This blog is based on references in the Bible to fear. God wills that we “BE NOT AFRAID”. Many theologians state that the eighth deadly sin is fear. It is fear and its natural animal reaction to fight or flight that is the root cause of our failings to create a Kingdom of God on earth. By “the power of the Holy Spirit” we can be witnesses and “communicators” of a new and redeemed humanity “even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7 8). This blog is dedicated to Mary the Mother of God.
But Moses
answered the people, “Do not fear! Stand your ground and see the victory
the LORD will win for you today. For these Egyptians whom you see today you
will never see again.
At
Christ’s transfiguration Moses along with Elijah appeared with Him. The purpose
of the transfiguration was to fortify Peter and the other apostle’s faith for
pain and hopelessness they must have felt at the loss of their friend
Jesus on Good Friday. They must have felt much like the throng with Moses,
noted in this verse, standing by the Red Sea awaiting the certain death by the
Egyptians.
I
wonder did the apostles hear a quiet voice saying in their soul-Do not fear;
stand your ground and see the victory of the Lord.
Blessed are the poor in spirit:
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Mt. 5:3)
St. John Bosco was the
founder of the Salesian Society, named in honor of St. Francis de Sales, and of
the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians. His lifework was the welfare of
young boys and girls, hence his title, "Apostle of Youth." He had no
formal system or theory of education. His methods centered on persuasion,
authentic religiosity, and love for young people. He was an enlightened
educator and innovator. “Timid souls refrained from making any kind of fresh
start for fear of the coming storm. Don Bosco decided to go ahead fearlessly.”
How great is your goodness, Lord, stored up for those who fear you.
Exodus, Chapter 9,
Verse 27-30
27Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and
said to them, “I have sinned this time! The LORD
is the just one, and I and my people are the ones at fault. 28Pray to the LORD! Enough of the thunderand hail! I will let you go;
you need stay no longer.” 29Moses replied to him, “As soon as I leave the city I will extend my
hands to the LORD; the thunder will cease, and
there will be no more hail so that you may know that the earth belongs to the LORD. 30But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the LORD God.”
This was the seven
plague of God on the Egyptians and of course Pharaoh had closed his ears and
heart to God. Thunder was to the Egyptians the voice of God but they did not
listen nor did the hail melt the ice of their hearts to the true God. Because
God loves us He sometimes permits plagues in our lives that will bring about an
exodus from our sin and a melting of our heart. When we are poor in spirit it
is then that we can draw near to the Lord.
A young man approached Jesus and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to
gain eternal life?” He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There
is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the
commandments.” He asked him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “You
shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall
not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother; and you shall love
your neighbor as yourself.” The
young man said to him, “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give
to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When
the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many
possessions. (Mt. 19:16-22)
Today might be a good
day to make a poor man feast.
Recipe originally uploaded to YouTube by 91 year old cook and great grandmother,
Clara, who recounts her childhood during the Great Depression as she prepares
meals from the era.
DIRECTIONS
Prepare the vegetables: Dice the onion. Peel the potatoes and dice into
cubes no larger than 1/2 inch.
Heat the oil in a 12" non-stick skillet over medium heat.
Add the potatoes and cook for 5 minutes, stirring once.
Add the onion and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the sliced wieners and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring
occasionally.
Those of Pharaoh’s servants
who feared the word of the LORD hurried their servants and their livestock
off to shelter.
Even Pharaohs servants
when they heard the word of God took action. Blessed are we that hear the word
of the Lord!
Today we are a community
living in the fulfillment of faith in Christ and He asks us to do something
unthinkable, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have
life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood
is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in
him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread
that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever.”(John 6:53-58)
Follow me, and I will make you
fishers of men. (Mt. 4:19)
This gospel is read
to-day because it is by practicing what it contains that the saints have gained
the eternal kingdom.
I. “Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “The poor in spirit are: 1. Those
who, like the apostles, readily forsake all earthly things, and for Christ s sake
become poor. 2. Those who, happening to lose their property by misfortune or injustice,
suffer the loss patiently, in resignation to the will of God. 3. Those who, like
Jesus (Matt. viii. 20), are content with their poor and humble position, seek no
higher or happier one, and would rather suffer want than enrich themselves by unlawful
acts, by fraud or theft. 4. The rich and noble who set not their hearts upon the
riches and greatness of the world (Ps. Ixi. 11 ; i. Cor. vii. 30), but who use their
riches and influence to relieve the misery of the needy and oppressed. 5. Finally,
the truly humble, who, convinced of their weakness, their helplessness and misery,
think lowly of themselves, and regard themselves but as beggars, who are always
in need of the grace of God. To all these, therefore, in whose hearts the world
has no place, there is assured, as their inheritance, the kingdom of heaven ; here
the kingdom of grace there the kingdom of glory.
