Saturday - Day of Our Lady

The Blessed Virgin speaks to St Bridget of Sweden about the Immaculate Conception and the Birth.

And it is true that I was conceived without original sin, and not in sin; becasue my Son and I never sinned, so no marriage was more holy than that from which I was born (Lib. vi, c.49). A golden hour was my conception, for then began the priciple of the salvation of all, and darkness hastened to light. God wishes to do in His work something singular and hidden from the world, as He did in the dry rod blooming. But know that my conception was not known to all, because God wished that as the natural law and the voluntary election of good and bad preceded the written law, and the written law followed, restraining all inordinate notions, so it pleased God, that His friends should piously doubt of my conception, and that each should show his zeal till the truth become clear in its preordained time (Lib. vi, c. 55).

When I was born, it was not unknown to the demons, but speaking by a certain similitude, they thus thought: 'So a certain virgin is born, what shall we do? For it is evident that something wonderful is to take place in her. If we throw around her all the nets of malice, she will burst like a tow. If we examine all her heart, it is defended by a strong garrison. There is no spot in her for a spear to touch. Therefore, we may fear lest her purity be our torture. Her grace will crush all our strength; her constancy prostrate us beneath her feet.' But the friends of God, who were in long expectation, said by divine inspiration: 'Why grieve more? We should rather rejoice, for the light is born that is to dispel our darkness, and our desire shall be accomplished.' And the angels of God rejoiced, although their joy was always in the vision of God, saying: 'Something desirable is born on earth, and especially beloved by God, whereby true peace shall be restored to Heaven and earth, and our looses shall be made up.' Indeed, daughter, I assure thee, that my birth was the opening of true joy; for then came forth the rod from which that flower proceeded, whom kings and prophets desired. And when I had attained an age to know something of my Creator, then I turned to Him with my whole heart.

I was also preserved by wonderful grace, so that not even in my tender years did I consent to sin, because the love of God and my parents' care, good education, the preservation of good, and fervor of knowing God preserved with me. (Lib. vi, c.56). I am she, who from eternity have been in the love of God, and from my infancy the Holy Ghost was perfectly with me. And you may take an example from a nut, which, when grows exteriorly, increases in the interior, so that the shell is always full and there is no space to receive aught else. So I, from my childhood, was full of the Holy Ghost, and according to the increase of my body and age, the Holy Ghost filled me so copiously as to leave no room for the entrance of any sin. Hence I never committed a mortal or venial sin, for I was so ardent in the love of God, that nothing was pleasing to me except the perfect will of God; for the fire of divine love was enkindled in my soul, and God, blessed above all, who created me by His power, and filled me with the virtue of the Holy Ghost, had an ardent love for me. (Lib. iii, c.8).

credits: text from the book "Revelations of St Bridget on the Life and Passion of Our Lord and the Life of His Blessed Mother" TAN Books.
The upper picture portrayes Our Lady as the Immaculate Conception as a young maiden prior to the Incarnation as seen in the XVI century French Book of Hours. She is accordingly depicted there surrounded by her chief biblical emblems. At the top God pronounces the words from the Canticle of Canticles: "Thou art all fair my love, and there is no spot in thee." Surrounding the Blessed Virgin are her emblems and the biblical phrases, in medieval Latin, which they depict: Bright as the sun . . . fair as the moon . . . gate of heaven . . . star of the sea . . a lily among thorns . . . exalted cedar . . . rose plant . . . tower of David . . . fair olive tree . . well of living waters . . . blossoming rod of Jesse . . . spotless mirror . . . fountain of gardens . . . garden enclosed, and city of God.. To read more on the subject of Immaculate Conception and Birth of Our Lady please follow the link The History of the Liturgical Celebration of Mary's Birth"

The lower picture represents Saint Bridget of Sweden.

Read whole post......

Friendship with God

Charity is more excellent than all other virtues because it is not self-seeking.

Since God is both infinite and simple, His love for Himself is identical with Himself. It is therefore infinite - a boundless ocean of love, a limitless uncreated fire of love embracing forever the supreme goodness which is God. Charity - man's share in this infinite love - is a created gift. It is a created, limited participation in divine love. Because man is a creature because his will is created will, he cannot love God with that same infinite love with which God love Himself. But through charity he can love God as God loves Himself, that is, he can possess God as the source of infinite happiness, he can possess God as He is in Himself, as the supreme

Good. 

Charity is a virtue whose rule or measure is God Himself as the supreme Good. It unites man to God Himself as the supreme Good. It is a virtue distinct from from all other virtues because its object is God Himself considered as the object of eternal happiness. It is more excellent than all other virtues because it is not self-seeking. It rests in God simply because He is God, the supreme Good. It is more excellent than the moral virtues because they are concerned only with the means that lead man to his goal, whereas charity attains the goal itself, God as He is Himself. It is more excellent than the theological virtues of faith and hope because faith and hope attain God in so far as we derive from Him the knowledge of truth or the assurance of happiness, whereas charity attains God to rest in Him without any thought or desire for personal gain or advantage.

Moreover, since charity attains God precisely as the goal of man, no other virtue can be truly perfect unless its acts are directed by charity to the ultimate goal of all human activity, God as He is in Himself. Human acts of prudence or justice or even of faith or hope do not lead man to his ultimate goal unless they are directed to that goal by charity which unites man to God, the goal of all human act.

Because the object of charity is God considered as the goal or end of human life, charity is a virtue of the will. It is the will which seeks goals, above all the ultimate goal of all human activity. Charity then, which unites man to the ultimate goal, must be a virtue of the rational appetite, or will of man.

Picture credit: 'Good Samaritan' by J.F. Millet, National Museum of Wales

Read whole post......

FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD

I thought, this month posting should be concentrated on the virtue of charity in compliance with June as the Month of Sacred Heart of Jesus. Therefore, I invite all who like to read this blog to meditate with me on fragments from one chapter of the little book entitled  'My Way of Life'. This is the pocket edition of St Thomas 'The Summa Simplified for Everyone' and lovely little book indeed - I hope it will serve the purpose nicely. 

Did you ever received a package wrapped in gaily coloured paper and tied with bright ribbons and marked "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL CHRISTMAS"? Do you remember the thrill of happiness you felt as you recognized the name of the sender inscribed in the upper left corner of the package? the name someone you loved, of someone who loved you ? Can you recall your heart's delight as it floated along on clouds of mystery, wondering what was in the package? Or, if you thought you knew, how heart rejoiced in this proof of someone's love for you! With what eager but certain anticipation you treasured the gift until Christmas day when you could strip away the mysterious wrappings and really see the wonderful thing that love had brought you!

The virtue of charity is like a Christmas gift of this kind. It is a proof of God's love for you. It is the foundation of your love for God. It brings you God Himself. But, as long as you are still in this present life, it brings you God wrapped up in the paper and ribbons of faith and marked "Not to be opened until eternity".

Charity brings God to man because it is man's friendship with God. Like all friendship it is a love of benevolence, that is, it is an unselfish love. Charity loves God for Himself. It does not seek any selfish gain or advantage. It rests in God as the supreme Good. Again, like all friendships, charity is based on a community of interests or of living. Through charity  God gives to man a share in the Divine Life, and, therefore, a share of happiness. God's happiness is His love of His own infinite goodness and perfection. Charity brings man's share in God's own happiness. As God is happy in the love of Himself, so man is happy when he shares in that love through charity.

