Thursday, February 19, 2015

J.M.J. Reflecting on the Ash Wednesday Liturgy, Saint John Paul II wrote: "Never, perhaps, does God's word resound so directly for us. Never does He address each in this way, without exceptions. Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return."

For the Holy Father, these words had a double significance. They "speak of death, with which the life of every man and woman on earth ends," and they "call each of us back to 'the origin.' They were uttered to the first Adam as the fruit of sin."

Lent invites us to recall where we came from, and where we are going. As the Pope asserted, Lent is "not only remembrance, but it is also a continual challenge."

With one eye keenly on the past--not in a nostalgic way, but in order to learn its lessons--and the other squarely on the future, we will find ourselves rooted in the reality of our origins and securely rising to our glorious destiny.

Saint Gregory Nazianzen once penned: "Recognize to whom you owe the fact that you exist, that you breathe, that you understand, that you are wise, and, above all, that you know God and hope for the Kingdom of Heaven and the vision of glory, now darkly as in a mirror but then with greater fullness and purity. You have been made a son of God, co-heir with Christ."

We come from God and are going to Him. Nothing could be simpler. Because He made us, the Creator of the universe has a claim on our destiny.

Prayer, penance and almsgiving form a kind of admission: We recognize that our bodies are of dust, but that our souls have been infused by "the Lord and Giver of Life." Lent reminds us that our lives are not our own. We have been given Life so that one day we may enjoy the Life--Jesus Christ--and live with Him forever in Paradise.

Six weeks seems too short for entering into this glorious truth. We must make the most of Lent. With the Church, we need to pray, fast and give alms, acknowledging our origins and end, aware that we will receive untold blessings and riches. "Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed," the Sacred Liturgy of Easter proclaims. We now realize where we have come from and where our Savior leads us.

(Slightly adapted from an article that appeared in the National Catholic Register on February 18, 1996, page four. Used with permission.)

Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2015

J.M.J. "These forty days of Lent, O Lord, with You we fast and pray, Teach us to discipline our wills, and close by You to stay."

These words of a famous Lenten hymn speak volumes as we commence this six weeks-long liturgical season dedicated to prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

How the Crucified and Risen Lord Jesus wants to change us! He really desires that more than ever before, this Lent will witness our profound transformation from sin to virtue.

The path to Easter Sunday's empty tomb first passes through Calvary. There is no getting around the stark reality: if we are to rise with Christ, then we must die with Him. Our anger, pride, lust, greed, envy, gluttony and sloth must be nailed to the Savior's Cross before we will be fully liberated from Satan's snares.

Although penned before the first coming of Jesus, the Old Testament Prophet Ezekiel wrote in accord with the future message of Mary's Son: "Turn and be converted from all your crimes, that they may be no cause of guilt for you. Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, says the Lord God. Return and live!"

Jesus shed His Precious Blood for us on Calvary. His Sacrifice was accepted by the Father through the Holy Spirit.

But in order for the selfless Offering of Christ to find its fullest effect in my life, I must open myself to the amazing grace of God and cooperate with all that the Lord wants to do with and in me. Again, I must die to myself so I can rise with Jesus.

God's plans for me and my life are astounding. But He does not compel me to yield to what He wishes. He invites my affirmative reply, knowing what is best for me.

The Lenten activities of prayer, penance and works of charity are meant to help me adore my Creator, imitate the suffering Jesus and develop my attitude of prompt surrender to all that the merciful God requires of me.

Forty days may not seem to be much time for a genuine conversion. But it is! Those who heed the gentle voice of the Good Shepherd summoning them to friendship with Himself will be radically altered, thereby showing forth His likeness to a greater degree. This is our ambition during Lent.

May Christ find our hearts to be His contented and welcoming home and our efforts to pray, fast and give alms in harmony with His designs for our happiness in this world and in the next.   

Stabat Mater, ora pro nobis.         

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

J.M.J. Today is the Memorial of the Seven Founders of the Order of Servites of Mary. Here is what, in part, The Catholic Encyclopedia offers to us (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/).

"This order was founded on the feast of the Assumption, 1233 when the Blessed Virgin appeared to seven noble Florentines, who had repaired to the church to follow the exercises of the Confraternity of the Laudesi, and bade them leave the world and live for God alone. On the following feast of her Nativity, 8 September, they retired to La Camarzia, just outside the walls of the city, and later on to Monte Senario, eleven miles from Florence. Here again they had a vision of the Blessed Virgin. In her hands she held a black habit; a multitude of angels surrounded her, some bearing the different instruments of the Passion, one holding the Rule of St. Augustine, whilst another offered with one hand a scroll, on which appeared the title of Servants of Mary surrounded by golden rays, and with the other a palm branch. She addressed to them the following words: "I have chosen you to be my first Servants, and under this name you are to till my Son's Vineyard. Here, too, is the habit which you are to wear; its dark color will recall the pangs which I suffered on the day when I stood by the Cross of my only Son. Take also the Rule of St. Augustine, and may you, bearing the title of my Servants, obtain the palm of everlasting life." Among the holy men of the order was St. Philip Benizi, who was born on the day the Blessed Virgin first appeared to the Seven Founders (15 August), and afterwards became the great propagator of the order. The order developed rapidly not only in Italy but also in France and Germany, where the holy founders themselves spread devotion to the Sorrows of Mary. Their glorious son St. Philip continued the work and thus merited the title of Eighth Founder of the Order. The distinctive spirit of the order is the sanctification of its members by meditation on the Passion of Jesus and the Sorrows of Mary, and spreading abroad this devotion."

