Feast of St Benedicta of the Cross, Discalced Carmelite and Martyr, Patroness of Europe - click for Vatican link

To read The History of Carmel - from the notes made by Edith Stein, please follow links below:
Part 1
Part 2



Photo of the entrance to Auschwitz camp where St Benedicta of the Cross was martyred. The sign above the entrance reads: 'Work makes free"

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St John of the Cross

There are many Saints who proved their love of God through examples of heroic virtue. St John of the Cross is one of them.

He wrote the most beautiful poems describing soul search for His beloved. It is good to think of him during the month of the Sacred Heart, the beautiful symbol of God's love for us. We will focus today on the period of St John's life that began when he was elected the prior of Discalced friars in Baez. It happened just after Discalced were finally set up as a separate Province. He was the Prior there for two years and after that he was appointed Prior to the Granada foundation of Los Martires. He was far away from his beloved Castile and he felt his isolation deeply. This feeling of isolation was increased after Saint Teresa died the same year. He had reached however, that state of inner freedom when he could truly be himself and not to be forced into a mould of other's making. As Prior and an official in his Order now, he himself had a status that afforded him some dignity, but he refused to be judged by such standards. A high ranking official would be brought to him and be greeted by John just as he was. As he said to one visitor who expressed his surprise, 'After all, I am the son of a weaver'. Later on, his brother Francisco was often with him. Francisco remained what he always was, a poor workman, and John would introduce him with great pride as the greatest treasure he had on earth. To John, earthly rank or attainment did not matter. What did matter was that they were all children of God, and as such, deserving of his respect and love, whatever their rank or lack of it. The Order met for their second Chapter in 1583 and John was reaching the peak of his religious leadership. He was elected 2nd definitor and Vicar Provincial. He completed at that time his major writings, The Spiritual Canticle and the Dark Night of the Soul. From 1585, for the next three years he was almost constantly on the road in his role as Vicar Apostolic, attending chapters, visiting the various foundations, founding new convents and friaries. At one such foundation, that of Cordoba, he nearly lost his life. A stone wall that was being built fell on the cell in which he was working, and the workmen scrabbled frantically to dig him out, fearing he was dead. However, they found him crouched in a corner under a statue of Our Lady that had fallen above him, laughing and saying that it was she who had saved him. To his delight, in 1588 he was appointed prior of the Segovia friary, which meant that he was back in his beloved Castile. A new friary was still being built away from the dampness of the nearby river, so John joined in with the building work. These were to be the last happy moments in his life. He was back in Castile and nearer to his beloved brother who was able to visit him more often. To his brother he revealed an experience he had. Praying before a picture of Christ carrying his cross one day, he heard an inner voice calling his name, and responded inwardly, 'Here I am'. The voice asked him then what reward he would like for all he had done and all he had have suffered. John's response was, 'To suffer and to be looked down upon.' He told this to his brother so that when Francis saw him having trials he would not be distressed, knowing that it was what he desired and that they God's will for him. The time of serious trials was coming for John to prove his love of God and neighbour. God was willing to give him a chance to become a great saint.

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Jesuit's Churches in Rome - Il Gesu and St Ignatius of Loyola

