partially portrayed him. With the
centrality of divine mercy, he gives us the opportunity to accept moral
requirement for man, even if we can never fully meet it. Besides, our
moral endeavors are made in the light of divine mercy, which proves to
be a force that heals for our weakness” – he wrote.
„The Pope Emeritus also recalls the
moment, in which Archbishop Leonardo Sandri informed him of the death
of St. John Paul II.. Above all, the moment when the great bell of St.
Peter’s took up this message remains unforgettable. On the day of his
funeral, there were many posters with the words “Santo subito!” It was
a cry that rose from the encounter with John Paul II from all sides.
Not from the square but also in different intellectual circles the idea
of giving John Paul II the title “the Great” was discussed” – he
pointed out.
CNA: The next hundred years of St. John Paul II’s legacy
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Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
22. Soiled prayer is one thing, its disappearance
is another, robbery another, and blemish another. Prayer is soiled
when we stand before God and picture to ourselves irrevelant and inopportune
thoughts. Prayer is lost when we are captured by useless cares.
Prayer is stolen from us when our thoughts wander before we realize it.
Prayer is blemished by any kind of attack or interruption that comes to
us at the time of prayer.
May 15, 2020
(Rev 5:8-10) And when he had opened the book, the four living creatures
and the four and twenty ancients fell down before the Lamb, having
every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours, which are the
prayers of saints. And they sung a new canticle, saying: Thou art
worthy, O Lord, to take the book and to open the seals thereof: because
thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God, in thy blood, out of every
tribe and tongue and people and nation: And hast made us to our God a
kingdom and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.
SHIELD OF FAITH BLOG
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For Animal Lovers: St. Alphonsus and God's Creatures
St. Alphonsus – Bi-location, Levitation, and Prophecy
ST. JUDE SHRINE: St. Jude Thaddeus, The Patron Saint of the Impossible
FROM THE MAILBAG
VIA David J Sheehan: My Saint Jude Story
When I moved up to the DFW Metroplex from Houston in 1996, I took a job
with a promising company that was growing rapidly. I felt my new life
in DFW was assured. My wife sold the house in Houston and we were all
together up here: my wife and I, our crazy teenagers and our big dog.
Everything looked great.
Then, I noticed that the owner was secluding himself in his office more
and more with his door shut. One day I am called into a meeting with
the owner and some men I had never seen before. One of them started
asking me questions of a financial nature about the company. It took me
a moment to realize that the company was being sold and by implication,
my job was going up in smoke (and it was not incense!).
So, I cooperated during the sale as best as I could while knowing my
time was running out and my job would be eliminated. During this time,
I went down to St Patrick's Cathedral in downtown Fort Worth and asked
God for help.
As I was leaving the church, I saw a St Jude holy card. I had never
thought much about St Jude before but I knew he was the patron saint of
desperate and hopeless cases. I included myself in category numero uno.
A short time later, I received a call. I had responded to an ad for a
temporary Controller (Chief Accountant). The company's outside CPA
reviewed my resume and wanted me to meet the owners. Now, he advised me
that the company was owned by four brothers who were in the midst of
selling. I thought this job will be a real mess with family fights and
it won't last that long, but I did need to sharpen my interviewing
skills so I accepted the interview. I did not expect anything to come
of it.
One of the owners called me up, gave me directions to the plant and set
the time for the interview. When I arrived at the plant, I was lead
into a small conference room where two of the owners were sitting.
Then, I spied in the corner, a huge statue of St Jude!
Well, I surrendered right there and agreed to everything they asked of
me. I figured this is a "God" thing and I had better go along with the
program, whatever the "program" might be!
Needless to say, they offered me the job and I had a great time working
with the four brothers for five years. We finally sold the company on
our terms and won a great victory for Saint Jude!
So, Saint Jude is indeed the patron saint of hopeless and desperate
cases. If you ask his help, he will intercede with God on your behalf,
but there is no free ride. To achieve your goal, it must be something
good. It will require quite a bit of effort. He may to be slow to
respond but he is never late.
