Wednesday, May 24, 2023

- May 18, 2023

Every Wednesday is Dedicated to St. Joseph

The Italian culture has always had a close association with St. Joseph perhaps you could make Wednesdays centered around Jesus’s Papa. Plan an Italian dinner of pizza or spaghetti after attending Mass as most parishes have a Wednesday evening Mass. You could even do carry out to help restaurants. If you are adventurous, you could do the Universal Man Plan: St. Joseph style. Make the evening a family night perhaps it could be a game night. Whatever you do make the day special.

· Devotion to the 7 Joys and Sorrows of St. Joseph

· Do the St. Joseph Universal Man Plan.

Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

MARY, MARY HELP OF CHRISTIANS

Deuteronomy, Chapter 20, Verse 1

When you go out to war against your enemies and you see horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, you shall not be AFRAID of them, for the LORD, your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, will be with you.

God imagines the world without war; this is why He sent His son to bring peace to the world. Yet, we are still at war for our enemy is not just evil men but the devil and his cohort. Therefore, when our enemy brings forth horse and chariot and all manner of evils; do not be afraid for the victory has already been won! Trust in Jesus who will send St. Michael the Archangel to defend us and cover us with his strong shield and lead us safely through the midst of our enemy. Our prayer then is having fought the good fight and having a lifetime of devotion to the Blood of Jesus that when the last hour of our earthly life draws near, and we await the awful moment when our soul must leave our bodies it will be St. Michael that will defend us in our most vulnerable moments protecting us from the satanic hosts when they make their final assault upon our souls.

Australia and Our Lady Help of Christians[1]

When Cardinal Patrick Moran of Sydney wrote his History of the Catholic Church in Australia, he recalled the laying of the foundation stone of what was to become the first cathedral in this land. His eminence declared: "Who was the patron selected by the people and their newly arrived pastor, Father Therry, for the Mother Church? Mary, the Immaculate Mother of God, under the special invocation of Help of Christians, was chosen patroness. In choosing Mary, the young Church was following a sure Catholic instinct. But why the particular title of Help of Christians?

Events had happened in Europe only several years earlier, and this no doubt was still fresh in people's minds. Napoleon Bonaparte had jailed Pope Pius VI who died in goal, after which Pope Pius VII was elected. Just a short time later, he too was jailed by Napoleon, who kept him prisoner at Fontainebleau, 35 miles from Paris. The Holy Father vowed to God that, if he were restored, he would institute a special feast in honor of Mary. Military reverses forced Napoleon to release the Pope, and on May 24th, 1814, Pius VII returned in triumph to Rome. Twelve months later, the Pope decreed that the feast of Mary Help of Christians, be kept on the 24th of May.

Australia became the first nation in the world to have, Mary, Help of Christians as Patroness: the first church to celebrate May 24th on a national scale (elsewhere the feast was restricted to Rome and specified places); and the first country to have a mother-cathedral under the same title.

Mary Help of Christian’s patroness of Australia and of the Military Ordinariate (Feast: 24th May)

Almighty God deepen in our hearts our love of Mary Help of Christians. Through her prayers and under her protection, may the light of Christ shine over our land. May Australia be granted harmony, justice and peace. Grant wisdom to our leaders and integrity to our citizens. Bless especially the men and women of the Australian Defense Force and their families. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Mary Help of Christians, pray for us.

Things to Do:

· Make a virtual visit to the chapel of Our Lady, Help of Christians at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

· Read more about Our Lady, Help of Christians.

· Travel via the Internet to the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians built by St. John Bosco as a monument to the Virgin Mary, with the title Help of Christians, as the mother church and spiritual center of the Salesian Congregation.

Apostolic Exhortation[2]

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,

I. The Graces of Holy Communion

i. Holy Communion changes and transforms us into “Alter Christus”

36. This Eucharistic Christ gives life to those that receive Him, assimilates them and transforms them into Himself. Jesus called Himself the “Bread of Life” precisely to make us understand that He does not nourish us as ordinary food does; rather, as He possesses life, He gives it to us. Being assimilated by Jesus in Holy Communion makes us like Him in our sentiments, desires, and our way of thinking. In Holy Communion, His heart nourishes our hearts; His pure, wise and loving desires purify our selfish ones, so that we not only know what He wants, but also start wanting the same more and more. Saint Paul aptly wrote, “I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20). Through the Eucharist, we really become not only an Alter Christus – Another Christ – but indeed Ipse Christus, Christ Himself. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in a homily on Corpus Domini speaks of this divine assimilation:

“The purpose of this communion, of this partaking, is the assimilation of my life with His, my transformation and conformation into He who is living Love. Therefore, this communion implies adoration; it implies the will to follow Christ, to follow the One who goes ahead of us” (Homily, Corpus Domini, 2005).

37. Have you ever wondered why Jesus chose to leave us His presence under the appearance of bread and wine? He reveals the reason in His discourse on the Bread of Life:

“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” (Jn 6:57).

He wants to be nourishment of higher order of life within us, a capacity to love and act like Him, even to “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).

38. Bread and wine are also powerful symbols that convey eloquently Jesus’ invitation to walk the same path of sacrificial love. The grains of wheat that are used for making bread had to go through a grueling process. They are plucked, thrashed, crushed, and ground up, kneaded and shaped, and finally, they are thrown to be baked in an oven. In a similar way, the grapes are plucked and smashed. Their juice is purified and bottled. Then they are left until maturity. If we look up at the Crucified Jesus on the Cross, we can see a similar grueling process He went through in His Passion and Death; this is what true love really means. Every time we come to the Eucharist; we are invited to imitate this sacrificial love of Christ.

To be continued…

Catechism of the Catholic Church

PART ONE:

THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

SECTION ONE

"I BELIEVE" - "WE BELIEVE"

CHAPTER TWO GOD COMES TO MEET MAN

50 By natural reason man can know God with certainty, on the basis of his works. But there is another order of knowledge, which man cannot possibly arrive at by his own powers: the order of divine Revelation. Through an utterly free decision, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. This he does by revealing the mystery, his plan of loving goodness, formed from all eternity in Christ, for the benefit of all men. God has fully revealed this plan by sending us his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.