IMMACULATAE

Catholic Cuisine Blogspot - Amy Caroline’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 23:44:00 +0000

http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2009/09/year-of-priest-thanking-your-parish.html

Light and the strength of love - Veni Creator Spiritus

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sun, 31 May 2009 02:50:00 +0000

“Those who pray do not waste their time,
although a situation may seem to call only for action,
nor do they seek to change and correct God’s plan.
Rather they aim – following the example of Mary and the saints
– to draw from God the light and the strength of love
that defeats all the darkness and selfishness present in the world.”

-From “Deus caritas est” (God is Love), the first Encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI

A crusade of innocent prayer, in order to form a great barrier against the spread of evil and sin...

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:37:00 +0000

Our Lady ardently desires to gather youth of all ages under her immaculate mantle. She wants them to come together in the cenacle so that she may give them the strength to flee sin and to live the Gospel of Jesus. In her message, "Only in the Hearts of Little Ones," given on February 2, 1990, she especially asks for "children's cenacles."

Our Lady says:

"Now that you are entering into the last decade of this century, during which the decisive events that will bring you to the triumph of my Immaculate Heart will be completed, I am asking you that cenacles among priests, cenacles among the faithful and especially family cenacles be multiplied even more. I am asking in particular that there be formed everywhere children's cenacles, as a crusade of innocent prayer, in order to form a great barrier against the spread of evil and sin, and allow God and your heavenly Mother to bring about the victory of goodness and of love." (419g, Feb. 8, 1990)

2 Feb.1990 - 27 Dec.1990
http://www.mmp-usa.net/cenacle_child.html

see also+++ historical context
http://www.usatoday.com/news/index/iraq/nirq050.htm

1991 Gulf War chronology
Day 1: Wednesday, Jan. 16
Desert Storm begins at 7 p.m. EST (3 a.m. Jan. 17 in Iraq) with massive air and missile attacks on targets in Iraq, Kuwait.

Consecration to the Holy Trinity- Mother Marie Adele Garnier - foundress Tyburn Nuns

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:42:00 +0000

I adore you, Holy Trinity,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
I empty myself before your majesty.
I believe in you, I hope in you, I love you,
my God so good
I thank you for all the graces
which you have lavished on me
and I implore from your mercy
pardon for my sins and my ingratitude.
Adorable Trinity,
one only God in three persons,
anew I give myself wholly to you
through the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In union with the intentions
for which the divine Victim offers himself
in sacrifice on the altar,
I renew the offering of myself to you
as a victim of adoration, love and praise,
thanksgiving, atonement and entreaty,
for the Holy Father, the Church
and for the worldwide fulfilment
of the plans of the Heart of Jesus,
so full of love and mercy.

I make a special offering to you,
through the hearts of Jesus and Mary,
of the prayer, work and suffering
of this day,for these intentions
( particularly for ...)
Upheld by your grace, my God,
I will try to glorify you in all things
and I abandon myself with all my heart
to your Holy Will.
AMEN.

+++

my own prayer:

Eternal Father , of majesty unbounded, please grant me ears and heart open to loving obedience through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary in union with the Sacred and Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, your Beloved Son in whom I live, and move and have my being. Come, O Holy Spirit, enkindle the flame of Divine Love in my poor heart. Find a welcome resting place in me,in Mary. Mane Nobiscum Domine! Be pleased, Father, in what your hand has wrought. Be it done as you have willed from the moment of your forming me in my mother's womb.None can oppose your loving will. Yes, Father, to all that you desire. Your will is love and peace. From moment to moment, lead me, strengthen me, help me! I am poor in love and fidelity and have none to help me but you. For nothing is good apart from You . Your will is love and mercy. Amen. So be it to the praise of your glory forever. Deo Gratias. For all you have done, for all you are doing now, and for all that you will do in your merciful love and providence.
Amen.

Prayer of Petition through the intercession of John Paul the Great

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 18:49:00 +0000

The Argument of Holiness - Archbishop Fulton Sheen

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:32:00 +0000

In other parts of the world,
our brothers in Christ are suffering
for their faith.
And here we are at ease,
just undergoing a slight test
and dividing our loyalty
between Christ and the world.
We must realize in minds and hearts
that this is a new age,
that we will have to be a creative minority,
and that the only argument that is left
to convince others is holiness.
The world has heard every other argument,
and it is ready to reject them all,
all except one: holiness

+++
From: Through the Year with Fulton Sheen
p. 32 available from Ignatious Press

Does the Crucifix mean anything to us? p.32 Through the Year with Fulton Sheen

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:44:00 +0000

Does the Crucifix mean anything to us?
The silver crucifix that I wear, I wear in reparation.
I was in a Jewish jewelry store one day in New York,
where I had known the jeweler for twenty or twenty-five years.
He said to me, "I have some silver crucifixes for you."
And he gave me a bag of silver crucifixes,
over a hundred of them.
I said,"Where did you get them?"
"Oh," he said, "from sisters; They brought them in.
They told me, 'We're not going to wear the crucifix anymore;
it divides us from the world.
How much will you give us for the silver?'"
The jeweler said, "I weighed them out thirty pieces of silver."
Then he said, "What's wrong with your church?
I thought that meant something to you."
So I told him what was wrong.
Three months later I received him into the church.
-- Archbishop Fulton Sheen
Through the Year with Fulton Sheen p.32
available from Ignatius Press

