Collection of Lent videos - instructions, reflections, catechesis

Fr Barron comments on Lent



Lent Theology for young people

Cardinal Justin Rigali, the Archbishop of Philadelphia, gives a brief reflection on living the Lent faithfully.

First Sunday of Lent - Temptation of Jesus





Second Sunday of Lent - Transfiguration





Third Sunday of Lent - Cardinal Rigali on evil





Fourth Sunday of Lent - Cardinal Rigali on Prodigal Son parable





Fifth Sunday of Lent - Cardinal Rigali on the story of woman caught in adultery

Archb Vincent Nichol's talk at St Chad's Cathedral in Birmingham during Lent 2006. Lent catechesis

Part 1 - Please be patient, the video starts with unnecessary 'kumbaya' style introductory singing but the rest is fine





Part 2





Part 3

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ASH WEDNESDAY

Why is this day thus named?

Because on this day the Church blesses ashes, and places them on the heads of her faithful children, saying: "Remember man, thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return."

Why is this done?
St. Charles Borromeo gives us the following reasons for this practice: that the faithful may be moved to sincere humility of heart; that the heavenly blessing may descend upon them, by which they, being really penitent, will weep with their whole soul for their sins, remembering how earth was cursed because of sin, and that we have all to return to dust; that strength to do true penance may be given the body, and that our soul may be endowed with divine grace to persevere in penance. With such thoughts let the ashes shall be put upon your head, while you ask in all humility and with a contrite heart, for God’s mercy and grace.

Is the practice of putting ashes upon our heads pleasing to God?
It is, for God Himself commanded the Israelites to put ashes on their heads for a sign of repentance (Jer 25:34). Thus did David (Ps. 101: 10) who even strewed ashes on his bread; the Ninivites (Jonas 3: 5) Judith, (Jud. 9:1) Mardochai (Esth 4:1) Job (Job 42:6) etc. The Christians of the earliest times followed this practice as often as they did public penance for their sins.

Why from this day until the end of Lent are the altars draped in violet?
Because, as has been already said, the holy season of Lent is a time of sorrow and penance for sin, and the Church desires externally to demonstrate by the violet with which she drapes the altar, by the violet vestments worn by the priests, and by the cessation of the organ and festive singing, that we in quiet mourning are bewailing our sins; and to still further impress the spirit of penance upon us, there is usually only a simple crucifix or a picture of Christ's passion, left visible upon the altar, and devoutly meditating upon it, the heart is mostly prepared for contrition.

INTROIT
Thou hast mercy upon all, O Lord, and hatest none of the things which Thou hast made, winking at the sins of men for the sake of repentance, and sparing them; for thou art the Lord our God. (Wisd. 11: 24- 25) Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me; for my soul trusteth in thee (Ps 56: 2). Glory be to the Father, etc.

COLLECT
Grant to thy faithful, O Lord, that they may begin the venerable solemnities of fasting with suitable piety, and perform them with tranquil devotion. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, etc.

LESSON (Joel 2:12-19)
Now therefore saith the Lord: Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning. And rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil. Who knoweth but he will return, and forgive, and leave a blessing behind him, sacrifice and libation to the Lord your God. Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, Gather together the people, sanctify the church, assemble the ancients, gather together the little ones, and them that suck at the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth from his bed, and the bride out of her bride chamber. Between the porch and the altar the priests the Lord's ministers shall weep, and shall say: Spare, O Lord, spare thy people and give not thy inheritance to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them. Why should they say among the nations. Where is their God? The Lord hath been zealous for his land, and hath spared his people. And the Lord answered and said to his people: Behold I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and you shall be filled with them: and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.

EXPLANATION
The Prophet Joel exhorts the Jews to sorrow and penance for their sins, that they evade the expected judgment to be sent by God upon the city of Jerusalem. He required of them to show their repentance not merely by rending their garments, a sign of mourning with the Jews, but by a truly contrite heart. The Church wishes us to see plainly from this lesson of the prophet what qualities our penance should possess, if we desire reconciliation with God, forgiveness of our sins, and deliverance at the Last Day, which qualities are not merely abstinence from food and amusements, but the practice of real mortification of our evil inclinations, thus becoming with our whole heart converted to God.

GOSPEL (Matt. 6: 16-21)
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: When you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head and wash thy face, that thou appear not to men to fast, but to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee. Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth, where the rust and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also.

EXPLANATION Jesus forbids us to seek the praises of men when performing good works, (fasting is a good work,) and still worse it would be to do good as the Pharisees, through hypocrisy. He also warns us against avarice and the desire for temporal riches, urging us to employ our temporal goods, in giving alms, and doing works of charity, thus laying up treasures in heaven, which are there rewarded and will last there forever. "What folly", says St. Chrysostom, "to leave our goods where we cannot stay, instead of sending them before us where we are going — to heaven!"'

credits: Fr Goffine's "The Church's Year"

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In the series of history of Carmel and its spirituality - let us read now the story as written by Discalced Carmelite, St Benedicta of the Cross, OCD. Part 2.

On his feast, which we celebrate on July 20, the priest goes to the altar in red vestments. On this day the monastery of our friars on Mount Carmel, the site of Elijah's grotto, is the goal of mighty bands of pilgrims. Jews, Moslems, and Christians of all denominations vie in honoring the great prophet. We remember him in the liturgy on still another day, in the epistle and preface of the Feast of Mount Carmel, as we usually call the feast of the scapular. On this day we give thanks that our dear Lady has clothed us with the "garment of salvation." The events providing the occasion for this feast did not occur until much later in the Western world. In the year 1251 [according to tradition] the Blessed Virgin appeared to the general of the Order, Simon Stock, an Englishman, and gave him the scapular. But the preface reminds us that it was our dear Lady of Mount Carmel who bestowed this visible sign of her motherly protection on her children far from the original home of the Order. It was she who manifested herself to the Prophet Elijah in the form of a little rain cloud and for whom the sons of the prophets built the first shrine on Mount Carmel. The legend of the Order tells us that the Mother of God would have liked to remain with the hermit brothers on Mount Carmel. We can certainly understand that she felt drawn to the place where she had been venerated through the ages and where the holy prophet had lived in the same spirit that also filled her from the time her earthly sojourn began. Released from everything earthly, to stand in worship in the presence of God, to love him with her whole heart, to beseech his grace for sinful people, and in atonement to substitute herself for these people, as the maidservant of the Lord to await his beckoning this was her life. The hermits of Carmel lived as sons of the great prophet and as "brothers of the Blessed Virgin." St Berthold organized them as cenobites, and at the instigation of St Brocard, the spirit which they had received from their predecessors was laid down in our holy Rule. Around 1200, it was given to the Order by St Albert, the patriarch of Jerusalem, and authorized by Pope Innocent IV in 1247. It also condenses the entire meaning of our life in a short statement: "All are to remain in their own cells..., meditating on the Law of the Lord day and night and watching in prayer, unless otherwise justly employed." "To watch in prayer" this is to say the same thing that Elijah said with the words, "to stand before the face of God." Prayer is looking up into the face of the Eternal. We can do this only when the spirit is awake in its innermost depths, freed from all earthly occupations and pleasures that benumb it. Being awake in body does not guarantee this consciousness, nor does rest required by nature interfere. "To meditate on the Law of the Lord" this can be a form of prayer when we take prayer in its usual broad sense. But if we think of "watching in prayer" as being immersed in God, which is characteristic of contemplation, then meditation on the Law is only a means to contemplation.

