PASSION SUNDAY - click to read

"Crucifixion of Christ" by Lucas Cranach.

Read whole post......

Consolatrix Afflictorum, Comfort of the Afflicted - Pray for us , click for link

Read whole post......

Fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday) meditation - click to read Mass comments and explanation

Captivating fragments from the book "The Public Live of Our Lord Jesus Christ" by Archbishop Goodier, SJ let us reflect on the miracle Our Lord wrought. Picture below is by Dutch master Cornelius Engelbreschtszoon "Feeding the five Thousands". This beautiful piece of art, however, does not longer exist, it has been destroyed in the last year of WW2.

...A vessel sailing from Capharnaum to the north of the lake could easily be followed from the shore. We have seen how the crowd gathered, how it made its way along the bank; if the wind were light or contrary, it would easily reach the spot before the ship. At the north-east corner the little boat put in. From the deck out at sea the disciples had not noticed the excitement on the land; they were with Him, absorbed in Him, serving Him, and that was enough. When then they turned their course towards the landing-place, what was their surprise to find, already lined up along the beach, an almost countless multitude!
Men were gesticulating, calling to them, signing to them where to land, talking much to one another, while no one heeded what another said, delighted only to be noisy, officiously preparing to receive the boat and its occupants, laughing at their cleverness in thus forestalling and recapturing their fugitive Jesus. Whence had they come? The disciples were not long left in ignorance. Soon they recognised many of their friends from Capharnaum, and understood. But what was next to be done? They looked at their Master in dismay. He had brought them to a desert place for a day of rest with Him alone, and this had happened. Would He dismiss these people, or would He yield to them and deprive His Twelve of their holiday? Alas! They knew how it would be. They saw Him arise from His place in the stern; He looked across the ship to the crowd waiting for Him, to be with Him, because they believed in Him thus far. He was pleased, He was gratified, He must show His gratitude; he loved them, He pitied them, He must go to them as they had come to Him.