Fr. John A. Hardon,S.J. - The strategy of the devil in demonic temptations

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:07:00 +0000

The Strategy of the Devil in Demonic Temptations
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
It was divinely providential that Christ allowed Himself to be tempted by the devil at the beginning of His public ministry. He is teaching us one of the most important lessons we need to learn in life. If He, the living God in human form, was tempted by the evil spirit, then we must expect to be tempted as well. In order to imitate Christ, we must resist the devil as Christ, Himself, resisted the devil.
As St. John tells us, we are tempted from three sources: by the world, the flesh, and the devil The world is the attractive sinful conduct of other people. The flesh is our concupiscence, the natural inclination that we now have after the fall of the human race, to follow what appeals to us even though it is displeasing to God. The devil is, in some ways, the most powerful enemy we have in the spiritual life.
If there is one thing we learn from the masters of the spiritual life it is to expect to be tempted by the evil spirit. It was the evil spirit who tempted Eve and brought on the fall of the human race. As we reflect on temptations by the devil in our own lives, we must keep in mind who the devil is. He is the evil spirit. Spirit because he is not sensibly perceptible. We cannot hear him with our bodily ears or see him with our bodily eyes. He is an evil spirit whose number is legion and who has been phenomenally successful in seducing untold numbers from their allegiance to God.
St. Ignatius has a key meditation in the Spiritual Exercises on what he calls the Two Standards. The Two Standards correspond to the two leaders in the world who are drawing people to follow them. One leader is Jesus Christ, who inspires believing Christians to dedicate themselves to the extension of His kingdom throughout the world. The other leader is Satan, who is trying to seduce people to follow him for the extension of his demonic kingdom, which, in the words of St Augustine, is the City of Man, which is in constant conflict with the kingdom of Christ. The devil knows that you get nowhere alone, you inspire others to follow you. Then you train your followers and disciples and they will carry on your work. The devil trains his followers to seduce not just people or cities, but whole nations.
The Character of the Devil
If we wish to resist the temptations of the evil spirit, we must know something about their demonic character. He is a liar by nature. He lied to Eve in the Garden of Eden, telling her that God forbade her and Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit because God was afraid that they, Adam and Eve, would come to know what God knows, the meaning of good and evil.
The devil lied to Judas who betrayed his Master because the devil made Judas think that he could remain a follower of Christ while remaining a friend of Christ’s enemies. The Church teaches that what Judas wanted was money. The saints said that this is why Judas committed suicide. He was deceived. He had gotten his money, but his betrayal and his gain of money brought on the passion of his master, Jesus Christ.
The devil deceived Pilate into condemning Christ to death, even though Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent. Over the centuries this had been the basic tactic of the evil spirit, deceit. Pilate feared losing the friendship of Caesar. Yet, after condemning Jesus, Pilate soon lost his position and died a humiliating cowardly death.
We are talking about who the devil is. The devil became who he is because he envied the majesty of God. Ever since his own fall because of envy, this has been the fundamental means that the devil uses to seduce people from their loyalty to God. It was the devil who inspired Cain to murder his brother Abel out of envy. It was the devil who inspired Saul to want to murder David out of envy. It was the devil who inspired the Scribes and Pharisees to condemn Christ to an ignominious death. Why? Because they envied Christ’s popularity among the people. Thousands followed Jesus, spending whole days without eating in order to listen to Jesus. And so the Scribes and Pharisees tried the most atrocious way of getting people to listen to them. It was the devil, that the Apostle tells us, who seduced Judas to betray his Master out of envy.
Christ tells us, “The devil is a murderer from the beginning.” Unless our first parents had been seduced by the devil, bodily death would never have entered the human race. But the devil is a murderer in the deepest sense. His ambition is to murder human souls. Remember there is a first death, the death of the human body. There is a second death, the death of the soul. The devil’s ambition is to murder human souls by destroying God’s grace in their spiritual lives. Being in hell himself, the devil wants nothing more than to bring human beings to join him in his own eternal damnation.
The devil is not one person. The devil is an organized battalion of malice. Some of the Fathers of the Church speak of two mystical bodies in the world. There is a mystical body of Christ, which is the Church He founded that we call the Church Militant. There is also a mystical body of satan, founded by lucifer, which is literally hell-bent on conquering the mystical body of Christ. This is the main reason why the Church on earth is called the Church Militant. It is most important to recognize the organized character of the legions of the evil spirit. Let us be sure that we recognize the Church Militant as more than just an adjective. As the saints tell us, the followers of Christ have one powerful weapon in battling the devil. That weapon is the Cross. We shall conquer the evil spirit on one condition. That we love the Cross, venerate the Cross, use the Cross to defeat the devil and his followers.
One more description of the devil. The devil uses civil authority, call it the State to war against the followers of Christ. It is surely not coincidental that Pontius Pilate, the civil governor of Palestine, condemned Jesus to a shameful death on the Cross. Over the centuries, the enemies of Christ have used the power of the State to undermine the moral teachings of the Savior. The legalized murder, under State authority, in most of the countries of the world, is surely the work of the devil. He uses State power. As I heard from a man just recently, “I have spent the last four years of my life in prison for praying the rosary before abortuaries.” As I said before, the State is the organized battalion which is being used by the devil to destroy the mystical body of Christ.
Tactics of the Devil
To live the spiritual life according to the teachings of our lord, we must brace ourselves to expect opposition from the evil spirit. This opposition ranges across the whole spectrum of human nature. The devil is a professional accommodator. He adjusts himself to different people in different ways. I cannot recommend a more informative source of knowledge about the devil’s tactics than the two sets of rules for discernment of spirits of St. Ignatius of Loyola. They are the fruit of Ignatius’ own lifetime struggle with evil spirits, in his own personal life and the lives of his followers in the Society of Jesus.
The single most important thing to know about demonic strategy is how differently the devil tempts what I may call, good and bad people.
Good people would be those who are sincerely trying to do God’s will. They are weak and they fail. They make mistakes and they do, at times, offend God. But their underlying philosophy of life is to be faithful to Jesus Christ.
Bad people, on the other hand, are those who are living in sin. They may profess to be Christian believers or they may be in positions of great importance and influence in the church and society. But their philosophy is basically to follow their inclinations, no matter how sinful these may be, in a word, they are living in sin.
What is the technology of the devil who is tempting these two classes of people? For those who are seriously trying to remain faithful to God, the devil is unbelievably clever in trying to induce them to worry, to be anxious, to be discouraged and despondent, and if possible, even to drive them to despair. The devil’s intentions are obvious. He knows such people too well not to know that he would not succeed by tempting them to obvious sins. What he wants to do, however, is to deceive such persons into thinking that a faithful Christian life is burdensome or boring or oppressively difficult. The devil wants to deceive such persons into thinking that such a Christian life is oppressive, it is too much.
How does the devil act in tempting people who are already steeped in sin? His policy is to do the very opposite of how he acts with those who are trying to remain faithful to God. If these sinners have a little faith to begin with, he will deceive them into thinking there really is no such thing as sin. As so many modern psychologists and psychiatrists tell their clients and these are the exact words of a professional psychiatrist published in a book, “Don’t be a slave of your conscience. Satisfy your desires. You are in charge of your own life. You determine what is good and you choose what you want.” If these sinners still have some faith in God, the devil will tell them not to worry. God is merciful. In all these cases, the demonic strategy is clear. Keep sinners in their sinful state of mind, and keep them from ever repenting of their sinful state of soul.
There is one more device of the father of lies that is so important, it is an underlying theme of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical The Splendor of the Truth. This is more than a device or even just a tactic. It is a fundamental premise of demonic strategy. As the Holy father explains, millions of people in the modern world have been deceived into disclaiming that there is such a thing as an inherently or intrinsically evil action. Nothing that a man does is ever evil by itself. It is only the circumstances, or the motives or the situation in which people do things which determine the morality of their conduct. Once people accept this principle, there is nothing which two thousand years of Christianity have taught, are still sins. Why not? Because there are now so many, how well I know, professedly Christian moralists in professedly Catholic universities and seminaries, who teach that abortion, or contraception, or euthanasia, or adultery are not sinful.
Clearly only the devil could have invented such malevolent theories. Yet they have penetrated academic circles that are shaking some parts of the Christian world to its foundation.
The Devil as Seducer
We should say something more about the tactics of the devil, here as seducer of human minds and wills.
The evil spirit seduces the mind by making error appealing. What we now call advertising goes back to the earliest days of recorded history. The ancient Romans publicized what they wanted the people to get with resources they did not have. Today’s world in the most absolute sense of the word is the age of advertising. The average cost of advertising in America today is over one hundred and fifty billion dollars every year. Not incidentally this amount of money is enough to support more than one nation, especially in Africa and Asia.
The evil spirit capitalizes on this phenomenon and literally seduces millions. He makes them think they need what they want, just because they want it.
Take the tragic instability of family life in America. The annual average is now over one divorce for every two marriages. In the future, it will be even worse as the children of broken homes reach marriageable, and -we have to coin a word- divorceable, age. Yet always divorce and remarriage seem to be the easy way out. It looks like a quick solution to a deep problem. And the press, radio and television sustain the falsehood by telling married people of the benefits of divorce. The laws of our country abet the conspiracy by making it next to impossible to save a marriage if one of the partners wants to be released, as they say, from the tyranny of a husband or wife.
The evil spirit tries to seduce not only the human mind but also the human will. He entices our wills by releasing our passions. He wants to arouse the passions of the flesh and, what is less obvious, the passions of the soul. Why should he want to do this? What connection is there between passion and sin? The connection is that of cause and effect. Sin always leaves its mark on the sinner. It is like throwing a bottle of nitric acid into a person’s face and burning out his eyes. Every sin we commit weakens our powers of reason and intelligent perception. The more serious the sin and the more often committed, the greater is this induced darkening of man’s most precious possession, which makes him most like God, his ability to think. Sinners do not think, they emote, and then write learned volumes defending their irrationality.
How otherwise explain the crimes of a Stalin or a Hitler, who sent millions to their death in the cold deserts of Siberia and the gas chambers and hot ovens of Germany? How otherwise explain the mania of abortion?
No human beings, unless inspired by the devil, could be so cruel as to murder millions of innocent children. Only demonic hatred or lust for power and pleasure could explain what we are now witnessing in one once civilized country after another.
How to Deal with Demonic Temptations
The apostle St. Peter tells us how to cope with the evil spirit. Peter knew because already in his lifetime the devil had seduced many who had been followers of Christ. The quotation is a bit lengthy but is worth giving in full.
All of you practice humility towards one another. For God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in the time of visitation. Cast all your anxieties upon Him, because He cares for you. Be sober, be watchful! For your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking someone to devour. Resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same suffering befalls your brethren all over the world (I Peter 5:5-8).
What, then, is the first and indispensable condition for resisting the evil spirit? It is a deep, sincere humility of heart.
As St. Peter tells us, we are not to be afraid of the evil spirit. Why not? Because we have the grace of God, one of whose main purposes is to resist the machinations of the devil. At the same time we must be watchful. This means we must expect to be tempted by the father of lies. We must have a clear mind in order to distinguish inspirations from the good spirit and instigations of the evil spirit.
We must be sober, which is a strange word in our drink-preoccupied society. Sobriety, in the language of scripture, means temperance in the use of the creatures in our lives. God wants us to enjoy some of the things that He gives us. But, He also wants us to endure, and endure many creatures; He wants us to remove some creatures; and He wants us to sacrifice many things that are naturally pleasing. All of this is locked up in that strange word, be sober.
The devil knows us very well. He cannot read our secret thoughts but he can conclude to our inner spirit by our external behavior, and even, as exorcists tell me, the emotional expressions on our face. When St. Peter tells us not to be afraid of the evil spirit he means more than meets the eye. He means that we should not even show by our emotions that we are afraid of the devil. Our emotional expressions, in what we say, how we react, how we allow our feelings to manifest themselves in our bodies – all of these are dangerous in dealing with the devil. We must not only be at peace inside, but manifest a peaceful attitude in our external behavior. The devil is especially influential in mastering those who are afraid of him.
The courageous behavior of Christ in His temptation by the devil is a pattern of how we should deal with the evil spirit.
One strong recommendation, never engage the devil in conversation. I mean never. If you must tell the devil to depart; if you want the devil to go, tell him, but never engage him in what could even be interpreted as a friendly conversation. I have had enough experience of people foolish enough to engage in conversation with the devil who have suffered disastrous consequences as a result.
One more recommendation based on St. Peter’s injunction. Be strong in your faith. This is not a pious cliché. It means that we exercise our faith, courageously undertaking what we believe God wants us to do and not be afraid of the consequences. The faith we need is the faith of living martyrs in our day. We are to be witnesses of the power of Christ as a divine exorcist and never allow ourselves to doubt that God’s grace in our lives is more powerful than all the demons of hell.
Pray daily to St. Michael the Archangel. He was the first leader of those who led the fallen spirits into their eternal damnation. St. Michael is our chief commander in dealing with the strategy of the master of evil and the prince of this world. Christ assured us He has overcome the world, which means that we have received from Christ to do the same in our demonically plagued society at the close of the twentieth century.
Mary, Queen of martyrs, obtain for us from your Son the wisdom and the power of successfully resisting the machinations of the devil in our lives. Your divine Son told us He has overcome the world and the prince of this world by His life and death on the Cross. Obtain for us the light we need to recognize the instigation of the evil one and the strength to witness to our faith in Christ, the Conqueror of evil until we enter the company of the angels who won their battle against the spirits of evil at the beginning of time. Amen.
+++
Copyright © 1996 Inter Mirifica
www.therealpresence.org/archives/Angelology/Angelology_013.htm

therealpresence.org

Dedication of Christ the King in Sarasota, FL

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:52:00 +0000

“Ego vos semper custodiam - I will always protect you,”

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 20:32:00 +0000

Sat 18 April 2009 to me

(Our Lord’s words to St. Clare when Assisi was being attacked by the Saracens.)

St. Clare twice obtained by her prayers the miraculous deliverance of her convent as well as of Assisi from marauding bands of Saracens. +++

Soul in need of mercy,whoever and wherever you may be,know that all the riches of the Divine Mercy are, for you, contained and offered in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Go before the tabernacle,or seek out the monstrance displaying the Body of Christ,--a feast for your eyes--and there adore the mystery of the Divine Mercy.
Open yourself wide,become all capacity,so as to receive within yourself the mighty torrent of Mercy destined for you and, through you, for those whose sorrows and weaknesses you have chosen or have been given to bear.
Adore the Blood and Water that, even now,gush from the Sacred Sidewith a freshness and a purity that never grows old. Adore the Gift of the Holy Spirit and desire to receive Him anew today as the Soul of your soul,that is, the very Life of your life.
The Fountainhead of Divine Mercy is hidden in the Sacrament of the Altar."He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. And though the Lord give you the bread of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide Himself any more,but your eyes shall see your Teacher." (Isaiah 30:19-20)
Close to the Eucharistic Fountainhead,you will find Mary, the Mater Misericordiae.She never tires of communicating to souls the abundance of Divine Mercy.So close is she to the Source,that it is as if she and the Source were one:all that flows out of the Source passes through her,and it is within her power to direct the flow of Divine Mercy toward whomsoever she pleases. Her Son so trusts her maternal Heart that He has has entrusted all to her, allowing her freely to dispense His Mercy to souls.
Soul devoted to the Divine Mercy, adore Him Who is present as Mercy in the Sacrament of the Altar.Divine Mercy enters the world through the Most Holy Sacrament, for therein in is the Heart of Jesus, the wellspring of His Mercy,and His pierced Side, the mouth of Divine Mercy,the opening out of which Divine Mercy enters the universe and streams into souls to purify, sanctify, and glorify them.
Soul surfeited with miseries, if you would experience the Divine Mercy,draw near to the Eucharistic Presence of the Pierced One; remain in the light of His Eucharistic Face; hold yourself still and full of expectation before His Open Side. There, you will never be disappointed in your hope.For with Him is Mercy and copious redemption,and He will forgive you all your sins.Every tabernacle that shelters His adorable Body and Blood makes available to you, and to all,the Fountainhead of the inexhaustible Mercy of God.

+++

Go to my brethren and say to them . . .
By
Father Markon April 18, 2009

"Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, 'I have seen the Lord'; and she told them that He had said these things to her." (John 20:18
Women Apostles
I am thinking, on this feast of the Divine Mercy, of four women raised up by the Spirit of God in the course of the last century to deliver a message to the Church. Each one prophesied the mystery of the Divine Mercy in her own language, using her own vocabulary, images, and unique feminine sensibility.
Two were French: Thérèse and Yvonne-Aimée; one was Spanish: Josefa Menendez; and one was Polish: Maria Faustina Kowalska. Two were humble laysisters charged with the lowliest tasks in their convents, all the while receiving the secrets of Heaven: Josefa and Faustina. One, Thérèse, was a young Carmelite hidden away in her cloister, and dreaming of doing great deeds for France (like Jeanne d'Arc), for missionaries, and for the salvation of sinners. And one, Yvonne-Aimée, was a heroine of the French resistance during World War II, a spiritual mother to priests, a divinely-inspired risk-taker for love for her Jesus, and a bold and prudent renovator of religious life.

