Why Should I Care?
APRIL
26 Third Sunday of Easter
OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL
Jeremiah,
Chapter 1, verse 8
Do
not be AFRAID of them, for I am with you to deliver you—oracle of the
LORD.
Jeremiah in this chapter received the call of God
and he was afraid. Jeremiah as a young man felt inadequate to do the call of
God. Moses on the other hand was a much older man but like Jeremiah when he
received the call of God he felt inadequate. When Peter received the call from
our Lord Jesus he felt insignificant and cried out, “Leave me Lord. I am a
sinful man.” (Luke 5:8b). The lesson here is that when we are called it will be
scary. Christ asks us to not be afraid. The perfect example of what our
attitude to the call should be was the attitude of Mary at the annunciation
when God called her to be the mother of Christ. Mary’s fiat was "Behold, I
am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."
(Luke 1: 38).
An interesting thing in this verse, is the use of
the word presence. Worldly people are masters of presence or the projection
of power. When called do not fear powerful people for is not God greater than
the world? Talk to God, let him take control for our Lord will empower us and
deliver us to accomplish his word just like he did Jeremiah and all the Saints.
We for our part must be, ready for change, for God will prepare us for the
challenges of our calling. We must be open to the promptings of our Lord and be
willing to give up any of our own façades of presence or false images of power
we may have developed over time.
We may have, at times, found ourselves projecting a
presence, which is actually just an overreaction to our fears and
self-doubts. Let us follow the advice of Father J. Brian Bransfield and
realize:
To find the depths of our identity we must pass through
our fears.[2]
While
the horror of slavery is thankfully dead as an institution, it sadly lives on
in many other forms in many lives today, all around us, in ways maybe not
considered slavery by some. I hope to get you to reconsider. But let’s first
define our terms:
Slave: “One that is totally subservient to a
dominating influence.”~ Merriam-Webster-There are 5 basic areas of life in
which we can become totally subservient to dominating influences, and thereby live
less-than-ideal and something less than happy lives.
5 Ways Slavery is still with us
1.
Slavery to addictions: Whether we are talking about
being enslaved to tobacco or alcohol, or whether we’re talking about
enslavement to illicit material online or simply to the TV or to junk food or
gossip, any addictions rob us of a measure of freedom and independence. But
freedom is required for happiness. So, anything that enslaves us limits the
degree of joy we can have in life.
2.
Slavery to the office: When spouse and family and
our spiritual lives are playing second fiddle to the office, things are likely
out of whack. Of course, there will be times, like the first few years of
starting a business, when things will be lopsided. But if the office always is
master and you are always its servant, then change may be needed for the
fullness of a happy life to be experienced. Remember, your family is not a
footnote to your journey. They are there in the thick of things, experiencing
it with you, alongside you, maybe, in some ways, because of you. So, give them
the time of day, from time to time!
3.
Slavery to success: When success becomes more
important than integrity or honor or self-respect, then our subservience to the
call of the dollar sign becomes self-destructive, as all addictions are.
Happiness is robbed of its internal rewards when our insides are all twisted
inside out as we compromise our values in the pursuit of wealth.
4.
Slavery to pleasure: Is the pursuit of pleasure
hurting your relationship with your spouse? Are you pursuing pleasure at the
expense of your spouse’s pleasure? Is that pursuit violating sacred vows and
trusts? Are you spending your family into debt as you chase pleasure from one
mountain top to another – or one casino to another – or one vacation to another
– or one, well, you get the idea?
5.
Slavery to fear: Does fear and worry prevent you
from taking steps to break free of a dissatisfying life? Do you wish for
something more, but keep the door closed and locked and continue to do what you’ve
always done? Are you trapped in a cycle of sameness, worried that if you tried
to start a business, or tried to learn a skill, or tried an adventure on for
size, or tried to learn to write or sing or climb, that you would fail and fall
and sink and drown?
Afterthoughts
Slavery may be dead as a formal institution of
human bondage, but it is alive and well in the hearts and minds and lives of
too many people who have the ability to loose the shackles, but haven’t
exercised the courage to do it yet.
Worship is a
spiritual weapon. When we worship God, we enter into His presence in a powerful
way. Because demons tremble at His presence, they are reluctant to follow us
there. Frequent Mass attendance, then, is an effective weapon of our warfare
Third Sunday of
Easter[5]An exhortation on how Christ's
flock is to conduct itself and an oblique allusion to the Ascension.
Easter Patronage of
St. Joseph
EPISTLE. Gen. xlix.
23-26.
