Saturday, April 24, 2021
Saturday of the Third Week of Easter
feast of saint
fidelis
Joshua, Chapter 11, Verse 6
The enemy was defeated; why destroy their horses and chariots? Horses and chariots were the tanks of that time. God knows the human heart we tend to trust in our human strength, or our clout, or our wealth, or weapons. God knows and He wants us to trust in Him not any of these things. Even to this very day we have not learned this lesson we in America have learned to trust in the strength of our Army, which is the greatest Army in the world and have forgotten the true basis of our strength which is printed on our money: In God We Trust. Many people in high offices like to play the prophet: but “A wise person is superior to a prophet” (Bava Basra 12a) Think a prophet can see the future but a wise person can see the present. God asks us to be present to each other each and every day. Live in the Present!
Words
of wisdom Saint Teresa of Avila:
“I am afraid that if we begin to
put our trust in human help, some of our Divine help will fail us.”
“The most potent and acceptable
prayer is the prayer that leaves the best effects. I don’t mean it must
immediately fill the soul with desire . . . The best effects [are] those that
are followed up by actions—–when the soul not only desires the honor of God,
but really strives for it. “
“You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.”[1]
Saint Fidelis[2]
Saint Fidelis became a martyr and was murdered for his faith in 1622, while traveling back to his home church after preaching in Seewis, Switzerland to former Catholics who had converted to Calvinism. Saint Fidelis on the day of his martyrdom preached with great energy, he exhorted the Catholics to constancy in the faith.
After a Calvinist had discharged his musket at him in the Church, the Catholics entreated him to leave the place. He answered that death was his gain and his joy, and that he was ready to lay down his life in God's cause. On his road back to Grüsch, he met twenty Calvinist soldiers with a minister at their head. They called him a false prophet, and urged him to embrace their sect. He answered: "I am sent to you to confute, not to embrace your heresy. The Catholic religion is the faith of all ages, I fear not death." One of them beat him down to the ground by a stroke on the head with his backsword. Fidelis rose again on his knees and stretching forth his arms in the form of a cross, said with a feeble voice "Pardon my enemies, O Lord: blinded by passion they know not what they do. Lord Jesus, have mercy on me. Mary, Mother of God, succor me!"
Another sword stroke
clove his skull, and he fell to the ground and lay in a pool of his own blood.
The soldiers, not content with this, added many stab
wounds to his body with their long knives, and hacked-off his left leg, as they
said, to punish him for his many journeys into those parts to preach to them.
Men
Seek Heroes[3]
God has created men by
nature and vocation with a natural desire for Himself and men can only find
happiness in God. But men become lost as they seek God due to ignorance
and sin. Realizing real dangers in the world and the God-implanted
understanding of the need for salvation, men aspire to heroic deeds and seek
courageous heroes to protect and lead them through the challenges of
life. The desire and need for true heroes is perennial in the hearts of
men across time and cultures. From an early age, boys naturally seek
heroes. They look up to their fathers, older boys and other men as role
models and as defenders/protectors. Boys are intrigued by the heroic
deeds of fictional characters (e.g. Superheroes in movies, TV and books,
videogame heroes, sports heroes, etc.). Boys admire and seek those with
heroic virtues. When grown, men continue to seek heroes. Some continue on
with the fictional heroes of youth, trading comic books for the
action/superheroes and celebrities in the media. Most men also look up to
heroes in real life. Many follow and celebrate sports teams and
athletes. Others admire and follow politicians, social activists or
business leaders. Still others look up to and follow real life heroes in
the military (Medal of Honor winners), religion (saints) and people who perform
extraordinary deeds in the face of tough challenges (911 responders, those who
battle life-challenging illnesses). All men, in some way, desire to
be heroes and to associate themselves with heroic leaders.
27 The
desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and
for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find
the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:
The dignity of man rests above all on the
fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with
God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is
because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold
him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely
acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.
44 Man is by nature
and vocation a religious being. Coming from God, going toward God, man lives a
fully human life only if he freely lives by his bond with God.
397 Man, tempted by
the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his
freedom, disobeyed God's command. This is what man's first sin consisted of.
All subsequent sin would be disobedience toward God and lack of trust in his
goodness.
Men fall for false heroes
Many men are confused
about the definition and true nature of heroism. Heroism is confused with
celebrity. Heroism is confused with self-serving athleticism, political
opportunists, charlatans who deceive, “anti-heroes” or outright
scoundrels. The meaning of the word “hero” has been dumbed down to
the point of being almost meaningless. Doing an Internet search for
websites, news articles or images provides ample evidence of the misuse of the
word “hero”. Heroism is associated with movie stardom, video games
(Guitar Hero), relatively routine athletic accomplishments and even a
sandwich. Sadly, many of the real-life men who masquerade as heroes,
fail, and fail spectacularly.
The Definition of “Hero”
The word “hero” comes from
the Latin, hero, meaning,
“defender, protector” and “to save, deliver, preserve, protect.”