II. “Blessed are the meek,
for they shall possess the land.” That man is rneek who does not murmur against
God for sending afflictions upon him, who is not angry at men who do him injury,
but who rather suppresses impatience, anger, envy, and revenge, nay, who seeks
to recompense the evil done him by his neighbor with good. Such a one is greater
than he who takes by storm fortified cities (Prov. xvi. 32) ; he possesses an unfailing
fountain of peace, quiet, and cheerfulness ; by his meekness prevails over the most
hostile minds, is by such means truly a ruler upon earth, and will one day, for
his portion, obtain heaven, the land of the living, there to enjoy eternal
peace.
III. “Blessed are they that
mourn, for they shall be comforted.” By them that mourn we are not to understand
such as grieve and lament over a death, a misfortune, a loss of worldly goods,
or the like; but those who are grieved that God should be in so many ways offended
by themselves and by others that His Church should be so heavily oppressed, and
thereby so many souls lost that have been redeemed with the precious blood of
Christ. The only evil really to be grieved for is sin, and the tears shed on account
of sin are the only tears that are profitable, for they shall be recompensed with
everlasting joy.
IV. “Blessed are they
that hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall have their fill.” Hunger and
thirst denote the most ardent longing after those virtues which constitute Christian
perfection; such as humility, meekness, the love of God and of our neighbor, penance.
Whoever longs for these virtues as the hungry man does for food and drink, and prays
to God for them with perseverance and earnestness, shall have his fill that is,
he shall be enriched with them, and one day shall be satisfied with eternal happiness.
V. “Blessed are the
merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” The merciful here spoken of are: 1. Those
who willingly forgive the injuries done to them. 2. Those who have compassion on
their poor neighbors, and, according to their ability, sustain them by alms. These
shall obtain mercy that is; God will forgive them their sins and endow them abundantly
with the goods of this world and of the world to come. Thus God deals with us as
we deal with others (Matt. vii. 2).
VI. “Blessed are the clean
of heart, for they shall see God. The clean of heart are those who preserve with
care the innocence with which they are invested at holy Baptism, or seek to regain
it, when lost, by penance; those who keep their hearts and consciences unspotted
from all sinful thoughts, particularly from all unchaste thoughts, desires, words,
and acts, and who endeavor in all things to have a pure intention directed to God
alone. They shall see God, that is, they shall know Him even here upon earth,
for as the eye that is to see must be clean, so only souls that are pure and unstained
can behold God. But further, our knowledge is like our hearts; the purer the
heart the clearer and greater is the knowledge of God. But in the world above
they shall see, know, and possess Him as He is. “What blessedness! Strive,
therefore, to keep your heart clean.”
VII. “Blessed are the
peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God.” By peace-makers we
are to understand those who have peace with themselves, that is, a quiet conscience,
and who endeavor to maintain peace among others, or to restore it when broken. Such
are called the children of God, because they follow God, Who is a God of peace (Eoin.
xv. 33), and Who even gave His only Son to reconcile the world with Him (Korn. v.
10), and to bring down upon earth that peace which the world itself could not
give (Luke ii. 14; John xiv. 27).
VIII. “Blessed are they that
suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Hereby
all those are declared blessed who, on account of the true faith, of virtue, of
the fear of God, of purity, are persecuted, calumniated, and even put to death,
and who bear all this with Christian patience and constancy, nay, with joy. Thus
have the saints done, and thereby they have gained the heavenly crown. Do we desire
to be crowned with them; we must also suffer with them. And in truth, if we would
apply ourselves zealously to virtue, occasions will not be wanting to us, for c
all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (n, Tim. iii.
12).
His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him.
Exodus, Chapter 3,
Verse 6
I am the God of your father, he continued, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
This is Moses first
encounter with the Living God. Moses responded with natural fear thus he tried to hide himself just
as Adam did in the garden. Yet, how does one hide from God. The beginning of
Holiness is to not try to hide but to face our Lord manfully and admit we are
what we are and He is what He is. After this Moses was 100 percent for God; he
was His man. Moses here began a journey with God that eventually led to the
birth of Christ true God and true man and we beheld him face to face.
