On Fruitfulness

God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth ...And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. Gen 1:22,26

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. " Galatians 5:22-23

"By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. John 15:8

By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit.A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them. Matthew 16-20

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Luke1:42

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit John 12:24

As a lifelong gardener who has toiled in the hot sun, I have witness the truth about all living things that fruitfulness and death are weaved together. I have a compost bin and in the late fall I discard all my tomato plants from the the prior year. In the spring the seedlings from those dead plants sprout and I gather them and plant them again for the new crop of the year. From God's initial work in creation He has spoke to us about being fruitful. Man was to multiply and fill this earth. John Henry Newman was once asked what he thought of the laity and he replied "we we would look a little silly without them." In that also God's plan for man in the economy of salvation includes that we continue to be fruitful and multiply. Many countries on earth are not doing so. The people worship at the golden calf, too selfish to have children, too concerned with accumulating things, too much trouble. It is as though we have in essence told God, "we are not interested in your plans." One cannot miss the parallel of spiritual fruitfulness, for that too is being ignored, too many other important things, too many ways to self indulgence, to accumulate things, too much trouble. All this business of "busyness" so we can fill our lives up with stuff before we die. That is in where the trouble lies; we fear death so we spend time gathering up junk that is of no use in God's plan. If there is hope it is in focusing in on the First Things, for our barrenness will leave us without fruit and that is far worse death than one could imagine.

Old Monasteries of Serbia

Prayer for Priests

"Lord Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the Flock, we pray that in the great love and mercy of Your Sacred Heart You attend to all the needs of Your priest-shepherds throughout the world. We ask that You draw back to Your Heart all those priests who have seriously strayed from Your path, that You rekindle the desire for holiness in the hearts of those priests who have become lukewarm, and that You continue to give Your fervent priests the desire for the highest holiness. United with Your Heart and Mary’s Heart, we ask that You take this petition to Your heavenly Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Ukrainian Chant with Beautiful Marian Icons

Haughty Men Will Not Behold Her

All flesh grows old, like a garment;the age-old law is: All must die.

As with the leaves that grow on a vigorous tree: one falls off and another sprouts-- So with the generations of flesh and blood: one dies and another is born.

All man's works will perish in decay, and his handiwork will follow after him.

Happy the man who meditates on wisdom, and reflects on knowledge;

Who ponders her ways in his heart, and understands her paths;

Who pursues her like a scout, and lies in wait at her entry way;

Who peeps through her windows, and listens at her doors;

Who encamps near her house, and fastens his tent pegs next to her walls;

Who pitches his tent beside her, and lives as her welcome neighbor;

Who builds his nest in her leafage, and lodges in her branches;

Who takes shelter with her from the heat, and dwells in her home.

He who fears the LORD will do this; he who is practiced in the law will come to wisdom.

Motherlike she will meet him, like a young bride she will embrace him,

Nourish him with the bread of understanding, and give him the water of learning to drink.

He will lean upon her and not fall, he will trust in her and not be put to shame.

She will exalt him above his fellows; in the assembly she will make him eloquent.

Joy and gladness he will find, an everlasting name inherit.

Worthless men will not attain to her, haughty men will not behold her.

Far from the impious is she, not to be spoken of by liars.

Unseemly is praise on a sinner's lips, for it is not accorded to him by God.

But praise is offered by the wise man's tongue; its rightful steward will proclaim it.

Sirach: 14:17-27, 15:1-10

Prayer For Priests

O my God, help those priests who are faithful to remain faithful; to those who are falling, stretch forth Your Divine Hand that they may grasp it as their support.

In the great ocean of Your mercy, lift those poor unfortunate ones who have fallen, that being engulfed therein they may receive the grace to return to Your Great Loving Heart.

Amen.

With all your soul, fear God, revere his priests.

With all your strength, love your Creator, forsake not his ministers.

Honor God and respect the priest; give him his portion as you have been commanded: First fruits and contributions, due sacrifices and holy offerings.

Book of Sirach 7:29-31

Just Some Thoughts

I went to noon Mass at Our Lady of Mercy, Catholic Church in Baton Rouge today. As I was praying and contemplating the Wondrous Sacrament. I had a revelation - I feel that being at Mass is so comforting (like a home)and yet stimulating (even thought provoking). It is the place where philosophy(the how's and why's of life) meet theology (the how's and why's of God). It is fulfilling in that moment of God's grace yet I am always seeking more. The liturgy and all that surrounds me in this moment where I meet my Creator begs that I seek more of Him. In this mystery I am compelled to visit all the possibilities. Do I deserve to receive your graces, what can you do to me and for me and for all those whom I love and are blessed to be with?

