Claire’s Corner
· 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.
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On Sundays Pray:
O Glorious Queen of Heaven and Earth, Virgin Most Powerful, thou who hast the power to crush the head of the ancient serpent with thy heel, come and exercise this power flowing from the grace of thine Immaculate Conception. Shield us under the mantle of thy purity and love, draw us into the sweet abode of thy heart and annihilate and render impotent the forces bent on destroying us. Come Most Sovereign Mistress of the Holy Angels and Mistress of the Most Holy Rosary, thou who from the very beginning hast received from God the power and the mission to crush the head of Satan. Send forth thy holy legions, we humbly beseech thee, that under thy command and by thy power they may pursue the evil spirits, counter them on every side, resist their bold attacks and drive them far from us, harming no one on the way, binding them to the foot of the Cross to be judged and sentenced by Jesus Christ Thy Son and to be disposed of by Him as He wills.
St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, come to our aid in this grave battle against the forces of darkness, repel the attacks of the devil and free the members of the Auxilium Christianorum, and those for whom the priests of the Auxilium Christianorum pray, from the strongholds of the enemy.
St. Michael, summon the entire heavenly court to engage their forces in this fierce battle against the powers of hell. Come O Prince of Heaven with thy mighty sword and thrust into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits. O Guardian Angels, guide and protect us. Amen.
JUNE 8 Pentecost Sunday
Romans, Chapter 8, verse 14-15
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into FEAR, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba, Father!”
By the sacrifice of Christ, we are the adopted children of God, who feared none, and by whose sufferings and glory we share; by reason of the Holy Spirits presence within us. We are thus giving a new life and relationship with God.
ON KEEPING
THE LORD'S DAY HOLY[1]
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.
Pentecost[2]
Fifty
days after Easter, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles is one of the
three great feasts of the liturgical year.
What is Pentecost? The solemn anniversary of the day
on which the Holy Ghost came down, under the appearance of fiery tongues, upon
Mary the Mother of Jesus, and His apostles and disciples, who were assembled in
prayer at Jerusalem. To express her joy at the descent of the Holy Ghost, the
Church sings, at the Introit of the Mass, The Spirit of the Lord hath filled
the whole earth, alleluia, and that which containeth all things, hath knowledge
of the voice, alleluia, alleluia. Let God arise, and His enemies be scattered; and
let them that hate Him fly before His face.
Prayer.
O God, Who on this day didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light
of the Holy Spirit, grant that we may be truly wise in the same Spirit, and
ever rejoice in His consolation.
EPISTLE. Acts ii. 1-11.
When
the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one
place: and suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming,
and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to
them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: and
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers’
tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. Now there were
dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. And
when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded
in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue. And they
were all amazed and wondered, saying: Behold, are not all these that speak
Galileans? And how have we heard every man our own tongue wherein we were born?
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and in habitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and
Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphilia, Egypt, and the parts of
Lybia about Gyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews also, and proselytes, Cretes,
and Arabians: we have heard them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works
of God.
Why does the Church
celebrate this day so solemnly?
To praise and thank God for sending
the Holy Ghost, Who gave so many spiritual graces and fruits to men.
Why did the Holy
Ghost appear under visible signs?
It was done to attract attention, and to
indicate outwardly what took place inwardly. The roar of the mighty wind,
according to the language of the prophets, pointed to the approaching Godhead,
and was intended to announce something extraordinary. The appearance of tongues
signified the gift of languages, and the division of them the difference of
gifts imparted by the Holy Ghost. The fire which lightens, warms, and quickly
spreads, denoted the love of God, the power and joy with which the apostles,
and mankind through them, should be filled, and indicated the rapid extension
of Christianity.
What were the effects
of the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the apostles?
Being enlightened and made
acquainted with all truth, freed from all fear and faint-heartedness, and
undaunted, the apostles preached everywhere Christ crucified, and for love of
Him endured with joy all sufferings. Their discourses were understood by all
present, as if they had carefully learned each particular language. From that
time Christianity spread with wonderful rapidity throughout the whole world.