LINK TO DONATE TO ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL: https://www.stjude.org/donate/donate-to-st-jude.html?sc_icid=header-btn-donate-now
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
21 (cont.) A great practiser of high and perfect
prayer says: 'I had rather speak five words with my understanding', and
so on (1 Cor 14:9). But such prayer is foreign to infant souls. Therefore,
imperfect as we are, we need not only quality but a considerable time for
our prayer, because the latter paves the way for the former. For it is
said: 'Giving pure prayer to him who prays resolutely, though it be soiled,
yer performed with labour' (Cf. 1 Kings 2:9).
May 13, 2020
(Rom 6:8-11) Now, if we be dead with
Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ.
Knowing that Christ, rising again from the dead, dieth now no more.
Death shall no more have dominion over him. For in that he died to sin,
he died once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. So do you also
reckon that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus
our Lord.
REGINA PROPHETARUM AUDIO HOMILY: Saint Rocco: One Who Is Already Dead Is Not Afraid of Death
CRISIS MAGAZINE: In Search of Father Damien
“I make
myself a leper with the lepers to gain all to Jesus Christ. That is
why, in preaching, I say ‘we lepers,’ not, ‘my brethren.’ ” — Saint
Damien of Molokai
The history of the Church during pandemic is full of saints who were miraculously defended from disease.
REPORT: Army Lays Siege to Fatima
For the first time in history, the
May 13 services marking the 103rd anniversary of Our Lady's first
apparition to Lúcia dos Santos and Francisco and Jacinta Marto at Cova
da Iria will be held without the presence of pilgrims, due to the Wuhan
virus pandemic.
ANALYSIS
A theologian analyzes the morality of the cancellation of public Masses and the closure of churches by the State
Cdl. Müller: No bishop has the right to ban public Masses
Why God hides his face
FR ESPER EXHORTATION: Life On Earth: A Serious Business
Life on earth is a serious
business, because it determines where we’ll spend eternity. Jesus once
warned His followers, “strive to enter through the narrow gate, for the
gate that leads to destruction is wide and the road is broad, and many
choose to follow it” (Mt. 8:13). Those who accept and follow Jesus find
the path that leads to eternal life, but those who reject Him risk
eternal damnation. That’s why, on the day of Pentecost, Peter spoke to
the people with a sense of urgency, telling them to be baptized in
Christ’s Name, and exhorting them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt
generation.” St. Peter also talks about Jesus as the only source of
salvation, and reminds us, “For you had gone astray like sheep, but you
have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.” We have
received the gift of salvation, but it’s up to us to hold onto it by
remaining united to Christ. As Our Lord says, “I am the gate for the
sheep . . . Whoever enters through Me will be saved, and will come in
and go out and find pasture.” Jesus alone can help us find the way to
true freedom, inner peace, and everlasting happiness.
There’s a passage from St. Paul’s
2nd Letter to Timothy that describes our day almost perfectly; it says,
“For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine,
but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will
accumulate [exotic] teachers and will stop listening to the truth and
will be diverted to myths” (4:3-4). For at least fifty years now, we’ve
been living in this time: an era in which our once-Christian society
has become fascinated by Far Eastern religions, the New Age Movement,
and bizarre religious cults, including such examples as the so-called
Course in Miracles, Scientology, the Worldwide Church of God, Hare
Krishna, the Unification Church, Transcendental Meditation, Wicca, and
paganism. Some of these deceptions have infiltrated various Christian
churches and even some Catholic parishes and religious orders. There
are certain religious sisters, for instance, who practice and teach New
Age meditation techniques; there are others who’ve rejected the idea of
obedience to Christ as being nothing more than a means used by the male
leadership of the Church to control them. Instead, they demand the
ordination of women, pretend to celebrate Mass without a
validly-ordained male priest present, and use a form of so-called
creation spirituality to get in touch with and exalt their feminine
nature. One graphic example of this was created some years back: a
large crucifix in which Christ was portrayed as a woman—a blasphemous
piece of art called “Christa.”