Our Lord to Sister Josefa Menendez (1890-1923)
"I am He Who forgives thee thy sins, Who wipes out thy offences, and Who sustains thy weakness! The greater is thy nothingness, the more My power upholds thee: I will enrich thee with My gifts, and if thou art faithful I will take sanctuary in thy heart and fly to it when sinners repudiate Me. I will rest in thee, and thou shalt have life in Me."
"If thou art an abyss of wretchedness, I am an abyss of sweetness and of mercy. My Heart is thy refuge, come there to seek all thou has need of; even such things aas I require at thy hands."
"Instead of looking at thy nullity, look at the power of My Heart that upholds thee and have no fear. I am thy strength and shall heal thy wounds."
"What canst thou fear from Me? Never question My love for thee, or the clemency of My Heart. Thy misery draws me to thee . . . without Me what art thou? Never forget that I am all the closer to thee, in proportion to thy lowliness."
"Never grieve overmuch at thy falls --cannot I make a saint of thee? I will seek thee out in thy nothingness to unite Myself to thee, only never refuse Me anything."
"The void and misery in thee are as magnets that attract My love to thee. Yield not to discouragement, for my Mercy is honoured in thy infirmity."

Saint Faustina Before the Blessed Sacrament
In her quest for Divine Mercy for herself, for poor sinners, for priests, for the dying, and for the whole world, Saint Faustina knew where to go. She was drawn to the tabernacle: the dwelling and fountainhead of Divine Mercy.
O Blessed Host, in whom is contained the infinite price of mercy which will compensate for all our debts, and especially those of poor sinners.
O Blessed Host, in whom is contained the fountain of living water which springs from infinite mercy for us, and especially for poor sinners.
O Blessed Host, in whom is contained the fire of purest love which blazes forth from the bosom of the Eternal Father, as from an abyss of infinite mercy for us, and especially for poor sinners.
O Blessed Host, in whom is contained the medicine for all our infirmities, flowing from infinite mercy, as from a fount, for us and especially for poor sinners.
O Blessed Host, in whom is contained the union between God and us through His infinite mercy for us, and especially for poor sinners.
O Blessed Host, in whom are contained all the sentiments of the most sweet Heart of Jesus toward us, and especially poor sinners.
Saint Faustina's Aspirations to the Most Blessed Sacrament
Surrendering to Mercy
Thérèse was inspired to make her Oblation to Merciful Love on Sunday, June 9, 1895:
"In the evening of this life, I shall appear before You with empty hands, for I do not ask You, Lord, to count my works. All our justice is stained in Your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in Your own Justice and to receive from Your Love the eternal possession of Yourself. I want no other Throne, no other Crown but You, my Beloved!
Time is nothing in Your eyes, and a single day is like a thousand years. You can, then, in one instant prepare me to appear before You.
In order to live in one single act of perfect Love, I OFFER MYSELF AS A VICTIM OF HOLOCAUST TO YOUR MERCIFUL LOVE, asking You to consume me incessantly, allowing the waves of infinite tenderness shut up within You to overflow into my soul, and that thus I may become a martyr of Your Love, O my God!
May this martyrdom, after having prepared me to appear before You, finally cause me to die and may my soul take its flight without any delay into the eternal embrace of Your Merciful Love."
To Josefa, Our Lord said, "Believe in My love and in My mercy." Faustina has taught the world to say, "Jesus, I trust in Thee." And Yvonne-Aimée's miraculous little invocation has changed the lives of thousands: "O Jesus, King of Love, I put my trust in Thy merciful goodness."

No Limitations to Trust in My Mercy
"I feel somehow that the time is at hand when Your Infinite Mercy will come to our aid." Yvonne-Aimée after a Gestapo search during World War II
"Do you know?" Jesus said to me, "that there are souls that don't dare to think of Me as their best Friend and don't realize that My Heart is always waiting to receive them . . . I am pure Love and I find my happiness in knowing them close to Me and giving them My Love in full measure. . . . They should approach Me with humility and respect, but I also want them to think of Me as their Father and feel at ease with Me. Affection and childlike trust are what they need to talk to God and it saddens Me to see them come to Me almost suspiciously, in fear and trembling, when all I want is their love."
"My Mercy is infinite," Jesus said; "all souls can reach My Divine Heart and rise to whatever heights they wish within that Heart. I make no distinction between the innocent and the guilty -- the more they love Me, the dearer they are to Me. No soul will ever find limitations to its trust in My Mercy, for I want that trust to go on growing for ever . . ." Mother Yvonne-Aimée's Diary -- 1922

katabasis to encompass brief or chronic stays in the underworld

O Jesus, King of Love, I put my trust in Thy merciful goodness.

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:50:00 +0000

"The limit imposed on evil is ultimately Divine Mercy." John Paul II

We have depicted Jesus as Child and as King in order to attract souls to Him more easilyand to give them confident trust and hope.We also wanted to recall that it is by His Divine Heart,full of mercy and of love for humanitythat we shall obtain peace in the world. (Mother Yvonne–Aimée)

Trust Him.

Trust Him with your past,

with your present,

and with your future.

And “from His fullness” you will receive — I promise it — even “grace upon grace” (Jn 1:16).

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Oh Jesus, King of kings, God of Goodness, God of Love, God of Mercy, I adore, I love, I thank, I glorify Your Most Holy Will emanating from Your Omnipotence, guided by Your Wisdom, accompanied by Your Goodness and Love.

Everywhere and in every time, be it either in joy or in pain, may Your Most Holy Will, Your Divine Love, be the star that I gaze at, the law that governs me, the air that I breathe, the heartbeat of my heart, the substance or, better, the Life of my life. To such an end, I unite all my prayers and actions to Yours, all my life to Yours, as well as to that of the Virgin Mother, of Saint Joseph and of all the Elect that have been, are now and shall ever be, with all good, past, present and future which is real and possible in Heaven and on earth.

I consecrate and give all myself, what I have, what I am, what pertains to me, what is dear to me, my life, my death, my eternity, all that You have created and will create by Your Supreme Volition, by Your Infinite Love. And I pray You, oh Infinite Wisdom, to inscribe me with indelible characters in Your adorable Heart as the ardent and zealous child of Your Divine Volition, of Your pure Love. I make this donation in the Power of the Father, in the Wisdom of the Son, in the Virtue of the Holy Spirit, in my name, and in the name of all creatures to obtain the advent and the expansion of the Kingdom of the Divine Will, of Your Divine Love upon the earth. For pity’s sake, oh my Lord, grant that from every lip and from every heart there may continually be raised, as from a sacred altar, the prayer that You, Yourself, as the first, addressed to the Father,

“YOUR KINGDOM COME! YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.”
AMEN.

this prayer discovered here: Luisa Piccarreta - Divine Will

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sources:halfthekingdom.org/wordpress/2008/03/06/consecration-to-jesus-christ-king-of-the-universe/

vultus.stblogs.org/2006/09/o_jesus_king_of_love_i_put_my.html

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Here is a prayer of Russian Elder Isidore of Gethsemane Hermitage.

Where does it hurt?Placing the hand on the forehead, say:Lord, Thou Who art crowned with thorns upon Thy head, to blood and marrow, for the sake of my sins;
Lowering the hand to the right foot, say:Jesus, Whose right foot was pierced with an iron nail for the sake of my sins;
Placing the hand on the left foot, say:Christ, Whose left foot was pierced with an iron nail for the sake of my sins;
Raising the hand to the right shoulder, say:Son, Whose right hand was pierced with an iron nail for the sake of my sins;
Transferring the hand to the left shoulder, say:Of God, Whose left hand pierced for the sake of my sins; and Whose side was punctured by a spear; from Whose side flowed blood and water for the redemption and salvation of our souls;

Through the Mother of God, grant me understanding.

Turning one’s face towards the icon of the Mother of God, say:

And through Thee Thyself, through Thy soul the weapon pierced, so that from many hearts will be revealed a spring of the repentant, thankful and heartfelt tears of all mankind.
*The initial words from each line of this prayer comprise the first phrase of the ancient Jesus Prayer.
-From Salt of the Earth by St. Paul Florensky

josephpatterson.wordpress.com/feed/

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This feast is important because it stands as a reminder to us of the totality of the atonement, of the complete sufficiency of God's mercy to accomplish reconciliation between himself and mankind through the passion, death, and resurrection of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Where once sin created a barrier between man and God, Jesus Christ -- true God and true man -- removes that barrier through is atonement. Through Christ, all human beings, even the more sinful and most wicked, have the opportunity to enter into a relationship with God, to turn from our sins, and to embrace the Good News of salvation through Christ's sacrfice. This feast, on the Sunday after Easter, reminds us in a concrete and tangible way of what Christ wrought upon the cross: our redemption, our reconciliation, our restoration.

www.markinspokane.blogspot.com/

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Pope Benedict XVI to Franciscans

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:47:00 +0000

Miracle of Marcelino

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:04:00 +0000

Happy Birthday, Holy Father!

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:02:00 +0000

Hat tip to FRJPM for photo

The cross without Christ; Christ without the cross - Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:05:00 +0000

If we could take Christ off the cross and put Him over to one side,

and then put the cross without Christ on the other side,

we would have the picture of the world.

Listening to: Catholic Audio.us

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:52:00 +0000

www.catholicaudio.us/

Download Catholic Audio Lectures
Our audio library has over 900 lectures, sermons, and theology-oriented radio programs. Content ranges from the Old Testament to modern Christian living, from St. Augustine to St. Teresa of Avila.

These educational programs are published with permission from EWTN and other sources.

Program speakers include:
Fr. Benedict Groeschel,
Fr. Thomas Dubay,
Fr. Mitch Pacwa,
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Fr. John Corapi.

