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Monday, October 31, 2011



I ran across this chaplet in my Fr. Lasance prayer book a few months back.  This is one of the most beautiful, pertinent chaplets in my opinion.  See if you feel the same:
  
Little Chaplet and Prayers
in Honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

V. Incline unto mine aid, O God.
R. O Lord, make haste to help me.
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
R. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.


I.
My most loving Jesus, when I ponder over Thy most Sacred Heart, all tenderness and sweetness for sinners, then doth my own heart rejoice, and I am filled with the hope of Thy kind welcome. But, alas, how many and how great are my sins! With Peter and with Magdalene I bewail and abhor them because they are an offense to Thee, my Sovereign Good. Oh! grant me pardon for them all. I pray Thy Sacred Heart that I may rather die than offend Thee again, and may I live alone to love Thee.


Our Father (once). Glory be to the Father, etc. (five times).
Sweet Heart of Jesus, I implore,
That I may love Thee more and more.




II.
My Jesus, I bless Thy most humble Heart; and I give thanks unto Thee Who in making it my model dost urge me with strong pleadings to imitate it, and also, at the cost of so many humiliations, dost vouchsafe Thyself to point out and smooth for me the way to follow Thee. Foolish and ungrateful that I am, how have I wandered far from Thee! Pardon me, O my Jesus! Takeaway from me all hateful pride and ambition, that with lowly heart I may follow Thee, my Jesus, amidst humiliations, and so gain peace and salvation. Be Thou at hand to strengthen me, and I will ever bless Thy Sacred Heart.


Our Father (once). Glory be to the Father, etc. (five times).
Sweet Heart of Jesus, I implore,
That I may love Thee more and more.




III.
My Jesus, I marvel at Thy most patient Heart, and I give Thee thanks for all the wondrous examples of unwearied patience, which Thou has left us. It grieves me that these examples still have to reproach me for my excessive delicacy, shrinking from every little pain. Pour, then, into my heart, dear Jesus, a fervent and constant love of suffering and the cross of mortification and of penance, that, following Thee to Calvary, I may with Thee attain to glory, and the joys of Paradise.
Our Father (once). Glory be to the Father, etc. (five times).
Sweet Heart of Jesus, I implore,
That I may love Thee more and more.




IV.
Dear Jesus, beside Thy most gentle Heart I set my own, and shudder to see how unlike mine is to Thine. How am I wont to fret and grieve when a hint, a look, or a word thwarts me! Pardon all my excesses, and give me grace for the future to imitate in every contradiction Thy unalterable meekness, that so I may enjoy an everlasting holy peace.


Our Father (once). Glory be to the Father, etc. (five times).
Sweet Heart of Jesus, I implore,
That I may love Thee more and more.




V.
Let us sing praise to Jesus for His generous Heart, Conqueror of death and hell; for well does it merit every praise. Still more than ever confounded am I, looking upon my cowardly heart, which dreads even a rough word or injurious taunt. But it shall be so with me no more. My Jesus, I pray Thee for such strength that fighting and conquering myself on earth I may one day rejoice triumphantly with Thee in heaven.


Our Father (once). Glory be to the Father, etc. (five times).
Sweet Heart of Jesus, I implore,
That I may love Thee more and more.




NOW LET US TURN TO MARY; AND DEDICATING OURSELVES YET MORE AND MORE TO HER, AND TRUSTING IN HER MATERNAL HEART, WE SHALL SAY TO HER:


By all the virtue of thy most sweet heart, obtain for me, O great Mother of God, my Mother Mary, a true and enduring devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, thy Son, that bound up in every thought and affection in union with His Heart, I may fulfill each duty of my state, serving Jesus, the loving King of my heart, ever more with readiness of heart and especially this day.


Heart of Jesus, burning with love of us,
Inflame our hearts with love of Thee.
Let us pray:


O Lord! we beseech Thee, let Thy Holy Spirit kindle in our hearts that fire of charity which our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, sent forth from His inmost Heart upon this earth, and willed that it should burn exceedingly, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the same Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.


(Indulgences: 300 days each lime, and plenary once a month, on the usual conditions, for daily recital.)
AUDIO SERMON FOR THE FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING GIVEN BY BISHOP GILES,OFM
YOUTUBE SERMON FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING GIVEN BY FATHER BONAVENTURE OFM

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Crested Lark
"The lark of which St. Francis was so fond was the crested lark.  It appealed to him because it was dressed as a good religious should be dressed; it had a real friar's hood and its feathers were the proper penitential color.  Besides, its sweet song gave it an affinity with those whom he wished to be the Minstrels of God.  On the evening of his death, a great flock of them wheeled over the roof of the house in which he lay and sang their 'good bye' to the man who had done so much for them and would have done much more if he could only have got at the Emperor***.  The birds are still fed in the market-place of Assisi when the Angelus rings each day.  At the sound of the bell they fly in from all quarters guided by an instinct handed down for several  hundred years.  We may be sure the crested lark is well to the fore and that he gets the very best of the pickings.


