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| Fr. Cardozo: On the Errors of Bp. Williamson |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-27-2020, 12:32 PM - Forum: True vs. False Resistance
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The following is from a thread in 2016 on the Cor Mariae site when they were still fighting the errors of the False Resistance.
With slight adaptations for ease of reading [all emphasis in the original]:
Part I
The following article is a summary of the differences and similarities of Bishop Williamson's Disastrous Actions.
w/ English translation of a Letter to Father Cardozo 1/17/2016
Dear Father,
Patience. This chaos is about to get even worse. We are going to need even more patience.
I send you my blessing,
In Christo,
+Richard Williamson
This chaos seems not to have an end, and a faithful priest (Father Cardozo) warned to leave controversial things to the private sphere and to try to confirm the faithful in the war against modernism -which is his duty as a bishop. Bishop Richard Williamson is not worried about the division and confusion he created with his imprudent Eleison Comments, but he anticipates that this chaos will continue to get worse. And in fact it continues.
We need more patience because the bishop has decided to continue with his work of the destruction of the "Resistance," and to hold on to the same position of Bishop Fellay.
At this moment, there is almost no difference between the "Resistance" and the "Neo-SSPX." Bishop Williamson and his followers (Bishop Faure, Father Tomas Aquinas, Fr. Trincado, etc.) continue to have a similar position as Bishop Fellay's, which contradicts Archbishop Lefebvre's and Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer's. Let's consider the following:
- Bishop Fellay: 95% of the second Vatican council is acceptable (interview with magazine La Liberté, 5/11/2001)
- Bishop Williamson: the neo-church is somewhat Catholic (EC 445). Catholics, be generous! Recognize God's intention to save many souls outside of the "tradition," (EC438).
- Dominicans of Avrillé: The Catholic Church has, mysteriously, something of the conciliar church. It is necessary to distinguish them, without separating them. (Le Sel de la terra, winter 2015)
- Father Thomas Aquinas: it cannot be said, absolutely, that the conciliar church is not the Catholic Church. ("Em defensa de D. Williamson I").
- Bishop Faure: it is not possible that God has abandoned 98% of the souls. We have to read attentively and understand what Bishop Williamson wants to say. There can be, within us, the danger of radicalization. (Sermon 12/06/15, Saltillo, Mexico)
- From the Catechism: "There's no salvation outside of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church, just as there is no one outside of Noah's Arc, which was the figure of the church, was saved."
- Archbishop Lefebvre: it was the council and its aftermath, that destroyed the Holy Mass, destroyed our Faith, destroyed the catechisms and the Social Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ in civil society. How can we accept it? (Homily, November 19, 1989)
"Let no one deceive you, this is not a contest between Archbishop Lefebvre and Pope Paul VI. This is the radical incompatibility between the Catholic Church and the conciliar church". (Archbishop Lefebvre, Sermon, Econe June 29, 1976)
"The conciliar church is a schismatic church, because it breaks away from the Catholic Church as it has always been. It has its new dogmas, new priesthood, new institutions, its new cult, all of them already condemned by the church in many official and definite documents. (...) This conciliar church, therefore, is not Catholic." (Archbishop Lefebvre, June 29, 1976)
"We never wanted to belong to this system that calls itself conciliar church, and identifies itself with the Novus Ordo, with indifferent ecumenism, and with the secularization of society. Yes, we have nothing to do, nullam partem habemus, with the pantheon of religions of Assisi. We don't ask for anything better than to be excommunicated..." (Open letter to Cardinal Gantin).
"To talk about the means of "salvation" of other religions is heresy. And "to respect their way of behavior and their doctrines, is a fact that scandalizes the true Christians." (They Have Uncrowned Him: From Liberalism to Apostasy, p. 191)
Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer: the church that adheres formally and totally to Vatican II, with all its heresies is not, and can never be, the Church of Jesus Christ. To belong to the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ, it is necessary to have the Faith, that is to say, not to doubt or deny any article of the Revelation. Well, the church of Vatican II accepts doctrines that are heretical." (The Roman Catholic, August 1985). He who adheres himself to the Vatican, without any restriction, just because of that fact, disconnects himself from the true Church of Jesus Christ. Nobody can, at the same time, be Catholic and endorse all that Vatican II has established. We would say that the best way to abandon the Church of Christ, the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, is to accept without reserve all that the Vatican II proposed and thought. He is the anti-Church." (Diarios de Los Padres de Campos-#33)
[Signed]
Father Cardoza
Part II
The following was compiled by Thiago Maria, parishioner of the Mission Cristo Rey de Ipatinga/MG
RELATIONS WITH MODERNIST ROME
- Bishop Fellay: if the Pope calls me, I will rapidly go...better still, I'll go running! (Interview with "30 Days," magazine #9, October 2002)
- Bishop Williamson: if the Holy Father gives me the authority to found a religious society, I would be in the next plane to Rome. (Post Falls, Idaho, USA, June 1st. 2014)
- Bishop Faure: if in the future, I would be invited to go to Rome to speak with the Pope, I would go with Bishop Williamson. (Interview, March 2015)
- Father Thomas Aquinas: it is false that Bishop Williamson and Bishop Faure were expelled because they opposed any kind of relations with Rome. (Answer to Menzingen, March 2015)
Archbishop Lefebvre: supposing that at a determined time Rome calls us, that they would like to see us to return to the dialogue...at that moment it would be I who would impose the conditions. I will not accept to be in the situation that we found ourselves during the conversations. That's finished. (...) if you do not accept the doctrine of your predecessors, it is useless to talk. (Interview by Fideliter, #66, November-December 1988)
What church are we talking about? If it's about this conciliar church, it would be necessary that we, that have fought against it for 20 years, because we want to be the Catholic Church, to integrate into this conciliar church to make it Catholic? THIS IS A COMPLETE ILLUSION! It is not the subjects who make the superiors, but the superiors that make the subjects. In all this Roman Curia, amongst all the bishops of the world, who are progressivist, I would have been completely asphyxiated, couldn't have been able to do anything, not even to protect the faithful and the seminarians. (Interview a year after the episcopal consecrations, Fideliter #70, July-August 1989)
THE NEW MASS
- Bishop Fellay: the New Mass was legitimately promulgated (Doctrinal Declaration April 15, 2012)
- Bishop Williamson: the new mass can and is still is used to build the faith. There are cases where you can assist the new mass. This is almost heresy, but this is what I think. I'm not going to say that everyone should stay away from the new mass. (Mahopac Conference, New York, 6/28/2015)
There are elements in the new mass that can nourish our faith. (EC 445)
In the New Mass, we can preserve the faith (EC 447)
There are miracles in the New Mass (EC 438), these miracles – always assuming they are authentic – have lessons also for the Catholics of Tradition who have to some extent or another stood back from the Novus Ordo framework. (EC 438)
Since the 1960’s a Mass of Catholic sheep have become too worldly to deserve to keep the true rite of Mass, they have loved the Mass enough not to lose it altogether. (EC 438)
- Father Trincado: Father the New Mass has a place inside the Catholic Church. (Letter to Fr Cardozo, 12/13/15: but, my dearest father, the argument related to the possibility of the miracle outside of the Catholic Church, has no relation to the 3 EC of Bishop Williamson, which are about the possible miracles in the NO Masses, because these Masses are celebrated inside the Church,
- Bishop Faure: where did you see that Archbishop Lefebvre said that the New Mass is outside the Church? (Letter to Father Ernesto Cardozo, 1/6/2016: "where did you see that Archbishop Lefebvre said that the new mass is outside the Church? I know, there is ONE quote on which we could think that...one out of one thousand?")
- Father Thomas Aquinas: we should come to the conclusion that there is something good in the New Mass. ("In defense of Bishop Williamson II")
"I don't see anything wrong in Bishop Williamson’s writings." (Catechism monastery of Santa Cruz/ RJ, December/2015)
"I believe Bishop Williamson didn't write anything wrong" (letter to Father Cardozo 1/27/2016)
- Archbishop Lefebvre: we are convinced that this new rite of the Mass expresses a new faith, a faith that is not ours, a faith that is not the Catholic faith. This New Mass is a symbol, an expression, an image of a new faith, a modernist faith". (sermon Econe, June 29, 1976)
Since this reform is the fruit of liberalism and modernism, it is entirely poisoned; it comes from heresy and it ends in heresy, even though all its acts are not formally heretical. (The Mass of All Times" p. 352)
This Mass is poisoned, it is bad and it leads to the loss of faith little by little, we are clearly obliged to reject it ("The Mass of All Times" p. 353)
With relation to the New Mass, let us immediately destroy this ridiculous idea: if the new mass is valid, we can participate in it. The church has always forbidden the faithful to assist at the Masses of the schismatic and heretics, even if they are valid. It is evident that we cannot participate in the sacrilegious masses, and neither in the Masses that are a danger to our faith. (Declaration about the new mass and the pope, 11/811979).
RELATIONS WITH THOSE THAT DISAGREE WITH THEIR POSITIONS:
- Bishop Fellay: Sedevacantists!
- Bishop Williamson: Ecclesiovacantists (EC 445)
- Father Thomas Aquinas: I advise people not to receive him(...) I've heard that in Ipatinga they removed Bishop Williamson's portrait from the Mission. As long as this lasts, it is hard for me to take any other position." (Letter to Father Ernesto Cardozo, 1/27/2016
Dear Father Cardozo,
You should be aware that I do not advise people to receive you. The reason being the controversy surrounding Bishop Williamson's writings.
I think Bishop Williamson didn't write anything bad, and that this is an unnecessary controversy which is causing harm to many people who end up walking away, one way or another, from Bishop Williamson.
I think the best thing for you to do is to reach an agreement with Bishop Williamson, so that I can again recommend your presence to the people who are asking me what to do.
I've heard that in Ipatinga they have removed Bishop Williamson's portrait from the Mission. As long as this lasts, it is hard for me to take any other position."
I will talk to you more later.
En Xto Rege.
-Thomas Aquinas
Prohibition to the faithful of San Pablo to invite Father Cardozo to say Mass - Monastery of Santa Cruz/RJ, January 2016
Prohibition to the faithful of Santo Andres to invite Father Cardozo to say Mass - Monastery of Santa Cruz/RJ, February 2016
- Bishop Faure: Do not invite Father Cardozo to say Mass. (Letter to the faithful of Santo Andres)
- Father Trincado: you are using in your website, a cross that I designed; I named it the cross of the resistance, and I made it public in Non Possumus. Well now, it happens that, I do not want that cross to be used by sites that publicly criticize any of the two bishops of the resistance, and regrettably you have done so in the site that you manage. Consequently, I ask you to remove all the pictures of the cross from your site." (Letter to a parishioner from Ipatinga, 12/21/2015)
Expulsion from the mission of a parishioner for having published an article against assisting the Neo-SSPX masses.
"Will you please remove my name from your contact list" (Letter to a parishioner from Ipatinga, 1/10/2016).
- Carlos Nougue: keep away from these "pure ones" ! (Letter to the Brazilian resistance members, 12/18/2015)
ATTACKS AGAINST FRANCISCO
-Bishop Fellay: (?)
-Bishop Williamson: (?)
-Bishop Faure: (?)
-Father Thomas Aquinas: (?)
Given the above, it is only possible to conclude that Bishop Williamson is no longer a defender of the Faith as many still believe, but an absolute liberal who is taking souls into grave error, and that he doesn't care about the division he is causing and the sheep that are left on the way. The "Resistance" is now only resistance in name. His only end is to stop any reaction to modernism and to create situations to alienate and weaken Catholics that, nevertheless, remain firm. Watch how they create a controversy, see who follows them blindly, and promote/reward them (episcopal consecration of Father Thomas Aquinas, 3/19/2016); thus creating a structure against those who do not share their position.
There are no major attacks against modernism, neither attacks against Francisco, who pronounces a heresy every day. On the contrary, Bishop Williamson affirmed that Tradition needs a generous spirit (EC 438) and his only job is to fluster and defend issues that he refuses to condemn. (Ex: VCII, Conciliar church, and the new mass). As a consequence we have priests that are putting down their swords in exchange of a miter, and many lukewarm and flattering faithful, that poorly know their basic catechism and blindly believe everything that their bad superiors tell them, without questioning, just because they are bishops and belong to a religious order. They're happy with appearances.
We, Catholics - I don't want to use any other adjectives - cannot follow this pathway paved by Bishop Williamson and Bishop Faure, because they are unreliable bishops and their doctrine is at least dangerous; on the contrary, if we do not end up in modernism or in the Neo-FSSPX, we will follow a dead and lukewarm path, and we could incur a divine curse: " I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. But because thou art lukewarm—neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out my mouth. (Apocalypse III, 15-16)
Because of all these reasons, my conscience refuses to continue following these two bishops (now three, with Father Thomas Aquinas, who's always defending Bishop Williamson, and who forbids the faithful to attend Father Cardozo's Masses), and I ask my friends and the faithful not to follow in this path and to separate themselves from these bad shepherds. It's better not to have a bishop than to have bishops who are a danger to our Faith. We're living now the times spoken of by Sister Lucia, when we would not be able to trust in any bishop, and each Catholic would have to answer for his own salvation. We must unite ourselves only to those priests that remain firm and faithful. Do not be afraid! Our Lord is in control, and we do not have to worry. He will give us the necessary graces for these exceptional circumstances, through His Most Holy Mother. He who loves Our Lord and Our Lady, must, … keep the faith and these things shall be added unto you. (Matt 6:33).
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| Sunday withing the Octave of Christmas |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-27-2020, 10:49 AM - Forum: Christmas
- Replies (3)
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INSTRUCTION ON THE SUNDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF CHRISTMAS
Taken from Fr. Leonard Goffine's Explanations of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, Holydays throughout the Ecclesiastical Year, 1880
INTROIT For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night came was in the midst of her course, Thy almighty Word, O Lord, down from heaven, from Thy royal throne (Wis. 18:14-15). The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty: the Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded himself (Ps. 92:1). Glory be to the Father.
COLLECT Almighty and everlasting God, direct our actions according to Thy good pleasure; that in the name of Thy beloved Son we may deserve to abound in good works. Through our Lord.
EPISTLE (Gal. 4:1-7). Brethren, as long as the heir is a child, he differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all: but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father: so we also, when we were children, were serving under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law: that he might redeem them who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying: Abba, Father. Therefore now he is not a servant, but a son; and if a son, an heir also through God.
EXPLANATION St. Paul desired to instruct the Galatians, many of whom still clung to the Mosaic law, that this was no longer necessary, because Christ had freed them from its hard bondage, which contained merely the rudiments, so to speak, of the one only saving faith, and had made them children and heirs of God, for which they should rejoice.
Ours is a far greater happiness than that which the Jews received, because we, through our ancestors, were converted by apostolic messengers of the faith from heathenism to the true, saving Catholic faith, and by this holy religion were changed from vassals of Satan, into children and heirs of God. What a great advantage is this! Must it not be dearer to us than all the kingdoms of the world? Let us thank the Lord for it, and be careful not to lose this prerogative of being a child of God, an heir to heaven, let us not by sin give ourselves anew, as voluntary slaves to Satan.
GOSPEL (Lk. 2:33-40). At that time, Joseph and Mary, the mother of Jesus, were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him. And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold, this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted: and thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed. And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser; she was far advanced in years, and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. And she was a widow until fourscore and four years; who departed not from the temple, by fastings and prayers serving night and day. Now she at the same hour coming in, confessed to the Lord; and spoke of him to all that looked for the redemption of Israel. And after they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. And the child grew and waxed strong, full of wisdom: and the grace of God was in him.
Why did Mary and Joseph wonder at the things which were spoken of the child Jesus?
They wondered, not because that which was said of the child Jesus by Simeon was new to them, for they already knew why He was sent from God, but because of the marvellous ways in which God revealed the mysteries of the new-born Savior to Simeon, the shepherds, and to other pious people.
How is Christ set for the fall of many?
Christ is set for the fall, that is, for the eternal damnation, of all those who either reject His doctrine, or live not according to its teachings. They themselves, not Christ, are the cause of their damnation on account of their perversity and hard-heartedness. "If I had not come and spoken to them," says Christ, "they would not have sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin" (Jn. 15:22).
For whom is Christ the resurrection?
For those who believe in Him, and live in accordance with the teachings of His doctrine. These, if they persevere will at the Last Day rise to eternal life.
Why is Christ a sign that shall be contradicted?
Because, by His birth from a virgin, by His life and death, and especially by His heavenly doctrine, which is entirely opposed to the carnal spirit of this world, Christ became an object of mockery and blasphemy. Even now, according to the saying of St. Bernard, Christ is a sign of contradiction for many Christians who contradict His humility by their pride, His poverty by their avarice, His fasting by their gluttony, His purity by their impurity, His zeal by their indolence, etc., thus denying by their actions that which they confess with their lips, proving thereby that they are Christians but in name, of whom it is written: "Thou hast the name of being alive, but thou art dead" (Apoc. 3:1).
What is meant by these words: Thy own soul a sword shall pierce?
It means that the greatest grief should cut like a sword through the inmost parts of the soul, which came to pass, when Mary heard the calumnies and blasphemies of the Jews against her Son, and when she saw Him die on the cross between two thieves. Meditating on this grief of the most loving mother Mary, St. Bonaventure exclaims: "Never was there grief so great, for never was there a Son so loved!"
What else do we learn from this gospel?