The Apostles read it in His face before He spoke; when at length He murmured something about 'Sheep having no shepherd', they knew the day was lost. Submissively they put in to the shore and let Him land.
'And Jesus coming forth saw a great multitude and he received them and had compassion on them because they were as sheep not having a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things of the Kingdom of God and healed them who had need of healing'
He came ashore among them. Proudly they received Him, effusively they made the way for Him. They would welcome Him, they would do Him honour; that they tried Him with their demonstration did not occur to or concern them; He was Jesus, and He must submit. And He did. He received their attentions; they might pull Him to and fro as they chose; they knew no better and they never would. But they were not wholly to blame. They ought to have been guided, and their guides had failed them; worse than that, of late these guides had made great efforts to lead them astray. While He could He would be with them. He would help them, he would teach them anything he could, but chiefly of the Kingdom of God. He passed up the passage through the crowd that had been made for Him. Here and there, as He went along, a cripple boy was seen, a beggar with some sore. He paused at each, He stooped down and put His hand on each; He looked into sufferer's face and he was healed. He led the way across the green plain beneath the hill; the crowd closed in and followed. As for the Twelve, they could wait; before evening was come they would not be sorry they had sacrificed their day of rest.
Through the long hours they sat together, Jesus and the common multitude, on that green plain below the hill above the water's edge. Men came and went; and He spoke to them all, and rested at intervals, and some came around him and they just talked together. Time passed away unnoticed; the sun began to bend over the western Galilean hills. Almost suddenly it dawned upon the Twelve that unless they were careful the day might end in trouble. Their Master, good man, was again forgetting; so lost he was in His work that he did not notice how the time was fleeting. The sun would soon be dawn and the darkness be upon them. They were all far from home, two hours at least from Capharnaum, and all were in need of food and rest. They held a consultation together; he must be reminded. They made bold, as the had often done before, and came to Him. They interrupted His discourse with the warning:
'This is a desert place and the hour is now past. Send away the multitudes that going into the towns and villages round about. They may lodge and buy themselves victuals'.
He seemed not to mind what they said. He seemed to be in one of His careless moods, when love got the better of Him and he was unreasonable. What other impression cold they receive from His reply?
'They have no need to go, give you them to eat'.
this, surely, was too much. He knew very well that they had nothing with them; in any case to expect them to find food for five thousand people and more was an extravagance. But perhaps he meant that they should go and buy what was needed. How much money had they? Judas looked into the purse; at most there were two hundred pence. It was the best they could do; they could spend the money on bread and see how far it would go. So 'They said to him. Let us go and buy bread for two hundred pence and we will give them to eat'.
Meanwhile Jesus had risen from where he sat and was moving to a spot higher up the mountain-side. Here again He sat down and turned his eyes on the crowd gathered in the plain below. At first the sight seemed as if he were doubtful of being able to feed such a number. Philip was by His side, gentle, accommodating Philip.
'When Jesus therefore had lifted up his eyes and seen that a very great multitude cometh to him, he said to Philip whence shall we buy bread that these may eat? And this he said to try him for he himself knew what he would do.'
To the meaning of this, as he thought he understood it, Philip agreed. Two hundred pence! For five thousand men and more! The food supply of more than one village would be needed.
'And Philip answered him. Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them that everyone may eat a little.'
Did Philip guess something at least of that which was about to happen? Did it occur to him that He who had turned water into wine might, if He so chose, turn stones into bread? Did he remember how the Master had but lately said that should they ever be in need their heavenly father would feed them? Did he recall the Manna in the desert, and how bread had been sent down from heaven, merely, as it were, to humour the people of God? From his words one suspects it; form other things we know of His simple faith we believe it...
Jesus looked at Philip no more. He fell back into one of these inspiring moods when He instilled peace around Him, and certainty, and trust; when men of goodwill obeyed Him, though he might command what seemed impossible or absurd. So it had been at the marriage feast at Cana; so with the ruler and his son; so in these last days when he sent out His Twelve to preach, and in the strength of His command they had succeeded. Such a mood was on Him now. He seemed to live outside the world around Him; and Philip, here as elsewhere, was the first to catch the spirit that was on Him. To the rest Jesus turned, and quietly, almost carelessly, asked them:
'How many loaves have you?'
To them, then, it seemed that He was still living on false hope. Loaves they had none among themselves;...They moved about among those who were near. They found a little boy with a basket; in it were five loaves of common barley and two tiny fishes, more than he could need for himself....he was all the twelve could find; they came to report the failure.
'And when they knew one of his disciples Andrew the brother of Simon Peter saith to him. There is a boy here, that has five barley loaves and two fishes. But what are these among so many?'
No; there was nothing else to be done. They would be compelled to go into the town, and buy what they could with the money they possessed.'Unless perhaps we should go and buy victuals for all this multitude';...All this time had Jesus waited. Deliberately He had waited, that quide clearly beforehand the exact facts might be made known to all. There were so many men; there was just this amount of food and no more. Even what was to follow must be done in strict order, so that from first to last there should be no room for mistake or misinterpretation. Never before or after was Jesus more careful or exacting in the working of a miracle. On this occasion, more than on any other, he acted like a king, and would be obeyed, down to the smallest detail.
'And he said to his disciples. Make the man sit down by fifties in a company upon the green grass.' It was so done.....There were fifty such groups gathered and seated on the grass that evening before the Pasch. Jesus had taken good care that the number should be known for ever....Then when all was ready, with the Twelve standing about Him from below, slowly and carefully He took the little boy's five loaves and two fishes on His knee. He held them in His hands and looked up to heaven; for a moment he was lost to earth. He placed a hand upon the bread and fishes and blessed them; there was an uttered prayer of thanksgiving to the Father who would give to His children their daily, their substantial bread. He broke the loaves in parts, then the tiny fishes. With the broken pieces on His knee, He called His Twelve yet nearer. To each He gave a part; five loaves and two fishes divided amongst twelve men, scarcely a meal for themselves, let alone for the multitude below. But it was not for them; they were to take what He gave them to others. So He bade them, and they could only obey. The Twelve did as they were told. They came to their respective groups. With their fingers, as He had done, they broke their portions into smaller pieces. These they handed out; they put their hands into their wallets for more, and there was something always over. Again, they broke, again they gave, again they found something in the wallet. At first it may be they did not noticed, but soon the truth grew upon them. They gave more freely and abundantly, so abundantly that some had more than they could eat; and still their wallets never emptied. They passed down all the lines, they came to the end; each of the Twelve has served the groups allotted to him. There was not a man there who was not satisfied, and still there were still portions left.
'And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, looking up to heaven He blessed and broke the loaves and when he had given thanks he gave the loaves to his disciples to set before them and the disciples to the multitudes that were sat down. In like manner also the two fishes he divided among them as much as they would and they did all eat and were filled.'
But Jesus had not finished yet. He had given them the gift of bread, 'Full measure and pressed down'; but before He had done it must be 'Flowing over.'

Read whole post......

Auxilium Christianorum, Help of Christians - pray for us! - click for link

Read whole post......

