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| FDA launches ‘Rumor Control’ website to combat ‘growing spread’ of health ‘misinformation’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-02-2023, 07:58 AM - Forum: Health
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FDA launches ‘Rumor Control’ website to combat ‘growing spread’ of health ‘misinformation’
Critics have argued that the FDA initiative to police supposed misinformation is hypocritical.
Jun 1, 2023
(Reclaim The Net) — In a recent announcement, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has revealed the launch of a webpage designed to address and curtail what it says is the spread of misinformation related to health and medical topics online.
This initiative, known as the “Rumor Control” page, invites users to report instances of perceived misinformation on the internet, particularly on social media platforms.
“The growing spread of rumors, misinformation, and disinformation about science, medicine, and the FDA, is putting patients and consumers at risk. We’re here to provide the facts,” the FDA announced.
It concluded by calling on users to check the FDA’s Rumor Control page to see how the agency was fighting misinformation.
However, this initiative has been met with a wave of criticism from various quarters. Critics argue that the Rumor Control page could be misused and raises significant concerns over the FDA itself getting involved in policing misinformation when the FDA itself has been accused of spreading misinformation.
This is something the commenters below the announcement on Twitter were quick to point out.
Despite these criticisms, the FDA maintains that the platform is a necessary tool in the fight against health misinformation.
Reprinted with permission from Reclaim The Net.
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| Mexican Archbishop survives knife attack after Mass as violence against clergy continues |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-02-2023, 07:20 AM - Forum: Anti-Catholic Violence
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Mexican Archbishop survives knife attack after Mass as violence against clergy continues
The recent attempt on Archbishop Faustino Armendáriz's life comes after nine priests have been murdered in Mexico in the past four years.
![[Image: Faustino-Armendariz-Jimenez-810x500.png]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Faustino-Armendariz-Jimenez-810x500.png)
Archbiship of Durango Faustino Armendáriz Jiménez
Arquidiócesis Durango / YouTube
May 30, 2023
DURANGO, Mexico (LifeSiteNews) — A Mexican Archbishop was attacked by a man armed with a knife as he greeted parishioners after Sunday Mass.
On May 21, Archbishop Faustino Armendáriz of Durango, Mexico survived an attack by an 80-year-old man armed with a knife, following the murder of nine priests in Mexico since current Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office at the end of 2018, as reported by the Catholic News Agency.
“God, the Most Holy Virgin, the Immaculate Conception, and the Holy Martyrs, who today on their feast day, have protected me from this aggression against my physical integrity in the sacristy of the Cathedral of Durango,” Armendáriz tweeted after the incident.
“God bless everyone for their words of solidarity and their prayers,” he added.
Armendáriz was speaking to parishioners in the sacristy after Sunday Mass when his attacker “violently pulled me over on my left side” to ask if he was the local bishop.
“With that I managed to see that he extended his arm full length, and I managed to see a weapon, a knife, in his hand. And he managed to get me here, at the top of the ribs, and I felt the sting, but I bent over so he couldn’t hurt me and pushed his arm down,” the archbishop recalled.
Armendáriz was not fatally injured from the attack as, “There was no such penetration of the piercing weapon, only the blow.” He viewed the attack as “attempted murder,” but professed belief “that something transcendent protected me.”
Armendáriz expressed forgiveness for his would-be murderer, saying, “It seems to me that it’s also an opportunity to show solidarity with the people who are suffering.”
“This is part of all this lacerated social fabric, and above all the lack of moral values and situations that our people without a doubt are experiencing in anonymity,” he declared.
On May 22, one day after the attempt on the archbishop’s life, Father Javier García Villafaña, an Augustinian priest, was shot to death in his car on the Cuitzeo-Huandacareo highway in Michoacán, Mexico.
The Archdiocese of Morelia announced his death on Facebook but neglected to say that he was murdered, writing, “The Lord has called into his presence Father Fray Javier García Villafana, OSA. The bishops of the archdiocese, the presbytery and the entire Archdiocese of Morelia unite in prayer and entrust this son of theirs to the hands of Mary Immaculate so that the Lord of Life may receive him in his dwelling places of glory. Give him, Lord, eternal rest.”
Earlier this month, two Catholic churches in Mexico were desecrated. One church’s tabernacle was broken into while a second church burnt overnight.
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| June - the Month of the Sacred Heart |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-02-2023, 06:24 AM - Forum: Church Doctrine & Teaching
- Replies (1)
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Gratefully reprinted from the Our Lady of Fatima Chapel Bulletin in Massachusetts:
Month of the Sacred Heart
June is consecrated to the devotion of reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Some upcoming dates especially dedicated to this devotion will be today's First Friday of June (check here for the Livestream Mass); the Feast of Corpus Christi on June 8th; and the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 16th; both of these great feasts have with them privileged octaves.
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“Now if, because of our sins also which were as yet in the future, but were foreseen, the soul of Christ became sorrowful unto death, it cannot be doubted that then, too, already He derived somewhat of solace from our reparation, which was likewise foreseen, when ‘there appeared to Him an angel from heaven’, in order that His Heart, oppressed with weariness and anguish, might find consolation.” - Pope Pius XI, Miserentissimus Redemptor
With this simple paragraph in his encyclical, Pope Pius XI gives us all the reason we need to spend time in the actual or even spiritual presence of the Blessed Sacrament for a holy hour of reparation; and there is no better time to do so - for June is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The Practice of Reparation
The feast and month of the Sacred Heart is not just a time for “simple” prayer. Rather, it has always been tied to the spirit of sacrifice, with reparation made for the offenses against Our Lord - especially against the Most Holy Sacrament of His Love. When the Sacred Heart appeared to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, He told her:
"Make reparation for the ingratitude of men. Spend an hour in prayer to appease Divine justice, to implore mercy for sinners, to honor Me, to console Me for My bitter suffering when abandoned by My Apostles; when they could not watch one hour with Me."
As Jesus spoke to His Apostles, so He pleads with us to stay and watch and pray with Him. His Sacred Heart is filled with sadness, because so many doubt Him, despise Him, insult Him, ridicule Him, spit upon Him, slap Him, accuse Him, condemn Him or just simply forget Him.
Every mortal sin brings down the terrible scourges on His Sacred Body, presses the sharp thorns into His Sacred Head, and hammers the cruel nails into His Sacred Hands and Feet. The cold ingratitude and indifference of mankind continually pierce His Sacred Heart. In fact, He complained to Saint Margaret Mary, that this great apathy towards His Love is what wounds His Heart the most.
As faithful Catholics, we should participate in devotion this month fully and often with our prayers, mortification and holy hours playing a vital role as desired by our Divine Savior and recalled to us by His Vicar, Pius XI.
Twelve Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
As Revealed by Our Lord to St. Margret
God has always dealt with men in a way consonant with their nature - by drawing them to His Holy Will by promises of reward. It was so with His dealings with the chosen people under the Old Dispensation. It was the way of Christ in the New, promising even a hundredfold return for compliance with His desires. And so it is in the history of the revelation and propagation of the devotion to the Sacred Heart.
"That men might more readily respond to that wonderful and overflowing desire of love," wrote Leo XIII in his Encyclical, Annum Sacrum (1899) on the devotion, "Jesus, by the promise of rich rewards, called and drew all men to Him." St. Margaret Mary in her writings insists again and again on the ardent desire of Christ to pour out blessings with a royal generosity on those who would honor His Divine Heart and return Him love for love.
These Promises of the Sacred Heart, in the form in which they are now popularly known and approved by the Church, far surpass in variety, universality and importance those attached to any other exercises of devotion in the Church.
They are addressed to all sorts of persons: to the fervent, the tepid, and the sinful. They embrace every condition of life: priests, religious, and laity. They promise relief to the afflicted, strength to the tempted, consolation to the sorrowful, peace to the family, blessings in the home, success in our enterprises, mercy to the sinner, high sanctity to fervent souls, courage to the cold of heart. They promise power to the priest to soften the hardest hearts. They promise strength and courage on our death-bed, and tell us of the priceless gift of final perseverance and of a refuge in the Heart of Christ at our last moment.
What greater or more valuable favors than these could even the omnipotent and boundless love and goodness of the Sacred Heart bestow on us? These Promises help us to an understanding of the truth of St. Margaret Mary's glowing words: "Jesus showed me how this devotion is, as it were, the final effort of His love, the last invention of His boundless Charity."
1st Promise: "I will give to My faithful all the graces necessary in their state of life."
The duties of our daily life are numerous and often difficult. God grants us in response to prayer and frequent reception of the Sacraments all the necessary graces for our state of life. There are also extraordinary graces which lie outside the usual action of God's Providence, graces that He gives to His special friends. These are more efficacious graces, more plentifully given to the clients of the Sacred Heart.
2nd Promise: "I will establish peace in their homes."
"'Peace is the tranquility of order, the serenity of mind, simplicity of heart, the bond of charity." (St. Augustine) It was the first thing the Angels wished to men at the birth of Jesus. Our Lord Himself bade His disciples to invoke it: "Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!' " (Luke 10, 5) In the Heart of Jesus will be found the true peace, that makes the home the reflex and anticipation of our heavenly Home.
3rd Promise: "I will comfort them in all their afflictions."
The desire to comfort the sorrowful is the mark of a noble and kind heart. The Sacred Heart is the most noble and generous of hearts, both human and divine. How does He console us? Not necessarily by freeing us from sorrow and affliction. He knows the priceless value of the cross--that we have sins to expiate. By His grace, He makes what is painful tolerable. "I am filled with comfort, I overflow with joy in all our troubles." (2 Cor. 7, 4)
4th Promise: "I will be their secure refuge in life, and above all in death."