It’s no wonder very liberal or avante garde religious orders like
these, and some entire Christian denominations, are losing members and
dying out, whereas traditional and faithful ones are thriving; Jesus
Himself said that His sheep follow Him, but they will run away from a
stranger. It is our responsibility to make sure we’re not following a
stranger, or false shepherd, by mistake—and Our Lord provides us with
all the spiritual resources we need to avoid danger and find our way to
Him. First of all, we must pray for His guidance, asking to be
enlightened by the Holy Spirit with His wisdom and truth. Secondly, we
must pray that He will provide us with good shepherds, faithful
spiritual leaders who genuinely care for His flock. Thirdly, we must
reject any moral shortcuts and any ideas that contradict Scripture,
Sacred Tradition, and the teaching of the Church—no matter how popular
or alluring they may be. Fourthly, we must be willing to accept
correction from those who have spiritual authority over us, listening
to them humbly and taking their words to heart. Lastly, we ourselves
must uphold Christ’s truth by our words and deeds, influencing others
by our example, fidelity, and loving support as they too search for the
truth.
Challenging times like these should
make us more aware of what matters in life, and more determined not to
be led astray. So many people today are traveling down easy and
attractive spiritual dead ends. Jesus alone is the gateway to eternal
life—and only by taking up our cross each day and remaining united to
Him in the Church He established can we achieve the purpose of our
existence, and help others do the same.
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
21. If you constantly train your mind never to
wander, then it will be near you during meals too. But if it wanders unrestrained,
then it will never stay beside you.
May 10, 2020
(Psa 131:1-2) Lord, my heart is not
exalted: nor are my eyes lofty. Neither have I walked in great matters,
nor in wonderful things above me. If I was not humbly minded, but
exalted my soul: As a child that is weaned is towards his mother, so
reward in my soul.
ST JOHN PAUL II:
Mary is the “figure” of the Church: “For in the mystery of the Church,
herself rightly called mother and virgin, the Blessed Virgin came first
as an eminent and singular exemplar of both virginity and motherhood …
The Son whom she brought forth is He whom God placed as the first-born
among many brethren (cf. Rom 8: 29),namely, among the faithful. In
their birth and development she cooperates with a maternal love.”
HISTORY: Mary Undoer of Knots
VIDEO: The Existence of MOM - Fr. Mark Goring, CC
EXCERPT FATHER KIRBY: On Mother’s Day, we should ponder Mary and her closeness to Jesus
What would we do without our mothers? Who would we be without the work and witness of a mother in our lives?
Sadly, some people can answer those
questions. But most of us couldn’t imagine life without our mothers, or
what our life would have become without a mother.
As we reflect on the dedication,
hard work, and irreplaceability of mothers in our lives and in our
extended families, we should use this opportunity to reflect on the
close relationship between Mary and the Lord Jesus.
As we acknowledge the importance of
mothers in our own lives, and feel the suffering of when they’re not
around for whatever duration of time, then certainly the Lord Jesus
could understand. He was completely God and fully human. He came to us
“born of a woman.” He didn’t fall from the sky or spring up from the
ocean. The Lord Jesus was born into a family. He had a foster father
and a mother. He knew of his mother’s love and relied on her strength
throughout his life.
At the beginning of the life of the
Lord Jesus, the archangel called Mary of Nazareth “full of grace,” told
her she would bear an anointed son, and then the Holy Spirit brought
about the incarnation of the Son of God within her womb. At the very
moment of the Lord’s incarnation, Mary received the vocation of
motherhood. The two are intricately intertwined. The mission of the
Lord Jesus is connected to the motherhood of Mary.
Virginally conceived, Jesus was
warmed by his mother virginal heart. In his birth and throughout his
childhood, he was surrounded by his mother’s generous faith, hard work,
and selfless love. Under the care and teaching of his mother and foster
father, Jesus’ human nature slowly matured for his saving mission.
As on earth, so into eternity,
Jesus honors Mary’s devotedness as his mother and shows her the love of
a devoted son. In light of her maternal vocation, she holds a
privileged place in his life and mission.