After Mass I drove down Goodwood Blvd and passed by the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge. They have one of those new fangled signs that scrolls messages to the public passerbyes. It read
MANY BELIEFS...ONE COMMUNITY...A BETTER WORLD... That is so much in tune with secular thinking especially relativism. It is not what Jesus Christ taught. Jesus said : "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me." Also what happens in this community when beliefs contradict each other or are mutually exclusive.? We'll just ignore it or grit our teeth and bear it. Is not the very definition of a community that it has commonality? Is one to believe that the common thing that bonds this community is that anybody can believe anything? That is a diluted form of faith which does not aspire to know anything. It is as wrong as faith without reason. There is nothing that is unifying in the "Unitarian". You may as well be members of a coffee club or the Red Hat Society. The paradox is that the multiple beliefs, in the spirit of "openness" stifles growth and does not in itself unite people. The Church that I belong to is catholic - it is universal. We span the globe, there are slight variations, but the liturgy of our worship is the same. There is unity because we believe that the magisterium, which through Sacred Scripture and the guidance of the Holy Spirit along with two thousand years of historicity teaches us our faith and it is true. The unity of our one belief is the common thing that binds us together.

More from Abandonment to Divine Providence (de Caussade)

All creatures that exist are in the hands of God. The action of the creature can only be perceived by the senses, but faith sees in all things the action of the Creator. It believes that in Jesus Christ all things live, and that His divine operation continues to the end of time, embracing the passing moment and the smallest created atom in its hidden life and mysterious action. The action of the creature is a veil which covers the profound mysteries of the divine operation. After the Resurrection Jesus Christ took His disciples by surprise in His various apparitions. He showed Himself to them under various disguises and, in the act of making Himself known to them, disappeared. This same Jesus, ever living, ever working, still takes by surprise those souls whose faith is weak and wavering.

Faith is our light in this life. By it we possess the truth without seeing it; we touch what we cannot feel, and see what is not evident to the senses. By it we view the world as though it did not exist. It is the key of the treasure house, the key of the abyss of the science of God. It is faith that teaches us the hollowness of created things; By it God reveals and manifests Himself in all things. By faith the veil is torn aside to reveal the eternal truth.

All that we see is nothing but vanity and deceit; truth can be found only in God. What a difference between the thoughts of God and the illusions of man! How is it that although continually warned that everything that happens in the world is but a shadow, a figure, a mystery of faith, we look at the outside only and do not perceive the enigma they contain?

We fall into this trap like men without sense instead of raising our eyes to the principle, source and origin of all things, in which they all have their right name and just proportions, in which everything is supernatural, divine, and sanctifying; in which all is part of the plenitude of Jesus Christ, and each circumstance is as a stone towards the construction of the heavenly Jerusalem, and all helps to build a dwelling for us in that marvelous city.

We live according to what we see and feel and wander like madmen in a labyrinth of darkness and illusion for want of the light of faith which would guide us safely through it. By means of faith we should be able to aspire after God and to live for Him alone, forsaking and going beyond mere figures.

Congressional Pronking in Question

Daily Prayer for Priests -Litany of Our Lord Priest and Victim

Lord, have mercy - Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy - Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy - Lord, have mercy
Christ hear us - Christ hear us
Christ, graciously hear us - Christ, graciously hear us

God the Father of heaven, *Have mercy on us

God the Son, Redeemer of the world,

God the Holy Spirit,

Holy Trinity, One God,

Jesus, Priest and Victim, *Have mercy on us

Jesus, Priest forever according to the Order of Melchizedek, Have mercy on us

Jesus, Priest Whom God sent to preach the Gospel to the poor, Have mercy on us

Jesus, Priest Who at the Last Supper institute the form of the eternal sacrifice, Have mercy on us

Jesus, Priest Who lives forever to intercede for us, Have mercy on us

Jesus, High Priest whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and power, Have mercy on us

Jesus, High Priest chosen from among men, Have mercy on us

Jesus, made High Priest for men, Have mercy on us

Jesus, High Priest of our confession of faith, Have mercy on us

Jesus, High Priest of greater glory than Moses, Have mercy on us

Jesus, High Priest of the true tabernacle, Have mercy on us

Jesus, High Priest of the good things to come, Have mercy on us

Jesus, High Priest, holy, innocent and undefiled, Have mercy on us

Jesus, High Priest faithful and merciful, Have mercy on us

Jesus, High Priest inflamed with zeal for God and souls, Have mercy on us

Jesus, High Priest, perfect forever, Have mercy on us

Jesus, High Priest, Who by Your own Blood entered the heavens, Have mercy on us

Jesus, High Priest, who opened us a new way for us, Have mercy on us

Jesus, High Priest, who loved us and washed us from our sins in Your Blood, Have mercy on us

Jesus, High Priest, who offered Yourself to God as an oblation and sacrificial Victim, Have mercy on us

Jesus, sacrificial Victim of God and men, Have mercy on us

Jesus, holy and immaculate sacrificial Victim, Have mercy on us

Jesus, pleasing sacrificial Victim, Have mercy on us

Jesus, peace-making sacrificial Victim, Have mercy on us

Jesus, sacrifice of propitiation and praise, Have mercy on us

Jesus, sacrificial Victim of reconciliation and peace, Have mercy on us

Jesus, sacrificial Victim in whom we have confidence and access to God, Have mercy on us

Jesus, sacrificial Victim living forever and ever, Have mercy on us

Be merciful, spare us, Jesus.
Be merciful, graciously hear us, Jesus.