Read whole post......

Heart of Jesus, wounded for love of us!

"The designs of his Heart stand firm, generation after generation." (Introit.)

Christ's love embraces all men and all ages. When He hung, dead, upon the Cross "one of the soldiers opened His side with a spear; and immediately blood and water flowed out." (John 19, 34). He set His heart as e seal upon His life, His Passion, and His death, as a symbol for all time, telling us that love was the native of all his actions, all his sufferings. The Heart is, so to speak, the kernel, the centre of man's life; in it we find his spiritual personality. Do we not say that we have something at heart, meaning that we love it; or that we take something to heart, and suffer for it? The centre of Christ's being is His love...His humano-divine charity. The divine love of the Son, like in that, as in all things, to the Father, has become incarnate in his human love.
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, have mercy upon us! The God-made-man, who gave His life for us upon the Cross and allowed his Heart to be opened, is, as He Himself tells us, the image of His Father: "Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father." (John 14:9). The full meaning of St. John's word - "God is love" (1John 4:8) - is revealed to us through the door that was opened in the Sacred Heart. Because He is God, the Incarnate Word is also love; His Heart reveals, not His love only, but that of the Father who "so loved the world, that He gave up His only-begotten Son" (John 3:16), whose heart He permitted to be opened, thus manifesting to all, not the love of the Son only, but His own paternal love. Because the love of the Father is shown in the Heart of the Son, the Holy Ghost, their mutual love, is also poured into our hearts, and we become one with the Trinity.
Heart of Jesus, King and centre of all hearts, be ever the centre of mine!
Heart of Jesus, in which are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, teach me to what heights the love of God has raised me!
Heart of Jesus, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Divinity, make of my heart God's temple and the tabernacle of the most High!
In the vespers hymn for the feast, the liturgy bids us sing:
"To Thee, O Christ, all glory be,
From out whose Heart all grace doth flow."
"Qui corde fundis gratiam" - words which form part of the doxology, and are repeated at every Hour. Grace flow from it by the sevenfold stream of the Sacraments; it is also from that divine Heart that the Church, his chaste Bride, draws her life. The Master Himself had prophesied that living waters, waters of Baptism, would flow from His side, making of men the members of His Church. At Matins, the Heart of Christ is spoken of as well, from which
"Nations, putting trust above,
Draw pardon from this Fount divine."
Isaias promised his people: "Rejoicing, you shall drink deep of the fountain of deliverance." (Verse and response at Lauds). "Jesus stood....and cried aloud, If any man is thirsty, let him come to me, and drink." (John 7:37). What a privilage is ours! We worship a God who is love and whom we adore in a Heart as holy as it is loving. But we must never forget that love demands but one return - love! When we repeat the ejaculatory prayer: "Heart of Jesus, make my heart like unto thine" - may our intention be that thereby we may love him better! All praise to the Heart which brought us salvation! To him be honour and glory through all eternity!

After "With the Church" meditations on topics from Missal and Breviary - edited by Fr M. Goosens OFM

Read whole post......

Feast of the Queenship of Mary

In the Traditional Liturgical Year we celebrate today the Feast of the Queenship of Mary. To read the Pope Pius XII encyclica "Ad Coeli Reginam" establishing the feast, please follow the LINK

Singular vessel of devotion, pray for us!

Our Lady's righteousness was based on her piety or  in latin devotio. In her devotion and piety she just lovingly gave herself up to God. St Alphonsus de Liquori says with great accuracy that Our Lady is like a sunflower, which is always turning towards the source of light, the sun. She always sought God first and He was the center of her life. She called herself His maiden and simply confessed with her exemplary trust and devotion: "be it done to me according to thy word." (Luke 1:38). In these words she gave her consent to become Man of Sorrows' mother. With unlimited abandonment to God's will she just simply and lovingly accepted her chalice of sorrows. We should always look at Our Lady as the most devout soul and most edifying example to follow. Maybe some of us think themselves already standing by God, doing His Will. Well, it maybe correct, but often devotion - including mine - lasts as long as all goes well, no sufferings, no loss, no persecution. But when spiritual desolation and physical illness come along, sometimes we lose patience and complain to God for permitting all these misery. We need to look at Mary and learn from her what is true piety. In fact it means abandonment to God with total trust. In moments of trial let us remember Our Lady's words: "Be it done to me according to thy word." (Luke 1:38)

Today's image of Our Lady is "Virgin with the child and rose" Cuzco School, Peru - mantilla twitch to Ken from Hallowedground blog.

Read whole post......

Sacred Heart of Jesus

"One of the soldiers with a spear opened his side, and immediately there came out blood and water."(John 19:34)

Millions of faithful join together today in prayers to pay homage to the Merciful Heart of Our Redeemer. This is devotion for our times, widely practiced around the whole world. Moreover, it produced splendid fruits in spiritual lives and Eucharistic movement. "This is the finger of God" (Exodus 8:19). But even with no particular Feast, the Most Adorable Heart of Jesus should be venerated with greatest devotion, because Heart is the most noble part of man-God's body in hypostatic union of humane and divine. Of any relic left with us, the Heart would be the most precious one, for It was the source of the most holy and most charitable life ever lived in this world! The Heart of Our Lord is the fountain of His Most Precious Blood that was shed for us and for the salvation of the whole world! The Heart of Jesus is the furnace of His flaming charity. We see the heart as a symbol of love, the kernel and center of love. If we desire someone's love we ask: "Give me your heart!" God Himself adopted this words and asks for the love of man: "Give me thy heart" (Proverbs 23:26). Therefore the Heart of Jesus is the source of unique love for us all - the flaming love that was manifested in Betlehem on His birthday, in Egypt, the place of His exile, and in Nazareth where He lived. The greatest possible charity was expressed best in the Eucharistic Mystery - for this love gave everything up for us on the Cross, and loves us for all Eternity in Heaven, "to make intercession for us." (Hebrew 7:25). Let us contemplate this Mystery of Our Lord's charity particularly today giving ourselves up to His love and begging Him:

"Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I implore, make me to love you daily more and more!"

Read whole post......

Devotion to the Sacred Heart was revealed by Our Lord to St Magdalen Mary Alacoque back in 16th century. The Order of Jesuits and in particular Bl Claude de Colombiere SJ, confessor and spiritual director of St Magdalen, helped to propagate the devotion. It became soon widely spread among Catholics. The great popularity of this devotion may be attributed to its fruits, for it helps to love Jesus more and to understand His love for us that prompted Him to become man, to suffer and die for us and through the power of His Resurrection to overcome sin, death and the devil for our salvation.

Read whole post......

St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi week

The Saint's own words on many subjects.

