St Peter and St Paul, solemnity

'Simon, son of John, do you love me?...'Lord, you know everything, you know that I love thee'...'Feed my sheep' (John 21:17)

How did JESUS have love his disciples and why did he love them? It wasn't their human qualities that attracted Him; an infinite distance existed between them. He was knowledge, Eternal Wisdom; they were poor sinners - ignorant, filled with worldly thoughts. Yet, JESUS called them his friends, his brothers. He wants to open his Father's kingdom for them and see them reign with Him in this kingdom. He wants to die on a cross because He said: 'There is no greater love than to give one's life for those we love' (The Story of a Soul)

'Fight like a good soldier (which means making every effort in overcoming temptations, imperfections, addictions, giving always good example to others) and if sometimes thou fall through frailty, rise up again, with greater strength than before, confiding in My more abundant grace; but take great care thou yield not to any vain complacency and pride. Through this, many are led into error, and sometimes fall into incurable blindness. Let this fall of the proud, who foolishly rely on their own strength, serve thee for a warning, and keep thee always humble (Imitation of Christ book 3 ch 6)'

I understand why St Peter fell. He counted too much on the affection he felt for Our Lord, instead of relying on the strength of divine grace. I am quite sure that if he had said to Our Lord: 'Master, give me the courage to follow Thee even unto death,' he would have obtained the grace.

I wonder why Our Lord, knowing what would have happened, did not say to him: 'Ask Me for the grace to accomplish what you desire'? I think it was in order to teach us two lessons: firstly, that His visible presence did not teach the Apostles more than we can learn from the inspirations of grace; secondly, that having chosen St Peter to govern the Church, whose members would include so many sinners, he wished him to learn by experience what man is without the help of God. That is why Our Lord said to him before his fall: 'Thou being once converted, confirm thy brethren (Luke 22;32) i.e. tell them the story of your fall, and show them by you own experience how necessary it is for salvation to rely solely upon God. (St Therese, Conseils et Souvenirs).

Text inspirations from 'Through the Year with St Therese' and 'Just for Today - daily readings from St Therese and Imitations of Christ'

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Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart

  O Jesus, how little known is the mercuful love of Your Heart!

(St Therese)

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Corpus Christi with Carmelite Saints

Carl Emil Doepler, Corpus Christi Procession

Lord, you have given your people the food of angels, from heaven untiringly sending them bread already prepared, containing every delight, satisfying every taste. (Wisdom 16:20)

This is what I received from the Lord, and in turn passed on to you: that on the same night that he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread, and thanked God for it and broke it, and he said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this as a memorial of me.’ In the same way he took the cup after supper, and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me.’ (1 Cor 11:23-25)

Bl Titus Brandsma:

In speaking of Carmelites' tender devotion to the Sacrament of the Altar...They have always seen a symbol of the sacred host in the wonderful food which the angels pointed out to Elijah and which strengthened the prophet in finding the way that he was able to cross the desert. The Eucharist is the power which permits them to arrive at contemplation...St Peter Thomas who died in 1365 was prior general at the time of the Avignon popes....He was not hindered by the many occupations of his busy life from spending several hours each night before the Blessed Sacrament, oftentimes he was found lost in adoration...Blessed John Soreth...a great reformer of the Carmelites in fifteenth century, his life imperiled, grasped the Blessed Sacrament from a burning church...Bl Bartholomew Fanti, who counted Bl Baptist Spignola among his disciples, taught his novices that it was not possible to be a good Carmelite without special devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. What determined St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi to enter the Carmel of Florence was the practice of daily Communion observed in this convent - a thing rare for the times. The Carmelites are rightly numbered among the mendicant orders, for their constitutions demand the greatest simplicity in their monasteries. BUT for their churches and the cult of the Eucharist, grandeur was always permitted. (from the teaching on the Blessed Sacrament given during retreat) 

St Mary Magdalen de Pazzi:

1. When you are to receive Communion, think that you are about to perform the greatest and most worthy action that can be done, which is to receive the Lord God within yourself.

2.Guard against going to Communion through habit or by chance, but go with actual devotion.