From rashly entering the clergy, * deliver us, Jesus

From the sin of sacrilege,

From the spirit of incontinence,

From sordid pursuits,

From every lapse into simony,

From the unworthy administration of the Church’s treasures,

From the love of the world and its vanities,

From the unworthy celebration of Your Mysteries,

Through Your eternal priesthood,

Through the holy anointing whereby You were constituted a priest by God the Father,

Through Your priestly spirit,

Through that ministry whereby You glorified Your Father on earth,

Through the bloody immolation of Yourself made once and for all upon the Cross,

Through that same sacrifice daily renewed upon the altar,

Through that divine power which You exercise invisibly in Your priests,

That You would deign to maintain the whole priestly order in holy religion, * We beseech You, hear us

That You would deign to provide Your people with pastors after Your own heart,

That You would deign to fill them with the spirit of Your priesthood,

That the lips of Your priests might preserve true knowledge,

That You would deign to send faithful workers into Your harvest,

That You would deign to multiply the faithful dispensers of Your Mysteries,

That You would deign to grant them perseverance in the service of Your will,

That You would deign to give them gentleness in their ministry, resourcefulness in their actions, and constancy in prayer,

That through them You would deign to promote the veneration of the Blessed Sacrament everywhere,

That You would deign to receive into Your joy those who have served You well,

Lamb of God, Who take away the sin of the world, spare us, 0 Lord

Lamb of God, Who take away the sin of the world, graciously hear us, 0 Lord

Lamb of God, Who take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us, 0 Lord

Jesus, Our Priest, hear us

Jesus, Our Priest, graciously hear us

Let us pray:

O God, Sanctifier and Guardian of your Church, raise up in her through Your Spirit suitable and faithful dispensers of the holy Mysteries, so that by their ministry and example, the Christian people may be guided under Your protection in the path of salvation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

O God, who, while the disciples were worshiping and fasting, ordered Saul and Barnabas to be set apart for the work to which You had called them, be present now to Your Church in prayer, and You, who know the hearts of all, indicate those whom You have chosen for ministry. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

(This prayer was prayed in Latin by Pope John Paul II as a seminarian in Cracow,
and often in later life as well.)

courtesy of www.opusangelorum.org

Orthodox Chant

Fr. Robert Barron on Protestantism, authority, and Cardinal Newman

The Bread of Presence

"You shall also make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, a cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high. You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it. And you shall make around it with a frame, a handbreadth high, with a molding of gold around the frame. You shall also make four rings of gold for it and fasten them at the four corners, one at each leg, on two opposite sides of the frame as holders for the poles to carry the table.These poles for carrying the table you shall make of acacia wood and plate with gold.Of pure gold you shall make its plates and cups, as well as its pitchers and bowls for pouring libations. And you shall set the bread of Presence on the table before me always.
Book of Exodus25: 23-30

"And you shall make a lampstand of pure gold...the lamp shall be setup so as to give light to the space in front of it."
Book of Exodus25:31,37

The Early Church fathers recognized the prototype of the Eucharist in God's instructions to Moses . The bread in by the Ark of the Covenant was a reminder of the bread from heaven, the manna that fed His people. Jesus is the New Covenant in which we are nourished by Christ, Himself, who is our bread in the Real Presence of the Eucharist. The lampstand lighted the way for those who were to be in God's presence. Christ is now the Light of the World shinning the truth that leads to His Heavenly Father. The Old Testament points towards the New. St Augustine wrote "Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet, Vetus in Novo patet" The New Testament in the Old lies concealed the Old in the New is revealed."

Armenian Apostolic Church

We Join Our Lord in the Desert

St. Augustine wrote :

"Our pilgrimage on earth cannot be exempt from trial. We progress by means of trial. No one knows himself except through trial, or receives a crown except after victory, or strives except against an enemy or temptations."

"The one who cries from the ends of the earth is in anguish, but is not left on his own. Christ chose to foreshadow us, who are his body, by means of his body, in which he has died, risen and ascended into heaven, so that the members of his body may hope to follow where their head has gone before."

"He made us one with him when he chose to be tempted by Satan. We have heard in the gospel how the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Certainly Christ was tempted by the devil. In Christ you were tempted, for Christ received his flesh from your nature, but by his own power gained salvation for you; he suffered death in your nature, but by his own power gained glory for you; therefore, he suffered temptation in your nature, but by his own power gained victory for you."

"If in Christ we have been tempted, in him we overcome the devil. Do you think only of Christ’s temptations and fail to think of his victory? See yourself as tempted in him, and see yourself as victorious in him. He could have kept the devil from himself; but if he were not tempted he could not teach you how to triumph over temptation."

St. Ignatius of Loyola teachings sees temptation as sometimes assisting us in our movements towards God or hindering our movement or moving us away from God and theses teachings can be applied to our daily life. One and perhaps the most central of St. Ignatius’ teachings include discernment. He defines discernment as either making the right decision or the identification of good prevailing over evil. This applies to our daily life in that we are constantly confronted with obstacles and temptations that appear to be good when in reality they are only pulling us further away from our faith. This means that whenever we make a decision we must first consider if it is inspired by our father or simply temptation at its best.

St. Ignatius also reminds us that we must not make any serious decisions when we are in times of desolation for this is when we are most susceptible to temptation. He also suggests that when we find ourselves in times of consolation it is best to prepare for desolation. This simply leads us to prevail over all desolate obstacles. He informs us that we must use strategy in difficult times.