Mary knows who Jesus is. She is
conscious of his redeeming mission among us. On account of this
awareness, he welcomes her into his own mission. From the crib to the
cross, from the Annunciation, to Pentecost, to her own Assumption,
throughout all her various apparitions through the ages, Mary is
beloved of her Son, she works hard, and she actively participates in
his saving mission.
MORE: A Mother’s Faith
The Most
Important Person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor of
having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built
something more magnificent than any cathedral—a dwelling for an
immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby's body...The angels have
not been blessed with such a grace. They cannot share in God's creative
miracle to bring new saints to Heaven. Only a human mother can. Mothers
are closer to God the Creator than any other creature; God joins forces
with mothers in performing this act of creation... What on God's good
earth is more glorious than this: to be a mother? —Venerable Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
20. One kind of joy occurs at the time of prayer
for those living in a community, and another comes to those who pray in
stillness. The one is perhaps somewhat elated, but the other is wholly
filled with humility.
May 8, 2020
(Php
4:6-7)
Be nothing solicitous: but in every thing, by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God. And the
peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus.
“Prayer
is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness,
a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness.” -St. John Chrysostom
VATICAN NEWS: Pope urges prayers to the Virgin during hard times
During the General Audience Pope Francis invites the faithful to
pray to the Virgin Mary reminding them that May 8 is the feast of Our
Lady of Lujan, the Patroness of Argentina. The same day, a traditional
petition will be made to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Pompei, Italy.
VIA FACEBOOK:
DESMOND BIRCH, AUTHOR OF TRIAL, TRIBULATION, AND TRIUMPH:
I find that quite a number of
people today are getting somewhere between depressed to desperate about
the state of things in this world. It is only natural that if this
emotional tension is allowed to go on in their lives – they start
looking for some hole to crawl into. How do I know? Because I went
through all this in the 1970’s.
What I think we are entering into
now is a period and event foretold by quite literally many dozens of
Canonized Saints, Blessed, Venerable and other holy Catholic souls who
are approved by the Church. I’ve always referred to this event as a
‘chastisement’ – most specifically – as the ‘Minor Chastisement’.
In this period, the vast majority
of the willfully malicious enemies of Christ and his Church are
foretold to die. Only a small percentage of Jesus’ willful enemies will
be left to convert to Him – and be allowed to live to give witness to
what they were and what, by the grace of God, they will then become,
baptized members of His Church, faithful members of his Mystical Body.
For years as a much younger married
man, I kept looking for ‘the safe place’ I could take my family to keep
them from what was coming. I thought of Portugal and Ireland, even
South America, etc. I finally realized, finally admitted to myself,
that each area I looked at as possible safe haven also had Church
approved prophets who prophesied the same kind of Chastisement as in
other places.
According to all the Saints,
Blessed, & Venerable who speak of this period – this Minor
Chastisement will not be avoidable anywhere! It will be shared by all!
That is when and why I finally
buckled down to the understanding that the Church knows what she is
talking about when She dogmatically teaches us that the Church is, and
her members are, OBLIGATED to Evangelize through their acts and words
on the highways and byways, in their cities, towns, neighborhoods, etc.
The immensely rare occasion of
monks and nuns who are validly called to live the life of a hermit (in
a remote place?) – doesn’t apply to the other 99.9999% of the rest of
us. Our job is to be active witnesses for Christ – first by the way we
live our faith daily in LOVE OF GOD AND NEIGHBOR, IN HOPE and, after
acting like a Christian, witnessing with words of that love. That is
cryptically summed up by both St. Francis of Assisi and St. Theresa of
Calcutta.
Since I woke up to the fact that
that is both the message of God’s authentic prophets as well as the
Dogmatic teaching of the Church - I have simply come to try, to the
best of my ability, to live every day as if it were my last [rather
than trying to look for some safe hole to crawl into].
I don’t know if I’ll even be alive
this afternoon in a couple of hours, let alone tomorrow. If I don’t
live every day as if it were my last, and live and speak as a faithful
living witness to others for Christ and His Church, what will I tell
Him at my judgment? Will he buy into the excuse that I needed to try to
find a hidden or remote place with no risks??? I learned from the
Church and Her Saints that there is no way or place to be a faithful
Christian without risk.