What is meant by "the Law of the Lord"? Psalm 118 which we pray every Sunday and on solemnities at Prime, is entirely filled with the command to know the Law and to be led by it through life. The Psalmist was certainly thinking of the Law of the Old Covenant. Knowing it actually did require life-long study and fulfilling it, life-long exertion of the will. But the Lord has freed us from the yoke of this Law. We can consider the Savior's great commandment of love, which he says includes the whole Law and the Prophets, as the Law of the New Covenant. Perfect love of God and of neighbor can certainly be a subject worthy of an entire lifetime of meditation. But we understand the Law of the New Covenant, even better, to be the Lord himself, since he has in fact lived as an example for us of the life we should live. We thus fulfill our Rule when we hold the image of the Lord continually before our eyes in order to make ourselves like him. We can never finish studying the Gospels. But we have the Savior not only in the form of reports of witnesses to his life. He is present to us in the most Blessed Sacrament. The hours of adoration before the Highest Good and the listening for the voice of the eucharistic God are simultaneously "meditation on the Law of the Lord" and "watching in prayer." "But the highest level is reached "when the Law is deep within our hearts" (Ps 40:8), when we are so united with the triune God whose temple we are, that his Spirit rules all we do or do not do. Then it does not mean we are forsaking the Lord when we do the work that obedience requires of us. Work is unavoidable as long as we are subject to nature's laws and to the necessities of life. And, following the word and example of the apostle Paul, our holy Rule commands us to earn our bread by the work of our hands. But for us this work is always merely a means and must never be an end in itself. To stand before the face of God continues to be the real content of our lives.

Islam's conquest of the Holy Land drove the hermit brothers from Carmel. Only for the past 300 years has our Order again had a shrine of the Mother of God on the holy mountain. The transition from solitude into the everyday life of Western culture led to a falsification of the original spirit of the Order. The protective walls of separation, of rigorous penance and of silence fell, and the pleasures and cares of the world pressed through the opened gates. The monastery of the Incarnation in Avila, which our Holy Mother entered in the year 1535, was such a monastery of the mitigated Rule. For decades she endured the conflict between the snares of worldly relationships and the pull of undivided surrender to God. But the Lord allowed her no rest until she let go of everything that bound her and really became serious about recognizing that God alone suffices. The great schism of faith that was tearing Europe apart during her time, the loss of so many souls, aroused in her the passionate desire to stop the harm and to offer the Lord recompense. Whereupon God gave her the idea of taking a little flock of selected souls and founding a monastery according to the original Rule and of serving him there with the greatest perfection. After innumerable battles and difficulties, she was able to found the monastery of St Joseph in Avila. Her great work of reform grew from there. At her death she left behind 36 monasteries of women and men of the strict observance, the new branch of the Order, the "Discalced" Carmelites. The monasteries of the reform were to be places where the spirit of the ancient Carmel was to live again. The re-established original Rule and the Constitutions drawn up by the saint herself form the fence by means of which she intended to protect her vineyards against the dangers from without. Her writings on prayer, the most complete and most animated presentation of the inner life, are the precious legacy through which her spirit continues to work among us. (I have published a very concise presentation of her life in the collection "Kleine Lebensbilder" [Freiburg (Switzerland): Kanisiuswerkes, 1934].) It is the ancient spirit of Carmel. However, influenced by the battles over faith raging in her time, she gave stronger emphasis than did the primitive Carmel to the thought of reparation and of supporting the servants of the church who withstood the enemy in the front lines. As our second father and leader, we revere the first male Discalced Carmelite of the reform, St John of the Cross. We find in him the ancient eremitical spirit in its purest form. His life gives an impression as though he had no inner struggles. Just as from his earliest childhood he was under the special protection of the Mother of God, so from the time he reached the age of reason, he was drawn to rigorous penance, solitude, to letting go of everything earthly, and to union with God. He was the instrument chosen to be an example and to teach the reformed Carmel the spirit of Holy Father Elijah. Together with Mother Teresa, he spiritually formed the first generation of male and female Discalced Carmelites, and through his writings, he also illumines for us the way on the "Ascent of Mount Carmel."

The daughters of St Teresa, personally trained by her and Father John, founded the first monasteries of the reform in France and Belgium. From there the Order also soon advanced into the Rhineland. The great French Revolution and the Kulturkampf in Germany tried to suppress it by force. But as soon as the pressure abated, it sprang to life again. It was in this garden that the "little white flower" [i.e., St. Thérèse of Lisieux] bloomed, so quickly captivating hearts far beyond the boundaries of the Order, not only as a worker of miracles for those in need, but also as a director of "little souls" on the path of "spiritual childhood." Many people came to know of this path through her, but very few know that it is not really a new discovery, but the path onto which life in Carmel pushes us. The greatness of the young saint was that she recognized this path with ingenious deduction and that she followed it with heroic decisiveness to the end. The walls of our monasteries enclose a narrow space. To erect the structure of holiness in it, one must dig deep and build high, must descend into the depths of the dark night of one's own nothingness in order to be raised up high into the sunlight of divine love and compassion. Not every century produces a work of reform as powerful as that of our Holy Mother. Nor does every age give us a reign of terror during which we have the opportunity to lay our heads on the executioner's block for our faith and for the ideal of our Order as did the 16 Carmelites of Compiegne. But all who enter Carmel must give themselves wholly to the Lord. Only one who values her little place in the choir before the tabernacle more highly than all the splendor of the world can live here, can then truly find a joy that no worldly splendor has to offer. Our daily schedule ensures us of hours for solitary dialogue with the Lord, and these are the foundation of our life. Together with priests and other ancient Orders of the church, we pray the Liturgy of the Hours, and this Divine Office is for us as for them our first and most sacred duty. But it is not for us the supporting ground. No human eye can see what God does in the soul during hours of inner prayer. It is grace upon grace. And all of life's other hours are our thanks for them. Carmelites can repay God's love by their everyday lives in no other way than by carrying out their daily duties faithfully in every respect all the little sacrifices that a regimen structured day after day in all its details demands of an active spirit; all the self- control that living in close proximity with different kinds of people continually requires and that is achieved with a loving smile; letting no opportunity go by for serving others in love. Finally, crowning this is the personal sacrifice that the Lord may impose on the individual soul. This is the "little way," a bouquet of insignificant little blossoms which are daily placed before the Almighty perhaps a silent, life-long martyrdom that no one suspects and that is at the same time a source of deep peace and hearty joyousness and a fountain of grace that bubbles over everything we do not know where it goes, and the people whom it reaches do not know from where it comes.