"One of the soldiers opened His side with a lance, and immediately there came out blood and water." (John 19, 34) Christ's side was opened to show that Divine Providence wished all men to find in His Divine Heart an assured refuge against the enemies of our salvation. In His Heart we can find protection, strength in our frailty, perseverance in our inconstancy, assured refuge in the dangers and toils of life, and at the hour of death.
5th Promise: "I will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings."
"God is love." He is ready to give His children abundant temporal blessings as long as they do not imperil our eternal interests. His "special" Providence protects and watches over those devoted to the Sacred Heart with peculiar love and tenderness. However, we should not be discouraged if our prayers for temporal favors are not always answered, for God always puts our eternal good before our temporal good.
6th Promise: "Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and the infinite ocean of mercy."
The Redemption is the immortal drama of God's mercy; and our Divine Redeemer is, as it were, God's Mercy Incarnate. "With the Lord is kindness and with Him plenteous Redemption." (Ps. 129, 7) On earth the Heart of Christ was full of mercy toward all. Now in His glorified humanity in heaven Jesus continues to show forth His boundless mercy, "always living to make intercession for us." (Heb. 7,25)
7th Promise: "Tepid souls shall become fervent."
Lukewarmness is a languid dying state of the soul that has lost its interest in religion. The Holy Spirit expresses deep disgust for such a soul: "You are neither cold nor hot ... I am about to vomit you out of My mouth." (Apoc. 3, 15) The only remedy for it is devotion to the Sacred Heart, Who came "to cast fire on earth," i.e., to inspire the cold and tepid heart with new fear and love of God.
8th Promise: “Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection."
High perfection is the reward that Christ bestows on the fervent clients of His Divine Heart; for this devotion has, as its special fruit, to transform us into a close resemblance to our Blessed Lord. This is done by kindling in our hearts the fire of divine love, which, as St. Paul says, "is the bond of perfection." (Col. 3, 14) Through devotion to the Sacred Heart self-love will give way to an ardent zeal for His interests.
9th Promise: "I will bless every place in which an image of My Heart shall be exposed and honored."
Religious pictures are a powerful appeal and inspiration. The Sacred Heart is an open book wherein we may read the infinite love of Jesus for us in His Passion and Death. He shows us His Heart, cut open by the lance, all aglow like a fiery furnace of love, whose flames appear bursting forth from the top. It is encircled with thorns, the anguishing smarts of unheeded love. May it ever impel us to acts of love and generosity.
10th Promise: "I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts."
The conversion of a sinner calls sometimes for extraordinary graces. God never forces the free will of a human being. But He can give actual graces with which He foresees the sinner will overcome the resisting attitude of the most obstinate sinful soul. This, then, is what occurs in the case of priests who are animated with great devotion to the Sacred Heart.
11th Promise: "Those who promote this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be effaced."
This Promise holds out to promoters of devotion to the Sacred Heart a wonderful reward--they "shall have their names written in My Heart." These words imply a strong and faithful friendship of Christ Himself, and present to us "the Book of Life" of St. John: "I will not blot his name out of the book of life." (Apoc. 3, 5)
12th Promise: "To those who shall communicate on the First Friday, for nine consecutive months, I will grant the grace of final penitence."
This Promise contains a great reward, which is nothing less than heaven. "Final perseverance is a gratuitous gift of God's goodness, and cannot be merited as an acquired right by any individual act of ours." (Council of Trent) It is given as the reward for a series of acts continued to the end: "He who has persevered to the end will be saved." (Matt. 10, 22)
- By Rev. Irenaeus Schoenherr, O.F.M.
✠ ✠ ✠
First Friday of the Month
At the end of the 17th century Our Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alocoque (1647-1690) and asked her to spread devotion to His Most Sacred Heart. In a letter written to her Mother Superior in May 1688, St. Margaret Mary set out what is called The Great Promise which Our Lord made regarding the Nine First Fridays and what we must do to earn it:
“On a Friday during Holy Communion, Our Lord said these words to His unworthy slave: ‘I promise you in the excessive mercy of My Heart that Its all powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on nine first Fridays of the month consecutively the grace of final repentance, and they will not die under My displeasure or without receiving the Sacraments, My Divine Heart making Itself their assured refuge at the last moment.’”
The specific conditions to fulfill the Great Promise are, therefore, twofold:
- They must be made on nine consecutive First Fridays of the month.
- They must receive Holy Communion with the intention of making reparation.
- The communicant should have the intention (at least implicitly) of making reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for all the sinfulness and ingratitude of men (especially against the Most Blessed Sacrament).
Our Lord made many promises to St. Margaret Mary regarding those who practice the Nine First Fridays and have a deep devotion to His Sacred Heart. The Twelve Promises listed above, includes the Great Promise. It was Our Lord's special desire that the First Friday of each month be consecrated to the devotion of reparation to, and adoration of His most Sacred Heart.
In the way of suggestions on how to better prepare for the First Friday, it would be well to read the evening before, a good book on the devotion, or on Our Lord's Passion. Then, on the day itself, we should awake and consecrate all our thoughts, words and deeds to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; that He may be thereby honored and glorified. Let us especially endeavor to stir in our souls a deep sorrow for the innumerable offenses and sacrileges heaped upon the Sacred Heart in the Most Holy Sacrament of His Love. Should we find this difficult, let us consider earnestly, the many reasons we have for giving our tepid hearts to Jesus, and acknowledge with sorrow, the faults of which we have been guilty through our want of respect in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, or through any negligence in receiving Our Lord in Holy Communion.
As the object of this devotion is to inflame our hearts with an ardent love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and to repair, as far as lies in our power, all the outrages which are daily committed against the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, it is evident that these exercises are not confined to any particular day.
Those, therefore, who are prevented from practicing this devotion on the First Friday, can do so on any other day during the month. In the same manner they may offer the first Communion closest to the First Friday for this intention, consecrating the whole day to the honor and glory of the Sacred Heart, and performing in the same spirit all the pious exercises they were unable to accomplish on the First Friday.
Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven,
Have mercy on us*
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world,*
God, the Holy Ghost,*
Holy Trinity, one God,*
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father,*
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Ghost in the Virgin Mother's womb,*
Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God,*
Heart of Jesus, of infinite majesty,*
Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God,*
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High,*
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven,*
Heart of Jesus, glowing furnace of charity,*
Heart of Jesus, vessel of justice and love,*
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,*
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues,*
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise,*
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts,*
Heart of Jesus, wherein are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,*
Heart of Jesus, wherein dwelleth all the fulness of Godhead*
Heart of Jesus, in Whom the Father is well pleased,*
Heart of Jesus, of Whose fulness we have all received,*
Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills,*
Heart of Jesus, patient and rich in mercy,*
Heart of Jesus, rich unto all who call upon Thee,*
Heart of Jesus, fount of life and holiness,*
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our offenses,*
Heart of Jesus, overwhelmed with reproaches,*
Heart of Jesus, bruised for our iniquities,*
Heart of Jesus, obedient even unto death,*
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance,*
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation,*
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection,*
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation,*
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins,*
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who hope in Thee,*
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in Thee,*
Heart of Jesus, delight of all saints,*
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world.
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
V. Jesus, meek and humble of heart,
R. Make our hearts like unto Thine.
Let us pray
Almighty and everlasting God, look upon the Heart of Thy well-beloved Son and upon the praise and satisfaction which He offers unto Thee in the name of sinners; and do Thou of Thy great goodness grant them pardon when they seek Thy mercy, in the name of the same Thy Son, Jesus Christ, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee for ever and ever. Amen.
Indulgence of seven years, each time - P.P. Leo XIII; April 2, 1899
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| Antibiotics in Orange Juice |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-01-2023, 06:50 AM - Forum: Health
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DRUGS IN ORANGE JUICE
Joel Salatin [Emphasis mine]| May 30, 2023
I just spent a couple of days in and around Orlando, Florida, the heart of Florida’s orange production country.
Instead of beautiful green trees, I saw thousands of acres of dead, scraggly trees. Just a few years ago, Florida produced 240 million 90-lb. crates of oranges. Last year it was about 40 million and this year the crop is expected to be below 20 million.
A disease is running rampant through the groves and turning many of these farms upside down financially and emotionally. But before you get too weepy about their plight, realize that the standard practice with this landscape is scorched earth.
They put copious amounts of herbicide under the trees, leaving nothing but white sand. Any semblance of vegetative cover or biological diversity is gone. It’s the most inhospitable looking environment you can imagine.
Right now, the cure the growers are most excited about is drilling a hole in the tree and dripping antibiotics into the sap. That seems to be working, but of course the antibiotics will go into the oranges. Yum. So just when the livestock industry shifted from antibiotics to mRNA genetic manipulation, the orange producers are shifting to drugged oranges.
I met a fellow who has a grove and is using a biological foliar application instead. He’s treating the soil with Essential Microbes (EM) and applying wood chip mulch along with vegetative cover cropping under the trees. It seems to be working. Isn’t that amazing?
He explained that the oranges attract five nematodes, but only one is bad; the other four are good for the trees. The bad one loves hot soil. The scorched earth policy practiced by orthodox producers eliminates protective vegetation. Devegetated soil in Florida gets exceptionally hot, especially on those sandy profiles.
Here we have the classic battle between a conventional mechanistic view of life versus the biological view of life. The darling of the industry is a drug drip—the mechanical view. But a biological approach creates a healthy orange tree habitat. Guess which one will win? Meanwhile, the mainstream media will report the rising price of oranges, the plight of the Florida citrus growers, the devastation to rural economies, and the bogeyman from out there, from unknown sources, wreaking havoc with our food supply.