About the Church:
O my beloved Spouse and loving Word, you engender the Body of the holy Church in a way which you alone know and understand...By means of your Blood, you make a well-organized, well-formed body of which you are the head. The angels delight in its beauty, the archangels admire it, the seraphim are enraptured by it, all the angelic spirits marvel at it, and all the souls of the blessed in heaven rejoice in it. the Blessed Trinity takes delight in it in a manner beyond our comprehension ("The Complete Works of St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi" 3)

About Our Lady:

O Mary, anyone who looks at you is comforted in any anxiety or tribulation or pain, and is victorious over any temptation. Anyone who does not know something about God, let him have recourse to you, O Mary. Anyone who does not find mercy in God, let him have recourse to you, O Mary. Anyone whose will is not in conformity, let him have recourse to you, O Mary. Anyone who falters on account of weakness, let him have recourse to you who are all strong and powerful. Anyone in constant struggle, let him have recourse to you who are a tranquil sea...Whoever is tempted...let him have recourse to you, who are the mother of humility, and nothing drives away the devil mote than humility. Let them, one and all, have recourse to you, O Mary! (CW3)

About charity toward the neighbour:

O Lord, if I see my neighbour committing sin, I shall make an excuse for him on the grounds of his intention, which being hidden cannot be seen, and even if I see plainly that his intention was distorted and evil, help me to know how to make allowance for the temptation, which is something from which no mortal is excluded. And if someone should come to speak to me of my neighbour's faults, I do not want to listen, and I shall answer that I will pray for him and ask the Lord to let me first amend myself. Besides, it will be easier for me to speak to my erring neighbour himself about his fault than to talk about it with others, because instead of remedying that fault, many others, much more serious, may be committed than those that are being discussed. (after Divine Intimacy - 'Probation')

About Eucharist

O Lord, the soul's mouth....lovingly tastes you; it savour the purity of the divine essence and of your humanity and attains to such a knowledge of your purity that that which used to seem virtue to it, now seems like a shortcoming both in itself and in others. Receiving the Holy Sacraments which draw strength from your Blood and from your Passion, and of the Blood that was she therein. We savour this most fully when we receive the holy Sacrament of your Body and Blood, for there more than anywhere else this sweetness and grace are found hidden, when the Sacrament is really received with purity and honesty. Let whoever wishes to taste of your gentleness and sweetness approach this Blood and there he will find all rest and consolation. The soul will be washed with this Blood, cleansed in this Blood, nourished by this Blood (after "The Complete Works of St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi" vol 3).

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

O Holy Spirit, you show us what we must do to please the Trinity, interiorly through your inspirations, and exteriorly through preaching and warnings, and that all proceeds from you, since no one can say the sweet and holy name of Jesus unless he is moved by you. You are the dispenser of the treasures hidden in the bosom of the Father and treasurer of the counsels which pass between the Father and the Word. You are that rod that strikes the rock and makes it bring forth the water that satisfies every creature. The cataracts of heaven are always open to send down grace, but we do not have the mouth of our desire open to receive it. Come, come O most gentle Spirit! Spirit of goodness! I contemplate you as you leave the bosom of the Father, and enter the side of the Word, then leaving by the heart of the Word, come to us here on earth. From the bosom of the Son burning love. (DI, vol4, 'Revelations and Enlightenments', CW vol 4)

Wisdom of God and human wisdom:

Your wisdom, O Word, is like the bush you showed to Moses, which burned, but was not consumed...Those who seek and go after the wisdom that is human abhor your wisdom, but to God human wisdom is foolishness....In addition, by abhorring your wisdom, they deny themselves union with you, for by offending you they deprive themselves both of you and of it....

What do you do, O wisdom of my Word? You raise up the soul and you submerge it in the depths: you erect and tear down every building; always weeping and singing, watching and sleeping, walking and never moving - you are wisdom, containing in yourself every treasure and remaining far from foolishness...

And how is this wisdom acquired? It is acquired by an enlightened understanding of God's being, by continual affection and desire for God in God. Those who have reached this point have acquired the pleasure of wisdom. Those who savour it, taste it; and those who know nothing, understand it. Oh, why do we not pursue this wisdom continually without ever stopping? ( Drink of the Stream)

Her love for the Holy Spirit

Looking at myself, O God of Love, I would never raise my mind and my will to ask for this Comforter. But looking again at Your Being, which is goodness and love, and mercy, I cannot but long for the coming of Your Holy Spirit. I know, though not as well as I should, that I am not in any way a vessel suitable to receive You. But considering that you are He Who makes suitable every heart; and with the offering of the Blood of the Word, ... which offering i pray the saints to make for me to the Most Holy Trinity....I take courage to ask and beg for this Holy Spirit.

Wherefore I pray you, all you angelic spirits and saintly souls in heaven, in your act of love and through that same continued act of love that is yours, pray to the Holy Ghost that he may come and dwell in me and in all the other daughters of Mary. Moreover, in asking for this Holy Spirit, I intend to receive the entire Holy Trinity. (after "Seraph among Angels" - by Sr Mary Minima O.Carm)

Her vision of Jesus

And suddenly Jesus presented Himself to her in that age of young manhood, at which sight she greatly rejoiced and remained for a long while looking upon His beauty with great admiration. then she began to speak, saying: My Jesus, in this flowery age of Your young manhood, I shall see You everywhere, excepting those places in which I am to see You as a child and as a youth. When I shall see You in those so beautiful and gracious age when You left us Yourself and suffered Your Passion......I am much please to look upon You as You show me Yourself now, that is sitting on the well, where You were asking questions and giving enlightening answers...If I were desirous of change, i could go on discoursing with my intellect in many places, for You worked so much during this time; but I shall be content to stay with You and sit on the well. And sometimes I shall also anoint You with the Magdalen... The ointment will be love of my neighbour... The tears with which I have to wash Your holy feet will be that charity of which St Paul spoke: "Weep with them that weep; rejoice with them that rejoice" (Rom 12:15). The hair, which is something almost superfluous, will be the condescension that the soul which understands You in an exalted way must practice; for it must accommodate itself to the weakness and littleness of its neighbour....

I will now return to looking at You on the well, where I see that on the right You have a cross, dark and resplendent; for although my intense suffering of soul, known to You, has ended, nevertheless I shall still have this cross of seeing that You are neither loved nor known, and that that which is Your will is not put into effect. I am speaking of the work of renewal of Your bride, the Church, the work so well understood by me and which, in every case, will be a cross for me. For whether it is understood or not understood, whether it is carried out or not carried out, it will be a cross for me, but a cross resplendent and glorious... You have written in Your hands ll my words.

O my God, to say that You take words for works, how can this be? ... Oh yes, I understand. It is because You crown the intense desire to do a work, where there is no possibility of doing it, more than a work done without the desire. And if Your work will not be accomplished, it will not be for this reason, that it is not Your will, but because there is not the proper disposition in creatures, or generous hearts to do it, as would be necessary. (CW)

Conversation with God, the Father

O Eternal Father, that You are blessed and glorious in Yourself is no cause for wonder. That all creatures are blessed and glorious through You is no cause for wonder. But that You communicate Yourself to, and take pleasure in, a creature so vile, this is a cause for wonder.... Then he leads the soul into so much grandeur and into so much light! And still it gives You more pleasure that we give belief, obedience, to creatures, even though we know such grandeur. But this is not understood by creatures; and therefore so few give You this pleasure.... Yes, I have understood. (CW).

Selected from 'Drink of the Stream'

Read whole post......

