DAY 36 - MARY, COMFORTER OF THE AFFLICTED, PRAY FOR US
SUPERIOR IDEAL
PRAY A ROSARY
- Rosary of the Day: Glorious Mysteries
- Traditional 54 Day Rotation: Glorious Mysteries
Sixteen Sunday aft. Pentecost (25th
S. Ord. Time)
OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE-ST. JANUARIUS
Job, Chapter 6, Verse 14
A friend owes kindness to one in
despair, though he has forsaken the fear
of the Almighty.
Job
now speaks and goes on to chide his frienemies for not giving kindness to him
when he is destitute. Even the ungodly treat their friend with respect. I can
imagine that when Job was at his height of power and prestige before the
devil’s attack; his friends were sucking up to him and fondling his ego to
great extremes but now they have nothing but contempt for him. True friends are
faithful to the end. Job longs for a true friend. We should reflect on this
that Job longed for what we have received by the grace of God; an intimate
relationship with Him via the Holy Spirit and the action of the Son of God;
Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ is our true friend and our closest ally he will
never abandon us let us not wait until the end to discover this; trying to make
a death-bed repentance.
Lessons
upon Death-Bed Repentance[1]
Can the sinner rely upon being
converted at the end of his life? By
no means, for this would be to sin against the mercy of God, which is much the
same as the sin against the Holy Ghost. “God” says St. Augustine, “usually
punishes such sinners by allowing them at the last to forget themselves, who in
the days of their health and strength have allowed themselves to forget Him.”
God Himself also says: “They have turned their back to Me and not their face,
and in the time of their affliction they will say, Arise and deliver us. Where
are thy gods whom thou hast made thee? Let them arise and deliver thee in the
time of thy affliction”. It is true we have a consoling example of conversion
at the moment of death in the penitent thief, but, as St. Augustine further
says, while this one example is given so that no sinner may despair, it is the
only one, so that no sinner may defer repentance through presumption.
What may we hope of those who are
converted at the close of life? Everything
that is good, if they be really converted; but this is a most rare thing. Of
the hundreds of thousands whose lives have been wicked,” writes St. Jerome,
“hardly one will be converted at the hour of death, and obtain forgiveness of
his sins.” And St. Vincent Ferrer says it would be a greater miracle for a
person who has lived wickedly to die well than for one who is dead to be
restored to life. And no wonder; for repentance at the hour of death is
generally but an extorted repentance. It is not so much that the sinner
forsakes his sins as that his sins forsake him ; and the resolution of
amendment is one which he would hardly make, were he not driven to it by the
agonies of death.
What is there to expect from such a repentance? When, therefore, ought we to do penance? While we are in possession of our reason and strength; for, as St. Augustine says, the repentance of the sick is a sickly repentance. In time of sickness, as experience teaches, the pains of disease, the hope of recovery, the fear of death, the torments of conscience, the temptations of the devil, and the care of all depending on him, so continually distract a man that he can hardly collect his thoughts at all, much less bestow them upon a work of a true repentance. If to many it is so difficult to do penance while they are yet in health, and hindered by nothing from raising their thoughts to God, how much more difficult will it be when the body has already become weak! We have heard a number of persons who had been sick admit after their recovery that they had no knowledge of what happened to them during their illness, and even had no recollection of having received the holy sacraments. Accordingly, Isaias admonishes us: “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. And Christ says: You shall seek Me and shall not find Me, and you shall die in your sin” (John vii. 34 ; viii. 21). If, therefore, you have committed mortal sin, delay not to return to God, by perfect contrition and a good confession. Put it not off from one day to another; for repentance thereby becomes more and more difficult; for, as St. Gregory says, one unrepented sin by its own weight impels a man to still further sins, and all the while makes him the weaker, and his adversary, the devil, the stronger; so that at last he cannot be converted without the extraordinary grace of God. But how can the presumptuous sinner expect such grace? God will laugh in his destruction, in like manner as he has despised His instruction, counsel, and reproof (Prov. i. 26-28). “Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good” (Gal. vi. 10), for who knows whether we may not be suddenly prevented, by severe sickness, from working out our salvation!