The oral tradition of the Church
tells us that when Nero’s persecution was at its height in Rome, St.
Peter - knowing the pagan Romans were looking for him to put him to
death - took off down the Apian Way as he left Rome. Suddenly there was
Jesus walking toward him. Peter said to Him, “Where are you going?”
Jesus replied, "I am going to Rome to be crucified again". Peter got
the message, turned back around, and walked back into the heart of the
city of Rome. Peter stopped looking for a safe place, for a hole to
hide in. I pray Jesus will never have to say he is going to take my
place in trials and suffering.
ADDENDUM: In the above, I was not even remotely limiting
my remarks to reactions to the Corona Virus. Long, long before the the
advent of the Corona Virus, many people I know were virtually
despondent about things such as Obama and his minions trying to force a
group of kindly faithful nuns to provide abortifacient drugs to their
female lay employees. In reaction, they wondered how things could get
any worse. The Corona Virus is a flying speck in a whirlwind compared
with the horror of the murder of God's babies.
EXCERPT THE CATHOLIC THING: Metaphysics and Theology
If Christianity is just a nice story to make people feel better, the
problem is that it will only make you “feel better” as long as you’re
convinced it’s true, not merely imaginatively, but really, with the
reality of a brick wall or an exploding sun – real enough to stand up
against exploding galaxies, spreading pandemics, and murdering Nazis.
When something like a pandemic hits, you either believe in a God who
has all things in His providential care, or you relegate “God” to that
category in which you placed Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and Yoda:
too good to be real.
The God of the Bible is not just a god, a “creator” in that Bible
story, the way Zeus or Odin are characters in their stories. He is the
God who is the Creator of the universe’s story – the Creator of
everything that has existence: every quasar, every black hole, every
galaxy, every quark, every neutrino, every cosmic force, and every
person who ever lived. As C.S. Lewis once said: “Christianity, if
false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The
only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
19. The beginning of prayer consists in banishing
by a single thought the thoughts that assault us at the very moment that
they appear; the middle stage consists in confining our minds to what is
being said and thought; and its perfection is rapture in the Lord.
May 6, 2020
(Amo 8:11-12) Behold the days come,
saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land: not a
famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the
Lord. And they shall move from sea to sea, and from the north to the
east: they shall go about seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not
find it.
BENEDICT XVI:
“Of course, issues such as ‘Vatileaks’ are exasperating and, above all,
incomprehensible and highly disturbing to people in the world at
large.” “But the real threat to the Church and thus to the ministry of
St. Peter consists not in these things, but in the worldwide
dictatorship of seemingly humanistic ideologies, and to contradict them
constitutes exclusion from the basic social consensus.” He continued:
“A hundred years ago, everyone would have thought it absurd to speak of
homosexual marriage. Today whoever opposes it is socially
excommunicated. The same applies to abortion and the production of
human beings in the laboratory.” “Modern society is in the process of
formulating an ‘anti-Christian creed,’ and resisting it is punishable
by social excommunication. The fear of this spiritual power of the
Antichrist is therefore only too natural, and it truly takes the
prayers of a whole diocese and the universal Church to resist it.”
MARK MALLET VIDEO: Of Prophets and Prophecy
FR. MARK GORING VIDEO: God Sends Prophets
ORTHODOX PERSPECTIVE: Liturgy and Live-Streaming: Two Things That Don't Go Together
Why, then, would recorded or live-streamed services pose a spiritual
hazard to us, especially at this time of grave illness and distress?
