Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - Litany Lane Blog:
Parable, Hebrews 10:18-18, Psalms 110:1-4, Mark 4:1-20, Saint Mutien-Marie Wiaux, Namur Belgium, Saint Aubin's Cathedral, Catholic Catechism Chapter 3:3-III Only One FaithGood Day Bloggers! Happy Mardi Gras!
Wishing everyone a Blessed Week!
Year of Faith - October 11, 2012 - November 24, 2013
P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Serenity Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7.
The world begins and ends everyday for someone. We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have
flaws but we also all have the gift of knowledge and free will,
make the most of these gifts. Life on earth is a stepping stone to our eternal home in
Heaven. Its your choice whether to rise towards eternal light or lost to
eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and
survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes
from this earth to Purgatory and/or Heaven is our Soul, our Spirit...it's God's perpetual
gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
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January 25, 2013 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
"Dear children! Also today I call you to prayer. May your prayer be as strong as a living stone, until with your lives you become witnesses. Witness the beauty of your faith. I am with you and intercede before my Son for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
"Dear children! Also today I call you to prayer. May your prayer be as strong as a living stone, until with your lives you become witnesses. Witness the beauty of your faith. I am with you and intercede before my Son for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
January 02, 2013 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
"Dear children, with much love and
patience I strive to make your hearts like unto mine. I strive, by my example,
to teach you humility, wisdom and love because I need you; I cannot do without
you my children. According to God's will I am choosing you, by His strength I am
strengthening you. Therefore, my children, do not be afraid to open your hearts
to me. I will give them to my Son and in return, He will give you the gift of
Divine peace. You will carry it to all those whom you meet, you will witness
God's love with your life and you will give the gift of my Son through
yourselves. Through reconciliation, fasting and prayer, I will lead you.
Immeasurable is my love. Do not be afraid. My children, pray for the shepherds.
May your lips be shut to every judgment, because do not forget that my Son has
chosen them and only He has the right to judge. Thank you."
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Today's Word: parable par·a·ble [par-uh-buh
l]
Origin: 1275–1325; Middle English parabil < Late Latin parabola comparison, parable, word < Greek parabolḗ comparison, equivalent to para- para-1 + bolḗ a throwing
noun
1. a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson.
2. a statement or comment that conveys a meaning indirectly by the use of comparison, analogy, or the like.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Psalms 110:1-4
1 [Of David Psalm] Yahweh declared to my Lord, 'Take your seat at my right hand, till I have made your enemies your footstool.'
2 Yahweh will stretch out the sceptre of your power; from Zion you will rule your foes all around you.
3 Royal dignity has been yours from the day of your birth, sacred honour from the womb, from the dawn of your youth.
4 Yahweh has sworn an oath he will never retract, you are a priest for ever of the order of Melchizedek.
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Today's Epistle - Hebrews 10:11-18
11 Every priest stands at his duties every day, offering over and over again the same sacrifices which are quite incapable of taking away sins.
12 He, on the other hand, has offered one single sacrifice for sins, and then taken his seat for ever, at the right hand of God,
13 where he is now waiting till his enemies are made his footstool.
14 By virtue of that one single offering, he has achieved the eternal perfection of all who are sanctified.
15 The Holy Spirit attests this to us, for after saying:
16 No, this is the covenant I will make with them, when those days have come. the Lord says: In their minds I will plant my Laws writing them on their hearts,
17 and I shall never more call their sins to mind, or their offenses.
18 When these have been forgiven, there can be no more sin offerings.
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Today's Gospel Reading - Mark 4:1-20
Again
he began to teach them by the lakeside, but such a huge crowd gathered
round him that he got into a boat on the water and sat there. The whole
crowd were at the lakeside on land. He taught them many things in
parables, and in the course of his teaching he said to them, 'Listen!
Imagine a sower going out to sow. Now it happened that, as he sowed,
some of the seed fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and
ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground where it found little soil and
at once sprang up, because there was no depth of earth; and when the
sun came up it was scorched and, not having any roots, it withered away.
Some seed fell into thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and
it produced no crop. And some seeds fell into rich soil, grew tall and
strong, and produced a good crop; the yield was thirty, sixty, even a
hundredfold.' And he said, 'Anyone who has ears for listening should
listen!'