Pray the Holy Ghost to-day to enlighten you also, to inflame you with holy
love, and to give you strength daily to increase in all goodness.
GOSPEL. John xiv. 23-31.
At that time
Jesus said to His disciples: If any one love Me, he will keep My word, and My
Father will love him, arid We will come to him, and will make Our abode with
him. He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words. And the word which you have
heard is not Mine: but the Father’s Who sent Me. These things have I spoken to
you, abiding with you. But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will
send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your
mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I
give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart
be troubled, nor let it be afraid. You have heard that I said to you: I go
away, and I come to you. If you loved Me, you would indeed be glad, because I
go to the Father: for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you
before it came to pass that when it shall come to pass, you may believe. I will
not now speak many things with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and in
Me he hath not anything. But that the world may know that I love the Father:
and as the Father hath given Me commandment, so do I.
Why is the Holy Ghost called a spirit, and the Holy
Spirit?
Because
He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and is as it were, the Spirit of the
Father and the Son.
What does the Holy Ghost effect in men?
He
renews their hearts, by cleansing them from sin, by imparting to them the
sanctification and likeness to God gained through Christ, together with all
these supernatural gifts and graces by which they can become holy and happy,
and brings forth in them wonderful fruits of sanctity.
Which are these gifts of the Holy Ghost?
The
seven following:
1. The gift of wisdom,
which teaches us to value the heavenly more than the earthly, infuses into us a
longing for the same, and points out to us the right means to salvation.
2. The gift of understanding,
which enlightens us to rightly understand the mysteries and doctrines of our
holy religion.
3. The gift of counsel
in doubtful cases, which enables us to know what to do or omit, and what to
advise others. This gift is particularly necessary for superiors, for those who
are changing their state of life, and for those who are entangled in perplexing
and unfortunate marriage relations.
4. The gift of fortitude,
which banishes all timidity and human respect, strengthens a man to hate sin,
and steadfastly to practice virtue; preferring contempt, temporal loss,
persecution, and even death, to denying Christ by word or deed.
5. The gift of knowledge,
by which the Holy Ghost enlightens us with an inner light, that we may know
ourselves, the snares of self-love, of our passions, of the devil, and of the
world, and may choose the fittest means to overcome them.
6. The gift of piety
and devotion, which infuses into us veneration for God and divine things, and
joy in conversing with Him.
7. The gift of
the fear of God, that childlike fear, which dreads no other misfortune
than that of displeasing God, and which, accordingly, flees sin as the greatest
evil.
The gift
of Wisdom[3]
Wisdom empowers a person “to judge and order all things in
accordance with divine norms and with a connaturality that flows from a loving
union with God.”
So, while knowledge and understanding enable a person to know and to penetrate
the divine truths, wisdom moves us to “fall
in love” with
them. The Holy Spirit aids the contemplation of divine things, enabling the
person to grow in union with God. This gift unites us to the heart of Jesus.
Father Adolphe Tanquerey taught, “This,
then, is the difference between the gift of wisdom and that of understanding,
the latter is a view taken by the mind, while the former is an experience
undergone by the heart; one is light, the other love, and so they united and
complete one another. Wisdom, withal, remains the more perfect gift; for the
heart outranges the intellect, it sounds greater depths, and grasps or divines
what reason fails to reach. This is particularly the case with the saints, in
whom love often surpasses knowledge”
(The Spiritual Life, p. 630). For example, St. Therese of Lisieux
(declared a doctor of the church), had no formal education in theology, and yet
was wise to the ways of the Lord, a wisdom gained through prayer and simple
acts of love offered to God. While this gift contemplates the divine, it also
is a practical wisdom. It applies God’s
ideas to judge both created and divine matter, thereby directing human acts
according to divine wisdom.
Therefore, a person will
see and evaluate all things —
both joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, success and failure — from God’s point of view, and accept them
with equanimity. With wisdom, all things, even the worst, are seen as having a
supernatural value —
for example, giving value to martyrdom. Here a person arises above the wisdom
of this world and lives in the love of God. St. Paul captured well this gift of
wisdom: “What we
utter is God’s
wisdom: a mysterious, a hidden wisdom. God planned it before all ages for our
glory. …Yet God
has revealed this wisdom to us through the Spirit. …The Spirit we have received is not
the world’s spirit
but God’s
Spirit, helping us to recognize the gifts He has given us. We speak of these,
not in words of human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, thus
interpreting spiritual things in spiritual terms.
