Saturday, November 4, 2023
First Saturday
1 Maccabees, Chapter 12, Verse
39-42
39Then
Trypho sought to become king of Asia, assume the diadem, and do violence to
King Antiochus. 40 But he was afraid that Jonathan
would not permit him, but would fight against him. Looking for a way to seize
and kill him, he set out and came to Beth-shan. 41 Jonathan marched out to meet him
with forty thousand picked fighting men and came to Beth-shan. 42 But when Trypho saw that Jonathan
had arrived with a large army he was AFRAID
to do him violence.
Blessed
are the meek, for they will inherit the earth-yes. Jonathan was speaking softly
yet at the same time he was carrying a big stick which was his large army with
him. As a former police officer we would in order to prevent any trouble show
up in force thus preventing the need to take action.
Yet
we must always be cautious for often
evil men are vile and full of trickery. In this case Jonathan is finally undone
for he is sucked into accepting gifts and praise from Trypho thus letting go of
his stick; his army and is finally captured and killed.
Pride often goes before the fall.
Is America doing the same?
Flawed
Men Seek Love Wrongly[1]
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.
28 In many ways, throughout history
down to the present day, men have given expression to their quest for God in
their religious beliefs and behavior: in their prayers, sacrifices, rituals,
meditations, and so forth. These forms of religious expression, despite the
ambiguities they often bring with them, are so universal that one may well call
man a religious being:
From one ancestor
[God] made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of
their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that
they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him - though
indeed he is not far from each one of us. For "in him we live and move and
have our being."
29 But this "intimate and vital
bond of man to God" (GS 19 § 1) can be forgotten, overlooked, or even
explicitly rejected by man. Such attitudes can have different causes: revolt
against evil in the world; religious ignorance or indifference; the cares and
riches of this world; the scandal of bad example on the part of believers;
currents of thought hostile to religion; finally, that attitude of sinful man
which makes him hide from God out of fear and flee his call.
30 "Let the hearts of those who
seek the LORD rejoice." Although man can forget God or reject him, He
never ceases to call every man to seek him, so as to find life and happiness.
But this search for God demands of man every effort of intellect, a sound will,
"an upright heart", as well as the witness of others who teach him to
seek God.
You are great, O
Lord, and greatly to be praised: great is your power and your wisdom is without
measure. And man, so small a part of your creation, wants to praise you: this
man, though clothed with mortality and bearing the evidence of sin and the
proof that you withstand the proud. Despite everything, man, though but a small
a part of your creation, wants to praise you. You yourself encourage him to
delight in your praise, for you have made us for yourself, and our heart is
restless until it rests in you.
First Saturday[2]
How are we to practice the First Saturday Devotion if there are no Masses on the first Saturday?
·
This presents no obstacle to the praying of the
rosary and spending fifteen minutes keeping Our Lady company.
·
Since Jesus told Lucia that the confession could
be within eight days or even longer still, our confessions can be made whenever
possible as long as we make the intention.
·
Actual reception of Holy Communion will, of
course, be impossible. Since heaven never demands what is impossible for us, a
Spiritual Communion will be accepted until such time as Masses resume.
There are four elements of a
Spiritual Communion:
1.
Make an act of faith. The key here is to express to the
Lord our faith in His merciful love and His Real Presence in the Eucharist.
2.
Make an act of love. O Lord God, I love you above all
things.
3.
Express our desire to receive Him.
4.
Invite Jesus to come into our hearts spiritually.
The
Dogma of Purgatory is too much forgotten by the majority of the faithful; the
Church Suffering, where they have so many brethren to succor, whither they
foresee that they themselves must one
day go, seems a strange land to them. This truly deplorable forgetfulness was a
great sorrow to St. Francis de Sales. “Alas!” said this pious doctor of the
Church, “we do not sufficiently remember our dear departed; their memory seems
to perish with the sound of the funeral bells.” The principal causes of this
are ignorance and lack of faith; our notions on the subject of Purgatory are
too vague, our faith is too feeble. In order, then, that our ideas may become
more distinct, and our faith enlivened, we must
take a closer view of this life beyond the tomb, this intermediate state of the
just souls, not yet worthy to enter the Heavenly Jerusalem.
Catechism of the Catholic
Church
PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN
MYSTERY
SECTION TWO-THE SEVEN
SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
CHAPTER TWO-THE SACRAMENTS OF HEALING
Article 5 THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK
IV. The Effects of the Celebration of This
Sacrament
1520 A particular gift of the Holy
Spirit. the first grace of this sacrament is one of strengthening, peace and
courage to overcome the difficulties that go with the condition of serious
illness or the frailty of old age. This grace is a gift of the Holy Spirit, who
renews trust and faith in God and strengthens against the temptations of the
evil one, the temptation to discouragement and anguish in the face of death. This
assistance from the Lord by the power of his Spirit is meant to lead the sick
person to healing of the soul, but also of the body if such is God's will. Furthermore,
"if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven."
1521 Union with the passion of
Christ. By the grace of this sacrament the sick person receives the strength
and the gift of uniting himself more closely to Christ's Passion: in a certain
way he is consecrated to bear fruit by configuration to the Savior's redemptive
Passion. Suffering, a consequence of original sin, acquires a new meaning; it
becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus.
1522 An ecclesial grace. the sick
who receive this sacrament, "by freely uniting themselves to the passion
and death of Christ," "contribute to the good of the People of
God." By celebrating this sacrament the Church, in the communion of
saints, intercedes for the benefit of the sick person, and he, for his part,
though the grace of this sacrament, contributes to the sanctification of the
Church and to the good of all men for whom the Church suffers and offers
herself through Christ to God the Father.
1523 A preparation for the final
journey. If the sacrament of anointing of the sick is given to all who suffer
from serious illness and infirmity, even more rightly is it given to those at
the point of departing this life; so it is also called sacramentum exeuntium
(the sacrament of those departing). The Anointing of the Sick completes
our conformity to the death and Resurrection of Christ, just as Baptism began
it. It completes the holy anointings that mark the whole Christian life: that
of Baptism which sealed the new life in us, and that of Confirmation which
strengthened us for the combat of this life. This last anointing fortifies the
end of our earthly life like a solid rampart for the final struggles before
entering the Father's house.
Today is the Feast of Charles Borromeo[4]
St. Charles used the following strong language to the assembly of bishops during the convocation of the Synod:
Let us fear lest the angered
judge say to us: If you were the enlighteners of My Church, why have you closed
your eyes? If you pretended to be shepherds of the flock, why have you suffered
it to stray? Salt of the earth, you have lost your savor. Light of the world,
they that sat in darkness and the shadow of death have never seen you shine.
You were apostles; who, then, put your apostolic firmness to the test, since
you have done nothing but seek to please men? You were the mouth of the Lord,
and you have made that mouth dumb. If you allege in excuse that the burden was
beyond your strength, why did you make it the object of your ambitious
intrigues?
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: An
increase of the Faithful.
·
Saturday Litany of the Hours
Invoking the Aid of Mother Mary
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
[2]https://www.bluearmy.com/the-practice-of-the-first-saturday-devotion-during-the-corona-pandemic/
[3] Schouppe S.J., Rev. Fr. F. X.. Purgatory Explained (with Supplemental Reading: What Will Hell Be Like?)
[4]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2023-11-04
Comments
Post a Comment