When he was alone, the Twelve, together with the others who
formed his company, asked what the parables meant. He told them, 'To you
is granted the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are
outside everything comes in parables, so that they may look and look,
but never perceive; listen and listen, but never understand; to avoid
changing their ways and being healed.'
He said to them, 'Do you not
understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the
parables? What the sower is sowing is the word. Those on the edge of the
path where the word is sown are people who have no sooner heard it than
Satan at once comes and carries away the word that was sown in them. Similarly,
those who are sown on patches of rock are people who, when first they
hear the word, welcome it at once with joy. But they have no root deep
down and do not last; should some trial come, or some persecution on
account of the word, at once they fall away. Then there are others
who are sown in thorns. These have heard the word, but the worries of
the world, the lure of riches and all the other passions come in to
choke the word, and so it produces nothing. And there are those who
have been sown in rich soil; they hear the word and accept it and yield a
harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.'
Reflection
• Sitting in the boat, Jesus taught the crowds. In these verses, Mark describes the way in which Jesus teaches the crowd: on the sea side, sitting in the boat, many people around to listen to him. Jesus was not a cultured person (Jn 7, 15). He had not frequented the Superior School of Jerusalem. He had come from inside, from the country side, from Nazareth. He was someone who was unknown, in part, he was a craftsman, in part a country man. Without asking permission from the authority, he began to teach the people. He spoke in a very different way. People liked to listen to him.
Reflection
• Sitting in the boat, Jesus taught the crowds. In these verses, Mark describes the way in which Jesus teaches the crowd: on the sea side, sitting in the boat, many people around to listen to him. Jesus was not a cultured person (Jn 7, 15). He had not frequented the Superior School of Jerusalem. He had come from inside, from the country side, from Nazareth. He was someone who was unknown, in part, he was a craftsman, in part a country man. Without asking permission from the authority, he began to teach the people. He spoke in a very different way. People liked to listen to him.
• By means of the parables, Jesus helped people to perceive the mysterious presence of the Kingdom in the things of life. A parable is a comparison. He uses the known and visible things of life to explain the invisible and unknown things of the Kingdom of God. For example, the people from Galilee understood when he spoke of seeds, of soil, of rain, of the sun, of the salt, of flowers, of fish, of the harvest, etc. And Jesus, precisely, uses in his parable, these things which were known to the people, to explain the mystery of the Kingdom.
• The parable of the sower is a picture of the life of the farmers. At that time, it was not easy to get a livelihood from agriculture. The land was full of stones. There were many bushes; little rain, much sun. Besides, many times, people in order to shorten the distance passed through the fields and stepped on the plants. (Mk 2, 23). But in spite of that, every year, the farmer sowed and planted, trustful in the force of the seed, in the generosity of nature.
• He who has ears to listen, let him listen! Jesus begins the parable saying: “Listen! (Mk 4, 3). Now, at the end, he says: “He who has ears to listen, let him listen!” The way to understand the parable is research, seeking, “Trying to understand!” The parable does not give us everything ready made, but induces those who listen to think and discover, basing themselves on the lived experience which they have of the seed. It induces to creativity and to participation. It is not a doctrine that arrives ready made to be taught and decorated. The Parable does not give bottled water, but rather leads one to the fountain or source. The farmer who listens, says: Seed in the ground, I know what that is!” But Jesus says that this has something to do with the Kingdom of God. What would this be? And one can already guess the long conversations of the crowd. The parable affects the people, moves them and impels them to listen to nature and to think about life.
• Jesus explains the parable to his disciples. At home, alone with Jesus, the disciples want to know the meaning of the parable. They do not understand it. Jesus was surprised before their ignorance (Mk 4, 13) and responds with a difficult and mysterious phrase. He tells his disciples: “To you is granted the secret of the Kingdom of God; but to those who are outside everything comes in parables, so that they may look and look and never perceive, listen and listen but never understand, to avoid changing their ways and being healed!”. This phrase leads people to ask themselves. But, then for what good is the parable? To clarify or to hide? Perhaps Jesus uses parables in order that people may continue to live in ignorance and does not reach conversion? Certainly not! Because in another point Mark says that Jesus used parables “according to what they could understand” (Mk 4, 33).