The natural man does not
accept what is taught by the spirit of God. For him, that is absurdity. He
cannot come to know such teaching because it must be appraised in a spiritual
way. The spiritual man, on the other hand, can appraise everything. We have the
mind of Christ”
(I Cor 2:6ff). Or consider St. John’s
first epistle: “God
is love. Everyone who loves is begotten of God and has knowledge of God. …He who abides in love, abides in
God, and God in him. Our love is brought to perfection in this, that we should
have confidence on the Day of Judgment; for our relation to this world is just
like His. Love has no room for fear; rather, perfect love casts out all fear” (I Jn 4:7, 17-18).
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.
Whit Sunday[4]
What is Whitsunday or White Sunday?
The
liturgical color of this Sunday is red in order to recall the tongues of flame
that descended on the Apostles. The old English name for Pentecost, Whitsunday,
originated from the custom of the newly baptized redonning their white robes
for the services of the day. By extension this could also apply to the new
Easter clothes worn by the faithful fifty days earlier.
The Dove
Like Ascension Thursday, Whitsunday was once
the occasion for several liturgical eccentricities. Many medieval churches, for
example, had a Holy Ghost Hole in the ceiling of the church from which a large
blue disk bearing the figure of a white dove would swing slowly down to the
congregation during the Mass sequence, Veni Sancte Spiritus. Midway through the
sequence, the disk would stop and from the Holy Ghost hole would rain symbols
of the Spirit: flowers, water, even burning pieces of straw. A practice far
less susceptible to excess, on the other hand, is the use of beautifully carved
and painted wooden doves in the home. These figures would usually be suspended
over the dinner table, and would sometimes be encased in glass, having been
assembled entirely from within (much like the wooden ships assembled in
bottles). The painstaking effort that went into making these doves serves as a
reminder to cherish the adoration of the Holy Spirit.
The Blessed Dew
Though the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit is often described in dramatic terms (a mighty
wind, tongues of fire, etc.), it is also portrayed in soothing, comforting
ways. The Whitsunday sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus, for example, calls the
Spirit our "sweet refreshment" (dulcis refrigerium), while the
postcommunion prayer, in an allusion to Isaiah 45.8, refers to the "inward
sprinkling of His heavenly dew." Hence there arose the charming
superstition that the morning dew of Whitsunday is especially good luck. To
obtain a blessing, people would walk barefoot through the meadows before Mass
and would even feed their animals with bread wiped by the dew.
Age of the Holy
Spirit
Where
we are is the age of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is often called the birthday of
the Church because even though the Apostles were transformed by earlier events
such as the institution of the Eucharist and priesthood on Maundy Thursday or
their acquiring the power to forgive sins on Easter afternoon, they - and by
extension, the Church - did not really come into their own until the Paraclete
inspired them to burst out of their closed quarters and spread the Gospel to
the ends of the earth. And just as Pentecost marks the birthday of the Church
in the Holy Spirit, so too does the Time after Pentecost mark the life of the
Church moving through the vicissitudes of history under the protection and
guidance of that same Spirit. It is for this reason that the epistle readings
from this season emphasize the Apostles' advice to the burgeoning churches of
the day while its Gospel readings focus on the kingdom of heaven and its
justice. It is also the reason why the corresponding lessons from the breviary
draw heavily from the history of the Israelite monarchy in the Old Testament.
All are somehow meant to teach us how to comport ourselves as citizens of the
city of God as we pass through the kingdoms of this world.
Octave?