ON KEEPING THE LORDS DAY HOLY[2]
CHAPTER III
DIES ECCLESIAE
The Eucharistic Assembly:
Heart of Sunday
The table of the word
40. In considering the Sunday Eucharist more than thirty
years after the Council, we need to assess how well the word of God is being
proclaimed and how effectively the People of God have grown in knowledge and
love of Sacred Scripture. There are two aspects of this — that of celebration
and that of personal appropriation — and they are very closely related.
At the level of celebration, the fact that the Council made it possible to
proclaim the word of God in the language of the community taking part in the
celebration must awaken a new sense of responsibility towards the word,
allowing "the distinctive character of the sacred text" to shine
forth "even in the mode of reading or singing". At the level of
personal appropriation, the hearing of the word of God proclaimed must be well
prepared in the souls of the faithful by an apt knowledge of Scripture and,
where pastorally possible, by special initiatives designed to deepen
understanding of the biblical readings, particularly those used on Sundays
and holy days. If Christian individuals and families are not regularly drawing
new life from the reading of the sacred text in a spirit of prayer and docility
to the Church's interpretation, then it is difficult for the liturgical
proclamation of the word of God alone to produce the fruit we might expect.
This is the value of initiatives in parish communities which bring together
during the week those who take part in the Eucharist — priest, ministers and
faithful — in order to prepare the Sunday liturgy, reflecting beforehand upon
the word of God which will be proclaimed. The objective sought here is that the
entire celebration — praying, singing, listening, and not just the preaching —
should express in some way the theme of the Sunday liturgy, so that all those
taking part may be penetrated more powerfully by it. Clearly, much depends on
those who exercise the ministry of the word. It is their duty to prepare the
reflection on the word of the Lord by prayer and study of the sacred text, so
that they may then express its contents faithfully and apply them to people's
concerns and to their daily lives.
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost[3] Do good works with humility
IN the Introit of the Mass let us implore, with great confidence, the mercy of God. “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to Thee all the day; for Thou, O Lord, art sweet, and mild, and plenteous in mercy, to all that call upon Thee. Bow down Thy ear to me, O Lord, and hear me, for I am needy and poor”. (Ps. Ixxxv.).
Prayer. May Thy grace, O Lord, ever precede and follow us, and make us ever intent upon good works.
EPISTLE. Eph. iii. 13-21.
Brethren: I pray you not to faint at my tribulations for you: which is your glory. For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened by His Spirit with might unto the inward man, that Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts: that being rooted and founded in charity, you may be able to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth: to know also the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge, that you may be filled unto all the fulness of God. Now to Him Who is able to do all things more abundantly than we desire or understand, according to the power that worketh in us: to Him be glory in the Church, and in Christ Jesus, unto all generations, world without end. Amen.
Explanation. St. Paul was in prison at Rome when he wrote this epistle, and was anxious lest the Ephesians might think that the faith, the proclaimers of which were thus persecuted, was not from God. He therefore exhorts them to remain firm in their belief; assures them that his sufferings would be for their glory if they remained as firm as he: and prays that they may be enlightened to know the love of God that is, what Christ had done and suffered for us. Hence, we learn to ask earnestly of God grace to understand the mysteries of faith.
Aspiration. O heavenly Father, according to the example of St. Paul, I humbly pray that Thy spirit, Thy knowledge, Thy charity, may be deeply implanted in us, that Thou mayest possess our hearts, and that we, filled with all the fulness of Thy grace, may serve Thee more perfectly, and give Thee thanks forever.
GOSPEL. Luke xiv. 1-11.
At that time, when Jesus went into the house of one of the chief of the Pharisees, on the Sabbath-day, to eat bread, they watched Him. And behold there was a certain man before Him that had the dropsy. And Jesus answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying: Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath-day? But they held their peace. But He, taking him, healed him, and sent him away. And answering them, He said: Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into a pit, and will not immediately draw him out on the Sabbath day? And they could not answer Him to these things. And He spoke a parable also to them that were invited, marking how they chose the first seats at the table, saying to them: When thou art invited to a wedding, sit not down in the first place, lest perhaps one more honorable than thou be invited by him, and he that inviteth thee and him, come and say to thee: Give this man place: and then thou begin with shame to take the lowest place: but when thou art invited, go sit down in the lowest place: that when he who invited thee cometh, he may say to thee: Friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have glory before them that sit at the table with thee. Because everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Why did the Pharisees watch Jesus so closely? To discover something in Him for which they might censure and accuse Him. How like them are those Christians who watch every step of their neighbors, and particularly of priests, hoping to find something for which to blame them, and represent them as evil persons!