3 If you realize that as long as the sacramental species continue, you have within yourself the entire Most Holy Trinity, you would not go to Communion only occasionally; you would also think about it before you left off Communion, in order not to be deprived of so great a good.

4. Take care lest, on account of your little desire and disposition, you may be the cause of closing that little window of heaven.

5. One cannot find a more effective means of perfecting a soul than to approach this divine table; and if you knew how to use this well, in a short time you would become filled with the love of God, for only one Communion is enough to make a soul holy.

6. Never of your own will deprive yourself of Communion, because you do not know if that Communion might be the very time when God has determined to give you some grace and particular gift. (Teaching on the Most Holy Communion in Complete Works of St Mary Magdalen de Pazzi)  

St Teresa of Avila:

Receiving Communion is not like picturing with the imagination. as when we reflect upon the Lord on the cross or in other episodes of the Passion, when we picture within ourselves how things happened to him in the past. In Communion, the event is happening now, and it is entirely true. Since we know that Jesus is with us as long as the natural heat doesn't consume the accidents of bread, we should approach him. Now, then, if when he went about in the world the mere touch of his robes cured the sick, why doubt, if we have faith, that miracles will be worked while He is within us and that he will give what we ask of him since he is in our house? His Majesty is not accustomed to paying poorly for his lodging if the hospitality is good. (The Way of Perfection)

Augustin-Marie of the Blessed Sacrament, OCD (Hermann Cohen):

My well-Beloved when all are asleep

And seem to forget your love

Do permit me to watch

Alone with you in this abode

(Canticle from his music collection 'Love of Jesus Christ')

Blessed Mary of Jesus Cricified:

...To fly to my Beloved

Hail, hail, blessed tree;

Thou bearest the fruit of life

Under Thy shade, I wish to sigh;

At thy feet, I wish to die.

(Mariam, the Little Arab)

St Therese of Child Jesus:

Living Bread, Bread of Heaven, Divine Eucharist,

O touching mystery produced by Love,

Come dwell within my heart, Jesus, my white Host...

Deign to unite me unto Thee, O holy and sacred Vine, 

That my feeble branch may yield its fruit to Thee;

And I will offer Thee a gilded cluster...

This cluster of love of which the grapes are souls.

(Poems)

Bl Elizabeth of the Trinity:

Every Sunday, we have the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the oratory. When I open the door and contemplate the divine prisoner who has made ma a prisoner in this dear Carmel, it seems to me rather like the gate of heaven opening! Then I present to Jesus all those who are in my heart, and there, close to him, I find them again. (Light, Love, Life)

St Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein):

Communion delivers us from evil, because it cleanses us of sin and gives us peace of heart that takes away things of all other 'evils'. It brings us the forgiveness of past sins and strengthens us in the face of temptations. It is itself the bread of life that we need daily to grow into eternal life. It makes our will into an instrument at God's disposal. Thereby, it lays the foundation for the kingdom of God in us and gives us clean lips and a pure heart to glorify God's holy name. participation in the sacrifice  and in the sacrificial meal actually transforms the soul into a living stone in the city of God - in fact, each individual soul - into a temple of God. (Essential Writings)

Servant of God, Pere Jacques de Jesus Bunel:

Our participation at Mass, our grace filled actions, our Communions must be religious acts stamped with prayer and love. Our material work of the day must be a work bathed in prayer. (Resplendent in Victory).

St Teresa of Jesus of the Andes:

Thank God, we have always had Mass and we've had the Blessed Sacrament. Since Eli, Gorda, and I are the sacristans, we've spent moments of heaven by our Lord's side. (Letters).