***St. Francis' idea was that the Emperor (of the Holy Roman Empire) should pass some laws forbidding the snaring of larks and obliging all Mayors and corporations to have the roads strewn with crumbs  on Christmas Day.***

Taken from "A Bedside Book of Saints" by Aloysius Roche

Friday, October 28, 2011

22. Read the lives of the Saints, and consider whose life your own most resembles: what degree of sanctity do you possess? If you were to die at this moment, to what part of Paradise would you think yourself destined? Perhaps amongst the innocents? No one is innocent who has committed even one mortal sin; and you-----have you still in your soul your Baptismal innocence? Perhaps, therefore, amongst the penitents? But where is your penitence when, far from seeking self-mortification, you seek in all things to please yourself? Do you think you deserve to be numbered amongst the Martyrs? I will not speak of the shedding of blood; but where is even your patience to suffer only the slightest trouble or adversity in this miserable life? Do you judge yourself worthy to be ranked with the virgins? But are you pure in body and mind? St. Anthony, the abbot, after having labored many years to perfect himself in holiness by imitating the virtues of all the most illustrious anchorites, found much to humble himself when he heard of St. Paul, the first hermit, and felt that in comparison with this holy man he himself had nothing of the religious left in him. O my soul, come too, and compare thyself with the Saints. "Call to remembrance the works of the fathers which they have done in their generations," [Mach. ii, 51] and thou wilt find innumerable occasions for humbling thyself in perceiving how far thou art from holiness. It is all very well to say: I do nothing wrong. To be saved it is not enough not to do evil, but one must also do good. "Avoid evil, and do good." [Ps. xxxvi, 27] It is not enough not to be a sinner by profession, but it is necessary to be holy by profession. "Follow "holiness, without which no man shall see God." [Heb. xii, 14]

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Her Doctrine and Morals

Christ The King

30 October 2011

[Image]

The Sunday

Sermon




Dear Friends,
Jesus Christ is both our King and our God. We often today see our rulers as mere mortals compared with other cultures and times where the ruler is often given divine status among the people. It is therefore a little more difficult for us to appreciate the title of King when we speak of Jesus Christ.
In today’s gospel we hear our Lord say that His kingdom is not of this world. The kingdom of Jesus is that of Heaven. He has come to this earth to invite us all into His kingdom. Jesus has told us much about this kingdom in heaven by way of parables and examples. We have been told many times what is expected of us so that we may be permitted to enter the narrow gates of heaven. To condense it though it is simply said that we must Love God with our whole being and our neighbor as we love ourselves.
We too often see those that God has placed over us as distant, cold, uncaring and so our obedience tends more towards servile fear and submission. It is often true that earthly authority is distant, cold, and uncaring, hence we tend to think the same of all authority; and we form a false opinion that God is like them. Their failure to love, care, and fulfill their God given office and position as God would like them to is very often a cause of scandal to the rest of men.
We must rise above such scandal. They may not measure up as they should, but we must always respect and obey them (in all that is not sinful) because they have been placed above us by God. In obeying our lawful superiors we are indeed obeying God. Jesus Christ the King is their role model just as He is ours. If they fail to imitate Him as they should, it is all the more reason for us to imitate Him with ever more solicitude.
Jesus has taught us in the Lord’s Prayer to pray for God’s will and kingdom to come here on earth just as it is in heaven. We should thus, await eagerly for His will and kingdom to come to this earth. God expects more from us than just praying and waiting, He also expects us to do our part to make it happen. We must begin by changing our lives and making them conform to the demands of the Kingdom of Heaven. We can never enter that Kingdom if we are not in conformity with it; much less will we ever be able to do our part in hastening the Kingdom of God here on earth if we do not seriously begin to amend our lives. We must strive to love God more and more every day. As this love increases, it will begin to manifest itself more and more in our actions.
Our actions in turn will help us to increase our love for God, but will also speak volumes to others of our love for God and His Kingdom. In this manner we become ambassadors in helping our prayers come to fruition: God’s will and Kingdom here on earth. God will not force His kingdom upon us; He offers it by way of invitation. We must see that it is good and desirable (more desirable than anything else) and then cooperate with His grace so that we may enter into it – today in our own lives and eventually in eternity.
As we honor our King today let us resolve to honor Him as such every day for the rest of our lives. Let us see in Jesus a most loving Brother and King. Let us resolve to honor and obey those He has placed over us for the love of Him. Let us pray for our superiors realizing what a heavy burden God has placed upon their shoulders. If we find ourselves in the position of holding God given authority let us daily petition God for His assistance and humbly strive to rule and guide as He would have us do so. In this way each of us can do our part to hasten the fulfillment of The Lord’s Prayer: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Thursday, October 27, 2011

When our parish was located in Milwaukee, after our monthly Third Order meeting, the Third Order would drive to this abortion mill and pray a 15 decade rosary outside the building while murders were taking place inside.  The employees (or maybe they were volunteers but I doubt it) would stand outside in green vests and escort the young ladies inside to destroy the life inside of them.  These were some of the most vile creatures on the face of the earth.  I know that doesn't sound very charitable but if you saw their faces and heard their "laughter" I'm pretty certain you would say the same thing.  The immoral poses right in front of Father, laughing at my young daughter who was praying on her knees on the concrete, the times when they turned on the hose or cut the grass and directed the shoot right towards us points to some evil minds!..
Here is a story about the same abortion mill.  Doesn't surprise me one bit!

Oh - one last bit of info for you: One of the abortionists at this clinic actually was my obstetrician during my last pregnancy!  It's no wonder he was so insistent that an old geezer like me shouldn't be having any more children.  I'm sure he would have taken care of the "problem" (whose name is Christopher) without any hesitation.  He wasn't on call the weekend he was delivered so this vile creature never touched him thank God:
THANKS TO PRO-LIFE WISCONSIN FOR THIS STORY:


Milwaukee abortion workers dance in street after botched abortion

This past Friday, October 21, an ambulance rolled up to Affiliated Medical Services to take away yet another woman to a nearby hospital after a botched abortion. Abortionist Bernie Smith was reportedly on duty.
Click here to watch the video on YouTube.
AMS staff can be seen laughing, dancing and doing the limbo as the woman was taken away. One AMS staffer even threatened vigilers, saying, “You’re lucky it isn’t you in the hospital.”
AMS’s consent forms (available publicly on their website, snippet below)  state, in part, “Complications, including death, may occur.”
Those who lobby for abortion’s legality claim that if abortion were made illegal, women would have to resort to dirty, back-alley abortions. But the reverse has actually happened — as was sadly illustrated with Kermit Gosnell’s “House of Horrors” abortuary in Philadelphia, the dirty, back-alley abortions are legal and no one is watching.
This is at least the third time this year an ambulance has arrived at AMS after a botched abortion; sidewalk counselors recorded two separate ambulance visits on April 8. Abortion facilities in Milwaukee are not subject to health inspections. Some days the smell of death — blood and flesh — can be smelled wafting out of AMS when the staff open the doors.
AMS has been the site of 40 Days for Life for three years now. Sidewalk counselors and prayer warriors are present at AMS year-round as well. 40 Days vigilers were in front of AMS when this occurred.
Women have been taken to Columbia St. Mary’s after botched abortions, forcing a Catholic hospital and staff to clean up the abortionist’s mess.
HT 40 Days for Life of Milwaukee for taking the video.


Monday, October 24, 2011

"After this many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him. " John 6:67
 
Disappointment in Christ is the saddest thing in human history.  To be disappointed in men, or even in man himself is bitter, but to be disappointed in Christ, ah! "that were a grievous hell indeed."  To have once loved Jesus Christ or even to have once seriously desired to love Him in a special way, and then to have fallen away from the rich desire, is to have taken the heart and core out of all existence.  Life, deceive ourselves as we may, is then a blighted thing, for everywhere and at every moment falls the image of a thorn crowned Head, comes the shadow from a nail-dug Hand.  Life cannot be life when we have torn from it its Author.
 
Yet what wonder that this disappointment is so grievous!  Who that has caught but a glance from those Eyes awearied with the wild black throng of man's incessant sin, can turn back to a giddy, empty life and not be haunted by the gaze that furrowed Peter's cheeks with constant tears?  Who that has heard the Master's voice calling him from out the beaten paths of common sanctity to walk alone with Him in greater prayer, in fuller self-forgetfulness, in truer, steadier faithfulness to Him, can so dull his ears that the whisper of that gentle Voice will not be heard above all the tumult of a noisy heart.?
 
Still there are men and women disappointed in Christ.  They need not have yet committed serious sin, but they have found Christ our Lord other than they thought Him.  They had thought His friendship was to be one long heyday of happiness with never the shadow of cross or trial.  They had missed the crown of thorns, the ugly nails, the tree of shame on the hill outside the walls.  Then the day dawned when Christ came to them as He always comes to those He loves.  In His royal garb of the Man of Sorrows, He asked of them a sacrifice.  Christ our Lord took the privilege of every true friend - and they were disappointed.  They had thought Him so different from other friends.
 
Disappointed are that father and mother who will not give to Christ as His spouse the child of their heart whom they would gladly part with to an earthly lover.  Disappointed in Christ are that husband and wife whose bickering lives show that they have forgotten that their united love is meant to mirror forth the undying love of Christ for His Holy Church.  Disappointed are those young men and women, who hearing the Master's kindly invitation to come and follow Him, turn and deceive their hearts that the call was but a dream, those visions of peace and contentment vain imaginings, those holy resolutions mere deceptions;  disappointed one and all who follow not Christ withersoever He would lead.  And is that all - mere blankness as a penalty?  Oh no! for bitter, bitter is their pain of heart, the maddening, biting pain of a forfeited ideal.  "For who hath resisted Him and hath had peace?"  They will not give Christ what He asks of them - and Christ will not give them the peace they long for so.
 
Jesus, gentle Saviour, in fear and trembling for my own soul's sake I draw near to the holy rood on which You hang.  As oft before, I stand beside You and tell off the hours of Your dying.  The darkness closes round:  the shadow from Your crippled form rests full upon me and the light that faintly falls upon my eyes is sifted by each thorn that crowns Your dying Head.  I know now the deep meaning of it all;  I see now what it is to be Your friend.  By Your good grace I realize the costs but "such things as were to my gain, these for Christ I have come to count as loss."  Yet nearer still I draw - and one only prayer I make.  Take me, my God, and keep me as Your own.  Guard me from the passing phantoms of a foolish world.  Grant that I love You always - and then do with me what You will.
AUDIO SERMON FOR 19TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST GIVEN BY BISHOP GILES OFM

Saturday, October 22, 2011

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Her Doctrine and Morals

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

23 October 2011

[Image]

