Thursday, December 11, 2014

J.M.J. The fourth century Pope, Saint Damasus I, today graces the pages of the General Roman Calendar. A snippet from The Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04613a.htm) tells some of the story of his unrelenting efforts on behalf of the preservation of the graves of the early martyrs.

"Damasus restored his own church (now San Lorenzo in Damaso) and provided for the proper housing of the archives of the Roman Church (see VATICAN ARCHIVES). He built in the basilica of St. Sebastian on the Appian Way the (yet visible) marble monument known as the 'Platonia' (Platona, marble pavement) in honor of the temporary transfer to that place (258) of the bodies of Sts. Peter and Paul, and decorated it with an important historical inscription (see Northcote and Brownlow, Roma Sotterranea). He also built on the Via Ardeatina, between the cemeteries of Callistus and Domitilla, a basilicula, or small church, the ruins of which were discovered in 1902 and 1903, and in which, according to the 'Liber Pontificalis ', the pope was buried with his mother and sister."

Mary, Queen of Martyrs, pray for us.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

J.M.J. Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Loreto. The first-half of the article from www.newadvent.org gives the traditional view of how the Holy Hour of Nazareth left Palestine and traveled to Loreto, Italy.

"Since the fifteenth century, and possibly even earlier, the 'Holy House' of Loreto has been numbered among the most famous shrines of Italy. Loreto is a small town a few miles south of Ancona and near the sea. Its most conspicuous building is the basilica. This dome-crowned edifice, which with its various annexes took more than a century to build and adorn under the direction of many famous artists, serves merely as the setting of a tiny cottage standing within the basilica itself. Though the rough walls of the little building have been raised in height and are cased externally in richly sculptured marble, the interior measures only thirty-one feet by thirteen. An altar stands at one end beneath a statue, blackened with age, of the Virgin Mother and her Divine Infant. As the inscription, Hic Verbum caro factum est, reminds us, this building is honored by Christians as the veritable cottage at Nazareth in which the Holy Family lived, and the Word became incarnate. Another inscription of the sixteenth century which decorates the eastern façade of the basilica sets forth at greater length the tradition which makes this shrine so famous. ;Christian pilgrim', it says, 'you have before your eyes the Holy House of Loreto, venerable throughout the world on account of the Divine mysteries accomplished in it and the glorious miracles herein wrought. It is here that most holy Mary, Mother of God, was born; here that she was saluted by the Angel, here that the eternal Word of God was made Flesh. Angels conveyed this House from Palestine to the town Tersato in Illyria in the year of salvation 1291 in the pontificate of Nicholas IV. Three years later, in the beginning of the pontificate of Boniface VIII, it was carried again by the ministry of angels and placed in a wood near this hill, in the vicinity of Recanati, in the March of Ancona; where having changed its station thrice in the course of a year, at length, by the will of God, it took up its permanent position on this spot three hundred years ago [now, of course, more than 600]. Ever since that time, both the extraordinary nature of the event having called forth the admiring wonder of the neighboring people and the fame of the miracles wrought in this sanctuary having spread far and wide, this Holy House, whose walls do not rest on any foundation and yet remain solid and uninjured after so many centuries, has been held in reverence by all nations.' That the traditions thus boldly proclaimed to the world have been fully sanctioned by the Holy See cannot for a moment remain in doubt. More than forty-seven popes have in various ways rendered honor to the shrine, and an immense number of Bulls and Briefs proclaim without qualification the identity of the Santa Casa di Loreto with the Holy House of Nazareth. As lately as 1894 Leo XIII, in a Brief conceding various spiritual favors for the sixth centenary of the translation of the Santa Casa to Loreto, summed up its history in these words: 'The happy House of Nazareth is justly regarded and honored as one of the most sacred monuments of the Christian Faith; and this is made clear by the many diplomas and acts, gifts and privileges accorded by Our predecessors. No sooner was it, as the annals of the Church bear witness, miraculously translated to Italy and exposed to the veneration of the faithful on the hills of Loreto than it drew to itself the fervent devotion and pious aspiration of all, and as the ages rolled on, it maintained this devotion ever ardent.' If, then, we would sum up the arguments which sustain the popular belief in this miraculous transference of the Holy House from Palestine to Italy by the hands of angels, we may enumerate the following points: (1) The reiterated approval of the tradition by many different popes from Julius II in 1511 down to the present day. This approval was emphasized liturgically by an insertion in the Roman Martyrologium in 1669 and the concession of a proper Office and Mass in 1699, and it has been ratified by the deep veneration paid to the shrine by such holy men as St. Charles Borromeo, St. Francis de Sales, St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Alphonsus Liguori, and many other servants of God. (2) Loreto has been for centuries the scene of numerous miraculous cures. Even the skeptical Montaigne in 1582 professed himself a believer in the reality of these (Waters, 'Journal of Montaigne's Travels', II, 197-207). (3) The stone on which the original walls of the Santa Casa are built and the mortar used in their construction are not such as are known in the neighborhood of Loreto. But both stone and mortar are, it is alleged, chemically identical with the materials most commonly found in Nazareth. (4) The Santa Casa does not rest and has never rested upon foundations sunk into the earth where it now stands. The point was formally investigated in 1751 under Benedict XIV. What was then found is therefore fully in accord with the tradition of a building transferred bodily from some more primitive site."

