Monday, March 11, 2024

Monday Night at the Movies

Michael Powell, Black Narcissus, 1947.

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

1 Maccabees, Chapter 4, Verse 8

Judas said to the men with him: Do not FEAR their numbers or dread their attack.

Why fear you?

As God saved you from Egypt at the red sea surely, he will defend us was Judas’ cry. Thus, Israel experienced a great deliverance that day. Then again being attacked by a force ten times as large, Judas cried out, “Blessed are you, Savior of Israel, who crushed the attack of the mighty one by the hand of your servant David and delivered the foreign camp into the hand of Jonathan, the son of Saul, and his armor-bearer. When Lysias saw the tide of the battle turning, and the increased boldness of Judas, whose men were ready either to live or to die nobly, he withdrew. Then Judas and his brothers said, “Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it.” So, the whole army assembled and went up to Mount Zion. They found the sanctuary desolate, the altar desecrated, the gates burnt, weeds growing in the courts as in a thicket or on some mountain, and the priests’ chambers demolished.Then they tore their garments and made great lamentation; they sprinkled their heads with ashes and prostrated themselves. And when the signal was given with trumpets, they cried out to Heaven. They repaired the sanctuary. On the anniversary of the day on which the Gentiles had desecrated it, on that very day it was rededicated with songs, harps, lyres, and cymbals. All the people prostrated themselves and adored and praised Heaven, who had given them success. For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar and joyfully offered burnt offerings and sacrifices of deliverance and praise. Then Judas and his brothers and the entire assembly of Israel decreed that every year for eight days, from the twenty-fifth day of the month Kislev, the days of the dedicationof the altar should be observed with joy and gladness on the anniversary. This was the institution of the feast of Hanukkah, also called the Feast of Dedication. Josephus calls it the Feast of Lights (Ant. 12:325).

Let There Be Light![1]

According to Jewish Talmudic tradition, when the Maccabees recaptured the Temple, they found only a day’s supply of consecrated oil with which to light the golden lamp stand, the menorah. Miraculously, this oil burned for eight full days, until a new supply could be consecrated. Therefore, Hanukkah is also known and celebrated as the Feast of Lights. This Hanukkah, ask the Holy Spirit to pour fresh oil into your lamp. When enduring a dark season, be encouraged, for God says, “Let there be light.” At the appointed hour you will see His deliverance. When you faithfully worship the one true God, do not be dismayed if anti-Christ powers are enraged. These powers operate only within divinely set limits. God is teaching us how to receive by faith, day-by-day, the anointing to not love our own lives so as to shrink from death (Revelation 12:11). Israel’s dark tribulation culminating with the Hanukkah victory in many ways parallels the future Great Tribulation leading to Yeshua’s return. The holiday commemorating the rededication of God’s Temple calls upon us to rededicate ourselves to Him as the bodily temples in which His Spirit now dwells. (See 1Corinthians 6:19)

Remedies for Anger[2]

The first and best means to overcome anger is humility; to become thus humble, gentle, and patient, one must often consider the example of Christ, Who endured so many contradictions, persecutions, and insults, without reviling again when reviled Himself, and without threatening vengeance to any one for all He suffered. An excellent preventive to anger is, to think over in the morning what causes will be likely to draw us into anger at any time during the day, and to guard ourselves against them beforehand, by a firm resolution to bear everything patiently for the love of God; and then, when anything vexatious occurs and excites our anger, to say and do nothing so long as the anger lasts.

How shall we be reconciled with our enemies?

Not only with the lips but from the heart, and with sincerity and promptness. “Is he absent whom you have wronged,” says St. Augustine, “so that you cannot easily reach him? Humble yourself then before God, and ask His pardon before you offer your gift, with a firm resolution to be reconciled with your enemy as soon as possible.”