St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi week

DOCTRINE (my emphasies in bold in the text)
Mary Magdalen's vision of the spiritual life is presented to us as on a twofold level: one develops in eternity, the other in time. The first introduces us into the depths of the divinity, in which the explanation of the second is rooted. The latter presents us with the mystery of the Incarnate Word and the path of man towards heaven. The explanation is based on love, which animates and resolves every situation. Essentially, God is love, the saint repeats innumerable times. Creation had its beginning as the terminus of excessive love and of exuberant fullness. Sin, freely committed, made the creature "incapable ... to receive God's gifts within himself". Man lost this capacity, but only partially; thus there was born in the Trinity "a new counsel of humility and love" to redeem man by means of the incarnation of the Word. A final "counsel of love "determined "to give sublime gifts and graces" to faithful creatures and "to each one according to his works". Mary Magdalen develops these themes unequally; by preference she lingers on the second plan dealing with the work of the redemption. Although, with other mystics, she repeatedly affirms that the Word would have become man even if man had not sinned, in fact, however, she presents Him as clothed in our flesh in order to redeem us from sin. The only motive for His coming was His great love, which led Him even to the "foolishness": Of the cross and made Him, as it were, "forget ... His wisdom"". The Word has redeemed us through His humanity, "the tabernacle" of God, which was possessed by the Holy Spirit "just as His own". Whoever does not pass through this sacred humanity cannot reach salvation: it is the "bridge", the "stairway", the "ship that leads to port". The Word Made Man, placed like "an anvil" between God's anger and men's wickedness, is the perfect instrument of redemption that began in sorrow and was consummated on the cross. No theme returns so insistently in the doctrine of the saint as the bloody and interior (mental) passion of Jesus, the passion often symbolized by Christ's blood, towards which Mary Magdalen nourished a deep devotion. The "re-creation" of mankind by means of the blood of Christ lifts mankind to a level of life superior to that oif original justice, even to the level of the angels. The love of God for man, before and after the incarnation, "is as different ... as light ... from darkness". The soul returns to such grandeur by faithfully recopying "the Book of Life", Jesus Himself. Its likeness to God is in proportion to its likeness to Christ. Just as the piety and the doctrine of the saint are decisively Christocentric, so also are they decisively Marian. She affirms the Immaculate Conception of the "Virgin Mary", her unique holiness - "the most holy person who has ever existed, both at present and as she must be for the future" - and her spiritual motherhood, her mediation of all graces. The return of man to God is conceived as a struggle between two loves: self-love and divine love, which is born of humility. After charity, there is no virtue on which she insists more than humility. Pride is destruction and disunion between God and man, between man and man. (Her description of pride and of the other vices, (II, 452, III, 24), is particularly effective on a psychological level). Humility establishes the union; it is, as it were, the mother of love and the gateway to grace. Freedom - both the greatness and the downfall of mankind - when dominated by pride, can place an obstacle to this grace. The return to the fatherland can be accomplished along one of two ways: one is broad, the other a narrow path. The laity take the first way, religious the second (II, 167:11, 132-3). The saint describes religious life on numerous occasions, detailing its specific virtues, its practices (with great emphasis on ascetical renunciations, and practically nothing on prayer), its possible defects, etc. Her doctrine is more theoretical in the
Ecstasies, but exclusively practical in the Teachings; it offers nothing specific except the ardor and the great passion with which it is expressed. If the soul is led to God by means of the cardinal virtues (of which brief descriptions, Thomistic in tone, are given) it is, nevertheless, by exercising the theological virtues that it directly and intimately adheres to Him. Wholly taken up with love, St Mary Magdalen speaks little of faith, almost nothing of hope. Love, of which she gives us some classifications on the basis of its intensity and the effects that it produces in the keystone of the whole spiritual edifice. It guides every event of our divine-human history: "created by God ... for love and with love ... it is through this way" that we are to return to Him, Love measures the progress of the soul on this way of return. It is significant that her rather poor doctrine on the sacraments is not so in regard to the Eucharist, the sacrament of love. True love of God demands love of neighbor: "one cannot exist without the other". The apostolic aspect of love, stressed with particular care, rendered Mary Magdalen sensitive, even in doctrinal matters, to the preoccupations of her times; very significant in this regard are the fifth manuscript on the reform of the Church, the repetition of dogmatic themes that were then being discussed (grace, free will, purgatory, etc.), and also her devotions (to the humanity of Christ, to her guardian angel, to the holy souls), which were typically Italian and counter-reformation. But the principal function of love is to unite the soul to God. Union with God is necessary for man in order that he be happy; it is also a need of divine love, which "cannot bear to see anything that is not equal to" itself. This union demands radical purification, which assimilates and makes free, by means of the practice of the virtues - above all, of humility-love, which leads to annihilation. The soul must "will nothing, be able to do nothing, ... hear nothing and comprehend everything". The intervention of God, asked for in humility and proportioned to love, is painful, because it purifies and enlightens: the soul must receive it with humility and abandonment. The apparent renunciation of activity, which is alluded to in the manuscripts and which so pleased several quietists of the 1600's, is not static apathy, but the simple psychological impression of the subject: "continuing to work," according to Mary Magdalen, "is to leave ourselves completely dead in God, to such an extent that God works in the soul and the soul in God; and thus the soul, while working, in a way does not perceive that it is working". In order to reach transformation, in which all is peace in the depths of the soul, despite possible struggles on the surface, and in which one has a particular knowledge of God caused by love, one must transcend every created form, even the very humanity of Jesus. The transformed soul lives the life of God and it can no longer be separated from Him; it is most precious for the Church; it will not pass through the flames of purgatory; its death will be one of love for Mary Magdalen, therefore, the spiritual life is like a circle, enlivened with love, that has God both as its starting and as it finishing point. The doctrinal influence exercised by Mary Magdalen on the spirituality and piety, especially Italian, of the 17 and 18 centuries was noteworthy. There were numerous editions of her Ecstasies during these two centuries, and the bibliographical listings of Mary Magdalen reached almost three hundred. The most famous representative of this influence is perhaps St. Alphonsus, who uses the doctrine of the Florentine Carmelite in some of his ascetical works. In the 19 cent., a crisis loomed, but it seems that this is being gradually resolved in our own days.

Read whole post......

St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi week

St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi is one of the greatest mystics of Carmelite Order of ancient observance who was favoured by God with extraoridnary graces. Therefore, I will present some posts dedicated to her life, spirituality and prayers for the edification of souls devouted to Carmel. St Mary Magdalene and St Teresa are the most prominent mystics of the Renaissance era. However, unlike the Spanish founder of Discalced Carmelites, the Saint of Florence has never received the recognition she deserves. It might be due to particular attitude of Italian theologians who traditionally excluded mystical literature from their writings. The exception was St Catherine of Siena and later on, St Angela of Foligno. Only a small group of religious writers had published a complete editions of her work in the early sixties. There is no English translations of the most accurate biographies of the Saint, the knowledge of her spiritual experiences we have from the reports of her ecstasies faithfully made by the nuns of her convent who witnessed St Mary Magdalene frequent raptures and were supposed to write down all the words she uttered and her every movement and act. These reports were edited in seven volumes from 1960 to 1966. The only English translation is a compilation of fragments from "The Complete Works of St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi" and includes "The Forty days", "The Dialogues", "The Regeneration of the Church" and "The Probation". The book is edited by A. Maggi and E. Ann Matter and appeared in the series of The Classics of Western Spirituality. Today I will present the information about Saint life.