Novena to St Joseph starts today - click for link

St Teresa of Jesus was very devoted to St Joseph, she explain this in great detail in her autobiography:

"Would that I could persuade all men to be devoted to this glorious Saint , for I know by long experience what blessings he can obtain for us from God. I have never known anyone who was truly devoted to him and honored him by particular services who did not advance greatly in virtue: for he helps in a special way those souls who commend themselves to him. It is now very many years since I began asking him for something on his feast, and I have always received it. If the petition was in any way amiss, he rectified it for my greater good . . . I ask for the love of God that he who does not believe me will make the trial for himself-then he will find out by experience the great good that results from commending oneself to this glorious Patriarch and in being devoted to him . . ." - click to read more Here

In his encyclical  Quamquam Pluries on Catholic devotion to St Joseph, Pope Leo XIII writes:

"The special motives for which St. Joseph has been proclaimed Patron of the Church, and from which the Church looks for singular benefit from his patronage and protection, are that Joseph was the spouse of Mary and that he was reputed the Father of Jesus Christ. From these sources have sprung his dignity, his holiness, his glory. In truth, the dignity of the Mother of God is so lofty that naught created can rank above it. But as Joseph has been united to the Blessed Virgin by the ties of marriage, it may not be doubted that he approached nearer than any to the eminent dignity by which the Mother of God surpasses so nobly all created natures. For marriage is the most intimate of all unions which from its essence imparts a community of gifts between those that by it are joined together. Thus in giving Joseph the Blessed Virgin as spouse, God appointed him to be not only her life's companion, the witness of her maidenhood, the protector of her honour, but also, by virtue of the conjugal tie, a participator in her sublime dignity. And Joseph shines among all mankind by the most august dignity, since by divine will, he was the guardian of the Son of God and reputed as His father among men. Hence it came about that the Word of God was humbly subject to Joseph, that He obeyed him, and that He rendered to him all those offices that children are bound to render to their parents. From this two-fold dignity flowed the obligation which nature lays upon the head of families, so that Joseph became the guardian, the administrator, and the legal defender of the divine house whose chief he was. And during the whole course of his life he fulfilled those charges and those duties. He set himself to protect with a mighty love and a daily solicitude his spouse and the Divine Infant; regularly by his work he earned what was necessary for the one and the other for nourishment and clothing; he guarded from death the Child threatened by a monarch's jealousy, and found for Him a refuge; in the miseries of the journey and in the bitternesses of exile he was ever the companion, the assistance, and the upholder of the Virgin and of Jesus. Now the divine house which Joseph ruled with the authority of a father, contained within its limits the scarce-born Church. From the same fact that the most holy Virgin is the mother of Jesus Christ is she the mother of all Christians whom she bore on Mount Calvary amid the supreme throes of the Redemption; Jesus Christ is, in a manner, the first-born of Christians, who by the adoption and Redemption are his brothers. And for such reasons the Blessed Patriarch looks upon the multitude of Christians who make up the Church as confided specially to his trust - this limitless family spread over the earth, over which, because he is the spouse of Mary and the Father of Jesus Christ he holds, as it were, a paternal authority. It is, then, natural and worthy that as the Blessed Joseph ministered to all the needs of the family at Nazareth and girt it about with his protection, he should now cover with the cloak of his heavenly patronage and defend the Church of Jesus Christ."

Links:

Carmelite Devotion to St Joseph

History of Catholic devotion to St Joseph

Brother Andre Bessette beatification news. Br Andre was a greatest St Joseph's devotee, he founded famous St Joseph Oratory in Montreal where hundreds of miraculous cures were granted, read the story HERE

Read whole post......

Feast of St John of Cross, founder of Brothers Hospitallers - click to visit Hospitallers webpage

The archbishop called John of God to him in response to a complaint that he was keeping tramps and immoral women in his hospital. In submission John fell on his knees and said: “The Son of Man came for sinners, and we are bound to seek their conversion. I am unfaithful to my vocation because I neglect this, but I confess that I know of no bad person in my hospital except myself alone, who am indeed unworthy to eat the bread of the poor.” The archbishop could only trust in John’s sincerity and humility, and dismissed him with deep respect. (After American Catholic 'Saint of the Day)

...."Another day, after taking possession of rich spoils, the captain ordered John to guard the treasure, especially a chest filled with jewels, for the night; John obeyed with a sullen face. The next morning, the chest of jewels was missing. John questioned the sentinels, but nobody could give him any information. The only person to have entered the tent just before the changing of Ciudad's guard was the captain.

The young captain condemned John to death by hanging, in accordance with the military code. John, his hands and feet bound, spent most of the night without sleeping. His friend Alfonso Ferrus slipped under the tent to free him, but John refused. He knew that the sentinel would be hanged in his place. Left alone, he fell asleep and he had an incredible dream. He saw the French shepherdess again, who transformed herself into the Queen of Heaven, and said to him, "Trust me. I will save you." John awoke, recited one Hail Mary with enthusiasm and felt consoled. He walked with a firm step to be hanged. He promised the Good Mother to give up soldiering, if she delivered him from this terrible fate... He did not doubt Mary's help for one moment. John, in the gallows, declared his innocence. And added: "I have confidence that the Blessed Virgin can still help me."

The drum beat a second time and the noose was around John's neck when a rider arrived in haste. It was Colonel Ribera, who revoked the execution order. He wanted to be the judge of that affair himself. Meanwhile, Alphonso Ferrus arrived out of breath. He had the chest of jewels in his hands, which he had found in the captain's tent. The latter was condemned and executed on the spot.