The guy with the answers, who dares to come to the earth humbly, who dares to bring a diversified plant and microbial guild to the tree, never gets an interview. His voice is drowned out by drug chatter and shallow journalists. Normal people shake their head at yet another assault on our food system, blaming gremlins and angry gods for our problems. No, folks, the problem is us. We caused it and we can fix it, but only with landscape caress. Drug sledgehammers are not the solution. The narrative will be simple: “we have to use drugs in order to keep the orange producers in business and keep customers supplied.”
Are you looking forward to drinking orange juice laced with antibiotics?
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| St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for Fourth Week after Easter |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-30-2023, 08:15 AM - Forum: Easter
- Replies (6)
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There is nothing shorter than time, and yet nothing more valuable. There is nothing shorter, for the past is no more, the future is uncertain, the present only a moment. Jesus Christ said: A little time and now you shall not see me. We may say the same of our life which, according to St. James is a vapour which appeareth for a little while-(iv. 15).
I.
The time is short, says the Apostle, St. Paul, it remaineth that … they that weep be as though they wept not; that they that rejoice, as if they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that used this world, as if they used it not-( 1 Cor. vii. 29, 31). Since, then, the time we have to remain on this earth is short, the Apostle tells those who weep that they ought not to weep, because their sorrows shall soon pass away; and those who rejoice, not to fix their affections on enjoyments, because they shall soon have an end. Hence he concludes that we should use this world, not to enjoy its transitory goods, but to merit eternal life.
Son, says the Holy Ghost, observe the time-(Ecclus. iv. 23). Son, learn to preserve time, which is the most precious and the greatest gift that God can bestow upon you. St. Bernardine of Sienna teaches that time is of as much value as God; because in every moment of time well spent the possession of God is merited. He adds that in every instant of this life a man may obtain pardon of his sins, the grace of God, and the glory of Paradise. Hence St. Bonaventure says that “no loss is of greater moment than the loss of time.”
But, on his part, St. Bernard says that though there is nothing more precious than time, there is nothing less valuable in the estimation of men. You will see some persons spending four or five hours in play. If you ask them why they lose so much time, they answer: To amuse ourselves. Others remain half the day standing in a street, or looking out from a window. If you ask them what they are doing, they will say in reply that they are passing the time. And why, says the same Saint, do you lose this time? Why should you lose even a single hour which the mercy of God gives you to weep for your sins, and to acquire Divine grace?
O time, despised by men during life, how much will you be desired at the hour of death, and particularly in the other world! Time is a blessing we enjoy only in this life; it is not enjoyed in the next; it is not found in Heaven nor in hell. In hell the damned exclaim with tears: “Oh that an hour were given to us!” They would pay any price for an hour or for a minute in which they might repair their eternal ruin. But this hour or minute they never shall have. In Heaven there is no weeping; but, were the Saints capable of sorrow, all their wailing should arise from the thought of having lost in this life the time in which they could have acquired greater glory, and from the conviction that this time shall never more be given to them.
O God of my soul, what should be my lot at this moment hadst Thou not shown me so many mercies! I should be in hell among the fools to whose number I have belonged. I thank Thee, O my Lord, and I entreat Thee not to abandon me in my blindness. I feel that Thou dost tenderly call me to ask pardon and to hope for graces from Thee. Yes, my Saviour, I hope Thou wilt admit me among Thy children. Father, I am not worthy to be called Thy child! I have sinned against Heaven and before Thee!
II.
St. Francis Borgia was careful to employ every moment of his time for God. When others spoke of useless things, he conversed with God by holy affections; and so recollected was he that, when asked his opinion on the subject of conversation he knew not what answer to make. Being corrected for this, he said: I am content to be considered stupid rather than lose my time in vanities.
Some will say: What evil am I doing? Is it not, I ask, an evil to spend your time in amusements, in conversations, and useless occupations which are unprofitable to the soul? Does God give you this time to waste it? Let not, says the Holy Ghost, the part of a good gift overpass thee-(Ecclus. xiv. 14}. The labourers of whom St. Matthew speaks did no evil; they only lost time, remaining idle in the streets. But they were rebuked: Why stand you here all the day idle?-(Matth. xx. 6}. On the day of Judgment Jesus Christ will demand an account, not only of every month and day that has been lost, but even of every idle word spoken. Every idle word that men shall speak they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment-(Matth. xii. 36}. He will likewise demand an account of every moment of the time which you will lose. According to St. Bernard, all time not spent for God is time lost. Hence the Holy Ghost says: Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly: for neither work nor reason . . . shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening. What you can do today defer not till tomorrow; for on tomorrow you may be dead, and may be gone into another world where you shall have no more time to do good, and where you shall only enjoy the reward of your virtues or suffer the punishment due to your sins. Today if you shall hear his voice harden not your hearts-(Ps. xciv.}. Obey His call today; for it may happen that on tomorrow time will be no more for you, or that God will call you no more. All our salvation depends on corresponding with the Divine calls, and at the time that God calls us.
O my God, enlighten me! Give me to understand that the only evil is to offend Thee, the only good to love to spend the remainder of my days in serving Thee. O Mary, my hope, do thou intercede for me.
Spiritual Reading
SALVE, REGINA, MATER MISERICORDlAE! HAIL, HOLY QUEEN, MOTHER OF MERCY!
XIII.-MARY IS THE MOTHER OF PENITENT SINNERS
Our Blessed Lady told St. Bridget that she was the Mother not only of the just and innocent, but also of sinners, provided they were willing to repent. Oh, how prompt does a sinner who is desirous of amendment and flies to her feet find this good Mother to embrace and help him, far more so than any earthly mother! St. Gregory VII wrote in this sense to princess Matilda, saying: “Resolve to sin no more and I promise that undoubtedly thou wilt find Mary more ready to love thee than any earthly mother.”
But whoever aspires to be a child of this great Mother must first abandon sin, and then may hope to be accepted as such. Richard of St. Laurence, on the words of Proverbs, up rose her children-(Prov. xxxi. 28}, remarks that the words up rose came first, and then the word children to show that no one can be a child of Mary without first endeavouring to rise from the fault into which he has fallen; for he who is in mortal sin is not worthy to be called the son of such a Mother. And St. Peter Chrysologus says that he who acts in a different manner from Mary declares thereby that he will not be her son. “He who does not the works of his Mother abjures his lineage.” Mary humble and he proud; Mary pure and he wicked; Mary full of charity and he hating his neighbour. He gives thereby proof that he is not, and will not be, the son of his holy Mother. The sons of Mary, says Richard of St. Laurence, are her imitators, and this chiefly in three things-in chastity, liberality, and humility; and also in meekness, mercy, and such like.
Whilst disgusting her by a wicked life, who would dare even to wish to be the child of Mary? A certain sinner once said to Mary, “Show thyself a Mother”; but the Blessed Virgin replied, “Show thyself a son.” Another invoked the Divine Mother, calling her the “Mother of mercy”; and she answered: “You sinners, when you want my help, call me ‘Mother of mercy,’ and at the same time do not cease by your sins to make me a ‘Mother of sorrow and anguish.’ He is cursed of God, says Ecclesiasticus, that angereth his mother -(Ecclus. iii. 18). “His mother, that is, Mary,” says Richard of St. Laurence. God curses those who by their wicked life, and still more by their obstinacy in sin, afflict this tender Mother.
I say by their obstinacy; for if a sinner, though he may not as yet have given up his sin, endeavours to do so, and for this purpose seeks the help of Mary, this good Mother will not fail to assist him, and make him recover the grace of God. And this is precisely what St. Bridget heard one day from the lips of Jesus Christ, Who, speaking to His Mother, said: “Thou assistest him who endeavours to return to God, and thy consolations are never wanting to anyone.” So long, then, as a sinner is obstinate, Mary cannot love him; but if he, finding himself chained by some passion which keeps him a slave of hell, recommends himself to the Blessed Virgin, and implores her, with confidence and perseverance, to withdraw him from the state of sin in which he is, there can be no doubt but this good Mother will extend her powerful hand to him, will deliver him from his chains, and lead him to a state of salvation.
Evening Meditation
THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
XIX.-HOW MUCH WE ARE OBLIGED TO LOVE JESUS CHRIST
I.
Our Lord said one day to St. Teresa: “Everything which does not give pleasure to Me is vanity,” Would that all understood well this great truth! “For the rest, one thing is necessary.” It is not necessary to be rich in this world, to gain the esteem of others, to lead a life of ease, to enjoy dignities, to have a reputation for learning: it is only necessary to love God and to do His will. For this single end has He created us, for this He preserves our life; and thus only can we gain admittance into Paradise. Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm-(Cant. viii. 6). The Lord thus speaks to all His espoused souls. Put Me as a seal upon Thy heart and upon thine arm, in order that all thy desires and actions may tend to Me; upon thy heart, that no other love but Mine may enter there; upon thine arm, in order that all thou dost may have Me for its sole object. Oh, how quickly does that soul speed onwards to perfection which in all her actions regards but Jesus crucified, and has no other desire than to gratify Him!
II.
To acquire, then, a true love of Jesus Christ should be our only care. The masters of the spiritual life describe the marks of true love. Love, say they, is fearful, and its fear is none other than that of displeasing God. It is generous, because, trusting in God, it is never daunted even at the greatest enterprises for His glory. It is strong, because it subdues all its evil appetites, even in the midst of the most violent temptations, and of the darkest desolations. It is obedient, because it immediately flies to execute the Divine will. It is pure, because it loves God alone, and for the sole reason that He deserves to be loved. It is ardent, because it would inflame all mankind, and willingly see them consumed with Divine love. It is inebriating, for it causes the soul to live as it were out of herself, as if she no longer saw, nor felt, nor had any more perception of earthly things, bent wholly on loving God. It is unitive by producing a close union between the will of the creature and the Will of the Creator. It is longing, for it fills the soul with desires of leaving this world, to fly and unite herself perfectly with God in her true and happy country, where she may love Him with all her strength.