The widows should learn from Anna, who spent nearly all her life in the temple, to serve God by prayer and fasting; for a widow who prays not, but lives in pleasures, is dead, while she is living (I Tim. 5:6). Parents should learn from it, to be careful that their children not only increase in knowledge, but that they by a pious life advance in grace before God and man.
ASPIRATION O Jesus, Thou new-born Savior, do Thou move our hearts to the fulfillment of Thy precepts that Thou mayst be set for our fall; for it would be much better for us, not to have known the ways of righteousness, than having known them, to have departed from them.
INSTRUCTION ON BLESSING
"And Simeon blessed them "(Lk. 2: 34).
What is meant by a blessing?
A blessing on the part of God, means the giving to man some spiritual or temporal grace; a blessing on the part of an angel or a man, means the expression in prayer of a wish or desire that God would give to some particular person a corporal or spiritual grace. In the proper sense of the word, only God can give a blessing, because all spiritual and temporal good comes from Him; angels and men can only wish and ask of God that He would bestow His gifts.
Have we examples of blessing in the Bible?
Yes, for the angels blessed Jacob (Gen. 32:26), and Jacob blessed his sons and grandsons (Gen. 48:15), Melchisedech blessed Abraham (Gen. 14:19), and Rebecca was blessed by her brothers (Gen. 24:60).
Is it well for parents to bless their children?
Yes, for God frequently ratifies the blessings wished by the parents, as in the case of Isaac who blessed Jacob, and Jacob who blessed his own sons (Gen. 49). And, on the contrary, God permits the curses of parents to be fulfilled on their children as history shows. "The father's blessing establisheth the houses of the children; but the mother's curse rooteth up the foundation" (Ecclus. 3:11).
What power has the priest's blessing?
A very great one, because it is given by the priest, the vicar of Christ on earth, in the name of Jesus, and of the Church founded by Him, in which He has deposited the plenitude of His blessings. The Church expresses this, when the bishop, anointing the hands of the newly ordained, makes the sign of the cross over them. "All that they bless, is blessed; that they consecrate, is consecrated and sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." The blessing of the priest is to be prized therefore, and an obstacle not set to it by a sinful life. Parents should ask his blessing for their children when he happens to visit them. Children were brought to Christ that He might lay His hands on them and bless them (Mt. 19:13).
What is the effect of God's blessing?
In spiritual life it gives great joy and strength to practice virtue; and in physical life it gives fruitful prosperity in our occupations and undertakings. Therefore, all is contained in the blessing of God, and he who receives it, is richer than if he possessed the whole world. We should endeavor by a pious life to secure this blessing, for it rests only on the head of the just (Prov. 10:6).
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| December 27th: St. John Evangelist |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-27-2020, 10:24 AM - Forum: December
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DECEMBER 27
SAINT JOHN, APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)
Nearest to Jesus’ Crib, after Stephen, stands John, the Apostle and Evangelist. It was only right, that the first place should be assigned to him, who so loved his God, that he shed his blood in his service; for, as this God himself declares, greater love than this hath no man, that he lay down his life for his friends [1 John, 15:13] and Martyrdom has ever been counted, by the Church, as the greatest act of love, and as having, consequently, the power of remitting sins, like a second Baptism. But, next to the sacrifice of Blood, the noblest, the bravest, and which most wins the heart of Him who is the Spouse of souls, is the sacrifice of Virginity. Now, just as St. Stephen is looked upon as the type of Martyrs, St. John is honoured as the Prince of Virgins. Martyrdom won for Stephen the Crown and palm; Virginity merited for John most singular prerogatives, which, while they show how dear to God is holy Chastity, put this Disciple among those, who, by their dignity and influence, are above the rest of men.
St. John was of the family of David, as was our Blessed Lady. He was, consequently, a relation of Jesus. This same honour belonged to St. James the Greater, his Brother; as also to St. James the Less, and St Jude, both Sons of Alpheus. When our Saint was in the prime of his youth, he left, not only his boat and nets, not only has lather Zebedee, but even his betrothed, when everything was prepared for the marriage. He followed Jesus, and never once looked back. Hence, the special love which our Lord bore him. Others were Disciples or Apostles, John was the Friend, of Jesus. The cause of this our Lord’s partiality, was, as the Church tells us in the Liturgy, that John had offered his Virginity to the Man-God. Let us, on this his Feast, enumerate the graces and privileges that came to St. John from his being The Disciple whom Jesus loved.
This very expression of the Gospel, which the Evangelist repeats several times – The Disciple whom Jesus loved [John, 13:23, 19:26, 21:7, 21:20] – says more than any commentary could do. St. Peter, it is true was chosen by our Divine Lord, to be the Head of the Apostolic College, and the Rock whereon the Church was to be built: he, then, was honoured most; but St. John was loved most. Peter was bid to love more than the rest loved, and he was able to say, in answer to Jesus’ thrice repeated question, that he did love him in this highest way: and yet, notwithstanding, John was more loved by Jesus than was Peter himself, because his Virginity deserved this special mark of honour.
Chastity of soul and body brings him who possesses it into a sacred nearness and intimacy with God. Hence it was, that at the Last Supper – that Supper, which was to be renewed on our Altars, to the end of the world, in order to cure our spiritual infirmities, and give life to our souls – John was placed near to Jesus, nay, was permitted, as the tenderly loved Disciple, to lean his head upon the Breast of the Man-God. Then it was, that he was filled, and from their very Fountain, with Light and Love: it was both a recompense and a favour, and became the source of two signal graces, which make St. John an object of special reverence to the whole Church.
Divine wisdom wishing to make known to the world the Mystery of the Word, and commit to Scripture those profound secrets, ‘which, so far, no pen of mortal had been permitted to write – the task was put upon John. Peter had been crucified, Paul had been beheaded, and the rest of the Apostles had laid down their lives in testimony of the Truths they had been sent to preach to the world; John was the only one left in the Church. Heresy had already begun its blasphemies against the Apostolic Teach ings; it refused to admit the Incarnate Word as the Son of God, Consubstantial to the Father. John was asked by the Churches to speak, and he did so in language heavenly above measure. His Divine Master had reserved to this his Virgin-Disciple the honour of writing those sublime Mysteries, which the other Apostles had been commissioned only to teach – THE WORD WAS GOD, and this WORD WAS MADE FLESH for the salvation of mankind.
Thus did our Evangelist soar, like the Eagle, up to the Divine Sun, and gaze upon Him with undazzled eye, because his heart and senses were pure, and there fore fitted for such vision of the uncreated Light. If Moses, after having conversed with God in the cloud, came from the divine interview with rays of miraculous light encircling his head: – how radiant must have been the face of St. John, which had rested on the very Heart of Jesus, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge! [Col. 2:3] how sublime his writings! how divine his teaching! Hence, the symbol of the Eagle, shown to the Prophet Ezechiel, [Ezechiel 1:10, 10:14] and to St. John himself in his Revelations, [Apoc. 4:7] has been assigned to him by the Church: and to this title of The Eagle has been added, by universal tradition, the other beautiful name of Theologian, This was the first recompense given by Jesus to his Beloved John a profound penetration into divine Mysteries. The second was the imparting to him a most ardent charity, which was equally a grace consequent upon his angelic purity, for purity unburdens the soul from grovelling egotistic affections, and raises it to a chaste and generous love. John had treasured up in his heart the Discourses of his Master: he made them known to the Church, and especially that divine one of the Last Supper, wherein Jesus had poured forth his whole Soul to his own, whom he had always tenderly loved, but most so at the end [John, 13:1]. He wrote his Epistles, and Charity is his subject: God is Charity – he that loveth not, knoweth not God – perfect Charity casteth out fear – and so on throughout, always on Love.
During the rest of his fife, even when so enfeebled by old age as not to be able to walk, he was for ever insisting upon all men loving each other, after the example of God, who had loved them and so loved them! Thus, he that had announced more clearly than the rest of the Apostles the divinity of the Incarnate Word, was by excellence the Apostle of that divine Charity, which Jesus came to enkindle upon the earth.
But, our Lord had a further gift to bestow, and it was sweetly appropriate to the Virgin-Disciple. When dying on his cross, Jesus left Mary upon this earth. Joseph had been dead now some years. Who, then, shall watch over his Mother? who is there worthy of the charge? Will Jesus send his Angels to protect and console her? – for, surely, what man could ever merit to be to her as a second Joseph? Looking down, he sees the Virgin-Disciple standing at the foot of the Cross: we know the rest, John is to be Mary’s Son – Mary is to be John’s Mother. Oh! wonderful Chastity, that wins from Jesus such an inheritance as this! Peter, says St. Peter Damian, shall have left to him the Church, the Mother of men; but John, shall receive Mary, the Mother of God, whom he will love as his own dearest Treasure, and to whom he will stand in Jesus’ stead; whilst Mary will tenderly love John, her Jesus’ Friend, as her Son.
Can we be surprised after this, that St John is looked upon by the Church as one of her greatest glories? He is a Relative of Jesus in the flesh; he is an Apostle, a Virgin, the Friend of the Divine Spouse, the Eagle, the Theologian, the Son of Mary; he is an Evangelist, by the history he has given of the Life of his Divine Master and Friend; he is a Sacred Writer, by the three Epistles he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost; he is a Prophet, by his mysterious Apocalypse, wherein are treasured the secrets of time and eternity. But, is he a Martyr? Yes, for if he did not complete his sacrifice, he drank the Chalice of Jesus [Matt. 20:22], when, after being cruelly scourged, he was thrown into a caldron of boiling oil, before the Latin Gate, at Rome. He was, therefore, a Martyr in desire and intention, though not in fact. If our Lord, wishing to prolong a life so dear to the Church, as well as to show how he loves and honours Virginity, – miraculously stayed the effects of the frightful punishment, St John had, on his part, unreservedly accepted Martyrdom.
Such is the companion of Stephen at the Crib, wherein lies our Infant Jesus. If the Protomartyr dazzles us with the robes he wears of the bright scarlet of his own blood – is not the virginal whiteness of John’s vestment fairer than the untrod snow? The spotless beauty of the Lilies of Mary’s adopted Son, and the bright vermilion of Stephen’s Roses – what is there more lovely than their union? Glory, then, be to our New-Born King, whose court is tapestried with such heaven-made colours as these! Yes, Bethlehem’s Stable is a very heaven on earth, and we have seen its transformation. First, we saw Mary and Joseph alone there – they were adoring Jesus in his Crib; then, immediately, there descended a heavenly host of Angels singing the wonderful Hymn; the Shepherds soon followed, the humble simple-hearted Shepherds; after these, entered Stephen the Crowned, and John the Beloved Disciple; and, even before there enters the pageant of the devout Magi, we shall have others coming in, and there will be, each day, grander glory in the Cave, and gladder joy in our hearts. Oh! this Birth of our Jesus! Humble as it seems, yet, how divine! What King or Emperor ever received, in his gilded cradle, honours like these shown to the Babe of Bethlehem? Let us unite our homage with that given him by these the favoured inmates of his court. Yesterday, the sight of the Palm in Stephen’s hand animated us, and we offered to our Jesus the promise of a stronger Faith: to-day, the Wreath, that decks the brow of the Beloved Disciple, breathes upon the Church the heavenly fragrance of Virginity – an intenser love of Purity must be our resolution, and our tribute to the Lamb.
MASS
The Church commences her chants of the holy Sacrifice with words taken from the Book of Ecclesiasticus, which she applies to St. John. Our Lord has proclaimed his mysteries to the Church, by the teaching of his Beloved Disciple. He favored him with his divine intimacy, which filled him with the spirit of wisdom. He clad him with a robe of glory in reward for his virginal purity.
Introit
In medio Ecclesiæ aperuit os ejus; et implevit eum Dominus Spiritu sapientiæ et intellectus; stolam gloriæ induit eum.
Ps. Bonum est confiteri Domino, et psallere nomini tuo, Altissime.
℣. Gloria. In medio.
He opened his mouth in the midst of the Church, and the Lord filled him with the spirit of wisdom: he clad him with a robe of glory.
Ps. It is good to give praise to the Lord, and to sing to thy name, O Most High.
℣. Glory, &c. He opened.
In the Collect, the Church asks for the Light, that is, for the Word of God, of whom St. John was the propagator by his sublime writings. She aspires to the eternal possession of this Emmanuel, who is come to enlighten the world, and who has revealed to his Beloved Disciple the secrets of heaven.
Collect
Ecclesiam tuam, Domine, benignus illustra: ut beati Joannis, Apostoli tui et Evangelistæ, illuminata doctrinis, ad dona perveniat sempiterna. Per Dominum.
Mercifully, O Lord, enlighten thy Church: that being taught by blessed John, thine Apostle and Evangelist, she may come to thy eternal rewards. Through, &c.
Commemoration of Christmas Day
Concede, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus, ut nos Unigeniti tui nova per carnem nativitas ilberet, quos sub peccati jugo vetusta servitus tenet.
Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that we who groan under the old captivity of sin, may be freed therefrom by the new Birth of thine Only Begotten Son.
Commemoration of St. Stephen
Da nobis, quæsumus, Domine, imitari quod colimus: ut discamus et inimicos diligere, quia ejus natalitia celebramus, qui novit etiam pro persecutoribus exorare Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum. Qui tecum.
Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that we may imitate him whose memory we celebrate, so as to learn to love even our enemies, because we now solemnize his martyrdom who knew how to pray, even for his persecutors, to our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son. Who liveth, &c.
Epistle
Lesson from the Book of Wisdom. Ecclus ch. xv.
He that feareth God, will do good: and he that possesseth justice, shall lay hold on her, And she will meet him as an honourable mother, and will receive him as a wife married of a virgin. With the bread of life and understanding, she shall feed him, and give him the water of wholesome wisdom to drink: and she shall be made strong in him, and he shall not be moved: And she shall hold him fast, and he shall not be confounded: and she shall exalt him among his neighbours. And in the midst of the church she shall open his mouth, and shall fill him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, and shall clothe him with a robe of glory. She shall heap upon him a treasure of joy and gladness, and shall cause him to inherit an everlasting name.
Quote:The Wisdom here spoken of, is Jesus the Eternal Word, who came to St. John and called him to the Apostolate. The Bread of life wherewith she fed him is the divine Bread of the Last Supper, the Body and Blood of Jesus; the wholesome Water is that promised by our Savior to the Samaritan Woman, and of which St. John drank so abundantly from its very source, when he rested his head on the Heart of Jesus. The immovable Strength is the Saint’s close and resolute custody of the treasure of his Virginity, and the courageous profession of the religion of Christ before the Proconsuls of Domitian. The Treasure which Wisdom heaped upon him is the magnificence of the prerogatives granted to him. Lastly, the everlasting Name is that glorious title given him of John the Beloved Disciple.
Gradual
Exiit sermo inter fratres, quod disciplus ille non moriter; et non dixit Jesus: Non moritur;
℣. Sed: Sic eu ovlo manere, donec veniam; tu me sequere.
A report was spread among the brethren, that that Disciple should not die; but Jesus said not: He should not die;
℣. But: So I will have him remain till I come; follow thou me.
Alleluia, alleluia.
℣. Hic est discipulus ille, qui testimonium perhibet de his; et scimus quia verum est testimonium ejus. Alleluia.
Alleluia, alleluia.
℣. This is the Disciple that beareth testimony of these things; and we know his testimony is true. Alleluia.
Gospel
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to St. John. Ch. xxi.
At that time: Jesus said to Peter: Follow me. Peter turning about, saw that disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also leaned on his breast at supper, and said: Lord, who is he that shall betray thee? Him therefore when Peter had seen, he saith to Jesus: Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith to him: So I will have him to remain till I come, what is it to thee? follow thou me. This saying therefore went abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. And Jesus did not say to him: He should not die; but, So I will have him to remain till I come, what is it to thee? This is that disciple who giveth testimony of these things, and hath written these things; and we know that his testimony is true.
Quote:This passage of the holy Gospel has been much commented upon. Some of the Fathers and Commentators interpret it as signifying that St. John was to be exempt from death, and that he is still living in the flesh, awaiting the coming of the Judge of the living and the dead. It is certain that this opinion regarding our Apostle has been entertained; and one of the arguments in its favor was this passage. But the general opinion of the Holy Fathers is that nothing further is implied by it than the difference between the two vocations of St. Peter and St. John. The former shall follow his divine Master by dying, like him, on the cross; the latter shall remain—he shall live to a venerable old age—and at length, Jesus shall come and take him out of this world by sending him a sweet and peaceful death.
During the Offertory, the Church makes a remembrance of the flourishing Palms which grew up around the Beloved Disciple; she tells us of the all the spiritual children he had trained, and of the Churches he had founded; all which, like young cedars round the venerable parent-tree on Libanus, multiplied under the fostering care of their Father.
Offertory
Justus ut palma florebit; sicut cedrus, quæ in Libano est muliplicabitur.
The just shall flourish, like the palm tree; he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus.
Secret
Suscipe, Domine, munera quæ in ejus tibi solemnitate deferimus, cujus nos confidimus patrocinio liberari. Per Dominum.
Receive, O Lord, the offerings we make to thee, on this feast, by whose intercession we hope to be delivered. Through, &c.
Commemoration of Christmas Day
Oblata, Domine, munera, nova Unigeniti tui nativitate sanctifica: nosque a peccatorum nostrorum maculis emunda.
Sanctify, O Lord, our offerings by the new Birth of thine Only Begotten Son, and cleanse us from the stains of our sins.
