Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Feast of St Peter and St Paul - click to read


"Fight like a good soldier: and if sometimes thou fall through frailty, rise up again, with greater strength than before, confiding in My more abundant grace; but take great care thou yield not to any vain complacency and pride. Through this, many are led into error, and sometimes fall into incurable blindness. Let this fall of the proud, who foolishly rely on their own strength, serve for a warning, and keep thee always humble." (Imitation bk 3, ch 6)
" I understand why St Peter fell. He counted too much on the affection he felt for Our Lord, instead of relying on the strength of divine grace. I am quite sure that if he had said to Our Lord: 'Master, give me the courage to follow Thee even unto death,' he would have obtained the grace. I wonder why Our Lord, knowing what would happen, did not say to him: "Ask Me for the grace to accomplish what you desire"? I think it was in order to teach us two lessons: firstly, that His visible presence did not teach the Apostles more than we can learn from the inspirations of grace; secondly, that having chosen St Peter to govern the Church, whose members would include so many sinners, He wished him to learn by experience what man is without the help of God. That is why Our Lord said to him before his fall: Thou being once converted, confirm thy brethren (Luke 22:32), i.e. tell them the story of your fall, and show them by your own experience how necessary it is to rely solely upon God.  (St Therese "Conseils et Souvenirs")

"Upon this rock I will build my church"

Pillars of the earth (Ps 75[74], 4): this is what the apostles are, but those whose feast we celebrate in the first place. They are the two pillars who support the Church by their teaching and prayer and example of steadfastness. It was the Lord himself who set up these two pillars. To begin with they were weak and unable to support either themselves or anyone else. And in this the Lord's great plan was made manifest: for if they had always been strong then one might have thought their strength came from themselves. And so, before he strengthened them, our Lord wanted to show what they were capable of so that everyone would know their strength came from God.  It was the Lord who set up these pillars of the earth, that is to say, of the Holy Church. And hence we are heartily to extol our holy fathers who underwent so many sufferings for the Lord and who persevered with such strength. To persevere in times of joy, prosperity and patience is nothing. But this is what greatness is: when one is stoned, lashed, beaten for Christ's sake and one perseveres with Christ in spite of it (2 Cor 11:25). With Paul it is greatness to be cursed and to bless..., to be like the world's rubbish and make it our glory (1 Cor 4: 12-13)... And what shall we say about Peter? Even if he had not endured anything for Christ, yet he suffered that we might celebrate him because today he was crucified for him. The cross was his way. (St Aelred of Rielvaux, Cistercian monk, from Sermon 16, for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul ) 

After Daily Gospel
 
Picture represents Rembrandt's painting 'Two  scholars disputing (St Peter and St Paul)'

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Sunday, June 27, 2010


The saints that are highest in the sight of God are the least in their own eyes, and the more glorious they are, the more humble are in themselves. (Imitation Bk2.ch.10)

When asked what we were call her when praying to her after her death, she replied humbly: "Call me little Therese" (Conseils et Souvenirs)

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Saturday, June 26, 2010

The Blessed Virgin and the Priesthood



When God decided to become man in his Son, He needed the freely-spoken yes of one of his creatures. God does not act against our freedom. And something truly extraordinary happens: God makes himself dependent on the free decision, the yes of one of his creatures; he waits for this yes. St Bernard of Clairvaux explained dramatically in one of his homilies this crucial moment in universal history when Heaven, earth and God himself wait for what this creature will say. Mary's yes is therefore the door through which God was able to enter the world, to become man. So it is that Mary is truly and profoundly involved in the Mystery of the Incarnation, of our salvation. And the Incarnation, the Son's becoming man, was the beginning that prepared the ground for the gift of himself; for giving himself with great love on the Cross to become Bread for the life of the world. Hence sacrifice, priesthood and Incarnation go together and Mary is at the heart of this mystery. (Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, August, 2009)

Picture: Jacopo Bellini's Madonna with the Child 


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Thursday, June 24, 2010

Nativity of St John the Baptist - click to read


The Lord called me from birth, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name. (Isa 49:1)
...the mystery of John is being fulfilled in the world until the present. The spirit and the power of John must first fill the soul of whoever is destined to believe in Christ Jesus, “to prepare for the Lord a people well-disposed” (Lk 1:17) and to “make ready the way of the Lord, [to] clear him a straight path” (Lk 3:5) in the roughness of their heart. Not only at that time were “the windings … made straight and the rough ways smooth”; rather, the spirit and the power of John still go before the Lord and Savior’s coming today. Oh greatness of the Lord’s mystery and of his plan for the world!...(Origen 'Homilies on St. Luke')