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Blessed Alphonsus Mary Mazurek, Priest, and companions, martyrs, optional memoria

He was born in 1891 at Baranowka near Lubartow, now Lublin Voivodeship, Poland. He entered the Order of DIscalced Carmelites in 1908, taking the religious name Alphonsus mary of the Holy Spirit. He was ordained a priest andappointed as a professor, while dedicating himself to the education of youth. Afterwards he served in his Order as prior and bursar. In 1944, after having been arrested by the troops that had invaded his country, he was shot dead on August 28 at Nawojowa Gora, near Krzeszowice. He was beatified by JohnPaul II on June 13 1999, together with many other Polish martyrs. The picture of the Blessed Alphonsus Mary can be found at the website of the Discalced Carmelite publishing house website link: https://wkb-krakow.pl/obrazki/871-obrazek-bl-alfons-maria-mazurek.html  

'Blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness: the kingdom of Heaven is theirs (Mt 5:10). In a particular way, this beatitude places the events of Good Friday before our eyes. Christ was condemned to death as a criminal, and then crucified. On Calvary it seemed he had been abandoned by God and left at the mercy of people's derision....he wanted the words of the sermon on the mount to be verified in himself: 'Blessed are you when people abuse and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you' (Mt 5:11-12).

To whom these words still apply? To many, many people throughout humanity's history, to whom it was given to suffer persecution for the sake of justice. We know that the first three centuries after Christ were marked by persecution, at times terrible, particularly under some Roman emperors, from Nero to Diocletian. Even though these ceased from the time of the Edict of Milan, nevertheless, they broke out again in various historical eras, in numerous places throughout the world. Even our century has written a great martyrology. I myself, over twenty years of my pontificate, have elevated to the glory of the altar numerous groups of martyrs: Japanese, french, Vietnamese, SPanish, Mexican. How many there were during the period of the Second World War and under the communist totalitarian system! They suffered and gave their life in the Hitlerian or Soviet extermination camps......I am happy that I was able to beatify, among others the one hundred and eight martyrs, Blessed Fr Alphonsus Mary Mazurek, a pupil, and much later, a well-deserving educator in the minor seminary connected to the Discalced Carmelite Monastery. I had an occassion of meeting personally with the witness to Christ, who in 1944, as prior of the Czerna monastery, sealed his faithfulness to God with death through martydrom. I kneel in veneration of his relics which rest in the church of St Joseph and I thanks God for the gift of the life, the martyrdom and sanctity of this great religious. Excerpts from the addresses of Pope John Paul II, June 1999.

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Most Holy Trinity Sunday

Luca Rossetti, Holy Trinity

How rich are the depths of God – how deep his wisdom and knowledge – and how impossible to penetrate his motives or understand his methods! Who could ever know the mind of the Lord? Who could ever be his counsellor? Who could ever give him anything or lend him anything? All that exists comes from him; all is by him and for him. To him be glory for ever! (Rom. 11:33-36)

"O my God whom I adore; help me to forget myself entirely That I may be established in you as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing trouble my peace or make me leave you, O my Unchanging One, but may each minute carry me further into depths of your mystery. Give peace to my soul; make it your heaven, your beloved dwelling and your resting place. May I never leave you there alone but be wholly present, my faith wholly vigilant, wholly adoring, and wholly surrendered to your creative Action. O my beloved Christ, crucified by love, I wish to be a bride for your Heart; I wish to cover you with glory; I wish to love you...even unto death! But I feel my weakness, and I ask you to 'clothe me with yourself', to identify my soul with all the movements of your Soul, to overwhelm me, to possess me, to substitute yourself for me that my life may be a radiance of your Life. Come into me as Adorer, as Restorer, as Saviour. O Eternal Word, Word of my God, I want to spend my life in listening to you, to become wholly teachable that I may learn all from you. Then, through all nights, all voids, all helplessness, I want to gaze on you always and remain in your great light. O my beloved Star, so fascinate me that I may not withdraw from your radiance. O consuming Fire, Spirit of Love, 'come upon me', and create in my soul a kind of incarnation f the Word; that I may be another humanity for him in which he can renew his whole Mystery, And you, O Father, bend lovingly over your poor little creature; 'cover her with your shadow', seeing in her only the 'Beloved' in whom you are well pleased'. O my Three, my All, me Beatitude, infinite Solitude, Immensity in which I lose myself to you as your prey. Bury yourself in me that I may bury myself in you until I depart to contemplate in your light the abyss of your greatness'" 
Bl Elizabeth of the Trinity, Prayer.

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