Mary was faithful to her promise. John also kept his word. He gave up his life of soldiering and went in search of God's will. He later became the great Saint John of God"...

Excerpt from The Beggar of Grenade by Hunermann, after 'A Moment with Mary'

Read whole post......

Third Sunday of Lent - click to read

Read whole post......

Refugium Peccatorum, Refuge of Sinners - pray for us - click for link

Read whole post......

St Mary Magdalen de Pazzi and humility of heart

 

Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest to your soul (Mt 11:29) 

"This is the remedy to fix my gaze on you, Incarnate Word, hanging on the Cross. As soon as You see s humble soul looking at You in this way, You are quickly moved to look at it, and the effect of Your divine glance is like that of a ray of sunshine on the earth: it warms it and prepares it to bring forth fruit. This is the way You act, O divine Word, who by the light of Your glance, drain my soul of all its pride, and consume it in Your fire. No one can acquire humility if he does not fix his gaze on You, O Word, on the Cross."

St Therese said: "The remembrance of my weakness is so constantly present to me that there is no room for vanity"   

Read whole post......

Second Sunday of Lent - click to read

Read whole post......

SALUS INFIRMORUM, HEALTH OF THE SICK - PRAY FOR US! - click for link

Read whole post......

When we read these prayer words written by St Therese we may realize the purifying value of suffering our Lord sometimes sends us. 

My God, I thank Thee for all the graces Thou hast bestowed on me, and in particular for having made me pass through the crucible suffering. With what joy I shall see Thee on the last day bearing the Cross as the emblem of royalty. As Thou hast made me a partaker of thy holy Cross, grant that I may one day be like to Thee, and bear upon my glorified body the imprint of Thy sacred wounds. (St Therese)

Read whole post......

St John Vianney on anger and patience - excerpts from 'The Little Catechism of the Cure of Ars' link

Anger is an emotion of the soul, which leads us violently to repel whatever hurts or displeases us. 

This emotion, my children, comes from the devil: it shows that we are in his hands; that he is the master of our heart; that he holds all the strings of it, and makes us dance as he pleases. See, a person who puts himself in a passion is like a puppet; he knows neither what he says, nor what he does; the devil guides him entirely. He strikes right and left; his hair stands up like the bristles of a hedgehog; his eyes start out of his head - he is a scorpion, a furious lion....Why do we, my children, put ourselves into such a state? It is, mind, because we do not love the good God. Our heart is given up to the demon of pride, who is angry when he thinks himself despised; to the demon of avarice, who is irritated when he suffers any loss; to the demon of luxury, who is indignant when his pleasures are interfered with....How unhappy we are, my children, thus to be the sport of demons? They do whatever they please with us; they suggest to us evil-speaking, calumny, hatred, venegeance: they even drive us so far as to put our neighbour to death. See, Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy; Saul wished to take away the life of David; Theodosius caused the massacre of the inhabitants of Thessalonica, to revenge a personal affront....If we do not put our neighbour to death, we are angry with him, we curse him, we give him to the devil, we wish for his death, we wish for our own. In our fury, we blaspheme the holy Name of God, we accuse His Providence...What fury, what impiety! And what is still more deplorable, my children, we are carried to these excesses for a trifle, for a word, for the least injustice! Where is our faith! Where is our reason? We say in excuse another sin. The good God equally condemns anger, and the excesses that are its consequences....How we sadden our guardian angel! He is always there at our side to send us good thought, and he sees us do nothing but evil...If we did like St Remigius, we should never be angry. See, this saint, being questioned by a Father of the desert how he managed to be always in an even temper, replied, "I often consider that my guardian angel is always by my side, who assists me in all my needs, who tells me what I ought to do and what I ought to say, and who writes down, after each of my actions, the way in which I have done it." Philip II, king of Spain, having passed several hours of the night in writing a long letter to the Pope, gave it to his secretary to fold up and seal. He, being half asleep, made a mistake; when he meant to put sand on the letter, he took the ink bottle and covered all the paper with ink. While he was ashamed and inconsolable, the king said, quite calmly, "No very great harm is done; there is another sheet of paper"; and he took it, and employed the rest of the night in writing a second letter, without the least displeasure with his secretary.

Read whole post......

First Sunday of Lent, Invocabit - click to read

Read whole post......

Refugium Peccatorum - Ora Pro Nobis

This meditation is very encouraging and consoling for us, poor sinners. Mary is our spiritual mother and our  refuge given to us by her Divine Son while He was dying on the Cross: "Behold, your mother!" (John 19:27)

MARY, being the Mother of our Redeemer, you receive sinners with loving kindness, and you do all you can to save them from damnation. What sacrifices you made for us during your earthly life! For thirty-three years—from the time you laid the newborn Savior in the crib of Bethlehem to the day when you stood beneath the cross on Calvary and watched Him die—you suffered a constant martyrdom, for the sword of sorrow continually pierced your soul. But you did not complain. You bore all these sufferings with patience because you knew that the salvation of men was to be brought about in this manner. You even willingly sacrificed Jesus that the sinful human race might be redeemed.

