Nourish, Exodus 3:1-18, Psalms 103:1-11, Luke 13:1-9, Pope Francis's Lenten Message, Hymn of the Week - Pange Lingua Glorioso, Our Lady of Medjugorje's Monthly Message, Saint Suitbert of Kaiserwerth, Honoring the Field of Nursing, Mystical City of God Book 5 Chapter 6 - Baptism of Jesus, Catholic Catechism - Part Three - The Life of the Christ - Article 1 Man The Image of God, RECHARGE: Heaven Speaks to Young Adults
JESUS I TRUST IN YOU (Year of Mercy). "Always Trust in Jesus, He the beacon of light amongst the darkest clouds" ~ Zarya Parx 2016
JESUS I TRUST IN YOU (Year of Mercy). "Always Trust in Jesus, He the beacon of light amongst the darkest clouds" ~ Zarya Parx 2016
"Where There is a Will, With God, There is a Way", "There is always a ray of sunshine amongst the darkest Clouds, the name of that ray is Jesus" ~ Zarya Parx 2014
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, reason and free will, make the most of these gifts. Life on earth is a stepping stone to our eternal home in Heaven. The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, wonder and awe (fear of the Lord) , counsel, knowledge, fortitude, and piety (reverence) and shun the seven Deadly sins: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony...Its your choice whether to embrace the Gifts of the Holy Spirit rising towards eternal light or succumb to the Seven deadly sins and 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 the Darkness, Purgatory or Heaven is our Soul...it's God's perpetual gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...~ Zarya Parx 2013
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
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2016 - YEAR OF MERCY
Pope Francis has declared an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. This Holy Year of Mercy began December 8, 2015, the feast of the Immaculate Conception and the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council. It will close November 20, 2016, the Feast of Christ the King. This year’s motto is “Merciful Like the Father.”
Sometimes, when we think of the word mercy, we picture someone throwing themselves on their knees before a cruel villain, pleading to be spared some punishment. This is not our understanding of God’s mercy. We do not ask for God’s mercy because we are afraid of incurring his wrath as punishment for our sins. Rather, when we call on God to have mercy, we are calling on God in the only way we know him—as one who responds with compassion to those in need. When we show mercy to others, we are responding as God responds, with compassion.
Liturgical Cycle: C - Gospel of Luke - Lent
Daily Rosary
(MON, SAT) - Joyful Mysteries
(TUES, FRI) - Sorrowful Mysteries
(WED,SUN) - Glorious Mysteries
(THURS) - Luminous Mysteries
(MON, SAT) - Joyful Mysteries
(TUES, FRI) - Sorrowful Mysteries
(WED,SUN) - Glorious Mysteries
(THURS) - Luminous Mysteries
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Hymn of the Week
Contents
**Copyright Disclaimer - Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research under the term "fair use", which is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, and personal use also tips the balance in favor of fair use.
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Our Lady of Medjugorje Monthly Messages
February 25, 2016 message form our Lady of Medjugorje:
Feb 25, 2016 Our Lady of Medjugorje Message
“Dear children! In this time of grace, I am calling all of you to conversion. Little children, you love little and pray even less. You are lost and do not know what your goal is. Take the cross, look at Jesus and follow Him. He gives Himself to you to the death on the cross, because He loves you. Little children, I am calling you: return to prayer with the heart so as to find hope and the meaning of your existence, in prayer. I am with you and am praying for you. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
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Papam Franciscus
(Pope Francis)
Pope Francis Catechesis:
February 19, 2016
MESSAGE
OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
FOR LENT 2016
OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
FOR LENT 2016
Vatican City, 10 February 2016 (VIS) –
1. Mary, the image of a Church which evangelizes because she is evangelized
In the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, I asked that “the season of Lent in this Jubilee Year be lived more intensely as a privileged moment to celebrate and experience God’s mercy” (Misericordiae Vultus, 17). By calling for an attentive listening to the word of God and encouraging the initiative “24 Hours for the Lord”, I sought to stress the primacy of prayerful listening to God’s word, especially his prophetic word. The mercy of God is a proclamation made to the world, a proclamation which each Christian is called to experience at first hand. For this reason, during the season of Lent I will send out Missionaries of Mercy as a concrete sign to everyone of God’s closeness and forgiveness.
After receiving the Good News told to her by the Archangel Gabriel, Mary, in her Magnificat, prophetically sings of the mercy whereby God chose her. The Virgin of Nazareth, betrothed to Joseph, thus becomes the perfect icon of the Church which evangelizes, for she was, and continues to be, evangelized by the Holy Spirit, who made her virginal womb fruitful. In the prophetic tradition, mercy is strictly related – even on the etymological level – to the maternal womb (rahamim) and to a generous, faithful and compassionate goodness (hesed) shown within marriage and family relationships.
2. God’s covenant with humanity: a history of mercy
The mystery of divine mercy is revealed in the history of the covenant between God and his people Israel. God shows himself ever rich in mercy, ever ready to treat his people with deep tenderness and compassion, especially at those tragic moments when infidelity ruptures the bond of the covenant, which then needs to be ratified more firmly in justice and truth. Here is a true love story, in which God plays the role of the betrayed father and husband, while Israel plays the unfaithful child and bride. These domestic images – as in the case of Hosea (cf. Hos 1-2) – show to what extent God wishes to bind himself to his people.
This love story culminates in the incarnation of God’s Son. In Christ, the Father pours forth his boundless mercy even to making him “mercy incarnate” (Misericordiae Vultus, 8). As a man, Jesus of Nazareth is a true son of Israel; he embodies that perfect hearing required of every Jew by the Shema, which today too is the heart of God’s covenant with Israel: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Dt 6:4-5). As the Son of God, he is the Bridegroom who does everything to win over the love of his bride, to whom he is bound by an unconditional love which becomes visible in the eternal wedding feast.
This is the very heart of the apostolic kerygma, in which divine mercy holds a central and fundamental place. It is “the beauty of the saving love of God made manifest in Jesus Christ who died and rose from the dead” (Evangelii Gaudium, 36), that first proclamation which “we must hear again and again in different ways, the one which we must announce one way or another throughout the process of catechesis, at every level and moment” (ibid., 164). Mercy “expresses God’s way of reaching out to the sinner, offering him a new chance to look at himself, convert, and believe” (Misericordiae Vultus, 21), thus restoring his relationship with him. In Jesus crucified, God shows his desire to draw near to sinners, however far they may have strayed from him. In this way he hopes to soften the hardened heart of his Bride.