I visited Rome during first week after Easter 2007. The main purpose was devotional pilgrimage to the seven major and minor Basilicas, as recommended by St Philip Neri. The major Basilicas are as follows: San Giovanni in Lateran, San Pietro in Vatican, San Paolo fuori le mur, Santa Maria Maggiore, whereas three minor basilicas: San Lorenzo fuori le mura, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme and Santuario della Madonna del Divino Amore. The last of these was added by Pope John Paul II for the Great Jubilee of 2000, replacing San Sebastiano fuori le mura. Planning my little pilgrimage, I was determined to visit two Jesuit Churches, Il Gesu and St Ignatius of Loyola, as St Ignatius is my Patron Saint. Below is the little movie I compiled from pictures I have taken, but I also included several pictures from the web. The movie starts with Il Gesu (The Church of the Holy Name of Jesus) which is the Jesuit Mother Church. It is built on the very place St. Ignatius chose for his headquarters shortly after he founded the Society of Jesus in 1540. In the same time, Pope Paul III presented new formed Religious Order with a small neighborhood chapel, Santa Maria della Strada (Our Lady of the Wayside), which soon proved too small for quickly expanding Society. It took over 40 years, three foundation-stone ceremonies, and six architects (Nanni di Baccio Bigio, Michelangelo, Vignola, Giacomo della Porta, and Jesuits Giovanni Tristano and Giovanni de Rosis), before Il Gesù was consecrated in 1584. However, it did not happen during St Ignatius lifetime. The plan of Il Gesù became the model for Jesuit churches throughout the world. The Church stands in the heart of downtown Rome, for St. Ignatius placed a great deal of emphasis on the location of the Society's churches. He always built his headquarters in urban centers, where the Jesuits could easily carry out their preaching, teaching and social ministries. II Gesu's façade was designed by Giacomo delta Porta and was in absolute agreement with St Ignatius' idea of the Church façade as a gateway through which the Jesuits emerge for their apostolic activities in the city and in the world, and through which the city is drawn into the sacramental life of the church. It stands, carefully oriented to the surrounding streets and piazza, as a great portal inviting the passerby to enter (picture 2). The Church interior is the nave forming a huge hall, a shallow apse with the altar moved up front, and side chapels blocked off as separate entities (so that all attention is riveted to the altar)(picture 3-5). The significance of Jesuit architecture was not its novelty, but its functionalism. The interior accentuates the two great functions of a Jesuit church: its large central nave with the laterally placed pulpit serves as a great auditorium for preaching, and the highly visible and prominent altar serves as a prominent stage for the celebration of the Real Presence in the Eucharist. Il Gesù's decorations are largely Baroque, dating from the late 17th century. With Baroque decorations, Jesuit churches appeal to the heart as well as the head, providing splendid stage sets for celebration of the Mass. Giovanni Battista Gaulli, known as "Il Baciccia," painted most of Il Gesù's beautiful ceiling frescoes between 1672-1685. The vault fresco, representing 'The Glory of the Holy Name of Jesus,' seems to open up a hole in the ceiling, through which heavenly light pours onto downwards-cascading colossal figures and into the nave and altar. Thus the Jesuit church becomes not only a gateway to and from the world, but a window into paradise (pictures 6-10).



The lateral chapels, which are separated from the nave and each surrounded by lovely candlelit balustrades, are serene little corners attracting faithful devotees. One of these chapels is dedicated to St. Ignatius and his tomb is situated under the altar (pictures 11-13). The Chapel is the example of Baroque magnificence, with lapis lazuli, alabaster, semi-precious stones, all kinds of colored marbles, gilded bronze, and silver plate. It took more than 100 artists, under the direction of Andrea Pozzo to accomplish this magnificent artistic effects. St Ignatius' original solid silver statue (picture 16) was carted off and melted down by Napoleon's French in 1798. Directly across from St. Ignatius' chapel is that of the first Jesuit missionary saint, Francis Xavier, designed by Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669) and Carlo Maratta (1625-1713). A plaque tells us that the saint's arm, "which blessed so many converts in far away lands," now resides in the silver and lapis reliquary above the altar (pictures 14,15). Two more lateral Chapels are of great devotional significance and are dedicated to the Holy Trinity (picture 17) and Sacred Heart of Jesus (picture 18). To the left of St Ignatius' Chapel is situated little chapel of the Madonna della Strada, which hosts an image from the façade of Ignatius' first church (pictures 19-21). At the back of the Church we can venerate Cross lying on the floor with Jesus just nailed on it, the Cross is of natural size (picture 22).