The Sunday

Sermon




Dear Friends, 

Today we are reminded that there are very few that enter into Heaven. “Many are called but few are chosen.” This is a very frightening and sobering thought for us to consider.
There is no doubt that God wishes that all men should be saved, but He has placed the choice in our own hands. When Jesus sent out the Apostles He told them to preach to everyone. Those that would believe and be baptized would be saved. Those that do not believe and refuse to be baptized will not be saved. Therefore, salvation is already limited to only those who are members of the True Church – outside of which there is no salvation. Even among the true Catholics though, we are informed that only a few of these will be saved. We see this clearly explained in the Gospel today.
The invitation to the wedding feast went out first to the Israelites, and then to all peoples. Those who did not come are excluded from the feast – just as those who refuse to believe and be baptized are excluded forever from Heaven. There are however many who enter the Church and have faith but, they lack charity. Without this charity their faith will avail them nothing and they will be thrown out like the man who came to the wedding feast without a wedding garment.
Many have the faith but refuse to do penance, amend their lives, and receive the sacraments. These are lacking in charity. Love has died in them. The Faith teaches us that nothing defiled can enter into heaven and that everyone who commits a mortal sin makes himself liable to eternal damnation. St. Gregory the Great, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and many other Fathers tell us that among Catholics more will be damned than will be saved. Our Lord says to strive to enter by the narrow gate. St. Paul tells us to run the race to receive the reward. Numerous souls run the race for eternity but, very few receive the reward.
We must examine ourselves and see if this necessary charity is present within us. How will we know if we love God? He tells us: “If you love Me, you will keep My word.” Are we pure and undefiled? If we consider the seven deadly sins, we must confess that they prevail in many Catholic congregations. How many are: Proud? Envious? Revengeful? Addicted to gluttony or drunkenness? Idleness? Impurity? Effeminacy? The commandments of God and the precepts of the Church are frequently transgressed. Many are only nominal Catholics. Many curse, swear, blaspheme God and His holy sacraments; they give false testimony and perjure themselves; they lie, cheat, steal and commit all sorts of injustice; they profane Sundays and holidays, and neglect to hear Mass. Many parents neglect the education of their children; many children will not hear of obedience and submission, but lead a loose, dissolute life. The vice of impurity reigns almost everywhere supreme. It is therefore only too certain that the greater part of mankind, and even of Catholics, pass their life in vice and sin, and consequently will be lost.
The sinner can do penance and amend his life, but how many do? It is too often the case that the young think they can put off their penance until they reach maturity. They strive to live freely in their sins now. The mature put it off till old age. The old put it off to their death bed. More often than not we are taken without warning and completely unprepared. And what is to be thought of so many death bed “conversions?” Are they truly repentant? If they were not on the point of dying would they be just as earnest? It is too often apparent that we repent only when we are no longer physically able to continue in our sins. Once the body can no longer physically commit the sin then we are ready to repent, but is it a true repentance? If we were able to return to our former health and youth would we continue as before or would we change for the better? The repentance must be true and from the heart; it must be of such a nature that our thoughts and words must match the sentiments of our hearts.
Let us always pray to be delivered from a sudden and unprepared death, and let us take this moment right now to truly repent from the bottom of our hearts with a true and sincere purpose of amendment. We must strive to form a perfect act of contrition – that is, we are sorry for having ever offended God. It is this love of God that is the wedding garment that we need to be found worthy to enter into the wedding feast in Heaven.

Friday, October 21, 2011

20. To be contented and self-satisfied, to lead a quiet, easy-going life, accomplishing only what duty prescribes, is not a good sign. After having done all that our Christian profession requires of us, our Lord nevertheless wishes us to consider ourselves useless servants of His Church: "So you also, when you shall have done all things commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants." [Luke xvii, 10] Therefore how much more useless we ought to consider ourselves, if we live in tepidity and sloth, by which we are still so far removed from that perfection to which we are bound!

When I make my examen of conscience do I find that I fulfill all my duties in the sight of God? What virtue have I acquired hitherto? It may be said that we have acquired the habit of such and such a virtue when we come to practice it willingly and with facility; but when I examine myself, what virtue can I find which I habitually practice with pleasure and facility? I cannot find even one. I am a most unprofitable servant on earth; and if I were now called before the tribunal of my eternal Judge, I much fear that it would be said to me: "Thou wicked servant," [Matt. xviii, 32] and not, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." [Matt. xxv, 21]

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

"Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
A very wonderful resident - an old farmer - came to the desk yesterday and handed me a book that he wanted me to read.  He said he's read it three times and has really enjoyed it.  It's called "Stories from the Heart" and it's written by a priest.  Most of them  are just one page "feel-good" stories but a few of them sparked a little thought from me.

The one that really got me was a story of a priest who was giving a retreat at a high school.  When it was over, a young lady came up to him and asked him if he had ever heard of the fire at Our Lady of the Angels in Chicago.  He replied that yes, he did hear of it.  She showed him a large scar on her leg and told him that she was just a little girl in first grade on the day of the fire.  When the nuns realized that the school was on fire, they tried to get as many children as possible to jump  to save them.  She was too short to get up on the ledge but another girl was in front of her and actually half-way  out the window when she came back in and pulled this little girl  up in front of her .  She jumped and landed safely but when she looked up, the window was totally engulfed in flames.  That young girl died saving her.  She never forgot that act of heroism.

Years ago, I did read the book  about this fire.  For some reason, I'm drawn to this because I was only 5 years old when it happened and I also went to a Catholic school. Add to that, as a mother I just cannot imagine what that day must have been like for those parents.  There is a picture in the book of the parents standing underneath the windows while the school is on fire.  You can just imagine how frightened they must have been until they found out about the fate of their children.    It was one of the saddest books that I've ever read.  Today, I did some searching and found this site and began to read it.  It really confirmed the above mentioned story in this article.  They never did prosecute the two boys that they thought did it .  Here is what the site says about that:
"While there was strong evidence that he was indeed the culprit, neither he nor anyone else was ever prosecuted, at least in part because the catholic judge in the case felt he should protect the Church."   Evidently the school passed a fire inspection just a few weeks before but there were many "grandfathered" things that were overlooked.  

At any rate, the important thing here is that this young lady was saved by another and truly made the words of St. John ring true:  "Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

 Here is another thing to consider.  This is the "poster child" from that fire.  He was 10 years old when he died that day.  His ambition was to be a priest.  Think for a moment if that would have happened.  The chances are he would have been lost in the bogus ordo.  This way, he was almost assured of heaven:

Fireman Richard Scheidt carries the lifeless body of 10-year-old John Jajkowski out of the fire-ravaged school soon after the fire is brought under control. The heart-breaking job of removing the young victims has begun.
This photograph became the defining image of the Our Lady of the Angels fire, seen around the world, and made into a moving fire prevention poster.
John was an accomplished musician - he played the accordion and sang in the boy's choir. He planned to be a priest.
Photo ©1958, Life Magazine
Famous Steve Lasker photo of fireman Richard Scheidt carrying the body of 10-year-old John Jajkowski from the ravaged school

We just never know WHY God does what He does, but here is a perfect example of a tragedy that could have possibly netted 95 souls for heaven.