Commemoration of St. Stephen
Suscipe, Domine, munera, pro tuorum commemoratione Sanctorum; ut sicut illos passio gloriosos effecit, ita nos devotio reddat innocuos. Per Dominum.
Receive, O Lord, these offerings in memory of thy Saint; and as their sufferings have made them glorious, so may our devotion render us free from sin. Through, &c.
The Preface, as in “Season of Christmas”: but on the Octave Day it is as below:
Preface
For the Octave Day
Vere dignum et justum est æquum et salutare, te Domine suppliciter exorare, ut gregem tuum, Pastor æterne, non deseras, sed per beatos Apostolos tuos continua protections custodias. Ut iisdem rectoribus gubernetur, quos operis tui vicarios eidem contulisti præesse Pastores. Et ideo cum Angelis et Archangelis, cum Thronis et Dominationibus, cumque omni militia cœlestis exercitus, hymnum gloriæ tuæ canimus, sine fine dicentes: Sanctus, &c.
It is truly meet and just, right and available to salvation, humbly to beseech thee, that thou, O Lord, our eternal Shepherd, wouldst not forsake thy flock, but keep it under thy continual protection, by thy blessed Apostles. That it may be governed by those whom thou hast appointed its vicars and pastors. And therefore with the Angels and Archangels, with the Thrones and Dominations, and with all the heavenly host, we sing an everlasting hymn to thy glory, saying: Holy, &c.
The mysterious words of the Gospel are repeated in the Communion, that is, at the moment when Priest and people have partaken of the Victim of salvation, they convey this teaching—that he who eats of this Bread, though he must die the death of the body, will yet live for the coming of the supreme Judge and Rewarder.
Communion
Exiit sermo inter fratres quod disciplus ille non moritur. Et non dixit Jesus: Non moritur; sed: Sic eum volo manere donec veniam.
A report was spread among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. But Jesus said not: He should not die; but: So will I that he remain till I come.
Postcommunion
Refecti cibo potuque cœlesti, Deus noster, te supplices deprecamur; ut in cujus hæc commemoratione percepimus, ejus muniamur et precibus. Per Dominum.
Being refreshed, O Lord, with this heavenly meat and drink, we humbly beseech thee, that we may be assisted by his prayers, on whose feast we have received these sacred mysteries. Through, &c.
Commemoration of Christmas Day
Præsta, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus: ut natus hodie Salvator mundi, sicut divinæ nobis generationis est auctor, ita et immortalitatis sit ipse largitor.
Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that as the Savior of the world, who was born this day, procured for us a divine birth, he may, also, bestow on us immortality.
Commemoration of St. Stephen
Auxilientur nobis, Domine, sumpta mysteria; et intercedente beato Stephano, Martyre tuo, sempiterna protectione confirment. Per Dominum.
May the mysteries we have received, O Lord, be a help to us; and, by the intercession of the blessed Martyr Stephen, strengthen us with thy perpetual protection. Through, &c.
† † †
VESPERS
The Antiphons and Psalms are sung as yesterday, the Feast of St. Stephen: they are given in page 234. After the last Psalm, the Office of St. John is resumed, commencing as follows:
CAPITULUM
(Ecclus. XV.)
Qui timet Deum, faciet bona: et qui continens est justitiae, apprehendet illam, et obviabit illi quasi mater honorificata.
He that feareth God, will do good: and he that possesseth justice, shall lay hold on her, and she shall meet him as an honourable mother.
HYMN
Let the earth exult with joy: let the heavens re-echo with praise: the glory of the Apostles is sung by both earth and heaven.
O ye, the Judges of the world, and the true Lights of the earth! we pray to you with all earnestness of heart: hear the prayers of your clients.
’Tis ye that have power, by your word, to shut and open the gates of heaven: we beseech you, loosen us from the bonds of sin.
Sickness and health promptly do your bidding; on! heal our languid souls, bring us growth in virtue;
That so, when Jesus, our judge, shall come again at the end of the world, he may grant us to be partakers of never-ending bliss.
Glory be to thee, O Jesus, that wast born of the Virgin! and to the Father, and to the Spirit of love, for everlasting ages. Amen.
℣. Valde honorandus est beatus Joannes.
℟. Qui supra pectus Domini in coena recubuit.
℣. Most worthy of honour is the blessed John.
℟. Who leaned upon the Lord’s breast at the supper.
ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT
Ant. Exiit sermo inter fratres, quod discipulus ille non moritur: et non dixit Jesus: Non moritur; sed: Sic eum volo manere donec veniam.
OREMUS.
Ecclesiam tuam, Domine, benignus illustra, ut beati Joannis Apostoli tui et Evangelistae illuminata doctrinis, ad dona perveniat sempiterna. Per Dominum.
Ant. There went abroad among the brethren this saying, that that disciple should not die: and Jesus did not say to him: He should not die; but: So I will have him to remain till I come.
LET US PRAY
Mercifully, O Lord, enlighten thy Church: that being taught by blessed John, thine Apostle and Evangelist, she may come to thy eternal rewards. Through,& c.
Commemoration of the Holy Innocents
Ant. Hi sunt, qui cum mulieribus non sunt coinquinati: virgines enim sunt, et sequuntur Agnum quocumque ierit.
℣. Herodes iratus occidit multos pueros.
℟. In Bethlehem Judae, civitate David.
OREMUS.
Deus cujus hodierna die praeconium Innocentes martyres non loquendo, sed moriendo confessi sunt, omnia in nobis vitiorum mala mortifica: ut fidem tuam, quam lingua nostra loquitur, etiam moribus vita fateatur.
Ant. These are they who were not defiled with women: for they are virgins, and follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.
℣. Herod, being angry, killed many children.
℟. In Bethlehem of Juda, the city of David.
LET US PRAY.
O God, whose praise the holy Martyrs, the Innocents, published this day, not by speaking, but by dying; mortify in us all our vicious inclinations: that we may show forth in our actions, thy faith,
which we profess with our lips.
Commemoration of Christmas Day
Ant. Hodie Christus natus est: hodie Salvator apparuit: hodie in terra canunt Angeli, laetantur Archangeli: hodie exsultant justi, dicentes: Gloria in excelsis Deo. Alleluia.
℣. Notum fecit Dominus, alleluia.
℟. Salutare suum, alleluia.
OREMUS.
Concede, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, ut nos Unigeniti tui nova per carnem Nativitas liberet, quos sub peccati jugo vetusta servitus tenet.
Ant. This day, Christ is born; this day, the Saviour hath appeared; this day, the Angels sing on earth; the Archangels rejoice; this day, the just exult, saying: Glory be to God in the highest, alleluia.
℣. The Lord hath made known, alleluia.
℟. His salvation, alleluia.
LET US PRAY.
Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that we who groan under the old captivity of sin, maybe freed therefrom by the new Birth of thine Only Begotten Son.
Commemoration of St Stephen
Ant. Sepelierunt Stephanum viri timorati, et fecerunt planctum magnum super eum.
℣. Stephanus vidit coelos apertos.
℟. Vidit et introivit: beatus homo cui coeli patebant.
OREMUS.
Da nobis, quaesumus. Domine imitari quod colimus, ut discamus et inimicos diligere: quia ejus natalitia celebramus, qui novit etiam pro persecutoribus exorare Dominum nostrum Jesum
Christum, Filium tuum, Qui tecum.
Ant. Devout men buried Stephen, and made great mourning over him.
℣. Stephen saw the heavens opened.
℟. He saw and entered: blessed man, to whom the heavens opened.
LET US PRAY.
Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that we may imitate him whose memory we celebrate, so as to learn to love even our enemies, because we now solemnise his martyrdom who knew how to pray, even for his enemies, to our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, Who liveth, &c.
† † †
Now let us listen to the several Churches, proclaiming, in their liturgical praises, the glory of St, John. We begin with the Church of Rome, from which we take this beautiful Preface of the
Leonian Sacramentary.
PREFACE
Vere dignum et justum est, aequum et salutare, nos tibi gratias agere. Pater omnipotens, beati Apostoli tui Joannis Evangelistae natalitia venerantes. Qui Domini nostri Jesu Christi Filii tui vocatione suscepta, terrenum respuit patrem, ut posset invenire coelestem: retia saeculi, quibus implicabatur, abjecit, ut aeternitatis dona mente libera sectaretur: nutantem fluctibus navem reliquit, ut in ecclesiasticae gubernationis tranquilliate consisteret: a piscium captione cessavit, ut animas mundanis gurgitibus immersas, calamo doctrinae salutaris abstraheret: destitit pelagi profundari mari, secretorum scrutator redditus divinorum. Eo usque procedens, ut et in coenae mysticae sacrosancto convivio in ipsius recumberet pectore Salvatoris; et eum in cruce Dominus constitutus, vicarium sui, Matri Virgini Filium subrogaret, et in principio Verbum, quod Deus erat apud Deum, prae caeteris ostenderet praedicandum.
It is truly meet and just, right and available to salvation, that we should give thanks to thee, O Almighty Father! now that we are celebrating the Feast of thy blessed Apostle, John the Evangelist. Having received the vocation of our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, he left his earthly father, that he might find one in heaven. He threw down the nets of this world, wherein he was entangled, that he might, with a free soul, pursue the goods that are eternal He abandoned his boat, which was ever tossing on the waves, that he might calmly steer a spiritual bark in the Church. He gave up his trade of fishing, that, by the hook of saving doctrine, he might draw out souls ingulfed in the surges of the world. He ceased his searching in the deep waters of the sea, that he might be made worthy to penetrate into secrets divine. Even thus was he favoured – he leaned his head on the Saviour’s breast, in the most holy banquet of the mystic supper; our Lord, when hanging on the cross, gave him to the Virgin-Mother to be her Son in His own stead; and it was he, above all others, that showed how this was to be preached: In the beginning was the Word, who was God with God.
The Church of Milan, in her Ambrosian Missal, thus sings forth the praises of the Beloved Disciple:
Vere dignum et justum est, aequum et salutare, nos tibi gratias agere, aeterne Deus: beati Joannis Evangelistae merita recolentes, quem Dominus Jesus Christus non solum peculiari semper decore ornavit; sed et in cruce positus, tamquam haereditario munere prosecutus, vicarium pro se Matri Filium clementer attribuit. Quem ad eum usque dignitatis gradum divina benignitas evexit, ut et fac tus ex piscatore Discipulus, et humanae dispensationis modum excedens, ipsam Verbi tui sine initio Deitatem prae caeteris et mente conspiceret, et voce perferret.
It is truly meet and just, right and available to salvation , that we should give thanks to thee, O Eternal God! whilst celebrating the merits of blessed John the Evangelist, whom our Lord Jesus Christ not only adorned with every peculiar grace, but to whom also, he, when fastened to the cross, lovingly granted, as though it were the gift of inheritance, to take his own place and be the Son of Mary. Even unto this grade of honour did thy divine goodness raise him, that being changed from a fisher man into a Disciple, and, in the dispensing thy Truth, going beyond the measure of other men – he, above all others, both saw and preached the very Divinity of thy Eternal Word.
The Mozarabic Missal has the following prayer to our holy Apostle and Evangelist:
PRAYER
O Son of God! Begotten of the Unbegotten infinite God! who didst open the sacred treasury of thy Breast to thine Apostle, when he, reclining on thy Bosom, merited to drink in, from the very fountain of thy Heart, the streams of his own Gospel: look upon us with an eye of pity, that so, by thee, we may know thy mysteries, and do the good thou hast manifested unto us. Reveal unto us the hidden things of thy Heart, whereby we may be taught both the weakness of our own nature, and the Divinity which is thine. Show us thyself, that we may love thee; show us in ourselves what we must correct. That thus, by the prayers of thy beloved Disciple, our evil ways being converted, pestilence may flee from us, sickness disappear, and the sword be sheathed. May all that is adverse to Christian faith perish; may all that prospers it, be strengthened. May famines cease, may dissensions be appeased, may the upholders of heresy be confounded. May the earth be pregnant with fruits, our souls he clad with virtues, and all good things come unto us all. That thus, faithfully serving thee our God, we may both use these gifts without sin, and, hereafter, enjoy the bliss of possessing thee for eternity. Amen.
The following Hymn, which we have taken from the Milan Liturgy, is attributed to St. Ambrose; it certainly bears a resemblance to his style – sublime thoughts, majestically told.
HYMN
John – the honoured loved- one of Jesus, and named by Him the Son of Thunder – revealed in sacred words, the hidden things of God.He was a fisherman, and supported his aged parent by his toil:
whilst sailing on the troubled waves, he received the faith, and firmly did he hold to it.
He throws his hook into the deep, and takes the Word of God; he lets down his nets into the waters, he draws in Him who is the Light of the world.
His fervent Faith is the good Fish which swam through the briny flood of this world; it rested on the Breast of Christ, and thus spoke in the Holy Spirit:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.”
“All things were made by Him.” Then, let us sing the praises of this Disciple, and since he bears the laurels of the Spirit, let his writings be his crown.
Martyrdom has been granted to many, and this shedding of their own blood purifies them from every sin; our John did what was better than Martyrdom – he taught to the world that which made the Martyrs.
Yet we are told, that he was bound by wicked men, and plunged into boiling oil; it did but cleanse him from this world’s dust, and give him victory over the enemy.
Glory be to thee, O Lord, that wast born of the Virgin! and to the Father, and to the Holy Ghost, for everlasting ages. Amen.
We will now give a few stanzas from the Hymns which the Greek Church, in her accustomed pomp of language, sings in honour of St. John. She keeps his Feast on the 26th September.
(XXVI. Septembris, in magno Vespertino, et passim.)
Come, ye Faithful, let us this day crown with sacred hymns the glorious and Beloved John, an abyss of wisdom, and the writer of orthodox dogmas: for it was he that uttered. In the beginning was the Word. Therefore did he appear as with the voice of thunder, enlightening the world with his Gospel – he the exceeding wise and world-wide famed Disciple.Thou wast truly and manifestly the great bosom-friend of Jesus thy Master; for thou didst recline upon his Breast, imbibing thence the dogmas of wisdom, wherewith, as God’s sublime herald, thou enrichest the earth’s circuit, and which the glad Church of Christ, now possessing it, exultingly honours.
Rejoice, thou true Theologian! rejoice, thou most amiable Son of our Lord’s Mother! for, when standing nigh the Cross of Jesus, thou didst hear his divine voice saying unto thee: Behold now thy Mother. Therefore do we all bless thee, as the great and Beloved Apostle of Christ.
The contemplator of ineffable revelations, the interpreter of God’s most high mysteries, the son of Zebedee, wrote us the Gospel of Christ, and thereby taught us how to speak theologically of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
This heaven-hymned Harp attuned by God, this mystic writer, this mouth that speaks divine things, is now sweetly- singing the Canticle of Canticles, and prays for our salvation.
Let us, O ye mortals! proclaim his many praises:- John, the Son of thunder – the source of divine language – the Prince of Theology – the first preacher of true wisdom’s dogmas – the Beloved and Virgin-Disciple.
The streams of Theology gushed from thy venerable lips, O Apostle! the Church of God has drunk them in, O teacher of truth! and adores the consubstantial Trinity. O holy Theologian John! now pray that our souls may be unwavering and saved.
The flower of purity, the fragrant perfume, breathes upon this day’s feast; let us, therefore, pray to him: Blessed Apostle John! who didst recline upon Jesus’ Breast! who didst pour out The Word upon the earth; who didst guard the Virgin as the apple of thine eye! Oh! ask Jesus to show his great mercy unto us.
Come, ye faithful! let us bless the most renowned John, the exalted one among the Apostles, the trumpet of theology, the spiritual guide – he that brought the world into subjection to God – he that was raised above the earth, not taken away from it, and is living and awaiting the dread second coming of our Lord. O thou the mystic Friend of Christ, that didst lovingly lean upon his Breast, help us, who celebrate thy memory, help us by thy prayers to present ourselves guiltless before our judge.
As usual, we will close these liturgical praises of our dear Saint, by a Prose of the Western Churches in the Middle-Ages, which we have taken from the collection of the Monastery of Saint Gal. It was composed by the Blessed Notker, and was for centuries in the Roman-French Missals.
SEQUENCE
O John! the dearly Beloved Virgin-Disciple of Jesus!
For love of Him, thou didst leave thy father Zebedee and his boat.
Thou didst disdain the caresses of thy young betrothed, and didst follow the Messias,
That thou mightest merit to drink at the sacred fount of his Heart.
Thou, too, when on this earth, didst behold the transfiguration of the Son of God,
Which vision, as we are taught, is not granted save to the Saints in life eternal.
Jesus, when conquering on his cross, entrusted his Mother to thy keeping;
That thou, a Virgin, mightest protect and care for the Virgin, in His stead.
Imprisoned and torn by scourges, thou didst rejoice – for it was thy bearing testimony to Christ.
Thou, too, raisest the dead to life, and, in the name of Jesus, breakest the poison’s power.
To thee, above the rest; the Almighty Father reveals his own embosomed Word.
Do thou ever commend us all to God, by unwearied intercession, O John, Disciple dear to Christ!
Amen.
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Beloved Disciple of the Babe of Bethlehem! – how great is thy happiness! how wonderful is the reward given to thy love and thy purity! In thee was fulfilled that word of thy Master: Blessed are the dean of heart; for they shall see God. Not only didst thou see this God-Man – thou wast his Friend, and on his Bosom didst rest thy head. John the Baptist trembles at having to bend the head of Jesus under the water of Jordan; Magdalene, though assured by his own lips that her pardon was perfect as her love, yet dares not raise her head, but keeps clinging to his feet; Thomas scarce presumes to obey him when he bids him put his finger into his wounded Side; – and thou, in the presence of all the Apostles, sittest close to Him, leaning thy head upon his Breast! Nor is it only Jesus in his Humanity that thou seest and possessest; but, because thy heart is pure, thou soarest, like an eagle, up to the Sun of Justice, and fixest thine eye upon him in the light inaccessible, wherein he dwelleth eternally with the Father and the Holy Ghost.