Pentecost
Monday remains an official festival in many Protestant churches, such as the
(Lutheran) Church of Sweden, the Evangelical Lutheran
Church of Finland,
and others. In the Byzantine Catholic
Rite Pentecost
Monday is no longer a Holy Day of
Obligation, but
rather a simple holiday. In the Extraordinary Form of the
liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, as at Easter, the liturgical rank of Monday and Tuesday of Pentecost
week is a Double of the First Class and across many Western denominations,
Pentecost is celebrated with an octave culminating on Trinity Sunday. However, in the modern Roman Rite (Ordinary Form),
Pentecost ends after Evening Prayer on the feast day itself, with Ordinary Time resuming the next day.
·
My advice: Go to Mass for the 8 days.
Highlights
and Things to Do:[5]
- Listen
to the Catholic Culture audiobook St. Thomas Aquinas—Send Out Your Spirit read by James
Majewski.
- Meditate
on Fr. Roger Landry's homily for Pentecost Sunday.
- Pray
the Golden Sequence, Veni, Sancte Spiritus which is read or sung at the
Pentecost Vigil and Sunday Mass.
- Find
some ideas for celebrating Pentecost in the home:
- Therese Mueller, Celebrating Pentecost in the Home
- P. Craig Stewart and Helen McLoughlin, Whitsunday, The Cenacle and The Cenacle Project.
- Ethel Marbach, Pentecost Activities and Pentecost Wheel
- Helen McLoughlin, Pentecost Visual Display
- Jan Wilson, Make Your Own Windmill
- Mary Reed Newland, Pentecost Favors, Gifts and Fruits
- Family Life Bureau, Planting a Pentecost Tree
- Pentecost
Feasting Ideas: Catholic Culture has a large list of suggested recipes in
the right hand column. But the themes are red, something with flames, or
something that reminds of flames. Strawberry placed upside down have the
shape of a flame. And also, fruits help us think of the fruits of the Holy
Spirit. Another way of thinking is presenting the meal in "gift"
form, like the "gifts of the Holy Spirit."
- Evelyn Vitz, Twelve Fruit Salad
- Demetria Taylor, Special Strawberry Shortcake
- Florence Berger, Pentecost Picnic and Strawberry Cake
- See
also Catholic Cuisine for feast food ideas.
- For
further inspiration, see the blog posts by Jennifer Gregory Miller:
Apostolic Exhortation[6]
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
IV. Invite a friend to join you
in adoration.
85. Call to mind a loved one
who feels himself or herself to be far from the Church. Think of a friend who
finds the Mass difficult to understand and to engage. Consider an acquaintance
in your life who does not believe in God or in Christ. Now imagine each of
these persons sitting quietly and peacefully next to you in a beautiful place
of adoration for ten minutes of Eucharistic adoration.
What gentle but profound effect
might it have in his or her heart?
86. The Gospels present a clear
pattern in which Jesus makes Himself present to people before He teaches, and
certainly long before He draws them into His act of worship in His Paschal
Mystery. We might say the general pattern is: first His presence, then His
worship. The Lord is present in many ways.
But do we trust that the
Eucharistic Christ can and will touch the hearts of our friends, if we but
invite them to be near Him there?
87. Of course, it takes
prudence and discernment to know when and how to offer such an invitation. But
the times for such friendly invitations do come! In the Gospels we see persons
bringing others into the bodily presence of Christ in various ways. I’ll mention
three different approaches which are instructive for us today: testimony,
invitation, and carrying.
To be continued…
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Day 356 2777
PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER
SECTION TWO-THE LORD'S PRAYER
Article 2-"OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN"
I. "We Dare to Say"
2777 In the
Roman liturgy, the Eucharistic assembly is invited to pray to our heavenly
Father with filial boldness; the Eastern liturgies develop and use similar
expressions: "dare in all confidence," "make us worthy
of...." From the burning bush Moses heard a voice saying to him, "Do
not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you
are standing is holy ground."26 Only Jesus could cross that threshold of the divine holiness, for
"when he had made purification for sins," he brought us into the
Father's presence: "Here am I, and the children God has given me."
Our awareness of our status as
slaves would make us sink into the ground and our earthly condition would
dissolve into dust, if the authority of our Father himself and the Spirit of
his Son had not impelled us to this cry . . . 'Abba, Father!' . . . When would
a mortal dare call God 'Father,' if man's innermost being were not animated by
power from on high?"