Today try and be 100%
for God.
As iron, cast into the fire, loses its
rust and becomes bright with the flame, so too a man who turns his whole heart
to Me is purified and all sluggishness and changed into a new man.[1]
Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Thomas Aquinas thoughts
on Fear
Article 1.
Whether God can be feared? I answer that, Just as hope has
two objects, one of which is the future good itself, that one
expects to obtain, while the other is someone's help, through whom one expects
to obtain what one hopes for, so, too, fear
may have two objects, one of which is the very evil which a man shrinks
from, while the other is that from which the evil may come.
Accordingly, in the first way God, Who is goodness itself, cannot be
an object of fear; but He can be an object of fear in the second way, in so far
as there may come to us some evil either from Him or in
relation to Him. From Him there comes the evil of punishment, but this
is evil not
absolutely but relatively, and, absolutely speaking, is a good. Because, since a
thing is said to be good
through being ordered to an end, while evil implies lack of this
order, that which excludes the order to the last end is altogether evil, and such is the evil of fault. On the
other hand the evil
of punishment is indeed an evil,
in so far as it is the privation of some particular good, yet absolutely
speaking, it is a good,
in so far as it is ordained to the last end. In relation to God the evil of fault can come to
us, if we be separated from Him: and in this way God can and ought to be
feared.
Article 2.
Whether fear is fittingly divided into filial, initial, servile and worldly
fear? I answer that, We are speaking of fear now, in so
far as it makes us turn, so to speak, to God or away from Him. For,
since the object of fear is an evil, sometimes, on
account of the evils
he fears, man withdraws from God, and this is called human fear; while
sometimes, on account of the evils he fears, he turns to God and adheres to Him.
This latter evil
is twofold, viz. evil
of punishment, and evil
of fault. Accordingly if a man turn to God and adhere to Him,
through fear of punishment, it will be servile fear; but if it be on account of
fear of committing a fault, it will be filial fear, for it becomes a child to
fear offending its father. If, however, it be on account of both, it will be initial
fear, which is between both these fears.
Article 3.
Whether worldly fear is always evil? I answer that, moral
acts and habits
take their name and species
from their objects. Now the proper object of the appetite's movement is the
final good:
so that, in consequence, every appetitive movement is
both specified and named from its proper end. For if anyone were to describe covetousness as love of
work because men work on account of covetousness, this
description would be incorrect, since the covetous man seeks work not as end
but as a means: the end that he seeks is wealth, wherefore covetousness is rightly
described as the desire or the love of wealth, and this is evil. Accordingly worldly
love is, properly speaking; the love whereby a man trusts in the world as his
end, so that worldly love is always evil. Now fear is born of
love, since manfears the loss of what he
loves, as Augustine
states. Now worldly fear is that which arises from worldly love as from an evil root, for which
reason worldly fear is always evil.
Chinese New Year[2]
Chinese New Year or Spring Festival celebrates a year of hard work and gives
people the opportunity to wish for a lucky new year. It is China's most
important festival and involves family reunions, elaborate decorations and
giving red envelopes. Chinese New Year is based on the Chinese Lunar Calendar
and usually falls between January 21 and February 20. In 2017 Chinese New Year
is celebrated on January 288th. The Calendar functions on a 12 year animal
cycle that many associate with the celebration.
Chinese New Year Facts & Quotes
·2016
is the Year of the Monkey according to the Chinese animal zodiac cycle.
2017 will be the Year of Rooster or Red Fire Chicken.
·The
names of the Chinese calendar are repeated every 60 years.
·The
Chinese New Year is celebrated as the Spring Festival in China. It is the
nation's most important festival.
·Every
child receives a monetary gift for New Year. The gift is wrapped in a red
envelope.
·I
wish you happiness that comes from within, the best of luck to keep you pushing
and peace in all days of the New Year. - Gong Xi Fa Cai, Popular New Year song
Chinese New Year Top Events and Things to Do
·Sing
a popular Chinese New Year song called Gonf Xi Fa Cai.
·Clean
your he house. It is customary for Chinese to clean their homes in preparation
for the New Year and the fresh start.
·Prepare
your red envelopes for the kids. This is considered lucky money for children.