It is impossible for you not to have mercy on sinners. Now that you are in heaven, where you no longer have to make any sacrifices for their salvation, you cannot look on quietly and see how all that you and your divine Son have endured remains without fruit, and how those souls perish on whose account your Son shed His blood and you became the Mother of Sorrows. To the end of the world you will never cease to have mercy on sinners and to intercede for their salvation.

MARY, if you confer upon us so many temporal blessings, you will surely be all the more anxious about our spiritual welfare. The sinner, were he even the outcast of the world, is never rejected by you, but you welcome him with motherly kindness and do not leave him till you have reconciled him to His Judge. As the devil goes about seeking whom he may devour, you go about seeking whom you may save.

As the Mother of Mercy, you are full of kindness and love, not only toward the just, but also toward sinners. Pray for the sinners of the world, especially for those farthest removed from God. Prepare them to receive divine graces. Stand between them and the just punishments of God. Plead for their sincere repentance that they may not be lost. Be their safe refuge and their hope for the sake of Jesus who died for them.

MARY, how well you know that mortal sin is the greatest offence against God. The infinite majesty of God is so great that all creatures in heaven and on earth are as nothing compared to Him. Teach me to understand that when I sin, I refuse obedience to God; I rebel against Him, even despise Him. I crucify Jesus anew by my sins, as the Apostle Paul reminds me, for by my sins I renew the cause for which my divine Savior suffered the death of the cross. Help me to understand more and more the malice of sin that I may hate it above all things and avoid it as the greatest possible evil. Let me rather die than commit a willful mortal sin.

REFUGE OF SINNERS, if I have the misfortune to fall into a grievous sin, let me have recourse to you at once. Obtain for me the grace of a sincere repentance and true contrition. With your help let me walk constantly in the way of penance so that as a penitent I may be saved.

PRAYER
O Almighty and merciful God, Who in the Blessed Virgin Mary have given sinners a refuge and a help, grant us, who are protected by her, the forgiveness of all our sins and the blessings of Your mercy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. (Feast of Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners, Aug. 13)

The illustration of this advocations of the Litany of Loreto included in the main text extols Mary’s role as advocate for spiritual and corporeal works of mercy and is of intricate composition. The cameo with mother and child is delimited by four anchors, symbols of hope, security, and stability. This central image is surrounded by five biblical scenes. Each one of them depicts in miniature size a situation of danger, temptation or fault with subsequent conversion and/or mercy:
In the lower half center, we see the rendering of Saint Peter’s vision of the large sheet filled with all animals of earth and sky (Acts 10:11-12). Peter will have to change his opinion about what is clean and unclean in order to comply with God’s will.
The miniature to the left of Peter portrays a safe harbor (Psalm 108:30). Those who went off to sea experienced distress, but God brought them to the harbor they longed for.
To the right of Peter’s vision is a town-like agglomeration of houses, churches and castles. They are a symbol of refuge for the needy, possibly reflecting 1 Maccabees 10:13,14 and the stronghold of Beth-zur.
The upper left miniature tells about the rescue of Nabal, the evil rich. His wife Abigail implores David to refrain from vengeance. David relents and praises her saying: “Blessed be your good judgment and yourself, who … have prevented me from shedding blood” (1 Samuel 25:33).
The fifth miniature, in the upper right corner, tells the story of Adonijah, who in an attempt to become king turned against David, his father. Abandoned by his followers, he “went and seized the horns of the altar” in search of refuge against Solomon’s vengeance. Solomon acted mercifully, and said to Adonijah: “Go to your home” (1 Kings 2:49ff).

The lemma reminds us that God loves all people (Psalm 87:4f.). It is Mary’s role to bring God’s love into the world, to be the intercessor for all, and to give hope and help to sinners.

Credits: text of the meditation was written by Fr Lovasik as Loreto Litany meditations and can be found on the Intermirifica webpage, whereas explanation of the picture of Our Lady Refuge of Sinners is after 'The Mary Page', relevant links on the sidebar in Rosary section of this blog.

Read whole post......

CHRIST HAD TO BE TEMPTED IN THE DESERT - St Thomas Aquinas "Meditations for Lent"

Temptations of various kind are allowed to make us solid in virtue by resisting them. We can resist strengthened with God's grace, for in this way we realize how merciful and loving He is. If we try to resist by our own means, sooner or later we will fail. Our Lady is particularly helpful in obtaining all necessary graces for us if we genuinely desire and keep praying for holy life always humbly asking her intercession.

He was in the desert forty days and forty nights: and was tempted by Satan. (Mark 1-13).