..As soon as ever thou hast delivered thyself up to God with thy whole heart, and neither seekest this nor that for thine own pleasure or will, but wholly placest thyself in Him, thou shalt find thyself united to Him, and at peace, for nothing will relish so well, and please thee so much, as the good pleasure of the divine will..(The Imitation of Christ, Bk 4)

Remember, Lord, my resting place
Is in Thy holy Will;
Within the shelter of Thine arms
My soul shall fear no ill.
If Thou shouldst sleep, and sudden storm
Arise, I'll not forsake
My peaceful haven; O prepare
My soul ere Thou awake! (St Therese 'Poems')


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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Vigil of the Nativity of St John the Baptist


"May God give us the grace to love Him and save souls for Him." St Therese of Child Jesus

Picture of St Therese in St Peter's Church in Salzburg

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Saturday, June 19, 2010

New! Year for Priest under the patronage of St John Marie Vianney - click to read the Papal letter

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI proclaims special year for Priests commencing on 19th June 2009 till 19th June 2010 under the patronage of St John Mary Vianney. The year will mark also special celebration of the 150th Anniversary of St John Mary Vianney's death.



An encyclical Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia on St John Vianney written by Pope John XXIII in 1959.
Short biography by Dom Ernest Graft (Monk of Buckfast) - THE CURE OF ARS (ST. JEAN MARIE BAPTISTE VIANNEY, 1786-1859) 1952 edition available from EWTN library.



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Friday, June 18, 2010

June, a month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus



Behold this Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify its love. ( Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque)

Prayer suggestion for the month of June:
O Jesus, only Son of God, only Son of Mary,
I offer Thee the most loving Heart of Thy divine Mother
which is more precious and pleasing to Thee than all hearts.

O Mary, Mother of Jesus,
I offer Thee the most adorable Heart of Thy well-beloved Son,
who is the life and love and joy of Thy Heart.

Blessed be the Most Loving Heart
and Sweet Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ
and the most glorious
Virgin Mary, His Mother,
in eternity and forever.
Amen.
(St Eudes)

After 'Mary's Vitamin' 

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Thursday, June 17, 2010

Praying for Priests with St Therese

St Therese founded the apostolate for priests with her novices when she was asked to serve as a spiritual sister for young seminarian, Maurice Belliere, and young priest, Adolphe Roulland. Both priests served Our Lord in dangerous missions, in Algier and China. St Therese in her apostolic zeal consecrated her life for priests, out of love for the souls they were to take care of. The year for priests came to the end, let us pray the beautiful prayer St Therese composed for priests, in particular, for missionaries. 


O my Jesus! I thank you for having fulfilled one of my greatest desires, that of having a brother, a peirst, an apostle...I feel unworthy of this favour. And yet, since you grant your little spouse the grace of working specially for the sanctification of a soul destined for the priesthood, I offer You joyfully all the prayers and sacrifices at my disposal. I ask you, O my God, not to look at what I am but what I should be and want to be, a religious wholly inflamed with Your love. You know, Lord, that my ambition is to make You know and loved. Now my desire will be realized. I can only pray and suffer, but the soul to whom You unite me by the sweet bonds of charity will go and fight in the plain to win hearts for You, while on the mountain of Carmel I will pray that You give him victory. Divine Jesus, hear the prayer I offer You for him who wants to be your Missionary. Keep him safe amid the dangers of the world. Make him feel increasingly the nothingness and vanity of passing things and the happiness of being able to despise them for Your love.  May he carry out his sublime apostolate on those around him. May he be an apostle worthy of Your Sacred Heart...
O Mary! gentle Queen of Carmel, it is to you that I entrust the soul of the future priest whose unworthy little sister I am. Teach him even now how lovingly you handled the Divine Child Jesus and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, so that one day he may go up to the Holy Altar and carry in his hands the King of Heaven.
I ask You also to keep him safe beneath the shadow of Your virginal mantle until the happy day when he leaves this valley of tears and can contemplate Your splendour and enjoy for all eternity the fruits of his glorious apostolate...Therese of Child Jesus, unworthy Carmelite religious.