Human experience confirms the need of this Divine teaching. Only when the Fatherhood of God is recognized, will the Brotherhood of Man be realized. Returning good for evil is possible only to those who love God. Oh, how much our hate-torn world needs this prayer: "Pour into our hearts an experience of Thy Love". In the practice of the Golden Rule, we plead with the Divine "Helper" against worldly persecution and diabolical "enemies". How can one who harbors anger, envy, bitterness, indifference, aversion of any kind against his neighbor, have part in the Sacrifice of Him Who offers Himself for His enemies? The sacrifice of our selfish or even wounded feelings for Christ's sake is a most acceptable "gift" to "leave before the altar".[3]

Pray that there may be such brotherhood in our country.

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Prayer.

We beseech Thee, Almighty God, that, keeping with yearly devotion these sacred observances, we may please Thee both in body and mind. Amen

EPISTLE, III Kings iii 16-28.

In those days: There came two women that were harlots to King Solomon and stood before him: and one of them said: I beseech thee, my lord, I and this woman dwelt in one house, and I was delivered of a child with her in the chamber. And the third day after that I was delivered, she also was delivered, and we were together, and no other person with us in the house, only we two. And this woman s child died in the night: for in her sleep, she overlaid him. And rising in the dead time of the night, she took my child from my side, while I thy hand maid was asleep, and laid it in her bosom: and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold it was dead: but considering him more diligently when it was clear day, I found that it was not mine which I bore. And the other woman answered: It is not so as thou sayest, but thy child is dead, and mine is alive. On the contrary, she said: Thou liest: for my child liveth, and thy child is dead. And in this manner, they strove before the king. Then said the king: This one saith: My child is alive, and thy child is dead. And the other answereth: Nay, but thy child is dead, and mine liveth. The king therefore said: Bring me a sword. And when they had brought a sword before the king, it. divide, said he, the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. But the woman whose child was alive, said to the king (for her bowels were moved upon her child): I beseech thee, my lord, give her the child alive, and do not kill but the other said: Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. The king answered and said: Give the living child to this woman, and let it not be killed, for she is the mother thereof. And all Israel heard the judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the king, seeing that the wisdom of God was in him to judgment.

GOSPEL. John ii. 13-25

At that time: the Pasch of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple them that sold oxen and sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sit and when He had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, He drove them all out of the temple, the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers He poured out, and the written: tables He overthrew. And to them that sold doves He said: Take these things hence and make not the house of My Father a house of traffic. And His disciples remembered that it was the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up. The Jews therefore answered, and said to Him: What sign dost Thou show unto us, seeing Thou dost these things? Jesus answered, and said to them: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said: Six and forty years was this temple in building, and wilt Thou raise it up in three days? But He spoke of the temple of His body. When therefore He was risen again from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this, and they believed the Scripture, and the word that Jesus had said. Now when He was at Jerusalem at the Pasch, upon the festival-day, many believed in His name, seeing His signs which He did. But Jesus did not trust Himself unto them, for that He knew all men, and because He needed not that any should give testimony of man: for He knew what was in man.

Preparing for Battle[4] Know Your Weapons

The weapon of prayer

The Scripture tells us that the fervent prayer of righteous believers has great power in its effects (see Jas 5: 16). Prayer is the indispensable weapon in our battle with Satan. Prayer in the name of Jesus is especially powerful against the Devil. “In my name,” Jesus said of His followers, “they shall cast out devils” (Mk 16: 17). At “the name that is above every name,” St. Paul thundered, “at the name of Jesus, every knee” must bow, “in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (see Phil 2: 9– 10).