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In the series of history of Carmel and its spirituality - let us read now the story as written by Discalced Carmelite, St Benedicta of the Cross, OCD. Part 1.

ON THE HISTORY AND SPIRIT OF CARMEL
Until a few years ago, very little from our silent monasteries penetrated into the world. It is different today. People talk a lot about Carmel and want to hear something about life behind the high walls. This is chiefly attributable to the great saints of our time who have captivated the entire Catholic world with amazing speed, for instance, St Thérèse of the Child Jesus. Gertrud von le Fort's novel about Carmel has vigorously directed German intellectual circles to our Order as has her beautiful foreword to the letters of Marie Antoinette de Geuser. What does the average Catholic know about Carmel? That it is a very strict, perhaps the strictest penitential Order, and that from it comes the holy habit of the Mother of God, the brown scapular, which unites many of the faithful in the world to us. The whole church celebrates with us the patronal feast of our Order, the feast of the scapular, on July 16. Most people also recognize at least the names of "little" Thérèse and "great" Teresa, whom we call our Holy Mother. She is generally seen as the founder of the Discalced Carmelites. The person who is a little more familiar with the history of the church and monasteries certainly knows that we revere the prophet Elijah as our leader and father. But people consider this a "legend" that does not mean very much. We who live in Carmel and who daily call on our Holy Father Elijah in prayer know that for us he is not a shadowy figure out of the dim past. His spirit is active among us in a vital tradition and determines how we live. Our Holy Mother strenuously denied that she was founding a new Order. She wanted nothing except to reawaken the original spirit of the old Rule [of St Albert].

Our Holy Father Elijah succinctly says what is most important in the first words of his that the Scriptures give us. He says to King Ahab who worshiped idols (1 Kgs 17:1): "As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word." To stand before the face of the living God that is our vocation. The holy prophet set us an example. He stood before God's face because this was the eternal treasure for whose sake he gave up all earthly goods. He had no house; he lived wherever the Lord directed him from moment to moment: in loneliness beside the brook of Carith, in the little house of the poor widow of Zarephath of Sidon, or in the caves of Mount Carmel. His clothing was an animal hide like that of that other great penitent and prophet, the Baptist. The hide of a dead animal reminds us that the human body is also subject to death. Elijah is not concerned about his daily bread. He lives trusting in the solicitude of the heavenly Father and is marvelously sustained. A raven brings him his daily food while he is in solitude. The miraculously increased provisions of the pious widow nourish him in Zarephath. Prior to the long trek to the holy mountain where the Lord was to appear to him, an angel with heavenly bread strengthens him. So he is for us an example of the gospel poverty that we have vowed, an authentic prototype of the Savior. Elijah stands before God's face because all of his love belongs to the Lord. He lives outside of all natural human relationships. We hear nothing of his father and mother, nothing of a wife or child. His "relatives" are those who do the will of the Father as he does: Elisha, whom God has designated as his successor, and the "sons of the prophets," who follow him as their leader. Glorifying God is his joy. His zeal to serve him tears him apart: "I am filled with jealous zeal for the Lord, the God of hosts" (1 Kgs 19:10,14); these words were used as a motto on the shield of the Order. By living penitentially, he atones for the sins of his time. The offense that the misguided people give to the Lord by their manner of worship hurts him so much that he wants to die. And the Lord consoles him only as he consoles his especially chosen ones: He appears to him himself on a lonely mountain, reveals himself in soft rustling after a thunderstorm, and announces his will to him in clear words.

The prophet, who serves the Lord in complete purity of heart and completely stripped of everything earthly, is also a model of obedience. He stands before God's face like the angels before the eternal throne, awaiting his sign, always ready to serve. He has no other will than the will of his Lord. When God bids, he goes before the king and fearlessly risks giving him bad news that must arouse his hatred. When God wills it, he leaves the country at the threat of violence; but he also returns at God's command, though the danger has not disappeared. Anyone who is so unconditionally faithful to God can also be certain of God's faithfulness. He is permitted to speak "as someone who has power," may open and close heaven, may command the waters to let him walk through and remain dry, may call down fire from heaven to consume his sacrifice, to execute punishment on God's enemies, and may breathe new life into a dead person. We see the Savior's predecessor provided with all the graces that he has promised to his own. And the greatest crown is still in reserve for him: Before the eyes of his true disciple, Elisha, he is carried off in a fiery carriage to a secret place far from all human abodes. According to the testimony of Revelation, he will return near the end of the world to suffer a martyr's death for his Lord in the battle against the Antichrist.

SAINT EDITH STEIN (1891-1941)
Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, was born into a Jewish family at Breslau, then a German town, now in Poland. With a hunger for truth she studied philosophy and after gaining a Doctorate summa cum laude (literally, with highest praise) she embarked on an academic career. A period of atheism was followed by a search ending in her conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1922 after reading the life of St Teresa. She entered Carmel at Cologne taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. For her safety she was later transferred to the Dutch Carmel of Echt. There she, with other converts from Judaism, was arrested by the Nazis in retaliation for the Dutch bishops outspoken condemnation of anti-Semitism. As she left her Carmel for the gas chambers of Auschwitz she said: 'I am going for my people'. She died there in August 1941. Her feast day is kept on 9 August.

credits: ics publications austrian carmel
and fragments from St Edith Stein biography Read whole post......

Quinquagesima Sunday.

Prediction of the Passion

PRESENCE OF GOD
O Jesus, give me light to understand the mystery and value of Christian suffering.