Now we move to St Ignatius Church located very close to Il Gesu.
The Church of St. Ignatius was constructed half a century later than Il Gesù. It is entirely Baroque in style, and can be said to represent the Jesuits' triumphant phase, and that of the Counter Reformation. This was originally part of the Roman College, one of the Society's earliest and finest educational institutions. Founded in 1551 as a "school of grammar, humanities, and Christian doctrine, free of charge," the Roman College embodied St. Ignatius' conviction that "all the good of Christianity and the world depends on the good education of the young" (as his spokesman wrote to Philip II of Spain in 1556). By the early seventeenth century, the Roman College's original chapel had become too small for its bustling 2,000 students. Gregory XV Ludovisi, who was a Roman College alumnus and had canonized Ignatius in 1622, nudged his nephew Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi into funding a new church. Work of architectural design was entrusted to the College's own mathematics professor, Orazio Grassi, and the church was opened in 1651. As mentioned above, the Church of St. Ignatius originally formed part of the large and complicated complex of the Roman College. It now faces on to one of Rome's most unique (rococo) and lovely piazzas. Its tripartite façade is very similar to that of Il Gesù, which, as we have said, provided the model for many Jesuit churches worldwide (picture 23). St Ignatius interior presents with huge nave and side pulpit (picture 24). Much of the transept ceiling painting was done by young art students at the Roman College, under the guidance of their professor, Brother Andrea Pozzo. We can identify portraits the students did of each other and of their relatives. The final important characteristic of St. Ignazio is that it is a superb example of Baroque illusionism. When money ran out before a dome could be built, the clever Jesuit artist Andrea Pozzo (1681-1701) painted a fake dome over the altar. The trompe d' oeil perspective is the biggest joke in Rome (the uninitiated standing underneath never guess that the ceiling is really flat) (pictures 25)
The fresco shows St. Ignatius in Glory and his Apostolate in the World and has four monumental women, appropriately dressed to represent the four continents which were being converted by Jesuit missionary activity at that time. This triumphant burst of emotion and color seems a fitting tribute to Jesuit successes and the victorious Catholic Revival, one century after Ignatius' first church was opened for worship (pictures 26,27). One of the chapels close to main altar is dedicated to Pope Gregory XV who canonized St Ignatius, was alumni of Roman College and took care of securing funds for building of the Church (picture 28). In two side chapels, two of the Jesuits' most beloved young saints are buried, St. Aloysius Gonzaga [1568-91], who refused the honor of becoming a Spanish prince to study at the Roman College, entered the Jesuit order, and died at the age of 23, after ministering in Rome's plague hospitals; and St. John Berchmans [d. 1621], a young student at the Roman College, who died here at 22 years of age. The elaborate Baroque tombs of these appealing Saints face each other from both sides of the transept (pictures 29,30) The Church also contains relics of great Jesuit Cardinal St Robert Bellarmine (picture 31).




text adopted from In Italy online

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Feast of St Ignatius of Loyola

Inigo de Loyola was born in 1491 in Azpeitia in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa in northern Spain. He was the youngest of thirteen children. At the age of sixteen years he was sent to serve as a page to Juan Velazquez, the treasurer of the kingdom of Castile. As a member of the Velazquez household, he was frequently at court and developed a taste for all it presented, especially the ladies. He was much addicted to gambling, very contentious, and not above engaging in swordplay on occasion. For a number of years he went about in the dress of a fighting man, wearing a coat of mail and breastplate, and carrying a sword and other sorts of arms. Eventually he found himself at the age of 30 in May of 1521 as an officer defending the fortress of the town of Pamplona against the French, who claimed the territory as their own against Spain. The Spaniards were terribly outnumbered and the commander of the Spanish forces wanted to surrender, but Ignatius convinced him to fight on for the honor of Spain, if not for victory. During the battle a cannon ball struck Ignatius, wounding one leg and breaking the other. Because they admired his courage, the French soldiers carried him back to recuperate at his home, the castle of Loyola, rather than to prison. His leg was set but did not heal, so it was necessary to break it again and reset it, all without anesthesia. Although he was told to prepare for death, on the fest of Saints Peter and Paul (June 29) he took an unexpected turn for the better. The leg healed, but he was left with one leg shorter than the other. For the rest of his life he walked with a limp.