• The parable reveals and hides at the same time! It reveals to “those who are inside”, who accept Jesus, the Messiah, the Servant. It hides for those who insist in considering him the Messiah, the glorious King. They understand the images of the parable, but they do not succeed to get the significance.
• The explanation of the parable in its different parts. One after another, Jesus explains the parts of the parable, the seed, the soil up to the harvest time. Some scholars hold that this explanation was added later, and would have been given by some communities. This is well possible! Because in the bud of the parable there is already the flower of the explanation. Bud and flower, both have the same origin which is Jesus. For this reason, we also can continue to reflect and discover other beautiful things in the parable. Once, a person asked in community: “Jesus has said that we should be salt. For what does salt serve?” This was discussed and at the end there were discovered more than ten diverse purposes that salt can have! Then these significances were applied to the life of the community and it was discovered that to be salt is something difficult and demanding. The parable functioned! The same for what concerns the seed. Everybody has some experience of the seed.
Personal questions
• What experience do you have with seeds? How does this help you to understand the Good News better?
• What type of soil are you?
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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Featured Item of the Day from Litany Lane
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Saint of the Day: St Mutien-Marie Wiaux
Feast Day: January 30
Patron Saint: n/a
He was born Louis-Joseph Wiaux in the small village of Mellet, now part of the town of Les Bons Villers, in French-speaking Belgium, to a devoutly Catholic family. The third of six children, his father was a blacksmith, while his mother ran a café out of their house. After the joviality of evening, where customers would enjoy the beer and card games, the family would end their day by praying the rosary together.[1]
Wiaux was a gentle, obedient boy who was marked by his piety, leading his classmates to pray at their local church at the end of the school day. After he finished elementary school, he worked as an apprentice in his father's shop, where he found that he was both physically and temperamentally unfit for this career. The call to join a religious Order, meanwhile, had begun to take root in his heart, and he considered following his brother into the Society of Jesus.[2]
Christian Brother
The pastor of the town, the Abbé Sallié, however, spoke to the boy
about the Brothers of the Christian Schools (commonly called the
Christian Brothers), who were about to open a school in the nearby town
of Gosselies. He went to meet them and was convinced that it was the way of life he wanted. He traveled to the city of Namur, where he entered the Brothers' novitiate on 7 April 1856, and received the habit that following July. At that time he was also given the religious name of Mutien-Marie ("Mutien" after the ancient Roman martyr Mucian).[2]
Mutien's deep piety and faith was evident during his novitiate year.
He gained the reputation of strictly living according to the Rule of the
Institute. Nonetheless, his fellow novices enjoyed his company due to
his reliable sense of humor. Yet he shared later in life how one day,
when he felt sad, he had gone up to the attic of the house, to find the
road back to his home through the window.[2]
On 8 September 1857 Mutien left the novitiate to teach at an elementary school the Brothers ran in Chimay, followed the next year by an assignment at another of the Brother's elementary schools, the Institut Saint-Georges in Brussels.[2] In 1859 he was assigned to teach at the Institut Saint-Berthuin, a boarding school in the village of Mallone (now part of the city of Namur). He taught there for the next 58 years, until his death.[2]
At first combining teaching with the spiritual life was difficult for
Mutien, and his students were known as disruptive and out of control.
His performance as a teacher was judged to be so poor that his Superiors
considered expelling him from their Order, a teaching one, for the good
name of the school.[3]
But in time, with the help of the Brother who headed the Fine Arts
Department, Brother Mutien grew into an effective teacher and Prefect of
discipline, known for his patience and piety. He taught music and art, a
saint of sensibility not intellect. He was known within the community
for being available to help with any need which arose, whether it was
comforting a homesick student or going to the train station to meet a
traveler unfamiliar with the city.[2] He would also teach catechism to the children of the town at the local parish church. He was known to spend whatever time he could in prayer before the tabernacle or at the grotto of Our Lady on the school grounds.[1]
Death
Mutien-Marie enjoyed good health throughout his life, until November
1916 when he became noticeably ill and was sent to the house infirmary.