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What an excellent article on Vocations to the Holy Priesthood of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:

http://www.catholicuniversebulletin.org/THEOLOGY13/theology1.php

Monday, February 16, 2015

J.M.J. Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890) wrote the following passage, which is entitled "Sharing Mary's Fortitude" and appeared in Magnificat. It was submitted by Missy.

"Mary's glories are not only for the sake of her Son, they are for our sakes also. Let us copy her faith, who received God's message by the angel without a doubt; her patience, who endured Saint Joseph's surprise without a word; her obedience, who went up to Bethlehem in the winter and bore our Lord in a stable; her meditative spirit, who pondered in her Heart what she saw and heard about Him; her fortitude, whose Heart the sword went through; her self-surrender, who gave Him up during his ministry and consented to His death . . . . 

"What shall bring you forward in the narrow way, if you live in the world, but the thought and patronage of Mary? What shall seal your senses, what shall tranquilize your heart, when sights and sounds of danger are around you, but Mary? What shall give you patience and endurance, when you are wearied out with the length of the conflict with evil, with the unceasing necessity of precautions, with the irksomeness of observing them, with the tediousness of their repetition, with the strain upon your mind, with your forlorn and cheerless condition, but a loving communion with her! She will comfort you in your discouragements, solace you in your fatigues, raise you after your falls, reward you for your successes. She will show you her Son, your God and your all. When your spirit within you is excited, or relaxed, or depressed, when it loses its balance, when it is restless and wayward, when it is sick of what it has, and hankers after what it has not, when your eye is solicited with evil and your mortal frame trembles under the shadow of the Tempter, what will bring you to yourselves, to peace and to health, but the cool breath of the Immaculate and the fragrance of the Rose of Sharon."

Sunday, February 15, 2015

J.M.J. "The Power of Faith" by Saint Josemaria Escriva' (1902-1975) appeared in Magnificat (2010). Many thanks to Missy for sharing it.

"We must, then, have faith and not be dispirited. We must not be stopped by any kind of human calculation. To overcome the obstacles we have to throw ourselves into the task so that the very effort we make will open up new paths.

"Personal holiness, giving oneself to God, is the one cure which overcomes any difficulty.

"Being holy means living exactly as our Father in Heaven wants us to live. You will say that it is difficult. It is. The ideal is a very high one. And yet it is also easy. It is within our reach. When a person becomes ill there may be no appropriate medicine. But in supernatural affairs, it is not like that. The medicine is always at hand. It is Jesus Christ, present, in the Holy Eucharist, and He also gives us His grace in the other Sacraments which He established.

"Let us say again, in word and in action: 'Lord, I trust in You; Your ordinary providence, Your help each day, is all I need.' We do not have to ask God to perform great miracles. Rather, we have to beg Him to increase our faith, to enlighten our intellect, and strengthen our will. Jesus always stays by our side and is always Himself."

Virgin most prudent, pray for us.

                                                          

Saturday, February 14, 2015

J.M.J. This discussion of the virtue of chastity from Father Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., in Divine Intimacy (#88, page 259), is a masterpiece. How fitting on this Saturday of Our Lady, the Memorial of Saints Cyril and Methodius and the Feast of Saint Valentine.

"Outside of marriage, absolute continence is demanded of everyone without distinction. Conjugal chastity limits marital pleasure to the end of marriage itself. Even as poverty frees us from slavery to earthly goods and regulates their use, so chastity frees us from the slavery of our senses and moderates their use. ( . . . .) Chastity of body, therefore, calls for chastity of heart. Jesus strongly insists on this interior purity."

Mother most chaste, pray for us.

Friday, February 13, 2015

J.M.J. On Sunday, September 13, 2009, Pope Benedict gave this reflection before reciting the Angelus with the Faithful who had gathered in the Courtyard of the Papal Residence in Castel Gandolfo: 

"The Virgin Mary, who believed in the word of the Lord, did not lose her faith in God when she saw her Son rejected, abused and crucified. Rather she remained beside Jesus, suffering and praying, until the end. And she saw the radiant dawn of His Resurrection. Let us learn from her to witness to our faith with a life of humble service, ready to pay personally the price of staying faithful to the Gospel of love and truth, certain that nothing we do will be lost."

Our Blessed Lady is the perennial "good example" from whom we draw much inspiration to go forward in faith even--and especially--when all seems hopeless.

O Sorrowful Mother, pray for us!