Conversion of St. Ignatius
During the long weeks of his recuperation, he was extremely bored and asked for some romance novels to pass the time. Luckily there were none in the castle of Loyola, but there was a copy of the life of Christ and a book on the saints. Desperate, Ignatius began to read them. The more he read, the more he considered the exploits of the saints worth imitating. However, at the same time, he continued to have daydreams of fame and glory, along with fantasies of winning the love of a certain noble lady of the court. The identity of this lady has never been discovered but she seems to have been of royal blood. He noticed, however, that after reading and thinking of the saints and Christ he was at peace and satisfied. Yet when he finished his long daydreams of his noble lady, he would feel restless and unsatisfied. Not only was this experience the beginning of his conversion, it was also the beginning of spiritual discernment, or discernment of spirits, which is associated with Ignatius and described in his Spiritual Exercises. The Exercises recognize that not only the intellect but also the emotions and feelings can help us to come to a knowledge of the action of the Spirit in our lives. Eventually, completely converted from his old desires and plans of romance and worldly conquests, and recovered from his wounds enough to travel, he left the castle in March of 1522. He had decided that he wanted to go to Jerusalem to live where our Lord had spent his life on earth. As a first step he began his journey to Barcelona. He first proceeded to the Benedictine shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, made a general confession, and knelt all night in vigil before Our Lady's altar, following the rites of chivalry. He left his sword and knife at the altar, went out and gave away all his fine clothes to a poor man, and dressed himself in rough clothes with sandals and a staff.

The Experience of Manresa
He continued towards Barcelona but stopped along the river Cardoner at a town called Manresa. He stayed in a cave outside the town, intending to linger only a few days, but he remained for ten months. He spent hours each day in prayer and also worked in a hospice. It was while here that the ideas for what are now known as the Spiritual Exercises began to take shape. It was also on the banks of this river that he had a vision which is regarded as the most significant in his life. The vision was more of an enlightenment, about which he later said that he learned more on that one occasion that he did in the rest of his life. Ignatius never revealed exactly what the vision was, but it seems to have been an encounter with God as He really is so that all creation was seen in a new light and acquired a new meaning and relevance, and experience that enabled Ignatius to find God in all things. This grace, finding God in all things, is one of the central characteristics of Jesuit spirituality. Ignatius himself never wrote in the rules of the Jesuits that there should be any fixed time for prayer. Actually, by finding God in all things, all times are times of prayer. He did not, of course, exclude formal prayer, but he differed from other founders regarding the imposition of definite times or duration of prayer. One of the reasons some opposed the formation of the Society of Jesus was that Ignatius proposed doing away with the chanting of the Divine Office in choir. This was a radical departure from custom, because until this time, every religious order was held to the recitation of the office in common. For Ignatius, such recitation meant that the type of activity envisioned for the Society would be hindered. He finally arrived at Barcelona, took a boat to Italy, and ended up in Rome where he met Pope Adrian VI and requested permission to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Once he arrived in the Holy Land he wanted to remain, but was told by the Franciscan superior who had authority over Catholics there that the situation was too dangerous. (At the time, the Turks were the rulers of the Holy Land.) The superior ordered Ignatius to leave. He refused, but when threatened with excommunication, he obediently departed.

The Return to School
By now he was 33 years old and determined to study for the priesthood. However, he was ignorant of Latin, a necessary preliminary to university studies in those days. So he started back to school studying Latin grammar with young boys in a school in Barcelona. After two years he moved on to the University of Alcala. There his zeal got him in trouble, a problem that continued throughout his life. He would gather students and adults to explain the Gospels to them and teach them how to pray. His efforts attracted the attention of the Inquisition and he was thrown into jail for 42 days. When he was released he was told to avoid teaching others. (In the eyes of Inquisitors, anyone who was teaching and was not ordained was suspect.) Because he could not live without helping souls, Ignatius moved on to the University of Salamanca. There, within two weeks, the Dominicans had thrown him back into prison again. Though they could find no heresy in what he taught, he was told that he could only teach children and then only simple religious truths. Once more he took to the road, this time for Paris. At the University of Paris he began school again, studying Latin grammar and literature, philosophy, and theology. It was also in Paris that he began sharing a room with Francis Xavier and Peter Faber. He greatly influenced a few other fellow students directing them all at one time or another in what we now call the Spiritual Exercises. Eventually six of them plus Ignatius decided to take vows of chastity and poverty and to go to the Holy Land. If going to the Holy Land became impossible, they would go to Rome and place themselves at the disposal of the Pope for whatever he would want them to do. They did not think of doing this as a religious order or congregation, but as individual priests. For a year they waited, however no ship was able to take them to the Holy Land because of the conflict between the Christians and Muslims. It was during this time of waiting that Ignatius was ordained a priest, but he did not say Mass for another year. It is thought that he wanted to say his first Mass in Jerusalem in the land where Jesus himself had lived.