3. The works of mercy
God’s mercy transforms human hearts; it enables us, through the experience of a faithful love, to become merciful in turn. In an ever new miracle, divine mercy shines forth in our lives, inspiring each of us to love our neighbour and to devote ourselves to what the Church’s tradition calls the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. These works remind us that faith finds expression in concrete everyday actions meant to help our neighbours in body and spirit: by feeding, visiting, comforting and instructing them. On such things will we be judged. For this reason, I expressed my hope that “the Christian people may reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy; this will be a way to reawaken our conscience, too often grown dull in the face of poverty, and to enter more deeply into the heart of the Gospel where the poor have a special experience of God’s mercy” (ibid., 15). For in the poor, the flesh of Christ “becomes visible in the flesh of the tortured, the crushed, the scourged, the malnourished, and the exiled… to be acknowledged, touched, and cared for by us” (ibid.). It is the unprecedented and scandalous mystery of the extension in time of the suffering of the Innocent Lamb, the burning bush of gratuitous love. Before this love, we can, like Moses, take off our sandals (cf. Ex 3:5), especially when the poor are our brothers or sisters in Christ who are suffering for their faith.
In the light of this love, which is strong as death (cf. Song 8:6), the real poor are revealed as those who refuse to see themselves as such. They consider themselves rich, but they are actually the poorest of the poor. This is because they are slaves to sin, which leads them to use wealth and power not for the service of God and others, but to stifle within their hearts the profound sense that they too are only poor beggars. The greater their power and wealth, the more this blindness and deception can grow. It can even reach the point of being blind to Lazarus begging at their doorstep (cf. Lk 16:20-21). Lazarus, the poor man, is a figure of Christ, who through the poor pleads for our conversion. As such, he represents the possibility of conversion which God offers us and which we may well fail to see. Such blindness is often accompanied by the proud illusion of our own omnipotence, which reflects in a sinister way the diabolical “you will be like God” (Gen 3:5) which is the root of all sin. This illusion can likewise take social and political forms, as shown by the totalitarian systems of the twentieth century, and, in our own day, by the ideologies of monopolizing thought and technoscience, which would make God irrelevant and reduce man to raw material to be exploited. This illusion can also be seen in the sinful structures linked to a model of false development based on the idolatry of money, which leads to lack of concern for the fate of the poor on the part of wealthier individuals and societies; they close their doors, refusing even to see the poor.
For all of us, then, the season of Lent in this Jubilee Year is a favourable time to overcome our existential alienation by listening to God’s word and by practising the works of mercy. In the corporal works of mercy we touch the flesh of Christ in our brothers and sisters who need to be fed, clothed, sheltered, visited; in the spiritual works of mercy – counsel, instruction, forgiveness, admonishment and prayer – we touch more directly our own sinfulness. The corporal and spiritual works of mercy must never be separated. By touching the flesh of the crucified Jesus in the suffering, sinners can receive the gift of realizing that they too are poor and in need. By taking this path, the “proud”, the “powerful” and the “wealthy” spoken of in the Magnificat can also be embraced and undeservedly loved by the crucified Lord who died and rose for them. This love alone is the answer to that yearning for infinite happiness and love that we think we can satisfy with the idols of knowledge, power and riches. Yet the danger always remains that by a constant refusal to open the doors of their hearts to Christ who knocks on them in the poor, the proud, rich and powerful will end up condemning themselves and plunging into the eternal abyss of solitude which is Hell. The pointed words of Abraham apply to them and to all of us: “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them” (Lk 16:29). Such attentive listening will best prepare us to celebrate the final victory over sin and death of the Bridegroom, now risen, who desires to purify his Betrothed in expectation of his coming.
Let us not waste this season of Lent, so favourable a time for conversion! We ask this through the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary, who, encountering the greatness of God’s mercy freely bestowed upon her, was the first to acknowledge her lowliness (cf. Lk 1:48) and to call herself the Lord’s humble servant (cf. Lk 1:38).
From the Vatican, 4 October 2015
Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi
“I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” (Mt 9:13).
The works of mercy on the road of the Jubilee
The works of mercy on the road of the Jubilee
1. Mary, the image of a Church which evangelizes because she is evangelized
In the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, I asked that “the season of Lent in this Jubilee Year be lived more intensely as a privileged moment to celebrate and experience God’s mercy” (Misericordiae Vultus, 17). By calling for an attentive listening to the word of God and encouraging the initiative “24 Hours for the Lord”, I sought to stress the primacy of prayerful listening to God’s word, especially his prophetic word. The mercy of God is a proclamation made to the world, a proclamation which each Christian is called to experience at first hand. For this reason, during the season of Lent I will send out Missionaries of Mercy as a concrete sign to everyone of God’s closeness and forgiveness.
After receiving the Good News told to her by the Archangel Gabriel, Mary, in her Magnificat, prophetically sings of the mercy whereby God chose her. The Virgin of Nazareth, betrothed to Joseph, thus becomes the perfect icon of the Church which evangelizes, for she was, and continues to be, evangelized by the Holy Spirit, who made her virginal womb fruitful. In the prophetic tradition, mercy is strictly related – even on the etymological level – to the maternal womb (rahamim) and to a generous, faithful and compassionate goodness (hesed) shown within marriage and family relationships.
2. God’s covenant with humanity: a history of mercy
The mystery of divine mercy is revealed in the history of the covenant between God and his people Israel. God shows himself ever rich in mercy, ever ready to treat his people with deep tenderness and compassion, especially at those tragic moments when infidelity ruptures the bond of the covenant, which then needs to be ratified more firmly in justice and truth. Here is a true love story, in which God plays the role of the betrayed father and husband, while Israel plays the unfaithful child and bride. These domestic images – as in the case of Hosea (cf. Hos 1-2) – show to what extent God wishes to bind himself to his people.
This love story culminates in the incarnation of God’s Son. In Christ, the Father pours forth his boundless mercy even to making him “mercy incarnate” (Misericordiae Vultus, 8). As a man, Jesus of Nazareth is a true son of Israel; he embodies that perfect hearing required of every Jew by the Shema, which today too is the heart of God’s covenant with Israel: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Dt 6:4-5). As the Son of God, he is the Bridegroom who does everything to win over the love of his bride, to whom he is bound by an unconditional love which becomes visible in the eternal wedding feast.