·Attend
a Chinese New Year Festival in a town near you. Most large cities in the US
have a Chinatown district that will host events and pageants.
·Get
together with friends and create a long dragon on sticks. One person gets to
create the head, and the remainder create the long flowy tail. Remember to use
bright colors.
13The
next day he went out again, and now two Hebrews were fighting! So he asked the
culprit, “Why are you striking your companion?” 14But he replied, “Who has appointed you
ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the
Egyptian?” Then Moses became afraid
and thought, “The affair must certainly be known.”
Moses was a prince of Egypt
and also a Hebrew. Moses as a man sought justice for his Hebrew brothers and in
a fit of anger killed an Egyptian that was brutalizing a Hebrew slave and
secretly buried him in the sand. Secrecy is an important element in sinfulness.
When we find ourselves wanting to keep something secret we should ask ourselves
are we going down a road that we want to go; is this secrecy that we desire
really an attempt to hide our sinfulness from God; who sees all things. Think
twice the next time you seek secrecy.
Holocaust
Memorial Day is a day commemorating the millions of Jews and minority groups
who were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust in the 1930s and 40s. The
Holocaust, a systematic and state-planned program to kill millions of Jews and
other minority groups in Europe, was one of the most horrific genocides in
history with an estimated 11 million lives lost. The purpose of the day is to
encourage discussion of this difficult subject in order to make sure that it
never happens again. In 2005, Holocaust Memorial Day was established by the United Nations General
Assembly. January 27, the remembrance date, is significant as it was the
date that Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest and most infamous Nazi extermination
camp in Poland, was liberated in 1945. The Holocaust is marked by many
different days around the world. In Israel, the day is known as Yom HaShoah and
begins when the sun sets on May 4 and finishes in the evening of May 5.
International
Day of Victims of the Holocaust Facts & Quotes
·The theme
for Holocaust Memorial Day 2017 is How
can life go on? HMD 2017
is urges us to think about what happens after genocide and what our own responsibilities
should be in the wake of such crime.
·Jewish
people were excluded from public life on September 15th 1935 when the Nuremberg
Laws were issued, stripping German Jews of their citizenship and the right to
marry Germans.
·The mass
killings of Jews and undesirables in death camps was referred to as the Final
Solution by the Nazis.
·If we
bear all this suffering and if there are still Jews left, when it is over, then
Jews, instead of being doomed, will be held up as an example. ― Anne Frank,
well-known Holocaust victim
·I
swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering
and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the
victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the torment” ― Elie Wiesel,
Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor
Victims
of the Holocaust Top Events and Things to Do
·Visit the
largest extermination/concentration camp from the Holocaust. The
Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, located in Poland, allows visitors to see the camp
and learn more about the atrocities committed inside.
·Join
social media campaigns that promote awareness of the Holocaust, try tweeting
using the hashtag #holocaustmemorial or #remembranceday.
·Find a
HMD activity near you by consulting their website. There are many different
workshops and discussions held year round. Or if there are none near you
organize an activity yourself to mark HMD in your community. The HMD website has a
selection of useful information on how to do this.
·Read one
of the thought provoking, gripping and saddening accounts of the Holocaust.
Some choice picks include:
1) The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
2) Maus by Art Spiegelman
3) Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt
·Watch a
movie about the Holocaust. Some popular picks: Schindler's List (1993), Auschwitz (2011), The Boy in Striped Pajamas(2008), Life
is Beautiful (1997)
and The Pianist (2002).
And because the midwives feared
God, God built up families for them.
God’s mercy is just like
the drops of water which grooves stones to make gorges and canyons; small acts
of mercy have a similar effect on the hearts of sinners making them into
monoliths of strength. Therefore
they resisted Pharaohs decree to kill the children of Israel. Likewise we must resist the laws that are enacted
that defy the law of God.
The Compendium of the Social
Doctrine of the Church[1]addresses the issue of when and how St. Peter's teaching that obedience to
God comes before obedience to men applies in the modern Christian's life.