He nevertheless struggled to continue sharing the community's prayer
routine. On the following 26 January, despite his weakness and the
bitter cold, he was found praying at the communion rail before the
Brothers' first prayer service of the day. He was clearly failing and
the Brother Superior suggested that he return to the infirmary. He never
left it again, dying about 4:00 A.M. on 30 January 1917. He was buried
two days later in the Brothers' plot in the town cemetery of Malonne.[2]
Brother Muthien's fame began to spread after his death and miracles began to be attributed to his intercession.[1]
Veneration
This reputation of sanctity lead to a large number of pilgrims to Brother Mutien's grave. It reached such a degree that the decision was made to make his remains more accessible to the veneration of the public. With the opening of a process of canonization by the local diocese, his remains were moved on 11 May 1926 to a new tomb next to the parish church, right on the main street of the town.[2]
Mutien-Marie was beatified on 30 October 1977 by the Venerable Pope Paul VI. Subsequent to this, a shrine was built in his honor in 1980, and his remains were moved again, to a white marble tomb within the shrine.[2] He was canonized on 10 December 1989 by the Venerable Pope Jean Paul II.[1]
Saint Muthien-Marie's feast day is celebrated among the Brothers on 30 January.
References
- ^ "Saint Mutien-Marie Wiaux". Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
- ^ "La vie". Sanctuaire du Frère Mutien-Marie de Mallone. Retrieved 5 January 2013.(French)
- ^ "San Muziano Maria Wiaux". Santi, Beati e Testimoni. Retrieved 5 January 2013.(Italian)
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Today's Snippet I: Namur, Belgium
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Namur (French pronunciation: [namyʁ], Dutch: , Nameur in Walloon) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, in southern Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and (since 1986) of Wallonia.
Namur stands at the confluence of the Sambre and Meuse
rivers and straddles three different regions - Hesbaye to the north,
Condroz to the south-east and Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse to the south-west.
The language spoken is French.
The City of Namur includes the old communes
of Beez, Belgrade, Saint-Servais, Saint-Marc, Bouge, Champion,
Daussoulx, Flawinne, Malonne, Suarlée, Temploux, Vedrin, Boninne,
Cognelée, Gelbressée, Marche-les-Dames, Dave, Jambes, Naninne, Wépion, Wierde, Erpent, Lives-sur-Meuse, and Loyers.
The town began as an important trading settlement in Celtic times, straddling east-west and north-south trade routes across the Ardennes. The Romans established a presence after Julius Caesar defeated the local Aduatuci tribe.
Namur came to prominence during the early Middle Ages when the Merovingians built a castle or citadel on the rocky spur overlooking the town at the confluence of the two rivers. In the 10th century, it became a county
in its own right. The town developed somewhat unevenly, as the counts
of Namur could only build on the north bank of the Meuse - the south
bank was owned by the bishops of Liège
and developed more slowly into the town of Jambes (now effectively a
suburb of Namur). In 1262, Namur fell into the hands of the Count of Flanders, and was purchased by Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy in 1421.
After Namur became part of the Spanish Netherlands in the 1640s, its citadel was considerably strengthened. Louis XIV of France invaded in 1692, capturing the town and annexing it to France. His renowned military engineer Vauban rebuilt the citadel. French control was short-lived, as William III of Orange-Nassau captured Namur only three years later in 1695 during the War of the Grand Alliance. Under the Barrier Treaty of 1709, the Dutch gained the right to garrison Namur, although the subsequent Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 gave control of the formerly Spanish Netherlands to the Austrian House of Habsburg. Thus, although the Austrians ruled the town, the citadel was controlled by the Dutch. It was rebuilt again under their tenure.
France invaded the region again in 1794, during the French Revolutionary Wars, and again annexed Namur, imposing a repressive regime. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the Congress of Vienna incorporated what is now Belgium into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Belgium broke away from the Netherlands in 1830 following the Belgian Revolution, and Namur continued to be a major garrison town under the new government. The citadel was rebuilt yet again in 1887.
Namur was a major target of the German invasion of Belgium
in 1914, which sought to use the Meuse valley as a route into France.
Despite being billed as virtually impregnable, the citadel fell after
only three days' fighting and the town was occupied by the Germans for
the rest of the war. Namur fared little better in World War II; it was in the front lines of both the Battle of the Ardennes in 1940 and the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. The town suffered heavy damage in both wars.
Namur continued to host the Belgian Army's paratroopers until their departure in 1977.
Culture and sights
Namur has taken on a new role as the capital of the federal region of
Wallonia. Its location at the head of the Ardennes has also made it a
popular tourist centre, with a casino located in its southern district on the left bank of the Meuse.