This is the very heart of the apostolic kerygma, in which divine mercy holds a central and fundamental place. It is “the beauty of the saving love of God made manifest in Jesus Christ who died and rose from the dead” (Evangelii Gaudium, 36), that first proclamation which “we must hear again and again in different ways, the one which we must announce one way or another throughout the process of catechesis, at every level and moment” (ibid., 164). Mercy “expresses God’s way of reaching out to the sinner, offering him a new chance to look at himself, convert, and believe” (Misericordiae Vultus, 21), thus restoring his relationship with him. In Jesus crucified, God shows his desire to draw near to sinners, however far they may have strayed from him. In this way he hopes to soften the hardened heart of his Bride.
3. The works of mercy
God’s mercy transforms human hearts; it enables us, through the experience of a faithful love, to become merciful in turn. In an ever new miracle, divine mercy shines forth in our lives, inspiring each of us to love our neighbour and to devote ourselves to what the Church’s tradition calls the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. These works remind us that faith finds expression in concrete everyday actions meant to help our neighbours in body and spirit: by feeding, visiting, comforting and instructing them. On such things will we be judged. For this reason, I expressed my hope that “the Christian people may reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy; this will be a way to reawaken our conscience, too often grown dull in the face of poverty, and to enter more deeply into the heart of the Gospel where the poor have a special experience of God’s mercy” (ibid., 15). For in the poor, the flesh of Christ “becomes visible in the flesh of the tortured, the crushed, the scourged, the malnourished, and the exiled… to be acknowledged, touched, and cared for by us” (ibid.). It is the unprecedented and scandalous mystery of the extension in time of the suffering of the Innocent Lamb, the burning bush of gratuitous love. Before this love, we can, like Moses, take off our sandals (cf. Ex 3:5), especially when the poor are our brothers or sisters in Christ who are suffering for their faith.
In the light of this love, which is strong as death (cf. Song 8:6), the real poor are revealed as those who refuse to see themselves as such. They consider themselves rich, but they are actually the poorest of the poor. This is because they are slaves to sin, which leads them to use wealth and power not for the service of God and others, but to stifle within their hearts the profound sense that they too are only poor beggars. The greater their power and wealth, the more this blindness and deception can grow. It can even reach the point of being blind to Lazarus begging at their doorstep (cf. Lk 16:20-21). Lazarus, the poor man, is a figure of Christ, who through the poor pleads for our conversion. As such, he represents the possibility of conversion which God offers us and which we may well fail to see. Such blindness is often accompanied by the proud illusion of our own omnipotence, which reflects in a sinister way the diabolical “you will be like God” (Gen 3:5) which is the root of all sin. This illusion can likewise take social and political forms, as shown by the totalitarian systems of the twentieth century, and, in our own day, by the ideologies of monopolizing thought and technoscience, which would make God irrelevant and reduce man to raw material to be exploited. This illusion can also be seen in the sinful structures linked to a model of false development based on the idolatry of money, which leads to lack of concern for the fate of the poor on the part of wealthier individuals and societies; they close their doors, refusing even to see the poor.
For all of us, then, the season of Lent in this Jubilee Year is a favourable time to overcome our existential alienation by listening to God’s word and by practising the works of mercy. In the corporal works of mercy we touch the flesh of Christ in our brothers and sisters who need to be fed, clothed, sheltered, visited; in the spiritual works of mercy – counsel, instruction, forgiveness, admonishment and prayer – we touch more directly our own sinfulness. The corporal and spiritual works of mercy must never be separated. By touching the flesh of the crucified Jesus in the suffering, sinners can receive the gift of realizing that they too are poor and in need. By taking this path, the “proud”, the “powerful” and the “wealthy” spoken of in the Magnificat can also be embraced and undeservedly loved by the crucified Lord who died and rose for them. This love alone is the answer to that yearning for infinite happiness and love that we think we can satisfy with the idols of knowledge, power and riches. Yet the danger always remains that by a constant refusal to open the doors of their hearts to Christ who knocks on them in the poor, the proud, rich and powerful will end up condemning themselves and plunging into the eternal abyss of solitude which is Hell. The pointed words of Abraham apply to them and to all of us: “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them” (Lk 16:29). Such attentive listening will best prepare us to celebrate the final victory over sin and death of the Bridegroom, now risen, who desires to purify his Betrothed in expectation of his coming.
Let us not waste this season of Lent, so favourable a time for conversion! We ask this through the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary, who, encountering the greatness of God’s mercy freely bestowed upon her, was the first to acknowledge her lowliness (cf. Lk 1:48) and to call herself the Lord’s humble servant (cf. Lk 1:38).
From the Vatican, 4 October 2015
Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi
FRANCIS
Reference:
- Vatican News. From the Pope. © Copyright 2016 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Accessed - 02/28/2016
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Monthly Intentions by Pope Francis: 2016
Vatican City, Winter 2016 (VIS)
The following is the English text of the intentions – both universal and for evangelization – that, as is customary, the Pope entrusted to the Apostleship of Prayer for 2016.
February 2016
Universal: Care for Creation - That we may take good care of the gift of creation and our biosphere cultivating and protecting it for future generations.
Evangelization: Asia - That opportunities may increase for dialogue and encounter between the Christian faith and the peoples of Asia.
Reference:
- Vatican News. From the Pope. © Copyright 2016 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Accessed 2/28/2016.
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Today's Word: nourish [nuhr-ish]
Origin: 11250-1300; Middle English norisshe < Old French noriss-, long stem of norir < Latin nūtrīre to feed; see nurse, -ish2
1. to sustain with food or nutriment; supply with what is necessary for life, health, and growth.
2. to cherish, foster, keep alive, etc.: He had long nourished the dream of living abroad.
3. to strengthen, build up, or promote: to nourish discontent among the workers; to nourish the arts in one's community.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Psalms 103:1-11
1 [Of David] Bless Yahweh, my soul, from the depths of my being, his holy name;2 bless Yahweh, my soul, never forget all his acts of kindness.
3 He forgives all your offences, cures all your diseases,
4 he redeems your life from the abyss, crowns you with faithful love and tenderness;
5 he contents you with good things all your life, renews your youth like an eagle's.
6 Yahweh acts with uprightness, with justice to all who are oppressed;
7 he revealed to Moses his ways, his great deeds to the children of Israel.