The Company of Jesus
Ignatius, along with two of his companions, Peter Faber and James Lainez, decided to go to Rome and place themselves at the disposal of the Pope. It was a few miles outside of the city that Ignatius had the second most significant of his mystical experiences. At a chapel at La Storta where they had stopped to pray, God the Father told Ignatius, "I will be favorable to you in Rome" and that he would place him (Ignatius) with His Son. Ignatius did not know what this experience meant, for it could mean persecution as well as success since Jesus experienced both. When they met with the Pope, he very happily put them to work teaching scripture and theology and preaching. It was here on Christmas morning, 1538, that Ignatius celebrated his first Mass at the church of St. Mary Major in the Chapel of the Manger. It was thought this chapel had the actual manger of Bethlehem, so, if Ignatius was not going to be able to say his first Mass at Jesus' birthplace in the Holy Land, then this would be the best substitute. During the Lent of 1539, Ignatius asked all of his companions to come to Rome to discuss their future. They had never thought of founding a religious order, but now that going to Jerusalem was out, they had to think about their future--whether they would spend it together. After many weeks of prayer and discussion, they decided to form a community, with the Pope's approval, in which they would vow obedience to a superior general who would hold office for life. They would place themselves at the disposal of the Holy Father to travel wherever he should wish to send them for whatever duties. A vow to this effect was added to the ordinary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Formal approval of this new order was given by Pope Paul III the following year on September 27, 1540. Since they had referred to themselves as the Company of Jesus (in Latin Societas Jesu), in English their order became known as the Society of Jesus. Ignatius was elected on the first ballot of the group to be the superior, but he begged them to reconsider, pray and vote again a few days later. The second ballot came out as the first, unanimous for Ignatius, except for his own vote. He was still reluctant to accept, but his Franciscan confessor told him it was God's will, so he acquiesced. On the Friday of Easter week, April 22, 1541, at the Church of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, the friends pronounced their vows in the newly formed Order.

The Years As Superior General
Ignatius, whose love it was to be actively involved in teaching catechism to children, directing adults in the Spiritual Exercises, and working among the poor and in hospitals, would for the most part sacrifice this love for the next fifteen years. From his election as superior general until his death he would work out of two small rooms, his bedroom and next to it his office, directing this new society throughout the world. He would spend years composing the Constitutions of the Society and would write thousands of letters to all corners of the globe to his fellow Jesuits dealing with the affairs of the Society and to lay men and women directing them in the spiritual life. From his tiny quarters in Rome he would live to see in his lifetime the Society of Jesus grow from eight to a thousand members. The Jesuits would found colleges and houses all over Europe and as far away as Brazil and Japan. Some of the original companions were to become the Pope's theologians at the Council of Trent, an event which played an important role in the Catholic Counter Reformation.