JOSEPH
is a growing son, a growing son and comely to behold: the daughters run to and
fro upon the wall. But they that held darts provoked him, and quarreled with
him, and envied him. His bow rested upon the strong, and the bands of his arms
and his hands were loosed, by the hands of the mighty one of Jacob: thence he
came forth a pastor, the stone of Israel. The God of thy father shall be thy
helper, and the Almighty shall bless thee with the blessings of heaven above,
with the blessings of the deep that lieth beneath, with the blessings of the
breasts and of the womb. The blessings of thy father are strengthened with the
blessings of his fathers: until the desire of the everlasting hills should
come; may they be upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazarite
among his brethren.
GOSPEL. Luke iii.
21-23.
At that time:
It came to pass when all the people was baptized, that Jesus also being
baptized and praying, heaven was opened: and the Holy Ghost descended in a
bodily shape as a dove upon Him: and a voice came from heaven: Thou art My
beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased. And Jesus Himself was beginning about
the age of thirty years, being (as it was supposed) the son of Joseph.
WHAT WE ARE TO BELIEVE CONCERNING
THE EVANGELICAL COUNSELS
In what does the perfection of the Christian life
consist? In the
perfection of love (Col. iii. 14). The more a man separates himself from the
world, and unites himself with God, the more perfect he will be. We can attain
to the perfection of the Christian life by means of certain excellent practices
known as the evangelical counsels which Jesus Christ lays before us, and to
which He calls us, without directly commanding us to adopt them. So that the
difference between the commandments and the evangelical counsels consists in
this: that the commandments bind us by an indispensable obligation, but the
evangelical counsels do not. The evangelical counsels are:
1.
Voluntary
poverty.
2.
Perpetual
chastity.
3.
Entire
obedience under a spiritual director. By voluntary poverty is understood a
free-will renunciation of the riches and goods of this world in order to follow
Jesus Christ in His poverty. By perpetual chastity we understand a free-will,
life-long abstinence, not only from everything that is contrary to purity, but
also abstinence from marriage, in order to live only for God and His holy
service in virginal purity. By entire obedience we are to understand a
voluntary renunciation of one’s own will in order to follow the will and
command of a superior whom one chooses for himself. In practicing the evangelical
counsels there are three points to be observed, in order that they may serve,
or help to eternal salvation:
·
They
must be practiced with a pure intention, seeking thereby nothing else than to
please God and to praise His holy name.
·
With
great humility, in no way giving ourselves preference over others.
·
By
great fidelity in observing not only what one has vowed, but also what is commanded. Also, one should live diligently
and strictly according to the commandments, otherwise the practicing of the
evangelical counsels will be of no avail.
INTROIT,
PRAYER, EPISTLE, AND GOSPEL OF THE SUNDAY.
The Church
continues to encourage us to rejoice and praise God for the resurrection of
Jesus, and sings accordingly, at the Introit of the Mass, “Shout with joy to
God, all the earth, alleluia. Sing ye a psalm to His name, alleluia. Give glory
to His praise, alleluia! alleluia! alleluia! Say unto God how terrible are Thy
works, O Lord. In the multitude of Thy strength, Thy enemies shall lie to Thee”
(Ps. Ixv.).
O God, Who dost show
the light of Thy truth to those that go astray that they may return to the way
of justice, grant to all who are numbered among Christians to reject those
things which are incompatible with this name, and to pursue those which are
becoming.
EPISTLE, i. Peter ii.
11-19.
Dearly
Beloved: I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, to refrain yourselves from
carnal desires which war against the soul, having your conversation good among
the gentiles: that whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may, by
the good works which they shall behold in you, glorify God in the day of
visitation. Be ye subject therefore to every human creature for God s sake:
whether it be to the king as excelling : or to governors as sent by him for the
punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of the good: for so is the will of
God, that by doing well you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men :
as free, and not as making liberty a cloak for malice, but as the servants of
God. Honor all men. Love the brother hood. Fear God. Honor the king. Servants
be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also
to the forward. For this is thanks-worthy, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Explanation.
St. Peter here reminds us,
1. that we are only pilgrims on earth
and should not fasten our hearts on the world and its goods. He admonishes us,
2. to lead an edifying life, particularly
when we are among the adversaries of our faith, for, while we may thus do great
good, and awaken respect for the Church an un-Catholic and un -Christian life
not only brings shame upon him who leads it, but gives scandal to non
-Catholics, and places the Church in a false light. He admonishes us,
3. to be subject to our superiors, for
God s sake, for it is He Who commands this obedience (Rom. xiii. 1).