Sister Mary Magdalen was born in the city of Florence on the 2nd day of April, 1566. Her father was named Sire Camillus di Geri de'Pazzi, and her mother Magdalen Mary, daughter of Sire Lawrence Buondelmonti. At Baptism she received the name of Catherine. On the following day, April 3, at 10 o'clock in the morning, she received Baptism in the oratory of St. John the Baptist. On Feb. 25, 1574, she entered the monastery of Little St. John of the Knights for the first time as a pupil, and was entrusted to the care of her maternal aunt, Sister Alexandra Buondelmonti. On March 25, 1576, at the age of ten, she received Holy Communion for the first time, in the church of Little St. John, which at that time was served by the Jesuits. On April 19 she made a vow of perpetual virginity to God. Towards evening on the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, Nov. 30, 1578, she had her first ecstasy, in the presence of her mother, Lady Mary, while she was in the garden of their villa of Parugiano near Prato. When Sire Camillus de'Pazzi, father of the saint, was sent as commissary to Cortona by the grand duke of Tuscany, Francis I, Catherine, on March 16, 1580, was again "placed in keeping" at the monastery of the Ladies of Little St. John. This was done in following the advice of the Jesuit Peter Blanca, on condition that she would be permitted to receive Holy Communion on all Sundays and holydays, an unusual practice in those times. On the feast of the Ascension, while she was still at Little St. John's, she experienced an excess of love and an extraordinary understanding of the greatness of God and of His grace, in 1581 she left the monastery of Little St. John and returned to her family. On Aug. 14, 1582, she entered the monastery of the Carmelite nuns of St. Mary of the Angels for a fifteen-day stay, in order to become acquainted with the rule and to see if it would correspond to the divine call and to her particular tendencies. The rule fitted her intimate desires; and so she decided to choose this monastery. She was aided in her choice by the fact that the Carmelites, by exceptional permission, could receive Holy Communion every day. On Dec. 1, 1582, the Saturday preceding the first Sunday of Advent, Catherine crossed for ever the threshold of the cloister and entered to become a nun among the Carmelites of St. Mary of the Angels. On Dec. 8, the chapter of the monastery unanimously accepted the new postulant. On Jan. 3, 1583, Catherine de'Pazzi was clothed in the Carmelite habit and took the name of Sister Mary Magdalen, thus beginning her year of novitiate. During the Advent of that year she experienced an excess of love like that which she had had as a child in the villa of Parugiano. During the first days of March of 1584 a mysterious malady manifested itself: "one morning she was overcome by a high fever together with a harsh cough, with severe pains in the area of her chest and below her ribs... Day and night she constantly remained seated on her bed, without ever being able to lie down, because of the vehemence of her cough. She hardly ever slept or, indeed, did so little that it is something incredible. The same was true of her eating, so that she was wasting away little by little... After she had been sick for two months, the doctors gave her up for lost, whence the superiors /the prioress, Sister Victoria Contugi, and the mistress of novices, Sister Evangelist del Giocondo/ decided to have her make her holy profession. This was done on the 27th day of May, 1584, during the morning of the feast of the Most Holy Trinity" . Mary Magdalen made her profession "on a cot arranged before the altar of the Virgin" and was then immediately brought back to the infirmary. From that moment on there began a surprising period of ecstasies; every day after Communion she remained ecstatic for two or three hours. Sometimes she had new and repeated excesses of love during the day as well, with the renewal of the divine favors. The experience lasted uninterruptedly for forty days, during which the following mystical phenomena occurred and should be remembered: a vision of the drama of the Passion (especially noteworthy is that of June 8), the exchange of her heart with that of Jesus (June 10), the first invisible impression of the stigmata (June 28). Moreover, on July 6 she received the crown of thorns from Our Lord, in the presence of St. Catherine of Siena and of St. Augustine; and she was to suffer the mysterious pain of the crown for the rest of her life. She was cured on July 16 at the intercession of the Blessed Mary Bagnesi; and subsequently the life of Mary Magdalen became a succession of visions, ecstasies, other mystical phenomena, penances and trials. On the evening of March 24, 1585, the vigil of the Annunciation, St. Augustine wrote the words «Verbum caro factum est» /The Word was made flesh/ on her heart. On April 15 the invisible stigmata were imprinted on her soul permanently; on the 28th she received a ring from Jesus, the seal of her mystical espousal with Him. On Friday, May 17, she had the longest of any of her ecstasies until then. It began on the afternoon of Friday and was prolonged for forty hours, until the following Sunday morning. On the 21st she received the Lord's command to take only bread and water as nourishment, except on Sundays and holydays, on which days she would be able to take "Lenten foods". Furthermore, Jesus ordered her to rest only five hours a day, on a straw mattress, in satisfaction, for the offenses that are committed against Him.

On the vigil of Pentecost, June 8, 1585, began the second great cycle of esctasies, which went on uninterruptedly for eight days. «During all this time she constantly remained rapt in an excess of mind, both day and night, except that for the period of about two hours each day that was granted her to recite the office, take some little bit of food and a bit of rest. Seven times she received the Holy Spirit in different forms, each morning at the hour of Terce (9 o'clock)....On June 16, the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, her great trial began; called "a den of lions", it was to last for five years. The saint had already spent a year in desolating spiritual aridity when, on July 20, 1586, "to the great wonder" of the nuns, she suddenly went into ecstasy while she was reciting the divine office. But this ecstasy was one of particular "affliction and sorrow". God communicated to her that He wished to alleviate the pressure of temptation and to mitigate the trial, "until October", in order to give her light and the ability to undertake a great work: "the renovation of the Church and particularly of religious" . From that day on Mary Magdalen had similar ecstasies from time to time. In the month of August she spent four days and four nights in continuous rapture, "except for the time when she said the divine office, ate a bit of bread and drank a bit of water ... which was only a short while". God revealed to her that the Church had need of reform. All were called to contribute their share. She, furthermore, had a special mission: to remind religious and the higher dignitaries of the Church of the urgency of their task. The saint trembled at this revelation, because it contrasted so enormously with her humility; she would have preferred death a thousand times. Fearing that she was deceived, she spoke of the matter to her superiors and asked counsel of several religious known for their prudence and holiness of life, such as Father Angelus, the Dominican, and Father Fabbrini, the Jesuit. All encouraged her to follow God's commands without hesitation, since these commands were clear, decisive, and repeated; therefore, it was absolutely necessary that she obey. And for this reason "in her abstraction of mind, she wrote some letters, in favor of such a renewal, to the Supreme Pontiff and to other prelates and servants of God".