The Jesuits and Schools
Perhaps the work of the Society of Jesus begun by Ignatius that is best known is that of education. It is interesting that he had no intention of including teaching among the Jesuits' works at the beginning. As already mentioned, the purpose of the first members was to be at the disposal of the Pope to go where they would be most needed. Before 1548 Ignatius had opened schools in Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, and India. These schools, however, were intended primarily for the education of the new young Jesuit recruits. Ten such colleges built within six years indicated the rapid growth of the Jesuits. But in 1548 at the request of the magistrates of Messina in Sicily, Ignatius sent five men to open a school for lay as well as Jesuit students. It soon became clear by requests from rulers, bishops and cities for schools that this work was truly one of the most effective ways to correct ignorance and corruption among the clergy and the faithful, to stem the decline of the Church in the face of the Reformation, and to fulfill the motto of the Society of Jesus, "Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam,"--to the greater glory of God. This was clearly in keeping with one of Ignatius' first principles in choosing apostolates: all other things being equal, choose those apostolates that will influence those who have the most influence on others. Maybe the best expression of this idea was in a letter he wrote about the founding of colleges in December of 1551: From among those who are now merely students, in time some will depart to play diverse roles--one to preach and carry on the care of souls, another to government of the land and the administration of justice, and others to other callings. Finally, since young boys become grown men, their good education in life and doctrine will be beneficial to many others, with the fruit expanding more widely every day. From then on, Ignatius helped to establish Jesuit schools and universities all over Europe and the world.

Ignatius the Person
It is probably true that the picture of Ignatius that most people have is that of a soldier: stern, iron-willed, practical, showing little emotion -- not a very attractive or warm personality. Yet if this picture is exact, it is hard to see how he could have had such a strong influence on those who knew him. Luis Goncalves de Camara, one of his closest associates wrote: He (Ignatius) was always rather inclined toward love; moreover, he seemed all love, and because of that he was universally loved by all. There was no one in the Society who did not have much great love for him and did not consider himself much loved by him. We regard a number of saints as great mystics but never think of Ignatius as one of them. We have recounted a few of the many visions and mystical experiences in his life. His holiness, however, did not consist in such, but in the great love that directed his life to do everything A.M.D.G., for the greater glory of God.

Last Illness
Ever since his student days in Paris, Ignatius had suffered from stomach ailments and they became increasingly troublesome in Rome. In the summer of 1556 his health grew worse, but his physician thought he would survive this summer as he had done others. Ignatius, however, thought that the end was near. On the afternoon of July 30th he asked Polanco, his secretary, to go and get the Pope's blessing for him, suggesting by this to Polanco that he was dying. Polanco, however, trusted the physician more than Ignatius and told him he had a lot of letters to write and mail that day. He would go for the Pope's blessing the next day. Shortly after midnight Ignatius took a turn for the worse. Polanco rushed off to the Vatican to get the papal blessing, but it was too late. The former worldly courtier and soldier who had turned his gaze to another court and a different type of battle had rendered his soul into the hands of God. Ignatius was beatified on July 27, 1609 and canonized by Pope Gregory XV on March 12, 1622 together with St. Francis Xavier. Ignatius' feast day is celebrated by the universal Church and the Jesuits on July 31, the day he died.

This material is extracted from essay by Rev. Norman O'Neal, S.J., The Life of St Ignatius

For more information on the life of St Ignatius, click for link to read, 1900 illustrated edition - The autobiography of St Ignatius of Loyola, ed. by Joseph o'Conor, SJ. In the preface we read that to fully understand Ignatian spiritual exercises, we should knwo something about the man who wrote them. We discern the Saint's natural disposition, which was the foundation of his spiritual character. We learn of his conversion, his trials, the obstacles in his way, the heroism with which he accomplished his great mission. Wow, it is worth to read!

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ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

At the Introit of the Mass, with the priest, pray to God for brotherly love, and for protection against enemies. Within and without. "God, in His holy place; God, Who maketh men of one mind to dwell in a house, He shall give power and strength to His people. Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Him flee before His face" (Ps 67). Glory be to the Father, etc

Prayer
O almighty and everlasting God, Who in the abundance of Thy mercy dost exceed the desires and deserts of Thy suppliants, pour forth Thy mercy upon us, that Thou mayest forgive what our conscience fears, and grant what our prayer does not presume to ask. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, etc.