MEDITATION
Lent is approaching and our thoughts turn spontaneously to the sorrows of Jesus. Today's Gospel (Lk 18: 31-43) brings us an announcement of the Passion. The prediction is clear: "The Son of Man...shall be delivered to the Gentiles, and shall be mocked and scourged and spit upon, and after they have scourged Him, they will put Him to death; and the third day He shall rise again." However, as on the other occasions, the Apostles "understood none of these things, and this word was hidden from them". They did not understand because they imagined that Jesus' mission was like an earthly conqueror's and that He would re-establish the kingdom of Israel. Since they dreamed only of triumphs and of occupying the first places in the kingdom, any allusion to the Passion upset and scandalized them. To those who dream only of prosperity and earthly glory, the language of the Cross is incomprehensible. Those who have a purely material ideal of life find it very difficult to understand any spiritual significance, and especially that of suffering. St. Paul said that Christ Crucified was "unto the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness" (1 Cor 1:23). Rebuking St. Peter, who at the first mention of the Passion had exclaimed, "Lord, be it far from Thee, this shall not be unto Thee," Jesus had said, "Go behind Me, Satan....because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men" (Mt 16: 22,23). To human wisdom, suffering is incomprehensible; it is disconcerting; it can lead one to murmur against divine Providence and even to lose all trust in God. However, according to the wisdom of God, suffering is a means of salvation and redemption. And as it was necessary "for Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory (Lk 24,26), it is also necessary for the Christian to be refined in the crucible of sorrow in order to attain to sanctity, to eternal life.

It was not until after the descent of the Holy Spirit that the Apostles fully understood the meaning of the Passion; then, instead of being scandalized, they considered it the greatest honour to follow and to preach Christ Crucified. The human eye has not sufficient light to comprehend the value of the Cross; it needs a new light, the light of the Holy Spirit. It is not by chance that in today's Gospel, immediately after the prediction of the Passion, we find the healing of the blind man of Jericho. We are always somewhat blind when faced with the mystery of suffering; when it strikes us in what we hold most near and dear, it is easy to get lost and to grope our way like blind men through uncertainty and darkness. The Church invites us to repeat today the blind man's prayer of faith:"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" The world id often astonished at the suffering of the good, and instead of encouraging them in their reliance on God, seeks to turn from Him by urging them to defiance and false fear. Our passions themselves, our innate tendencies toward pleasure, often cry out to us and try, by a thousand pretexts, to prevent us from following Jesus Crucified. Let us remain steadfast in our faith, like the poor blind man. He was not disturbed by the crowd that tried to keep him from approaching Jesus, and he did not give up when disciples remonstrated with him and wanted him to be quiet; he only shouted his prayer "even more loudly".
Let us cry to he Lord from the bottom of our hearts: "De profoundis clamavo ad te, Domine; Domine audi vocem meam!"(Ps 129). Let us ask, not to be exempt from suffering, but to be enlightened at its value. "Lord, that I may see!" As soon as the blind man recovered his sight, he immediately followed Jesus, "glorifying God!". The supernatural light which we seek from the Lord will give us the strength to follow Him and to carry our cross as He did.

COLLOQUY
O Jesus Christ, Son of the eternal Father, our Lord, true King of all things! What didst Thou leave in the world for Thy descendants to inherit from Thee? What didst Thou ever have, my Lord, save trials, pains, and insults? Indeed Thou hadst only a beam of wood to rest upon while drinking the bitter draught of death. Those of us, then, my God, who desire to be Thy true children and not to renounce their inheritance, must never flee from suffering, Thy crest is five wounds!....O my Jesus, the Cross is Your standard; I should be ashamed to ask to be delivered from it. From one evil only I ardently beg You to preserve me: from any deliberate sin, however slight. O Lord, I beg You by the merits of Your sacred Passion to keep all sin far from me. But as for other evils - bodily or spiritual sufferings, physical pain or mental anguish - I beg Your light and strength: light to understand the hidden meaning which they have in the plans of Your divine Providence, light to understand the hidden meaning which they have in the plans of your divine Providence, light to believe firmly that every sorrow or trial, every pain or disappointment, is planned by You for my greater good; strength not to let myself be influenced by false maxims of the world or led astray by the vain mirage of earthly happiness, strength to accept suffering of any kind with courage and love.

Credits: text from "Divine Intimacy" by Fr Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen OCD

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Feast of St Blaise, Bishop and Martyr

We know more about the devotion to St. Blaise by Christians around the world than we know about the saint himself. His feast is observed as a holy day in some Eastern Churches. The Council of Oxford, in 1222, prohibited servile labor in England on Blaise’s feast day. The Germans and Slavs hold him in special honor and for decades many United States Catholics have sought the annual St. Blase blessing for their throats

We know that Bishop Blaise was martyred in his episcopal city of Sebastea, Armenia, in 316. The legendary Acts of St. Blaise were written 400 years later. According to them Blaise was a good bishop, working hard to encourage the spiritual and physical health of his people. Although the Edict of Toleration (311), granting freedom of worship in the Roman Empire, was already five years old, persecution still raged in Armenia. Blaise was apparently forced to flee to the back country. There he lived as a hermit in solitude and prayer, but made friends with the wild animals. One day a group of hunters seeking wild animals for the amphitheater stumbled upon Blaise’s cave. They were first surprised and then frightened. The bishop was kneeling in prayer surrounded by patiently waiting wolves, lions and bears. As the hunters hauled Blaise off to prison, the legend has it, a mother came with her young son who had a fish bone lodged in his throat. At Blaise’s command the child was able to cough up the bone. Agricolaus, governor of Cappadocia, tried to persuade Blaise to sacrifice to pagan idols. The first time Blase refused, he was beaten. The next time he was suspended from a tree and his flesh torn with iron combs or rakes. (English wool combers, who used similar iron combs, took Blaise as their patron. They could easily appreciate the agony the saint underwent.) Finally he was beheaded.

Comment:
Four centuries give ample opportunity for fiction to creep in with fact. Who can be sure how accurate Blaise’s biographer was? But biographical details are not essential. Blaise is seen as one more example of the power those have who give themselves entirely to Jesus. As Jesus told his apostles at the Last Supper, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). With faith we can follow the lead of the Church in asking for Blaise’s protection.

Quote:
“Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from ailments of the throat and from every other evil. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Blessing of St. Blaise).

Credits: text from American Catholic Saint of the day, whereas St Blaise sculpture picture is taken in the Church of St Blaise where the incorrupt body of St Silvanus, martyred in 350 is also kept.

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More news on Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill

I sent email to Lord Alton yesterday and he replied. I am posting here the message which contains a list of rallies organised in the next weeks over UK against Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill. More material on the bill has been attached to his email and if anyone wish to read more on the subject, please contact me. We live in the world we make ourselves because God gave us free will. Now, we are presented with possibility to have in the future 'human husbandry farms' developed. We need to protest, it is up to our conscience.

Quote:
Many thanks for your e-mail.