The answer is because in viewing a
liturgical service in this manner, one additional barrier—the
screen—stands between the viewer and the celebrant of the service. This
one element, and the posture that it evokes in the viewer, is
symptomatic of the very problem that liturgy poses for the modern
person. By peering into a monitor to see something that we are meant,
instead, to be actively participating in, the Liturgy is once again
misunderstood and misused by such a viewer. Instead of being actively
engaged as a member of the body gathered together and manifesting its
fullness, the computer breaks down the oneness of Liturgy into
isolation, separation and division. Indeed, the Coronavirus unleashes a
devastating assault on Liturgy by upending everything that Liturgy is
meant to be about. We are supposed to brush shoulders with our fellow
members, not hold them at a distance of six feet. We are supposed to
stand closely together as we work to join our voices in song, not worry
about the spread of infection. We are supposed to share a meal
intimately with our brothers and sisters, even sharing the very
utensils, not eat privately by ourselves in a perfectly hygienic
laboratory setting. Liturgy then, is meant to be reflective of life
itself, which is neither neat nor clean. And Liturgy—properly
understood—is meant to be work, not entertainment, a work that is
corporate, not individual. We are meant to struggle, cooperate and work
together to bring about the offering to God of the very things that He
has blessed us to share in this life.
The computer monitor (what a
telling symbol of modernity) simply continues and enhances the
estrangement from Liturgy that we already experience, repeatedly. The
fact is that for many of the laity, Liturgy is boring, too lengthy,
incomprehensible and disconnected from daily life. In our utter
passivity, the Liturgy is seen as something to be watched instead of
something to be done. It is a peculiar duty to be discharged and
acquitted of as easily as possible. It is modern man, seated passively
in a pew with his legs crossed and his eye on his watch, who is
completely unsympathetic and unaware of the reason, purpose and
profound need for liturgical action. Perhaps this gravely estranged
person (who is each of us) needs just such a tragedy to serve as an
alert, to awaken him and her to an awareness of our complete dependency
on God, on God’s mercy, and of God as the source and ultimate arbiter
of life.
Now, if this is the experience of
Liturgy that some, or many have when it is conducted within the walls
of the temple, what kind of experience do we hope to have of Liturgy
when we celebrate it—what has been called the liturgy after the
Liturgy—in our homes? First, we must acknowledge with deep regret that
for many Orthodox Christians, the home is simply not a place of prayer.
We have fallen out of the custom and habit of prayer in the home. If we
bother to maintain an icon corner in our homes, it remains for many
merely a cultural adornment but not a living place of prayer. And for
those who do regularly practice the discipline of daily prayer in the
home, they know from experience that prayer conducted in this manner
is, by definition, work and effort. To stand before the holy icons, to
bow and prostrate oneself, to read the prayers out loud and to remember
the names of our loved ones, takes time and effort. And it is this time
and effort that actually connects our individual, private prayer with
the corporate, public prayer of the Church. It is this reliance on the
written prayers of the prayer book that unites us to the Holy Tradition
of the Church and shapes our thoughts and perceptions. And so it is
deeply ironic that when we are faced with an international threat to
our health and well-being that some hierarchs are content to substitute
the viewing of liturgical services for the exercise (the perfect word
here) of personal prayer, instead of commanding the faithful to
prostrate themselves before God. The idea that more of the very thing
that is our problem, our passivity and complete lack of engagement,
could be the solution to the problem, is astounding.
But there is a darker side to
internet viewing. We have seen the ubiquitous spread of evil, vice and
obscenity in a unique way via this medium. Images of the most sacred
aspects of life have been captured and misused in the most base and
profane ways. Intimate and beautiful things have been perverted and
objectified purely for the sake of sensual pleasure. And now it is
suggested that something that is extremely sacred—the liturgy itself—be
viewed here. We forget, however, that the Liturgy has certain human
requirements. Our worship has a physicality to it that is
non-negotiable. We enter the Church (a place) and put lit candles
before the icons. We smell the beeswax and the incense. The deacon
tells us to bow our heads to the Lord, and we do it. The priest
elevates the Lamb, fractions it and places it in the Cup precisely so
we can eat it, not look at it. But now, for whatever reason I can’t
meet the human requirements of the gathering, the sobor, the synaxis.
Rather than recognizing that I am denied something that is ineffable
and irreplaceable, in my modern, fallen instinct I prefer to have the
same feelings I would if circumstances permitted me to do the necessary
work (i.e., the Liturgy) even when I can’t or won’t do it. So I create
an artificial world of images in order to gratify myself and produce
those feelings. But the Liturgy is not offered for this purpose.
