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.

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Monday, June 5, 2023

Monday Night at the Movies

John Duigan, Romero, 1989.

ST BONIFACE

Psalm 112, Verse 1

Hallelujah! Blessed the man who FEARS the LORD, who greatly delights in his commands.

This psalm is detailing the blessings received by those who remain close to God by obedience to the commandments. Among their blessings are children, wealth that enables them to be magnanimous, and virtue by which they encourage others. The just person is an affront to the wicked, whose hopes remain unfulfilled.[1]

Hallelujah is a conjunction of two Hebrew words which mean “Praise the Lord”. Yes, praise God for men who have Holy fear and follow his commands for such person’s help to create a Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Hallelujah! If you know such people, follow, and emulate them.

Saint Boniface[2] He defeated Thor's Hammer with an Ax

A Benedictine monk was chosen by divine Providence to become Germany's great apostle and patron. In 724 he turned his attention to the Hessian people. near the village of Geismar on the Eder, he felled a giant oak that the people honored as the national sanctuary of the god Thor. Boniface used the wood to build a chapel in honor of St. Peter. This courageous act assured the eventual triumph of the Gospel in Germany. Conversions were amazingly numerous. In 732 Boniface devoted his time and talent to the organization of the Church in Germany. He installed bishops, set diocesan boundaries, promoted the spiritual life of the clergy and laity, held national synods (between 742 and 747), and in 744 founded the monastery of Fulda, which became a center of religious life in central Germany. The final years of his busy life were spent, as were his earlier ones, in missionary activity. Word came to him in 754 that a part of Frisia had lapsed from the faith. He took leave of his priests and, sensing the approach of death, carried along a shroud. He was 74 years of age when with youthful enthusiasm he began the work of restoration, a mission he was not to complete. A band of semi-barbarous pagans overpowered and put him to death when he was about to administer confirmation to a group of neophytes at Dockum. Patron: Brewers; Tailors; Germany; Prussia.

Things to Do

· One tradition about Saint Boniface says that he used the customs of the locals to help convert them. There was a game in which they threw sticks called kegels at smaller sticks called heides. Boniface bought religion to the game, having the heides represent demons, and knocking them down showing purity of spirit. You might use your ingenuity to imitate this game for your children and tell them the story of St. Boniface. Sounds like bowling maybe go bowling in honor of St. Boniface.

· St. Boniface was the uncle of St. Walburga.

· St. Boniface, although an Englishman, planted the seeds of the Catholic Faith in Germany (at that time "Germany" included the domains of the Frankish monarchs, present-day Belgium, and the Netherlands), and now Germany calls St. Boniface her patron. Bake some special German cookies or treat and learn some of the religious customs that come from this country.

Apostolic Exhortation[3]

Veneremur Cernui – Down in Adoration Falling

of The Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix,
to Priests, Deacons, Religious and the Lay Faithful of the Diocese of Phoenix on the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist

My beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Part III

Loving and Adoring the Eucharistic Lord

II. Go to daily Mass, if possible.

76. The beauty of the Lord’s Day is meant to spill over into the rest of the week. Saint Augustine wrote of his mother, Saint Monica: “She did not let a day pass without being present at the Divine Sacrifice before Your altar, O Lord”. Regarding the harsh deprivations during his nine-month imprisonment, Saint John of the Cross said that the worst suffering was not being able to celebrate Mass nor receive Holy Communion. Of course, daily duties can make daily Mass impossible for some. But for many of us, it is simply a question of appreciating the immeasurable value of the Mass and organizing our time accordingly.

77. In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus taught us to ask Our Father to “give us this day our daily bread.” Like God raining down Manna in the wilderness with the morning dew, Christ nourishes his Church daily in the Mass. When we realize that the Lord desires to renew for us the gift of the Sunday Eucharist every day of the week, how can we not be overwhelmed with gratitude and a deeper spiritual hunger for more of the Bread of Life?

78. In this busy world, is it really possible to go to daily Mass? Or perhaps we are tempted to think that this is a luxury only for clergy or those persons who have extra time on their hands? Not at all. The Eucharist, as we have seen, fuels the mission of the members of Christ’s Body in the world. Christians who are active in the world have a great need for spiritual strength to bring Christ into the arena of their work. Perhaps we could even say that those who have the greatest demand in their secular pursuits are most in need of the great strength which comes from the daily Eucharist. Not long ago, the great Italian Saint Joseph Cottolengo encouraged daily Mass for the busiest of workers: doctors, nurses, manual laborers, teachers, parents, and so on. When they told him they didn’t have the time, he would tell them starkly that they had plenty of time – they just were not managing it properly. With so many distractions and demands competing for our attention, Mass can become a daily source of peace and strength. It turns us from “Marthas” into recollected “Mary’s”, who learn to choose the “better part” each day (cf. Lk 10:42). I challenge you to commit to at least one weekday Mass. I guarantee that you will notice within the next six months what a significant difference it will make in your life.

To be continued…

Which are the fruits of the Holy Ghost? They are the twelve following:

1. Charity.

2. Joy.

3. Peace.

4. Patience.

5. Benignity.

6. Goodness.

7. Longsuffering.

8. Mildness.

9. Faith.

10. Modesty.

11. Continency.

12. Chastity.

These fruits should be visible in the Christian, for thereby men shall know that the Holy Ghost dwells in him, as the tree is known by its fruit.

Notice I have placed the Fruits of the Holy Spirit in stairstep fashion so we may reflect on them seeing that by concentrating on each step of our growth in the spirit we may progress closer and closer to our heavenly Father. Today we will be focusing on the fifth step which is mildness.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

SECTION ONE-"I BELIEVE" - "WE BELIEVE"

CHAPTER TWO GOD COMES TO MEET MAN

Article 3 SACRED SCRIPTURE

II. Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture

105 God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit."

"For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author, and have been handed on as such to the Church herself."

106 God inspired the human authors of the sacred books. "To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use of their own faculties and powers so that, though he acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they consigned to writing whatever he wanted written, and no more."

107 The inspired books teach the truth. "Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures."

108 Still, the Christian faith is not a "religion of the book". Christianity is the religion of the "Word" of God, "not a written and mute word, but incarnate and living". If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, "open (our) minds to understand the Scriptures."

Teaching the Faith[4]

PRACTICE OF THE MONTH—SIGN OF THE CROSS

Do this at Meals-Insist on attendance of all for one meal a day-no phones.

The making of the Sign of the Cross, however, we must attend to carefully. We have not mentioned this before, thinking it just as well to leave it to the mothers to observe whether the little ones have imitated them in blessing themselves.

The only easy way to teach the Sign of the Cross is to have the baby imitate you. If you face him, he will go wrong. Stand alongside of him, a little slanting, so that he can watch your hand when it moves to the left shoulder.

In the name of the Father (right hand to forehead) and of the Son (right hand to chest) and of the Holy (right hand to left shoulder) Ghost (right hand to right shoulder) Amen. (Both hands clasped).

Menu for Feast of St. Boniface