Presciently, or perhaps better, prophetically, Pope Benedict XVI foresaw and
foresees increasing conflict between American Catholics and a public authority
increasingly secularized and increasingly hostile to the moral values of its
Catholic citizens. The conflict is caused by the increasing demands of the
State to "to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of
Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically
evil practices." The aggressive secularist State wants freedom of religion
to be limited to "mere freedom of worship," and not to "freedom
of conscience" which extends beyond the realm of the four walls of a
Church into the "public square" of social, civil, political, and
economic life." Christians may conscientiously object to civil laws if
they infringe upon one or more of three things: (1) the law violates the moral
order, that is, the natural moral law; (2) the law violates fundamental human
rights; or (3) the law violates the teachings of the Gospel, which is to say
the teachings of the Church. Laws that trespass against one or more of these
three things may not be obeyed, and obedience to them must be refused. In fact, the Christian has both a duty and a right
to refuse such a law. And though it may be unrecognized, it is a right that he must exercise regardless of the
consequences to him.
The full text of the Compendium on
this issue merits quotation: "Citizens are not obligated in conscience to
follow the prescriptions of civil authorities if their precepts are contrary to
the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or to the
teachings of the Gospel. Unjust laws pose dramatic problems of conscience for
morally upright people: when they are called to cooperate in morally evil acts
they must refuse. Besides being a
moral duty, such a refusal is also a basic human right which, precisely as
such, civil law itself is obliged to recognize and protect. 'Those who have recourse
to conscientious objection must be protected not only from legal penalties but
also from any negative effects on the legal, disciplinary, financial and
professional plane.'" "It is a grave duty of conscience not to
cooperate, not even formally, in practices which, although permitted by civil
legislation, are contrary to the Law of God. Such cooperation in fact can never
be justified, not by invoking respect for the freedom of others nor by
appealing to the fact that it is foreseen and required by civil law. No one can
escape the moral responsibility for actions taken, and all will be judged by
God himself based on this responsibility (cf. Rom 2:6; 14:12)." (Compendium,
No. 399)
The right of conscientious
objection is not the right of resistance, and the two should be
carefully distinguished. Moreover, resistance which can be expressed in
"many different concrete ways" should be distinguished from the last
and desperate recourse of "armed resistance." The right to
resist an oppressive law or an oppressive government is one that is found in
the natural law. It is a right which precedes a government, and so is one that
is inalienable. Resistance generally is something to be avoided, and it is
justified only if there is a "serious" infringement or "repeated"
and chronic infringements of the natural moral law, a fundamental human right,
or a Gospel precept. "Recognizing that natural law is the basis for and
places limits on positive law means admitting that it is legitimate to resist
authority should it violate in a serious or repeated manner the essential
principles of natural law. Saint Thomas Aquinas writes that 'one is obliged to
obey . . . insofar as it is required by the order of justice.' Natural law is
therefore the basis of the right to resistance." The right of resistance
is not one that necessarily has the overthrow of government in mind. There may
be many ways in which resistance may be expressed, and there may be many ends
which resistance may have in mind: "There can be many different concrete
ways this right may be exercised; there are also many different ends that may
be pursued. Resistance to authority is meant to attest to the validity of a
different way of looking at things, whether the intent is to achieve partial
change, for example, modifying certain laws, or to fight for a radical change
in the situation." (Compendium, No. 400)
Resistance in the sense of armed resistance
is something which is a last resort. The Church has identified five conditions
all of which must be met before armed resistance is morally justified: "1)
there is certain, grave and prolonged violation of fundamental rights, 2) all
other means of redress have been exhausted, 3) such resistance will not provoke
worse disorders, 4) there is well-founded hope of success; and 5) it is
impossible reasonably to foresee any better solution." As the Church
observes, armed resistance, even if morally justified, is generally to be
avoided, and passive resistance is to be preferred. Armed resistance is often a
Pandora's Box which unleashes as much or more evil as it intended to avoid.
"Recourse to arms is seen as an extreme remedy for putting an end to a
'manifest, long-standing tyranny which would do great damage to fundamental
personal rights and dangerous harm to the common good of the country.'
The gravity of the danger that recourse to violence entails today makes it
preferable in any case that passive resistance be practiced, which is 'a way
more conformable to moral principles and having no less prospects for success.'"
(Compendium, No. 401)
St. Timothy, born in Galatia in Asia Minor, was
baptized and later ordained to the priesthood by St. Paul. The young Galatian
became Paul's missionary companion and his most beloved spiritual son. St. Paul
showed his trust in this disciple by consecrating him bishop of the great city
of Ephesus. St. Timothy was stoned to death thirty years after St. Paul's
martyrdom for having denounced the worship of the goddess Diana.