Thus was rewarded the fidelity wherewith thou didst keep intact for Jesus the precious treasure of thy Purity. And now, O worthy favourite of the great King! forget not us poor sinners. We believe and confess the Divinity of the Incarnate Word, whom thou hast evangelised unto us; but we desire to draw nigh to him during this holy season, now that he shows himself so desirous of our company, so humble, so full of love, so dear a Child, and so poor! Alas! our sins keep us back; our heart is not pure like thine; we have need of a Patron to introduce us to our Master’s Crib! [Isai. 1:3] Thou, O Beloved Disciple of the Emmanuel! thou must procure us this happiness. Thou hast shown us the Divinity of the Word in the bosom of the Eternal Father; lead us now to this same Word made flesh. Under thy patronage, Jesus will permit us to enter into the Stable, to stand near his Crib, to see with our eyes, and touch with our hands [1 John 1:1], this sweet Fruit of eternal Life. May it be granted us to contemplate the sweet Face of Him, that is our Saviour and thy Friend; to feel the throbs of that Heart, which loves both thee and us – and which thou didst see wounded by the Spear, on Calvary. It is good for us to fix ourselves here near the Crib of our Jesus, and share in the graces he there lavishes, and learn, as thou didst, the grand lesson of this Child’s simplicity; – thy prayers must get us all this.
Then too, as Son and Guardian of Mary, thou hast to present us to thine own and our Mother. Ask her to give us somewhat of the tender love wherewith she watches over the Crib of her Divine Son; to see in us the Brothers of that Child she bore; and to admit us to a share of the maternal affection she had for thee, the favoured confidant of the secrets of her Jesus.
We also pray to thee, O holy Apostle! for the Church of God. She was planted and watered by thy labours, embalmed with the celestial fragrance of thy virtues, and illumined by thy sublime teachings; – pray now, that these graces may bring forth their fruit, and that, to the end of her pilgrimage, faith may be firm, the love of Jesus fervent, and christian morals pure and holy. Thou tellest us, in thy Gospel, of a saying of thy Divine Master: I will not now call you my Servants, but my Friends [John 15:15]: pray, dear Saint, that there may come to this, from our hearts and lips, a response of love and courage, telling our Emmanuel, that, like thyself, we will follow him whithersoever he leads us.
Let us, on this second day after our Divine Infant’s Birth, meditate upon the Sleep he deigns to take. Let us consider how this God of all goodness, who has come down from heaven to invite his creature man to come to him and seek rest for his soul – seeks rest himself in our earthly home, and sanctifies, by his own divine Sleep, that rest, which to us is a necessity. We have just been dwelling, with delighted devotion, on the thought of his offering his Breast as a resting-place for the Beloved Disciple, and for all souls that imitate John in their love and devotedness: now, let us look at this our God, sweetly sleeping in his humble Crib, or on his Mother’s lap.
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St. Alphonsus Liguori, in one of his delicious Canticles, thus describes the Sleep of Jesus and the enraptured love of the Mother (Translation by the Very Rev. R.A. Coffin.):
Mary sings – the ravish’d heavens
Hush the music of their spheres;
Soft her voice, her beauty fairer
Than the glancing stars appears:
While to Jesus slumbering nigh.
Thus she sings her lullaby.
Sleep my Babe! my God! my Treasure!
Gently sleep: but ah! the sight
With its beauty so transports me,
I am dying of delight:
Thou canst not thy Mother see,
Yet thou breathest flames to me.
If within your lids unfolded,
Slumbering eyes! you seem so fair;
When upon my gaze you open,
How shall I your beauty bear?
Ah! I tremble when you wake,
Lest my heart with love should break.
Cheeks than sweetest roses sweeter.
Mouth where lurks a smile divine –
Though the kiss my Babe should waken,
I must press those lips to mine.
Pardon, Dearest, if I say,
Mother’s love will take no nay.
As she ceased, the gentle Virgin
Clasped the Infant to her breast.
And upon his radiant forehead
Many a loving kiss impress’d:
Jesus woke, and on her face
Fixed a look of heavenly grace.
Ah! that look, those eyes, that beauty.
How they pierce the Mother’s heart;
Shafts of love from every feature
Through her gentle bosom dart
Heart of stone! can I behold
Mary’s love, and still be cold?
Where, my soul! thy sense, thy reason?
When will these delays be o’er?
All things else, how fair so ever.
Are but smoke:- resist no more!
Yes! ’tis done! I yield my arms
Captive to those double charms.
If, alas, O heavenly beauty!
Now so late those charms I learn.
Now at least, and ever, ever,
With thy love my heart will burn
For the Mother and the Child,
Rose and Lily undefiled.
Plant and fruit, and fruit and blossom,
I am theirs, and they are mine;
For no other prize I labour,
For no other bliss I pine;
Love can every pain requite,
Love alone is full delight.
Let us, then, adore the Divine Babe in this state of Sleep, to which he voluntarily subjects himself, and contrast it with the cruel fatigue, which are one day to be His when he is grown up, and come to the age of manhood, he will go through every toil and suffering in search of us his Lost Sheep. But these first slumbers shall not be troubled by any- thing of ours, which could pain this losing wakeful Heart; and the Blessed Mother shall not be disturbed in the blissful contemplation of her Sleeping Child, over whom she is, at a future time, to shed such bitter tears. The day is not far distant, when he will say: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head [Matt. 8:20].
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“Christ has had three resting-places,” says Peter of Celles. “The first was in the Bosom of his Eternal Father. He says: I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? [John, 14:11]. What repose could be compared to this, of the Father’s complacency in the Son, and the Son’s complacency in the Father? It is a mutual and ineffable love, and they are happy in the union. But, whilst maintaining this place of his eternal rest, the Son of God has sought a second, in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He overshadowed her with the Holy Ghost, and slept a long sleep in her chaste womb, whilst his Body was there being formed. The holy Virgin troubled not the sleep of her Child: she kept all the powers of her soul in a silence like that of heaven; and, rapt in self-contemplation, she heard mysteries which it is not permitted to man to utter. The third resting-place of Christ is in man. Jesus dwells in a heart that is purified by faith, enlarged by charity, raised above Earth by contemplation, and is renewed by the Holy Ghost. Such a heart as this offers to Jesus not an earthly but a heavenly dwelling; and the Child, who is born unto us, will not refuse to enter it, and take his rest within it.” [Fourth Sermon On our Lord’s Nativity.]
To this Eternal Word, made Flesh for our salvation, let us offer up this Hymn of our great ecclesiastical Poet, Prudentius.
HYMN
Born from the bosom of the Father before the world began, his name is Alpha and Omega. He is the beginning and end of all things present, past, and future.He commanded and they were created, he spoke and they were made: earth, heaven, and sea – the triple kingdom – and all things that are in them, under the sun and moon.
He clothes himself with a frail Body, and with members subject to death; lest the human race, the offspring of Adam, should perish together with their first Parent, whom a terrible sentence had condemned to the depth of hell.
O that happy Birth, when a Virgin-Mother, having conceived of the Holy Ghost, brought forth the Child that was our salvation ‘, and the Babe, the Redeemer of the world, showed unto us his divine Face!
Let high heaven sing, and sing all ye Angels! Let every living creature sing to the praise of God! Let every tongue proclaim it, and every voice join in the hymn of praise.
Behold the Promised Messias, of whom sang the Seers in the ancient times, and whom the Prophets foretold in their truthful oracles! Praise be to him from every creature.
May the aged, and the young, and children, mothers, and virgins, and innocent maidens, sing to thee, O Jesus! and with concordant voice chastely hymn thy praise!
May the flowing river and the sea-shore wave, rain and heat, snow and frost forest and zephyr, day and night, for ever and for ever give thee praise. Amen.
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Let us now honour and invoke the ever Blessed and most Merciful Mother of our God, and use the words of this beautiful Hymn of the ancient Roman-French Missals:
HYMN
Rejoice, O Virgin-Mother! in thy joy-giving delivery, for thy chaste womb was made fruitful of the very Son of God.O wondrous sight – Jesus feeding from the Lily of Purity! Yea, most pure Virgin, thou feedest at thy breasts his infant life.
The Only Begotten of the Father, by whom he made this world, is dwelling here the Babe of a poor Mother. There, be is feeding the holy Angels with joy:- here, he is in hanger and thirst, from his cradle.
There, he holds all things in subjection:- here, he is in subjection to a Mother. There, le commands:- here, he obeys his Handmaid.
There, he is seated on the throne of highest majesty:- here, he is lying swathed and weeping in a manger.
Think on this, O man! and to thy memory recall these stupendous works of God’s mercy.
And though thy sins be great, yet canst thou not despair, for the proofs thou seest here of Jesus’ love speak but of pardon.
Thou wouldst have pardon? fly to the Mother for protection, for she holds on her lap the Infinite Fountain of Mercy.
Often bend thy knee before her, and, with hopeful love, salute her thus: hail! full of grace!
As thou, of old, didst feed thy Jesus, and stay his infant tears; so now, dear Mother, appease him angered by our sins.
Hear, O Jesus! thy sweet Mother’s prayers, and, with an eye of pity, look upon us sinners! Correct and change us, and make us worthy to be citizens of heaven. Amen.
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| St. Gertrude the Great: Greetings to the Child Jesus |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-27-2020, 08:35 AM - Forum: In Honor of Our Lord
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Greetings to the Child Jesus
Hail, most loving little Jesus, sweetest love, far above all created love!
I greet Thee, and in the desires of all Christendom I embrace Thee.
Hail, most charming little Jesus, noble Child of Nazareth,
full rose of Jericho, blooming flower from Heaven!
Draw our hearts to Thyself and refresh them with Thy sweetness.
Hail, most lovable little Jesus, living Bread of Bethlehem, innocent Lamb of Jerusalem,
newly-born King of Judea! Receive us into the number of Thy chosen servants.
Hail, most beautiful little Jesus, watchful Shepherd of the heavenly sheep,
beloved fellow-Brother of all the children of men, delicate flower planted by the Holy Spirit
in the virgin heart of Mary, bright daybreak rising out of the dark night to the joy of the whole earth!
Drive away from us the darkness of sin.
Glory and praise be to Thee, tender, sweet little Jesus!
From the depths of my heart I pray and adore Thee because for the love of me and of all mankind
Thou wert willing to lie in the manger and to suffer such great poverty and misery.
I thank and adore Thy tender limbs and Thy tender hands and feet, and I praise the inexpressible love
which didst draw Thou forth from the bosom of the Heavenly Father, down to a poor and miserable stable.
Glory and praise be to Thee, noble little Jesus! I greet and praise Thee with the same fervent love
with which Thy mother loved and praised Thee so intensely.
Glory and praise be to Thee, most beloved little Jesus, sweet delight of eternal bliss.
I greet and praise Thee with the same love which madst Thou leave Heaven and become a poor Child.
Glory and praise be to Thee, most precious little Jesus, joy and honor of Thy Heavenly Father!
I thank Thee through Thine Own sweet Heart which Thou hast revealed to the whole world through Thy birth.
I greet Thee over and over again, most beautiful little Jesus, sweetest delight of the Father's Heart,
refreshment of sick souls. I offer to Thee my own heart for Thine eternal glory and service.
Jesus, crown, love, joy, bliss of virgins! Thy love madst
Thou the Son of a Virgin. May Thou be glorified and praised forever. Amen.
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| Venerable Mary of Agreda: Christ Our Savior Is Born in Bethlehem |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-27-2020, 08:24 AM - Forum: Christmas
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Christ Our Savior Is Born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, Juda [Judea]
From The Mystical City of God by Ven. Mary Agreda
The palace which the supreme King of kings and the Lord of lords had chosen for entertaining His eternal and incarnate Son in this world was a most poor and insignificant hut or cave, to which most holy Mary and Joseph betook themselves after they had been denied all hospitality and the most ordinary kindness by their fellowmen, as I have described in the foregoing chapter. This place was held in such contempt that though the town of Bethlehem was full of strangers in want of night-shelter, none would demean or degrade himself so far as to make use of it for a lodging; for there was none who deemed it suitable or desirable for such a purpose, except the Teachers of humility and poverty, Christ our Savior and His purest Mother. On this account the wisdom of the eternal Father had reserved it for Them, consecrating it in all its bareness, loneliness and poverty as the first temple of light (Malachy 4, 2; Ps. 111, 4) and as the house of the true Sun of justice, which was to arise for the upright of heart from the resplendent Aurora Mary, turning the night of sin into the daylight of grace.
Most holy Mary and Saint Joseph entered the lodging thus provided for them and by the effulgence of the ten thousand Angels of their guard they could easily ascertain its poverty and loneliness, which they esteemed as favors, and welcomed with tears of consolation and joy. Without delay the two holy travelers fell on their knees and praised the Lord, giving Him thanks for His benefit, which they knew had been provided by His wisdom for His Own hidden designs. Of this mystery the heavenly Princess Mary had a better insight; for as soon as She sanctified the interior of the cave by her sacred footsteps She felt a fullness of joy which entirely elevated and vivified Her. She besought the Lord to bless with a liberal hand all the inhabitants of the neighboring city, because by rejecting Her they had given occasion to the vast favors, which She awaited in this neglected cavern. It was formed entirely of the bare and coarse rocks, without any natural beauty or artificial adornment; a place intended merely for the shelter of animals; yet the eternal Father had selected it for the shelter and dwelling-place of His Own Son.
The Angelic spirits, who like a celestial militia guarded their Queen and Mistress, formed themselves into cohorts in the manner of court guards in a royal palace. They showed themselves in their visible forms also to Saint Joseph; for on this occasion it was befitting that he should enjoy such a favor, on the one hand in order to assuage his sorrow by allowing him to behold this poor lodging thus beautified and adorned by their celestial presence, and on the other, in order to enliven and encourage him for the events which the Lord intended to bring about during that night, and in this forsaken place. The great Queen and Empress, who was already informed of the mystery to be transacted here, set about cleaning with her own hands the cave, which was so soon to serve as a royal throne and sacred mercy-seat; for neither did She want to miss this occasion for exercising her humility, nor would She deprive her Only begotten Son of the worship and reverence implied by this preparation and cleansing of His temple.
Saint Joseph, mindful of the majesty of his heavenly Spouse (which, it seemed to him, She was forgetting in her ardent longing for humiliation), besought Her not to deprive Him of this work, which he considered as his alone; and he hastened to set about cleaning the floor and the corners of the cave, although the humble Queen continued to assist him therein. As the holy Angels were then present in visible forms, they were (according to our mode of speaking) abashed at such eagerness for humiliation, and they speedily emulated with each other to join in this work; or rather, in order to say it more succinctly, in the shortest time possible they had cleansed and set in order that cave, filling it with holy fragrance. Saint Joseph started a fire with the material which he had brought for that purpose. As it was very cold, they sat at the fire in order to get warm. They partook of the food which they had brought, and they ate this, their frugal supper, with incomparable joy of their souls. The Queen of Heaven was so absorbed and taken up with the thought of the impending mystery of her Divine delivery, that She would not have partaken of food if She had not been urged thereto by obedience to her spouse.
After their supper they gave thanks to the Lord as was their custom. Having spent a short time in this prayer and conferring about the mysteries of the incarnate Word, the most prudent Virgin felt the approach of the most blessed Birth. She requested her spouse Saint Joseph to betake himself to rest and sleep as the night was already far advanced. The man of God yielded to the request of his Spouse and urged Her to do the same; and for this purpose he arranged and prepared a sort of couch with the articles of wear in their possession, making use of a crib or manger, that had been left by the shepherds for their animals. Leaving most holy Mary in the portion of the cave thus furnished, Saint Joseph retired to a corner of the entrance, where he began to pray. He was immediately visited by the Divine Spirit and felt a most sweet and extraordinary influence, by which he was wrapt and elevated into an ecstasy. In it was shown him all that passed during that night in this blessed cave; for he did not return to consciousness until his heavenly Spouse called him. Such was the sleep which Saint Joseph enjoyed in that night, more exalted and blessed than that of Adam in paradise (Gen. 21, 2).
The Queen of all creatures was called from her resting-place by a loud voice of the Most High, which strongly and sweetly raised Her above all created things and caused Her to feel new effects of Divine power; for this was one of the most singular and admirable ecstasies of her most holy life. Immediately also She was filled with new enlightenment and Divine influences, such as I have described in other places, until She reached the clear vision of the Divinity. The veil fell and She saw intuitively the Godhead Itself in such glory and plenitude of insight, as all the capacity of men and Angels could not describe or fully understand. All the knowledge of the Divinity and humanity of her most holy Son, which She had ever received in former visions was renewed and, moreover, other secrets of the inexhaustible archives of the bosom of God were revealed to Her. I have not ideas or words sufficient and adequate for expressing what I have been allowed to see of these sacraments by the Divine light; and their abundance and multiplicity convince me of the poverty and want of proper expression in created language.