Closely related is the word, “Savior” which comes from the Latin, salvatorem, meaning “one who delivers or rescues from peril”
or “heals.” Modern
definitions of the word “hero” provide other characteristics of a hero. A
hero: faces danger or
adversity with courage; sacrifices
self for the greater good of humanity; displays moral excellence”; “is placed high above his fellows.”
Jesus – The True Hero
·
Jesus is infinitely higher above all other heroes – He is the Son of God; there
can be no hero that compares. Heroes come and go, but only Jesus is the
long-awaited Messiah. No hero, except Jesus, was anticipated for
thousands of years before His birth and remains a hero two millennia after His
death (and Resurrection).
·
He physically protects people on earth – He saves the Disciples who
are in fear of drowning. He stands up to the bloodthirsty mob that is
going to stone the adulterous woman. He protects the disciples from the violent
legion when He is taken in the Garden. He is the ultimate protector.
·
Jesus is the perfect demonstration of virtue – He demonstrates prudence,
temperance, justice and fortitude and charity with perfection that no man has
met, or can ever, match.
·
He heals people from sickness, madness and death – Jesus healed the multitudes
of every illness and raises them from the dead.
·
He stands for Truth against falsehood – Repeatedly, He confronts
the Pharisees and the Sadducees and corrects their falsehoods, despite their
collusion to kill Him. He refuses to yield to Pilate, even as Pilate
threatens Him with death. Jesus is Truth itself.
·
Jesus defeats man’s greatest foe, Satan – There is no greater enemy
of man than Satan. Jesus defeats Satan when tempted in the Wilderness, by
casting out demons, and by using the Satan-inspired evil of Judas for the Glory
of the Cross and Resurrection (CCC 2853). He defeats Satan on his home
turf (Hell) when Jesus descends to offer His “redemptive works to all men of
all times and all places…” (CCC 634). Only Jesus delivers us from evil.
2853 Victory over the
"prince of this world" was won once for all at the Hour when Jesus
freely gave himself up to death to give us his life. This is the judgment of
this world, and the prince of this world is "cast out." "He
pursued the woman" but had no hold on her: the new Eve, "full of
grace" of the Holy Spirit, is preserved from sin and the corruption of
death (the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of
God, Mary, ever virgin). "Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and
went off to make war on the rest of her offspring." Therefore, the Spirit
and the Church pray: "Come, Lord Jesus," since his coming will
deliver us from the Evil One.
634 "The gospel
was preached even to the dead." The descent into hell brings the Gospel
message of salvation to complete fulfillment. This is the last phase of Jesus'
messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real
significance: the spread of Christ's redemptive work to all men of all times
and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.
·
He defeats man’s greatest scourge, Sin – He saves people from sin
(CCC 2854). For example, He tells the sinful woman at Simon the
Pharisee’s house, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace”.
2854 When
we ask to be delivered from the Evil One, we pray as well to be freed from all
evils, present, past, and future, of which he is the author or instigator. In
this final petition, the Church brings before the Father all the distress of
the world. Along with deliverance from the evils that overwhelm humanity, she
implores the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance in
expectation of Christ's return By praying in this way, she anticipates in
humility of faith the gathering together of everyone and everything in him who
has "the keys of Death and Hades," who "is and who was and who
is to come, the Almighty."
·
Deliver us, Lord, we beseech you, from every
evil and grant us peace in our day, so that aided by your mercy we might be ever
free from sin and protected from all anxiety, as we await the blessed hope and
the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
·
He sacrifices Himself for others – Jesus makes an infinite sacrifice, for His life is
of infinite value and he gives it for the sins of all mankind. He chooses
a horrible death freely, saying, “Greater love has no man than this that a man
lay down his life for his friends.”
·
He offers salvation for all mankind – His Name means “God saves” (CCC
430) and it is only the name of Jesus that can actually save. “Christ’s
whole life is a mystery of redemption. Redemption comes to us above
all through the blood of His cross…” (CCC 517). “He who believes and is
baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be
condemned”. “For the Son of man came to seek and to save the
lost.” “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever
believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
430 Jesus means in
Hebrew: "God saves." At the annunciation, the angel Gabriel gave him
the name Jesus as his proper name, which expresses both his identity and his
mission. Since God alone can forgive sins, it is God who, in Jesus his eternal
Son made man, "will save his people from their sins". In Jesus, God
recapitulates all of his history of salvation on behalf of men.
517 Christ's
whole life is a mystery of redemption. Redemption comes to us above all
through the blood of his cross, but this mystery is at work throughout Christ's
entire life:
- Already in his Incarnation through
which by becoming poor he enriches us with his poverty.
- In his hidden life which by his
submission atones for our disobedience.
- In his word which purifies its hearers.
- In his healings and exorcisms by
which "he took our infirmities and bore our diseases";
- And in his Resurrection by which he
justifies us.
·
He is recognized as a Savior during His life on earth – The Samaritans profess, “It
is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for
ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Daily Devotions
·
Saturday Litany of the Hours
Invoking the Aid of Mother Mary
·
Total Consecration
to St. Joseph Day 26
·
Manhood of
the Master-week 10 day 4
·
Offering
to the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
·
Rosary
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