On this page are stories of survivors.  They are heart-wrenching stories and memories.  I plan to spend a little time reading some of them and thanking God that He used this incident for some good. 

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

ST. PETER OF ALCANTARA, CONFESSOR OF THE FIRST ORDER
 
This glorious disciple of poverty and penance, who was born in Alcantara, in Spain, too the habit of the Discalced Friars Minor at the age of sixteen, and from thenceforth practiced the most fearful mortifications.  For forty years, according to St. Terese, he slept for an hour and a half only every night.  For forty six years, he chastised himself every night, scourging himself so severely that the floor and the wall of his cell were covered with blood.  For twenty years he wore a hair shirt of iron whose sharp points tore into his flesh.  He strove to restore the original severity and discipline of the Franciscan Order.  He also offered great assistance to St. Terese in her Reform of the Carmelites.  He devoted himself to preaching for sixteen years, and this bore abundant fruit everywhere.  St. Peter of Alcantara left this earth at the age of sixty three.  After his death, he appeared to St. Terese , shining with glory, and said to her, "O happy Penance, which won me such great Glory!!
 
The Apotheosis of Saint Jerome with Saint Peter of Alcántara and an Unidentified Franciscan
St Jerome on a cloud is guided heavenwards by a guardian angel. His hand rests on a skull, symbolizing the transience of earthly life. The painting was made for an altar in the nave of the popular Venetian church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli. The church was run by Franciscan nuns and in the foreground is a Franciscan friar who can be identified as the renowned sixteenth-century Spanish preacher St Peter of Alcantara. He emphasizes the spiritual character of the event, experiencing the vision of St Jerome inwardly. The altarpiece, which was painted around 1725, was originally arched at the top.

Monday, October 17, 2011


Here are the Sunday Sermon Audio Links from New York for October 16, 2011. 


18th Sunday After Pentecost St. Anthony Friary Waterloo 

Audio Sermon for Bishop Giles - 18th Sunday after Pentecost:
http://friarsminor.org/audio/11pen18.wma
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Eucharistic Quotes:
"Let every knee bend before Thee, O greatness of my God, so supremely humbled in the Sacred Host. May every heart love Thee, every spirit adore Thee and every will be subject to Thee!"
 
"All for the Eucharist; nothing for me,"
 
"In order to be like You, who are always alone in the Blessed Sacrament, I shall love solitude and try to converse with You as much as possible. Grant that my mind may not seek to know anything but You, that my heart may have no longings or desires but to love You. When I am obliged to take some comfort, I shall take care to see that it be pleasing to Your Heart. In my conversations, O divine Word, I shall consecrate all my words to You so that You will not permit me to pronounce a single one which is not for Your glory.... When I am thirsty, I shall endure it in honor of the thirst You endured for the salvation of souls.... If by chance, I commit some fault, I shall humble myself, and then take the opposite virtue from Your Heart, offering it to the eternal Father in expiation for my failure. All this I intend to do, O Eucharistic Jesus, to unite myself to You in every action of the day."
 
"Oh, how fortunate you shall be to be able to receive every day this divine Sacrament, to hold this God of Love in your hands and place Him in your own heart!
I desire but this one grace, and long to be consumed like a burning candle in His holy Presence every moment of the life that remains to me. For that I would be willing, I think, to suffer all the pains imaginable till judgment day, if only I should not have to leave His sacred presence. My only motive would be to be consumed in honoring Him and to acknowledge the burning love He shows us in this wonderful Sacrament. Here His love holds Him captive till the end of time. It is of this one can truly say, "Love triumphs, love enjoys/ Love finds in God its joys!"
 
"One cannot love without suffering. He [Jesus] showed us this very clearly upon the cross, where He was consumed for love of us. And it is still the same every day in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar... Since love makes lovers one in likeness, if we love, let us model our lives on His."

"Love keeps Him there [in the Blessed Sacrament] as a victim completely and perpetually delivered over to sacrifice for the glory of the Father and for our salvation. Unite yourself with Him, then, in all that you do. Refer everything to His glory. Set up your abode in this loving Heart of Jesus and you will there find lasting peace and the strength both to bring to fruition all the good desires He inspires in you, and to avoid every deliberate fault. Place in this Heart all your sufferings and difficulties. Everything that comes from the Sacred Heart is sweet. He changes everything into love."
- from the letters of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Listen here
Novena to the Infant Jesus of Prague in Urgent Need
(To be said for nine days or nine consecutive hours)
O Jesus, Who said, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock
and it shall be opened to you," through the intercession of Mary, Your most holy Mother,
I knock, I seek, I ask that my prayer be answered.
(Mention your request.)
O Jesus, Who said, "All that you ask of the Father in My Name He will grant you,"
through the intercession of Mary, Your most holy Mother,
I humbly and urgently ask Your Father in Your Name that my prayer be granted.
(Mention your request.)
O Jesus, Who said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My word shall not pass,"
through the intercession of Mary, Your most holy Mother,
I feel confident that my prayer will be granted.
(Mention your request.)