Although it may produce feelings of deep emotion in the believer, the
goal of the Liturgy is to call mankind to a higher and nobler reality,
a noetic reality according to which we acknowledge the very limitations
of creaturely life and experience. The path to this noetic reality,
however, is not through subterfuge or by objectification, but by
restraint of the passions, struggle and asceticism. At least this is
what the saints tell us.
The Coronavirus is a serious threat to our health, many have suffered
and died as a result and, to be frank, more will likely suffer in the
months ahead. Part of this suffering involves the interruption to our
lives, our work, our celebrations, our economy. We need to come to
terms with this and to mourn these losses, not paper over them with the
appearance of normalcy. Our loss of the ability to celebrate the
Liturgy with the regularity and frequency that we ordinarily would is
also part of this suffering. We should acknowledge this and then
redirect our grief into devout prayer to God, conducted in our homes
and before the Holy Icons, in accordance with Tradition and through the
prayers of our Holy Fathers.
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
18. If you have ever seen the Sun (of Righteousness)
as you ought, you will also be able to converse with Him fitly. But if
not, how can you truly hold converse with what you have not seen?
May 3, 2020
(Col 2:13-15) And
you, when you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, he hath quickened together with him, forgiving you all offences:
Blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which
was contrary to us. And he hath taken the same out of the way,
fastening it to the cross. And despoiling the principalities and
powers, he hath exposed them confidently in open shew, triumphing over
them in himself.
INTEVIEW: Cardinal Sarah: profanities have to stop, the Eucharist isn’t negotiable
VIDEO: Bishop Barron on The Devil
A MOMENT WITH MARY: To battle Satan, count on Mary and the Rosary
In the sixth chapter of St Mark’s Gospel, we find the account of Jesus
sending out the Twelve, two by two, on mission. The first thing he gave
them, Mark tells us, was “authority over unclean spirits.” And the
first pastoral act that they performed was to “drive out many demons.”
When I was coming of age in the ‘60s and ‘70s, it was common, even in
seminaries, to dismiss such talk as primitive superstition—or perhaps
to modernize it and make it a literary device, using symbolic language
evocative of the struggle with evil in the abstract. But the problem
with that approach is that it just does not do justice to the Bible.
The biblical authors knew all about “evil” in both its personal and
institutional expressions, but they also knew about a level of
spiritual dysfunction that lies underneath both of those more ordinary
dimensions. They knew about the world of fallen or morally compromised
spirits. Jesus indeed battled sin in individual hearts as well as the
sin that dwelt in institutional structures, but he also struggled with
a dark power more fundamental and more dangerous than those.
What, or better, who is this threatening spiritual force? It is a
devil, a fallen or morally compromised angel. Imagine a truly wicked
person who is also very smart, very talented and very enterprising. Now
raise that person to a far higher pitch of ontological perfection, and
you will have some idea of what a devil is like.
Jesus has entrusted to his Church
the means to apply this victory, the weapons, if you will, to win the
spiritual warfare. These are the sacraments (especially the Eucharist
and Confession), the Mass, the Bible, personal prayer, the rosary, etc.
Jesus sent out the Twelve to battle dark spirits. He still empowers his
church to do the same. Don’t be reluctant to use the weapons—and the
healing balms—that he has given.
Bishop Robert Barron
Adapted from Word on Fire
SPIRITUAL WARFARE PRIMERS
How to Keep the Devil Out of Your Head
How to Keep the Devil Out of Your Heart
‘Defend Us in Battle’: New Book Tackles Spiritual Warfare
Ladder
of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 28- "On holy and blessed prayer"
17. Try to lift up, or rather, to enclose your
thought within the words of your prayer, and if in its infant state it
wearies and falls, lift it up again. Instability is natural to the mind,
but God is powerful to establish all things. If you persevere indefatigably
in this labour, He who sets the bounds to the sea of the mind will visit
you too, and during your prayer will say to the waves: Thus far shall ye
come and no further (Cf. Job 38:11). Spirit cannot be bound; but where
the Creator of the spirit is, everthing obeys.
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