From the letter of St Therese to Fr Adolphe:
Reverend Father,
I feel unworthy to be associated in a special way with one of the missionaries of our adorable Jesus, but since obedience entrusts me with this sweet task, I am assured my heavenly Spouse will make up for my feeble merits (upon which I in no way rely), and that He will listen to the desires of my soul by rendering fruitful apostolate. I shall be truly happy to work with You for the salvation of souls. it is for this purpose I became Carmelite nun; being unable to be an active missionary,  I wanted to be one through love and penance just like Saint Teresa, my seraphic Mother...I beg you, Reverend Father, ask for me from Jesus, on the day He deigns for the first time to descend from Heaven at your voice, ask Him to set me on fire with His Love so that I may enkindle it in hearts. For a long time I wanted to know an Apostle who would pronounce my name at the Holy Altar on the day of his first Mass....I wanted to prepare for him the sacred linens and the white host destined to veil the King of heaven...The God of Goodness has willed to realize my dream and to show me once again how pleased He is to grant the desires of souls who love Him alone.

After 'Praying for Priests with St Therese'


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Saturday, June 12, 2010

Every Priestly Vocation Passes through the Heart of the Blessed Virgin


We cannot live, we cannot look at the truth about ourselves without letting ourselves be looked at and generated by Christ in daily Eucharistic Adoration, and the Stabat of Mary, "Woman of the Eucharist," beneath her Son's Cross, is the most significant example of contemplation and adoration of the divine Sacrifice that has been given to us. ...the Holy Mother of God remains an indispensable foundation of the whole of priestly life. The relationship with her cannot be resolved in pious devotional practice but is nourished by ceaseless entrustment to the arms of the ever Virgin of the whole of our life, of our ministry in its entirety. Mary Most Holy also leads us, like John, beneath the Cross of her Son and Our Lord in order to contemplate, with her, God's infinite Love: "He who for us is Life itself descended here and endured our death and slew it by the abundance of his Life" (St Augustine, Confessions, IV, 12)....Pope St Pius X said: "Every priestly vocation comes from the heart of God but passes through the heart of a mother." This is true with regard to obvious biological motherhood but it is also true of the "birth" of every form of fidelity to the Vocation of Christ. We cannot do without a spiritual motherhood for our priestly life: Let us entrust ourselves confidently to the prayer of the whole of Holy Mother Church, to the motherhood of the People, whose pastors we are but to whom are entrusted our custody and holiness; let us ask for this fundamental support. ( Pope Benedict XVI's Message on the Day of Prayer for Priests for the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, May 30, 2008.)


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Friday, June 11, 2010

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus - click to read


The Church invites us today to contemplate the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the source and cause of all His gift to us, the source of His mercy. "Behold this Heart which has so loved men" said Jesus to St Margaret Mary. The Church repeats these words today, teaching us that it is truly "in the Heart of Jesus, wounded by our sins, that God has designed to give us the infinite treasures of His love" (Collect). "Cogitationes cordis ejus" we sing in the Introit meaning that "the thoughts of His Heart are to all generations: to deliver them from the death, to feed them in the time of famine". Indeed, the Heart of Our Lord is always in search of souls to save, to free from the snares of sin, to wash in His Blood, to feed with His Body. The Heart of Jesus is always living in the Eucharist to satisfy the hunger of all who long for Him, to welcome and console all those who, disillusioned by the vicissitudes of life, take refuge in Him, seeking peace and refreshemnt, the world cannot give. Jesus Himself is our support on the hard road of life: "Take up My yoke upon you and learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls". We cannot eliminate sorrows from our live; yet if we live for Jesus we can find in His Sacred Heart the repose for our weary soul. We may return our love through devotion to His Sacred Heart, for the principal object of this devotion is the love of Jesus, an uncreated love with which He, as the Word, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, loved us from all eternity, and from all eternity willed to become incarnate for our salvation. It is also the created love with which, as Man, He loved us even to the death of the Cross, meriting for us to love Him in return: "We have learned to recognize the love God has in our regard, to recognize it, and make it our belief"(1 John 4:16). Here we find the most profound significance of devotion to the Sacred Heart. Carmelite Saint, Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart had such a thorough understanding of this meaning that she made this devotion the center of her life. It was revealed in the process of her canonization that she "saw the Heart of Jesus as the center, the source of the love with which the divine Word, in the bosom of the Father, loved us from all eternity, and merited for us in time the power to love Him in return, on earth and in heaven, by our sharing in this love."