There will be a rally to draw attention to the provisions of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, at 7.00pm on Ash Wednesday, February 6th. Please do encourage people to come. I know that our opponents intend to be out in force. Speakers will include the Rt.Hon Ann Widdecombe MP. Other rallies;

* London: Central Hall Westminster, SW1:- Wednesday 6th February, 7pm
* Liverpool: The Liner Hotel, Lord Nelson Street:- Tuesday12th February, 7.30pm
* Coventry: Coventry Cathedral:- Wednesday 13th February,7.30pm
* Widnes: The Foundry, Lugsdale Road:- Monday 18th February,7.30pm
* Cardiff: The City Temple, Cowbridge Road East:- Tuesday 4th March, 7.30pm

For further information tel. 01925 220999 or 0203 1760032 or email: gill@epiphany.org.uk or ian.lucas@appplg.co.uk It would be good to see big audiences and hopefully many other smaller meetings will be organised in the wake of these. It's vital that the public learn what is at stake in this Bill. Post cards are now available to send to MPs. Please e-mail Ian Lucas, who will be pleased to send them to you for local distribution. A power point presentation explaining the Bill is also attached and this may be used at local meetings or to forward to others.
Subject: FW: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill Latest
Votes were taken in the House of Lords, on Monday, January 21st , on the child's need for a mother and a father. These votes were lost. Last Tuesday, January 15th, votes were taken on the creation of animal-human hybrids and saviour siblings. These votes were also lost. On Monday January 2 8th, the House debated the creation of a national Bio-ethics Commission. It also considered Baroness Masham's amendment on abortion of disabled babies up until birth and voted against it.

On February 4th the Bill will have its Third Reading and there will be a vote on the "Hunt" Test - proposed by Baroness (Shirley) Williams - on forbidding human embryos or animal-human embryos to be used unless the licence applicant can demonstrate that there are no alternatives available.

The Bill will then be sent to the House of Commons, with votes probably being taken in February on Second Reading.
The Government imposed a three line whip on its supporters in the House of Lords and is likely to do the same in the Commons.

Some or the arguments on these issues are set out below.

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Joy isn't found in the material objects surrounding us, but in the inner recesses of the soul. One can possess joy in a prison cell as well as in a palace. St. Therese of Lisieux

credit: quote from Society of the Little Flower Daily Reflection

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Follow up on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill - on the webpage of UK Parliament I have found the bill scheduled for reading on 4th February, the session begins at 2:30 in Legislation debate [HL] – Third reading (day 1) – by Lord Darzi of Denham (Labour).

The research Institutes likely involved in this research may be government funded. Therefore the readers of this blog who are British citizen and taxpayers have a good reason to urge the Lords to protest the bill and express their gratitude for excellent work Lord David Alton of Liverpool did to oppose the bill in previous Parliament sessions by sending him supportive email. The whole bill is worrying things but the hybrids embryo are a total novelty, and one can think what else can be in future amendments. I will try now to explain what this hybrid embryos business is about. The embryos are suppose to provide better stem cells, or so called pluripotent cells than those extracted from aborted fetuses and used previously for replacement therapies in various diseases, including Parkinson disease. Embryonic stem cells have been so far quite ineffective and even dangerous, for they can easily go out of control and divide uncontrollably transforming into cancer cells in the patient's body. However, there is a growing body of research evidence that human body contain cells of the same character, so called adult stem cells, that can be found in various organs, like skin, hair follicles, pancreas, bone marrow, intestine. These cells can provide stem cells not only for repair of their own tissue but also for other tissue and can be used successfully for replacement therapy. They are better and easier to maintain and to control. PubMed search provided me with a list scientific papers reporting these kind of results.

The email addresses of Lords:
1. Lord David Alton of Liverpool who actually protested the bill on the previous debate but the bill passed on 260 votes against 96. His email address is altond@parliament.co.uk
2. Lord Hanningfield of Essex, Conservative – lord.hanninfieldsBlog@essex.gov.uk
3. Lord Lucas of Crudwell and Dingwall, Conservative - lucasr.parliament.uk
4. Lord Michael Ashcroft Conservative leave a message here
5. Lord Faulkner of Worcester, Labour contact details on the website here

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From Catholic Action UK: The last chance to stop hybrid embryos for the House of Lord is on February 4th. Please read more on the post from Catholic Action blog: stop the hybrid embryos where one can find link to SPUC list of Lords addresses and advice on writing the letter. Time is running out. Read whole post......

Hybrid embryos - half human half animal.

'Scientists accuse Catholic priests of spreading embryo 'lies'

Scientists have accused Roman Catholic priests of spreading lies from the pulpit in an attempt to stoke up opposition to animal-human hybrid experiments. A statement attacking the controversial Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill was read out to parishioners across the country last week. The briefing, prepared by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, warned that the Bill would allow the creation of "half human, half animals" by combining eggs of women with the sperm of animals. It added: "To do this would be a radical violation of human dignity."

But scientists involved in animal-human embryo experiments accused the church of "blatant inaccuracy". Dr Lyle Armstrong, of Newcastle University, said the church's statement was "a gross and irresponsible misrepresentation of our position and our intentions". Hybrid embryos were designed to provide stem cells to treat human diseases - not to create half-human, half-animals, he said. He added: "We find their example of combining the egg of a woman with animal sperm even more distasteful and we wish to make it absolutely clear that our work does not involve this. We find it surprising and saddening-that the Catholic Church should resort to such blatant inaccuracy to support its message in these matters."

Under the Bill, which is going through Parliament, scientists would be allowed to create animal-human hybrids for medical research. They would take an animal egg cell, remove the blob in the centre which contains most of the animal's DNA and replace it with the nucleus from a human cell, taken from a donor. The resulting embryo is 99.9 per cent identical to the human donor - although it contains some animal DNA left over from the egg. The Catholic Church has sent every parish a pack of information including the one-page briefing document which some priests have read to congregations.

Chris Shaw, Professor of Neurology and Neurogenetics, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, said: "The bishops' statement on hybrids is not a radical violation of human dignity as they claim - it is a radical violation of the truth."

A spokesman for the church said: "Far from providing misinformation in our parish briefing, all we have done is draw attention to what this Bill actually allows. "Clause 4 allows licences to be given for the creation of hybrid and "interspecies" embryos, defined in the Bill as "an embryo created by using human gametes and animal gametes". This means half human and half animal."