8 Yahweh is tenderness and pity, slow to anger and rich in faithful love;
9 his indignation does not last for ever, nor his resentment remain for all time;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve, nor repay us as befits our offences.
11 As the height of heaven above earth, so strong is his faithful love for those who fear him.
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Today's Epistle - Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15
1 Moses was looking after the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led it to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.2 The angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame blazing from the middle of a bush. Moses looked; there was the bush blazing, but the bush was not being burnt up.
3 Moses said, 'I must go across and see this strange sight, and why the bush is not being burnt up.'
4 When Yahweh saw him going across to look, God called to him from the middle of the bush. 'Moses, Moses!' he said. 'Here I am,' he answered.
5 'Come no nearer,' he said. 'Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
6 I am the God of your ancestors,' he said, 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.' At this Moses covered his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 Yahweh then said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying for help on account of their taskmasters. Yes, I am well aware of their sufferings.
8 And I have come down to rescue them from the clutches of the Egyptians and bring them up out of that country, to a country rich and broad, to a country flowing with milk and honey, to the home of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.
13 Moses then said to God, 'Look, if I go to the Israelites and say to them, "The God of your ancestors has sent me to you," and they say to me, "What is his name?" what am I to tell them?'
14 God said to Moses, 'I am he who is.' And he said, 'This is what you are to say to the Israelites, "I am has sent me to you." '
15 God further said to Moses, 'You are to tell the Israelites, "Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you." This is my name for all time, and thus I am to be invoked for all generations to come.
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Today's Gospel Reading - Luke 13:1-9
Jesus comments on the events of the day
How to interpret the signs of the times
Luke 13:1-9
How to interpret the signs of the times
Luke 13:1-9
1. Opening prayer
Lord Jesus, send your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that you read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, you helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of your resurrection and witness to others that you are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of you, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us your Spirit. Amen.
Lord Jesus, send your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that you read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, you helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of your resurrection and witness to others that you are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of you, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us your Spirit. Amen.
2. Reading
a) A key to the reading:
The text of the third Sunday of Lent
puts before us two different but related facts: Jesus comments on the
events of the day and he narrates a parable. Luke 13:1-5: At the
people’s request, Jesus comments on the events of the day: the massacre
of pilgrims by Pilate and the massacre at the tower of Siloam where
eighteen persons were killed. Luke 13:-9: Jesus tells a parable about
the fig tree that bore no fruit.
As you read, it is good to note two things: (i) see how Jesus contradicts the popular interpretation of what is happening (ii) see whether there is a connection between the parable and the comment on the events of the day.
As you read, it is good to note two things: (i) see how Jesus contradicts the popular interpretation of what is happening (ii) see whether there is a connection between the parable and the comment on the events of the day.
b) A division of the text to help with the reading:
Luke 13:1: The people tell Jesus about the massacre of the Galileans
Luke 13:2-3: Jesus comments on the massacre and draws a lesson from there for the people
Luke 13:4-5: To support his thinking, Jesus comments on another event
Luke 13:6-9: The parable of the fig tree that did not bear fruit
Luke 13:2-3: Jesus comments on the massacre and draws a lesson from there for the people
Luke 13:4-5: To support his thinking, Jesus comments on another event
Luke 13:6-9: The parable of the fig tree that did not bear fruit
c) The Gospel:
1 It was just about this time that some
people arrived and told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had
mingled with that of their sacrifices. At this he said to them, 2 'Do
you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than any others,
that this should have happened to them? 3 They were not, I tell you. No;
but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. 4 Or those
eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell, killing them all? Do you
suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in
Jerusalem? 5 They were
not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they
did.' 6 He told this parable, 'A man had a fig tree planted in his
vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none. 7 He said
to his vinedresser, "For three years now I have been coming to look for
fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be
taking up the ground?" 8 "Sir," the man replied, "leave it one more
year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: 9 it may bear
fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down." '
3. A moment of prayerful silence
so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.
4. Some questions
to help us in our personal reflection.
a) What struck or pleased you most in this text? Why?
b) What was the popular interpretation of these two events?
c) How does Jesus disagree with the popular interpretation of the events?
d) What is the meaning of the parable? Is there a connection between the parable and the comments on the events?
e) What is this text’s message for us who have to interpret the signs of the times today?
b) What was the popular interpretation of these two events?
c) How does Jesus disagree with the popular interpretation of the events?
d) What is the meaning of the parable? Is there a connection between the parable and the comments on the events?
e) What is this text’s message for us who have to interpret the signs of the times today?
5. For those who wish to go deeper into the theme
a) The literary and historical context of then and now:
Luke writes his Gospel about 85 A.D. for
the Christian communities in Greece. Generally, he follows the
narrative in Mark’s Gospel. Here and there he introduces some minor
differences or changes some words so as to adapt the narrative to his
purpose. Apart from Mark’s Gospel, Luke also consults other books and
has access to other sources: eye witnesses and ministers of the Word
(Lk 1:2). All the material that is not found in Mark, Luke organizes
into a literary form: Jesus on a long journey from Galilee to
Jerusalem. There is a description of the journey in Luke 9:51 to 19:28
and this includes ten chapters or one third of the Gospel!
In these chapters, Luke constantly
reminds his readers that Jesus is on a journey. He rarely tells us
where Jesus is, but he lets us know clearly that Jesus is travelling
and that the end of the journey is Jerusalem where he will die in
accordance with what the prophets had foretold (Lk 9:51.53.57; 10:1.38;
11:1; 13:22.33; 14:25; 17:11; 18:31. 35; 19:1.11.28). And even after
Jesus reaches Jerusalem, Luke goes on talking of a journey to the
centre (Lk 19:29.41.45; 20:1). Just before the journey begins, on the
occasion of the transfiguration with Moses and Elijah on the mountain,
the going to Jerusalem is considered as an exodus for Jesus (Lk 9:31) and as an ascension or climbing up to heaven
(Lk 9:51). In the Old Testament, Moses had led the first exodus
liberating people from Pharaoh’s oppression (Ex 3:10-12) and the prophet
Elijah went up to heaven (2 Kings 2:11). Jesus is the new Moses who
comes to liberate people from the oppression of the Law. He is the new
Elijah who comes to prepare the coming of the Kingdom.