St. Ignatius says we must be bold and take any action to confront that difficulty. In his teachings he also informs us not to keep secrets for the devil uses them to fester evil. He always finished by telling us that over all we must know our weaknesses because when evil strikes us it will always attempt to manipulate our weaknesses to its advantage. It is for this reason that St. Ignatius is not only a messenger sent by God to deliver inspiration and wisdom, but we realize that he was man and struggled to fight temptation as we all do. (from an essay by Manuel Anton IV, of Belen Jesuit High School in Miami, Florida. )

Tallis Scholars Beautiful "Allegri Miserere"

Miserere, also called "Miserere mei, Deus"(Latin: "Have mercy on me, O God") by Italian composer Gregorio Allegri, is a setting of Psalm 51(50)

Prayer For Priests by John J Cardinal Carberry

Keep Them I Pray Dearest Lord,
Keep Them for They are Thine

The priests whose lives burn out before

Thy consecrated shrine.

Keep them, for they are in the world,

Though from the world apart.

When earthly pleasures tempt, allure --

Shelter them in Thy heart.

Keep them and comfort them in hours

Of loneliness and pain,

When all their life of sacrifice

For souls seems but in vain.

Keep them and remember, Lord,

they have no one but Thee.

Yet, they have only human hearts,

With human frailty.

Keep them as spotless as the Host,

That daily they caress;

Their every thought and word and deed,

Deign, dearest Lord, to bless.

By the late John J Cardinal Carberry

Our Lady of the Rosary

JOHN PAUL II
ANGELUS
Castel Gandolfo
Sunday, 29 June 2002
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
1. We are already on the threshold of the month of October, which, with the liturgical memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, inspires us to rediscover this traditional prayer, so simple yet so profound.

The Rosary is a way of contemplating the face of Christ seeing him - we may say - with the eyes of Mary. For this reason, it is a prayer that drawing upon the core of the Gospel is in full accord with the inspiration of the Second Vatican Council and very much in keeping with the direction I gave in the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio ineunte: the Church has to launch out "into the deep" in the new millennium beginning with the contemplation of the face of Christ.

Therefore, I wish to suggest the recitation of the Rosary to individuals, families and Christian communities. To give force to this invitation, I am preparing a document which will help to rediscover the beauty and depth of this prayer.

2. I wish once again to entrust the great cause of peace to the praying of the Rosary. We are facing an international situation that is full of tensions, at times threatening to explode. In some parts of the world, where the confrontation is harsher - I think particularly of the suffering land of Christ - we can realize that, even though they are necessary, political efforts are worth little if one remains exacerbated in his mind and no one cares to demonstrate a new disposition of heart in the hope of reviving the struggle and effort of dialogue.

Who but God alone can infuse such sentiments? It is more necessary than ever that from every part of the earth prayer for peace be made to Him. In this perspective, the Rosary turns out to be the form of prayer most needed. It builds peace because, while it appeals to the grace of God, it sows in the one praying it the seed of good from which we can expect the fruit of justice and solidarity for personal and community life.

I am thinking of nations and also of families. How much peace would flow into family relationships if the family would begin again to pray the Rosary.


Painting by
LORENZO LOTTO
Madonna of the Rosary
1539
Oil on canvas, 384 x 264 cm
Church of San Nicolo, Cingoli

The Virgin Queen

Absolute Security

Another great grace is to feel neither trouble, nor fear nor anxiety about your present state, nor about the future, just as though you had become callous about everything. This is the fruit and happy effect of your entire abandonment. As you have abandoned all to God, He takes charge of everything, banishing all trouble, fear, and anxiety from your soul. He takes from it all feelings of self-interest, and leaves it alive only to His interests. This disposition is the solid foundation of the most absolute security that a soul could possibly enjoy, it is the greatest happiness this life contains for us, and a sure sign of the friendship of God.

The words that were spoken to you interiorly, and that you heard so distinctly were assuredly from God. I recognize this by the good and immediate effects they produced in you. Only God can impress souls to such a profound extent with whatever He pleases. You see that the divine goodness does not refuse you occasional scraps of comfort and strength to fortify you during the journey He makes you take through the desert.

There is no reason to be surprised that your spiritual afflictions have no influence with regard to your conduct towards your neighbor, nor deprive you of your patience and equable temper, and kindness. As a rule while in this state of trial one is generally more able to help, to console, to comfort, and to serve others.

Abandonment to Divine Providence, Father Jean-Pierre de Caussade, S.J.

Prayer for Priests

Most gracious Heavenly Father,

We thank you for our faithful priests and bishops, whose spiritual fatherhood and example of fidelity, self-sacrifice, and devotion is so vital to the faith of your people.

May our spiritual fathers be guided by the examples of Saints Peter and Paul, all the Apostles and their saintly successors. Give them valiant faith in the face of confusion and conflict, hope in time of trouble and sorrow, and steadfast love for you, for their families, and for all your people throughout the world. May the light of your Truth shine through their lives and their good works.