The Most High announced to His Virgin Mother, that the time of His coming into the world had arrived and what would be the manner in which this was now to be fulfilled and executed. The most prudent Lady perceived in this vision the purpose and exalted scope of these wonderful mysteries and sacraments, as well in so far as related to the Lord Himself as also in so far as they concerned creatures, for whose benefit they had been primarily decreed. She prostrated Herself before the throne of His Divinity and gave Him glory, magnificence, thanks and praise for Herself and for all creatures, such as was befitting the ineffable mercy and condescension of His Divine love. At the same time She asked of the Divine Majesty new light and grace in order to be able worthily to undertake the service and worship and the rearing up of the Word made flesh, whom She was to bear in Her arms and nourish with her virginal milk. This petition the heavenly Mother brought forward with the profoundest humility, as one who understood the greatness of this new sacrament. She held Herself unworthy of the office of rearing up and conversing as a Mother with a God incarnate of which even the highest seraphim are incapable. Prudently and humbly did the Mother of wisdom ponder and weigh this matter. And because She humbled Herself to the dust and acknowledged her nothingness in the presence of the Almighty, therefore His Majesty raised Her up and confirmed anew upon Her the title of Mother of God. He commanded Her to exercise this office and ministry of a legitimate and true Mother of Himself; that She should treat Him as the Son of the eternal Father and at the same time the Son of her womb. All this could be easily entrusted to such a Mother, in whom was contained an excellence that words cannot express.
The most holy Mary remained in this ecstasy and Beatific Vision for over an hour immediately preceding her Divine delivery. At the moment when She issued from it and regained the use of her senses She felt and saw that the body of the infant God began to move in her virginal womb; how, releasing and freeing Himself from the place which in the course of nature He had occupied for nine months, He now prepared to issue forth from that sacred bridal chamber. This movement not only did not cause any pain or hardship, as happens with the other daughters of Adam and Eve in their child births; but filled Her with incomparable joy and delight, causing in her soul and in her virginal body such exalted and Divine effects that they exceed all thoughts of men. Her body became so spiritualized with the beauty of Heaven that She seemed no more a human and earthly creature. Her countenance emitted rays of light, like a sun incarnadined, and shone in indescribable earnestness and majesty, all inflamed with fervent love. She was kneeling in the manger, her eyes raised to Heaven, her hands joined and folded at her breast, her soul wrapped in the Divinity and She herself was entirely deified. In this position, and at the end of the heavenly rapture, the most exalted Lady gave to the world the Only-begotten of the Father and her own, our Savior Jesus, true God and man, at the hour of midnight, on a Sunday, in the year of the creation of the world five thousand one hundred and ninety-nine (5199), which is the date given in the Roman Church, and which date has been manifested to me as the true and certain one.
At the end of the Beatific rapture and Vision of the Mother ever Virgin, which I have described above, was born the Sun of Justice, the Only-begotten of the eternal Father and of Mary most pure, beautiful, refulgent and immaculate, leaving---Her untouched in her virginal integrity and purity and making Her more god-like and forever sacred; for He did not divide, but penetrated the virginal chamber as the rays of the sun penetrate the crystal shrine, lighting it up in prismatic beauty.
The infant God therefore was brought forth from the virginal chamber unencumbered by any corporeal or material substance foreign to Himself. But He came forth glorious and transfigured for the Divine and infinite wisdom decreed and ordained that the glory of His most holy Soul should in His Birth overflow and communicate itself to His body, participating in the gifts of glory in the same way as happened afterwards in His Transfiguration on mount Tabor in the presence of the Apostles (Matth. 17, 2). This miracle was not necessary in order to penetrate the virginal enclosure and to leave unimpaired the virginal integrity; for without this Transfiguration God could have brought this about by other miracles. Thus say the holy doctors, who see no other miracle in this Birth than that the Child was born without impairing the virginity of the Mother. It was the will of God that the most blessed Virgin should look upon the body of her Son, the God-man, for this first time in a glorified state for two reasons. The one was in order that by this Divine vision the most prudent Mother should conceive the highest reverence for the Majesty of Him Whom She was to treat as her Son, the true God-man. Although She was already informed of His two-fold nature, the Lord nevertheless ordained that by ocular demonstration She be filled with new graces, corresponding to the greatness of her most holy Son, which was thus manifested to Her in a visible manner. The second reason was to reward by this wonder the fidelity and holiness of the Divine Mother; for her most pure and chaste eyes, that had turned away from all earthly things for love of her most holy Son, were to see Him at his very Birth in this glory and thus be rejoiced and rewarded for her loyalty and beautiful love.
The sacred evangelist Luke tells us that the Mother Virgin, having brought forth her first-begotten Son, wrapped Him in swathing clothes and placed Him in a manger. He does not say that She received Him in her arms from her virginal womb; for this did not pertain to the purpose of his narrative. But the two sovereign princes, Saint Michael and Saint Gabriel, were the assistants of the Virgin on this occasion. They stood by at proper distance in human corporeal forms at the moment when the incarnate Word, penetrating the virginal chamber by Divine power, issued forth to the light, and they received Him in their hands with ineffable reverence. In the same manner as a priest exhibits the sacred Host to the people for adoration, so these two celestial ministers presented to the Divine Mother her glorious and refulgent Son. All this happened in a short space of time. In the same moment in which the holy Angels thus presented the Divine Child to His Mother, both Son and Mother looked upon each other, and in this look, She wounded with love the sweet Infant and was at the same time exalted and transformed in Him. From the arms of the holy princes the Prince of all the heavens spoke to His holy Mother: "Mother, become like unto Me, since on this day, for the human existence, which thou hast today given Me, I will give thee another more exalted existence in grace, assimilating thy existence as a mere creature to the likeness of Me, Who am God and Man." The most prudent Mother answered: (Cant. 1, 3) "Raise me, elevate me, Lord, and I will run after Thee in the odor of Thy ointments. In the same way many of the hidden mysteries of the Canticles were fulfilled; and other sayings which passed between the infant God and the Virgin Mother had been recorded in that book of songs, as for instance: "My Beloved to me, and I to Him, and His desire is toward me" (Cant. 2, 16). "Behold thou art beautiful, my friend, and thy eyes are dove's eyes. Behold, my beloved, for thou art beautiful"; and many other sacramental words which to mention would unduly prolong this chapter.
The words, which most holy Mary heard from the mouth of her most holy Son, served to make Her understand at the same time the interior acts of His holiest Soul united with the Divinity; in order that by imitating them She might become like unto Him. This was one of the greatest blessings, which the most faithful and fortunate Mother received at the hands of her Son, the true God and man, not only because it was continued from that day on through all her life, but because it furnished Her the means of copying His Own Divine life as faithfully as was possible to a mere creature. At the same time the heavenly Lady perceived and felt the presence of the most holy Trinity, and She heard the voice of the eternal Father saying: "This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am greatly pleased and delighted" (Matth. 17, 5). The most prudent Mother made entirely god-like in the overflow of so many sacraments, answered: "Eternal Father and exalted God, Lord and Creator of the universe, give me anew Thy permission and benediction to receive in my arms the Desired of nations (Agg. 2, 8); and teach me to fulfill as Thy unworthy Mother and lowly slave, Thy holy will." Immediately She heard a voice, which said: "Receive thy Only-begotten Son, imitate Him and rear Him; and remember, that thou must sacrifice Him when I shall demand it of thee." The Divine Mother answered: "Behold the creature of Thy hands, adorn me with Thy grace so that Thy Son and my God receive me for His slave; and if Thou wilt come to my aid with Thy Omnipotence, I shall be faithful in His service; and do Thou count it no presumption in Thy insignificant creature, that she bear in her arms and nourish at her breast her own Lord and Creator."
After this interchange of Words, so full of mysteries, the Divine Child suspended the miracle of His transfiguration, or rather He inaugurated the other miracle, that of suspending the effects of glory in His most holy Body, confining them solely to His Soul; and He now assumed the appearance of one capable of suffering. In this form the most pure Mother now saw Him and, still remaining in a kneeling position and adoring Him with profound humility and reverence, She received Him in her arms from the hands of the holy Angels. And when She saw Him in her arms, She spoke to Him and said: "My sweetest Love and light of my eyes and being of my soul, Thou hast arrived in good hour into this world as the Sun of justice (Malachy 4, 2), in order to disperse the darkness of sin and death! True God of the true God, save Thy servants and let all flesh see Him, Who shall draw upon it salvation (Is. 9, 2). Receive me Thy servant as Thy slave and supply my deficiency, in order that I may properly serve Thee. Make me, my Son, such as Thou desirest me to be in Thy service." Then the most prudent Mother turned toward the eternal Father to offer up to Him His Only-begotten, saying: "Exalted Creator of all the Universe, here is the altar and the sacrifice acceptable in Thine eyes (Malachy 3, 4). From this hour on, O Lord, look upon the human race with mercy; and inasmuch "as we have deserved Thine anger, it is now time that Thou be appeased in Thy Son and mine. Let Thy justice now come to rest, and let Thy mercy be exalted; for on this account the Word has clothed Itself in the semblance of sinful flesh (Rom. 8, 3), and became a Brother of mortals and sinners (Philip 2, 7). In this title I recognize them as brothers and I intercede for them from my inmost soul. Thou, Lord, hast made me the Mother of Thy Only-begotten without my merit, since this dignity is above all merit of a creature; but I partly owe to men the occasion of this incomparable good fortune; since it is on their account that I am the Mother of the Word made man and Redeemer of them all. I will not deny them my love, or remit my care and watchfulness for their salvation. Receive, eternal God, my wishes and petitions for that which is according to Thy pleasure and good will."
The Mother of mercy turned also toward an mortals and addressed them, saying: "Be consoled ye afflicted and rejoice ye disconsolate, be raised up ye fallen, come to rest ye uneasy. Let the just be gladdened and the Saints be rejoiced; let the heavenly Spirits break out in new jubilee, let the Prophets and Patriarchs of Limbo draw new hope, and let all the generations praise and magnify the Lord, Who renews His wonders. Come, come ye poor; approach ye little ones, without fear, for in my arms I bear the Lion made a lamb, the Almighty, become weak, the Invincible subdued. Come to draw life, hasten to obtain salvation, approach to gain eternal rest, since I have all this for all, and it will be given to you freely and communicated to you without envy. Do not be slow and heavy of heart, ye sons of men; and Thou, O sweetest joy of my soul, give me permission to receive from Thee that kiss desired by all creatures." Therewith the most blessed Mother applied her most chaste and heavenly lips in order to receive the loving caresses of the Divine Child, Who on His part, as her true Son, had desired them from Her.
Holding Him in Her arms She thus served as the altar and the sanctuary, where the ten thousand Angels adored in visible human forms their Creator incarnate. And as the most blessed Trinity assisted in an especial manner at the birth of the Word, Heaven was as it were emptied of its inhabitants, for the whole heavenly court had betaken itself to that blessed cave of Bethlehem and was adoring the Creator in His garb and habit of a pilgrim (Phil. 2, 7). And in their concert of praise the holy Angels intoned the new canticle: "Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis" (Luke 2, 14). In sweetest and sonorous harmony they repeated it, transfixed in wonder at the new miracles then being fulfilled and at the unspeakable prudence, grace, humility and beauty of that tender Maiden of fifteen years, who had become the worthy Trustee and Minister of such vast and magnificent sacraments.
It was now time to call Saint Joseph, the faithful spouse of the most discreet and attentive Lady. As I have said above he was wrapped in ecstasy, in which he was informed by Divine revelation of all the mysteries of this sacred Birth during this night. But it was becoming that he should see, and, before all other mortals, should in his corporeal faculties and senses be present and experience, adore and reverence the Word made flesh; for he of all others had been chosen to act as the faithful warden of this great sacrament. At the desire of his heavenly Spouse he issued from his ecstasy and, on being restored to consciousness, the first sight of his eyes was the Divine Child in the arms of the Virgin Mother reclining against her sacred countenance and breast. There he adored Him in profoundest humility and in tears of joy. In great joy and admiration, which no doubt would have taken away and destroyed life in him, if Divine power had not preserved it; and he certainly would have lost all the use of his senses, if the occasion had permitted. When Saint Joseph had begun to adore the Child, the most prudent Mother asked leave of her Son to arise (for until then She had remained on her knees) and, while Saint Joseph handed Her the wrappings and swaddling-clothes, which She had brought, She clothed Him with incomparable reverence, devotion and tenderness. Having thus swathed and clothed Him, His Mother, with heavenly wisdom, laid Him in the crib, as related by Saint Luke (Luke 2, 7). For this purpose She had arranged some straw and hay upon a stone in order to prepare for the God-Man His first resting-place upon earth next to that which He had found in her arms. According to Divine ordainment an ox from the neighboring fields ran up in great haste and, entering the cave, joined the beast of burden brought by the Queen. The blessed Mother commanded them, with what show of reverence was possible to them to acknowledge and adore their Creator. The humble animals obeyed their Mistress and prostrated themselves before the Child, warming Him with their breath and rendering Him the service refused by men. And thus the God made man was placed between two animals, wrapped in swaddling-clothes and wonderfully fulfilling the prophecy, that "the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel hath not known Me, and My people hath not understood." (Is. 13.)
WORDS OF THE QUEEN
My daughter, if men would keep their heart disengaged and if they would rightly and worthily consider this great sacrament of the kindness of the Most High towards men, it would be a powerful means of conducting them in the pathway of life and subjecting them to the love of their Creator and Redeemer. For as men are capable of reasoning, if they would only make use of their freedom to treat this sacrament with the reverence due to its greatness, who would be so hardened as not to be moved to tenderness at the sight of their God become man, humiliated in poverty, despised, unknown, entering the world in a cave, lying in a manger surrounded by brute animals, protected only by a poverty-stricken Mother, and cast off by the foolish arrogance of the world? Who will dare to love the vanity and pride, which was openly abhorred and condemned by the Creator of Heaven and earth in His conduct? No one can despise the humility, poverty and indigence, which the Lord loved and chose for Himself as the very means of teaching the way of eternal life. Few there are, who stop to consider this truth and example: and on account of this vile ingratitude only the few will reap the fruit of these great sacraments.
But if the condescension of my most holy Son was so great as to bestow so liberally upon thee his light and knowledge concerning these vast blessings, ponder well how much thou art bound to co-operate with this light. In order that thou mayest correspond to this obligation, I remind and exhort thee to forget all that is of earth and lose it out of thy sight; that thou seek nothing, or engage thyself with nothing except what can help thee to withdraw and detach thee from the world and its inhabitants; so that, with a heart freed from all terrestrial affection, thou dispose thyself to celebrate in it the mysteries of the poverty, humility and Divine love of the incarnate God. Learn from my example the reverence, fear and respect, with which thou must treat Him, remembering how I acted, when I held Him in my arms; follow my example, whenever thou receivest Him in thy heart in the venerable Sacrament of the holy Eucharist, wherein is contained the same God-Man, Who was born of my womb. In this holy Sacrament thou receivest Him and possessest Him just as really, and He remains in thee just as actually, as I possessed Him and conversed with Him, although in another manner.
I desire that thou go even to extremes in this holy reverence and fear; and I wish that thou take notice and be convinced, that in entering into thy heart in the holy Sacrament, thy God exhorts thee in the same words, which thou hast recorded as spoken to me: become like unto Me. His coming down from Heaven onto the earth, His being born in humility and poverty, His living and dying in it, giving such rare example of the contempt of the world and its deceits; the knowledge, which thou hast received concerning His conduct and which thou hast penetrated so deeply by Divine intelligence: all these things should be for thee like living voices, which thou must heed and inscribe into the interior of thy heart. These privileges have all been granted to thee in order that thou discreetly use the common blessings to their fullest extent, and in order that thou mayest understand, how thankful thou must be to my most holy Son and Lord, and how thou shouldst strive to make as great a return for His goodness, as if He had come from Heaven to redeem thee alone and as if He had instituted all His wonders and doctrines in the holy Church for none else than thee (Gal. 7, 12).
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| Venerable Mary of Agreda: The Birth of Our Lord, As Described by Our Blessed Lady |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-27-2020, 08:18 AM - Forum: Christmas
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The Birth of Our Lord, As Described by Our Blessed Lady
Taken From "The Mystical City of God" by Venerable Mary of Agreda
Imprimatur: 1949
Our travelers arrived at the town of Bethlehem at four o'clock, a Saturday. As it was at the time of the winter solstice, the sun was already sinking and the night was falling. They entered the town, and wandered through many streets in search of a lodging-house or inn for staying over night. They knocked at the doors of their acquaintances and nearer family relations; but They were admitted nowhere and in many places they were met with harsh words and insults. The most modest Queen followed Her spouse through the crowds of people, while he went from house to house and from door to door. Although She knew that the hearts and the houses of men were to be closed to Them, and although to expose Her state at Her age to the public gaze was more painful to Her modesty than their failure to procure a night-lodging, She nevertheless wished to obey Saint Joseph and suffer this indignity and unmerited shame. While wandering through the streets they passed the Office of the Public Registry and They inscribed their names and paid the fiscal tribute in order to comply with the edict and not be obliged to return. They continued their search, betaking themselves to other houses. But having already applied at more than fifty different places, They found themselves rejected and sent away from them all.