All files are in MP3 format, and may be downloaded for local play from your PC or portable MP3 player. Most files are 1/2 hour in length, and use 6MB of file space.
You may search our library, or learn more about how MP3 works, and how to make your own CD copies for playback.
You may download the programs from our online library. We are currently running one Limewire server, but the fastest downloads are available http://www.catholicaudio.us/

Reading: Mane Nobiscum,Domine! URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE John Paul II 2005

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:35:00 +0000

URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II
Easter Sunday, 27 March 2005

1. Mane nobiscum, Domine! Stay with us, Lord! (cf. Lk 24:29)With these words, the disciples on the road to Emmausinvited the mysterious Wayfarerto stay with them, as the sun was settingon that first day of the weekwhen the incredible had occurred.According to his promise, Christ had risen;but they did not yet know this.Nevertheless, the words spoken by the Wayfarer along the roadmade their hearts burn within them.So they said to him: "Stay with us".Seated around the supper table,they recognized him in the "breaking of bread"- and suddenly he vanished.There remained in front of them the broken bread,There echoed in their hearts the gentle sound of his words.
2. Dear brothers and sisters,the Word and the Bread of the Eucharist,the mystery and the gift of Easter,remain down the centuries as a constant memorialof the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ!On this Easter Day,together with all Christians throughout the world,we too repeat those words:Jesus, crucified and risen, stay with us!Stay with us, faithful friend and sure supportfor humanity on its journey through history!Living Word of the Father,give hope and trust to all who are searchingfor the true meaning of their lives.Bread of eternal life, nourish those who hungerfor truth, freedom, justice and peace.
3. Stay with us, Living Word of the Father,and teach us words and deeds of peace:peace for our world consecrated by your bloodand drenched in the blood of so many innocent victims:peace for the countries of the Middle East and Africa,where so much blood continues to be shed;peace for all of humanity,still threatened by fratricidal wars.Stay with us, Bread of eternal life,broken and distributed to those at table:give also to us the strength to show generous solidaritytowards the multitudes who are even todaysuffering and dying from poverty and hunger,decimated by fatal epidemicsor devastated by immense natural disasters.By the power of your Resurrection,may they too become sharers in new life.
4. We, the men and women of the third millennium,we too need you, Risen Lord!Stay with us now, and until the end of time.Grant that the material progress of peoplesmay never obscure the spiritual valueswhich are the soul of their civilization.Sustain us, we pray, on our journey.In you do we believe, in you do we hope,for you alone have the words of eternal life (cf. Jn 6:68).Mane nobiscum, Domine! Alleluia!
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see also: AirMaria
http://airmaria.com/2009/04/16/mane-nobiscum-domine/

With each passing year the unfolding of the Resurrection Gospel of Emmaus becomes more luminous, more transparent like the favorite page in an old book, the page that with each reading delights one anew. The repetition and ritual recurrence of the Word shapes and reshapes the Church, making her ever more perfectly Christ’s beloved Bride, the Companion of the New Adam, born from His pierced side. You recall that it was this very page of the Gospel that was given us by the Servant of God, Pope John Paul II as the heart of his message for the Year of the Eucharist. He presented the mystery of Emmaus as a kind of Eucharistic icon.
Stay With Us, Lord
Mane nobiscum, Domine. “Stay with us, Lord, for it is almost evening” (Lk 24:29). In making these words the title of his Apostolic Letter for the Year of the Eucharist, Pope John Paul II gave the Church a clear orientation for our times. He gave each one of us a kind of personal spiritual direction. More than that, he taught us to pray using these very words: Mane nobiscum, Domine. “Stay with us, Lord.” He taught us to pray as the Holy Spirit had taught the two disciples on the road to Emmaus to pray. Poor wayfarers they were: bewildered and dejected men, sorrowing and not quite knowing what to think, not quite knowing what to do with their lives.
Christ the Wayfarer
Another Wayfarer came to walk with them on the way. Pope John Paul II writes that, “weighed down with sadness, they never imagined that this stranger was none other than their Master risen from the dead. Yet they felt their hearts burning within them (cf. v. 32) as he spoke to them and ‘explained’ the Scriptures. The light of the Word unlocked the hardness of their hearts and ‘opened their eyes’ (cf. v. 31).”
The Prayer of Desire
It was at this moment that the Holy Spirit caused a mysterious invocation to well up from deep inside them. They spoke prophetically, not for themselves alone, for all wayfarers of every time and place. They spoke for the pilgrim Church, for the Church hungry and thirsty as she makes her way through history. They spoke for the Church, the Bride of Christ, burning with desire to behold His Face, to hear His voice, to abide, adoring, in His presence. “Stay with us, Lord” (Lk 24:29).
The Real Presence
Taking their prayer to heart, Jesus “went in with them” (Lk 24:29). “And it came to pass, whilst He was at table with them, He took bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him: and he vanished out of their sight” (Lk 24:30-31). He vanished out of their sight, but His real presence remained. There, in the Bread set before them on the table, they began, with the eyes of faith, to discern the Eucharistic Face of their Lord, the blessed Countenance of Christ hidden beneath the sacramental veils.Eucharistic Adoration
In that moment, after that mysterious Breaking of the Bread, two disciples, with a fire burning in their hearts, discovered with amazement the Eucharistic adoration that, over the course of the centuries, would be discovered and cherished by the Church obedient to the command of her Lord: “Do this for a commemoration of me” (Lk 22:19).
Eucharistic Conversion
Pope John Paul II’s Year of the Eucharist was more than a passing observance; it was a grace of conversion in the strictest sense of the word: a turning toward the Eucharistic Face, a rekindling of that fire that burned in the hearts of the disciples of Emmaus. The Year of the Eucharist was a beginning, not an end. What have we done with its unique grace? How has it changed us? We will be held accountable for it. “And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more” (Lk 12:48).
The Eucharistic Face of Christ
Live, then, in the radiance of the Eucharistic Face of Christ. Adore the abiding presence of the Divine Wayfarer. The Paschal Mystery is fire and light. That the fire may burn brightly within, pray ceaselessly: Mane nobiscum, Domine (Lk 24:29). And that the light of His Face may shine before your eyes, say with faith again and again: “Lift up the light of your Face on us, O Lord” (Ps 66:2).
by Father Mark

Prayer for the Canonisation of Mother Marie Adele Garnier,Foundress of the Tyburn Nuns

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:26:00 +0000

Mother Marie Adele Garnier is famed for favours regarding babies,
families, property, financial matters, priests and spiritual needs.

If you receive, as a response to your prayer. any material or spiritual favour through the intercession of Mother Marie Adele Garnier, (Mother Mary of St Peter). Kindly inform any of the monasteries of her Congregation.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus
called Mother Marie Adele Garnier
to establish a religious family
consecrated to the worship and praise of the Holy Trinity
through liturgical prayer
and eucharistic adoration
in the contemplative life.
She founded her Congregation -
the ADORERS OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS, OF MONTMARTRE,
in 1898 at Montmartre, Paris,
with the cordial approbation of Cardinal Richard,
Archbishop of Paris.

The aim of her Congregation -
to glorify the Most Blessed Trinity,
finds practical expression as follows :
i) the daily participation in the Holy Mass;
ii) the choral celebration of the Divine Office;
iii) the perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the Monstrance;
iv) daily prayer for the Holy Father, the Church,
the country & for the entire human family.

Mother Marie Adele Garnier established this form
of contemplative life within the monastic tradition
of the Church under the Rule of St. Benedict.

"The Father is seeking ADORERS in spirit and in truth" John 4:23

FATHER, all-powerful & ever-living God,
we give you glory, praise and thanks
for the life and virtue
of your beloved daughter, Marie Adele Garnier.
Filled with the riches of your grace
and preferring nothing to the love
of the Heart of Jesus Christ,
she devoted her whole life
to the adoration, praise and glory
of your Name;

she sacrificed herself by prayer and penance
for the unity & holiness of your Church;
she loved her neighbour with a charity
full of humility and compassion.

Above all, she found the SUN of her life in the Holy Mass,
and so was consumed with zeal
for liturgical worship
and eucharistic adoration,
and abandoned herself with all her heart
to your most Holy Will in all things.

In your mercy Lord, hearken to our prayer
"Glorify your Servant Mother Marie Adele Garnier,
that your Servant may glorify YOU".
We ask you this through our Lord Jesus Christ,
AMEN.

read more here:tyburnconvent.org.uk/foundress/foundress.html
and here: vultus.stblogs.org/2007/06/june_17th_is_the_dies.html

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels! Exult, all creation around God's throne! Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:47:00 +0000

Resurrectio Domini, spes nostra! The resurrection of Christ is our hope!

This the Church proclaims today with joy. She announces the hope that is now firm and invincible because God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead. She communicates the hope that she carries in her heart and wishes to share with all people in every place, especially where Christians suffer persecution because of their faith and their commitment to justice and peace. She invokes the hope that can call forth the courage to do good, even when it costs, especially when it costs. Today the Church sings “the day that the Lord has made”, and she summons people to joy. Today the Church calls in prayer upon Mary, Star of Hope, asking her to guide humanity towards the safe haven of salvation which is the heart of Christ, the paschal Victim, the Lamb who has “redeemed the world”, the Innocent one who has “reconciled us sinners with the Father”. To him, our victorious King, to him who is crucified and risen, we sing out with joy our Alleluia! -- Pope Benedict XVI , Easter 2009

excerpt from “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world)

cnsblog.wordpress.com/2009/04/12/pope-benedicts-message-urbi-et-orbi/

IODG - "Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered. Let them that hate Him flee from before His Face."

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:39:00 +0000

"Ut In Omnibus Glorificetur Dei: That in all things God may be glorified."

a motto of the Benedictine Order.

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CHAPLET OF THE HOLY FACE
The purpose of the Chaplet of the Holy Face is to honour the Five Wounds of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and to ask of God the Triumph of His Holy Church and the downfall of her enemies.This Chaplet was composed by Sister Saint Pierre, a Carmelite of Tours.Saint Ethanasius stated that the devils, when being asked what verse in the Holy Scripture they feared the most, they replied, "That with which the sixty-seventh Psalm commences." This passage states,

"Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered. Let them that hate Him flee from before His Face."

They added that this biblical passage always compelled them to take flight.

The chaplet of the Holy Face honours the 5 senses of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and entreats God for the triumph of His Church. It is recommended that the faithful pray the Chaplet of the Holy Face to obtain from God, by means of the Holy Face of the Lord Jesus, the downfall of His enemies.The 33 small beads represent the 33 years of the mortal life of Our Divine Lord Jesus on earth. The first 30 beads call to mind the 30 years of His hidden life. These are divided into 5 groups, with the intention of honouring the 5 senses of touch, hearing, sight, smell, and the taste of Jesus. These senses have their seat, principally, in the Holy Face and render reparative homage for all the sufferings which Our Lord Jesus endured in His Face, through each of these senses.The last 3 small beads remind us of the 3 years of public life of Our Saviour, and have as their object, to honour all the wounds of His Adorable Face.

Begin as follows:Make the sign of the Cross, with the Cross, and say:

"O God, incline unto my aid.O Lord, make haste to help me."

Then say 1 Glory Be....Before each group of beads, there is a large bead.

On this bead, reflect on the sense of Jesus, or the wounds of His Face,

and say 1 Glory Be... and the following prayer invocation:

"My Jesus, mercy."

On every small bead, say:

"Arise, O Lord, and let Thy enemies be scattered,

and let them that hate Thee fly before Thy Face!"

At the end, say:The Glory Be... 7 times, in honour of the last 7 Words

that Jesus spoke on the Cross,

and the 7 dolors of the Immaculate Virgin.

Upon completing the Chaplet, say on the medal:

"O God, our Protector,look down upon us

and cast Thine eyes upon the Face of Thy Christ!"