I can only say how unethical, immoral and offending to God, who made us unto His image, is this kind of pseudo-scientific experiments and giving green light to this may lead in the future to any kind of abuse.

credits: New Oxford Review

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To remain a child before God means to recognize our nothingness, to expect everything from God. It is not to become discouraged over our failings, for children fall often, but they are too little to hurt themselves very much. St. Therese of Lisieux

credit to Society of the Little Flower - Daily Reflection link in Carmelitana section

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On recollection and necessity of prayer

In all thy ways think of Him, and He will direct thy steps (Prov 3:6)

The thoughts of God, the necessary foundation of the life of Faith.
In order to obtain this life of perfect faith it is not sufficient to renounce sensible sweetnesses; we must also, as far as possible, drive all profane objects and wordly cares from the mind, and nourish the soul assiduously on the mysteries of the faith; or, rather, the soul must feed on God - it must, in fact, inhale God and exhale Him. Respiration is necessary process of the natural life. This marvelous phenomenon, which fails to excite our admiration merely because it is so familiar to us, causes us to find in the atmosphere the salutary element which purifies our blood and sustains our vital heat and our life. If this necessary function is accomplished normally, it is because the body is healthy and the organs sound. If the air that we breathe is pure, dry, and buoyant, our health is maintained, or, if necessary, improved; if it is charged with humidity or putrid exhalations, the health is affected, and death may even ensue. God is the vivifying principle of the faithful soul. It must breathe Him constantly, must seek in Him - in the thought of Him and of His love, that is to say - the perpetual renewal of its spiritual life. And we can only exhale what we have previously inhaled; the air which issues from the lungs is equal in volume to that which has passed into them. So he alone who has drunk deep of the Divine sweetness can exhale God, breathing forth round about him the Divine perfume. And we give it out in the precise measure in which we have acquired it. If we content ourselves with some few daily aspirations, our spiritual life will be feeble and languishing; if we absorb the Divine fragrance at but rare intervals, how can we emit it freely day by day? Their error is great who think to continue in a state of union with God by conformity of the will while they lose sight of Him for considerable periods of time. They withdraw from Him insensibly; the atmosphere of their surroundings penetrates them by degrees; natural preoccupations invade their minds, absorb them, and become predominant; and the desire to serve God, without being destroyed, is thus restrained, and its exercise upon the actions becomes slight and intermittent. And so the spiritual life declines, and a purely natural, or even an entirely mundane, life may take its place. He who arrives at this extremity, he who has ceased to sustain his life in God, who no longer breathes anything but the vitiated air of the world, who in his conversations, thoughts, and sentiments inhales only the poisonous miasma of sin - what can such a one exhale but an impure and nauseating breath? Woe to those that approach him! for they run grave risk of being contaminated by this infection and of contracting his most foul disease.

credits:"On recollection and union with God" fragment of book chapter by Abbe Saudreau, and the accompanying picture is entitled ....."Prayer"

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“Hence we must say that for the knowledge of any truth whatsoever man needs divine help, that the intellect may be moved by God to its act. But he does not need a new light added to his natural light, in order to know the truth in all things, but only in some that surpasses his natural knowledge” (Summa Theologiae, I-II, 109, 1). St Thomas Aquinas

credit: The quote is from American Catholic

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Saint Joseph, how I love him! What does me a lot of good when I think of the Holy Family is to imagine a life that was very ordinary, just like our own. St. Therese of Lisieux

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Mount Carmel, Retreat on Contemplative life, Characterised by Elias, Part 7

Today I post the last part of lecture given by Bl Titus Brandsma O.Carm during his American lecture tour before WW2 on the subject of Carmelite spirituality and contemplative life of prayer as exemplified by St Elijah. The lecture is in practice excellent summary of the history and development of the Order and can profit those interested in Carmel history and spirituality to increase their knowledge and understanding of the spiritual richness of one of the greatest mendicant orders dedicated to Our Lady.

The Deep-Red Rose Clustering Over Carmel Symbolic of Elias In conclusion, we should like to see the great Prophet Elias in Carmel's garden like a red rose, and not only the great Prophet but also those who follow him, climbing (symbol of the exercise of virtue) along the mountain, through the caves and grottos of Carmel, interlacing it with a girdle of fire. These red roses are the symbol of ardent love that burns in Elias and his disciples. It is the most remarkable characteristic of their spiritual life. It is the fire by which, like the Prophet and St. Teresa of Avila, the disciples became seraphim. Yet, we choose that symbol of the rose - the deep-red rambler-rose. I see it spreading over the whole mountain and setting it all aflame. The last flower we shall gather during these lectures in the garden of Carmel will be none other than the rose that bloomed in our own times and which trails around the mountain. That last flower will be the "Little Flower" who, shedding her petals far and wide, has developed to the utmost the symbol of the red rose. May you all be like the red rambler-roses climbing along Carmel, burning in the fire of love like our great exemplar, Elias, scattering the petals of the flowers of your virtue, like the Little Flower, over those who live with you. Elijah was venerated as the daring champion of Gods cause: "I am burnt up with zeal for the Lord God of Hosts". Six pieces of spiritual armor are described in the rule of the Order; the cincture is the symbol of purity, indispensable for one who desires to reach the holy mountain of the vision of God: "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God". The corselet which protects the vital parts of the body represents good thoughts: "Holy thoughts will protect you". The breastplate which covers the whole body represents justice, a well regulated life, the observance of the commandments and duties of daily life. The shield is faith; for a living faith is the best safeguard for the spiritual life. The helmet symbolizes hope, confidence in God, which gives us the right to walk with freedom and confidence. Finally, the sword indicates conversation with God which as a double edge blade comes to our aid and defends us in all our difficulties. Bl John Soreth first great reformer of Carmel characterised by love of simplicity, poverty, solitude and prayer. St Mary Magdalen de Pazzi - obtained permission to live according to primitive rule. The relationship between Carthusians and Carmelites was based on the Charterhouse role as spiritual master for Carmel. History tells us how much the Carthusians favored Ruysbroeck's mysticism and the spirituality of the Devotio Moderna in general; because of their love for solitude and the contemplative life, they served as an example and a stimulus for the Carmelites who aspired to a more strict observance. The contact between the Carmelite nuns, their spiritual Fathers and the masters of the Devotio Moderna was not merely occasional; it was a matter more of a common spirit. In a very striking way Father Martin, S. J., has demonstrated that the terminology and images of Ruysbroeck and St. Teresa are closely related and sometimes even identified. Above we established some analogous relationships between Bl. John Soreth and the writers of the Devotio Moderna. This is, it seems, an additional and very significant indication of the middle and conciliatory position which the Carmelite school has taken between the different schools. Thus equilibrium is maintained between the school of acquired contemplation and that of infused contemplation. John is careful to note that perfection does not consist in ecstatic phenomena but in union with God who lives in us. This fire, which burns in us, sets us aflame, and the flame of our love is united to Divine Love which enflames our heart. It is necessary that Carmelites understand this vocation and prepare for it. As a means of arriving at the dispositions required by God, John counsels a form of prayer which the Franciscan Henry Herp especially honored, namely, aspiration. It has four degrees: inhaling God, exhaling God, living in God, living by God. Entirely filled with God, we must hunger and thirst for God without ceasing and open our mouth to breathe God. We should start by offering ourselves and every creature to God. As Bl. John Soreth already showed, contemplation by its nature should elevate us to God. But we must not delay in the admiration of the marvels of nature; this is only a step by which we must mount. In view of God's riches, let us ask him to enrich us, for in the measure that he gives himself to us, he renders us unceasingly more like to himself. We should collaborate in his action by uniting ourselves ever more intimately to him; and we should forever rejoice over this union with God. The kingdom of God which is within us -- the old comparison of the "the soul's spark " -- must be extended without interruption or end by occupying us completely. All Carmelites, Brothers and Sisters of the Order of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, in order to be faithful to their vocation should do their very utmost to go, under the guidance of the saintly hermit and prophet Elijah, across the desert of this life up to the Mt. Horeb of the vision of God, strengthened by the heavenly nourishment which is shown on the altar.