1. it was by Christ's own will that he was exposed to the temptation by the devil, as it was also by his own will that he was exposed to the slain by the limbs of the devil. Had He not so willed, the devil would never have dared to approach Him. The devil is always more disposed to attack those who are alone, because, as is said in Sacred Scripture, If a man shall prevail against one, two shall withstand him easily (Eccles. iv.12). That is why Christ went out into the desert, as one going out to a battle-ground, that there he might be tempted by the devil. Whereupon St. Ambrose says that Christ went into the desert for the express purpose of provoking the devil. For unless the devil had fought, Christ would never have overcome him for me.

St. Ambrose gives other reasons too. He says that Christ chose the desert as the place to be tempted for a hidden reason, namely that he might free from his exile Adam, who, from Paradise, was driven into the desert; and again that he did it for a reason in which there is no mystery, namely to show us that the devil envies those who are tending towards a better life.

2. We say with St. Chrysostom that Christ exposed Himself to the temptation because the devil most of all tempts those whom he sees alone. So in the very beginning of things he tempted the woman, when he found her away from her husband. It does not however follow from this that a man ought to throw himself into any occasion of temptation that presents itself. Occasions of temptations are of two kinds. One kind arises from man's own action, when, for example, man himself goes near to sin, not avoiding the occasion of sin. That such occasions are to be avoided we know, and Holy Scripture reminds us of it.Stay not in any part of the country round about Sodom (Gen.xix.17). The second kind of occasion arises from the devil's constant envy of those who are tending to better things, as St. Ambrose says, and this occasion of temptation is not one we must avoid. So, according to St. John Chrysostom, not only Christ was led into the desert by the Holy Ghost, but all the children of God who possess Holy Ghost are led in like manner. For God's children are never content to sit down with idle hands, but the Holy Ghost ever urges them to undertake for God some great work. And this, as far as the devil is concerned, is to go into desert, for in the desert there is none of that wickedness which is the devil's delight. Every good work is as it were a desert to the eye of the world and of our flesh, for good works are contrary to the desire of the world and of our flesh.

To give the devil such an opportunity of temptation as this is not dangerous, for it is much more the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, who is the promoter of every perfect work, that prompts us than the working of the devil who hates them all.

The picture represents Duccio's 'Temptation of Christ' 

Read whole post......

Ash Wednesday and beginning of Lent- click to read more

Read whole post......

How to avoid Purgatory - excerpts from the classic book by Fr Paul O'Sullivan - click to read the book

1. In every prayer you say, every Mass you hear, every Communion you receive, every good work you perform have the express intention of imploring God to grant you a holy and happy death and no Purgatory. Surely God will hear a prayer said with such confidence and perseverance.

2. Always wish to do God's will. It is in every sense the best for you. When you do or seek anything that is not God's will, you are sure to suffer. Say, therefore, fervently each time you recite the Our Father: Thy will be done.

3. Accept all the sufferings, sorrows, pains and disappointments of life, be they great or small, ill health, loss of goods, the death of your dear ones, heat or cold, rain or sunshine as coming from God. Bear them calmly and patiently for love of Him and in penance for your sins. Of course, one may use all his efforts to ward off trouble and pain, but when one cannot avoid it let him bear it patiently. Impatience and revolt make sufferings vastly greater and more difficult to bear.

4. The greatest act in Christ's life was His Passion. As He had a Passion so each one of us has a Passion. Our Passion consists in the sufferings and labors of every day. Therefore, let us do our work, accept its disappointments and hardships and bear our pains in union with the Passion of Christ. We gain more merit by a little pain than by years of pleasure.

5. Forgive all injuries and offences for in proportion, as we forgive others, God forgives us. Go to confession. This sacrament does more than "just" rid us of our sins; it gives us a tremendous increase in sanctifying grace. It wins for us a higher place in Heaven, with increased union with God. Each time we go to confession, we are preserved from many dangers and misfortunes which might otherwise have befallen us. A devout confession helps us to hear the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, and to hear and follow the advice of our guardian angels.

6. Avoid mortal sins, deliberate venial sins and break off bad habits. Then it will be relatively easy to satisfy God's justice for sins of frailty. Above all avoid sins against charity and chastity in thought, word and deed for these sins are the reason why many souls are detained in Purgatory for a long time.

7. If afraid of doing too much work, do many little things, acts of kindness and charity, give the alms you can, don't grumble or complain when things are not as you please, don't complain of others, never refuse to do a favor for others when possible. These and such acts are a splendid penance.

8. Do all in your power for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Pray for them constantly, get others to do so, join the Friends of the Poor Souls and ask all those you know to do likewise. The Holy Souls will repay you most generously.

9. There is no more powerful way of obtaining from God a most holy and happy death than by weekly confession, daily Mass and daily communion. Masses may be arranged after or before someone's death to expedite their time in Purgatory.