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Her Doctrine and Morals

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

16 October 2011

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The Sunday

Sermon




Dear Friends,
Once again Our Lord is showing us that the cure of the soul is much greater than the cure of the body. In today’s Gospel we see the paralytic receive the forgiveness of God. “Take courage, son; thy sins are forgiven thee.” Who but God can forgive sins? Rather than understand that Jesus therefore is God many chose rather to condemn Jesus as a blasphemer. So in order to give physical proof of His divinity Jesus offers them a lesser miracle to open their eyes when He heals the paralytic’s body.
We very often do not properly understand and appreciate the spiritual blessings that we have been given, because we too, have become more concerned with the physical. A living healthy body is not nearly as important as a living healthy soul. If we are spiritually sick or dead a healthy body is of no real importance to us. Our bodies have been created for our souls, so without the soul the body has no real purpose for being.
Those who spend this life in the state of mortal sin have a soul that is dead and though they may seem to be alive and to do good things they are of no merit to themselves. They probably only continue to exist in this realm because God wishes to give them more time to repent or because they are of benefit to others. For themselves, they have become their own worst enemy. The longer they live in this state the more difficult it will be for them to get out of it. 

There is no reason for us to remain in sin, now that Jesus has made it so easy for us to free ourselves from it. Jesus has empowered His priests to forgive sins in His Name. A simple humble confession of our sins with true sorrow and purpose of amendment opens up for us the gates of God’s grace and mercy. When circumstances make it impossible for us to confess to a true priest, then we are taught to make an act of contrition striving for perfect contrition and resolve to confess as soon as we have the opportunity. There is no reason for us ever to wait in sin when we can immediately repent once we have discovered our mistake in giving into sin. If we are truly repentant we will be truly forgiven. 

Very often we will discover after having confessed our sins and received absolution that our physical life improves also. What we see in the paralytic is true for us too. Once the burden of our souls is lifted from us, our bodies then can be healed. We all too often in the face of physical ailments seek first a doctor for our bodies rather than one for our souls. The doctor of the body can ameliorate our physical difficulties and pain but he cannot stop the inevitable physical death that is gradually overtaking us day by day. Even more importantly the doctor who treats the body does nothing for the soul. A guilty conscience will weigh down the body and make it sick no matter how good the physical treatments may be. 

On the other hand, the doctor of the soul often heals both body and soul. Very often when the burden of sin is lifted from us our physical bodies likewise improve. 
Yet, strangely enough we call the medical doctor before we call upon God’s priest. Our thoughts are to ignore our souls and the sins that weaken and destroy it, while we focus all our attention upon the body looking for all those things that make it sick and break it down. We forget that it is the soul that keeps the body going, and it should be to the health of our souls that we should look before everything else. 

God can cure both body and soul, but He wants us to prioritize and see that our soul should be first and that we should even be willing to sacrifice our bodies for the sake of our soul. Sadly though, we more often than not sacrifice our souls in an effort to save our bodies and we always fail in this endeavor because our bodies must eventually die no matter what. If we would only seek the health of our immortal souls we would often find that the cure of our bodies will follow just as it did in the case of this paralytic in today’s gospel.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

19. In the spiritual life I can promise myself nothing without the special help of God; and most true is the teaching of the Holy Ghost: "Thy help is only in Me." [Osee. xiii, 9] From one moment to another I may fall into mortal sin: consequently, even though I may have labored many years in acquiring virtues, I may in one instant lose all the good I have done, lose all my merit for eternity, and lose even that blessed eternity itself. How can a king rule with arrogance, when he is besieged by his enemies and from day to day runs the risk of losing his kingdom and ceasing to be a king? And has not a Saint abundant reasons, from the thought of his own weakness, to live always in a state of great humility, when he knows that from one hour to another he may lose the grace of God and the kingdom of Heaven which he has merited by years of laboriously-acquired virtues? "Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." [Ps. cxxvi, 1]

However spiritual and holy a man may be, he cannot regard himself as absolutely secure. The Angels themselves, enriched with sanctity, were not safe in Paradise. Man, endowed with innocence, was not safe in his earthly paradise. What safety therefore can there be for us with our corrupt nature, amid so many perils and so many enemies, who within and without are ever seeking insidiously to undermine our eternal salvation?
In order to be eternally damned it is enough I should follow the dictates of nature, but to be saved it is necessary that Divine grace should prevent and accompany me, should follow and help me, watch over me, and never abandon me. Oh, how right therefore was St. Paul in exhorting us to "work out our salvation"-----which is for all eternity-----"with fear and trembling"! [Phil. ii, 12]

Sunday, October 9, 2011

“If I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself: that where I am, you also may be.”       John 14:3
 
Our coming home to Heaven is a pleasure looked forward to by Our Lord, and we ought often to think of it thus.  Death is but a passing from exile to our home, where our Friend has long awaited our arrival.  Yet how many of us ever think of this joy of Christ, think of it to spur ourselves on when the path of virtue grows rough and stony, and the way of God seems too hard for tired souls?  How often as the shadows of this darkened vale fall thick and fast upon us, do we lift our eyes and see the strong figure of our gentle Friend standing in the dawnlight on the farther shore, holding out His hands in loving expectation of His friends?
Yes, He is waiting, waiting with the patience of eternal years, and shall we cheat Him of His hopes?  No, we shall not think of separation from Him forever – for our humble, fervent prayer must make that never be.  But suppose we come back home less perfect than we should! 
Suppose when the evening of life is over, and the shadows have fallen away, we stand in the full light of Heaven and our soul is found less beautiful than Our Lord intended it to be!  Chiding there cannot be for a soul that has come safely home, be its homecoming only in the tattered garments of a laggard’s robe of virtue.  Yet if chiding there could be, would not the saddened eyes of Christ speak reproof to our inmost soul?  He had told us in the pages of His Holy Word “Put ye on the Lord Christ,”  “Impersonate the Lord Christ”; yet as we stand before Him is there much of a resemblance?
We ask in all reverence, would anyone mistake us for Christ?  Living images we were to be for all eternity of the most perfect of men, the God-Man; but how is the image blurred, how is the likeness marred!
Shall we spare Christ Jesus this disappointment?  Oh! Yes, we will.  We cannot bear to think of disappointing an earthly friend whose sorrow would be bounded within a span of years.  How could we think of failing Him to whom our failure will be eternal!  Failure to grow more and more like Christ there must not be.  Each day must see us grow in prayer, in lowliness of heart, in love of others.  Each day must find us with greater love of God within our hearts, and greater devotedness to our fellow men in all our acts.  Then when the summons comes to hurry home, Christ our Friend will be pleased with our exile’s labor.
O Jesus, from all eternity You have loved me with a love such as only God can have!  From all eternity You have planned to have me bring my soul to You beautiful with all the luster of Your many graces.  How can I disappoint You, my God?  How can I bear to think that I should be less like You when You call me home?  NO! it must not be dear Lord; it must not be.  Give me but Your grace; give me but the strength to profit by Your grace!  Then when I hasten home, my Jesus You will find me the saint You yearned that I should be!
“My Changeless Friend”