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| St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for Third Week after Easter |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-30-2023, 07:27 AM - Forum: Easter
- Replies (7)
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Jesus said of Himself: I am the good shepherd. The work of a good shepherd is nothing more than to guide his flock to good pastures, and to guard them from wolves. But what shepherd, O sweet Redeemer, ever had mercy like Thee! What shepherd would ever give his life for his sheep? Thou alone, because Thou art a God of infinite love, canst say: I lay down my life for my sheep.
I.
Thus spoke Jesus of Himself: I am the good Shepherd -(John x. 11). The work of a good shepherd is nothing more than to guide his flock to good pastures, and to guard them from wolves; but what shepherd, O sweet Redeemer, ever had mercy like Thee? What shepherd has ever given his life to save his flocks and deliver them from the punishment they had deserved?
Who in his own self bore our sins in his body upon the tree; that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice; by whose stripes you were healed-(l Peter ii. 24). To heal us of our sicknesses this good Shepherd took upon Himself all our ills, and paid our debts in His own person, dying in agony upon a Cross. It was this excess of love towards us, His sheep, which made St. Ignatius, the Martyr, burn with desire to give his life for Jesus Christ, saying: ” My Love is crucified! What! has my God been willing to die on a Cross for me, and cannot I desire to die for Him?” And, in truth, was it a great thing the Martyrs did in giving their lives for Jesus Christ, when He died for love of them? Oh, how that death endured for them by Jesus Christ made sweet to them all their torments-stripes, piercing nails, fiery plates of iron, and most agonizing deaths!
But the love of this Good Shepherd was not satisfied with giving His life for His sheep; He desired also, after His death, to leave them His flesh itself, first sacrificed upon the Cross, that it might be food and pasture of their souls. “The burning love He bore to us,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “induced Him to unite and make Himself one thing with us.”
Remember, then, my Jesus, that I am one of those sheep for whom Thou hast given Thy life. Ah! cast on me one of those looks of pity with which Thou didst once regard me, when Thou wast dying on the Cross for me. Look on me and change me, and save me. Thou hast called Thyself the loving Shepherd, Who, finding the lost sheep, takes it with joy and carries it on His shoulders, and then calls His friends to rejoice with Him. I love Thee, my Good Shepherd; never permit me to be again separated from Thee.
II.
When this Good Shepherd sees a sheep lost, what does He not do, what means does He not take, to recover it? He does not cease to seek it until He finds it. If he shall lose one of them doth he not go after that which was lost until he find it-(Luke xv. 4). And when He has found it, rejoicing He places it upon His shoulders, that it may be lost no more; and, calling to Him His friends and neighbours, i.e., the Angels and Saints, He invites them to rejoice with Him for having found the sheep that was lost. Who, then, will not love with all his affections this good Lord Who shows Himself thus loving to sinners who have turned their backs upon Him, and destroyed themselves of their own accord?
O my Saviour, worthy of all love, behold at Thy feet a sheep that was lost! I had left Thee, but Thou hast not abandoned me; Thou hast left no means untried to recover me. What would have become of me if Thou hadst not thought of seeking me? Woe is me! How long a time have I lived far from Thee. I Now, through Thy mercy, I trust that I am in Thy grace; and as I first fled from Thee, now I desire nothing but to love Thee, and to live and die embracing Thy feet. But while I live I am in danger of leaving Thee; oh, bind me, chain me with the bond of Thy holy love, and cease not to seek for me so long as I live on this earth. I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost; seek thy servant -(Ps. cxviii. 176) O Mary, thou advocate of sinners, obtain for me holy perseverance.
Spiritual Reading
SALVE, REGINA, MATER MISERICORDIAE! HAIL, HOLY QUEEN, MOTHER OF MERCY!
VI.-HOW MUCH OUR CONFIDENCE IN MARY SHOULD BE INCREASED BECAUSE SHE; IS OUR MOTHER
O blessed are they who live under the protection of so loving and powerful a Mother! The Prophet David, although she was not yet born, sought salvation from God by dedicating himself as a son of Mary, and thus prayed: Save the son of thy handmaid-(Ps. lxxxv. 16). “Of what handmaid?” asks St. Augustine, and he answers, “Of her who said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” “And who,” says Blessed Cardinal Bellarmine, “would ever dare to snatch us from the bosom of Mary, when we have taken refuge there? What power of hell, or what temptation, can overcome us if we place our confidence in the patronage of this great Mother, God’s Mother and ours?” There are some who say that when the whale sees its young in danger, either from tempests or pursuers, it opens its mouth and swallows them. This is precisely what Novarinus asserts of Mary: ” When the storms of temptations rage, the most compassionate Mother of the faithful, with maternal tenderness, protects them as it were in her own bosom until she has brought them into the harbour of salvation.”
O most loving Mother! O most compassionate Mother! Be thou ever blessed! And ever blessed be God, who has given thee to us for our Mother, and for a secure refuge in all dangers of this life! Our Blessed Lady herself, in a vision, addressed these words to St. Bridget: “As a mother, on seeing her son in the midst of the swords of his enemies, would use every effort to save him so do I, and will do, for all sinners who seek my mercy.” Thus it is that in every engagement with the infernal powers we shall always certainly conquer by having recourse to the Mother of God, who is also our Mother, saying and repeating again and again: We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God.” Oh, how many victories have not the faithful gained over hell by having recourse to Mary with this short but most powerful prayer! Thus it was that the great servant of God, Sister Mary Crucified, of the Order of St. Benedict, always overcame the devils.
Be of good heart, then, all you who are children of Mary. Remember that she accepts as her children all those who choose to be so. Rejoice! Why do you fear to be lost when such a Mother defends and protects you? ” Say, then, oh my soul, with great confidence: I will rejoice and be glad; for whatever the judgment to be pronounced on me may be, it depends on and must come from my Brother and Mother.” “Thus,” says St. Bonaventure, “it is that each one who loves this good Mother, and relies on her protection, should animate himself to confidence, remembering that Jesus is our Brother, and Mary our Mother.” The same thought makes St. Anselm cry out with joy, and encourage us, saying: “O happy confidence! O safe refuge! The Mother of God is my Mother! How firm, then, should be our confidence, since our salvation depends on the judgment of a good Brother and a tender Mother.” It is, then, our Mother who calls us, and says, in these words of the Book of Proverbs: He that is a little one, let him come to me-(Prov. ix. 4). Children have always on their lips their mother’s name; and in every rear, in every danger, they immediately cry out: Mother! Mother! Ah, most sweet Mary! Ah, most loving Mother, this is precisely what thou desirest: that we should become children, and call on thee in every danger, and at all times have recourse to thee, because thou desirest to help and save us, as thou hast saved all who have had recourse to thee.
Evening Mediation
THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST.
XII.-HOW MUCH JESUS CHRIST DESERVES TO BE LOVED BY US ON ACCOUNT OF THE LOVE HE HAS SHOWN US IN INSTITUTING THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR
I.
This Sacrament of the Eucharist, above all others, inflames our souls with Divine love. God is love (l John iv. 8). And He is a fire which consumes all earthly affections in our hearts. He is a consuming fire (Heb. xii. 29). It was for this very purpose, namely, to enkindle this fire, the Son of God came upon earth. I am come to cast fire on the earth; and He added that He desired nothing but to see this fire enkindled in our souls: And what will I but that it be kindled-(Luke xii. 49}. And oh, what flames of love does not Jesus Christ light up in the heart of everyone who receives Him devoutly in this Sacrament! St. Catherine of Sienna once saw the Host in a priest’s hand as a globe of fire; and the Saint was astonished that the hearts of all men were not burned up and, as it were, reduced to ashes by such a flame. Such brilliant rays issued from the face of St. Rose of Lima, after Communion, as to dazzle the eyes of those who saw her; and the heat from her mouth was so intense that a hand held near it was scorched. It is related of St. Wenceslaus that by merely visiting the churches where the Blessed Sacrament was kept, he was inflamed by such an ardour that his servant, who accompanied him, did not feel the cold if, when walking on the snow, he trod in the footsteps of the Saint. And St. John Chrysostom says that the most Holy Sacrament is a burning fire; so that when we leave the altar we breathe forth flames of love which make us objects of terror to hell.
O God of love, O infinite Lover, worthy of infinite love, tell me what more canst Thou do to make men love Thee? It was not sufficient for Thee to become Man, and to subject Thyself to all our miseries; not sufficient to shed all Thy Blood for us in torments, and then to die overwhelmed with sorrow, upon a Cross, destined for the most shameful malefactors. Thou didst, at last, oblige Thyself to be hidden under the species of bread and wine. to become our food, and be united with each one of us. Tell me, I repeat, what more canst Thou do to make Thyself loved by us? Ah, wretched shall we be if we do not love Thee in this life! And when we shall have entered into eternity what remorse shall we not feel for not having loved Thee! My Jesus, I will not die without loving Thee, and loving Thee exceedingly!
II.
The spouse of the Canticles said: He brought me into the cellar of wine, he set in order charity in me-(Cant. ii. 4}. St. Gregory of Nyssa says that Communion is precisely this cellar of wine in which the soul becomes so inebriated with Divine love that she forgets and loses sight of creatures; and this is that languishing with love of which the spouse again speaks: Stay me up with flowers: compass me about with apples, because I languish with love-(Cant. ii. 5). Some one will say: ” But this is the very reason why I do not communicate frequently, because I see that I am so cold in the love of God.” Gerson answers such a one by saying: “Do you, therefore, because you are cold, willingly keep away from the fire? Rather, because you feel yourself cold, should you so much the more frequently approach this Sacrament, if you really desire to love Jesus Christ.” “Although it be with lukewarmness,” wrote St. Bonaventure, “still approach, trusting in the mercy of God. The more one feels himself sick, the greater need has he of a physician.”