Assist all spiritual fathers, that through your Grace they may steadily grow in holiness and in knowledge and understanding of your Truth. May they generously impart this knowledge to those who rely on them.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Monsignor Anthony LaFemina, who created the icon of the Priesthood seen above, tells us
that the Diocese of Charleston has copies of the icon.
For information, write or call the Charleston chancery office:
Andrea Crawford, Administrative Assistant,
119 Broad Street, Charleston, SC 29402.
Phone: (843) 853-2130

(This prayer was composed by Women for Faith & Family http://www.wf-f.org)

Gregorian Chant Abbaye Notre-Dame de Triors

"The world is still deceiv'd with ornament, In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt" William Shakespeare

"False face must hide what the false heart doth know". Shakespeare's Macbeth

The Beautiful Hands of a Priest

We need them in life's early morning,
We need them again at its close;
We feel their warm clasp of true friendship,
We seek it while tasting life's woes.

When we come to this world we are sinful,
The greatest as well as the least.
And the hands that make us pure as angels
Are the beautiful hands of a priest.

At the altar each day we behold them,
And the hands of a king on his throne
Are not equal to them in their greatness
Their dignity stands alone.

For there in the stillness of morning
Ere the sun has emerged from the east,
There God rests between the pure fingers
Of the beautiful hands of a priest.

When we are tempted and wander
To pathways of shame and sin
'Tis the hand of a priest that absolve us.
Not once but again and again.

And when we are taking life's partner
Other hands may prepare us a feast
But the hands that will bless and unite us,
Are the beautiful hands of a priest.

God bless them and keep them all holy,
For the Host which their fingers caress,
What can a poor sinner do better
Than to ask Him who chose them to bless

When the death dews on our lids are falling,
May our courage and strength be increased
By seeing raised o'er us in blessing
The beautiful hands of a priest.
(Courtesy of www.catholictradition.org)

Trusting in Divine Providence

St. Mother Theodore Guérin, the foundress of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods feast day was October 3rd.

Trust in God’s Providence enabled Mother Theodore to leave her homeland, sail halfway around the world and to found a new religious congregation.

Born in Etables, France, Anne-Thérèse’s life was shattered by her father’s murder when she was 15. For several years she cared for her mother and younger sister. She entered the Sisters of Providence in 1823, taking the name Sister St. Theodore. An illness during novitiate left her with lifelong fragile health; that did not keep her from becoming an accomplished teacher.

At the invitation of the bishop of Vincennes, she and five sisters were sent to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, to teach and to care for the sick poor. She was to establish a motherhouse and novitiate. Only later did she learn that her French superiors had already decided the sisters in the United States should form a new religious congregation under her leadership.

She and her community persevered despite fires, crop failures, prejudice against Catholic women religious, misunderstandings and separation from their original religious congregation. She once told her sisters, “Have confidence in the Providence that so far has never failed us. The way is not yet clear. Grope along slowly. Do not press matters; be patient, be trustful.” Another time, she asked, “With Jesus, what shall we have to fear?” She is buried in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. She was beatified in 1998 and canonized in 2006.

In these times of economic uncertainty, job losses, and times of struggle, St. Mother Theodore Guérin stands as model for all of us. She never wavered in her trust in Divine Providence and neither should we. In the great communion of saints, let us pray to her and ask that she pray to Our Lord on our behalf for the courage to trust in He, whom all good things come.

Encounters With Silence

“Thanks to Your mercy, O Infinite God, I know something about You not only through concepts and words, but through experience. I have actually known You through living contact; I have met You in joy and suffering. For You are the first and last experience of my life. Yes, really You Yourself, not just a concept of You, not just the name which we ourselves have given to You! You have descended upon me in water and the Spirit, in my baptism. And then there was no question of my convincing or excogitating anything about You. Then my reason with its extravagant cleverness was still silent. Then, without asking me, You made Yourself my poor heart’s destiny.” (Encounters with Silence, p. 30.)Karl Rahner, SJ (1904–1984)

The Love of Christ

You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

They belong to the world; accordingly, their teaching belongs to the world, and the world listens to them.

We belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us, while anyone who does not belong to God refuses to hear us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit. 1 John 4:4-8

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.

Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.

I want to take this moment to speak from my heart. Jesus Christ is to me the highest place of joy and happiness, He is the mountaintop. In trying to emulate the perfect love that He is, I find myself engulfed in the love of others. Sharing our lives in a community of Faith which is true to all things that are good is a joy to me. There are those people who will never know how much they have touched my life so deeply and profoundly yet coming only from the simple day to day life of being. Yet in that love I see a part in the whole love of Christ, which is perfect. In that perfection I have witnessed beauty and truth. I see the beauty of others that in sharing moments in their lives, they are touching my soul in this journey and they are little reflections of love, who is God. Jesus Christ is the perfection of the Word. In all that my mind is able to hear in those moments of contemplation, that are little whispers of the Word, that is Perfect.
Jesus Christ is the perfection of all I hope for. In that hope is found the gratitude for the gift of my life and all the experiences of those who have touched it. God Bless.