The description of Jesus’ long journey
to Jerusalem is not just a literary device to introduce the material
proper to Luke. It also reflects the long and arduous journey that the
communities in Greece were going through in their daily lives in Luke’s
time: passing from a rural world in Palestine to a cosmopolitan
environment in the Greek culture at the edges of the great cities of
Asia and Europe. This passage or inculturation was marked by a strong
tension between the Christians from Judaism and the new converts who
came from other ethnic and cultural groups. Indeed, the description of
the long journey to Jerusalem reflects the painful process of conversion
that people connected to Judaism had to make: to leave the world of
the observance of the law that accused and condemned them, to go
towards a world of the gratuitous love of God to all peoples, to the
certainty that in Christ all peoples meld into one before God; to leave
the closed world of a race to go towards the universal territory of
humanity. This is also the journey of our lives. Are we capable of
transforming the crosses of life into an exodus of liberation?
b) A commentary on the text:
Luke 13:1:The people inform Jesus of the massacre of the Galileans
Like today, the people pass comments on the events that happen and want to hear comments from those who can form public opinion. That is why some people went to Jesus to tell him of the massacre of some Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. It was probably the assassination that took place on Mount Gerazim, which was still a place of pilgrimage and where people were wont to offer sacrifices. This event underlines the ferocity and stupidity of some Roman rulers in Palestine who provoked the religious sensibility of the Jews through irrational actions such as this.
Like today, the people pass comments on the events that happen and want to hear comments from those who can form public opinion. That is why some people went to Jesus to tell him of the massacre of some Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. It was probably the assassination that took place on Mount Gerazim, which was still a place of pilgrimage and where people were wont to offer sacrifices. This event underlines the ferocity and stupidity of some Roman rulers in Palestine who provoked the religious sensibility of the Jews through irrational actions such as this.
Luke 13:2-3: Jesus comments on the massacre and draws a lesson for the people
Asked to give an opinion, Jesus asks: “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than any others, that this should happen to them?” Jesus’ question reflects the popular interpretation common then: suffering and violent death are a punishment from God for some sin committed by that person. Jesus’ reaction is categorical: “They were not I tell you. No!” He denies the popular interpretation and transforms the event into an examination of conscience: “unless you repent you will all perish as they did”. In other words, unless there is a real and proper change, the same massacre will overtake all. Later history confirmed Jesus’ foresight. The change did not take place. They were not converted and forty years later, in 70, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. Many people were massacred. Jesus saw the gravity of the political situation of his country. On the one hand, there was the ever heavier and unbearable Roman domination. On the other, there was the official religion, which was growing more and more alienated without understanding the importance of the faith in Yahweh in the lives of the people.
Asked to give an opinion, Jesus asks: “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than any others, that this should happen to them?” Jesus’ question reflects the popular interpretation common then: suffering and violent death are a punishment from God for some sin committed by that person. Jesus’ reaction is categorical: “They were not I tell you. No!” He denies the popular interpretation and transforms the event into an examination of conscience: “unless you repent you will all perish as they did”. In other words, unless there is a real and proper change, the same massacre will overtake all. Later history confirmed Jesus’ foresight. The change did not take place. They were not converted and forty years later, in 70, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. Many people were massacred. Jesus saw the gravity of the political situation of his country. On the one hand, there was the ever heavier and unbearable Roman domination. On the other, there was the official religion, which was growing more and more alienated without understanding the importance of the faith in Yahweh in the lives of the people.
Luke 13:4-5: In support of his thinking, Jesus comments on more than one event
Jesus takes the initiative of commenting on another event. A blizzard causes the tower of Siloam to crumble and eighteen people are crushed by the stones. People thought that it was “a punishment from God!” Jesus’ comment is: “No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish as they did”. His concern is to interpret events in such a way that God’s call to change and conversion becomes transparent. Jesus is a mystic, a contemplative. He reads events in a different way. He can read and interpret the signs of the times. For him, the world is transparent, revealing the presence and call of God.
Jesus takes the initiative of commenting on another event. A blizzard causes the tower of Siloam to crumble and eighteen people are crushed by the stones. People thought that it was “a punishment from God!” Jesus’ comment is: “No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish as they did”. His concern is to interpret events in such a way that God’s call to change and conversion becomes transparent. Jesus is a mystic, a contemplative. He reads events in a different way. He can read and interpret the signs of the times. For him, the world is transparent, revealing the presence and call of God.
Luke 13:6-9: The parable of the fig tree that bears no fruit
Jesus then tells the parable of the fig tree that bears no fruit. A man had planted a fig tree in his vineyard. For three years the tree bore no fruit. So he says to his vinedresser: “Cut it down”. But the vinedresser replies: “Leave it one more year….it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down”. We do not know whether Jesus told this parable immediately after his comments on the massacre and the crumbling of the tower of Siloam. It was probably Luke who placed this parable here, because Luke sees a connection between the comments on the events and the parable of the fig tree. Luke does not say what this connection is. He leaves us to discover this. What meaning does Luke see? I shall dare to give an opinion. You may discover another meaning. The owner of the vineyard and of the fig tree is God. The fig tree represents the people. Jesus is the vinedresser. The owner of the vineyard has grown tired of looking for fruit from the fig tree and finding none. He decides to uproot the tree. Thus there will be more room for another plant that may bear fruit. The chosen people were not producing the fruit that God expected. He wants to pass on the Good News to the pagans. Jesus is the vinedresser who asks that the fig tree be spared a little longer. He will redouble his efforts to obtain a change and a conversion. Later in the Gospel, Jesus recognizes that his redoubled efforts have borne no result. They will not be converted. Jesus mourns the lack of conversion and weeps over the city of Jerusalem. (Lk 19:41-44).