In like manner, St. Francis de Sales: “Two sorts of persons ought to go frequently to Communion: the perfect in order to remain so; and the imperfect, in order to become perfect.” But for frequent Communion it is at least necessary to have a great desire to become a Saint and to grow in the love of Jesus Christ. Our Lord said once to St. Matilda: “When you go to Communion desire all the love which a soul has ever had for Me, and I will receive your love according to your desire.”
My Jesus, I am sorry and am pained for having so greatly offended Thee. But now I love Thee above all things. I love Thee more than myself, and I consecrate to Thee all my affections. Do Thou, who inspirest me with this desire, give me also grace to accomplish it. My Jesus, my Jesus, I desire nothing of Thee but Thyself. Now that Thou hath drawn me to Thy love, I leave all, I renounce all; and I bind myself to Thee: Thou alone art sufficient for me. O Mary, Mother of God, pray to Jesus for me, and make me a Saint! Add this also to the many wonders you have done in changing sinners into Saints.
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| St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for Second Week after Easter |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-30-2023, 07:08 AM - Forum: Easter
- Replies (7)
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Morning Meditation
“THIS IS THE VICTORY THAT OVERCOMETH THE WORLD, OUR FAITH.”
A false balance is in his hand (Osee xii. 7). In these words the Holy Spirit warns us not to be deceived by the world, because the world weighs its goods in a false balance; we should weigh them in the true balance of Faith, which will show us what are the true goods. Oh, how wretched I have been, O Lord, in having, for so many years, gone after the vanities of the world, and left Thee, the Sovereign Good!
I.
The thought of the vanity of the world, and that all things that the world values are but falsehood and deceit, has made many souls resolve to give themselves wholly to God. What does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? (Matt. xvi. 26). How many young persons has this great maxim of the Gospel brought to leave relatives, country, possessions, honours, and even crowns, to go to shut themselves up in cloisters or deserts, there to think of God alone! The day of death is called the day of destruction: The day of destruction is at hand (Deut. xxxii. 35). It is a day of destruction, because all the goods we have gained on earth must be left on the day of our death. Wherefore St. Ambrose wisely says that we falsely call these good things our good things, for we cannot carry them with us into the other world, where we must dwell forever. It is our holy deeds alone that accompany us, and they alone will comfort us in eternity.
All earthly fortunes, the highest dignities, gold, silver, the most precious jewels, when contemplated from the bed of death lose their splendour; the dark shadow of death obscures even sceptres and crowns, and makes us see that whatever the world values is but smoke, dust, vanity, and misery. And, in truth, at the time of death, what profit is there in all the riches acquired by the dying person, if nothing belongs to him after death except a wooden box, in which he is placed to grow corrupt? For what will vaunted beauty of body serve when there remains of it only a little polluted dust and four fleshless limbs?
What is the life of man upon earth? Behold it, as described by St. James: It is a vapour which appeareth for a little while, and afterwards will pass away (James iv. 15). Today this great man is esteemed, feared, praised; tomorrow he is despised, contemned, and abused. I have seen the wicked highly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus. And I passed by and, lo, he was not! (Ps. xxxvi. 35, 36). He is no longer to be found in his beloved house, in this great palace which he built; and where is he? He is become dust in the grave!
A false balance is in his hand (Osee xii. 7). In these words the Holy Spirit warns us not to be deceived by the world, because the world weighs its goods in a false balance; we ought to weigh them in the true balance of Faith, which will show us what are the true goods which never end. St. Teresa said we should never take account of anything that ends with death. O God, what greatness has remained to those many first ministers of state, commanders of armies, princes, Roman emperors, now that the scene is changed, and they find themselves in eternity! Their memory has perished with a noise (Ps. ix. 7). They made a great figure in the world, and their names resounded among all; but when they were dead, for them was changed rank, name, and everything. It is useful here to notice an inscription placed over a certain cemetery in which many great men and ladies are buried: See where end all greatness, all earthly pomp, all beauty. Worms, dust, a worthless stone, a little sand, close the brief scene at the end of all.”
Oh, how wretched I have been, O Lord, in having for so many years gone after the vanities of the world, and left Thee, the Sovereign Good!
II.
The fashion of this world passeth away (1 Cor. vii. 31). Our life is but a scene that passes away and speedily ends; and it must end for all, whether nobles or commoners, kings or subjects, rich or poor. Happy he who, in this scene, has played his part well before God. Philip III., King of Spain, died a young man, at the age of forty-two years; and before he died he said to those who stood by “When I am dead proclaim the spectacle that you now see; proclaim that, in death, to have been a king serves only to make one feel the pain of having reigned,” And then he lamented, saying: “Oh that during this time I had been in a desert, becoming a Saint, that now I might appear with more confidence before the tribunal of Jesus Christ!”
We know the change of life of St. Francis Borgia at the sight of the corpse of the Empress Isabella, who, in life, was most beautiful, but, after death, struck horror into all who saw her. Borgia, when he saw her, exclaimed, “Thus, then, end the good things of this world!” and he gave himself wholly to God. Oh, that we could all imitate him before death comes upon us! But let us make haste, because death runs towards us, and we know not when it will arrive. Let us not so act that the light that God will then give us will cause us nothing but remorse, when we hold in our hands the candle of death. Let us resolve to do now what we shall then wish to have done, and shall not be able to do.
No, my God, it is not enough that Thou hast hitherto borne with me; I do not wish that Thou shouldst wait longer to see me give myself wholly to Thee. Thou hast warned me many times to have done with this world, and to give myself all to Thy love. Now Thou tellest to me to turn to Thee; behold, I come, receive me into Thy arms. I abandon myself wholly to Thee. O spotless Lamb, sacrificed on a Cross for me, wash me first with Thy Blood, and pardon all the injuries Thou hast received from me; and then inflame me with Thy holy love. I love Thee above everything; I love Thee with all my heart. And what can I find in the world more worthy of love than Thou art, or that has loved me more? O Mary, Mother of God, and my advocate, pray for me; obtain for me a true and lasting change of life. In thee I trust.
Spiritual Reading
CONFESSION
VI. — DELUSIONS AND VAIN FEARS
Along with false shame, the devil endeavours to fill the mind of sinners with many delusions and vain fears.
Such a one says: My confessor will rebuke me severely if I tell this sin. Why should he rebuke you? Tell me, were you a confessor, would you speak harshly to a poor penitent who should come to manifest his miseries to you, in the hope of being raised up from his fallen state? How, then, can you imagine that a confessor, who is bound by his office to show charity to those that come to the tribunal of penance, should treat you with harshness and severity, if you confess your sin to him?
Another says: But the confessor will, at least, be shocked at my sin, and will conceive a dislike for me. All false! He will be edified when he sees the good disposition that makes a sinner confess his sins with sincerity, in spite of the shame that he feels. And will he not have heard from other penitents similar or perhaps more grievous sins? Oh, would to God that you were the only sinner in the world! Neither is it true that he will conceive a dislike for those that disclose their guilt to him; on the contrary, he will entertain a greater esteem for them, and will labour more zealously to assist them when he sees the confidence that they place in him, and that has made them reveal their miseries to him.
Alas! what do certain sinners say? I will go to Confession, but not till another confessor comes. And will they, for the sake of avoiding shame, live in the meantime at enmity with God? In danger of being lost forever, in an actual hell caused by the remorse of conscience that lacerates the soul, and that leaves them without peace night or day? And will they remain in sin, or add several sacrileges to the sin they have committed? Do they not know that sacrilege is a horrible Sin? Will they change into the poison of eternal death the remedy that Jesus Christ has prepared for them by His Blood, in the Sacrament of Penance? They say they will go to Confession afterwards. But what will become of them for eternity if they meet a sudden death, which is now so frequent that we hear almost every day that someone has died suddenly.
But, some one will say, I have not confidence in my confessor. Go then to another. But should a person not be able to procure a strange confessor, would it not be madness to conceal his sin? Were he afflicted with an ulcer that might cause death, would he not, if there were no other remedy, instantly call for a surgeon and, however great his shame, would he not make known his disease? And in order to recover the life of the soul and to escape hell a Christian cannot bring himself to open his conscience to a Spiritual Father.
You, then, should have courage, and generously conquer this shame that the devil magnifies so much in your mind. It will be enough to begin to reveal the sin that you have committed; all your vain apprehensions will instantly vanish. And you may be persuaded that after Confession you will feel more happy at having confessed your sins than if you were made monarch of all the earth. Recommend yourself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and she will obtain for you strength to overcome all repugnance. And if you have not courage to disclose your sins at once to the confessor, say to him: Father, assist me, for I stand in need of help; I have committed a certain sin which I cannot bring myself to confess. The confessor will adopt an easy means of dragging from its den the wild beast that devours you. It will be enough for you to answer “yes” or “no” to his interrogations. Should a person be unwilling to tell his sin in words, he may write it on paper, and show it to the confessor, saying, “I accuse myself of this sin that you have read.” And, behold! the eternal and temporal hell has disappeared, the grace of God is recovered, and with it peace of conscience. The greater the violence a person does himself in order to conquer shame, the greater will be the affection with which God will embrace him. Father Paul Segneri the Younger relates that a certain person made such an effort to confess certain sins committed in her infancy that, in disclosing them to her confessor, she swooned away. But in return for the violence that she had done herself the Lord gave her such fervent compunction that thenceforward she gave herself up to a life of perfection and of great austerities, and died with the reputation of a Saint.
Evening Meditation
THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
V. — HOW DESERVING JESUS CHRIST IS OF OUR LOVE ON ACCOUNT OF THE LOVE HE HAS SHOWN US IN HIS PASSION
I.