Prayer for Priests by Peter John Cameron, O.P

Divine Savior Jesus Christ, who has entrusted the whole work of your redemption, the welfare, and salvation of the world to priests as Your representatives, through the hands of your most holy Mother and for the sanctification of your priests and candidates for the priesthood, I offer you this present day wholly and entirely, with all its prayers, works, joys, sacrifices, and sorrows. Give us truly holy priests who, inflamed with the fire of Your divine love, seek nothing but Your greater glory and the salvation of our souls. And you, Mary, good Mother of priests, protect all priests in the dangers of their holy vocation and, with the loving hand of a Mother, also lead back to the Good Shepherd those poor priests who have become unfaithful to their exalted vocation and have gone astray. Amen.
(This icon was painted by the Monk Michael from Mount Athos in 1988 and shows the Lord as both King of the Heavens and the Great High Priest for us on earth)

Chesterton on St. Francis

St. Francis is one of the most popular saints and one of the most misunderstood. Chesterton says the world appreciates the saint but not the sanctity.

Chesterton describes Francis’ transition from being a soldier and fighter to being a builder and a reformer. He describes Francis as troubadour and a clown of God, singing and dancing for his Lord. Finally Chesterton probes deeply the saint’s mysticism.

The amazing thing about mysticism is how physical it is. Everything in the story of Francis is palpable. He gives away all his possessions to the poor, including the clothes off his back (and also, somewhat unwisely, all his father’s possessions, too.) He hears the voice of Christ speaking to him from a crucifix hanging on the wall in the Church of St. Damian, asking to rebuild the church, and immediately gathers stones and starts to repair the building. He wears a rag, with a rope for a belt. He embraces poverty the way other men embrace wealth, he hungers after fasting the way others hunger for food. He embraces not only all men and women as his brothers and sisters, but all creatures great and small.

After achieving a spiritual depth that would have been more than enough for the rest of us, Francis rushes farther, deeper. He disappears into a cave to be alone with God.

The man who came out of that cave, says Chesterton, was not the man who went in. Whatever happened to him “must remain greatly dark to most of us, [we] who are ordinary and selfish men whom God has not broken to make anew.” And yet interestingly enough, Chesterton does seem to know what it is. The mystic, he says, passes through that moment when there is nothing but God.

If a man saw the world upside down, with all the trees and towers hanging head downwards as in a pool, one effect would be to emphasize the idea of dependence… He would be thankful to God for not dropping the whole cosmos like a vast crystal to be shattered into falling stars. Perhaps St. Peter saw the world so, when he was crucified head downwards…

Chesterton holds Francis up as a mirror of Christ, reflecting the light of Christ as the moon reflects the sun. Francis’ humility prevented him from ever realizing this. He “was full of the sentiment that he had not suffered enough to be worthy even to be a distant follower of his suffering God.” He did not feel he was “worthy even of the shadow of the crown of thorns.” But he apparently was worthy. Francis, the Mirror of Christ, literally bore on his body the wounds of Christ.

(courtesy of Dale Ahlquist, President,The American Chesterton Society)

Prayer to the Virgin Mary for Priests John Paul II

O Mary,
Mother of Jesus Christ and Mother of priests,
accept this title which we bestow on you
to celebrate your motherhood
and to contemplate with you the priesthood
of, your Son and of your sons,
O holy Mother of God.

O Mother of Christ,
to the Messiah-priest you gave a body of flesh
through the anointing of the Holy Spirit
for the salvation of the poor and the contrite of heart;
guard priests in your heart and in the Church,
O Mother of the Savior.

O Mother of Faith,
you accompanied to the Temple the Son of Man,
the fulfillment of the promises given to the fathers;
give to the Father for his glory
the priests of your Son,
O Ark of the Covenant.

O Mother of the Church,
in the midst of the disciples in the upper room
you prayed to the Spirit
for the new people and their shepherds;
obtain for the Order of Presbyters
a full measure of gifts,
O Queen of the Apostles.

O Mother of Jesus Christ,
you were with him at the beginning
of his life and mission,
you sought the Master among the crowd,
you stood beside him when he was lifted up from the earth
consumed as the one eternal sacrifice,
and you had John, your son, near at hand;
accept from the beginning those who have been called,
protect their growth,
in their life ministry accompany your sons,
O Mother of Priests.
Amen.

Know Thyself from Father Benedict Hughes

St. John the Evangelist points out that our three-fold enemy is the world, the flesh, and the devil. Of these, our most powerful adversary is our own fallen human nature. Our tendencies towards evil — whether in the form of pride, jealousy, anger, lust, sloth, covetousness, or whatever it may be — cause us more problems than the devil. We like to blame the devil, but we give him more credit than he deserves, for most of the trouble does not come from him so much as from our fallen human nature.

If, as St. Paul says, we are involved in the battle of the spirit against the flesh, how is the spirit going to win, which it must if we are to save our souls? Number one: vigilance. We must never let down our guard, we must never think that we’ve made it. Our fallen human nature may seem to be dead, but it is just lying low. In a moment of weakness, in a moment when we least expect it, it raises its ugly head, and, because of our lack of vigilance, we fall — and we fall miserably — into sin.