Our Lady of Loreto, pray for us.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

J.M.J. Today is the Memorial of Saint Juan Diego (1474-1548). He saw the Ever-Virgin, sinless Mother of God when she visited Tepeyac Hill in 1531. Thus, Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Juan Diego are inextricably linked.

Here is a beautiful, brief biography of our Saint, who was canonized by Pope John Paul II (1978-2005) on July 31, 2002 in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, provided by the Website of the Holy See (www.vatican.va).

"St Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548). Little is known about the life of Juan Diego before his conversion, but tradition and archaelogical and iconographical sources, along with the most important and oldest indigenous document on the event of Guadalupe, 'El Nican Mopohua' (written in Náhuatl with Latin characters, 1556, by the Indigenous writer Antonio Valeriano), give some information on the life of the saint and the apparitions.

"Juan Diego was born in 1474 with the name 'Cuauhtlatoatzin' ('the talking eagle') in Cuautlitlán, today part of Mexico City, Mexico. He was a gifted member of the Chichimeca people, one of the more culturally advanced groups living in the Anáhuac Valley.

"When he was 50 years old he was baptized by a Franciscan priest, Fr Peter da Gand, one of the first Franciscan missionaries. On 9 December 1531, when Juan Diego was on his way to morning Mass, the Blessed Mother appeared to him on Tepeyac Hill, the outskirts of what is now Mexico City. She asked him to go to the Bishop and to request in her name that a shrine be built at Tepeyac, where she promised to pour out her grace upon those who invoked her. The Bishop, who did not believe Juan Diego, asked for a sign to prove that the apparition was true. On 12 December, Juan Diego returned to Tepeyac. Here, the Blessed Mother told him to climb the hill and to pick the flowers that he would find in bloom. He obeyed, and although it was winter time, he found roses flowering. He gathered the flowers and took them to Our Lady who carefully placed them in his mantle and told him to take them to the Bishop as 'proof'. When he opened his mantle, the flowers fell on the ground and there remained impressed, in place of the flowers, an image of the Blessed Mother, the apparition at Tepeyac.

"With the Bishop's permission, Juan Diego lived the rest of his life as a hermit in a small hut near the chapel where the miraculous image was placed for veneration. Here he cared for the church and the first pilgrims who came to pray to the Mother of Jesus.

"Much deeper than the 'exterior grace' of having been 'chosen' as Our Lady's 'messenger', Juan Diego received the grace of interior enlightenment and from that moment, he began a life dedicated to prayer and the practice of virtue and boundless love of God and neighbor. He died in 1548 and was buried in the first chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe. He was beatified on 6 May 1990 by Pope John Paul II in the Basilica of Santa Maria di Guadalupe, Mexico City.