St. Titus, a convert from paganism, was a fellow
laborer of St. Paul on many apostolic missions. St. Paul later made him bishop
of Crete, a difficult charge because of the character of the inhabitants and
the spread of erroneous doctrines on that island. St. Paul's writings tell us
that St. Titus rejoiced to discover what was good in others and drew the hearts
of men by his wide and affectionate sympathy.
The midwives, however, feared
God; they did not do as the king of Egypt had ordered them, but let the boys
live.
The book of Exodus
retells the story of the leaving of the children of Abraham from the land of
Egypt. God blessed Abraham’s descendants and they prospered and overpopulated
the land. Egyptians then oppressed the Israelites and took action to control
their population by commanding midwives to kill the male children born to the
Israelite’s.
Nothing ever changes it
seems the midwives, were the king of Egypt’s version of our Planned Parenthood.
Yet, they the midwives feared God more than the King and spared life. I do not
think anyone in the Planned Parenthood organization has any fear of God. The
midwives of Egypt were ordered to kill only the male children of the
Israelites. In our modern world I wonder who the equivalent of the King of
Egypt is. I wonder who or what sex and races are the equivalents of the
Israelite children?
Let us pray that those
within the Planned Parenthood organization and those who support the existence
of organizational weapons for the destruction of innocent unborn life may have
an awakening to the voice of conscience and fear God: thus preserving life
first, then liberty and then the pursuit of happiness. For is not life more, precious
than liberty; and is not liberty more precious than the pursuit of wealth. It
can be in no other order. As a people and as a nation we have dulled our
consciences for too long; this is why the soul of this nation can find no
peace. We like the midwives of ancient Egypt must fear God more than Pharaoh. Then and only then will our
consciences as a people become unsullied and we will have the strength, courage
and loyalty to follow what is right.
Yes, if we as a people
see Christ in the unborn as Paul seen Him at his conversion we shall again be a
bless nation.
St. Paul was born at Tarsus, Cilicia, of Jewish parents who were descended
from the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Roman citizen from birth. To complete his
schooling, St. Paul was sent to Jerusalem, where he sat at the feet of the
learned Gamaliel and was educated in the strict observance of the ancestral
Law. As a convinced and zealous Pharisee, he returned to Tarsus before the
public life of Christ in Palestine.
Sometime after the death of Our Lord, St. Paul returned to Palestine. His
profound conviction made his zeal develop to a religious fanaticism against the
infant Church. He took part in the stoning of the first martyr, St. Stephen,
and in the fierce persecution of the Christians that followed. Entrusted with a
formal mission from the high priest, he departed for Damascus to arrest the
Christians there and bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he was nearing Damascus,
about noon, a light from heaven suddenly blazed round him. Jesus with His
glorified body appeared to him and addressed him, turning him away from his
apparently successful career. An immediate transformation was wrought in the
soul of St. Paul. He was suddenly converted to the Christian Faith. He was
baptized, changed his name from Saul to Paul, and began travelling and
preaching the Faith. He was martyred as an Apostle in Rome around 65 AD.
What do we learn from this history?[2]
Not to despise any sinner, nor to despair of his salvation: for, like Paul on the
road to Damascus, the greatest sinner may, by the grace of God, be suddenly converted,
and become a saint. At the command of God he accepted Ananias as his leader in the
way of salvation, and became as zealous for the honor of Christ as he had previously
been intent on persecuting Him. In like manner, a convert must shut his eyes to
all by which he has heretofore been led astray, and must give heed to that only
which God commands.
So now, do not fear. I will
provide for you and for your children.” By thus speaking kindly to them, he
reassured them.
Again, Joseph is a precursor of Christ
is an example of love and forgiveness of God; therefore mirroring the message
of Paul, “Consequently,
from now on we regard no one according to the flesh; even if we once knew
Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer. So whoever is
in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold new things
have come. And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through
Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely,
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their
trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”
Christ further advises
us in Mathew’s gospel that if we have a brother who sins against us we should
1) Go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you,
you have won over your brother
2) If he does not listen; take one or two others along with you, so that
‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses’ and
3) If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church and
4) if he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would
a Gentile or a tax collector. (Mt. 18:14-17)
One wonders what it means to treat someone as a gentile or tax collector. So,
exactly how did Jesus treat Gentiles and tax collectors? Jesus heals the
daughter of the Canaanite woman. He eats with sinners and tax collectors. He
heals the Centurion’s servant. He calls a tax collector to be his disciple.