Even the great Apostle St. Paul had to fight this spiritual battle. In one of his Epistles, he speaks of “a sting of the flesh” that buffeted him. Most authors believe that it was a temptation against purity. I find this consoling. Does this sound strange? I find it comforting that even St. Paul had severe temptations and struggles, because this realization helps us understand that we are not evil because we are tempted. It simply means that we are human beings and that God is testing us. If there is no temptation, no struggle, why should there be a reward?

In order to get anywhere in the spiritual life, we must first of all find out what it is. What is your particular weakness? The term used in the spiritual life for this is the predominant fault. You discover your predominant fault by doing two things: 1) praying for the grace to see it 2) examining your conscience every night before retiring. This is done by going over the day and thinking about where you have been and what you have done, what you have thought about, what you have said and done, in order to discover in what ways you may have offended almighty God. Over time you will see a pattern, of things that you do over and over, even though you have resolved to change. There it is, your predominant fault. It’s the one that you must especially attack. As with a row of dominoes, once the first one falls, all the others follow. It’s the same way in your spiritual life. If you discover your predominant fault and you work at trying to overcome it, if you completely eradicate it, everything else will be easy.

There is no sin, no fault, no failing that cannot be overcome. Some people think that they will never overcome their predominant fault, so they don’t even try. But something that actually is impossible to overcome cannot be a sin. A sin is something that is forbidden by the law of God that we do intentionally. We are free to either do it or not do it. Our freedom may be, so to speak, greatly reduced by the fact that we formed a bad habit. Nevertheless, we are still free.

So this is what we mean by knowledge of self. What are we, really? We have that physical life, the life of grace, but we also have a life of sin, of tendency to sin. And you may be a Catholic striving to live his or her faith, but if it were not for the grace of God, you could not do any of that. So let us be humble. Let us pray for the grace to know ourselves better day after day, and once we know ourselves and we know our faults, let us strive to overcome them, because my dear friends, that is a life-long task. We will never get to the point where the work is done, and we can sit down and relax. We must die, as St. Paul says it, we must die to ourselves daily. And who better to help us do that but our Blessed Mother.

(Excerpts from "Know Thyself" Father Benedict Hughes CMRI

A Prayer For Our Priests

We thank you, God our Father, for those who have respond to your call to priestly ministry. Accept this prayer we offer on their behalf: Fill your priests with the sure knowledge of your love. Open their hearts to the power and consolation of the Holy Spirit. Lead them to new depths of union with your Son. Increase in them profound faith in the Sacraments they celebrate as they nourish, strengthen and heal us.

Lord Jesus Christ, grant that these, your priests, may inspire us to strive to Holiness by the power of their example, as men of prayer who ponder your word and follow your will.

O Mary, Mother of Christ, and our mother, guard with your maternal care these chosen ones, so dear to the Heart of your Son. Intercede for our priests that, offering the Sacrifice of your Son, they may be conformed more each day to the image of your Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Amen

St. John Vianney, universal patron of priests, pray for us, and our priests.

(courtesy of the Knights of Columbus) I urge you to click here and get you own prayer card and pass them on to members of your parish. I also urge all other Catholic Bloggers to post a daily prayer for priests.

Your Guardian Angel

Holy Angels

213. With the clear and sober language of catechesis, the Church teaches that "the existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls 'angels' is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition"(280).

Tradition regards the angels as messengers of God, "potent executives of his commands, and ready at the sound of his words" (Ps 103, 20. They serve his salvific plan, and are "sent to serve those who will inherit salvation" (Hb 1, 14).

214. The faithful are well aware of the numerous interventions of angels in the New and Old Covenants. They closed the gates of the earthly paradise (cf. Gen 3,24), they saved Hagar and her child Ishmael (cf. Gen 21, 17), they stayed the hand of Abraham as he was about to sacrifice Isaac (cf. gen 22, 7), they announce prodigious births (cf. Jud 13, 3-7), they protect the footsteps of the just (cf. Ps 91, 11), they praise God unceasingly (cf. Is 6, 1-4), and they present the prayer of the Saints to God (cf. Ap 8, 34). The faithful are also aware of the angel's coming to help Elijah, an exhausted fugitive (cf. 1 Kings 19, 4-8), of Azariah and his companions in the fiery furnace (cf. Dan 3, 49-50), and are familiar with the story of Tobias in which Raphael, "one of the seven Angels who stand ever ready to enter the presence of the glory of God" (cf. Tb 12, 15), who renders many services to Tobit, his son Tobias and his wife Sarah.

The faithful are also conscious of the roles played by the Angels in the life of Jesus: the Angel Gabriel declared to Mary that she would conceive and give birth to the Son of the Most High (cf. Lk 1, 26-38), and that an Angel revealed to Joseph the supernatural origin of Mary's conception (cf. Mt 1, 18-25); the Angels appear to the shepherds in Bethlehem with the news of great joy of the Saviour's birth (cf. Lk 2, 8-24); "the Angel of the Lord" protected the infant Jesus when he was threatened by Herod (cf. Mt 2, 13-20); the Angels ministered to Jesus in the desert (cf. Mt 4, 11) and comforted him in his agony (Lk 22, 43), and to the women gathered at the tomb, they announced that he had risen (cf. Mk 16, 1-8), they appear again at the Ascension, revealing its meaning to the disciples and announcing that "Jesus ...will come back in the same way as you have seen him go" (Acts 1, 11).