“I lay at Thy feet my heart, my mind and my will. I will only--I desire only Thy love, Thy honor--Thy will.”- Mother Pia

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:40:00 +0000

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Colosseum - Way of the Cross 2009

Led by Pope Benedict XVI

MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS BY
The Most Reverend THOMAS MENAMPARAMPIL, S.D.B.Archbishop of Guwahati (India)
www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/2009/documents/ns_lit_doc_20090410_via-crucis_en.html

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Benedict XVIs sermon for the Via Crucis at the Colosseum

FrZ

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Papal Address at the End of Way of the Cross

Two things, in particular, speak to my heart in this brief discourse of the Holy Father at the end of the Via Crucis. The first is his invitation to gaze upon the lifeless Face of the Crucified. In this we are united to His Sorrowful Mother, to His cherished Apostle John, to Mary Magdalene, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. The second is this: "Even in our own time, how many people, in the silence of their daily lives, unite their sufferings with those of the Crucified One and become apostles of a true spiritual and social renewal!" How can I not relate these words to the mission of the Spiritual Mothers of Priests and to the offering of so many others who, already, unite their sufferings to the Passion of the Lamb for the healing and sanctification of His priests?
The Sacrifice of the Cross Already Consummated
At the end of his dramatic Passion narrative, the Evangelist Saint Mark tells us: "The centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, and said: 'Truly this man was the Son of God!'" (Mk 15:39). We cannot fail to be surprised by the profession of faith of this Roman soldier, who had been present throughout the various phases of the Crucifixion. When the darkness of night was falling on that Friday so unlike any other in history, when the sacrifice of the Cross was already consummated and the bystanders were making haste to celebrate the Jewish Passover in the usual way, these few words, wrung from the lips of a nameless commander in the Roman army, resounded through the silence that surrounded that most singular death. This Roman army officer, having witnessed the execution of one of countless condemned prisoners, was able to recognize in this crucified man the Son of God, who had perished in the most humiliating abandonment. His shameful end ought to have marked the definitive triumph of hatred and death over love and life. But it was not so! Hanging from the Cross on Golgotha was a man who was already dead, but that man was acknowledged to be the "Son of God" by the centurion, "on seeing that he thus breathed his last", as the Evangelist specifies.
Gaze on the Lifeless Face of the Crucified
We are reminded of this soldier's profession of faith every time we listen anew to Saint Mark's Passion account. This evening, like the centurion, we pause to gaze on the lifeless face of the Crucified One at the conclusion of this traditional Via Crucis which, through radio and television coverage, has brought many people together from every part of the world. We have re-lived the tragic event of a man unique in the history of all times, who changed the world not by killing others but by letting himself be killed as he hung from a cross. This man, seemingly one of us, who while he was being killed forgave his executioners, is the "Son of God", who, as the Apostle Paul reminds us, "did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:7-8).
Sufferings United to Those of the Crucified One
The anguish of the Passion of the Lord Jesus cannot fail to move to pity even the most hardened hearts, as it constitutes the climax of the revelation of God's love for each of us. Saint John observes: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (Jn 3:16). It is for love of us that Christ dies on the cross! Throughout the course of the millennia, a great multitude of men and women have been drawn deeply into this mystery and they have followed him, making in their turn, like him and with his help, a gift to others of their own lives. They are the saints and the martyrs, many of whom remain unknown to us. Even in our own time, how many people, in the silence of their daily lives, unite their sufferings with those of the Crucified One and become apostles of a true spiritual and social renewal! What would man be without Christ? Saint Augustine observes: "You would still be in a state of wretchedness, had He not shown you mercy. You would not have returned to life, had He not shared your death. You would have passed away had He not come to your aid. You would be lost, had He not come" (Discourse 185:1). So why not welcome him into our lives?
Contemplate His Disfigured Face
Let us pause this evening to contemplate his disfigured face: it is the face of the Man of sorrows, who took upon himself the burden of all our mortal anguish. His face is reflected in that of every person who is humiliated and offended, sick and suffering, alone, abandoned and despised. Pouring out his blood, he has rescued us from the slavery of death, he has broken the solitude of our tears, he has entered into our every grief and our every anxiety.
Watch and Pray With Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows
Brothers and Sisters! As the Cross rises up on Golgotha, the eyes of our faith are already turned towards the dawning of the new Day, and we begin to taste the joy and splendour of Easter. "If we have died with Christ", writes Saint Paul, "we believe that we shall also live with Him" (Rom 6:8). In this certainty, let us continue our journey. Tomorrow, on Holy Saturday, we will watch and pray together with Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, and we will pray with all who are suffering; we will pray above all with those who suffer in L'Aquila, hit by the earthquake. We will pray so that in this dark night, the star of hope will appear to them, the light of the Risen Lord.
I wish all of you, even now, a Happy Easter in the light of the Risen Lord!
© Copyright 2009 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Pope Benedict XVI opens the Easter Triduum with the celebration of the Mass commemorating the Last Supper

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:11:00 +0000

4/10/2009
Asia News (www.asianews.it/)

VATICAN CITY (AsiaNews) - The Eucharistic mystery, a gift of love born from Jesus' "transformation" of the bread into "communion with himself," meant to be "the start of the transformation of the world – into a world of resurrection, a world of God. Yes, it is about transformation – of the new man and the new world that find their origin in the bread that is consecrated, transformed, transubstantiated." The institution of the Eucharist is the center of the ritual commemorating the Last Supper, celebrated this afternoon by Benedict XVI in the basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of Rome, the bishop of which is the pope. During the celebration, which opens the Easter Triduum, Benedict XVI also washed the feet of 12 priests, according to tradition. This morning, the pope remembered the victims of the earthquake in Abruzzo, dedicating in part to them the oils that he blessed during the Chrism Mass. Benedict XVI has also appointed cardinal secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone to preside over the funeral for the earthquake victims on April 10. In consideration of this exceptional event, the congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has granted an indult for the celebration of the funeral Mass, despite the fact that the ceremony "In Passione Domini" is the only one permitted on Good Friday, according to liturgical norms. As a sign of the pope's personal closeness to those who suffer on account of the earthquake, his personal secretary Msgr. Georg Gänswein will also participate at the funeral. Here is the text of Benedict XVI's homily: Qui, pridie quam pro nostra omniumque salute pateretur, hoc est hodie, accepit panem: these words we shall pray today in the Canon of the Mass. 'Hoc est hodie' – the Liturgy of Holy Thursday places the word 'today' into the text of the prayer, thereby emphasizing the particular dignity of this day. It was 'today' that He did this: he gave himself to us for ever in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. This 'today' is first and foremost the memorial of that first Paschal event. Yet it is something more. With the Canon, we enter into this 'today'. Our today comes into contact with his today. He does this now. With the word 'today', the Church’s Liturgy wants us to give great inner attention to the mystery of this day, to the words in which it is expressed. We therefore seek to listen in a new way to the institution narrative, in the form in which the Church has formulated it, on the basis of Scripture and in contemplation of the Lord himself. The first thing to strike us is that the institution narrative is not an independent phrase, but it starts with a relative pronoun: qui pridie. This 'qui' connects the entire narrative to the preceding section of the prayer, 'let it become for us the body and blood of Jesus Christ, your only Son, our Lord.' In this way, the institution narrative is linked to the preceding prayer, to the entire Canon, and it too becomes a prayer. By no means is it merely an interpolated narrative, nor is it a case of an authoritative self-standing text that actually interrupts the prayer. It is a prayer. And only in the course of the prayer is the priestly act of consecration accomplished, which becomes transformation, transubstantiation of our gifts of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. As she prays at this central moment, the Church is fully in tune with the event that took place in the Upper Room, when Jesus’ action is described in the words: 'gratias agens benedixit – he gave you thanks and praise'. In this expression, the Roman liturgy has made two words out of the one Hebrew word berakha, which is rendered in Greek with the two terms eucharistía and eulogía. The Lord gives thanks. When we thank, we acknowledge that a certain thing is a gift that has come from another. The Lord gives thanks, and in so doing gives back to God the bread, 'fruit of the earth and work of human hands', so as to receive it anew from him. Thanksgiving becomes blessing. The offering that we have placed in God’s hands returns from him blessed and transformed. The Roman liturgy rightly interprets our praying at this sacred moment by means of the words: 'through him, we ask you to accept and bless these gifts we offer you in sacrifice'. All this lies hidden within the word 'eucharistia'. There is another aspect of the institution narrative cited in the Roman Canon on which we should reflect this evening. The praying Church gazes upon the hands and eyes of the Lord. It is as if she wants to observe him, to perceive the form of his praying and acting in that remarkable hour, she wants to encounter the figure of Jesus even, as it were, through the senses. 'He took bread in his sacred hands …' Let us look at those hands with which he healed men and women; the hands with which he blessed babies; the hands that he laid upon men; the hands that were nailed to the Cross ...
and that forever bear the stigmata as signs of his readiness to die for love. Now we are commissioned to do what he did: to take bread in our hands so that through the Eucharistic Prayer it will be transformed. At our priestly ordination, our hands were anointed, so that they could become hands of blessing. Let us pray to the Lord that our hands will serve more and more to bring salvation, to bring blessing, to make his goodness present! From the introduction to the Priestly Prayer of Jesus (cf. Jn 17:1), the Canon takes these words: 'Looking up to heaven, to you his almighty Father …' The Lord teaches us to raise our eyes, and especially our hearts. He teaches us to fix our gaze upwards, detaching it from the things of this world, to direct ourselves in prayer towards God and thus to raise ourselves. In a hymn from the Liturgy of the Hours, we ask the Lord to guard our eyes, so that they do not take in or cause to enter within us 'vanitates' – vanities, nothings, that which is merely appearance. Let us pray that no evil will enter through our eyes, falsifying and tainting our very being. But we want to pray above all for eyes that see whatever is true, radiant and good; so that they become capable of seeing God’s presence in the world. Let us pray that we will look upon the world with eyes of love, with the eyes of Jesus, recognizing our brothers and sisters who need our help, who are awaiting our word and our action. Having given thanks and praise, the Lord then breaks the bread and gives it to the disciples. Breaking the bread is the act of the father of the familywho looks after his children and gives them what they need for life. But it is also the act of hospitality with which the stranger, the guest, is received within the family and is given a share in its life. Dividing (dividere), sharing (condividere) brings about unity. Through sharing, communion is created. In the broken bread, the Lord distributes himself. The gesture of breaking also alludes mysteriously to his death, to the love that extends even to death. He distributes himself, the true 'bread for the life of the world' (cf. Jn 6:51). The nourishment that man needs in his deepest self is communion with God himself. Giving thanks and praise, Jesus transforms the bread, he no longer gives earthly bread, but communion with himself. This transformation, though, seeks to be the start of the transformation of the world – into a world of resurrection, a world of God. Yes, it is about transformation – of the new man and the new world that find their origin in the bread that is consecrated, transformed, transubstantiated. We said that breaking the bread is an act of communion, an act of uniting through sharing. Thus, in the act itself, the intimate nature of the Eucharist is already indicated: it is agape, it is love made corporeal. In the word 'agape', the meanings of Eucharist and love intertwine. In Jesus’ act of breaking the bread, the love that is shared has attained its most radical form: Jesus allows himself to be broken as living bread. In the bread that is distributed, we recognize the mystery of the grain of wheat that dies, and so bears fruit. We recognize the new multiplication of the loaves, which derives from the dying of the grain of wheat and will continue until the end of the world. At the same time, we see that the Eucharist can never be just a liturgical action. It is complete only if the liturgical agape then becomes love in daily life. In Christian worship, the two things become one – experiencing the Lord’s love in the act of worship and fostering love for one’s neighbour. At this hour, we ask the Lord for the grace to learn to live the mystery of the Eucharist ever more deeply, in such a way that the transformation of the world can begin to take place. After the bread, Jesus takes the chalice of wine. The Roman Canon describes the chalice which the Lord gives to his disciples as 'praeclarus calix' (the glorious cup), thereby alluding to Psalm 23 [22], the Psalm which speaks of God as the Good Shepherd, the strong Shepherd. There we read these words: 'You have prepared a banquet for me in the sight of my foes … My cup is overflowing' – calix praeclarus. The Roman Canon interprets this passage from the Psalm as a prophecy that is fulfilled in the Eucharist: yes, the Lord does indeed prepare a banquet for us in the midst of the threats of this world, and he gives us the glorious chalice – the chalice of great joy, of the true feast, for which we all long – the chalice filled with the wine of his love. The chalice signifies the wedding-feast: now the 'hour' has come to which the wedding-feast of Cana had mysteriously alluded. Yes indeed, the Eucharist is more than a meal, it is a wedding-feast. And this wedding is rooted in God’s gift of himself even to death. In the words of Jesus at the Last Supper and in the Church’s Canon, the solemn mystery of the wedding is concealed under the ...
expression 'novum Testamentum'. This chalice is the new Testament – 'the new Covenant in my blood', as Saint Paul presents the words of Jesus over the chalice in today’s second reading (1 Cor 11:25). The Roman Canon adds: 'of the new and everlasting covenant', in order to express the indissolubility of God’s nuptial bond with humanity. The reason why older translations of the Bible do not say Covenant, but Testament, lies in the fact that this is no mere contract between two parties on the same level, but it brings into play the infinite distance between God and man. What we call the new and the ancient Covenant is not an agreement between two equal parties, but simply the gift of God who bequeaths to us his love – himself. Certainly, through this gift of his love, he transcends all distance and makes us truly his 'partners' – the nuptial mystery of love is accomplished. In order to understand profoundly what is taking place here, we must pay even greater attention to the words of the Bible and their original meaning. Scholars tell us that in those ancient times of which the histories of Israel’s forefathers speak, to 'ratify a Covenant' means 'to enter with others into a bond based on blood or to welcome the other into one’s own covenant fellowship and thus to enter into a communion of mutual rights and obligations'. In this way, a real, if non-material form of consanguinity is established. The partners become in some way 'brothers of the same flesh and the same bones'. The covenant brings about a fellowship that means peace (cf. ThWNT II, 105-137). Can we now form at least an idea of what happened at the hour of the Last Supper, and what has been renewed ever since, whenever we celebrate the Eucharist? God, the living God, establishes a communion of peace with us, or to put it more strongly, he creates 'consanguinity' between himself and us. Through the incarnation of Jesus, through the outpouring of his blood, we have been drawn into an utterly real consanguinity with Jesus and thus with God himself. The blood of Jesus is his love, in which divine life and human life have become one. Let us pray to the Lord, that we may come to understand ever more deeply the greatness of this mystery. Let us pray that in our innermost selves its transforming power will increase, so that we truly acquire consanguinity with Jesus, so that we are filled with his peace and grow in communion with one another. Now, however, a further question arises. In the Upper Room, Christ gives his Body and Blood to the disciples, that is, he gives himself in the totality of his person. But can he do so? He is still physically present in their midst, he is standing in front of them! The answer is: at that hour, Jesus fulfils what he had previously proclaimed in the Good Shepherd discourse: 'No one takes my life from me: I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again …' (Jn 10:18). No one can take his life from him: he lays it down by his own free decision. At that hour, he anticipates the crucifixion and resurrection. What is later to be fulfilled, as it were, physically in him, he already accomplishes in anticipation, in the freedom of his love. He gives his life and he takes it again in the resurrection, so as to be able to share it for ever. Lord, today you give us your life, you give us yourself. Enter deeply within us with your love. Make us live in your 'today'. Make us instruments of your peace! Amen.