The Blessed John of Avila, who was so enamoured with the love of Jesus Christ that he never failed in any of his sermons to speak of the love which Jesus Christ bears towards us, in a treatise on the love this most loving Redeemer bears to men, has expressed himself in sentiments so full of the fire of devotion and of such beauty that I desire to insert them here. He says: “Thou, O Redeemer, hast loved man in such a manner that whoso reflects upon this love cannot do less than love Thee; for Thy love offers violence to hearts: as the Apostle says: The charity of Christ presseth us (2 Cor. v. 14). The source of the love of Jesus Christ for men is His love for His Eternal Father. Hence He said on Maundy Thursday: That the world may know that I love the Father, arise, let us go hence (John xiv. 31). But whither? To die for men upon the Cross!
“No human intellect can conceive how strongly this fire burns in the Heart of Jesus Christ. As He was commanded to suffer death once, so, had He been commanded to die a thousand times, His love had been sufficient to endure it. And if what He suffered for all men had been imposed upon Him for the salvation of each single soul, He would have done the same for each in particular as He did for all. And as He remained three hours upon the Cross, so, had it been necessary, His love would have made Him remain there even to the Day of Judgment. So that Jesus Christ loved much more than He suffered. O Divine love, how far greater wert Thou than Thou didst outwardly seem to be; for though so many wounds and bruises tell us of great love, still they do not tell all its greatness. There was far more within than that which appeared externally. That was but as a spark which bounded forth from the vast ocean of infinite love. The greatest mark of love is to lay down our life for our friends. But this was not a sufficient mark for Jesus Christ wherewith to express His love.”
II.
“This is the love which causes holy souls to lose themselves, and to stand amazed when once they have been allowed to know it. From it spring those burning sentiments of ardour, the desire of Martyrdom, joy in sufferings, exultation under the storms of distress, the strength to walk on burning coals as if they were roses, a thirst for sufferings, rejoicing in what the world dreads, embracing that which it abhors. St. Ambrose says that the soul which is espoused to Jesus Christ upon the Cross thinks nothing so glorious as to bear upon itself the marks of the Crucified One.
“But how, O my Lover, shall I repay this Thy love? It is right that blood should be compensated by blood. May I behold myself dyed in this Blood and nailed to this Cross! O holy Cross, receive me also! O crown of thorns, enlarge thyself, that I too may place thee on my head! O nails, leave those innocent hands of my Lord, and come and pierce my heart with compassion and with love! For Thou, my Jesus, didst die, as St. Paul says, in order to gain dominion over the living and the dead, not by means of chastisements but by love. For to this end Christ died and rose again: that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living (Rom. xiv. 9).”
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| St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for Easter Week |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-30-2023, 06:52 AM - Forum: Easter
- Replies (6)
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Easter Sunday
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Morning Meditation
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST
Let us rejoice at seeing in His risen glory our Saviour, our Father, the best Friend we possess. Let us rejoice, too, for our own sakes, because the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is for us a sure pledge of our own resurrection and of the glory we hope one day to have in Heaven in our soul and body.
I.
Jesus came into the world not only to redeem us, but by His example to teach us all virtues, and especially humility, and holy poverty which is inseparably united with humility. For this it was, He chose to be born in a cave; to live as a poor man in a workshop for thirty years; and at last to die, poor and naked, on a Cross, seeing His garments divided amongst the soldiers before He breathed His last; while, after His death, He receives the winding-sheet for His burial as an alms from others.
Let the poor be consoled at seeing Jesus Christ, the King of Heaven and earth, thus living and dying in poverty in order to enrich us with His merits and gifts. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that being rich he became poor for your sakes, that through his poverty you might be rich (2 Cor. viii. 9). For this cause the Saints, in order to become like unto Jesus in His poverty, despised all earthly riches and honours, so that one day they might go to enjoy with Jesus Christ the riches and honours prepared by God in Heaven for them that love Him. And speaking of these blessings the Apostle St. Paul says that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man what things God hath prepared for them that love him (1 Cor. 9).
O my Jesus, I beseech Thee by Thy Resurrection, make me rise glorious with Thee on the last day, to be always united with Thee in Heaven, to praise Thee and to love Thee for ever.
II.
Jesus Christ, then, rose from the dead with the glory of possessing all power in Heaven and on earth, not only as God, but as Man. All the angels and all men are therefore subject to Him. Let us rejoice in thus seeing in glory our Saviour, our Father, and the best Friend we possess.
And let us rejoice for ourselves, because the Resur-rection of Jesus Christ is for us a sure pledge of our own Resurrection, and of the glory that we may hope one day to have in Heaven in our soul and in our body. This hope gave courage to the Martyrs to suffer with gladness All the evils of life, and the most cruel torments of tyrants. We must rest assured, however, that none will rejoice with Jesus Christ but they who are willing to suffer in this world with Him; nor will he obtain the crown who does not fight as he ought to fight. He that striveth, for the mastery is not crowned except he strive lawfully. (2 Tim. ii. 5). At the same time let us be assured by what the same Apostle says: that all the sufferings of this life are short and light in comparison with the boundless and eternal joys we hope to enjoy in Paradise. (2 Cor. iv. 17). Let us labour the more to continue in the grace of God, and continually to pray for perseverance in God's friendship. Without continual prayer we shall not obtain perseverance, and without perseverance we shall not be saved.
O sweet Jesus, worthy of all love, how hast Thou so loved men that, in order to show Thy love, Thou hast not refused to die wounded and dishonoured on an infamous tree! O my God, how is it there are so few among men who love Thee with their whole heart ? O my dear Redeemer, I wish to be one of these few. Miserable that I am to have forgotten Thy love in the past, and given up Thy grace for miserable pleasures ! I know the evil I have done. I grieve over it with my whole heart and would wish to die of grief. O my beloved Redeemer, I love Thee now more than myself and am ready to die a thousand deaths rather than lose Thy friendship. Jesus, I thank Thee for the light Thou hast given me. O Jesus, my Hope, leave me not in my own hands. Help me until death.
O Mary, Mother of God, pray to Jesus for me.
Spiritual Reading
THE HEAVEN GOD HAS WON FOR US
The bliss of Heaven consists in seeing and loving God face to face. "Everything we expect," says St. Augustine, "is expressed in a word of one syllable, namely, God." The reward God promises to us does not consist altogether in the beauty, the harmony, and other advantages of the city of Paradise. God Himself, Whom the Saints are allowed to behold, is, according to the promises made to Abraham, the principal reward of the just in Heaven. I am thy reward exceeding great. (Gen. xv. 1). St. Augustine asserts that were God to show His face to the damned, "hell would be instantly changed into a paradise of delights." And he adds that were a departed soul allowed the choice of seeing God and suffering the pains of hell, or of being freed from these pains and deprived of the sight of God, "it would prefer to see God, and to endure those torments."
The delights of the soul infinitely surpass all the pleasures of the senses. Even in this life, Divine love infuses such sweetness into the soul when God communicates Himself to it that the body is raised from the earth. St. Peter of Alcantara once fell into such an ecstasy of love that, taking hold of a tree, he drew it up from the roots, and raised it with him on high. So great is the sweetness of Divine love, that the holy Martyrs, in the midst of their torments, felt no pain, but were on the contrary filled with joy. Hence St. Augustine says that when St. Laurence was laid on a red-hot gridiron, the fervour of Divine love made him insensible to the burning heat of the fire. Even on sinners who weep for their sins, God bestows consolations which exceed all earthly pleasures. Hence St. Bernard says: "If it be so sweet to weep for Thee, what must it be to rejoice in Thee!"
How great is the sweetness which a soul experiences when, in the time of prayer, God, by a ray of His own light, reveals to it His goodness and His mercies towards it, and particularly the love Jesus Christ has borne to it in His Passion! It feels its heart melting and, as it were, dissolved through love. But in this life we do not see God as He really is: we see Him, as it were, in the dark. We see now through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to face. (1 Cor. xiii. 12). Here below God is hidden from our view; we can see Him only with the eyes of Faith. How great shall be our happiness when the veil is raised, and we are permitted to behold God face to face! We shall then see His beauty, His greatness, His perfection, His amiableness, and His immense love for our souls.
Man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love or hatred. (Eccles. ix. 1). The fear of not loving God, and of not being loved by Him, is the greatest affliction which souls that love God endure on the earth; but in Heaven the soul is certain that it loves God and that He loves it; and sees that the Lord embraces it with infinite love, and that this love shall not be dissolved for all eternity. The knowledge of the love Jesus Christ has shown it in offering Himself in sacrifice for it on the Cross, and in making Himself its Food in the Sacrament of the Altar, shall increase the ardour of its love. It shall also see clearly all the graces God has bestowed upon it, all the helps which He has given it, to preserve it from falling into sin, and to draw it to His love.
It shall see that all the tribulations, the poverty, the infirmities and persecutions which it regards as misfortunes, have all proceeded from love, and have been the means employed by Divine Providence to bring it to glory. It shall see all the lights, loving calls, and mercies which God had granted to it after it had insulted Him by its sins. From the blessed mountain of Paradise it shall see so many souls damned for fewer sins than it had committed, and shall see that it is saved and secured against the possibility of ever losing God. Justly, then, has St. Augustine said that to gain the eternal bliss and peace of Paradise, we should embrace eternal labour.
Evening Meditation
"YOUR SORROW SHALL BE TURNED INTO JOY."
I.