It was nine o'clock at night when the most faithful Joseph, full of bitter and heart rending sorrow, returned to his most Prudent Spouse and said: "My Sweetest Lady, my heart is broken with sorrow at the thought of not only being able to shelter Thee as Thou deservest and as I desire, but in not being able to offer Thee even any kind of protection from the weather, or a place of rest, a thing rarely or never denied to the most poor and despised in the world. No doubt Heaven in thus allowing the hearts of men to be so unmoved as to refuse us a night-lodging, conceals some mystery. I now remember, Lady, that outside the city walls there is a cave, which serves as a shelter for the shepherds and their flocks. Let us seek it out; perhaps it is unoccupied, and we may there expect some assistance from Heaven, since we receive none from men on earth." The most prudent Virgin answered: "My spouse and My master, let not thy kindest heart be afflicted because the ardent wishes which the love of Thy Lord excites in thee cannot be fulfilled. Since I bear Him in My womb, let us, I beseech thee, give thanks for having disposed events in this way. The place of which thou speakest shall be most satisfactory to me. Let thy tears of sorrow be turned to tears of joy, and let us lovingly embrace poverty, which is the inestimable and precious treasure of My Most Holy Son. He came from Heaven in order to seek it, let us then afford Him an occasion to practice it in the joy of Our Souls; certainly I cannot be better delighted than to see thee procure it for me. Let us go gladly wherever the Lord shall guide us." The holy Angels accompanied the Heavenly pair , brilliantly lighting up the way, and when they arrived at the city gate they saw that the cave was forsaken and unoccupied.
The palace which the Supreme King of Kings and the Lord of Lords had chosen for entertaining His Eternal and Incarnate Son in this World was a most poor and insignificant hut or cave, to which Most Holy Mary and Joseph betook themselves after they had been denied all hospitality and the most ordinary kindness by their fellow-men, as I have described in the foregoing chapter. This place was held in such contempt that though the town of Bethlehem was full of strangers in want of night-shelter, none would demean or degrade himself so far as to make use of it for a lodging; for there was none who deemed it suitable or desirable for such a purpose, except the Teachers of humility and poverty, Christ Our Savior and his Purest Mother. On this account the wisdom of the Eternal Father had reserved it for Them, consecrating it in all its bareness, loneliness and poverty as the "First Temple of Light" [Malachy 4, 2, Ps. Ill, 4] and as the house of the True Sun of Justice, which was to arise for the upright of heart from the resplendent Aurora Mary, turning the night of sin into the daylight of grace.
Most Holy Mary and Saint Joseph entered the lodging thus provided for them and by the effulgence of the ten thousand Angels of their guard they could easily ascertain its poverty and loneliness, which they esteemed as favors and welcomed with tears of consolation and joy. Without delay the two Holy Travelers fell on Their knees and praised the Lord, giving Him thanks for His benefit, which they knew had been provided by His wisdom for His own hidden designs. Of this mystery the Heavenly Princess Mary had a better insight; for as soon as She sanctified the interior of the cave by Her sacred footsteps She felt a fullness of joy which entirely elevated and vivified Her. She besought the Lord to bless with a liberal hand all the inhabitants of the neighboring city, because by rejecting Her they had given occasion to the vast favors, which She awaited in this neglected cavern. It was formed entirely of the bare and coarse rocks, without any natural beauty or artificial adornment; a place intended merely for the shelter of animals; yet the Eternal Father had selected it for the shelter and dwelling-place of His Own Son.
The Angelic spirits, who like a celestial militia guarded their Queen and Mistress, formed themselves into cohorts in the manner of court guards in a royal palace. They showed themselves in their visible forms also to Saint Joseph; for on this occasion it was befitting that he should enjoy such a favor, on the one hand in order to assuage his sorrow by allowing him to behold this poor lodging thus beautified and adorned by their celestial presence, and on the other, in order to enliven and encourage him for the events which the Lord intended to bring about during that night, and in this forsaken place. The great Queen and Empress, who was already informed of the mystery to be transacted here, set about cleaning with Her Own hands the cave, which was so soon to serve as a royal throne and sacred mercy-seat; for neither did She want to miss this occasion for exercising Her humility, nor would She deprive Her Only-begotten Son of the worship and reverence implied by this preparation and cleansing of His temple.
Saint Joseph, mindful of the majesty of his Heavenly Spouse [which, it seemed to him, She was forgetting in Her ardent longing for humiliation], besought Her not to deprive Him of this work, which he considered as his alone; and he hastened to set about cleaning the floor and the corners of the cave, although the humble Queen continued to assist him therein. As the holy Angels were then present in visible forms, they were [according to our mode of speaking] abashed at such eagerness for humiliation, and they speedily emulated with each other to join in this work; or rather, in order to say it more succinctly, in the shortest time possible they had cleansed and set in order that cave, filling it with holy fragrance. Saint Joseph started a fire with the material which he had brought for that purpose. As it was very cold, they sat at the fire in order to get warm. They partook of the food which they had brought, and they ate this, their frugal supper, with incomparable joy of their souls. The Queen of Heaven was so absorbed and taken up with the thought of the impending mystery of Her Divine delivery, that She would not have partaken of food if She had not been urged there to by obedience to Her spouse.
After their supper they gave thanks to the Lord as was their custom. Having spent a short time in this prayer and conferring about the mysteries of the Incarnate Word, the Most Prudent Virgin felt the approach of the Most Blessed Birth. She requested Her spouse Saint Joseph to betake himself to rest and sleep as the night was already far advanced. The man of God yielded to the request of his Spouse and urged Her to do the same; and for this purpose he arranged and prepared a sort of couch with articles of wear in their possession, making use of a crib or manger , that had been left by the shepherds for their animals. Leaving Most Holy Mary in the portion of the cave thus furnished, Saint Joseph retired to a corner of the entrance, where he began to pray. He was immediately visited by the Divine Spirit and felt a most sweet and extraordinary influence, by which he was wrapt and elevated into an ecstasy. In it was shown him all that passed during that night in this blessed cave; for he did not return to consciousness until his Heavenly Spouse called him. Such was the sleep which Saint Joseph enjoyed in that night, more exalted and blessed than that of Adam in paradise [Gen. 21, 2].
The Queen of all creatures was called from Her resting place by a loud voice of the Most High, which strongly and sweetly raised Her above all created things and caused Her to feel new effects of Divine power; for this was one of the most singular and admirable ecstasies of Her Most Holy Life. Immediately also She was filled with new enlightenment and Divine influences, such as I have described in other places, until She reached the clear vision of the Divinity. The veil fell and She saw intuitively the Godhead Itself in such glory and plenitude of insight, as all the capacity of men and Angels could not describe or fully understand. All the knowledge of the Divinity and humanity of Her Most Holy Son, which She had ever received in former visions was renewed and, moreover, other secrets in the inexhaustible archives of the bosom of God were revealed to Her. I have not ideas or words sufficient and adequate for expressing what I have been allowed to see of these Sacraments by the Divine Light; and their abundance and multiplicity convince me of the poverty and want of proper expression in created language.
The Most High announced to His Virgin Mother, that the time of His coming into the World had arrived and what would be the manner in which this was now to be fulfilled and executed. The Most Prudent Lady perceived in this vision the purpose and exalted scope of these wonderful Mysteries and Sacraments, as well in so far as related to the Lord Himself as also in so far as they concerned creatures, for whose benefit they had been primarily decreed. She prostrated Herself before the throne of His Divinity and gave Him glory, magnificence, thanks and praise for Herself and for all creatures, such as was befitting the ineffable mercy and condescension of His Divine Love. At the same time She asked of the Divine Majesty new light and grace in order to be able worthily to undertake the service and worship and the rearing up of the Word made Flesh, whom She was to bear in Her arms and nourish with Her virginal milk. This petition the Heavenly Mother brought forward with the profoundest humility, as one who understood the greatness of this new sacrament. She held Herself unworthy of the office of rearing up and conversing as a Mother with a God Incarnate of which even the highest Seraphim are incapable. Prudently and humbly did the Mother of Wisdom ponder and weigh this matter. And because She humbled Herself to the dust and acknowledged Her nothingness in the presence of the Almighty, therefore His Majesty raised Her up and confirmed anew upon Her the title of Mother of God. He commanded Her to exercise this office and ministry of a legitimate and true Mother of Himself; that She should treat Him as the Son of the Eternal Father and at the same time the Son of Her womb. All this could be easily entrusted to such a Mother, in whom was contained an excellence that words cannot express.
The Most Holy Mary remained in this ecstasy and beatific vision for over an hour immediately preceding Her Divine delivery. At the moment when She issued from it and regained the use of Her senses She felt and saw that the Body of the Infant God began to move in Her virginal womb; how. releasing and freeing Himself from the place which in the course of nature He had occupied for nine months. He now prepared to issue forth from that sacred bridal chamber. This movement not only did not cause any pain or hardship, as happens with the other daughters of Adam and Eve in their childbirths; but filled Her with incomparable joy and delight. causing in Her Soul and in Her Virginal Body such exalted and Divine effects that they exceed all thoughts of men. Her body became so spiritualized with the beauty of Heaven that She seemed no more a human and earthly creature. Her countenance emitted rays of light, like a sun incarnadined, and shone in indescribable earnestness and majesty, all inflamed with fervent love. She was kneeling in the manger. Her eyes raised to Heaven, Her hands joined and folded at Her breast, Her soul wrapped in the Divinity and She Herself was entirely deified. In this position, and at the end of the Heavenly rapture, the Most Exalted Lady gave to the World The Only-begotten of the Father and Her Own, Our Savior Jesus, True God and man, at the hour of midnight, on a Sunday, in the year of the creation of the world five thousand one hundred and ninety-nine [5199], which is the date given in the Roman Church, and which date has been manifested to me as the true and certain one.
At the end of the beatific rapture and vision of the Mother ever Virgin, which I have described above, was born the Sun of Justice, the Only-begotten of the Eternal Father and of Mary most pure, beautiful, refulgent and immaculate, leaving Her untouched in Her virginal integrity and purity and making Her more Godlike and forever sacred; for He did not divide, but penetrated the virginal chamber as the rays of the sun penetrate the crystal shrine, lighting it up in prismatic beauty.
The Infant God therefore was brought forth from the virginal chamber unencumbered by any corporeal or material substance foreign to Himself. But He came forth glorious and transfigured for the Divine and Infinite Wisdom decreed and ordained that the Glory of His Most Holy Soul should in His birth overflow and communicate itself to His body, participating in the gifts of glory in the same way as happened afterwards in His Transfiguration on Mount Tabor in the presence of the Apostles [Matth. 17, 2]. This miracle was not necessary in order to penetrate the virginal enclosure and to leave unimpaired the virginal integrity; for without this Transfiguration God could have brought this about by other miracles. Thus say the holy doctors, who see no other miracle in this Birth than that the Child was born without impairing the virginity of the Mother. It was the will of God that the Most Blessed Virgin should look upon the body of Her Son, the God-Man, for this first time in a glorified state for two reasons. The one was in order that by this Divine Vision the Most Prudent Mother should conceive the highest reverence for the Majesty of Him whom She was to treat as her Son, the True God-Man. Although She was already informed of His two-fold nature, the Lord nevertheless ordained that by ocular demonstration She be filled with new graces, corresponding to the greatness of Her Most Holy Son, which was thus manifested to Her in a visible manner. The second reason was to reward by this wonder the fidelity and holiness of the Divine Mother; for Her most pure and chaste eyes, that had turned away from all earthly things for love of Her Most Holy Son, were to see Him at His very Birth in this glory and thus be rejoiced and rewarded for Her loyalty and beautiful love.
The sacred evangelist Luke tells us that the Mother Virgin, having brought forth Her first begotten Son, wrapped Him in swathing clothes and placed Him in a manger. He does not say that She received Him in Her arms from Her virginal womb; for this did not pertain to the purpose of his narrative. But the two sovereign princes, Saint Michael and Saint Gabriel, were the assistants of the Virgin on this occasion. They stood by at proper distance in human corporeal forms at the moment when the Incarnate Word, penetrating the virginal chamber by Divine power, issued forth to the light, and they received Him in their hands with ineffable reverence.
In the same manner as a priest exhibits the Sacred Host to the people for adoration, so these two celestial ministers presented to the Divine Mother Her Glorious and Refulgent Son. All this happened in a short space of time. In the same moment in which the Holy Angels thus presented the Divine Child to His Mother, both Son and Mother looked upon each other, and in this look, She wounded with love the Sweet Infant and was at the same time exalted and transformed in Him. From the arms of the Holy Princes the Prince of All the Heavens spoke to His Holy Mother: "Mother, become like unto Me, since on this day, for the human existence, which Thou hast today given Me, I will give Thee another more exalted existence in grace, assimilating Thy existence as a mere creature to the likeness of Me, who am God and Man." The Most Prudent Mother answered: "Trahe me post Te, curremus in odorem unguentorum tuorum" [Cant. 1, 3]. Raise me, elevate Me, Lord, and I will run after Thee in the odor of Thy ointments. In the same way many of the hidden mysteries of the Canticles were fulfilled; and other sayings which passed between the Infant God and the Virgin Mother had been recorded in that book of songs, as for instance: "My Beloved to Me, and I to Him, and His desire is toward Me" [Cant. 2, 16]. "Behold Thou art beautiful, my friend, and Thy eyes are dove's eyes. Behold, My beloved, for Thou art beautiful;" and many other sacramental words which to mention would unduly prolong this chapter.
The words, which Most Holy Mary heard from the mouth of Her Most Holy Son, served to make Her understand at the same time the interior acts of His Holiest Soul united with the Divinity; in order that by imitating them She might become like unto Him. This was one of the greatest blessings, which the Most Faithful and Fortunate Mother received at the hands of her Son, the True God and man, not only because it was continued from that day on through all Her life, but because it furnished Her the means of copying His Own Divine life as faithfully as was possible to a mere creature. At the same time the Heavenly Lady perceived and felt the presence of the Most Holy Trinity, and She heard the voice of the Eternal Father saying: "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am greatly pleased and delighted," [Matth. 17, 5]. The Most Prudent Mother made entirely Godlike in the overflow of so many sacraments, answered: "Eternal Father and Exalted God, Lord and Creator of the Universe, give Me anew Thy permission and benediction to receive in My arms the Desired of Nations [Agg. 2, 8]; and teach Me to fulfill as Thy unworthy Mother and lowly slave, Thy Holy Will." Immediately She heard a voice which said: "Receive Thy Only begotten Son, imitate Him and rear Him; and remember, that Thou must sacrifice Him when I shall demand it of Thee." The Divine Mother answered: "Behold the creature of Thy hands, adorn Me with Thy grace so that Thy Son and My God receive Me for His slave; and if Thou wilt come to My aid with Thy Omnipotence, I shall be faithful in His service; and do Thou count it no presumption in Thy insignificant creature, that She bear in Her arms and nourish at Her breast Her Own Lord and Creator."
After this interchange of Words, so full of mysteries, the Divine Child suspended the miracle of His Transfiguration, or rather He inaugurated the other miracle, that of suspending the effects of glory in His Most Holy Body, confining them solely to His Soul; and He now assumed the appearance of one capable of suffering. In this form the Most Pure Mother now saw Him and, still remaining in a kneeling position and adoring Him with profound humility and reverence, She received Him in Her arms from the hands of the Holy Angels. And when She saw Him in Her arms, She spoke to Him and said: "My sweetest Love and light of My eyes and being of My Soul, Thou hast arrived in good hour into this World as the Sun of Justice [Malach. 4, 2], in order to disperse the darkness of sin and death! True God of the True God, save Thy servants and let all flesh see Him, who shall draw upon it salvation [Is. 9, 2]. Receive Me Thy servant as Thy slave and supply My deficiency, in order that I may properly serve Thee. Make Me, My Son, such as Thou desirest Me to be in Thy service." Then the Most Prudent Mother turned toward the Eternal Father to offer up to Him His Only begotten, saying: "Exalted Creator of all the Universe, here is the altar and the sacrifice acceptable in Thy eyes [Malachy 3, 4,]. From this hour on, O Lord, look upon the human race with mercy; and inasmuch as we have deserved Thy anger; it is now time that Thou be appeased in Thy Son and Mine. Let Thy justice now come to rest, and let Thy mercy be exalted; for on this account the Word has clothed Itself in the semblance of sinful flesh [Rom. 8, 3], and became a Brother of mortals and sinners [Philip 2, 7]. In this title I recognize them as brothers and I intercede for them from my inmost soul. Thou, Lord, hast made me the Mother of Thy Only begotten without My merit, since this dignity is above all merit of a creature; but I partly owe to men the occasion of this incomparable good fortune; since it is on their account that I am the Mother of the Word made man and Redeemer of them all. I will not deny them My love, or remit My care and watchfulness for their salvation. Receive, Eternal God, My wishes and petitions for that which is according to Thy pleasure and good will."
The Mother of mercy turned also toward all mortals and addressed them, saying: "Be consoled ye afflicted and rejoice ye disconsolate. be raised up ye fallen, come to rest ye uneasy. Let the just be gladdened and the Saints be rejoiced; let the Heavenly spirits break out in new jubilee, let the Prophets ahd Patriarchs of limbo draw new hope, and let all the generations praise and magnify The Lord, Who renews His wonders. Come, come ye poor; approach ye little ones, without fear, for in My arms I bear the Lion made a Lamb, the Almighty, become weak, the Invincible subdued. Come to draw life, hasten to obtain salvation, approach to gain eternal rest, since I have all this for all, and it will be given to you freely and communicated to you without envy. Do not be slow and heavy of heart, ye sons of men; and Thou, O Sweetest Joy of My Soul, give Me permission to receive from Thee that kiss desired by all creatures." Therewith the Most Blessed Mother applied Her most chaste and heavenly lips in order to receive the loving caresses of the Divine Child, Who on His part, as Her True Son, had desired them from Her.