In Oct. of 1586 the saint left the novitiate. Her brother Alamanno died on July 14, 1587; and she saw his soul painfully suffering in purgatory. On Feb. 25, 1588, she contemplated Jesus in His passion, and from Him she received the singular gift of "the bundle of His passion, as He gave it to St. Bernard". On Nov. 25 of the same year the dire trials to which she was exposed (the temptations to leave the convent and to kill herself) reached their peak. On Sept. 30, 1589, Mother Evangelist del Giocondo was elected mistress of novices and Sister Mary Magdalen received the charge of assistant mistress. On Easter Sunday, April 22, 1590, the Lord asked her to make "another Lent of fifty days, and she fasted in her usual way, on only bread and water", until the feast of the Holy Spirit (June 10). On this feast she was finally freed from the "den of lions". As her reward, she received great gifts and divine communications. On Aug. 24, 1590, her mother, Lady Mary Buondelmonti; died. Mary Magdalen contemplated her as "happy and content in the pains of purgatory", and understood what great joy had been prepared for her in paradise because of the good and the charity that she had done to her neighbor during her lifetime. Fifteen days later, on Sept. 7, she saw her mother join the saints in paradise. In 1591 the confessor and administrator of the monastery, Father Augustine Campi da Pontremoli, died; Canon Francis Benvenuti succeeded him. On March 26, 1592, in a prolonged ecstasy, Mary Magdalen shared in the sorrows of the passion, as she had already done seven years before. On May 3, 1592, the year in which she was entrusted with the office of sacristan, she had a great excess of love: she ran through the monastery, she rang the bells to call all souls "to love Love" . On May 1, 1595, she asked the Lord for "naked suffering". This request of the saint is personally attested to by Mother Evangelist del Giocondo, by Sister Pacifica del Tovaglia, by Sister Mary Christine Pazzi, and by Sister Mary Grace Pazzi, the saint's niece. But the Lord was to grant her this grace only nine years later. In this same year, 1595, she was elected mistress of the newly professed; and in the chapter of Oct. 2, 1598, she was chosen as mistress of novices. With June 24, 1604, on which date she remained in rapture all day, the ecstasies ended and the period of "naked suffering" began, to continue until her death. Contrary to her desire, in the elections of 1604 the chapter elected her sub-prioress. A short while later she became ill; this was the beginning of three years of physical and moral sufferings never before experienced by her. After Francis Benventi died in 1605, Father Vincent Puccini, the first and principal biographer of the saint, was chosen confessor of the monastery. On May 13, 1607, Mary Magdalen received the anointing of the sick; at eight o'clock of Friday, May 25, her agony began and at two o'clock in the afternoon she died. The sisters who surrounded her recited the Creed of St. Athanasius, the profession of faith in the Trinity that had made the saint ecstatic from the first years of her life. A year after her death the nuns obtained permission to bring the remains of their saintly sister into the cloister, and Father Puccini presided at the exhumation of the body. As soon as the coffin had been opened, this body appeared fresh, whole, flexible. Only the clothing was wet, because the place where she had been buried was humid, and water had oozed through. In 1611 the processes for beatification were begun, after many miracles had been granted through her intercession. All the religious who had known her were invited to testify, and this they did "in a convincing and precise manner". Noteworthy for their extent and content were the testimonies of Mother Evangelist del Giocondo and of Sister Pacifica del Tovaglia, an intimate childhood friend of the saint. Pope Urban VIII beatified Sister Mary Magdalen on May 8, 1626; and in 1662 the process for canonization was opened. Pope Clement IX proclaimed her a saint on April 28, 1669.

after carmelnet "St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi. Life" - a compilation of informations taken from various sources made by Herman Ancilli

Read whole post......

Second Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 14:16-24

At that time, Jesus spoke to the Pharisees this parable: A certain man made a great supper,and invited many. And he sent his servant, at the hour of supper, to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things are ready. And they began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out, and see it; I pray thee hold me excused. And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them; I pray thee hold me excused. And another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. And the servant returning, told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house being angry, said to his, servant: Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame. And the servant said: Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said to the servant: Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house maybe filled. But I say unto you, that none of these men that were invited shall taste of my supper.

MORAL LESSON CONCERNING THE VICE OF IMPURITY

"I have married a wife, and therefore I can not come" (Luke 14: 29)

From this foolish excuse it would seem as if married life were an obstacle to arriving at the heavenly banquet, whereas lawful, chaste, Christian marriage is, on the contrary, a means of eternal salvation for those to whom the gift of continency is not given. The excuse of this married man was not grounded on his station in life, but on his inordinate inclination for carnal pleasures which render the one who gives way to it, unfit for spiritual or heavenly things, for the sensual man perceiveth not the things that are of the Spirit of God. (1 Cor. 2:14). Unfortunate indeed are they who suffer themselves to be carried away by their sensual lusts, who give away the priceless jewel of chastity and purity of heart which makes man equal to the angels, (Matt. 22:30) who for a momentary enjoyment of sinful pleasure lose that white and precious garment in which chaste souls will shine for ever in heaven before the face of God! What benefit does the impure man derive from the gratification of vile lust? He gains the anger and contempt of God; intolerable disgust when the sin is consummated; the torment of a remorseful conscience, and unless he repent, the eternal torments of hell, for the apostle says: Do not err: neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate shall possess the kingdom of God, (1 Cor. 6:9, 10)

It is seen from the examples of the Old Law, how much God hates and abominates the sins of impurity;
Why did God regret having created man? (Gen. 6:6)
Why did He destroy all except a very few, by a universal deluge? (Gen. 6:17)
Why did He lay the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha in ashes by pouring upon them fire and brimstone? (Gen. 19)
Why did He punish the two brothers Her and Onan, by a sudden death? (Gen 37: 7, 10)
Why did He permit the whole tribe of Benjamin to be extirpated? (Judges 20)
Because of their detestable sins of impurity.

And is not this vice an object of the just wrath of God? By these sins an impure man disgraces his body which should be a member of Christ, a temple of the Holy Ghost; he disgraces his soul the image of God, purified and purchased by the precious blood of Christ, and lowers himself beneath the animal, which, void of intellect, follows its instinct; he weakens the power of his body and soul, and ruins his health; he loses the respect of the good, scandalizes his fellowmen, voluntarily separates himself from the communion of saints, deprives himself of the sanctifying grace of God and participation in the merits of Jesus and His saints, and, if he continues like an animal to wallow in this vice, he finally falls into such blindness and hardness of heart that eternal truths, death, judgment, hell, and eternity no longer make any impression upon him; the most abominable crimes of impurity he considers as trifles, as human weaknesses, no sin at all. He is therefore but seldom, if ever, converted, because the evil habit has become his second nature, which he can no longer overcome without an extraordinary grace from God. This God seldom gives, because the impure man generally despises ordinary means and graces, and therefore despairs and casts himself into the pool of eternal fire, where the worm dies not, and where with Satan and his angels the impure shall be for ever tormented.
Do not suffer yourself to be deceived, Christian soul, by the words "love and friendship", which is sought to cover this vice and make it appear a weakness clinging to man. This impure love is a fire which has its origin in hell, and there it will eternally torment the bodies in which it has prevailed. That which God so much detests and so severely punishes, certainly cannot be a trifle, a human weakness! Impress deeply on your heart that all impure thoughts, desires and looks, to which you consent, all impure words, songs, exposures, touches, jokes, and 'such things, are great sins which exclude you from the kingdom of heaven, into which nothing defiled can enter. Remember that he who looks at a woman with a lustful desire, has already, as Christ says, committed adultery in his heart. (Matt.5: 28) We must, then, carefully guard against "such trifles", as the wicked world calls them, if we do not wish to expose ourselves to the greatest danger of losing our souls.