Oh, happy are we, if we suffer with patience on earth the troubles of this present life! Distress of circumstances, fears, bodily infirmities, persecutions, and crosses of every kind, will one day all come to an end; and if we be saved, they will all become for us subjects of joy and glory in Paradise: Your sorrow, says the Saviour to encourage us, shall be turned into joy. (John xvi. 20). So great are the delights of Paradise that they can neither be explained nor understood by us mortals: Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him. (1 Cor. ii 9). Beauties like to the beauties of Paradise, eye hath never seen; harmonies like unto the harmonies of Paradise, ear hath never heard; nor hath ever human heart gained the comprehension of the joys God hath prepared for those that love Him. Beautiful is the sight of a landscape adorned with hills, plains, woods, and views of the sea. Beautiful is the sight of a garden abounding with fruits, flowers, and fountains. Oh, how much more beautiful is Paradise!
To understand how great the joys of Paradise are, it is enough to know that in that blessed realm resides a God omnipotent, Whose care it is to render happy His beloved souls. St. Bernard says that Paradise is a place where "there is nothing thou wouldst not, and everything thou wouldst." There thou shalt not find any thing displeasing to thyself, and every thing thou dost desire thou shalt find: "There is nothing thou wouldst not." In Paradise there is no night; no seasons of winter and summer; but one perpetual day of unvaried serenity, and one perpetual spring of unvaried delight. No more persecutions or jealousies are there; for there all sincerely love one another, and each rejoices in each other's good as if it were his own. No more bodily infirmities or pains are there, for the body is no longer subject to suffering; no poverty is there, for every one is rich to the full, not having anything more to desire; no more fears are there, for the soul being confirmed in grace can sin no more, nor lose that supreme good which it possesses.
II.
"There is everything thou wouldst." In Paradise thou shalt have whatsoever thou desirest. There the sight is satisfied in beholding that city so beautiful, and its citizens all clothed in royal apparel, for they are all kings of that everlasting kingdom. There shall we see the beauty of Mary, whose appearance will be more beautiful than that of all the Angels and Saints together. We shall see the beauty of Jesus, which will immeasurably surpass the beauty of Mary. The smell will be satisfied with the perfumes of Paradise. The hearing will be satisfied with the harmonies of Heaven, and the canticles of the Blessed, who will all with ravishing sweetness sing the Divine praises for all eternity. Ah, my God, I deserve not Paradise, but hell; yet Thy death gives me a hope of obtaining it. I desire and ask Paradise of Thee, not so much in order to enjoy as in order to love Thee for ever, secure that it will never more be possible for me to lose Thee. O Mary, my Mother, O Star of the Sea, it is for thee, by thy prayers, to conduct me to Paradise.
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| North Korea toddler, parents jailed for life after being caught with Bible |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-29-2023, 09:01 AM - Forum: Socialism & Communism
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North Korea toddler, parents jailed for life after being caught with Bible
NY Post - emphasis mine | May 28, 2023
A two-year-old North Korean was sentenced to life in prison after officials found a Bible in the toddler’s parents’ possession, as the totalitarian regime continued to “execute” and “torture” religious worshippers.
As many as 70,000 Christians are imprisoned in North Korea, according to a new International Religious Freedom Report by the US State Department.
The findings underscored the brutal punitive measures routinely doled out by Supreme Leader Kim Jung Un.
People caught with a copy of The Bible in North Korea face the death penalty, while their families — including children — are sentenced to life in prison.
The report highlighted the 2009 imprisonment of a family based on their religious practices and parents’ possession of a Bible.
The entire family, including a two-year-old infant, were sentenced to life in prison camps.
“The right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion [in the DPRK] also continues to be denied, with no alternative belief systems tolerated by the authorities,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said last July.
Guerres wrote how the situation in North Korea has not changed since a 2014 human rights report, which found that authorities “almost completely denied the rights to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion” and found that the government frequently violated violations of human rights that constituted crimes against humanity.
The 2022 report found that the North Korean government has continued to “execute, torture, arrest and physically abuse people for their religious activities.”
Pandemic-era COVID-19 restrictions on travel also reduced information available about conditions, prompting the State Department to work with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), human rights groups and the UN to confirm claims of abuse.
While a small number of officially registered religious institutions exist in North Korea, including churches, they operate under strict state control and function largely as showpieces for foreign tourists, officials say.
In October 2021, NGO Korea Future released a report detailing the religious freedom abuses after interviewing 244 victims.
Of the victims interviewed, 150 adhered to Shamanism, 91 adhered to Christianity, one to Cheondoism and one to other beliefs.
The victims ranged in age from just two years old to over 80 years old and women and girls made up over 70 percent of the documented victims.
The report found that the North Korean government charged individuals with engaging in religious practices, conducting religious activities in China, possessing religious items, having contact with religious persons, and sharing religious beliefs.
As a result, people were arrested, placed into detention, forced labor and tortured.
Many were also denied a fair trial and subjected to sexual violence and public execution.
One defector told Korea Future that authorities beat Christian and Shamanic adherents in custody, gave them contaminated food, and arbitrarily executed them.
Another said that in 2002, officials denied a Christian man food, causing him to die within three days.
A prisoner who was released in 2020 told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that authorities subjected Christians to the harshest treatment and that authorities once forced them to stand for 40 days straight, causing inmates to lose the ability to sit down.
Christians are regarded as on the lowest rung of North Korean society and are constantly “vulnerable and in danger,” according to the report.
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| Archbishop Viganò: Sermon for the Vigil of Pentecost - May 27, 2023 |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-29-2023, 07:50 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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Homily of Msgr. Viganò: Vigil of Pentecost
Let's fight with enthusiasm!
Marco Tosatti blog[computer translated from the Italian - slightly adapted - emphasis mine] | May 28, 2023
Homily for the conferment of Holy Confirmation on the eve of Pentecost
Qui diceris Paraclitus, Altissimi donum Dei.
Hymn. Veni, Creator
Today we celebrate Pentecost Eve. The ancient baptismal liturgy of this day, abolished with the 1955 reform, was recently brought back to use by numerous communities following the Tridentine rite, moreover with the permission of the Commission Ecclesia Dei. The reason for this decision is due to the fact that the authors of Ordo Hebdomadæ Sanctæ instauratus of Pius XII are the same as those of Rubricarum Instructum of John XXIII and of Novus Ordo Missæ of Paul VI. With a view to recovering the treasures of the traditional Rite, this rediscovery not only of Holy Week pre-1955, but also of the symbolic liturgy of Pentecost, called Easter of the Roses in memory of the ancient custom of dropping a shower of rose petals from the vault of our churches, which were to represent the tongues of fire of the Holy Spirit. This still happens in the Basilica of Santa Maria to Martyres, the Roman Pantheon.
Its baptismal disposition recalls Easter Eve, because catechumens who had not received Baptism on Holy Saturday – for example because they are not yet ready or sick – could be admitted among newbies during today's solemn function. This ancient rite contemplates the blessing of the Sacred Source and the conferment of sacramental washing, and reminds us of the concern of the Holy Church, which is Teacher in demanding the due preparation of the candidates for Baptism, and Mother in giving them another opportunity to end Easter time. According to Dom Guéranger, the reading of the prophecies constitutes an evident reference to Holy Saturday, with the double symbolism of Easter and Jewish Pentecost that take place on Easter and Christian Pentecost.
Certainly the great Pius XII, towards whom we have a profound veneration, had no way of grasping in those first steps of the renouveau liturgique, started in the 1920s, the threat that would later appear evident with the so-called “conciliar reform”. This is why the recovery of rites prior to 1955 does not in the least question his Pontificate, nor his love for the Roman Liturgy. Rather, we can recognize the diabolical cunning with which the [innovators] acted, who by small steps undermined the invaluable treasure of Catholic worship. Rather than opening up this heritage, the result of centuries of harmonious development, they considered it more convenient to simplify them, demonstrating in this not only a completely alien mentality to a true understanding of the divine Liturgy, but also a substantial contempt for the holy people of God, wrongly considered unable to feed themselves spiritually by drawing on it. But this, it is clear, was still a pretext, an excuse – la actuosa participatio, there active participation of the faithful – behind which the will to unhinge the Faith, the lex credendi, by tampering with its prayerful expression, the lex orandi.
Ultimately, the [innovators] reveal their lack of trust in the action of Grace infused by the Holy Spirit – which also works through the Liturgy – and in man's ability to correspond to it. In their mentality, nothing must test us, nothing must represent an opportunity for improvement: everything must be within everyone's reach, no treasure must be disclosed to those who consider mediocre and ignorant; which betrays their proud persuasion of being superior to their flock. This presumptuous classism is not limited to exteriority, but also extends to internal questions, so that for them the ignorance of the Faith, the indolent accommodation of the Moral, laziness in Spirituality and Asceticism must be the rule for a mass that they have no desire to guide, to instruct, to admonish. Too much effort, for those who first do not believe, do not love, do not hope. Too much effort, for those who are busy building a church in their own image, considering the Church of Christ and its Liturgy old and impossible.
For this reason they depersonalize individuals and annihilate them in a faceless and will-less assembly to which to impose a horizontal vision without supernatural yearning, in the certainty – that we have under our eyes – that a ritual that expresses For this reason they depersonalize individuals and annihilate them in a faceless and will-less assembly to which to impose a horizontal vision without supernatural yearning, in the certainty – that we have under our eyes – that a rite that expresses another ecclesiological and doctrinal vision would end up changing the faith of those who would assist you.
Vice versa, the good Pastors are the first who, in the wake of Tradition and in the constant and humble practice of what they preach, have the task of indicating great goals to the souls entrusted to them. Be holy, as holy is your Father ( Mt 5, 48 ), Our Lord exhorts us. And this holiness, which is made of heroism and of generous abandonment to the will of God, is the answer to Grace, which makes possible to God what we would never know how to do alone. And today, with the conferment of Holy Confirmation to young Gabriel, we have proof of this: the Lord, who calls us to be children of the eternal Father and living members of the Church through Baptism, makes us soldiers of Christ in the Sacrament of Confirmation, ready to fight the good fight. But He does not leave us alone in this trial: he provides us with the spiritual weapons with which to face the Enemy of our soul. The Holy Spirit gives us these very powerful weapons – for free, like everything that comes from God – precisely in Confirmation and in all the sacraments: the armor of God, the belt of truth,the armor of justice, the shoes of preaching, the shield of Faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, the training of prayer, the gym of fasting and penance ( Eph 6, 10-20 ).