Aspiration. O Jesus, I will impress deeply upon
my heart the teaching of Thy apostle, that this world is not my home. Though I
should meet in my pilgrimage many adversities, I will patiently combat them,
and will not suffer anything to keep me from the way to my true home, heaven.
Give me Thy grace, O God, to fulfil this resolution.
GOSPEL. John xvi.
16-22.
At that time
Jesus said to His disciples: A little while, and you shall not see Me: and again,
a little while, and you shall see Me: because I go to the Father. Then some of
His disciples said one to another: What is this that He saith to us: A little
while, and you shall not see Me: and again, a little while, and you shall see
Me, and because I go to the Father? They said therefore: What is this that He
saith, a little while? we know not what He speaketh. And Jesus knew that they
had a mind to ask Him, and He said to them: Of this do you inquire among yourselves,
because I said: A little while, and you shall not see Me: and again, a little
while, and you shall see Me?
Amen, amen, I
say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice, and
you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman,
when she is in labor, hath sorrow, because her hour is come but when she hath
brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish for joy that a man
is born into the world. So also, you now indeed have sorrow, but I will see you
again, and your heart shall rejoice and your joy no man shall take from you.
What is the meaning of the expression, “yet a little While”? Jesus meant that He was soon to
leave His disciples, and that during the time of His passion they would have
much to endure; but that He would soon see them again, and that then no one
should any more take their joy from them. What, in deed, are the sufferings of
time, in comparison with the eternal joy to follow, but a small and trivial
thing, passing away in the twinkling of an eye? (2 Cor. iv. 17, 18.)
Why did Jesus tell His disciples beforehand of their
sufferings and joys?
1.
That
they might bear their trials the more easily.
2.
That
they might not believe their master to be unable to preserve them from
sufferings.
3.
That
by looking to the eternal joy they might make light of present troubles, and
keep up their courage! Therefore, says St. Chrysostom, “Tell me, if you were
called to a temporal kingdom, but before entering into the palace, where you
were to be crowned, had to spend the night in a dark and offensive stable, would
this be hard for you? would you not bear it cheerfully, in expectation of the
kingdom?
ENCOURAGEMENT TO PATIENCE IN
ADVERSITY
“You shall lament and weep”. John xvi. 20.
Many
think that true happiness on earth consists in honors, riches, or pleasures,
but Christ, calls, not the rich, but the poor and persecuted, “blessed.” He
even predicts to His disciples nothing but sorrows in this world while to the
rich and great, who set their hearts on this world, He predicts nothing but
woe, mourning and weeping in the world to come. How much, therefore, are they
to be pitied, who, regardless of this truth, think only of spending their days
in luxury, but encourage themselves in the illusory hope of reaching heaven,
when Christ and all saints have ascended thither only by the way of the cross,
and of suffering, and when it is certain that no one can have part in their
joys who has not also first borne part of their sorrows.
On the Feast of Saint Mark, April 25, 1467, the people of Genazzano, Italy witnessed a marvellous sight. A cloud descended upon an ancient church dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel. When the cloud disappeared, an image of Our Lady and the Child Jesus was revealed which had not been there before. The image, on a paper-thin sheet, was suspended miraculously. Soon after the image's appearance many miracles were attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Good Counsel. Because of this, Pope Paul II ordered an investigation and the results have been preserved. It was later discovered that the very same image had been seen in a church dedicated to the Annunciation in Scutari, Albania. The image in this church was said to have arrived there in a miraculous manner. Now, the image had been transported from Albania miraculously to avoid sacrilege from Moslem invasion. A commission of enquiry determined that a portrait from the church was indeed missing. An empty space the same size as the portrait was displayed for all to see. Many miracles continue to be attributed to Our Lady of Good Counsel. Pope Saint Pius V, for example, credited victory in the Battle of Lepanto to Her intercession. Several Popes have approved the miraculous image. In 1682 Pope Innocent XI had the portrait crowned with gold. On July 2, 1753 Pope Benedict XIV approved the Scapular of Our Lady of Good Counsel, and was the first to wear it.
Daily
Devotions
·
Today in honor of the Holy Trinity do the Divine Office giving
your day to God. To honor God REST: no shopping after SUNSET ON SATURDAY till Monday.
Don’t forget the internet.
[2] J. Brian Bransfield, Living the
Beatitudes-A Journey of Life in Christ.
[3]
http://meanttobehappy.com/quote-13-from-the-great-emancipator-slave-part-1/
[4]Thigpen,
Paul. Manual for Spiritual Warfare. TAN Books.
[5]Gofine’s
Devout Instructions, 1896
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