10. A daily visit to the Blessed Sacrament – if only for three or four minutes – is an easy way of obtaining the same grace. Kneel in the presence of Jesus with eyes fixed on the Tabernacle or Monstrance, sure that He is looking at you, then repeat little prayers like these: My Jesus, Mercy. My Jesus, have pity on me a sinner. My Jesus, I love you. My Jesus, give me a happy death.

11. Wear the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. "Whosoever dies clothed in this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire." This is the Blessed Virgin Mary's Promise, made July 16, 1251 to St. Simon Stock. The Sabbatine Privilege is Mary's promise to release from Purgatory soon after death, all those who: 1) wear the brown scapular 2) observe chastity according to their state in life and 3) say the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary every day. To be eligible for this scapular promise, one must be enrolled.

12. Use holy water to remit venial sin. Because of the blessing attached to it, Holy Mother Church strongly encourages its use upon her children, especially when danger threatens, such as fire, storms, sickness and other calamities. Every Catholic home should have a supply of holy water. Sprinkle some holy water on the ground, then make the Sign of the Cross and pray: "By this holy water and by Thy Precious Blood, wash away all my sins and the sins of the Poor Souls in Purgatory, O Lord".

About Brown Scapular (from Appendix in Fr O'Sullivan book):

(The following official information was obtained from the National Scapular center, Darien, Illinois, May 9, 1986.)

Two wonderful promises of Our Lady of Mount Carmel are available to those who have been enrolled in the Brown Scapular.

The great promise of the Blessed Virgin Mary, given to St. Simon Stock on July 16, 1251, is as follows: "Whoever dies wearing this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire."

Our Lady's second Scapular Promise, known as the Sabbatine Privilege (the word "Sabbatine" meaning "Saturday"), was given by the Blessed Virgin Mary to Pope John XXII in the year 1322 and is as follows: "I, the Mother of Grace, shall descend on the Saturday after their death, and whomsoever I shall find in Purgatory, I shall free."

There are three conditions for obtaining this privilege: 1) the wearing of the Brown Scapular; 2) the practice of chastity according to one's state of life; 3) the daily recitation of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Those who cannot read can abstain from meat on Wednesdays and Saturdays instead of reciting the Little Office. Also, any priest who has diocesan faculties (this includes most priests) has the additional faculty to commute (change) the third requirement into another pious work for example, the daily Rosary.

Because of the greatness of the Sabbatine privilege, the Carmelite Order suggests that the third requirement not be commuted into anything less than the daily recitation of seven Our Fathers, seven Hail Marys, and seven Glory Be to the Fathers.

Read whole post......

St Therese and the sword - meditation from Arbp Fulton Sheen

Lent is approaching fast and we may need to think about our spiritual needs, imperfections, wants etc. What is the better way than to enjoy a crush course in the Little Way of our beloved Carmelite Saint, St Therese, the Little Flower, given by her disciple and third Order Carmelite, Archbishop Fulton Sheen? Let us see what he has to say....

The new way of St Therese is not to start thinking about how wicked you are, how sinful, but to begin looking at our Lord. And from that, you will see that you are not as good as you ought tobe, but yo will try to please the one you love. Let me give you some of her words along these lines. She said:

Jesus! i would so love Him, love Him as he has never been loved in the history of the world.

And one of the novices - for she was the Mistress of Novices - came to her one day, and she said, "Oh, I have so many virtues to aquire."

The Little Flower said, "No, you've got a lot of things to lose!"

That's the trouble. Our spiritual books tell us how to acquire humility. I told you about the 12 ways of St Bernard. Well now, you'll go crazy trying to develop those 12 ways. One of them is to love to be stomped on and trampled on. The Little Flower says, no, start loving the Lord, and then you'll no longer be proud. You cannot start acquiring, for example, the virtue of humility or fortitude. You can never fall in love with abstraction. You can only love a person. No one in the world ever fell in love with a theorem of geometry.

This is the trouble with secular humanism and materialism: There's no person to love. So then the new way of the Little Flower is....fall in love. Love the Good Lord, and then you will strive to please Him. And because you see that there are imperfections in you, you will love Him more so that they may washed away. This is not a little way, it's the new way because we've forgotten it. It's buried in Scripture. It's buried in Isaiah, buried in Psalms, buried in Zechariah, and she digs it out for us.

Now we come to the second point. What effect did it have on her? Now when we look at the picture of this frail little French girl, we think of her, yes, as the little Therese, frail, meek, humble. But does love make one that way? Real lovers are courageous.

Do you know what she wanted to be? She wanted to be a soldier. She used to dream about it. In one of her dreams, someone was conscripting soldiers for an army. And she heard a voice saying, "Maybe we ought to ask for Therese." And she said, "Well, I'm ready." She said, "I'm sorry it's not a holy war, but I'm ready to fight anyway."

Now we never think of the Little Flower as having a saint whom she wanted to be like more than anyone else, but she did. Do you know who that was? Joan of Arc. Can you imagine her seated on a horse clad in armour? And she said: "If I were Joan of Arc, it would not be voices from heaven. It would be only the voice of my Beloved."