EPISTLE
1Cor. 15: 1-10

I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; By which also you are saved, if you hold fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received: how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures: And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures: And that he was seen by Cephas; and after that by the eleven. Then he was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once: of whom many remain until this present, and some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen also by me, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am; and his grace in me hath not been void, but I have laboured more abundantly than all they: yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

Explanation
This epistle teaches us that as the holy apostle Paul was not elated with vanity by the revelations he has received from God, but rather felt himself unworthy of them, ascribing it to God's grace that he was what he was, even so the truly humble man thinks little of himself, is willing to be despised by others, and gives glory to God alone. Such humility is a most difficult lesson to our sensual nature. But are we not sinner, and far greater sinners that St.Paul was? and shall we then esteem ourselves highly? And granting that we have not to reproach ourselves with any great sins, and have even done much good, is it not presumption and robbery to claim for ourselves what belongs to grace? Let us learn, therefore, to be humble, and to count ourselves always unprofitable servants.

Aspiration.
O most humble Saviour, banish from my heart the spirit of pride, and impart to me the most necessary grace of humility. Give me grace to know that, of myself, I can do nothing that is pleasing to Thee, that all my sufficiency for good comes from Thee, and that Thou worketh in us both to will and to accomplish (2 Cor. 3:5; Phil. 2:13).

GOSPEL
Mark 7: 31-37
And again going out of the coasts of Tyre, he came by Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring to him one deaf and dumb; and they besought him that he would lay his hand upon him. And taking him from the multitude apart, he put his fingers into his ears, and spitting, he touched his tongue: And looking up to heaven, he groaned, and said to him: Ephpheta, which is, Be thou opened. And immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right. And he charged them that they should tell no man. But the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal did they publish it. And so much the more did they wonder, saying: He hath done all things well; he hath made both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

Who among Christians are like the deaf and dumb of this Gospel?
Those who are deaf to the voice of God, and dumb in prayer, in the praise of God in the defence of religion, and of the good name of their neighbour, and in confessing their sins.

Why did Christ take the deaf man aside?
Because he did not seek the praise of men, and at the same time was loath to provoke too soon the hatred of His enemies.

Why did Jesus put His finger into the ears of the deaf and dumb, and spitting, touch his tongue?
To show this unfortunate person by signs that it was He Who freed him from bodily evils, and that the healing power was not the consequence of secretly given remedies, but proceeded immediately from Himself.

Why did Jesus look up to heaven and groan?
1. To show that He acted not as mere man, but that he had received all power from His eternal Father.
2. That he might thereby awaken and animate the deaf and dumb man to confidence in His power and belief in His divine mission. Learn hence to practice the beautiful virtue of compassion for other's sufferings, and to acknowledge that every good gift is from above.

Why did Christ charge them that they should tell no man?
That we might learn not to seek the praise of men for our good deeds. Let us learn to make known the works of God to His glory; for He is continually working before our eyes every day so many wonders, in order that we may praise His benignity and omnipotence.

Aspirations
O Jesus, great physician of souls, open mine ears to attend to Thy holy will; loosen my tongue to proclaim and praise forever Thy love and goodness.

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Feast of St Anne, mother of the Blessed Virgin

Beautiful, refreshing and encouraging meditation for every Catholic mother. St Anne, pray for us!

Spiritual Bouquet: He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me... And I will love him and manifest Myself to him (St. John 14:21)

Saint Anne, chosen by God to be the mother of Mary, His own Blessed Mother on earth, was the spouse of Saint Joachim. Ancestor of the Eternal King and High Priest, Joachim was of the royal house of David, while Anne was of Levitical descent. Their lives were wholly occupied with prayer and good works. One thing only was wanting to their union — they were childless, and this was held as a bitter misfortune among the Jews. At length, when Anne was well advanced in age, Mary was born, the fruit rather of grace than of nature, and the child more of God than of man. With the birth of Mary the holy matron began a new life; she watched Her every movement with reverent tenderness, and, aware of the little one’s destiny, felt herself hourly sanctified by the presence of her Immaculate Child. But she had vowed her daughter to God; to God the child Mary had already consecrated Herself, and to Him Anne gave Her back. Mary was three years old when Anne and Joachim led Her to the Temple steps, saw Her pass by Herself into the inner sanctuary, and then saw Her no more. Thus was Anne left childless in her old age, and deprived of her purest earthly joy. The holiest parents on earth could not, in the plan of God, raise this Child as was needed: Mary had to suffer from Her earliest years. Saint Anne and Saint Joachim humbly adored the Divine Will, and continued to watch and pray, until God called them to unending rest.