Jesus repeatedly invited tax collectors and Gentiles into the kingdom of God.
To “let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” doesn’t mean
wash our hands of them. It means we need to continue to reach out to those with
whom we have a conflict. We must continue inviting them into the
fellowship of the kingdom of God.[2]
Today is the traditional start of the
January thaw; let us therefore take the advice of St. Francis and prepare
ourselves for every communion.
Preparation for Communion
St. Francis de Sales says that Our Savior
can never be seen more amiable and more tender, in all that He has done for us,
than in Holy Communion, in which He, so to say, annihilates Himself and becomes
food, that He may unite Himself to the hearts and bodies of His faithful. Therefore
the learned Gerson used also to say, that there was no means more efficacious than
Holy Communion whereby to enkindle devotion and the holy love of God in our souls.
And, indeed, if we speak of doing something agreeable to God, what can a soul do
more agreeable to Him than to receive communion? St. Denis teaches us that love
always tends towards perfect union; but how can a soul be more perfectly united
with Jesus than in the manner of which He speaks Himself, saying: “He that
eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him” (John vi. 57)
St. Augustine says that if every day you receive this sacrament, Jesus will be
always with you, and that you will always advance in divine love. Again, if there
be question of healing our spiritual infirmities, what more certain remedy can we
have than Holy Communion, which is called by the sacred Council of Trent a remedy
whereby we may be freed from daily faults, and be preserved from mortal sins? Whence
does it come, asks Cardinal Bona, that in so many souls we see so little fruit with
such frequent communions, and that they constantly relapse into the same faults?
He replies: The fault is not in the food, but in the disposition of him who receives.
Can a man, says Solomon, hide fire in his bosom, and his garments not burn? (Prov.
vi. 27.) God is a consuming fire. He comes Himself in Holy Communion to enkindle
this divine fire; how is it, then, says William of Paris, that we see such a
diabolical miracle as that souls should remain cold in divine love, in the midst
of such flames? All comes from the want of proper dispositions, and especially from
want of preparation. Fire immediately inflames dry but not green wood; for this
latter is not disposed to burn. The saints derived great benefit from their communions
because they prepared themselves with great care. St. Aloysius Gonzaga devoted three
days to his preparation for Holy Communion, and three days he spent in thanksgiving
to his Lord. To prepare well for Holy Communion, a soul should be disposed on two
main points: it should be detached from creatures and have a great desire to advance
in divine love. In the first place, then, a soul should detach itself from all things,
and drive everything from its heart which is not God. He that is washed, saith Jesus,
needeth not but to wash his feet, but is clean wholly (John xiii. 10); which signifies,
as St. Bernard explains it, that in order to receive this sacrament with great fruit,
we should not only be cleansed from mortal sins, but that our feet also should
be washed, that is, be free from earthly affections; for being in contact with the
earth they excite a sort of repugnance in God, and soiling the soul prevent the
effects of Holy Communion. St. Gertrude asked Our Lord what preparation He required
of her for Holy Communion, and He replied I only ask that thou shouldst come
empty of thyself to receive. In the second place, it is necessary in Holy
Communion to have a great desire to receive Jesus Christ and His holy love. In this
sacred banquet, says Gerson, only those who are famishing receive their fill; and
the most Blessed Virgin Mary had already said the same thing: He hath filled the
hungry with good things (Luke i. 53). As Jesus, writes the venerable Father Avila,
only came into this world after He had been much and long desired, so does He only
enter a soul which desires Him; for it is not becoming that such food should be
given him who has a loathing for it. Our Lord one day said to St. Matilda: No bee
flies with such impetuosity to flowers, to suck their honey, as I fly to souls
in Holy Communion, driven by the violence of My love. Since, then, Jesus Christ
has so great a desire to come into our souls, it is also right that we also should
have a great desire to receive Him and His divine love by Holy Communion. St. Francis
de Sales teaches us that the principal object which a soul should have in view in
communicating should be to advance in the love of God ; since He Who for love
alone gives Himself to us should be received for love.