One of her favourite texts of Scriptures, therefore, was "I came not to bring peace, but the sword." (Matt 10:34)...And then St Therese said: "A sister showed me a photograph representing Joan of Arc, consoled by an interior voice. The saints encourage me from above, and they say to me, "So long as you are in fetters, you cannot fulfill your mission. But after your death, then will be the time of your conquest."

In other words, she said, "I'm going to be a warrior and a soldier after my death, I am in no battlefields, now except the battle of the spiritual life."

This figure gives you some idea of, for example, her powerful intercession. This, too, accounts for her love of missions. She is the patroness of the Propagation of the Faith, though she was never in mission lands. The reason she is the patroness of the Propagation of the Faith was because she loved missions, and she corresponded all her life with two missionary priests and offered up her sufferings for them.

Yes, that is true, but there is a deeper reason still. This woman was in love, and she wanted her Beloved known all over the world. That's why she loved the missions! As she put it:

"Like the prophets and the doctors, I would enlighten souls, I would travel the whole world to preach Your name and set up Your glorious cross in pagan lands. But one mission could never suffice for me. Would that I could, at one and the same time, proclaim the gospel to the world, even to the remotest of its islands. I  would desire to be a missionary not only for a few years but to have been one from the creation of the world and to continue to the end of time."

Love makes one a missionary. When we cease to love, we cease to be a missionary. Now it is sometimes asked, for example, why is there a decline of conversions today? It is  due to ecumenism? No, it's not due to ecumenism. It's due to the fact that we're not making Christ the center of our lives. And if we were deeply in love with Christ instead of with social programs and the like (all which have their place, but here I am speaking of primacy), if we gave the primacy to Christ, then we would be on fire to save souls. After all, the reason we are tired in body is because we are already tired in mind. We have no love. The fires have gone out. We are cinders, burnt out cinders floating in the immensity of space and time. And here is a young girl. It is almost as if she is locked up in a gilded cage, absolutely straining at the leash in order to become a missionary. Why? Simply because she loved!

As I told you, love does not mean just simply to have and to own and to possess. It's not sitting on the throne waiting for others to serve. It's the going out, the spending of oneself. Love is not the circle circumscribed bt self. It's like a cross outstreched to embrace the whole world.

Love isn't Buddha, fat, sleek, a well-oiled body, hands folded across the breast intently looking inward, thinking only of self. It's the picture of thin saints looking out for the mission to the world, as Therese looks out in many of her photos. And therefore, she loved this text, the sword. And she says many times in her writings that "I am entering Carmel to bring the sword to the monastery of Carmel." In other words, it needed a little fire. She entered it to change it. And her reason for doing so was right.

We are fond of talking peace today, but all we mean by peace is lack of disturbance. Our Lord said, "I came not to bring peace." God HATES PEACE in those who are destined for war! And we are destined for war, spiritual war. We've forgotten that we're in a combat. We are in genuine combat. When our first parents were driven out of the garden of Paradise, God stationed an angel with a flaming sword, a two-edged sword that turned this way and that. Why? To keep our first parents from going back to eat of the Tree of Life and thus immortalize their evil. And the only way we can ever get back again into paradise is by having that sword run into us. It's flaming because it's love. It's two-edged because it cuts, and it penetrates. It's not the sword that's thrust outward to hack off the ear of the servant of the high  priest as Peter did. It's the sword that's thrust inward to cut out all of our seven pallbearers of the soul, the pride and covetousness, lust, anger, envy, gluttony, and sloth.

This was the sword she loved. And this sword is what we've forgotten in our modern world with the dripping away of discipline, the ascetic principle. The disciplinary principle of the Christian world had moved to the totalitarian countries. And concerning the sword, I quoted the sword in relationship to the Garden of Eden, but in the prophecy of Zechariah, we read this:

"This is the very word of the Lord of Hosts: Oh sword, awake against my shepherd." (Zech 13:7)

Who is the shepherd? Our Lord. So Zechariah is having the heavenly Father say, "Sword awake! Awake against My shepherd, against My Son, against Him who works with Me." So when our Blessed Lord came to this earth, the sword of Herod was raised against Him. Did anyone ever raise a sword against a two-year-old Caesar? Or a six-month-old Stalin? Why the sword against Him? because He plays a role in salvation. It belongs to warriors. And as the heavenly Father ran the sword into His own Son, the Son ran the into His own Mother. Simeon said to Mary, "You, too, shall be pierced to the heart." (Luke 2:35) So the Father ran a sword into His Son, the Son into His own Mother, and Our Lord into us.

"I have come not to bring peace, but the sword." This , then, is the way of the warrior and the little girl who wanted to be a soldier. And there was not much difference in her mind between a soldier and a missionary.

to be continued...

Read whole post......

Quinquagesima Sunday - click to read Carmelite meditation

Read whole post......