Although it is difficult for an impure person to be converted, yet he should not despair. God does not cast away even the greatest sinner; Jesus forgave the adulteress in the temple, and forgave and received Mary Magdalen. But he who wishes to repent must make use of the proper means to regain the grace of God, and prevent a relapse. Those who have not defiled themselves by the sin of impurity can make use of the following means:

1. Constant prayer. Hence the admonition of the wise King; "As I knew that I could not otherwise be continent, except God gave it, I went to the Lord and besought him." (Wisd. 8: 21)
   
   
2. Mortification of the flesh by fasting and abstinence. Jesus says these impure spirits can in no other way be cast out but by prayer and fasting. (Matt. 17: 20)
   
   
3. The frequent meditation on the four last things, and on the bitter sufferings of our Lord; for "there is," says St. Augustine, "no means more powerful and effective against the heat of lust than reflection on the ignominious death of the Redeemer."
   
   
4. The quiet consideration of the temporal and eternal evils which follow from this vice, as already described.
   
   
5. The love and veneration of the Blessed Virgin who is the mother of beautiful love, the refuge of all sinners, of whom St. Bernard says: "No one has ever invoked her in his necessity without being heard."
   
   
6. The careful mortification of the eyes. The pious Job made a covenant with his eyes, that. he would not so much as look upon a virgin (Job 31:1).
   
   
7. The avoidance of evil occasions, especially intercourse with persons of the other sex. "Remember," says St. Jerome, "that a woman drove out the inhabitants of paradise, and that you are not holier than David, stronger than Samson, wiser than Solomon, who all fell by evil intercourse."
   
   
8. The avoidance of idleness: for idleness, says the proverb, is the beginning of all evil.
   
   
9. The immediate banishing of all bad thoughts by often pronouncing the names of Jesus and Mary, which, as St. Alphonsus Ligouri says, have the special power of driving away impure thoughts.
   
   
10. The frequent use of the holy Sacraments of Penance and of the Altar. This last remedy in particular is a certain cure if we make known to our confessor our weaknesses, and use the remedies he prescribes. The Scripture says that frequent Communion is the seed from which virgins spring, and the table which God has prepared against all temptations that annoy us.

Collect

Inflame, O Lord, our loins and hearts with the fire of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may serve Thee with pure bodies, and please Thee with clean hearts. Amen.

Read whole post......

St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi week

This week I will try to present more meditation in honour of St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi who's feast is celebrated in Florence today.

St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi O.Carm
In Florence feast is celebrated on 25th of May

It would be easy to concentrate on the mystical experiences God gave this saint, rather than on her life. In fact, it would be difficult to do differently, so overwhelming were those gifts from God. The temptation for many modern readers (including the author) would be to see little to identify with in these graces and walk away without seeing more. The other temptation would be to become so fascinated with these stories that one would neglect to dig deeper and learn the real lessons of her life. But Mary Magdalene de Pazzi is not a saint because she received ecstasies and graces from God. Many have received visions, ecstasies, and miracles without becoming holy. She is a saint because of her response to those gifts -- a lifelong struggle to show love and gratitude to the God who gave her those graces. In fact Mary Magdalene saw her ecstasies as evidence of a great fault in her, not a reward for holiness. She told one fellow sister that God did not give this sister the same graces "because you don't need them in order to serve him." In her eyes, God gave these gifts to those who were too weak to become holy otherwise. That Mary Magdalene received these gifts proved, in her mind, how unworthy she was.

Born in Florence on April 2, 1566, Mary Magdalene (baptized Catherine) was taught mental prayer when she was nine years old at the request of her mother. Her introduction at this age to this form of prayer which involves half an hour of meditation did not seem to be unusual. And yet today we often believe children incapable of all but the simplest rote prayers. At twelve years old she experienced her first ecstasy while looking at a sunset which left her trembling and speechless. With this foundation in prayer and in mystical experience, it isn't surprising that she wanted to enter a contemplative monastery of the Carmelite Order. She chose the monastery of St. Mary's of the Angels because the nuns took daily Communion, unusual at the time. In 1583 she had her second mystical experience when the other nuns saw her weeping before the crucifix as she said, "O Love, you are neither known nor loved."

Mary Magdalene's life is a contradiction of our instinctive thought that joy only comes from avoiding suffering. A month after being refused early religious profession, she was refused she fell deathly ill. Fearing for her life the convent had her professed from a stretcher at the altar. After that she experienced forty days of ecstasies that coexisted with her suffering. Joy from the graces God gave were mixed with agony as her illness grew worse. In one of her experiences Jesus took her heart and hid it in his own, telling her he "would not return it until it is wholly pure and filled with pure love." She didn't recover from her illness until told to ask for the intercession of Blessed Mary Bagnesi over three months later. What her experiences and prayer had given her was a familiar, personal relationship with Jesus. Her conversations with Jesus often take on a teasing, bantering tone that shocks those who have a formal, fearful image of God. For example, at the end of her forty days of graces, Jesus offered her a crown of flowers or a crown of thorns. No matter how often she chose the crown of thorns, Jesus kept teasingly pushing the crown of flowers to her. When he accused her, "I called and you didn't care," she answered back, "You didn't call loudly enough" and told him to shout his love. She learned to regret the insistence on the crown of thorns. We might think it is easy to be holy if God is talking to you every day but few of us could remain on the path with the five year trial that followed her first ecstasies. Before this trial, Jesus told her, "I will take away not the grace but the feeling of grace. Though I will seem to leave you I will be closer to you." This was easy for her to accept in the midst of ecstasy but, as she said later, she hadn't experienced it yet. At the age of nineteen she started five years of dryness and desolation in which she was repelled by prayer and tempted by everything. She referred to her heart as a pitch-dark room with only a feeble light shining that only made the darkness deeper. She was so depressed she was found twice close to suicide. All she could do to fight back was to hold onto prayer, penance, and serving others even when it appeared to do no good. Her lifelong devotion to Pentecost can be easily understood because her trial ended in ecstasy in 1590. At this time she could have asked for any gifts but she wanted two in particular: to look on any neighbor as good and holy without judgment and to always have God's presence before her. Far from enjoying the attention her mystical experiences brought her, she was embarrassed by it. For all her days, she wanted a hidden life and tried everything she could to achieve it. When God commanded her to go barefoot as part of her penance and she could not walk with shoes, she simply cut the soles out of her shoes so no one would see her as different from the other nuns. If she felt an ecstasy coming on, she would hurry to finish her work and go back to her room. She learned to see the notoriety as part of God's will. When teaching a novice to accept God's will, she told her, "I wanted a hidden life but, see, God wanted something quite different for me." Some still might think it was easy for her to be holy with all the help from God. Yet when she was asked once why she was weeping before the cross, she answered that she had to force herself to do something right that she didn't want to do. It's true that when a sister criticized her for acting so different, she thanked her, "May God reward you! You have never spoken truer words!" but she told others it hurt her quite a bit to be nice to someone who insulted her.


Mary Magdalene was no pale, shrinking flower. Her wisdom and love led to her appointment to many important positions at the convent including mistress of novices. She did not hesitate to be blunt in guiding the women under her care when their spiritual life was at stake. When one of the novices asked permission to pretend to be impatient so the other novices would not respect her so much, Mary Magdalene's answer shook this novice out of this false humility: "What you want to pretend to be, you already are in the eyes of the novices. They don't respect you nearly as much as you like to think." Mary Magdalene's life offers a great challenge to all those who think that the best penance comes from fasting and physical discomfort. Though she fasted and wore old clothes, she chose the most difficult penance of all by pretending to like the things she didn't like. Not only is this a penance most of us would shrink from but, by her acting like she enjoyed it, no one knew she was doing this great penance! In 1604, headaches and paralyzation confined her to bed. Her nerves were so sensitive that she could not be touched without agonizing pain. Ever humble, she took the fact that her prayers were not granted as a sure sign that God's will was being done. For three years she suffered, before dying on May 25, 1607 at the age of forty-one.