The
town's most prominent sight is the citadel, now demilitarised and open
to the public. It plays host to a beer festival at Easter. Namur also
has a distinctive 18th century cathedral dedicated to Saint Aubain and a
belfry classified by UNESCO as part of the Belfries of Belgium and
France which are listed as a World Heritage Site.[2]
The
Couvent des Soeurs de Notre-Dame contains masterpieces of Mosan art by
Hugo d'Oignies. Elsewhere there is an archeological museum and a museum
dedicated to Félicien Rops.
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| the Meuse, the Jambes bridge and citadel. |
Since 1986 Namur has been home to the Namur International Festival of French-Speaking Film.[3] A jazz (Nam'in'Jazz) and a rock (Verdur Rock) festivals also take place yearly in Namur.
The local football team is named Union Royale Namur. The local baseball team is named Namur Angels. Sights near Namur include Maredsous Abbey, Floreffe Abbey, and Annevoie Castle with its surrounding Jardins d'Annevoie.
References
- (French) Jean-Pol Hiernaux : Namur, capitale de la Wallonie, in Encyclopédie du Mouvement wallon, Tome II, Charleroi, Institut Jules Destrée, 2000, ISBN 2-87035-019-8 (or 2d ed., CD-ROM, 2003, ISBN 2-87035-028-7)
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Today's Snippet II: St Aubins Catherdral
St Aubin's Cathedral, Namur, Wallonia, the only cathedral in Belgium in academic Late Baroque style, strikes the observer as an unexpectedly Italian statement in this northern city; in fact it was built to designs of the Ticinese architect Gaetano Matteo Pisoni. It was the only church built in the Low Countries as a cathedral after 1559, when most of the dioceses of the Netherlands were reorganized.
In the interior, the richly ornamented frieze, carved with swags of fruit and flowers between the Corinthian capitals runs in an unbroken band entirely round the church. All colour is avoided, replaced by architectural enrichments and the bas-reliefs in the pendentives
of the dome. A tower of the former Romanesque church that stood on the
site has survived. In the cathedral a marble plaque near the high altar conceals a casket containing the heart of Don Juan of Austria, Habsburg governor of the Spanish Netherlands, who died in 1578; his body lies in the Escorial near Madrid. This Cathedral is classified as part of Wallonia's Major Heritage by the Walloon Region.
References
- (French) Jean-Pol Hiernaux : Namur, capitale de la Wallonie, in Encyclopédie du Mouvement wallon, Tome II, Charleroi, Institut Jules Destrée, 2000, ISBN 2-87035-019-8 (or 2d ed., CD-ROM, 2003, ISBN 2-87035-028-7)
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Catechism of the Catholic Church
Part One: Profession of Faith, Chapter 3:3:III
III. Only One Faith
172
Through the centuries, in so many languages, cultures, peoples and nations, the
Church has constantly confessed this one faith, received from the one Lord,
transmitted by one Baptism, and grounded in the conviction that all people have
only one God and Father.Eph 4:4-6 St. Irenaeus of Lyons, a witness of this
faith, declared:
173
"Indeed, the Church, though scattered throughout the whole world, even to
the ends of the earth, having received the faith from the apostles and their
disciples. . . guards [this preaching and faith] with care, as dwelling in but
a single house, and similarly believes as if having but one soul and a single
heart, and preaches, teaches and hands on this faith with a unanimous voice, as
if possessing only one mouth."St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. I, 10, 1-2: PG 7/1, 549-552
174
"For though languages differ throughout the world, the content of the
Tradition is one and the same. the Churches established in Germany have no
other faith or Tradition, nor do those of the Iberians, nor those of the Celts,
nor those of the East, of Egypt, of Libya, nor those established at the centre
of the world. . ."St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. I, 10, 1-2: PG 7/1, 552-553 The Church's message "is true and solid,
in which one and the same way of salvation appears throughout the whole
world."St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 5, 20, I: PG 7/2, 1177
175
"We guard with care the faith that we have received from the Church, for
without ceasing, under the action of God's Spirit, this deposit of great price,
as if in an excellent vessel, is constantly being renewed and causes the very
vessel that contains it to be renewed."St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 24, I: PG 7/1, 966
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