2009 Chrism Mass Homily of Pope Benedict XVI

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:22:00 +0000

CHRISM MASS HOMILY April 9, 2009

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the Upper Room, on the eve of his Passion, the Lord prayed for his disciples gathered about him. At the same time he looked ahead to the community of disciples of all centuries, “those who believe in me through their word” (Jn 17:20). In his prayer for the disciples of all time, he saw us too, and he prayed for us. Let us listen to what he asks for the Twelve and for us gathered here: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, so that they also may be consecrated in truth” (17:17ff.). The Lord asks for our sanctification, sanctification in truth. And he sends us forth to carry on his own mission. But in this prayer there is one word which draws our attention, and appears difficult to understand. Jesus says: “For their sake I consecrate myself”. What does this mean? Is Jesus not himself “the Holy One of God”, as Peter acknowledged at that decisive moment in Capharnaum (cf. Jn 6:69)? How can he now consecrate - sanctify - himself?
To understand this, we need first to clarify what the Bible means by the words “holy” and “consecrate - sanctify”. “Holy” - this word describes above all God’s own nature, his completely unique, divine, way of being, one which is his alone. He alone is the true and authentic Holy One, in the original sense of the word. All other holiness derives from him, is a participation in his way of being. He is purest Light, Truth and untainted Good. To consecrate something or someone means, therefore, to give that thing or person to God as his property, to take it out of the context of what is ours and to insert it in his milieu, so that it no longer belongs to our affairs, but is totally of God. Consecration is thus a taking away from the world and a giving over to the living God. The thing or person no longer belongs to us, or even to itself, but is immersed in God. Such a giving up of something in order to give it over to God, we also call a sacrifice: this thing will no longer be my property, but his property. In the Old Testament, the giving over of a person to God, his “sanctification”, is identified with priestly ordination, and this also defines the essence of the priesthood: it is a transfer of ownership, a being taken out of the world and given to God. We can now see the two directions which belong to the process of sanctification-consecration. It is a departure from the milieux of worldly life - a “being set apart” for God. But for this very reason it is not a segregation. Rather, being given over to God means being charged to represent others. The priest is removed from worldly bonds and given over to God, and precisely in this way, starting with God, he is available for others, for everyone. When Jesus says: “I consecrate myself”, he makes himself both priest and victim. Bultmann was right to translate the phrase: “I consecrate myself” by “I sacrifice myself”. Do we now see what happens when Jesus says: “I consecrate myself for them”? This is the priestly act by which Jesus - the Man Jesus, who is one with the Son of God - gives himself over to the Father for us. It is the expression of the fact that he is both priest and victim. I consecrate myself - I sacrifice myself: this unfathomable word, which gives us a glimpse deep into the heart of Jesus Christ, should be the object of constantly renewed reflection. It contains the whole mystery of our redemption. It also contains the origins of the priesthood in the Church.
Only now can we fully understand the prayer which the Lord offered the Father for his disciples - for us. “Sanctify them in the truth”: this is the inclusion of the Apostles in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, the institution of his new priesthood for the community of the faithful of all times. “Sanctify them in truth”: this is the true prayer of consecration for the Apostles. The Lord prays that God himself draw them towards him, into his holiness. He prays that God take them away from themselves to make them his own property, so that, starting from him, they can carry out the priestly ministry for the world. This prayer of Jesus appears twice in slightly different forms. Both times we need to listen very carefully, in order to understand, even dimly the sublime reality that is about to be accomplished. “Sanctify them in the truth”. Jesus adds: “Your word is truth”. The disciples are thus drawn deep within God by being immersed in the word of God. The word of God is, so to speak, the bath which purifies them, the creative power which transforms them into God’s own being. So then, how do things stand in our own lives? Are we truly pervaded by the word of God? Is that word truly the nourishment we live by, even more than bread and the things of this world? Do we really know that word? Do we love it? Are we deeply engaged with this word to the point that it really leaves a mark on our lives and shapes our thinking? Or is it rather the case that our thinking is constantly being shaped by all the things that others say and do? Aren’t prevailing opinions the criterion by which we all too often measure ourselves? Do we not perhaps remain, when all is said and done, mired in the superficiality in which people today are generally caught up? Do we allow ourselves truly to be deeply purified by the word of God? Friedrich Nietzsche scoffed at humility and obedience as the virtues of slaves, a source of repression. He replaced them with pride and man’s absolute freedom. Of course there exist caricatures of a misguided humility and a mistaken submissiveness, which we do not want to imitate. But there also exists a destructive pride and a presumption which tear every community apart and result in violence. Can we learn from Christ the correct humility which corresponds to the truth of our being, and the obedience which submits to truth, to the will of God? “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth”: this word of inclusion in the priesthood lights up our lives and calls us to become ever anew disciples of that truth which is revealed in the word of God.
I believe that we can advance another step in the interpretation of these words. Did not Christ say of himself: “I am the truth” (cf. Jn 14:6)? Is he not himself the living Word of God, to which every other word refers? Sanctify them in the truth - this means, then, in the deepest sense: make them one with me, Christ. Bind them to me. Draw them into me. Indeed, when all is said and done, there is only one priest of the New Covenant, Jesus Christ himself. Consequently, the priesthood of the disciples can only be a participation in the priesthood of Jesus. Our being priests is simply a new way of being united to Christ. In its substance, it has been bestowed on us for ever in the sacrament. But this new seal imprinted upon our being can become for us a condemnation, if our lives do not develop by entering into the truth of the Sacrament. The promises we renew today state in this regard that our will must be directed along this path: “Domino Iesu arctius coniungi et conformari, vobismetipsis abrenuntiantes”. Being united to Christ calls for renunciation. It means not wanting to impose our own way and our own will, not desiring to become someone else, but abandoning ourselves to him, however and wherever he wants to use us. As Saint Paul said: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). In the words “I do”, spoken at our priestly ordination, we made this fundamental renunciation of our desire to be independent, “self-made”. But day by day this great “yes” has to be lived out in the many little “yeses” and small sacrifices. This “yes” made up of tiny steps which together make up the great “yes”, can be lived out without bitterness and self-pity only if Christ is truly the center of our lives. If we enter into true closeness to him. Then indeed we experience, amid sacrifices which can at first be painful, the growing joy of friendship with him, and all the small and sometimes great signs of his love, which he is constantly showing us. “The one who loses himself, finds himself”. When we dare to lose ourselves for the Lord, we come to experience the truth of these words.
To be immersed in the Truth, in Christ - part of this process is prayer, in which we exercise our friendship with him and we come to know him: his way of being, of thinking, of acting. Praying is a journey in personal communion with Christ, setting before him our daily life, our successes and failures, our struggles and our joys - in a word, it is to stand in front of him. But if this is not to become a form of self-contemplation, it is important that we constantly learn to pray by praying with the Church. Celebrating the Eucharist means praying. We celebrate the Eucharist rightly if with our thoughts and our being we enter into the words which the Church sets before us. There we find the prayer of all generations, which accompany us along the way towards the Lord. As priests, in the Eucharistic celebration we are those who by their prayer blaze a trail for the prayer of today’s Christians. If we are inwardly united to the words of prayer, if we let ourselves be guided and transformed by them, then the faithful will also enter into those words. And then all of us will become truly “one body, one spirit” in Christ.
To be immersed in God’s truth and thus in his holiness - for us this also means to acknowledge that the truth makes demands, to stand up, in matters great and small, to the lie which in so many different ways is present in the world; accepting the struggles associated with the truth, because its inmost joy is present within us. Nor, when we talk about being sanctified in the truth, should we forget that in Jesus Christ truth and love are one. Being immersed in him means being immersed in his goodness, in true love. True love does not come cheap, it can also prove quite costly. It resists evil in order to bring men true good. If we become one with Christ, we learn to recognize him precisely in the suffering, in the poor, in the little ones of this world; then we become people who serve, who recognize our brothers and sisters in him, and in them, we encounter him.
“Sanctify them in truth” - this is the first part of what Jesus says. But then he adds: “I consecrate myself, so that they also may be consecrated in truth” - that is, truly consecrated (Jn 17:19). I think that this second part has a special meaning of its own. In the world’s religions there are many different ritual means of “sanctification”, of the consecration of a human person. Yet all these rites can remain something merely formal. Christ asks for his disciples the true sanctification which transforms their being, their very selves; he asks that it not remain a ritual formality, but that it make them truly the “property” of the God of holiness. We could even say that Christ prayed on behalf of us for that sacrament which touches us in the depths of our being. But he also prayed that this interior transformation might be translated day by day in our lives; that in our everyday routine and our concrete daily lives we might be truly pervaded by the light of God.
On the eve of my priestly ordination, fifty-eight years ago, I opened the Sacred Scripture, because I wanted to receive once more a word from the Lord for that day and for my future journey as a priest. My gaze fell on this passage: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth”. Then I realized: the Lord is speaking about me, and he is speaking to me. This very same thing will be accomplished tomorrow in me. When all is said and done, we are not consecrated by rites, even though rites are necessary. The bath in which the Lord immerses us is himself - the Truth in person. Priestly ordination means: being immersed in him, immersed in the Truth. I belong in a new way to him and thus to others, “that his Kingdom may come”. Dear friends, in this hour of the renewal of promises, we want to pray to the Lord to make us men of truth, men of love, men of God. Let us implore him to draw us ever anew into himself, so that we may become truly priests of the New Covenant. Amen.