Credit: Catholic.org, and the second painting by Pietro Novelli is located in the Diocesan Museum in Palermo and depicts Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Carmelite Saints (Simon Stock (standing), Angelus of Jerusalem (kneeling), Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, Teresa of Avila).

Read whole post......

Mother of Divine Grace - pray for us!

MARY, you are the Mother of Divine Grace because God bestowed upon you the fullness of His graces even before your birth. Having destined you to be the Mother of His Son, He adorned you with privileges corresponding to that dignity. If John the Baptist was sanctified before his birth, how much more were you to be sanctified and filled with graces before your birth, since you were destined to be not only the forerunner of Jesus, but His Mother.

Because of your intimate union with Jesus as His Mother, and because of His tender love for you, the measure of grace which God gave you in the first instant of your life was greater than that which He imparted to the angels and saints, who were only His servants. In order to merit this fullness of grace for you, Jesus shed His precious blood.

MARY, you continually increased in grace as long as you were on earth. You did so in a far greater measure than all the saints of God. Not defiled by original sin, and hence free of evil inclinations, you had no obstacle to overcome in the way of sanctity. There was no self-love or love of the world in your Immaculate Heart; you gave all your love to God and dedicated yourself entirely to Him. This love urged you to do whatever you knew was pleasing to God. Since every good work is rewarded by an increase of grace, who can tell how great was the number of graces which you acquired in your life-time?

Mother of Divine Grace, help me to treasure sanctifying grace more than all the goods of the world because it. enables me to possess God Himself by divine love; it makes me His child and an heir to His kingdom. Let me rather die than lose this grace by a willful mortal sin. If this should ever happen to me, help me to recover at once, by sincere contrition and penitence, the grace I have lost. And since every good work is meritorious in the sight of God, and increases sanctifying grace if done for the love of God, aid me in being zealous in doing good.

MARY, you have conceived and brought forth Jesus Christ, "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," and "in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2.3,9). You alone obtained the grace which was given to no other creature, namely, to be filled with God Himself, the Author of grace. Every saint has received graces to help save a certain number of souls, but you have received such a fullness of graces that, as Mediatrix of all graces, you were to cooperate in the salvation of the whole world.

Mother of Divine Grace, I have great confidence in you because God has made you the Mediatrix of all graces and Mother of Grace for the benefit of your children. Do not refuse my request when I ask you to help me to grow in the love of God to such an extent that I may reach that degree of holiness which God has destined for me.

Prayer
O God, You gave the human race the grace of forgiveness through the virginal motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary; grant that we who call her the Mother of Grace on earth, may enjoy her happy presence forever in heaven. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. (Feast of the Virgin Mother of Grace, June 9)

Read whole post......

Feast of Corpus Christi

I invite all the visitors to this blog, to read this beautiful devotional meditation written by Fr Gabriel of St Mary Magdalen, OCD, which may help us to understand better Our Lord's love and compassion for us, poor sinners that prompted Him to remain with us for ever in the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar.

PRESENCE OF GOD: "The eternal tide flows hid in living bread. That with its heavenly life to be fed" (St John of the Cross 'Poems').

MEDITATION
1. We have gone, step by step, in the course of the liturgical year, from the consideration of the mysteries of the life of Jesus to the contemplation of the Blessed Trinity, whose feast we celebrated last Sunday. Jesus, our Mediator, our Way, has taken us by the hand and led us to the Trinity; and today it seems as though the three Persons Themselves wish to take us back to Jesus, considered in His Eucharist. "No man cometh to the Father but by Me" (Jn 14:6), Jesus said, and He added, "No man can come to Me except the Father...draw him" (Jn 6:44). This is the journey of the Christian soul: from Jesus to the Father, to the Trinity; from the Trinity, from the Father, to Jesus. Jesus brings us to the Father, the Father draws us to Jesus A Christian cannot do without Christ; He is, in the strictest sense of the word, our Pontiff, the great Bridge-builder who has spanned the abyss between God and us. At the end of the liturgical cycle in which we commemorate the mysteries of the Savior, the Church, who like a good Mother knows that our spiritual life cannot subsist without Jesus, leads us to Him, really and truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar. The solemnity of the Corpus Christ is not just the simple memorial of an historical event which took place almost two thousand years ago at the Last Supper; rather, it recalls us to the ever-present reality of Jesus always living in our midst. We can say, in truth, that He has not "left us orphans", but has willed to remain permanently with us, in the integrity of His Person in the fullness of His humanity and His divinity. "There is no other nation so great," the Divine Office enthusiastically sings, "as to have its gods so near as our God is present to us" (Roman Breviary). In the Eucharist, Jesus is really Emmanuel, God with us.

2. The Eucharist is not only Jesus actually living among us, but it is jesus become our Food. This is the chief aspect under which today's liturgy present the mystery to us; there is no part of the Mass which does not treat of it directly, or which does not, at least, make some allusion to it. The Introit refers to it when it mentions the wheat and honey with which God once fed the Hebrews in the desert, a miraculous food, and yet a very poor representation of the living, life-giving bread of the Eucharist. The Epistle (1 Cor 11: 23-39) speaks of it, recalling the institution of this Sacrament, when Jesus "took bread, and giving thanks, broke, and said, 'Take ye, and eat; this is My Body'"; the Gradual chants, "The eyes of all hope in You, O Lord, and You give them meat in due season". The very beautiful Sequence, Lauda Sion, celebrates it at length, and the Gospel (Jn 6: 56-59), echoing the Alleluia, cites the most significant passage in the discourse when Jesus Himself announced the Eucharist, "My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed":

Listen to Benedictine Monks of Clervaux singing the Lauda Sion hymn in the fifties HERE More info and text of Lauda Sion in English and Latin HERE

The Communion Hymn repeats a sentence of the Epistle, and reminds us that we receive the Body of the Lord worthily. Finally, the Postcommunion tells us that Eucharistic Communion is the pledge of eternal communion, in heaven. But in order to have a better understanding of the immense value of the Eucharist, we must go back to the very words of Jesus, most opportunely recalled in the Gospel of the day, "He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me and I in Him." Jesus made Himself our food in order to assimilate us to Himself, to make us live His life, to make us live in Him, as He Himself lives in His Father. The Eucharist is truly the Sacrament of the union and at the same time it is the clearest and most convincing proof that God calls us and pleads with us tp come to intimate union with Himself.

COLLOQUY

"O God, O Creator, O Spirit of life overwhelming Your creatures with ever new graces! You grant to Your chosen ones the gift which is ever renewed: the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ!...O my soul, how can you refrain yourself from plunging deeper and deeper into the love of Christ, who did not forget you in life or in death, but who willed to give Himself wholly to you, and to unite to Himself forever "(St Angela of Foligno).

To learn more of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi Prayers & Devotions CLICK HERE

Read whole post......

Holy Trinity and Corpus Christ Feasts

Read whole post......