Rabboni


Heart to Heart
Before
The Tabernacle

by Joseph M. Woods, S.J.

My Cherished Rabboni

My cherished Rabboni.  It is sweet to kneel here in They presence.  It is a  joy to know that Thy dear Eyes are resting upon me,-that no part of my soul is hidden from Thee,-that every aspiration, every longing every desire is known to Thee.

 

What does Thou think of my soul, my darling Lord?

Does it reflect a little of Thy beauty?

Does it seem to be ridding itself the marks of sin?

Is there anything to which I cling that prevents Thy grace from working freely therein?

 

There are times when I think I am rather free from scar and stain, that my battles have left but glory in their train;  and then again as I kneel at Thy dear Feet, sweet Lord, a consciousness of Thy great purity pours in upon me and my poor bedraggled soul looks as though no ray of light had ever broken in upon it, as though my cherished Rabboni had never taken shelter within its gloomy depths.

 

How long it takes, beloved Lord, to polish and refine this dwelling place of my beloved King!

 

But even this, sweet Lord, cannot make me sad, for I know that Thou art working daily in my soul.-I know that each time Thou comest to my soul.  Thou takest away some defect and doth purify me of some stain.- I know too the day will come when I shall be pure and pleasing in Thy sight.

I long so to be a storehouse from which others may draw the strength and encouragement to reach Thee.

 

I yearn to be filled with peace so full, that it may overflow into the hearts of others.

 

I pray that every one who comes near me may be attracted to Thee, my cherished Rabboni.

"In order not to resist the divine action, we should remember that God generally purifies souls through the ordinary circumstances of life. In the life of every Christian, every apostle, every religious, there is always a measure of suffering sufficient to effect the purification of the spirit. These are the sufferings which God Himself chooses and disposes in the way best suited to the different needs of souls; but, unfortunately, few profit by them because few know how to recognize in the sorrows of life the hand of God who wishes to purify them.

Illness, bereavement, estrangement, separation from dear ones,misunderstandings, struggles, difficulties proceeding sometimes from the very ones who should have been able to give help and support, failure of works that were cherished and sustained at the price of great labor, abandonment by friends, physical and spiritual solitude - these are some of the sufferings which are met with more or less in the life of every man, and which we will find in ours. We must understand that all such things are positively willed or at least permitted by God precisely to purify us even to the very inmost fibers of our being.

In the face of these trials, we must never blame the malice of men or stop to examine whether or not they are just; we must see only the blessed hand of God who offers us these bitter remedies to bring perfect health to our soul.

Whatever suffering may come to us from creatures has only one true explanation: Our Lord wishes to purify us, and is beginning to do it precisely through these exterior tribulations...........

*Divine Intimacy*

Jesus, my Lord, my God, my all!

How can I love Thee as I ought?

And how revere this wondrous gift,

So far surpassing hope or thought?

Refrain:Sweet Sacrament, we Thee adore!

Oh, make us love Thee more and more.

Oh, make us love Thee more and more.

2. Had I but Mary's sinless heart

To love Thee with , my dearest King,

Oh, with what ever fervent praise,

Thy goodness, Jesus, would I sing!

Refrain:Sweet Sacrament, we Thee adore!
Oh, make us love Thee more and more.
Oh, make us love Thee more and more.

It is impossible for the most true God, who is Truth itself, the best, the wisest Provider, and the Rewarder of good men, to approve all sects who profess false teachings which are often inconsistent with one another and contradictory, and to confer eternal rewards on their members… by divine faith we hold one Lord, one faith, one baptism… This is why we profess that there is no salvation outside the Church.”

(Ubi Primum # 14)

Pope Leo XII (1824):“

He is a true and genuine Catholic who loves the truth of God, the Church, and the Body of Christ; who puts nothing else before divine religion and the Catholic faith, neither the authority nor the love nor the genius nor the eloquence nor the philosophy of any man whatsoever; but, despising all that and being fixed, stable, and persevering in his faith, is determined in himself to hold and believe that only which he knows the Catholic Church has held universally and from ancient times.

St. Vincent of Lerins (400-450AD) on being Catholic, Catholics, and Catholicism

 The Infant of Prague

Infant Jesus of Prague given by Princess Polyxena von Lobkowicz to the Discalced Carmelites in 1628, in the Carmelite Church of Our Lady Victorious in Prague. Photo by Jayarathina

Its earliest history can be traced back to Prague in the year 1628 when the small, 19-inch high, wooden and coated wax statue of the Infant Jesus was given by Princess Polyxena von Lobkowicz (1566–1642) to the Discalced Carmelites, to whom she had become greatly attached. The princess had received the statue as a wedding gift (1603) from her mother, Maria Maximiliana Manrique de Lara y Mendoza, wife of Vratislav of Pernstyn, Chancellor of the Czech Kingdom (1530-1582), who also had received the statue as a wedding gift (1555) and who had brought It from her homeland of Spain to Lobkowicz Palace in Bohemia. An old legend in the Lobkowicz family insists that Doña María had been given the statue by Saint Teresa of Avila herself.

In 1628, Princess Polyxena von Lobkowicz presented the statue to the Carmelite friars. Upon presenting the statue, the pious Princess Polyxena is said to have uttered a prophetic statement to the religious: “Venerable Fathers, I bring you my dearest possession. Honour this image and you shall never want”. The statue was placed in the oratory of the monastery of Our Lady of Victory, Prague, where special devotions to the Infant Jesus were offered twice a day. Upon hearing of the Carmelites’ devotions and needs, the Emperor Ferdinand II of the House of Habsburg sent along 2,000 florins and a monthly stipend for their support.

The Statue remains on display in the Church of Our Lady Victorious in Prague, where It attracts thousands of visitors each year. A copy of the Infant Jesus of Prague is on permanent display in the Lobkowicz Palace Museum.

The Infant had always been dressed in splendid gowns, decorated with precious jewels. The oldest extant gown was presented to the Infant Jesus by the Emperor Ferdinand III. In His collection the Infant Jesus has more than a hundred precious dresses and some of them can be seem in the Cathedral’s museum. The Infant Jesus is dressed in the royal dress with an ermine mantle only during coronation ceremonies.

 https://nobility.org/2014/01/02/infant-of-prague/