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Sexagesima Sunday

ON THE POWER OF GOD’S WORD

The word of God is compared, by the Prophet Jeremias, to a hammer which crushes hearts as hard as rocks, and to a fire that dries up the swamps of vice, and consumes inveterate evil habits (Jer.23: 29). The Psalmist compares it to thunder that makes all tremble, a storm-wind that bends and breaks the cedars of Lebanon, that is, proud and obstinate spirits; a light that dispels the darkness of ignorance; and a remedy that cures sin (Ps. 28:3-5, 118:105). St. Paul compares it to a sword that divides the body from the soul, that is, the carnal desires from the spirit (Hebr. 4: 12), the Apostle James to a mirror in which man sees his stains and his wrongs (Jam. 1: 23), the Prophet Isaias to a precious rain that moistens the soil of the soul and fertilizes it (Isaias 55: 10-11) and Jesus Himself compares it to a seed that when it falls on good ground, brings forth fruit a hundredfold (Luke 8: 8). One single grain of this divine seed produced the most marvellous fruits of sanctity in St. Augustine, in St. Anthony the Great, in St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and others; for St. Augustine was converted by the words: "Let us walk honestly as in the day: not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy" (Rom 13: 13); St. Anthony by the words: "If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me" (Matt 19:21) whereas Nicholas of Tolentino was brought to Christian perfection by the words: "Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world" (1 John 2:15).

How should we prepare ourselves to be benefited by the word of God?
We must be good, well-tilled soil, that is, we must have a heart that loves truth, desires to learn, and humbly and sincerely seeks salvation; we must listen to the word of God with due preparation and attention, keep the divine truths we have heard, in our heart, frequently consider and strive to fulfill them.

What should be done before the sermon?
We should endeavor to purify our conscience, for, as St. Chrysostom demands: "Who would pour precious juice into a vessel that is not clean, without first washing it?" We should, therefore, at least cleanse our hearts by an ardent sorrow for our sins, because the spirit of truth enters not into the sinful soul (Wisdom 1: 4). We should ask the Holy Ghost for the necessary enlightenment, for little or no fruit can be obtained from a sermon if it is not united with prayer; we should listen to the sermon with a good motive; that is, with a view of hearing something edifying and instructive; if we attend only through curiosity, the desire to hear something new, to criticize the preacher, or to see and to be seen, we are like the Pharisees who for such and similar motives went to hear Christ and derived no benefit therefrom: “As a straight sword goes not into a crooked sheath, so the word of God enters not into a heart that is filled with improper motives". We should strive to direct, our minds rightly, that is, to dispel all temporal thoughts, all needless distraction, otherwise the wholesome words would fall but upon the ears, would not penetrate the heart, and the words of Christ be fulfilled: "They have ears, and hear not".

How should we comfort ourselves during the sermon?
We should listen to the sermon with earnest, reverent attention, for God speaks to us through His priests, and Christ says to them: "Who hears you, hears me" (Luke 10:16). We must listen to the priests, therefore, not as to men, but as to God's ambassadors, for every priest can say with St. Paul: "We are ambassadors for Christ, God, as it were, exhorting by us" (2 Cor.5:20). "If," says St. Chrysostom, "when the letter of a king is read, the greatest quiet and attention prevails, that nothing may be lost, how much more should we listen with reverence and perfect silence to the. word of God?" The word of God is, and ever will be, a divine seed, which, when properly received, produces precious fruit, by what priest soever sowed; for in the sowing it matters not what priest sows, but what soil is sowed. Be careful, also, that you do not apply that which is said to others, but take it to yourself, or the sermon will be of no benefit to you. Are you free from those vices which the preacher decries and against which he battles? then, thank God, but do not despise others who are perhaps laboring under them, rather pray that they may be released and you preserved from falling into them. Keep also from sleeping, talking, and other distractions, and remember, that whoever is of God, also willingly hears his word (John 8:47)

What should be done after the sermon?

We should then strive to put into practice the good we have heard, for God justifies not those who hear the law, but those who keep it, (Romans 2:13) and those who hear the word of God and do not conform their lives to it, are like the man who looks into the mirror, and having looked into it goes away, and presently forgets what manner of man he is (Fam. 1: 23-24). To practice that which has been heard, it is above all necessary that it should be kept constantly in mind, and thoughtfully considered. St. Bernard says: "Preserve the word of God as you would meat for your body, for it is a life-giving bread, and the food of your soul. Happy those, says Christ, who keep it. Receive it, therefore, into your soul's interior, and let it reach your morals and your actions."

That food which cannot be digested, or is at once thrown out, is useless; the food should be well masticated, retained, and by the digestive powers worked up into good blood. So not only on the day, but often during the week, that which was heard in the sermon should be thought of and put into practice. Speak of it to others, thus will much idle talk be saved, many souls with the grace of God roused to good, and enlightened in regard to the evil they had not before seen in themselves and in future will avoid. Let us listen to others when they repeat what was said in the sermon. Heads of families should require their children and domestics to relate what they have heard preached. Let us also entreat God to give us grace that we may be enabled to practice the precepts given us.

PRAYER
How much am I shamed, O my God, that the seed of Thy Divine word, which Thou hast sowed so often and so abundantly in my heart, has brought forth so little fruit! Ah! have mercy on me, and so change my heart, that it may become good soil, in which Thy word may take root, grow without hindrance, and finally bring forth fruits of salvation. Amen.

credits: text is taken from the classic "The Church's year" by Fr Goffine. The first drawing originates from the old book by Jacob and John Abbot "Illustrated New Testament" whereas second drawing depicts parable of the Sower in more spiritual and symbolic way and originates from medieval German Missal. The drawing can be interpreted as the manifold fruits of the Word of God such as virtues of virginity, chastity, and conjugality, likening the virgins to the hundredfold fruit, the chaste to the sixtyfold fruit, and the married to the fortyfold fruit, each personified as men and women, often with books, placed in a stylised tree, with Adam and Eve at the base and Christ at the top.