Friday, October 7, 2011

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Her Doctrine and Morals

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

9 October 2011

[Image]

The Sunday

Sermon




Dear Friends,
Our Lord uses the occasion of the Pharisees testing Him to teach us about Himself. 

The first lesson: “What is the greatest commandment?” In telling us what God demands of us first and foremost Jesus is telling us a great deal about God and therefore Himself. St. John tells us that God is love. This greatest and first commandment then is to imitate God and love what God loves in the manner in which He loves. It is impossible for us to love infinitely as God does because we are finite creatures, but it is possible for us to love completely with all our heart and soul. This is the first commandment the second is to love the other creatures (principally men) that God loves. Since they are our fellow creatures it is only logical that we love them as we love ourselves. 

God is love. This is who He is or even what He is. God is perfection in every area that we may consider; He is omnipotent, omniscient, and all holy, etc. Love though shines forth more splendidly than the rest. It is because of God’s love for men that He sent His Son to this earth. It was love for us that brought Jesus to sacrifice Himself for us. It is God’s love that continues this sacrifice in an unbloody manner (In the Mass) every day until the end of time. It is Jesus’ love even for these Pharisees that prevents Him from striking them dead right then and there. God is always patient because He loves. He is always ready to forgive because He loves and knows our weaknesses. He is always just because He loves. It is love that seems to move God in all His other perfections.
In calling upon us to imitate Him, Jesus wishes for us to love. God loves us and desires only the best for us, but He has given us a free will and will not impose love and happiness upon us. God invites us to love and gives us many reasons to love, but we must make the decision to either love or not love.
St. Paul tells us that the greatest of all virtues is love. The others will pass away but love will abide forever. If we wish therefore to have eternal life we must love. It is not just any love that we are speaking of but it is a true and ordered love according to the will of God. “Self-love” is often condemned as a vice because it is a disordered love that places one’s self above or before God. If we truly love ourselves then we will not allow this vice to invert the proper dispositions of our love.
Love comes or develops in many different degrees. Love is not just all sentiment. Too often we consider that we do not love if we do not feel affection, or emotion. The will influences every aspect of our being including our love. We must often begin with a weak or unclear love in our intellect placed there simply by an act of the will, then as we cooperate with the grace of God and actively pursue a greater and deeper love, it grows until it completely consumes us. As our love draws nearer to perfection we will be able to speak with St. Paul: not I, but Christ living with me.
The second lesson is that Jesus is God and Man. Jesus loves as God loves because He is God. In asking the Pharisees how David can call the Christ his son, Jesus is offering us a most powerful lesson, which the Pharisees missed because they had blinded themselves.
For the redemption to be applicable to us it is necessary that a fellow human pay that price, but for the redemption to be sufficient it is necessary that an infinite Being make it. Therefore we clearly understand that it is true that Jesus is both God and Man, and in this way He was able to save us from our sins and open for us the gates of heaven. This too is all brought about because of God’s love for us. Jesus is God and therefore He loves us as God. Jesus is Man and therefore He loves us as Man. We in a sense have a double claim to God’s love for us. Knowing this only increases our responsibility to reciprocate that love and to share it among one another as He has done for us.
It is not asking too much of us when God commands us to love Him with our entire being and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (even our enemies). Cooperating with His grace we can do this most perfectly. We may have to begin small and build up with patient prayer, study and reflection, but we can do it. If we wish to enter into heaven with God then we must do it. Let us therefore earnestly ask and seek this love from God, striving to increase it day by day.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Little baby Liam - an innocent child of God!
I'm afraid that there are many who, when they stand beneath the Cross, find such a disparity between the immeasurable love and mercy of Christ for them and their meager love of and service to Him, that they become despondent, and discouraged.  To such souls, may I suggest, rather, that they stand near the crib and look into the beautiful face of the Infant Jesus.  
To a baby, there is no distinction between saint and sinner.  A tiny baby will put its little chubby hand around the finger of a laborer as quickly as it would grasp the soft hand of a multimillionaire.  I've seen little infants who would spurn a gold watch to reach for a shiny new penny.  Very small things please infants!
That may have been the secret of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. She could offer little things to the Infant Jesus that would have seemed terribly inadequate had they been offered to Christ bleeding and dying on the Cross.  In fact, didn't she say she won heaven "by little caresses and little sacrifices:"?  How I wish I could preach this to every person in the whole world, for I've seen miraculous spiritual progress made through devotion to the Child Jesus, yes, astounding progress.  It all resulted from the continual offering of little acts of virtue, little sacrifices, little caresses.
A nobleman, named Alphonsus Albuquerque, was once on the point of being shipwrecked.  He had given himself up for lost: but happening to see a little child crying near him he exclaimed, "Dear God, if I do not deserve to be heard, at least hear the cries of this innocent babe, and save us. "  No sooner had he uttered these words than the storm subsided, and all were saved.  Let us all imitate his example.  We are all in peril.  We have sinned. We have offended God.  We are in danger of losing our souls.  Must we despair?  No; let us offer to God His Infant Son, and say:: "Dear God, we have grievously sinned against Thee and are undeserving of pardon; but look upon this Thine Infant Son, and have mercy on us."
In Pursuit of Perfection