"The miraculous image, which is preserved in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, shows a woman with native features and dress. She is supported by an angel whose wings are reminiscent of one of the major gods of the traditional religion of that area. The moon is beneath her feet and her blue mantle is covered with gold stars. The black girdle about her waist signifies that she is pregnant. Thus, the image graphically depicts the fact that Christ is to be 'born' again among the peoples of the New World, and is a message as relevant to the 'New World' today as it was during the lifetime of Juan Diego."

Monday, December 8, 2014

J.M.J. Happy Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception, which is the Patronal Feast of the United States of America.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, which is available at www.newadvent.org, states the meaning of this Dogma clearly and succinctly:

"In the Constitution Ineffabilis Deus of 8 December, 1854, Pius IX pronounced and defined that the Blessed Virgin Mary 'in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin.'"

V. O Mary, conceived without Original Sin,

R. Pray for us who have recourse to Thee.

If you need a Miraculous Medal, then please contact me.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

J.M.J. The person of Saint John the Baptist comes into view today on this Second Sunday of Advent during the Holy Gospel proclaimed in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Mass.

The word "identity" is related to the Precursor of Our Lord for the Baptist knew well who he was before God and what his mission was from Him.

May Our Lady help us to grasp and to embrace our identity before Her Divine Son as well as our God-given mission.

First Saturday, December 6, 2014

J.M.J. Our Lady's six appearances near Fatima, Portugal in 1917 powerfully remind us of the importance of prayer and penance. Both are vital for our spiritual lives.

On this First Saturday, we ask the Ever-Virgin Mary to instill within us a love of prayer and self-denial.

And on this Memorial of Saint Nicholas, we pray for increased generosity, especially towards the poor and the suffering.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11063b.htm

Here is a recently published pamphlet that I authored on a most important topic.

"Our Lady, Catholics and Contraception"

Today, it has often been said that most Cath­olics have already made up their minds about contraception. Either one believes, as the Catho­lic Church does, that contraception is intrinsically evil and, therefore, must not be practiced or one believes that contraception is permissible, given, among other reasons, the diverse economic, polit­ical and societal pressures that currently exist.

To be clear, contraception is a refusal to be open to life by means of pills, devices or other willful acts that seek to prevent the egg and the sperm from uniting. (Certain pills, injections and devices even work after conception by trying to stop the implan­tation of the newly-conceived human person. In these cases, we speak not about contraceptives but instead abortifacient[“abortion-inducing”] agents.)

Some hold that it is best to leave the decision to use contraception to Catholics themselves rather than to appeal to the Church’s long-stand­ing opposition to contraception. (In her nearly 2,000 years history, the Catholic Church has never voiced any support for contraception.)

Various voices have stated that the Catholic Church has lost the battle in persuading Catho­lics not to contracept. Others maintain that the vast majority of Catholics who use contracep­tion are not aware of its sinfulness and, hence, cannot be considered to be guilty of sin. Subse­quently, these men and women should be “left alone.” Still others recommend that the mere subject of contraception not even be addressed so as not to embarrass anyone.

As a priest, I am conscious of my sacred responsibility to adhere to Catholic teaching, to proclaim it fully and to bring understanding to those who do not presently have it.

Explaining the Church’s Teaching

For decades, the Church’s Magisterium (the “Teaching Authority” of the Pope and the Bishops in union with him) as well as incredi­bly brilliant philosophers, theologians and spir­itual authors have convincingly made the case that the very nature of the mari­tal act demands openness to the possible transmission of human life. If that openness is knowingly and willingly rejected, then mor­tal sin results, and one forfeits the privilege of receiving Holy Communion. Thus, God is deeply offended, and the soul of the indi­vidual is greatly harmed. One has placed himself in the perilous position of not being able to enter Heaven unless he repents.

What more can we do to encourage our Catholic brothers and sisters to look again at the matter of contraception?

The mystery of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary body and soul into Heaven illumines the discussion about contraception in at least two ways: 1. it presents how our Creator considers the beauty of the human body that He Himself created; 2. it provides an incentive to live virtu­ous lives here on earth, regardless of temptation, that will be transformed into the life of glory in Paradise.

Our Lady’s Assumption and the Beauty of Our Bodies

When we begin to reflect on the dogma of the Assumption, we justly fixate on its first and most basic meaning, that the Ever-Virgin Mary, upon the end of her life here on earth, was assumed body and soul by God into Heaven.