Holding Him in Her arms, She thus served as the altar and the sanctuary, where the ten thousand Angels adored in visible human forms Their Creator Incarnate. And as the Most Blessed Trinity assisted in an especial manner at the Birth of the Word, Heaven was as it were emptied of its inhabitants, for the Whole Heavenly Court had betaken itself to that Blessed Cave of Bethlehem and was adoring the Creator in His garb and habit of a Pilgrim [Phil. 2, 7]. And in their concert of praise the Holy Angels intoned the new canticle: "Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis" [Luke 2, 14]. In sweetest and sonorous harmony they repeated it, transfixed in wonder at the new miracles then being fulfilled and at the unspeakable prudence, grace, humility and beauty of that tender Maiden of fifteen years, who had become the worthy Trustee and Minister of such vast and magnificent sacraments.
It was now time to call Saint Joseph, the faithful spouse of the most discreet and attentive Lady.
As I have said above he was wrapped in ecstasy, in which he was informed by Divine Revelation of all the Mysteries of this Sacred Birth during this night. But it was becoming that he should see, and, before all other mortals, should in his corporeal faculties and senses be present and experience, adore and reverence the Word Made Flesh; for he of all others had been chosen to act as the faithful warden of this Great Sacrament. At the desire of his Heavenly Spouse he issued from his ecstasy and, on being restored to consciousness, the first sight of his eyes was the Divine Child in the arms of the Virgin Mother reclining against Her sacred countenance and breast. There he adored Him in profoundest humility and in tears of joy. He kissed his feet in great joy and admiration, which no doubt would have taken away and destroyed life in him, if Divine power had not preserved it; and he certainly would have lost all the use of his senses, if the occasion had permitted. When Saint Joseph had begun to adore the Child, the Most Prudent Mother asked leave of Her Son to arise [for until then She had remained on Her knees] and, while Saint Joseph handed Her the wrappings and swaddling-clothes, which She had brought, She clothed Him with incomparable reverence, devotion and tenderness. Having thus swathed and clothed Him, His Mother, with Heavenly wisdom, laid Him in the crib, as related by Saint Luke [Luke 2, 7]. For this purpose She had arranged some straw and hay upon a stone in order to prepare for the God-Man His first resting-place upon earth next to that which He had found in Her arms. According to Divine ordainment an ox from the neighboring fields ran up in great haste and, entering the cave, joined the beast of burden brought by the Queen. The Blessed Mother commanded them, with what show of reverence was possible to them to acknowledge and adore Their Creator. The humble animals obeyed their Mistress and prostrated themselves before the Child, warming Him with their breath and rendering Him the service refused by men. And thus the God made man was placed between two animals, wrapped in swaddling-clothes and wonderfully fulfilling the prophecy, that "the ox knoweth His owner, and the ass His master's crib; but Israel hath not known Me, and My people hath not understood." [Is. 13.]
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| G.K. Chesterton: God in the Cave |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-27-2020, 08:15 AM - Forum: Christmas
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We all know the story of how Herod, alarmed at some rumor of a mysterious rival, remembered the wild gesture of the capricious despots of Asia and ordered a massacre of suspects of the new generation of the populace. Everyone knows the story; but not everyone has perhaps noted its place in the story of the strange religions of men. Not everybody has seen the significance even of its very contrast with the Corinthian columns and Roman pavement of that conquered and superficially civilized world. Only, as the purpose in his dark spirit began to show and shine in the eyes of the Idumean, a seer might perhaps have seen something like a great grey ghost that looked over his shoulder; have seen behind him filling the dome of night and hovering for the last time over history, that vast and fearful face that was Moloch of the Carthaginians; awaiting his last tribute from a ruler of the races of Shem. The demons also, in that first festival of Christmas, feasted after their own fashion.
Unless we understand the presence of that enemy, we shall not only miss the point of Christianity but even miss the point of Christmas. Christmas for us in Christendom has become one thing, and in one sense even a simple thing. But like all the truths of that tradition, it is in another sense a very complex thing. Its unique note is the simultaneous striking of many notes; of humility, of gaiety, of gratitude, of mystical fear, but also of vigilance and of drama.
There is something defiant in it also; something that makes the abrupt bells at midnight sound like the great guns of a battle that has just been won. All this indescribable thing that we call the Christmas atmosphere only hangs in the air as something like a lingering fragrance or fading vapor from the exultant explosion of that one hour in the Judean hills nearly two thousand years ago. But the savor is still unmistakable, and it is something too subtle or too solitary to be covered by our use of the word peace. By the very nature of the story the rejoicings in the cavern were rejoicings in a fortress or an outlaw's den; properly understood it is not unduly flippant to say they were rejoicings in a dug-out.
It is not only true that such a subterranean chamber was a hiding-place from enemies; and that the enemies were already scouring the stony plain that lay above it like a sky. It is not only that the very horse-hoofs of Herod might in that sense have passed like thunder over the sunken head of Christ. It is also that there is in that image a true idea of an out-post, of a piercing through the rock and an entrance into an enemy territory .There is in this buried Divinity an idea of undermining the world; of shaking the towers and palaces from below; even as Herod the great king felt that earthquake under him and swayed with his swaying palace.
That is perhaps the mightiest of the mysteries of the cave. It is already apparent that though men are said to have looked for Hell under the earth, in this case it is rather Heaven that is under the earth. And there follows in this strange story the idea of an upheaval of Heaven. That is the paradox of the whole position; that henceforth the highest thing can only work from below. Royalty can only return to its own by a sort of rebellion. Indeed the Church from its beginnings, and perhaps especially in its beginning, was not so much a principality as a revolution against the prince of the world.
This sense that the world had been conquered by the great usurper, and was in his possession, has been much deplored or derided by those optimists who identify enlightenment with ease. But it was responsible for all that thrill of defiance and a beautiful danger that made the good news seem to be really both good and new. It was in truth against a huge unconscious usurpation that it raised a revolt, and originally so obscure a revolt. Olympus still occupied the sky like a motionless cloud molded into many mighty forms; philosophy still sat in the high places and even on the thrones of the kings, when Christ was born in the cave and Christianity in the catacombs.
In both cases we may remark the same paradox of revolution; the sense of something despised and of something feared. The cave in one aspect is only a hole or corner into which the outcasts are swept like rubbish; yet in the other aspect it is a hiding-place of something valuable which the tyrants are seeking like treasure. In one sense they are there because the innkeeper would not even remember them, and in another because the king can never forget them.
We have already noted that this paradox appeared also in the treatment of the early Church. It was important while it was still insignificant, and certainly while it was still impotent. It was important solely because it was intolerable; and in that sense it is true to say that it was intolerable because it was intolerant. It was resented, because, in its own still and almost secret way, it had declared war. It had risen out of the ground to wreck the heaven and earth of heathenism. It did not try to destroy all that creation of gold and marble; but it contemplated a world without it. It dared to look right through it as though the gold and marble had been glass.
Those who charged the Christians with burning down Rome with firebrands were slanderers; but they were at least far nearer to the nature of Christianity than those among the moderns who tell us that the Christians were a sort of ethical society, being Martyred in a languid fashion for telling men they had a duty to their neighbors, and only mildly disliked because they were meek and mild.
Herod had his place, therefore, in the miracle play of Bethlehem because he is the menace to the Church Militant and shows it from the first as under persecution and fighting for its life. For those who think this a discord, it is a discord that sounds simultaneously with the Christmas bells. For those who think the idea of the Crusade is one that spoils the idea of the Cross, we can only say that for them the idea of the Cross is spoiled; the idea of the Cross is spoiled quite literally in the cradle.
It is not here to the purpose to argue with them on the abstract ethics of fighting; the purpose in this place is merely to sum up the combination of ideas that make up the Christian and Catholic idea, and to note that all of them are already crystallized in the first Christmas story.
They are three distinct and commonly contrasted things which are nevertheless one thing; but this is the only thing which can make them one.
The first is the human instinct for a Heaven that shall be as literal and almost as local as a home. It is the idea pursued by all poets and pagans making myths; that a particular place must be the shrine of the god or the abode of the blest; that fairyland is a land; or that the return of the ghost must be the resurrection of the body. I do not here reason about the refusal of rationalism to satisfy this need. I only say that if the rationalists refuse to satisfy it, the pagans will not be satisfied.
The second element is a philosophy larger than other philosophies. It looks at the world through a hundred windows where the ancient stoic or the modern agnostic only looks through one. It sees life with thousands of eyes belonging to thousands of different sorts of people, where the other is only the individual stand point of a stoic or an agnostic. It has something for all moods of man, it finds work for all kinds of men, it understands secrets of psychology, it is aware of depths of evil, it is able to distinguish between real and unreal marvels and miraculous exceptions, it trains itself in tact about hard cases, all with a multiplicity and subtlety and imagination about the varieties of life which is far beyond the bald or breezy platitudes of most ancient or modern moral philosophy. In a word, there is more in it; it finds more in existence to think about; it gets more out of life. Masses of this material about our many-sided life have been added since the time of Saint Thomas Aquinas. But Saint Thomas Aquinas alone would have found himself limited in the world of Confucius or of Comte.
The third point is this; that while it is local enough for poetry and larger than any other philosophy, it is also a challenge and a fight. While it is deliberately broadened to embrace every aspect of truth, it is still stiffly embattled against every mode of error. It gets every kind of man to fight for it, it gets every kind of weapon to fight with, it widens its knowledge of the things that are fought for and against with every art of curiosity or sympathy; but it never forgets that it is fighting. It proclaims peace on earth and never forgets why there was war in Heaven.
This is the trinity of truths symbolized here by the three types in the old Christmas story; the shepherds and the kings and that other king who warred upon the children. It is simply not true to say that other religions and philosophies are in this respect its rivals. It is not true to say that anyone of them combines these characters; it is not true to say that anyone of them pretends to combine them.
Buddhism may profess to be equally mystical; it does not even profess to be equally military. Islam may profess to be equally military; it does not even profess to be equally metaphysical and subtle. Confucianism may profess to satisfy the need of the philosophers for order and reason; it does not even profess to satisfy the need of the mystics for miracle and Sacrament and the consecration of concrete things. There are many evidences of this presence of a spirit at once universal and unique. One will serve here which is the symbol of the subject of this chapter; that no other story, no pagan legend or philosophical anecdote or historical event, does in fact affect any of us with that peculiar and even poignant impression produced on us by the word Bethlehem.
No other birth of a god or childhood of a sage seems to us to be Christmas or anything like Christmas. It is either too cold or too frivolous, or too formal and classical, or too simple and savage, or too occult and complicated. Not one of us, whatever his opinions, would ever go to such a scene with the sense that he was going home. He might admire it because it was poetical, or because it was philosophical, or any number of other things in separation; but not because it was itself. The truth is that there is a quite peculiar and individual character about the hold of this story on human nature; it is not in its psychological substance at all like a mere legend or the life of a great man. It does not exactly, in the ordinary sense, turn our minds to greatness; to those extensions and exaggerations of humanity which are turned into gods and heroes, even by the healthiest sort of hero-worship. It does not exactly work outwards, adventurously, to the wonders to be found at the ends of the earth.
It is rather something that surprises us from behind, from the hidden and personal part of our being; like that which can sometimes take us off our guard in the pathos of small objects or the blind pieties of the poor. It is rather as if a man had found an inner room in the very heart of his own house, which he had never suspected; and seen a light from within.
It is as if he found something at the back of his own heart that betrayed him into good. It is not made of what the world would call strong materials; or rather it is made of materials whose strength is in that winged levity with which they brush us and pass. It is all that is in us but a brief tenderness that is there made eternal; all that means no more than a momentary softening that is in some strange fashion become a strengthening and a repose; it is the broken speech and the lost word that are made positive and suspended unbroken; as the strange kings fade into a far country and the mountains resound no more with the feet of the shepherds; and only the night and the cavern lie in fold upon fold over something more human than humanity.
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| The Mother of the Savior by Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-27-2020, 08:09 AM - Forum: Resources Online
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Selections of The Mother of the Savior
by Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O. P.
Nihil Obstat and Imprimi Potest 1941 and 1948
The Dominican theologian-author's work, THE MOTHER OF THE SAVIOR, is not just another pious book about Mary, although there would not be a diminishment of the honor due Mary if it were, but this work is considered one of the finest summations of the Catholic Church's teaching about the Mother of God. From the pen of the probably the twentieth century's greatest theologian, this work is filled with the spirit of faith and inspired by love begotten of sanctity. It is "an exposition of the principal theses of Mariology in their bearing on our interior life." The doctrines presented here are based not the author's personal ones, but on on that of the school of St. Thomas Aquinas.
It's purpose is aimed at increasing in us a love for and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary by teaching us more about her. The Book is divided into three main sections, The Divine Maternity and the Plenitude of Grace, and Mary, Mother of All Men and Her Universal Mediation and Our Interior Life.
Catholic Tradition has selected a large extract culled from each section, covering several chapters. The selected chapters include Garrigou-Lagrange's section on Mary's perpetual Virginity because this teaching of the Church is under serious incessant attack these days, a grave insult to the Mother of God and to Our Savior. Originally there was included a chapter on St. Joseph, which is exquisite and so worthy of this most cherished Saint of popular devotion, the Chaste Spouse of Mary and Foster-Father of our Lord Savior.
The Mother of the Savior can be read online HERE.
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| Our Lady of Fatima |
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Posted by: Elizabeth - 12-26-2020, 11:29 PM - Forum: Catholic Prophecy
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Our Lady of Fatima:
"Even in the highest positions, it is Satan who will rule and decide the course of events. He will even be able to penetrate to the highest heights of the Church.... There will also come a time of hard trials for the Church; cardinals will be against cardinals, bishops against bishops.... Satan will stand in the midst of their ranks... The Church will be obscured and the world plunged into confusion..."
"Le Sacré-Coeur et la France" ("The Sacred Heart and France") by Marquis de la Franquerie, page 26
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| Minnesota lawmakers claim 40-percent inflation in state COVID death numbers |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-26-2020, 04:45 PM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Minnesota lawmakers claim 40-percent inflation in state COVID death numbers
State senator Scott Jensen, a practicing physician who is calling for an audit, noted that 'doctors and hospitals have an incentive to,
if you will, massage the numbers.'
Minnesota state senator Scott Jensen, M.D.
December 23, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Two Minnesota lawmakers have called for an investigation of the state’s COVID-19 mortality data after finding that hundreds of recent deaths may have been misattributed to the virus.
State senator Scott Jensen and state representative Mary Franson, both Republicans, released a video last week pressing officials to “audit the death certificates” in light of discrepancies uncovered by Franson.
After being “given the raw files from [Minnesota Department of Health] on the death certificates,” Franson said, “my team and I” “listed several examples of records where COVID is the underlying condition and where COVID is only mentioned.”
“We looked at 2,800 death certificate data points, but of those, what we found was that 2,000 of them had COVID-19 as the underlying cause of death but 800 did not,” she noted. “That would mean that we’ve had the number inflated by 40 percent,” Franson said.
She noted examples of an auto accident death counted as a virus fatality because the decedent still had “COVID in the system.”
“I have other examples where COVID isn’t the underlying cause of death,” she added. “We have a fall. Another example, we have a freshwater drowning. We have dementia. We have a stroke and multi-organ failure,” Franson related.
“The CDC wants accuracy on the death certificates, and what Representative Franson has uncovered is not quibbling. We are not trying to be political, we are just trying to follow facts,” Senator Jensen said. He emphasized that the death certificates “didn’t from some secret treasure trove.” “That information is public data. Anybody can request that data,” he said.
Substantial issues with COVID-19 data have raised concerns in several states, including in Minnesota, and prompted a joint audit effort by almost a dozen state auditors in September.
Florida’s death numbers were challenged earlier this year, for example, after it was found that medical commissioners counted non-residents among the state’s COVID-19 fatalities, while the health department did not.
At least 3,700 ostensible COVID-19 deaths were flagged by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in July for being the result of “intentional and unintentional injury, poisoning and other adverse events.”
“Right now we’re at scary numbers that are being reported, but we’re not told the full information,” Franson said. “Our state is shut down yet again, we have people that are unemployed, we have businesses that are being threatened, business owners that are being threatened to go to jail because we don’t have the truth.”
“I want people to have the truth so that they can make their own informed decisions on how they want to live with their life, instead of government saying this is how we feel you need to live your life and if you don’t live your life the way government says, well, ‘We’ve got a jail cell for you,’” Sen. Jensen said.
“That’s not living,” he added.
Jensen, a practicing physician, also noted that “doctors and hospitals have an incentive to, if you will, massage the numbers.”
“We saw some 22 billion dollars distributed from the feds to hospitals based on what was the impact of COVID-19,” he explained, referring to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act signed by President Trump in March. The CARES Act authorized “[a] Medicare add-on payment of 20%” for all coronavirus patients.
“[The Department of Health and Human Services] is allocating funding to hospitals that have a high number of confirmed COVID-19-positive inpatient admissions,” Jensen noted.
For months, Sen. Jensen has condemned “perverse incentives” enabled by federal COVID-19 relief funding, which have been attested to by CDC chief Robert Redfield, among others.
“Hospital administrators might well want to see COVID-19 attached to a discharge summary or a death certificate,” Jensen said on Facebook in April. “Why? Because if it’s a straightforward, garden-variety pneumonia that a person is admitted to the hospital for — if they’re Medicare — typically, the diagnosis-related group lump sum payment would be $5,000,” he continued.