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

18. Although we feel the humiliation keenly when we are insulted, persecuted or calumniated, this does not mean that we cannot suffer such trials with sentiments of true humility, subjecting nature to reason and faith and sacrificing the resentment of our self-love to the love of God. We are not made of stone, so that we need be insensible or senseless in order to be humble. Of some Martyrs we read that they writhed under their torments; of others that they more or less rejoiced in them, according to the greater or less degree of unction they received from the Holy Ghost; and all were rewarded by the crown of glory, as it is not the pain or the feeling that makes the Martyr but the supernatural motive of virtue. In the same way some humble persons feel pleasure in being humiliated, and some feel sadness, especially when weighed down with calumny; and yet they all belong to the sphere of the humble, because it is not the humiliation nor the suffering alone which makes the soul humble, but the interior act by which this same humiliation is accepted and received through motives of Christian humility and especially of a desire to resemble Jesus Christ, Who, though entitled to all the honors the world could offer Him, bore humiliation and scorn for the glory of His eternal Father: "For Thy sake, O God of Israel, I have borne reproach." [Ps. lxviii, 8]

The doctrine of St. Bernard is worthy of our notice: It is one thing to be humiliated, and another to be humble. It often happens that the proud man is humiliated, yet he nevertheless remains proud, receiving humiliations with anger and contempt, doing all he can to escape them with fretful impatience. It sometimes happens too that the proud man becomes humble; the humiliation teaching him to know himself as he is, and by this knowledge he learns to love this very humiliation: "He is humble who converts all his humiliations into humility and says unto God: 'It is good for me that Thou hast humbled me.' " [D. Bern, serm. 34, in Cant.]

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

GOD'S GREAT GOODNESS AND LOVE IS SHOWN TO MAN IN THIS SACRAMENT

THE DISCIPLE

TRUSTING in Your goodness and great mercy, O Lord, I come as one sick to the Healer, as one hungry and thirsty to the Fountain of life, as one in need to the King of heaven, a servant to his Lord, a creature to his Creator, a soul in desolation to my gentle Comforter.
But whence is this to me, that You should come to me? Who am I that You should offer Yourself to me? How dares the sinner to appear in Your presence, and You, how do You condescend to come to the sinner? You know Your servant, and You know that he has nothing good in him that You should grant him this.

I confess, therefore, my unworthiness. I acknowledge Your goodness. I praise Your mercy, and give thanks for Your immense love. For it is because of Yourself that You do it, not for any merit of mine; so that Your goodness may be better known to me, that greater love may be aroused and more perfect humility born in me. Since, then, this pleases You and You have so willed it, Your graciousness pleases me also. Oh, that my sinfulness may not stand in the way!

O most sweet and merciful Jesus, what great reverence, thanks, and never-ending praise are due to You for our taking of Your sacred body, whose dignity no man can express!

But on what shall I think in this Communion, this approach to my Lord, Whom I can never reverence as I ought, and yet Whom I desire devoutly to receive? What thought better, more helpful to me than to humble myself entirely in Your presence and exalt Your infinite goodness above myself?

I praise You, my God, and extol You forever! I despise myself and cast myself before You in the depths of my unworthiness. Behold, You are the Holy of holies, and I the scum of sinners! 

Behold, You bow down to me who am not worthy to look up to You! Behold, You come to me! You will to be with me! You invite me to Your banquet! You desire to give me heavenly food, the Bread of Angels to eat, none other than Yourself, the living Bread Who are come down from heaven and give life to the world.

Behold, whence love proceeds! What condescension shines forth! What great thanks and praise are due You for these gifts! Oh, how salutary and profitable was Your design in this institution! How sweet and pleasant the banquet when You gave Yourself as food!

How admirable is Your work, O Lord! How great Your power! How infallible Your truth! For You spoke and all things were made, and this, which You commanded, was done. It is a wonderful thing, worthy of faith, overpowering human understanding, that You, O Lord, my God, true God and man, are contained whole and entire under the appearance of a little bread and wine, and without being consumed are eaten by him who receives You!

You, the Lord of the universe, Who have need of nothing, have willed to dwell in us by means of Your Sacrament. Keep my heart and body clean, so that with a joyous and spotless conscience I may be able often to celebrate Your Mysteries and to receive for my eternal salvation what You have ordained and instituted for Your special honor and as an everlasting memorial.

Rejoice, my soul, and give thanks to God for having left you so noble a gift and so special a consolation in this valley of tears. As often as you renew this Mystery and receive the Body of Christ, so often do you enact the work of redemption and become a sharer in all the merits of Christ, for the love of Christ never grows less and the wealth of His mercy is never exhausted.

Therefore, you should prepare yourself for it by constantly renewing your heart and pondering deeply the great mystery of salvation. As often as you celebrate or hear Mass, it should seem as great, as new, as sweet to you as if on that very day Christ became man in the womb of the Virgin, or, hanging on the Cross, suffered and died for the salvation of man.