Let us pray with St Bonaveture: "O Jesus, by a divine decree, a soldier was permitted to pierce Your sacred side. As the blood and water came forth, the price of our salvation was poured forth, which flowing from the mysterious fountain of Your Heart, gives power to the Sacraments of the Church to bestow the life of grace, and becomes for those who live in You, a saving drink of living waters, bubbling up to life eternal. Arise, my soul, beloved of Christ, watch unceasingly, place your lips there, and quench your thirst in the Saviour's fount...What a joy for me! You and I have but one heart. Heaving found this divine Heart, which is Yours and mine, O Most sweet Jesus, I beseech You, O my God; receive my prayers in that sanctuary where You are attentive to them and, even more, draw me entirely into Your Heart"


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Sunday, June 06, 2010

Beatification of Fr Jerzy Popieluszko - click for link


Fr Jerzy Popiełuszko was a Polish priest who was a staunch anti-communist and associated with the strikers of the Solidarity Union. In his sermons, he interwove spiritual exhortations with political messages, criticizing the Communist system and motivating people to protest. During the period of martial law in Poland, the Catholic church was the only force that could voice protest comparatively openly, with the regular celebration of Mass presenting opportunities for public gatherings in churches. Fr Popiełuszko's sermons were routinely broadcast by Radio Free Europe, and thus became famous throughout Poland for their uncompromising stance against the regime. Communist secret police (SB) tried to silence and intimidate him. When those techniques did not work, they fabricated evidence against him; he was arrested in 1983, but soon released on intervention of the clergy and pardoned by an amnesty.
Several months later, in October 13th, 1984, a car accident was set up to kill Jerzy Popiełuszko but he managed to escaped it. The alternative plan was to kidnap him, and it was carried out on October 19th, 1984. The priest was brutally beaten to death by three Security Police officers. Then, his body was dumped into the Vistula Water Reservoir near Włocławek from where it was recovered on October 30, 1984. The cult of Fr Popieluszko developed rapidly in Poland soon after his tragic death and he is venerated as a martyr. To read the post commemorating him click HERE



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The Invitation to the Banquet - Second Sunday after Pentecost


"A certain man made a great supper, and invited many" (Lk 14:16-24). This is God who makes the supper, the great supper is His Kingdom where souls will find full abundance of spiritual blessings while on earth, and eternal happiness in the next life. This is the real meaning of the parable, but we may also see in the supper and in the man preparing it, the figure of the Eucharistic banquet and of Jesus, inviting men to partake of His Flesh and Blood. The Church sings: "The table of the Lord is set for us, Wisdom [the Incarnate Word] has prepared the wine and laid the table" (Roman Breviary). Jesus Himself, when announcing the Eucharist, addressed His invitation to all: "I am the Bread of life! He that cometh to Me shall not hunger, and he that believeth in Me, shall never thirst...Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. This is bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die" (Jn 6:35.49.50). St John Chrysostom says: "He whom the angels look upon with fear, and dare not gaze upon steadfastly because of His dazzling splendour, becomes our Food; we are united to Him, and are made one body and one flesh with Christ" (Roman Breviary). Jesus could not offer man a more precious banquet than the Eucharist, yet, how do men answer His invitation? Many just shrug their shoulders, with skeptical smile on their lips: "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" (Jn 6:53), others are too attached to earthly goods or pre-occupied with business affairs and refuse His invitation: "I have bought a farm and I must needs go out and see it; I pray thee, hold me excused" "I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them; I pray thee, hold me excused" they say. Others are so immerse in pleasures of senses, that they lost their taste for the things of the spirit, and go their way, not even asking to be excused.



All these excuses are for things that in the end vanish as quickly as mist before the sun and still are preferred to Christ's Gift, the Bread of Angels and the pledge of eternal life. But even those who follow Christ's invitation but accept it coldly, almost through force of habit, and they are those whom Christ has invited to follow Him and whom He has called by the sweet name of friend. How often Jesus finds the hearts of His friends filled with thousands thoughts, trifles, and wordily affections, while there is so little room for Him, the divine Guest! Yet, everything should be reserved for Him. Let us say sorry to our Beloved for every unnecessary and useless thought and trifle that took our heart and make us forget Him even while approaching the Banquet Table. And let us say how much we desire to love him and have Him always imprinted in our hearts.