2778 This
power of the Spirit who introduces us to the Lord's Prayer is expressed in the
liturgies of East and of West by the beautiful, characteristically Christian
expression: parrhesia, straightforward simplicity, filial trust, joyous
assurance, humble boldness, the certainty of being loved.
II. Abba -
"Father!"
2779 Before we
make our own this first exclamation of the Lord's Prayer, we must humbly
cleanse our hearts of certain false images drawn "from this world."
Humility makes us recognize that "no one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses
to reveal him," that is, "to little children." The
purification of our hearts has to do with paternal or maternal images, stemming
from our personal and cultural history, and influencing our relationship with
God. God our Father transcends the categories of the created world. To impose
our own ideas in this area "upon him" would be to fabricate idols to
adore or pull down. To pray to the Father is to enter into his mystery as he is
and as the Son has revealed him to us.
The
expression God the Father had never been revealed to anyone. When Moses himself
asked God who he was, he heard another name. The Father's name has been
revealed to us in the Son, for the name "Son" implies the new name
"Father."
2780 We can
invoke God as "Father" because he is revealed to us by his Son become
man and because his Spirit makes him known to us. the personal relation of the
Son to the Father is something that man cannot conceive of nor the angelic
powers even dimly see: and yet, the Spirit of the Son grants a participation in
that very relation to us who believe that Jesus is the Christ and that we are
born of God.
2781 When we
pray to the Father, we are in communion with him and with his Son, Jesus
Christ. Then we know and recognize him with an ever new sense of wonder.
The first phrase of the Our Father is a blessing of adoration before it is a
supplication. For it is the glory of God that we should recognize him as
"Father," the true God. We give him thanks for having revealed his
name to us, for the gift of believing in it, and for the indwelling of his
Presence in us.
2782 We can
adore the Father because he has caused us to be reborn to his life by adopting
us as his children in his only Son: by Baptism, he incorporates us into the
Body of his Christ; through the anointing of his Spirit who flows from the head
to the members, he makes us other "Christs."
God, indeed,
who has predestined us to adoption as his sons, has conformed us to the
glorious Body of Christ. So then you who have become sharers in Christ are
appropriately called "Christs."
The new man, reborn and restored to his God by grace, says first of all,
"Father!" because he has now begun to be a son.
2783 Thus the
Lord's Prayer reveals us to ourselves at the same time that it reveals the
Father to us.
O man, you
did not dare to raise your face to heaven, you lowered your eyes to the earth,
and suddenly you have received the grace of Christ all your sins have been
forgiven. From being a wicked servant you have become a good son.... Then raise
your eyes to the Father who has begotten you through Baptism, to the Father who
has redeemed you through his Son, and say: "Our Father.... " But do
not claim any privilege. He is the Father in a special way only of Christ, but
he is the common Father of us all, because while he has begotten only Christ,
he has created us. Then also say by his grace, "Our Father," so that
you may merit being his son.
2784 The free
gift of adoption requires on our part continual conversion and new life.
Praying to our Father should develop in us two fundamental dispositions:
First, the desire to become like him: though created in his image, we are
restored to his likeness by grace; and we must respond to this grace.
We must
remember . . . and know that when we call God "our Father" we ought
to behave as sons of God.
You cannot call the God of all kindness your Father if you preserve a cruel and
inhuman heart; for in this case you no longer have in you the marks of the
heavenly Father's kindness.
We must contemplate the beauty of the Father without ceasing and adorn our own
souls accordingly.
2785 Second, a
humble and trusting heart that enables us "to turn and become like
children": for it is to "little children" that the Father
is revealed.
[The prayer
is accomplished] by the contemplation of God alone, and by the warmth of love,
through which the soul, molded and directed to love him, speaks very familiarly
to God as to its own Father with special devotion.
Our Father: at this name love is aroused in us . . . and the confidence of
obtaining what we are about to ask.... What would he not give to his children
who ask, since he has already granted them the gift of being his children?
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: : Protection
of Traditional Marriage
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
[2]Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896
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