France and Canada possess the principal sanctuaries of Saint Anne: in France, at Apt in Provence, and at Auray in Britanny; in Canada at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in the Province of Quebec. At Apt the discovery in 792 of Saint Anne’s relics, brought by Lazarus and his two sisters to France, was wholly miraculous, authenticated by the presence of Charlemagne during the discovery, and the signature of Pope Adrian I on the written account of the facts.

Reflection: Saint Anne is glorious among the Saints, not only as the mother of Mary, but because she gave Mary to God. Learn from her to reverence a religious vocation as the highest privilege, and to sacrifice every natural bond, however holy, at the call of God.

Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler’s Lives of the Saints, and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).

Text after www.magnificat.ca

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St Mary Magdalen, Penitent

St. Mary was given the name 'Magdalen' because, though a Jewish girl, she lived in a Gentile town called Magdale, in northern Galilee, and her culture and manners were those of a Gentile. St. Luke records that she was a notorious sinner, and had seven devils removed from her. She was present at Our Lords' Crucifixion, and with Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, at Jesus' empty tomb. Fourteen years after Our Lord's death, St. Mary was put in a boat by the Jews without sails or oars - along with Sts. Lazarus and Martha, St. Maximin (who baptized her), St. Sidonius ("the man born blind"), her maid Sera, and the body of St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin. They were sent drifting out to sea and landed on the shores of Southern France, where St. Mary spent the rest of her life as a contemplative in a cave known as Sainte-Baume. She was given the Holy Eucharist daily by angels as her only food, and died when she was 72. St. Mary was transported miraculously, just before she died, to the chapel of St. Maximin, where she received the last sacraments.

When Mary Magdalen first saw Our Lord she was very beautiful and very proud sinner, but after she met Jesus, she felt great sorrow for her evil life. When Jesus went to supper at the home of a rich man named Simon, Mary came to weep at His feet. Then with her long beautiful hair, she wiped His feet dry and anointed them with expensive perfume. Some people were surprised that Jesus let such a sinner touch Him, but Our Lord could see into Mary's heart, and He said: "Many sins are forgiven her, because she has loved very much." Then to Mary He said kindly, "Your faith has made you safe; go in peace." From then on, with the other holy women, Mary humbly served Jesus and His Apostles. When Our Lord was crucified, she was there at the foot of His cross, unafraid for herself, and thinking only of His sufferings. No wonder Jesus said of her: "She has loved much." After Jesus' body had been placed in the tomb, Mary went to anoint it with spices early Easter Sunday morning. Not finding the Sacred Body, she began to weep, and seeing someone whom she thought was the gardener, she asked him if he knew where the Body of her beloved Master had been taken. But then the person spoke in a voice she knew so well: "Mary!" It was Jesus, risen from the dead! He had chosen to show Himself first to Mary Magdalen, the repentent sinner.

Image by Giovanni Cima da Conegliano

Text based on Catholic Online

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Saturday - Day of Our Lady

House of Gold, pray for us!

With this invocation we venerate in Our Lady the gift of knowledge. This gift helps to understand better God's design and fills the soul with strong and holy desire for perfection that it may become like a pure gold that once adorned Solomon's temple. When Solomon completed construction of the temple, he prayed: "I have built a house to his name, that he might dwell there for ever" (2 Paralipomenon 6:1). Our Lady herself is like shining golden temple of virtue. Our Lord praised her obedience when He answered words of admiration towards His mother expressed by woman of Jerusalem: "Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it" (Luke 11:28). How profitable could it be for the soul to follow the example of the Blessed Virgin in effort to achieve spiritual perfection by gathering the gold of true knowledge from daily readings of the Holy Scriptures and humble and careful listening to sermons: "When you have received from us the word of the hearing of God, you received it not as the word of men, but (as it is indeed) the word of God, who worketh in you that have believed." (Luke 2:13).

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