Jesus then tells the parable of the fig tree that bears no fruit. A man had planted a fig tree in his vineyard. For three years the tree bore no fruit. So he says to his vinedresser: “Cut it down”. But the vinedresser replies: “Leave it one more year….it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down”. We do not know whether Jesus told this parable immediately after his comments on the massacre and the crumbling of the tower of Siloam. It was probably Luke who placed this parable here, because Luke sees a connection between the comments on the events and the parable of the fig tree. Luke does not say what this connection is. He leaves us to discover this. What meaning does Luke see? I shall dare to give an opinion. You may discover another meaning. The owner of the vineyard and of the fig tree is God. The fig tree represents the people. Jesus is the vinedresser. The owner of the vineyard has grown tired of looking for fruit from the fig tree and finding none. He decides to uproot the tree. Thus there will be more room for another plant that may bear fruit. The chosen people were not producing the fruit that God expected. He wants to pass on the Good News to the pagans. Jesus is the vinedresser who asks that the fig tree be spared a little longer. He will redouble his efforts to obtain a change and a conversion. Later in the Gospel, Jesus recognizes that his redoubled efforts have borne no result. They will not be converted. Jesus mourns the lack of conversion and weeps over the city of Jerusalem. (Lk 19:41-44).
c) Further information:
A short history of the popular resistance against the Romans in Jesus’ time
In this Sunday’s Gospel, Luke makes
clear allusions to the repression of the Roman legions against the
popular resistance of the Galileans. Hence we give a schematic overview
of the popular resistance of Judeans against the Roman domination.
Over the years this resistance grew deeper and took root in the faith
of the people. Here is an outline that runs parallel with Jesus’ life:
i) From 63 to 37 before Christ: A popular revolt without any clear direction. In
63 before Christ, the Roman Empire invaded Palestine and imposed a
peasant tribute. From 57 to 37, in just 20 years, six rebellions broke
out in Galilee! The people, aimless, followed anyone who promised to
liberate them from the Roman tribute.
ii) From 37 to 4 before Christ: Repression and dislocation. This is the time of the government of Herod, called The Great.
He is the one who killed the innocents in Bethlehem (Mt 2:16). Brutal
repression prevented any kind of popular manifestation. Herod thus
promoted the so-called Pax Romana. This peace gave the Empire a certain economic stability, but for the oppressed people it was the peace of a cemetery.
iii) From 4 to 6 after Christ: Messianic revolutions. This
is the period of Archelaus’ government in Judea. On the day he took
power, he massacred 3000 persons in the Temple square. The revolution
exploded all over the country, but it was aimless. The popular leaders
at this time were seeking for motives connected with ancient tradition
and presented themselves as messianic kings. The Roman repression
destroyed Seforis, the capital of Galilee. Violence was the mark of
Jesus’ childhood. In the ten years of Archelaus’ government, he saw
Palestine go through one of the most violent periods of its history.
iv) From 6 to 27: Zeal for the law: A time for revision.
In the year 6, Romolus deposed Archelaus and transformed Judea into a
Roman Province, decreeing a census so as to make sure that the tribute
was paid. The census produced a strong popular reaction inspired by Zeal for the Law. This Zeal (hence the term zealots) urged
people to boycott and not pay the tribute. This was a new form of
resistance, a kind of civil disobedience that spread like a repressed
fire under embers. However, Zeal had a limited vision. The "zealots"
ran the danger of reducing the observance of the Law to opposition to
the Romans. It was precisely during this period that Jesus grew in
awareness of his mission.
v) From 27 to 69: The prophets reappear. After
these 20 years, from 6 to 26, the revision of the aim of the journey
appears with the preaching of the prophets who represented a step
forward in the popular movement. The prophets called the people together
and invited them to conversion and change. They wanted to reform
history from its origins. They gathered the people in the desert (Mk
1:4), to begin a new exodus, proclaimed by Isaiah (Is 43:16-21). The
first was John the Baptist (Mt 11:9; 14:5; Lk 1:76), who drew many
people (Mt 3:5-7). Soon after, Jesus came on the scene and was
considered by the people to be a prophet (Mt 16:14; 21:11.46; Lk 7:16).
Jesus, like Moses, proclaimed the New Law on the Mountain (Mt 5:1) and
nourished the people in the desert (Mk 6:30-44). Like the fall of the
walls of Jericho towards the end of the forty years in the desert (Is 6:
20), so also Jesus proclaimed the fall of the walls of Jerusalem (Lk
19: 44; Mt 24:2). Like the prophets of old, Jesus proclaimed the
liberation of the oppressed and the beginning of a new jubilee year (Lk 4:18-19), and asked for a change in the way of life (Mk 1:15; Lk 13:3.5).
There are other prophets after Jesus. That is why revolution, messianism and zeal continue
to exist simultaneously. The authorities of the time, Romans and
Herodians, as also priests, scribes and Pharisees, all concerned with
the security of the Temple and the Nation (Jn 11:48) and with the
observance of the Law (Mt 23:1-23), could see the difference between prophets and
other popular leaders. For them they were all the same. They mistook
Jesus for a messianic king (Lk 23:2.5). Gamaliel, the great doctor of
the law, for instance, compared Jesus with Judas, leader of the revolutionaries (Acts
5:35-37). Flavius Josephus himself, the historian, mistook the
prophets for "thieves and impostors". Today we would say that they were
all "good for nothing"!
6. Praying Psalm 82 (81)
God warns human authorities
God takes his stand in the divine assembly,
surrounded by the gods he gives judgement.
surrounded by the gods he gives judgement.
'How much longer will you give unjust judgements
and uphold the prestige of the wicked?
Let the weak and the orphan have justice,
be fair to the wretched and the destitute.
'Rescue the weak and the needy,
save them from the clutches of the wicked.
and uphold the prestige of the wicked?
Let the weak and the orphan have justice,
be fair to the wretched and the destitute.
'Rescue the weak and the needy,
save them from the clutches of the wicked.
'Ignorant and uncomprehending,
they wander in darkness,
while the foundations of the world are tottering.
I had thought, "Are you gods,
are all of you sons of the Most High?"
No! you will die as human beings do,
as one man, princes, you will fall.'
they wander in darkness,
while the foundations of the world are tottering.
I had thought, "Are you gods,
are all of you sons of the Most High?"
No! you will die as human beings do,
as one man, princes, you will fall.'
Arise, God,
judge the world,
for all nations belong to you.
judge the world,
for all nations belong to you.
7. Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank for the word that
has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May your
Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice that
which your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, your mother,
not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign
with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. AmenReference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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Featured Item from Litany Lane
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Saint of the Day: Saint Suitbert of Kaiserwerth
Feast Day: March 1
Patron Saint: Germany
Attributes: none
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| Saint Suitbert of Kaiserwerth |
They landed near the mouth of the Rhine and journeyed to Utrecht, which became their headquarters. The new missionaries worked with great success under the protection of Pepin of Heristal, who, having recently conquered a portion of Frisia, compelled Rathbod to cease harassing the Christians. Suitbert laboured chiefly in North Brabant, Gelderland, and Cleves.