Let us not be proud of what the Lord allows us to be, nor of the successes that we obtain thanks to him; but let's not be discouraged even for our failures, for our weakness, for the inexperience in handling these weapons or the lack of dexterity in holding them. Rather, we repeat with San Paolo: I can do everything in the one who gives me strength (Fil 4, 13).
In this solemn Vigil that prepares us for the descent of the Paraclete, we invoke the Holy Spirit with the trust of those who know their weakness with realism and humility, but also the infinite power of the Lord God of the armies deployed, and that no less terrible than our august Condottiera, Mary Most Holy, terterilis ut castrorum acies ordered. The spiritual war we fight against the world, the flesh and the devil was won on the Cross, where Our Lord and God defeated the enemy; where the blessed lineage of the woman crowned with stars and covered with sun has crushed the head of the ancient Serpent. It will know the total victory at the end of time, when again the Woman announced in Genesis and the fruit of Her womb will exterminate the Antichrist and Satan. We are in the midst of this epochal conflict, and if we want to triumph with Christ and His Most Holy Mother, we must fight with enthusiasm under the glorious insignia of our King, protected from the armor that the Holy Spirit – παράκλητος, that is, defender, adviser and lawyer – makes available to us, mainly with the Grace conferred on Confirmation.
We have high ideals, great challenges, exciting duels to face. With the help of God, the young Gabriel will also have it, whom the Church enlists in its ranks as miles Christi, endowing it with all the spiritual equipment it needs, providing it with the care of Confession, nourishing its strength and vigor with the supernatural Food of the Most Holy Eucharist. Gabriele: strength of God. The Holy Spirit will also give you – as he has given and continues to bestow on each of us – His Gifts, the sacred Septenary: wisdom, intellect, advice, fortitude, science, piety, fear of God.
So let us not be discouraged by those who want us weak and disarmed, resigned and ignorant, in order to better break down and win: let us rather place all our hopes in God, who calls us to the heroism of holiness because it takes us to His right on the glorious day of victory, when he will place His enemies as a stool for His feet (Sal 109, 2). And so be it.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
May 27, 2023
Sabbato in Vigilia Pentecostes
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| St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for Week of Pentecost |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-28-2023, 10:21 AM - Forum: Pentecost
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Morning Meditation
THE COMING OF THE HOLY GHOST INTO THE SOUL
The Eternal Father was not content with giving us His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us by His death, He has given us also the Holy Ghost to dwell always in our souls and keep them inflamed with His holy love. Hence, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, He appeared in the form of tongues of fire. This is the holy fire that inflamed the Saints with the desire to do great things for God, that enabled them to love their most cruel enemies, to seek after contempt, to renounce all the riches and honours of the world, and even to embrace torments and death.
I.
The Holy Ghost is that divine bond which unites the Father with the Son; it is He Who unites our souls, through love, with God. For, as St. Augustine says, union with God is the effect of love. “Charity is a virtue which unites us with God.” The chains of the world are chains of death, but the bonds of the Holy Ghost are bonds of Eternal life, because they bind us to God, Who is our true and only Life. Let us also remember that all the lights, inspirations, divine calls, all the good acts we have performed during our life, all our acts of contrition, of confidence in the divine mercy, of love, of resignation, have been the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings-(Rom. viii. 26). Thus, it, is the Holy Ghost Who prays for us; for we know not what to ask, but the Holy Spirit teaches us what we should pray for.
O holy and divine Spirit, come into my heart and teach me to pray as I ought. Give me strength not to neglect prayer in times of weariness and dryness. I have been lost by my sins. Thou desirest my sanctification and salvation, and I, too, earnestly desire to become holy. I love Thee, my sovereign Good, my Love, my All, and because I love Thee, I give myself wholly to Thee. O Blessed Virgin Mary, protect me.
II.
We know by Faith that the Holy Ghost is the Love that the Eternal Father and the Eternal Word bear one another, and therefore the gift of divine charity which the Lord infuses into our souls, and which is the greatest of all gifts, is particularly attributed to the Holy Ghost, as St. Paul teaches: The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us (Rom. v.5). And our Lord Himself made this great promise: If you love Me I will pray My Father, and He will send you the Holy Spirit that He may always dwell in you. If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will ask my Father and he will give you another Paraclete that he may abide with you for ever (Jo. xiv.. 15, 16).
O Holy Spirit, divine Paraclete, Father of the poor, Consoler of the affiicted, Light of hearts, Sanctifier of souls, behold me prostrate in Thy Presence. I adore Thee with the most profound submission. I love Thee with all my affections. I have been so ungrateful as to offend Thee. I ask a thousand pardons for all my sins. I offer Thee my heart, cold as it is, and I supplicate Thee to let a ray of Thy light and a spark of Thy fire enter therein. Thou art a divine Spirit, fortify me against the wicked spirits: Thou art a Fire, enkindle in me the fire of Thy love: Thou art a Light, enlighten me that I may know the things of eternity: Thou art the Author of the heavenly gifts, I beseech Thee to grant them to me. Vivify me by Thy grace, sanctify me by Thy charity, govern me by Thy wisdom, adopt me by Thy beauty as Thy child, and save me by Thy infinite mercy. Amen.
Spiritual Reading
THANKSGIVING AFTER COMMUNION
There is no prayer more agreeable to God, or more profitable to the soul, than that which is made during the Thanksgiving after Communion. It is the opinion of many grave writers (Suarez, Cajetan, Valentia, De Lugo, and others), that the Holy Communion, as long as the Sacramental species last, constantly produces greater and greater graces in the soul, provided the soul is then constant in disposing itself by new acts of virtue. The Council of Florence, in the Decree of Eugenius IV to the Armenians, teaches that the Blessed Sacrament produces the same effect in the soul as material food, which, when it enters the body, produces effects according to the state in which it finds it. For this reason, holy souls endeavour to remain as long as possible in prayer after Communion. The Blessed John of Avila, even when he was giving his missions, used to remain for at least two hours in prayer. Father Balthazar Alvarez used to say, that we should set great value on, the time after Communion, imagining that we hear from the lips of Jesus Christ Himself the words that He addressed to His disciples: But me you have not always with you (Matt. xxvi. 11). It is not advisable, as many do, to begin to read immediately after Communion: it is better to spend at least a short time in producing holy affections, and in conversing with Jesus, who is then within us, and in repeating many times words of tenderness, or some fervent prayer. Jesus Christ repeated the same prayer in the Garden three times: And he prayed the third time, saying the self-same word (Matt. xxvi. 44). In affections and prayers it is, then, that the soul should entertain itself with Jesus after Communion; for we must know that the acts formed in prayer after Communion are far more precious and meritorious in the sight of God than when made at another time; for the soul being then united with Jesus, the value of the acts is increased by the presence of Jesus. We should, moreover, know that after Communion Jesus Christ is more disposed to grant graces. St. Teresa says, that after Communion Jesus places Himself in the soul as on a throne of grace, and then says: What willest thou that I should do for thee? (Mark x. 51) meaning: O soul, I am come for the express purpose of granting thee graces: ask Me what thou wilt, and as much as thou wilt, and thou shalt receive all.
Oh, what treasures of grace would you receive, devout soul, if you only entertained yourself with Jesus for an hour, or at least half-an-hour, after Communion! After your thanksgiving is ended, be also careful during the whole day on which you have communicated to keep yourself united by affections and prayers with Jesus, Whom you have received.
Evening Meditation
THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
X.-THE MEANS OF AVOIDING LUKEWARMNESS AND ATTAINING PERFECTION
I.
The greatest evil is, that without mental prayer we do not pray at all. I have spoken frequently in my spiritual works of the necessity of prayer, and more especially in a little volume entitled, On Prayer, the Great Means of Salvation and Perfection; and here also I will say a few other things. It will be sufficient, then, to quote the opinion of the Venerable Palafox, Bishop of Osma: “How can charity last, unless God grants us perseverance? How will the Lord grant us perseverance unless we ask it of Him? And how shall we ask it of Him except by prayer? Without prayer there is no communication with God for the preservation of virtue.” And so it is, because he that neglects mental prayer sees very little into the wants of his soul; he knows little of the dangers of his salvation, of the means to be used in order to overcome temptations; and so, understanding little of the necessity of prayer, he leaves off praying, and will certainly be lost.
II.
Then as regards subjects for Meditation, nothing is more useful than to meditate on the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven; but it is of especial advantage to meditate on Death, and to imagine ourselves expiring on the bed of sickness, with the Crucifix in our hands, and on the point of entering into eternity. But above all, to one that loves Jesus Christ, and is anxious always to increase in His love, no consideration is more efficacious than that of the Passion of the Redeemer. St Francis of Sales calls Mount Calvary “the Mountain of Lovers.” All the lovers of Jesus Christ love to abide on this Mountain, where no air is breathed but the air of Divine love. When we see a God dying for our love and dying in order to gain our love (He loved us and delivered himself up for us), it is impossible for us not to love Him ardently. Such darts of love continually issue forth from the Wounds of Christ Crucified as pierce even hearts of stone. Oh, happy he who is ever going during life to the heights of Calvary! O blessed Mount! O lovely Mount! O beloved Mount! And who shall ever leave thee more! A Mount that sends forth flames to enkindle the souls that perseveringly abide upon thee!
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