“But if it’s COVID-19 pneumonia, then it’s $13,000, and if that COVID-19 pneumonia patient ends up on a ventilator, it goes up to $39,000,” he said.
“You can diagnose COVID-19 without a positive test; you can diagnose it simply on the symptoms and if there’s transmission in the community,” Jensen stated in his video with Rep. Fransen from last week. “I’ve talked to hospital administrators and they’ve assured me that that is happening,” Jensen reported.
“You’re not going to see hospital administrators jump up and volunteer that information ... but you can certainly see that if you can get 77,000 per admission or 50,000 per admission, that is an incentive.”
Liberal media outlets like The New York Times have attacked Jensen repeatedly for his statements, although left-wing “fact-checks” have vindicated his claims. The senator has been the target of anonymous accusations submitted to Minnesota’s medical board as well, which have charged him with spreading “misinformation.” The board cleared Jensen of any wrongdoing in July.
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| Did Communism ever die? Our current crisis in light of Our Lady of Fatima |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-26-2020, 04:39 PM - Forum: Socialism & Communism
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Opinion piece:
Did Communism ever die? Our current crisis in light of Our Lady of Fatima
It seems now to me, looking back, how, while we went to sleep thinking that Communism was effectively dead, other themes and strategies were developed that still aimed at establishing modified Communist systems in the world.
December 24, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – In light of our current election crisis, involving a Joe Biden/Kamala Harris team and with their cooperation with the socialist project of the Great Resent looming over us, much has been said about an impending Communist threat. Suddenly, we realize how China has been influencing the affairs of the West by way of party members working in Western companies, but also the news that China might have been involved in the current election fraud shook many of us. We suddenly woke up to the reality of a strong and strategic Communist presence in the West.
Yet, did we not largely think that Communism had essentially died with the fall of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the 1990s? But let us now look back and reflect upon the question: Did Communism ever die? I am writing these reflections as someone born and raised in Germany and having studied in Germany and lived in Switzerland for some time, and having moved to the U.S. some 13 years ago – that is to say, from a European-American perspective.
Looking back, it baffles me how certain key steps were taken right at the formal end of the Soviet Union. Remember how not long after that political change, the U.S. started trading more intensely with China, something that many conservatives have still called “trading with the enemy.” Already in 1993, President Bill Clinton proposed a policy of “constructive engagement” with China, and in 2000, the same president granted China permanent normal trade relations with the United States and paving the way for China to join the World Trade Organization in 2001. How could this have happened, we now ask, that the U.S. would allow itself to be so intertwined with a country – having most of its goods even produced by it – whose political system is so contrary to our Western democracies. Were we sleeping? That country was still Communist!
As LifeSite contributor and China expert Steven Mosher recently summed it up so well:
Quote:The #CCP studied 1991 collapse of the USSR They instituted mandatory Patriotic Education, clamped down on dissent. They created a facade of capitalism to deceive us, while infiltrating and undermining American institutions. They intend to do to us what we did to USSR. Soon.
At the same time, let us consider another aspect of this history: I still remember attending around that time a talk by Josef Joffe, the editor-in-chief of the German intellectual newspaper Die Zeit. Speaking to an audience of the University of Zurich in Switzerland, he was promoting the idea of globalism. We are now in the era of globalism. National borders are falling, all nations are getting interconnected. Where did this sudden change come from? Who came up with the idea, shortly after the perceived fall of Communism, that we need to break national borders apart? At the time, I revolted against the words of Joffe. They seemed so artificial to me, as if there was a sort of law that forced the world to go down the globalist path. Why did politicians suddenly decide to change the laws in order to make this globalization possible? Little did I realize at the time that Joffe was at the time participating at conferences of the Bilderberg Group and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Looking back, it now sounds like a change of the propaganda, a change of the code words. Someone decided that things will change in the West.
Another example: not long after the “fall” of Communism at the beginning of the 1990s, we in Germany had suddenly the surge of the economization of education, of partnerships between schools and companies. There was this push for making education pay. For making research pay. As if the work of the mind can be and should be connected with financial outcomes and matters. Where did this new slogan come from? I remember at the time, being a student at the University of Hannover, how a group of students opposed this idea and published articles on it. We were against the economization of education which would level down the education of future generations. We wanted academic freedom and independence, not an academic life that was depending upon financial aspects.
Finally, there was another strange phenomenon: the United Nations came up with the Agenda 21. I remember how I one day, at a feast with people from the former Communist part of Germany, discussed with them this new agenda that had been agreed upon by the United Nations at the Brazil Earth Summit in 1992. Having read about this agenda, I told these acquaintances that this agenda contains such ideas as that one has to share one’s car with one’s neighbor since the environment was to be protected. The Agenda 21 document, for example, expounded: “Raise public awareness of the environmental impacts of transport and travel behaviour through mass media campaigns and support for non-governmental and community initiatives promoting the use of non-motorized transport, shared driving and improved traffic safety measures.” Furthermore, they proposed to assist “individuals and households to make environmentally sound purchasing decisions,” which includes “deposit/refund systems,” that is to say, shared ownership of goods.
It sounded so Communist to me at the time, and I remember how my interlocutors shook their heads, too. They could not believe it, having just been freed from a Communist dictatorship.
By now, this Agenda 21 has been further developed, not only into the Sustainable Development Goals which are anti-life and pro-birth control. The Davos Economic Forum group just published a video which makes one's hair stand up. “You'll own nothing. And you'll be happy,” they predict for the year 2030, proposing that in a few years, we will merely “rent” whatever we “want” for a certain period of time, thus repeating the idea that I discussed at the beginning of the 1990s with my acquaintances from formerly Communist Eastern Germany. Private property is to be abolished for the sake for a purported environmental crisis. Remember how the former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, was first among that new Green Movement at that time? That he founded, in 1993, a year after the 1992 Earth Summit that agreed upon the Agenda 21 and because of it, the Green Cross Movement? Is this a coincidence? Or remember how Leonardo Boff, a proponent of Marxist Liberation Theology in Southern America, suddenly went green? Interesting about this Davos video is that when it states that “the U.S. won't be the leading world superpower,” but, instead that “a handful of states will dominate,” it shows a photo with flags, at the center of which flies the Turkish one, overshadowing the U.S. flag.
It seems now to me, looking back, how, while we went to sleep thinking that Communism was effectively dead, other themes and strategies were developed that still aimed at establishing modified Communist systems in the world. National borders were to be weakened, national economies globalized, education leveled down with new economically inspired reforms, while the largest Communist country in the world, China, was somehow welcomed as a normal partner on the international level.
On top of all of this, there suddenly also emerged the LGBT agenda. Where did it come from? When did it emerge? Also here, I remember the homosexual lobby (which was the first of that multi-faceted movement) started to get stronger in light of the HIV discussion. Information booklets about the disease were being used by this lobby to present homosexual relations as something normal. Yes, that was also in the 1990s. Strange coincidence!
It seems now, in retrospect, as if Communism merely shifted its approaches and agendas, but not its goal. It infiltrated the West more indirectly, by means of soft power, rather than with the help of Soviet tanks. My husband, Dr. Robert Hickson, likes to quote here James Burnham, a former Trotskyite and political analyst who warned the West not to adapt to the enemy, without realizing it. Burnham called one of his essays The Suicide of the West: An Essay on the Meaning and Destiny of Liberalism (1964). My husband once quoted Burnham with these insistent warnings: “From the communist point of view, every institution in the camp of the enemy is a battleground: churches as well as armies; business corporations and trade unions alike; art, literature and science; Boy Scout troops along with intelligence agencies; communications media just as much as political parties.”
This, we need to understand also who stands behind Communism. We might have thought in too limited ways that it was just the Communist party of the Soviet Union that dominated the East. But who prepared and implemented the Communist Revolution? Here, we can refer to a letter written on November 8, 1918 to the papal nuncio Archbishop Eugenio Pacelli by Cardinal Felix von Hartmann, a German prelate, in which he warns the Pope of an impending Communist revolution in Germany that aimed at destroying the German monarchy, but also aimed at the Catholic Church.
Von Hartmann wrote on behalf of the German Emperor Willhelm II: “that, according to news that came to him yesterday, the Grand Orient [a Freemasonic lodge] has just decided first to depose all Sovereigns – first of all him, the Emperor – then to destroy (?) the Cathol.[olic] Church, to imprison the pope, etc and, finally, to establish on the ruins of the former bourgeois society a world republic under the leadership of American Big Capital. [...] France and America, however, are said to be under the full influence of the Grand Orient. Bolshevism is said to be the external tool to establish the desired conditions. In the face of such a great danger which threatens in addition to the Monarchy, also the Catholic Church; it is thus important that the German episcopacy be informed and that also the pope be warned.”
As von Hartmann explained, this Communist threat was organized by Freemasonry. And he said they planned to use people from the U.S. high finance to further this project. That is to say, there are well-connected international financial and Freemasonic elites which funded and organized the Communist Revolution. That very same elite seems now to be analogously organizing the Great Reset, and they have been preparing for it essentially since the fall of the Soviet Union, the moment when most of us had gone to sleep.
Now we are awake. Very much awake. Because we realize our entire way of living is at stake, our liberties, our properties, our children, our churches. As the new Davos Forum video states: “Western values will have been tested to the breaking point.” It is our formative Christian civilization and way of life that are increasingly at stake. We woke up and face this election fraud, and we do not even know who will win this battle – perhaps those forces that wish us to have no more personal property.
But here we also remember that Our Lady of Fatima said that “the errors of Russia will spread throughout the world,” should Russia not be consecrated by the Pope to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. According to Sister Lucia, in 1946, the United States would also become Communist.
We are approaching it. We stare right into the eyes of this Communist apparatus funded and conceptualized by a global financial-Freemasonic elite. But what now?
Let us call to Our Mother. She was so loving and kind to warn us 100 years ago; she will surely not abandon us now! She can work the miracle – and she will! – turning men's hearts back to God. Perhaps even the men of the Great Reset. Pray God.
She promised us that the consecration of Russia would be done. It would be late, but it would come, and there would then be a time of peace. She stated on July 13, 1917: “If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”
May we, until then, show our fidelity to Christ, fight for every single aspect of truth on the way.
May we refuse to live the lie, which would accustom our minds and souls to adjust to untruth. God is truth!
May we refuse to take the terrible, abortion-tainted corona vaccines which happen also to be gene manipulated! Let us not participate in a child sacrifice that is being perpetuated by the use of human cells of those babies that had to die so that we may live. Father Chad Rippberger calls it “ongoing theft.” Let us not agree to a human sacrifice that, similar to the ones of the Aztecs (listen here a priest who makes a similar argument), done with the hope that mankind may benefit from that lethal sacrifice! May we mothers say a clear no to the fact that the cells are still being stolen from these babies who were killed dozens of years ago, thereby still violating the rights of God Who is the author of natural and supernatural life!
It nearly seems to me that this global elite that wishes that the “Western values” come to a breaking point – as announced by the recent Global Reset video – wishes us all collectively to participate in a perpetuated child sacrifice, taking into our bodies the cells and DNA of another human being, in a sort of cannibalism!
So while we fight and resist, we pray to Our Lady, to Our Mother, asking her to hold us tight in her hands, leading us to her Son, trusting that she will not let us perish. May we be granted the wisdom and courage that are now needed, may we receive all the Graces we need next.
And let us gaze upon the little baby in the manger, the child of all children, the baby of all babies, that was only acceptable to God the Father as the freely offered ultimate sacrifice. He alone was to be sacrificed so that all may live. He alone was to die so that the lives of the eternal souls may be with the Father in heaven, for eternity. But to benefit from this Eternal Sacrifice, we need to follow Him, do right, pray, and resist the subtle violations of the first and the fifth Commandments.
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| California Judge Orders Video Journalists to Pay $13.6 M to Planned Parenthood |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-26-2020, 04:27 PM - Forum: Abortion
- No Replies
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California Judge Orders Video Journalists to Pay $13.6 M to Planned Parenthood
Breitbart | 24 Dec 2020
A federal judge in California ordered the video journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood’s practices in the harvesting and sales of aborted baby body parts to pay the abortion giant $13.6 million to cover its legal costs in its case against them.
Quote:Planned Parenthood is suing the organization behind the sting videos exposing its baby organ harvest https://t.co/14ndpdoyNd
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge William Orrick III ordered David Daleiden and his associates at Center for Medical Progress (CMP) to pay $13.6 million over the $2 million in damages they were ordered to pay last year for recording the abortion vendor’s officials while they discussed how they harvest the fetal tissue for sale.
Daleiden and his advocates have now appealed the verdict to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In November 2019, a jury found the pro-life journalists violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), causing significant harm to Planned Parenthood with its video series, and awarded the punitive damages to the abortion provider.
Quote:The jury in the federal civil case brought against the undercover video journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood in its alleged trafficking of the body parts of aborted babies found in favor of Planned Parenthood Friday. https://t.co/akqcVg1KRS
Orrick, Daleiden told SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight soon afterward, “is actually the founder of a Planned Parenthood of Northern California clinic in San Francisco.”
He added what he and his legal team discovered about the relationship between Orrick and high-level Democrats:
Planned Parenthood, very intentionally and very strategically and with a lot of gamesmanship, filed this case specifically to get it in San Francisco in front of Judge William Orrick, who is an Obama appointee, who was a bundler for the Obama campaign for hundreds of thousands of dollars, is best friends with Tom Steyer.
Daleiden and his attorneys unsuccessfully attempted to get Orrick recused from the case several times.
The judge blocked the jury from viewing all the undercover video he produced during his undercover investigation, Daleiden said.
In addition, Orrick’s wife’s Facebook account was found to have included posted public comments — along with a photo of her and her husband — that indicated support for Planned Parenthood and criticism of Daleiden and CMP.
Planned Parenthood has yet to be prosecuted for any of the allegations of profiting from the sales of the body parts of babies aborted in its clinics.
In June 2019, Senate Judiciary Chairman(SJC) Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and his predecessor Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), wrote to Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray, seeking an update on the federal investigation that was supposedly launched in 2017 into the allegations raised, in part, through the video documentation by CMP.
The senators asked Barr and Wray to respond to their inquiry no later than July 2 of last year.
In August 2019, Breitbart News reached out to the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) press team for an update on the Department of Justice/FBI response and was informed SJC was still awaiting a response.
In January 2020, Daleiden told Breitbart News the civil and criminal cases against him and his colleagues “are really all part of the same conspiracy.”
“Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation and Kamala Harris and the California Attorney General’s office,” he said. “All violating our First Amendment civil rights.”
Quote:Top prolife leaders from across the country, including our own @daviddaleiden, sign letter urging the US Senate to reject Biden HHS nominee @XavierBecerra. Via @WashTimes https://t.co/HgWbhEw1br
In an op-ed at Breitbart News in October, Daleiden [url=https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/10/28/journalist-who-exposed-planned-parenthood-kamala-harris-weaponized-her-office-to-punish-me-on-behalf-of-her-donors/]wrote that Harris, who ordered a raid on his California home, is “one of the biggest threats to First Amendment civil liberties that our country has ever seen.”
He continued:
Does anyone doubt that if I had been investigating and publishing undercover video reports on unlicensed gun sales, factory farming, or unsanitary grocery practices, that Harris never would have dreamed of raiding my home? Local news reporters in California tape and publish undercover conversations with corrupt chiropractors in their offices, fraudulent repairmen in private homes, and vendors in unlicensed marijuana dispensaries, but are not prosecuted under the California video recording law. Yet I, who filmed in crowded public restaurants and hotel lobbies, had my home raided and face the first-ever criminal charges for newsgathering under the recording law.
“Is there any doubt why Kamala Harris subjected me alone among undercover video reporters in California to this selective standard of ‘justice?’” he asked. “It is because I dared to question Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry, and to speak the truth: Planned Parenthood sells baby parts.”
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| Doctor reportedly has first documented severe allergic reaction to Moderna COVID-19 vaccine |
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Posted by: Stone - 12-26-2020, 04:22 PM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
- No Replies
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Doctor reportedly has severe allergic reaction to Moderna COVID-19 vaccine
This is the first known reaction of its severity from the Moderna shot
Fox News | December 26, 2020
Boston doctor with shellfish allergy experiences severe allergic reaction to Moderna vaccine; Dr. Qanta Ahmed reacts on ‘FOX & Friends Weekend.’
A Boston doctor suffered a serious allergic reaction to Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine, the first of its kind documented, a report said Friday.
Dr. Hossein Sadrzadeh, a geriatric oncologist at Boston Medical Center, became dizzy and felt his heart racing minutes after receiving the vaccine on Thursday, he told The New York Times.
"It was the same anaphylactic reaction that I experience with shellfish," Dr. Sadrzadeh told the paper, noting that his tongue became numb, his blood pressure plummeted and he broke into a cold sweat.
"I don’t want anybody to go through that."
Sadrzadeh self-administered an EpiPen he brought in the event of such a reaction, and was discharged following a brief emergency room examination, the report said.
Though a handful of recipients of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have reported allergic reactions to that inoculation — including a New York City health care worker — Sadrzadeh’s symptoms mark the first known reaction of its severity to the Moderna shot.
The vaccines, which have similar ingredients, both require two shots administered a few weeks apart.
Neither Moderna nor the federal Food and Drug Administration, which approved the vaccines, commented on the Times’ report.
Related: STATE WITH ONE OF THE STRICTEST LOCKDOWNS IN THE COUNTRY HAS THE MOST COVID CASES
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