We can see how much the Devil fears those who pray, since there’s not a moment of the day when he tempts us more than when we’re at prayer. He does everything he possibly can to prevent us from praying. When the Devil wants to make someone lose his soul, he starts out by inspiring in him a profound distaste for prayer. However good a Christian he may be, if the Devil succeeds in making him either say his prayers badly or neglect them altogether, he’s certain to have that person for himself. (St. John Vianney)

The Angelus[5]

The traditional Catholic midday prayer is called the Angelus. Christians have always paused for prayer at the noon. In apostolic times, it was called the prayer of the “sixth hour”, counting from sunrise. It was also at the sixth hour that Jesus was crucified. Though Catholics most commonly recite the Angelus at noon, some pray it at six in the morning and six in the evening. For those who wish to make personal change this is a good time to examine our day so far and offer ourselves us to our God. It is at the turning point of our day that we recall the turning point of history: the moment when the angel appeared to a young woman named Mary.

The Angelus[6]

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word. Hail Mary…

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us. Hail Mary…

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

Napping Day[7]

Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap. Barbara Jordan`

You got up early and got a great start to the day, you’ve been trucking along being a productive adult, getting your work completed and attending the meetings you have to attend. Throughout it all you’ve been a trooper, you even made it through lunch without much trouble. But now it’s creeping into the late afternoon, and you’re just out of go. What do you do? You take a nap! Napping Day encourages you to remember these benefits of youth and take a little time out of the day for you! Napping Day’s history is simply the history of napping, and it used to be something we all did in the middle of the afternoon. In fact, the siesta is still a time-honored tradition in Spain that happens right after the afternoon meal and has been a practice since time out of mind. In fact, if you’re in the Mediterranean, it’s pretty much standard everywhere you go. In Italy they call it the riposo, pisolini, and even old Charlamagne (yes that Charlamagne) has been recorded as having taken 2-3-hour naps in the middle of the afternoon. So, is it just laziness? Well, no. You see in part it’s because the hottest hours of the day occur in the middle of the afternoon, and it makes sense to take a brief break at that point. It also has to do with the circadian rhythms and the change-over point between the wake cycle and sleep cycle, there’s a time that’s essentially perfect for a nap. There are even notable benefits to taking a nap in the afternoon, including evidence pointing to a 37% reduction in occurrences of coronary mortality in those who take an afternoon nap regularly.

How to Celebrate Napping Day zzzzzzzzzzzz

· Well, the way to celebrate Napping Day is pretty simple isn’t it? You just take a little time in the afternoon (whenever your afternoon is, some of us are day sleepers) to rest. After the afternoon meal is perfect, and in the long run it can help you actually feel better and more energized for the day ahead. It may be tricky if you have a regular work schedule, but whenever you can… Take a nap!

Catechism of the Catholic Church

PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST

SECTION TWO-THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

CHAPTER TWO-YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF

Article 6-THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT

I. "Male and Female He Created Them . . ."

2331 "God is love and in himself he lives a mystery of personal loving communion. Creating the human race in his own image . . .. God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion."

"God created man in his own image . . . male and female he created them"; He blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply"; "When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female, he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created."

2332 Sexuality affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his body and soul. It especially concerns affectivity, the capacity to love and to procreate, and in a more general way the aptitude for forming bonds of communion with others.

2333 Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. Physical, moral, and spiritual difference and complementarity are oriented toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life. The harmony of the couple and of society depends in part on the way in which the complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes are lived out.

2334 "In creating men 'male and female,' God gives man and woman an equal personal dignity." "Man is a person, man and woman equally so, since both were created in the image and likeness of the personal God."

2335 Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God, with equal dignity though in a different way. the union of man and woman in marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator's generosity and fecundity: "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh." All human generations proceed from this union.

2336 Jesus came to restore creation to the purity of its origins. In the Sermon on the Mount, he interprets God's plan strictly: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.
The tradition of the Church has understood the sixth commandment as encompassing the whole of human sexuality.

Christopher’s Corner

Coffee with Christ

Christ sips his coffee and looks at me and says, “Coffee is a miracle created by the Father and it will help to strengthen you for your day’s journey. But if you wish to have the strength for eternity you must take the Eucharist. Surrender your will, indifference and selfishness to the Father as I offer my suffering in place of you in the Mass.”