After some years he went back to England, and in 693 was consecrated in Mercia as a missionary bishop by St. Wilfrid of York. He returned to Frisia and fixed his see at Wijk bij Duurstede on a branch of the Rhine. A little later, entrusting his flock of converts to St. Willibrord, he proceeded north of the Rhine and the Lippe, among the Bructeri, or Boructuari, in the district of Berg, Westphalia. This mission bore great fruit at first, but was eventually a failure owing to the inroads of the pagan Saxons; when the latter had conquered the territory, Suitbert withdrew to a small island in the Rhine, six miles from Düsseldorf, granted to him by Pepin of Heristal, where he built a monastery and ended his days in peace.
He died at Suitberts-Insel, now Kaiserswerth, near Düsseldorf, 1 March, 713.
His relics were rediscovered in 1626 at Kaiserwerth and are still venerated there. He is considered a patron saint of Germany. His feast day falls on March 1.
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Suitbert". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
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Featured Item from Litany Lane
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Today's Snippet I: Dusseldorf-Kaiserwerth, Germany
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| Town Hall in Dusseldorf |
About the year 700 the monk Saint Suitbert founded a Benedictine abbey at Werth, a river island that formed an important crossing point of the Rhine. The abbey was destroyed 88 years later. On that area there is now the "Erzbischöfliches Suitbertus-Gymnasium", an archiepiscopal secondary school with the old chapel and parts of the abbey. The former monastery garden is a meeting point for the upper school between lesson times.
The Kaiserpfalz (temporary seat of the Holy Roman Emperor) was built in 1045. In 1062, the archbishop of Cologne, Anno II, kidnapped the underage German King Heinrich IV from here and in this way obtained the unofficial regency of the Holy Roman Empire. At this time the island's name changed from Werth to Kaiserswerth.
In 1174, Friederick I Barbarossa moved the Rhine customs collection to Kaiserswerth. The eastern branch of the Rhine around the island silted up connecting Kaiserswerth to the east bank of the river. In 1273, the emperor pledged Kaiserswerth to the Archbishop of Cologne forming a de facto enclave within the Duchy of Jülich-Berg. In 1591, Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld was born in Kaiserswerth.
In the 19th century Kaiserswerth was chiefly noted for its deaconess clinic, founded by local pastor Theodor Fliedner.[3] Florence Nightingale worked there for some months meeting Paulina Irby.[4]
In both World Wars there was a great military hospital in Kaiserswerth. Kaiserswerth became a part of Düsseldorf in 1929.
References
- ^ Florence Nightingale and Lynn McDonald (Editor) (2010). "An introduction to Vol 14". Florence Nightingale: The Crimean War. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. ISBN 0889204691.
- ^ http://www.fortified-places.com/kaiserswerth
- ^ "Kaiserswerth". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
- ^ Cook, Edward Tyas (1913). The Life of Florence Nightingale. Macmillan.
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Today's Snippet II: HONORING THE FIELD OF NURSING
Florence Nightingale, Founder of Modern Nursing
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| Florence Nightingale |
Early 21st century commentators have asserted Nightingale's achievements in the Crimean War had been exaggerated by the media at the time, to satisfy the public's need for a hero. But her later achievements remain widely accepted. In 1860, Nightingale laid the foundation of professional nursing with the establishment of her nursing school at St Thomas' Hospital in London. It was the first secular nursing school in the world, now part of King's College London. The Nightingale Pledge taken by new nurses was named in her honour, and the annual International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world on her birthday. Her social reforms include improving healthcare for all sections of British society; improving healthcare and advocating for better hunger relief in India; helping to abolish laws regulating prostitution that were overly harsh to women; and expanding the acceptable forms of female participation in the workforce. Nightingale was a prodigious and versatile writer. In her lifetime much of her published work was concerned with spreading medical knowledge. Some of her tracts were written in simple English so they could easily be understood by those with poor literary skills. She helped popularize the graphical presentation of statistical data. Much of her writing, including her extensive work on religion and mysticism, has only been published posthumously.
Nightingale was born to a wealthy upper-class family, at a time when women of her class were expected to focus on marriage and child bearing. Unitarian religious inspiration led her to devote her life to serving others, both directly and as a reformer. Nightingale rejected proposals of marriage so as to be free to pursue her calling. Her father had progressive social views, providing his daughter with a well-rounded education that included mathematics and supported her desire to lead an active life. Nightingale's ability to effect reform rested on her exceptional analytic skills, her high reputation, and her network of influential friends. Starting in her mid thirties, she suffered from chronic poor health, but continued working almost until her death at the age of ninety.
Early life
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| Embley Park School, Former Nightingale Home |
Her parents were William Edward Nightingale, born William Edward Shore (1794–1874) and Frances ("Fanny") Nightingale née Smith (1789–1880). William's mother Mary née Evans was the niece of one Peter Nightingale, under the terms of whose will William inherited his estate at Lea Hurst in Derbyshire, and assumed the name and arms of Nightingale. Fanny's father (Florence's maternal grandfather) was the abolitionist and Unitarian William Smith. Nightingale was educated mainly by her father.
Nightingale underwent the first of several experiences that she believed were calls from God in February 1837 while at Embley Park, prompting a strong desire to devote her life to the service of others. In her youth she was respectful of her family's opposition to her working as nurse, only announcing her decision to enter the field in 1844. Despite the intense anger and distress of her mother and sister, she rebelled against the expected role for a woman of her status to become a wife and mother. Nightingale worked hard to educate herself in the art and science of nursing, in spite of opposition from her family and the restrictive social code for affluent young English women.
As a young woman Nightingale was attractive, slender and graceful. While her demeanor was often severe, she could be very charming and her smile was radiant. Her most persistent suitor was the politician and poet Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton, but after a nine-year courtship she rejected him, convinced that marriage would interfere with her ability to follow her calling to nursing.
In Rome in 1847, she met Sidney Herbert, a politician who had been Secretary at War (1845–1846). Herbert was on his honeymoon; he and Nightingale became lifelong close friends. Herbert would be Secretary of War again during the Crimean War; he and his wife were instrumental in facilitating Nightingale's nursing work in the Crimea. She became a key adviser to him in his political career, though she was accused by some of having hastened Herbert's death from Bright's Disease in 1861 because of the pressure her programme of reform placed on him.
Nightingale also much later had strong relations with Benjamin Jowett, who may have wanted to marry her.