Let us pray with St Augustine: "O Sacrament of mercy! O seal of unity! O bond of charity! He who wishes to live, finds the home and the dwelling where he can live. O Lord, I approach Your table with faith, there to become incorporated in You in order to be vivified by You" and "Grant, O Lord, that I may be inebriated with the riches of Your house, and let me drink from the torrent of Your delights. Since You are the fountain of life, there with You, and not elsewhere, is the source of my life. I will drink of it in order to live; I will not rely upon myself and be lost; I will not be satisfied with what I have and die of thirst; I will approach the source of the spring where the water never fails".


Based on 'Divine Intimacy' meditations.

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Saturday, June 05, 2010

On Prayer With Our Lady



"God will never forget us and there is something you and I can always do. We can keep the joy of loving Jesus and his Holy Mother in our hearts, and share that joy with all we come in contact with." (Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 1994)

It is beautiful to gather and pray together. Perhaps you know two or three people who might be willing to pray the Holy Rosary in a group with you. You could sing as part of your praying, or rest in silence in contemplative prayer between decades. Group prayer does not require everyone to be spontaneous with prayer intentions or to pray aloud. "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" (Mt 18:20).

After 'A Moment with Mary'
Picture of Mary in prayer by Albrecht Durer




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Thursday, June 03, 2010



...Our Lady accompanies us every day in our prayer. In his last Encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, our beloved Pope John Paul II presented her to us as "Woman of the Eucharist" throughout her life (cf. 53).

"Woman of the Eucharist" through and through, beginning with her inner disposition: from the Annunciation, when she offered herself for the Incarnation of the Word of God, to the Cross and to the Resurrection; "Woman of the Eucharist" in the period following the Pentecost, when she received in the Sacrament that Body that she had conceived and carried in her womb... (Pope Benedict XVI "Marian Thoughts")

Credits: text after 'A Moment with Mary', the picture represents main altar in St James' Cathedral in Innsbruck with miraculous image of Our Lady with the Child by Lucas Cranach .


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Feast of Corpus Christi - click to read


Devotion to the Sacred Heart should bring us to a life of intimate union with Jesus who, we know, is truly present and living in the Eucharist. The two devotions - to the Sacred Heart  and to the Eucharist - are closely connected. The Sacred Heart explains the mystery of the love of Jesus by which he becomes bread in order to nourish us with His substance, while in the Eucharist we have the real presence of the same Heart living in our midst. It is wonderful to contemplate this Heart of Jesus as the symbol of His infinite love, but it is even more wonderful to find Him always near us in the Sacrament of the altar. Jesus lives not only in heaven where His sacred humanity dwells in glory, but He lives also on earth wherever the Eucharist is reserved. In speaking of the Eucharist, Our Lord says to us: "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (Mt 28:20). In Holy Communion, then, this Heart beats within us, it touches our heart; through the love of this Heart, we are fed with His Flesh and with His Blood, so that we may abide in Him and He in us. "In the Eucharist," says Benedict XV, "this divine Heart governs us and loves us by living and abiding with us, so that we may live and abide in Him, because in this Sacrament.....He offers and gives Himself to us as victim, companion, viaticum and the pledge of future glory." Jesus said: "He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh my Blood abideth in Me and I in him" (Jn 6:57). The word "abideth" means that our union with the divinity of Christ does not cease after the sacred species are consumed. The three divine Persons dwell continually in souls in the state of grace; but there is also a certain enduring union with Jesus' sacred humanity, even when Christ is no longer substantially present in the one who has received Holy Communion, He is there by the influence of His operative presence and by the effusion of His grace. (Fragments from "The Sacred Heart and the Eucharist" - Ven Gabriel of St Mary Magdalene, OCD)

Encyclicals on the Holy Eucharist were written by Pope Leo XIII Mirae Caritatis and Pope Paul VI Mysterium Fidei
Homilies of Pope Benedict XVI on the solemnity of the Corpus Christ may be read HERE and HERE


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