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MATER INVIOLATA, ORA PRO NOBIS

Mother dearest, Mother fairest, Maiden purest, Maiden rarest, Hope of earth and joy of heaven, Love and praise to thee be given, Blissful mother, blissful maiden.

An exceeding comely maid, most beautiful virgin, and not known to man.....whom the Lord hath prepared for my Master's Son (Gen 24: 44), therefore no defiled thing cometh unto her (Wisdom 7:25).

1. MARY, you are the Mother Inviolate because your virginal purity was not in the least tainted by the conception of your divine Son, but you remained a pure, inviolate virgin as before. The prophet Isaias foretold this great miracle of God: "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son; and they shall call his name Emmanuel (God with us)." You conceived as a virgin. It was your peculiar privilege to possess both the joys of motherhood and the honor of virginity, as the Gospel relates: "Do not be afraid, Joseph, son of David, to take to thee Mary thy wife, for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 1:20)

2. MARY, you preserved your virginity also in the birth of Jesus. As a virgin you conceived, and as a virgin you brought forth the Son of God. As the rays of the sun penetrate glass and yet do not break or injure it in any way, so Jesus, the Son of Justice, was born of you, without violating your virginity.

Mother Inviolate, teach me to cherish holy purity as the most precious treasure of my heart, as you did. Make me modest and retired. Help me to avoid every indecent thought, word, and action. Let me never forget that the more chastely I live, the more quietly I shall die, and the greater will be my confidence when I appear before my Eternal Judge.

3. MARY, you remained a pure, inviolate virgin after the birth of the Son of God. You would have given up the dignity of divine motherhood, had it been impossible for you to remain a virgin. How chaste was Joseph, who, after you had brought forth the Son of God, lived in perfect continence out of reverence for you and through love for virginal purity.

Mother Inviolate, I cannot practice chastity in my state of life without the aid of God's grace. Help me to pray often, especially in temptation, for God gives His grace to those who ask Him. But, above all, aid me in receiving Holy Communion frequently, which is the most important means I have of preserving holy purity, because there I am united most intimately with your loving Son, who is a Lover of pure souls.

PRAYER
May all our hope of assistance, O Lord, ever rest upon the loving kindness of Your only-begotten Son! May He, Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who when born of the Virgin, did not detract from the virginity of His Mother, but made it sacred, cleanse us of our sins on this solemn feast day of her Nativity, and make our prayers pleasing in Your sight. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

MOTHER INVIOLATE PRAY FOR US!

Credits: Sandro Boticelli "Madonna of the Pomegranate". Text combined from the Loretto Litany, Intermirifica and "My Mother and My Queen".

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Mount Carmel, Retreat on Contemplative Prayer, Characterised by Elias, part 6

Today and through the rest of this week, we will continue reading of the lecture given by Bl Titus Brandsma O.Carm during his American lecture tour before WW2 on the subject of Carmelite spirituality and contemplative life of prayer as exemplified by St Elijah. The lecture is in practice excellent summary of the history and development of the Order and can profit those interested in Carmel history and spirituality to increase their knowledge and understanding of the spiritual richness of one of the greatest mendicant orders dedicated to Our Lady.

Harmony of Intellectual and Affective Prayer - Happy Mean Finally, we must note the providential combination of the two great visions of the Prophet on Carmel and on Horeb. These two visions are intimately connected. The last is the crown of the first and supplies what was not yet given in the first. While we admire Elias as he soars aloft in contemplation on Carmel, we must not forget that he had a human side as well and on this side he is accessible to the very least among us. He had called down fire on Carmel and rain on the parched land, yet Jezabel, unrelenting in her evil, held Achab and his people in her thrall. She was all powerful and eager for revenge. And Elias, overcome with fear and disappointment, poured out all the misery of his soul to God: "It is enough, Lord, I pray You, take away my life." In this connection we can hardly exaggerate the profound importance of God's revelation to Elias on Horeb. We should like to remark that the vision of Elias on Carmel bears the character of an enlightenment of the mind, an intellectual revelation, the disclosing of a mystery, the mystery of the Incarnation. It is true that in this vision on Carmel there is not wanting a certain affection or attraction of the will, for we see the Prophet, under its impulse, borne before Achab to the capital town of Samaria. But this attraction, this affection of will, is of little importance in this vision. Above all, it is the communication of a mystery. In the vision of Horeb, however, the Prophet felt the spirit of God. The first vision was, in the strict sense of the term, intellectual, the second the breathing of the spirit of God. The latter completes the former. After the first, the Prophet, even though his mind was illumined from on high, was still subject to weakness and despondency, and prayed that he might die. In the second, he is strengthened and consoled and at peace. These visions are intimately connected. So in the school of Carmel there is harmony between the intellectual illumination of the mind and the affective love of the heart. While the schools of St. Bernard and St. Francis are schools of love, seraphic love, and the Dominican, intellectual, the school of Carmel achieves a happy mean, a harmony of both. Surely those who dwell in Carmel would have caught from the flame a spark of the love and zeal which burned in the great Prophet. Fire is the most expressive symbol of love. "I am come to cast fire on the earth." It is this fire which enveloped Elias when, according to the witness of Scripture, he was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot. Wrapped in that seraphic flame he is taken from earth. Carmel must ever feel that glow of its founder's zeal. It is the mark of the true follower of Elias. It burns in all Carmelite saints. Especially do we see it in the soul of seraphic St. Teresa of Avila. The smouldering fires that burned in the soul of "this undaunted daughter of desires" is Carmel's greatest witness to the spirit of Elias. In these great souls have been fulfilled the Prophet's words which encircle the Order's escutcheon "With zeal I have been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts." But the school of Carmel warns us, in its leading figures, even in the Prophet Elias, that we must never forget the great importance of the intellectual foundation of the contemplative life: the enlightenment of the mind, the exercise of all mental faculties. By the imaginative and intellectual meditation and contemplation we have to climb to the affection of love and to be set in fire and flame. Even the Mystical Doctor -- as we shall see later in a following lecture -- recalls the necessity of imaginative and intellectual meditation, because we cannot always soar into the higher regions of mystical life. And St. Teresa, insisting on the affection of love, leads her sisters on the way of imaginative and intellectual vision and meditation. We should like to speak also about the apostolic character of the life of the great prophet, but his position in the Old Testament is clear enough to illustrate the zealous apostolic spirit by which he was led. Following this spirit also Carmelite life has always been apostolic. We will see in the next lecture and especially in the last the apostolic character of Carmelite spirituality. We mention this apostolate here to indicate that also in this life the life of the prophet of Carmel was stimulating and inspiring even to the highest ideal of the apostolate.

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