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Image :TheNewLiturgicalMovement

UPDATE:

CHRISM MASS, 2009
Most Reverend Robert N. Lynch Bishop of St. Petersburg
Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 Homily

http://bishopsblog.dosp.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/2009-04-06-chrism-mass-homily.pdf

2008 Chrism Mass Homily of Pope Benedict XVI

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:38:00 +0000

From The Glories Of Mary, by Saint Alphonsus Liguori:

I will address thee, O great Mother of God, in the words of St. Bernard: "Speak, O Lady, for thy Son heareth thee, and whatever thou askest thou wilt obtain" ("Loquere, Domina, quia audit Filius tuus; et quaecumque petieris, impetrabis"—Depr. Ad gl. V.) Speak, speak, then, O Mary, our advocate, in favor of us poor miserable creatures.

O Mother of mercy, we present thee our souls, once cleansed and rendered beautiful in the blood of Jesus Christ, but, alas, since that time, defiled by sin. To thee do we present them; do thou purify them. Obtain for us true conversion; obtain for us the love of God, perseverance, heaven. We ask thee for much; but what is it? perhaps thou canst not obtain all? It is perhaps too much for the love God bears thee? Ah, no! for thou hast only to open thy lips and ask thy divine Son; he will deny thee nothing. Pray, then: and we shall with the same certainty obtain the kingdom of heaven.

Amen.

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CHRISM MASS
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Saint Peter's Basilica Holy Thursday, 20 March 2008