The faithful will have well grasped the significance of Jesus' admonition not to despise the least of those who believe in him for "their Angels in heaven are continually in the presence of my Father in heaven" (Mt 10, 10), and the consolation of his assurance that "there is rejoicing among the Angels of God over one repentant sinner" (Lk 15, 10). The faithful also realize that "the Son of man will come in his glory with all his Angels" (mt 25, 31) to judge the living and the dead, and bring history to a close.

215. The Church, which at its outset was saved and protected by the ministry of Angels, and which constantly experiences their "mysterious and powerful assistance"(281), venerates these heavenly spirits and has recourse to their prompt intercession.

During the liturgical year, the Church celebrates the role played by the Holy Angels, in the events of salvation(282) and commemorates them on specific days: 29 September (feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael), 2 October (the Guardian Angels). The Church has a votive Mass dedicated to the Holy Angels whose preface proclaims that "the glory of God is reflected in his Angels"(283). In the celebration of the sacred mysteries, the Church associates herself with the angelic hymn and proclaims the thrice holy God (cf. Isaiah 6, 3)(284) invoking their assistance so that the Eucharistic sacrifice "may be taken [to your] altar in heaven, in the presence of [...] divine majesty"(285). The office of lauds is celebrated in their presence (cf. Ps 137, 1)(286). The Church entrusts to the ministry of the Holy Angels (cf. Aps 5, 8; 8, 3) the prayers of the faithful, the contrition of penitents(287), and the protection of the innocent from the assaults of the Malign One(288). The Church implores God to send his Angels at the end of the day to protect the faithful as they sleep(289), prays that the celestial spirits come to the assistance of the faithful in their last agony(290), and in the rite of obsequies, invokes God to send his Angels to accompany the souls of just into paradise(291) and to watch over their graves.

CONGREGATION FOR DIVINE WORSHIP AND THE DISCIPLINE OF THE SACRAMENTS Directory on Popular Piety and Liturgy 213-215

The Wisdom of the Little Flower

"There is one ONLY THING to do here below: to love Jesus, to win souls for Him so that He may be loved. Let us seize with jealous care every least opportunity of self sacrifice. Let us refuse Him nothing - He does so want our love!"

"Love!...that is what I ask...I know but one thing now - to love Thee, O Jesus! Glorious deeds are not for me, I cannot preach the Gospel, shed my blood...what does it matter? My brothers toil instead of me, and I, the little child, I keep quite close to the royal throne, I love for those who fight."

"In times of aridity when I am incapable of praying, of practicing virtue, I seek little opportunities, mere trifles, to give pleasure to Jesus; for instance a smile, a pleasant word when inclined to be silent and to show weariness. If I find no opportunities, I at least tell Him again and again that I love Him; that is not difficult and it keeps alive the fire in my heart. Even though this fire of love might seem extinct I would still throw little straws upon the embers and I am certain it would rekindle.

"When Charity is deeply rooted in the soul it shows itself exteriorly: there is so gracious a way of refusing what we cannot give, that the refusal pleases as much as the gift."

"On each fresh occasion of combat, when the enemy desires to challenge me, I conduct myself valiantly: knowing that to fight a duel is an unworthy act, I turn my back upon the adversary without ever looking him in the face; then I run to my Jesus and tell Him I am ready to shed every drop of blood in testimony of my belief that there is a Heaven, I tell Him I am glad to be unable to contemplate, while on earth, with the eyes of the soul, the beautiful Heaven that awaits me so He will deign to open it for eternity to poor unbelievers."

"Time is but a shadow, a dream; already God sees us in glory and takes joy in our eternal beatitude. How this thought helps my soul! I understand then why He lets us suffer..."

Lumen Gentium cum sit Christus

Hans Urs Von Balthasar describes what the Church should be in the book "Test Everything, Hold Fast to What is Good"

" One should read the whole first sentence: "Lumen Gentium, cum sit Christus." The great light of the world for which people are searching today, is Christ. He is of interest in every form and in every caricature: as Marxist Christ, "Cristo liberatador", as the "Christ principle" of the anthroposophers. All over the world, inside and outside of the Church, Bible groups are laboring to decipher the riddle that is Christ. The Church as an institution does not really interest anyone; as the well known saying goes: Christ yes; the Church no. There is no more important task for the Church today than to demonstrate that in reality Christ, separated from the Church does not exist, that one cannot follow him, or live from him without her"

" Accordingly , the only question the Church has to ask herself today is the following: How should I look, so humanity can see the true Christ through me?"

Nobody will convert to Christ because of a magisterium, sacraments, a clergy, canon law, apostolic nunciatures, or a gigantic ecclesiastical machinery. Conversion will occur when a person encounters a Catholic who communicates the Christian message by his life and thus testifies that there exists not a, but the, believable imitation of Christ within the Catholic sphere."

..."by the assertion that all Christians, not just a number of elect, are called to perfect holiness. ( I might add parenthetically, that this has always been the program of the Ignatian Exercises: "that we ought to prepare ourselves to arrive at perfection of Christian love in whatever state or way of life God may grant us to choose.")