51st World Communication Day (Pope Francis) I am convinced that we have to break the vicious circle of anxiety and stem the spiral of fear resulting from a constant focus on “bad news” (wars, terrorism, scandals and all sorts of human failure). This has nothing to do with spreading misinformation that would ignore the tragedy of human suffering, nor is it about a naive optimism blind to the scandal of evil. Rather, I propose that all of us work at overcoming that feeling of growing discontent and resignation that can at times generate apathy, fear or the idea that evil has no limits. Moreover, in a communications industry which thinks that good news does not sell, and where the tragedy of human suffering and the mystery of evil easily turn into entertainment, there is always the temptation that our consciences can be dulled or slip into pessimism. We must trust in the Good News. This good news – Jesus himself – is not good because it has nothing to do with suffering, but rather because suffering itself becomes part of a bigger picture. It is seen as an integral part of Jesus’ love for the Father and for all mankind. In Christ, God has shown his solidarity with every human situation. He has told us that we are not alone, for we have a Father who is constantly mindful of his children. “Fear not, for I am with you”(Is 43:5): these are the comforting words of a God who is immersed in the history of his people. In his beloved Son, this divine promise – “I am with you” – embraces all our weakness, even to dying our death. In Christ, even darkness and death become a point of encounter with Light and Life. Hope is born, a hope accessible to everyone, at the very crossroads where life meets the bitterness of failure. That hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts (cf. Rom 5:5) and makes new life blossom, like a shoot that springs up from the fallen seed. Seen in this light, every new tragedy that occurs in the world’s history can also become a setting for good news, inasmuch as love can find a way to draw near and to raise up sympathetic hearts, resolute faces and hands ready to build anew. Our hope based on the good news which is Jesus himself makes us lift up our eyes to contemplate the Lord in the liturgical celebration of the Ascension. Even though the Lord may now appear more distant, the horizons of hope expand all the more. In Christ, who brings our human nature to heaven, every man and woman can now freely “enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh” (Heb 10:19-20). By “the power of the Holy Spirit” we can be witnesses and “communicators” of a new and redeemed humanity “even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7‑8). Novena for Purification This novena prayer, although short is sufficient. It would be better of course to add, if time permits, three Hail Marys or say five times the Our Father, Haily Mary and Glory be to the Father,
or to use some of the many well-loved novena prayers from other
sources. Remember that prayers must be said with the lips in order to
gain the indulgences. This novena starts on January 24 and ends on
February 2.
Prayer:
O Blessed Mother of God, who went up to the Temple according to
the law with your offering of little white doves, pray for me that I too
may keep the law and be pure in heart like you. Sweet heart of Mary, be my salvation.
300 days. Plenary, under usual conditions, if said daily for a month. S. C. Indulg., Sept. 30, 1852.
Prayer Source: All Day With God by Blanche Jennings Thompson
16So they sent to Joseph and said: “Before
your father died, he gave us these instructions: 17‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: Please
forgive the criminal wrongdoing of your brothers, who treated you harmfully.’
So now please forgive the crime that we, the servants of the God of your
father, committed.” When they said this to him, Joseph broke into tears. 18Then his brothers also
proceeded to fling themselves down before him and said, “We are your slaves!”19But Joseph replied to them: “Do
notfear. Can I take the place of
God?
So Joseph now had his
brothers within his power to crush them and he did not. No, Joseph wept and
made peace with his brothers knowing the intent of God is that all men be free
in mind, body and spirit. Joseph knew that only
free men can sow their gifts before God and that “Whoever sows sparingly
will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap
bountifully. Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion,
for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Cor. 9:7-8) You cannot give what you do not
own; therefore each must be free to give back to God; Joseph is the precursor
of Christ who fulfills the gospel of abundance proclaim by our loving God. Here
Joseph was able to find the peace that only God can give by sincerely wanting
God’s will. Joseph found this peace only by trusting and having courage to live
entirely by God’s way.
January 22 is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and the day established
by the Church of penance for abortion, has been formally named as the “Day of
Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children.” On this day (or January
23rd when January 22nd falls on a Sunday) your parish, school or religious
formation program may celebrate the Mass for Giving Thanks to God for the Gift
of Human Life. This Mass, found in our newly translated Missal, may now be used
on occasions to celebrate the dignity of human life. In addition to this
special Mass on this day, perhaps your parish, school or religious formation
program could encourage traditional forms of penance, host pro-life and
chastity speakers, lead informative projects that will directly build up the
culture of life, show a pro-life DVD, raise funds for local crisis pregnancy
centers or offer additional prayer services.