Who is, spiritually, like the man with the dropsy? The avaricious man; for as a dropsical person is never satisfied with drinking, so the avaricious man never has enough; and like the dropsy, too, avarice is hard to cure, since it grows worse with age, and generally does not leave a man till he comes to the grave.
Why is avarice reckoned among the seven deadly sins? Because it is the root of many evils; for it leads to usury, theft, the use of false weights and measures, to the retaining of unjustly gotten goods, to the oppression of the poor, of widows and orphans, to the denial and suppression of justice, to apostasy from the faith, and to despair. Hence the Apostle says, “They that will become rich fall into temptation and into the snare of the devil, and into many unprofitable and hurtful desires, which drown men into destruction and perdition” (i.Tim. vi. 9). An efficacious remedy for avarice is the consideration that we are only the stewards, and not the owners of our goods, of which we can take nothing with us at the hour of our death (i. Tim. vi. 7); and that one-day God will require of us a strict account of what we have had.
Commentary
"'For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he
who humbles himself shall be exalted".
Jesus reveals His Love by curing the victim of dropsy[4].
Love overcomes all human obstacles. The humble man does not, of course, expose
his talents to the contempt of others. But he does recognize that every best
gift is from above, loaned not for himself alone, but for his less favored
neighbor as well. For this reason, I bend my knees to the Father,
exclaims St. Paul, as he reflects on His glorious riches: how Divine
love PURGES us by strength through His Spirit, ILLUMINATES us through
our faith and then UNITES us in Christ's love. . .unto. . .the
fullness of God. Humbly must we
recognize the power that is at work in us.
On September 19, 1846, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Maximin Giraud and Melanie Calvat on the mountain of La Salette, France. After thorough investigation the Catholic Church gave approval to the message and secret of La Salette as written by Melanie. The account was published in Lecce on November 15, 1879 with the imprimatur of Bishop Zola of Lecce. Mary's message was much the same as at Fatima, "If my people do not wish to submit themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much I can no longer keep hold of it." She lamented with tears those who do not keep Sunday holy and who take the name of the Lord in vain. She indicated that if men did not stop offending Our Lord the potato crop would fail. She gave Maximin his secret which he never revealed. She then turned to Melanie and gave her a secret which Melanie revealed 30 years later only to the Holy Father, who gave orders that it was never to be revealed.
St. Januarius[5]
Little is known about St. Januarius. He was Bishop of Benevento in Campania. He died near Naples, about the year 305, martyred under the persecution of Emperor Diocletian. Around the year 400 the relics of St. Januarius were moved to Naples, which honors Januarius as a patron saint. He supposedly protected Naples from a threatened eruption of the volcano Mt. Vesuvius. The "miracle of Januarius" has world-wide fame. At least three times a year—on his feast day, December 16 and the first Sunday of May—the sealed vial with congealed blood of the saint liquifies, froths and bubbles up. This miraculous event has occurred every year, with rare exceptions. Popular tradition holds that the liquefaction is a sign that the year will be preserved from disasters. (In 1939, the beginning of World War II, the blood did not bubble up.)
Things to Do:
·
Find
out more about this "miracle of Januarius", including pictures.
·
Have
an Italian dinner.
·
If
you live close to New York city you can participate in The Feast of San Gennaro celebrated in lower Manhattan.
· Read more about St. Januarius at EWTN.
35 Promises of God[6] cont.
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me.”-Ps 23:4
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 6 pm Saturday till Monday. Don’t forget the internet.
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Conversion
of Sinners
·
Iceman’s Total
Consecration to Mary-Day 9
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
·
Go to MASS
[1]Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896.
[3]Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896.
[4]
It was called
hydropsy or dropsy. It is a generalized
swelling due to accumulation of excess water. And you can see a patient that
you know quite well today, too. This is not a new thing. But that is the way
heart failure was known: dropsy. https://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/557959
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