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Every year the Chrism Mass exhorts us to enter into that "yes" to God's call, which we pronounced on the day of our priestly ordination. "Adsum - here I am!", we have said like Isaiah, when he heard God's voice asking: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" "Here am I! Send me", Isaiah responded (Is 6: 8). Then the Lord himself, through the hands of the Bishop, placed his hands on us and we gave ourselves to his mission. Subsequently, we have followed many ways in the range of his call. Can we always affirm what Paul wrote to the Corinthians after years of Gospel service, often marked by fatigue and suffering of every type: "Our zeal has not slackened in this ministry which has been entrusted to us by God's mercy" (cf. II Cor 4: 1)? "Our zeal has not slackened". Let us pray on this day that it may always be kindled anew, that it may be ever nourished by the living flame of the Gospel.
At the same time Holy Thursday is an occasion for us to ask ourselves over and over again: to what did we say our "yes"? What does this "being a priest of Jesus Christ" mean? The Second Canon of our Missal, which was probably compiled in Rome already at the end of the second century, describes the essence of the priestly ministry with the words with which, in the Book of Deuteronomy (18: 5, 7), the essence of the Old Testament priesthood is described: astare coram te et tibi ministrare ["to stand and minister in the name of the Lord"]. There are therefore two duties that define the essence of the priestly ministry: in the first place, "to stand in his [the Lord's] presence". In the Book of Deuteronomy this is read in the context of the preceding disposition, according to which priests do not receive any portion of land in the Holy Land - they live of God and for God. They did not attend to the usual work necessary to sustain daily life. Their profession was to "stand in the Lord's presence" - to look to him, to be there for him. Hence, ultimately, the word indicated a life in God's presence, and with this also a ministry of representing others. As the others cultivated the land, from which the priest also lived, so he kept the world open to God, he had to live with his gaze on him. Now if this word is found in the Canon of the Mass immediately after the consecration of the gifts, after the entrance of the Lord in the assembly of prayer, then for us this points to being before the Lord present, that is, it indicates the Eucharist as the centre of priestly life. But here too, the meaning is deeper. During Lent the hymn that introduces the Office of Readings of the Liturgy of the Hours - the Office that monks once recited during the night vigil before God and for humanity - one of the duties of Lent is described with the imperative: arctius perstemus in custodia - we must be even more intensely alert. In the tradition of Syrian monasticism, monks were qualified as "those who remained standing". This standing was an expression of vigilance. What was considered here as a duty of the monks, we can rightly see also as an expression of the priestly mission and as a correct interpretation of the word of Deuteronomy: the priest must be on the watch. He must be on his guard in the face of the imminent powers of evil. He must keep the world awake for God. He must be the one who remains standing: upright before the trends of time. Upright in truth. Upright in the commitment for good. Being before the Lord must always also include, at its depths, responsibility for humanity to the Lord, who in his turn takes on the burden of all of us to the Father. And it must be a taking on of him, of Christ, of his word, his truth, his love. The priest must be upright, fearless and prepared to sustain even offences for the Lord, as referred to in the Acts of the Apostles: they were "rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name" (5: 41) of Jesus.
Now let us move on to the second word that the Second Canon repeats from the Old Testament text - "to stand in your presence and serve you". The priest must be an upright person, vigilant, a person who remains standing. Service is then added to all this. In the Old Testament text this word has an essentially ritualistic meaning: all acts of worship foreseen by the Law are the priests' duty. But this action, according to the rite, was classified as service, as a duty of service, and thus it explains in what spirit this activity must take place. With the assumption of the word "serve" in the Canon, the liturgical meaning of this term was adopted in a certain way - to conform with the novelty of the Christian cult. What the priest does at that moment, in the Eucharistic celebration, is to serve, to fulfil a service to God and a service to humanity. The cult that Christ rendered to the Father was the giving of himself to the end for humanity. Into this cult, this service, the priest must insert himself. Thus, the word "serve" contains many dimensions. In the first place, part of it is certainly the correct celebration of the liturgy and of the sacraments in general, accomplished through interior participation. We must learn to increasingly understand the sacred liturgy in all its essence, to develop a living familiarity with it, so that it becomes the soul of our daily life. It is then that we celebrate in the correct way; it is then that the ars celebrandi, the art of celebrating, emerges by itself. In this art there must be nothing artificial. If the liturgy is the central duty of the priest, this also means that prayer must be a primary reality, to be learned ever anew and ever more deeply at the school of Christ and of the Saints of all the ages. Since the Christian liturgy by its nature is also always a proclamation, we must be people who are familiar with the Word of God, love it and live by it: only then can we explain it in an adequate way. "To serve the Lord" - priestly service precisely also means to learn to know the Lord in his Word and to make it known to all those he entrusts to us.
Lastly, two other aspects are part of service. No one is closer to his master than the servant who has access to the most private dimensions of his life. In this sense "to serve" means closeness, it requires familiarity. This familiarity also bears a danger: when we continually encounter the sacred it risks becoming habitual for us. In this way, reverential fear is extinguished. Conditioned by all our habits we no longer perceive the great, new and surprising fact that he himself is present, speaks to us, gives himself to us. We must ceaselessly struggle against this becoming accustomed to the extraordinary reality, against the indifference of the heart, always recognizing our insufficiency anew and the grace that there is in the fact that he consigned himself into our hands. To serve means to draw near, but above all it also means obedience. The servant is under the word: "not my will, but thine, be done" (Lk 22: 42). With this word Jesus, in the Garden of Olives, has resolved the decisive battle against sin, against the rebellion of the sinful heart. Adam's sin consisted precisely in the fact that he wanted to accomplish his own will and not God's. Humanity's temptation is always to want to be totally autonomous, to follow its own will alone and to maintain that only in this way will we be free; that only thanks to a similarly unlimited freedom would man be completely man. But this is precisely how we pit ourselves against the truth. Because the truth is that we must share our freedom with others and we can be free only in communion with them. This shared freedom can be true freedom only if we enter into what constitutes the very measure of freedom, if we enter into God's will. This fundamental obedience that is part of the human being - a person cannot be merely for and by himself - becomes still more concrete in the priest: we do not preach ourselves, but him and his Word, which we could not have invented ourselves. We proclaim the Word of Christ in the correct way only in communion with his Body. Our obedience is a believing with the Church, a thinking and speaking with the Church, serving through her. What Jesus predicted to Peter also always applies: "You will be taken where you do not want to go". This letting oneself be guided where one does not want to be led is an essential dimension of our service, and it is exactly what makes us free. In this being guided, which can be contrary to our ideas and plans, we experience something new - the wealth of God's love.
"To stand in his presence and serve him": Jesus Christ as the true High Priest of the world has conferred to these words a previously unimaginable depth. He, who as Son was and is the Lord, has willed to become that Servant of God which the vision of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah had foreseen. He has willed to be the Servant of all. He has portrayed the whole of his high priesthood in the gesture of the washing of the feet. With the gesture of love to the end he washes our dirty feet, with the humility of his service he purifies us from the illness of our pride. Thus, he makes us able to become partakers of God's banquet. He has descended, and the true ascent of man is now accomplished in our descending with him and toward him. His elevation is the Cross. It is the deepest descent and, as love pushed to the end, it is at the same time the culmination of the ascent, the true "elevation" of humanity. "To stand in his presence and serve him": this now means to enter into his call to serve God. The Eucharist as the presence of the descent and ascent of Christ thus always recalls, beyond itself, the many ways of service through love of neighbour. Let us ask the Lord on this day for the gift to be able to say again in this sense our "yes" to his call: "Here am I! Send me" (Is 6: 8). Amen.
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Yesterday in his Wednesday audience, the Holy Father prepared us for the Sacred Paschal Triduum. Here is his address. The subtitles are my own.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Into the Sacred Paschal TriduumHoly Week, which for us Christians is the most important week of the year, offers us the opportunity to be immersed in the central events of Redemption, to relive the Paschal Mystery, the great mystery of the faith. Beginning tomorrow afternoon, with the Mass "In Coena Domini," the solemn liturgical rites will help us to meditate in a more lively manner on the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord in the days of the Holy Paschal Triduum, fulcrum of the entire liturgical year.
Christus Factus Est Pro Nobis Obediens
May divine grace open our hearts to comprehend the inestimable gift that salvation is, obtained for us by Christ's sacrifice. We find this immense gift wonderfully narrated in a famous hymn contained in the Letter to the Philippians (cf. 2:6-11), on which we meditated several times in Lent. The Apostle reviews, both in an essential and effective manner, the whole mystery of the history of salvation referring to Adam's pride who, not being God, wanted to be like God. And he contrasts this pride of the first man, which all of us feel a bit in our being, with the humility of the true Son of God who, becoming man, did not hesitate to take upon himself all the weaknesses of the human being, except sin, and pushed himself to the profundity of death. This descent to the last profundity of the Passion and Death is then followed by his exaltation, the true glory, the glory of the love that went all the way to the end. And that is why it is right -- as Paul says -- that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!" (2:10-11). With these words, St. Paul refers to a prophecy of Isaiah where God says: I am the Lord, to me every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth (cf. Isaiah 45: 23). This -- says Paul -- is also true for Jesus Christ. He really is, in his humility, in the true greatness of his love, the Lord of the world and before him every knee truly bows.How marvelous, and at the same time amazing, is this mystery! We can never meditate this reality sufficiently. Jesus, though being God, did not want to make of his divine prerogatives an exclusive possession; he did not want to use his being God, his glorious dignity and power, as an instrument of triumph and sign of distance from us. On the contrary, "he emptied himself" assuming our miserable and weak human condition -- in this regard, Paul uses a quite meaningful Greek verb to indicate the kenosis, this descent of Jesus. The divine form (morphe) is hidden in Christ under the human form, namely, under our reality marked by suffering, poverty, human limitations and death. The radical and true sharing of our nature, a sharing in everything except sin, leads him to that frontier that is the sign of our finiteness -- death. But all this was not the fruit of a dark mechanism or a blind fatality: It was instead his free choice, by his generous adherence to the salvific plan of the Father. And the death which he went out to meet -- adds Paul -- was that of the cross, the most humiliating and degrading that one can imagine. The Lord of the universe did all this out of love for us: out of love he willed to "empty himself" and make himself our brother; out of love he shared our condition, that of every man and every woman. In this connection, Theodoret of Cyrus, a great witness of the Eastern tradition, writes: "Being God and God by nature and having equality with God, he did not retain this as something great, as do those who have received some honor beyond their merits, but concealing his merits, he chose the most profound humility and took the form of a human being" (Commentary on the Letter to the Philippians, 2:6-7).
The Chrism Mass and the Year of the PriestAs prelude to the Paschal Triduum, which will begin tomorrow -- as I was saying -- with the thought-provoking afternoon rites of Holy Thursday, is the solemn Chrism Mass, which the bishop celebrates in the morning with his presbytery, and in the course of which at the same time the priestly promises are renewed, made on the day of ordination. It is a gesture of great value, an occasion all the more propitious in which the priests confirm their fidelity to Christ who chose them as his ministers. Moreover, this priestly meeting assumes a particular meaning, because it is almost a preparation to the Priestly Year, which I have proclaimed on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the death of the holy Curé of Ars and which will begin next June 19. Blessed also in the Chrism Mass will be the oil of the sick and of catechumens, and the chrism will be consecrated. These are rites that signify symbolically the fullness of Christ's priesthood and the ecclesial communion that must animate Christian people, gathered for the Eucharistic sacrifice and vivified in the unity of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The CenacleIn the afternoon Mass, called "In Coena Domini," the Church commemorates the institution of the Eucharist, the ministerial priesthood and the new commandment of charity, left by Jesus to his disciples. St. Paul gives one of the earliest testimonies of all that happened in the Cenacle, vigil of the Lord's Passion. "The Lord Jesus," he wrote, at the beginning of the 50's years, based on a text he received from the Lord's own realm, "on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me'" (1 Corinthians 11:23-25). Words charged with mystery, which manifest clearly the will of Christ: Under the species of bread and wine he renders himself present in his body given and with his bloodshed. It is the sacrifice of the new and definitive covenant offered to all, without distinction of race or culture. And from this sacramental rite, which he entrusts to the Church as supreme proof of his love, Jesus appointed his disciples as ministers, and those who followed them in the course of the centuries. Holy Thursday is, therefore, a renewed invitation to render thanks to God for the supreme gift of the Eucharist, to be received with devotion and to be adored with lively faith. Because of this, the Church encourages, after the celebration of Holy Mass, watching in the presence of the Most Holy Sacrament, recalling the sad hour that Jesus passed in solitude and prayer in Gethsemane, before being arrested and then being condemned to death.
The Precious Blood and the Wood of the CrossAnd so we come to Good Friday, day of the Passion and crucifixion of the Lord. Every year, placing ourselves in silence before Jesus nailed to the wood of the cross, we realize how full of love were the words he pronounced on the eve, in the course of the Last Supper. "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many" (Mark 14:24). Jesus willed to offer his life in sacrifice for the remission of humanity's sins. Just as before the Eucharist, so before the Passion and Death of Jesus on the cross the mystery is unfathomable to reason. We are placed before something that humanly might seem absurd: a God who not only is made man, with all man's needs, not only suffers to save man, burdening himself with all the tragedy of humanity, but dies for man.
Trust and Abandonment in GodChrist's death recalls the accumulation of sorrows and evils that beset humanity of all times: the crushing weight of our dying, the hatred and violence that again today bloody the earth. The Lord's Passion continues in the suffering of men. As Blaise Pascal correctly writes, "Jesus will be in agony until the end of the world; one must not sleep during this time" (Pensées, 553). If Good Friday is a day full of sadness, and hence at the same time, all the more propitious a day to reawaken our faith, to strengthen our hope and courage so that each one of us will carry his cross with humility, trust and abandonment in God, certain of his support and victory. The liturgy of this day sings: "O Crux, ave, spes unica" (Hail, O cross, our only hope)."
In the Silence of MaryThis hope is nourished in the great silence of Holy Saturday, awaiting the resurrection of Jesus. On this day the Churches are stripped and no particular liturgical rites are provided. The Church watches in prayer like Mary, and together with Mary, sharing the same feelings of sorrow and trust in God. Justly recommended is to preserve throughout the day a prayerful climate, favorable to meditation and reconciliation; the faithful are encouraged to approach the sacrament of penance, to be able to participate truly renewed in the Paschal celebrations.
The Paschal VigilThe recollection and silence of Holy Saturday lead us at night to the solemn Paschal Vigil, "mother of all vigils," when the singing of the joy of the resurrection of Christ will erupt in all the churches and communities. Proclaimed once again will be the victory of light over darkness, of life over death, and the Church will rejoice in the encounter with her Lord. We will thus enter into the climate of the Easter of Resurrection.
The Triduum with MaryDear brothers and sisters, let us dispose ourselves to live the Holy Triduum intensely, to participate ever more profoundly in the mystery of Christ. We are accompanied on this journey by the Holy Virgin, who in silence followed her son Jesus to Calvary, taking part with great sorrow in his sacrifice, thus cooperating with the mystery of the Redemption and becoming Mother of all believers (cf. John 19:25-27). Together with her we will enter the Cenacle, we will stay at the foot of the Cross, we will watch next to the dead Christ, awaiting with hope the dawn of the radiant day of the Resurrection. In this perspective, I now express to all of you the most cordial wishes for a happy and holy Easter, together with your families, parishes and communities.

Intercession for Priests (Prayer by Sr. Josefa)

noreply@blogger.com (Immaculatae) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:12:00 +0000

Beloved Master

(by Sr. Josefa)

Beloved Master, good and tender-hearted Shepherd!

Here is one who loved Thee much while he guarded Thy sheep.

Now he is in trouble, but Thou still lovest him

and he is still dear to Thee.

I love him and honour him because he is Thine.

Bring him back and in his place leave me here to suffer his loneliness for him.

O Mary, seek out Thy wandering sons and bring them home.

They are God's anointed ones: the priests!

Amen.

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Extracts from the book of our Lords words to Sister Josefa;
"We are going to speak of My Passion, that your soul may constantly feed on the remembrance of it, and that My souls may find in it food for their hunger and drink for their thirst."
"And now, Josefa, I will begin by disclosing to you the thoughts that filled My Heart, while I was washing the feet of My disciples."
"Mark how the whole twelve were gathered together, none excepted:John the beloved was there, and Judas who was so soon to deliver Me to My enemies. I will tell you why I willed to have them all assembled together and why I began by washing their feet."
"I gathered them altogether because the moment had come for My Church to be manifested to the world, and for all the sheep to have but one shepherd."
"It was My intention also, to show souls that I never refuse grace even to those who are guilty of grave sin; nor do I separate them from the good whom I Love with predilection. I keep them all in My Heart, that all may receive the help required by their state of soul...."
"Come all of you to Me and fear not, for I Love you all... I will wash you in My Blood and you shall be made whiter than snow. All of your offences will be submerged in the waters in which I myself shall wash you, nor shall anything whatsoever be able to tear from My Heart its Love for you."
"My Heart is never wounded unless it be by My chosen souls."
"If their infidelities wound Me deeply, their love consoles and delights My Heart to such a degree that I, so to speak, forget the sins of many others on their account."
"I make little account of all that (miseries and weakness), provided souls come to Me with confidence and love, I Myself make up for all their frailty."
"Weakness and worthlessness are of small account; what I want is their trust. These are the souls who draw down on the world mercy and peace."
"I can refuse nothing to one who relies entirely on Me. Souls are too little conscious of how much I want to help them and how much I am glorified by their trust."
"The obstinacy of a guilty soul wounds My Heart deeply, but the tender affection of one who loves Me not only heals the wound, but turns away the effects of My Father's Justice."
"My justice will be restrained as long as I find victims who will make reparation."
"One faithful soul an repair and obtain mercy for many ungrateful ones."
"Alas! The world offends Me, but it will be saved by the reparation of My chosen souls."
"A little act of generosity, of patience, of poverty...may become a treasure that will win a great number of souls to My Heart."
"I so much want souls to understand this! It is not the action in itself that is of value; it is the intention with which it is done."
"I want you to be holy, very holy, and you will only become so by the path of humility and obedience..."
Sister Josefa's Cause for Beatification is before Rome.