One conclusion we draw from the Assump­tion is that the human body is filled with splen­dor and dignity because it was fashioned by God, Who created it not to be abused or for selfishness, but for the glory of Everlasting Life. Our bodies are not mere shells that “house” our souls for ten or twenty or forty or eighty years. Instead, our bodies are beautiful and have as their purpose to praise God in their movements and deeds on earth and one day to be with Him in Heaven. Imagine this: the Son of God, Who is the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, took the same flesh that you and I have. And Our Lady’s virginal body is the same as our bodies, too.

If our Creator welcomed Mary’s pure body into Paradise, then we rightly infer that her human body and, by extension, our bodies are important to Him.

We often think of our souls as being des­tined for Heaven. We perform multiple char­itable acts in the Holy Name of Jesus, knowing that the good we do on earth increasingly trans­forms our souls into the image of Christ. Then, one day our souls will be rewarded in Heaven.

But we seem to forget that Heaven is also the everlasting home for our bodies, which, like our souls, also must respond to God’s invitation to Everlasting Life. Thanks to the resurrection of the body on the last day, which we refer to when we sing or chant the Apostles’ Creed during the recitation of the Most Holy Rosary or the Nicene Creed during the Holy Mass, our bodies will rejoin our souls, this time for all eternity near the throne of the Living God.

What we do with our bodies now, whether good or bad, has future implications for us. Do our bodies glorify their Creator? Or are they caught up in a sorry web of self-gratification and egoism?

Human bodies that have been involved in unrepentant sensuality and in rebuking God’s call to procreate as the Lord intended are hardly fit for the same reward that Our Lady now enjoys.

Our Lady’s Assumption and Our Lives of Virtue

The goal of our earthly existence is Heaven. We humbly recognize that it is not always easy to do the right thing—and that we have not always done the right thing. We are convinced of our sinfulness. But more than that, we are con­vinced of God’s kindness. As Saint John wrote in his First Letter (4:16), “God is love.” Our Lord created us for Heaven, which is our only true and abiding home.

We will do what is necessary to enter Par­adise. In doing so, we may be judged as “odd” or “fanatics.” But who cares? We want what Our Lady possesses: complete and lasting happiness with the Most Blessed Trinity.

Mary’s Assumption is proof positive that a fully human person can be admitted to the Father’s Kingdom. She is there because of her love and dedication in fulfilling God’s Will.

Yes, we have many hard choices before us. And we may be tempted to think that God has abandoned us…He has forsaken us…He has not granted to us the strength to persevere. Per­haps we may even believe that it is impossible to do the moral thing.

Pope Francis has shared with us his tender devotion to Mary under the title, “Undoer of Knots.” Just when we think that all is lost, the Mother of God steps in to resolve a most com­plex problem.

What if Catholics who use contraception would invoke Our Lady for a “way out?” Now assumed into Heaven, she would craft some solution that is currently unforeseen.

Our Lady is so good. She is Our Blessed Mother. She desires our company in Paradise. Let us fly to her for help.

"Holy Mary, Undoer of Knots and assumed into Heaven, we pray for all Cath­olics who have used con­traception, are using it or are tempted to use it. Please immediately resolve this dif­ficulty for them. We have confidence in You, O Mary!"

Nihil Obstat: Christopher T. Burgwald, S.T.D.

Imprimatur: + Paul J. Swain, D.D. Bishop of Sioux Falls

The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

September 8, 2014

http://onemoresoul.com/featured/our-lady-catholics-and-contraception.html

First Friday, December 5, 2014

J.M.J. Advent is a short liturgical season. And its duration changes year-to-year. Yes, there are always four Sundays during Advent, but there may not be four Mondays . . . or Tuesdays . . . or Wednesdays. It depends on what day of the week Christmas Day lands.

Lent is different. There are always the forty days of Lent. Why? Because Easter is always on a Sunday.

The date of Christmas Day is influenced by the sun, that of Easter Sunday by the moon. 

Have a beautiful First Friday, close to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, pray for us.