Nightingale continued her travels (now with Charles and Selina Bracebridge) as far as Greece and Egypt. Her writings on Egypt in particular are testimony to her learning, literary skill and philosophy of life. Sailing up the Nile as far as Abu Simbel in January 1850, she wrote
"I don't think I ever saw anything which affected me much more than this." And, considering the temple: "Sublime in the highest style of intellectual beauty, intellect without effort, without suffering... not a feature is correct – but the whole effect is more expressive of spiritual grandeur than anything I could have imagined. It makes the impression upon one that thousands of voices do, uniting in one unanimous simultaneous feeling of enthusiasm or emotion, which is said to overcome the strongest man."
At Thebes she wrote of being "called to God" while a week later near Cairo she wrote in her diary (as distinct from her far longer letters that her elder sister Parthenope was to print after her return): "God called me in the morning and asked me would I do good for him alone without reputation." Later in 1850, she visited the Lutheran religious community at Kaiserswerth-am-Rhein in Germany, where she observed Pastor Theodor Fliedner and the deaconesses working for the sick and the deprived. She regarded the experience as a turning point in her life, and issued her findings anonymously in 1851; The Institution of Kaiserswerth on the Rhine, for the Practical Training of Deaconesses, etc. was her first published work; she also received four months of medical training at the institute which formed the basis for her later care.
On 22 August 1853, Nightingale took the post of superintendent at the Institute for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen in Upper Harley Street, London, a position she held until October 1854. Her father had given her an annual income of £500 (roughly £40,000/US$65,000 in present terms), which allowed her to live comfortably and to pursue her career.
Crimean War
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| Service Award issued by Queen Victoria |
Nightingale arrived early in November 1854 at Selimiye Barracks in Scutari (modern-day Üsküdar in Istanbul). Her team found that poor care for wounded soldiers was being delivered by overworked medical staff in the face of official indifference. Medicines were in short supply, hygiene was being neglected, and mass infections were common, many of them fatal. There was no equipment to process food for the patients.
After Nightingale sent a plea to The Times for a government solution to the poor condition of the facilities, the British Government commissioned Isambard Kingdom Brunel to design a prefabricated hospital which could be built in England and shipped to the Dardanelles. The result was Renkioi Hospital, a civilian facility which under the management of Dr. Edmund Alexander Parkes had a death rate less than 1/10th that of Scutari.
The first edition of the Dictionary of National Biography (1911) asserted that Nightingale reduced the death rate from 42% to 2% either by making improvements in hygiene herself or by calling for the Sanitary Commission. However, death rates actually began to rise to the highest of all hospitals in the region. During her first winter at Scutari, 4,077 soldiers died there. Ten times more soldiers died from illnesses such as typhus, typhoid, cholera and dysentery than from battle wounds. With overcrowding, defective sewers and lack of ventilation, the Sanitary Commission had to be sent out by the British government to Scutari in March 1855, almost six months after Florence Nightingale had arrived. The commission flushed out the sewers and improved ventilation. Death rates were sharply reduced, but she did not recognise hygiene as the predominant cause of death at the time and never claimed credit for helping to reduce the death rate. In 2001 and 2008 the BBC released documentaries which were highly critical of Nightingale's performance in the Crimean War, as were several follow on articles published in The Guardian and the Sunday Times. Nightingale scholar Lynn McDonald has dismissed these criticism as "often preposterous", arguing they are not supported by the primary sources.
Nightingale still believed that the death rates were due to poor nutrition, lack of supplies and overworking of the soldiers. After she returned to Britain and began collecting evidence before the Royal Commission on the Health of the Army, she came to believe that most of the soldiers at the hospital were killed by poor living conditions. This experience influenced her later career, when she advocated sanitary living conditions as of great importance. Consequently, she reduced peacetime deaths in the army and turned attention to the sanitary design of hospitals.
The Lady with the Lamp
During the Crimean war, Florence Nightingale gained the nickname "The Lady with the Lamp" from a phrase in a report in The Times:She is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow's face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds.
The phrase was further popularised by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1857 poem "Santa Filomena":
Lo! in that house of misery
A lady with a lamp I see
Pass through the glimmering gloom,
And flit from room to room.
Training of Nurses
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| 1856 Hosptial Ward, Lithograph by Scutari |
Nightingale had £45,000 at her disposal from the Nightingale Fund to set up the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas' Hospital on 9 July 1860. The first trained Nightingale nurses began work on 16 May 1865 at the Liverpool Workhouse Infirmary. Now called the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, the school is part of King's College London. She also campaigned and raised funds for the Royal Buckinghamshire Hospital in Aylesbury near her family home.
Nightingale wrote Notes on Nursing (1859). The book served as the cornerstone of the curriculum at the Nightingale School and other nursing schools, though it was written specifically for the education of those nursing at home. Nightingale wrote "Every day sanitary knowledge, or the knowledge of nursing, or in other words, of how to put the constitution in such a state as that it will have no disease, or that it can recover from disease, takes a higher place. It is recognised as the knowledge which every one ought to have – distinct from medical knowledge, which only a profession can have".
Notes on Nursing also sold well to the general reading public and is considered a classic introduction to nursing. Nightingale spent the rest of her life promoting and organizing the nursing profession. In the introduction to the 1974 edition, Joan Quixley of the Nightingale School of Nursing wrote: "The book was the first of its kind ever to be written. It appeared at a time when the simple rules of health were only beginning to be known, when its topics were of vital importance not only for the well-being and recovery of patients, when hospitals were riddled with infection, when nurses were still mainly regarded as ignorant, uneducated persons. The book has, inevitably, its place in the history of nursing, for it was written by the founder of modern nursing".
As Mark Bostridge has recently demonstrated, one of Nightingale's signal achievements was the introduction of trained nurses into the workhouse system in England and Ireland from the 1860s onwards. This meant that sick paupers were no longer being cared for by other, able-bodied paupers, but by properly trained nursing staff.
Though Nightingale is sometimes said to have denied the theory of infection for her entire life, a recent biography disagrees, saying that she was simply opposed to a precursor of germ theory known as "contagionism". This theory held that diseases could only be transmitted by touch. Before the experiments of the mid-1860s by Pasteur and Lister, hardly anyone took germ theory seriously; even afterwards, many medical practitioners were unconvinced. Bostridge points out that in the early 1880s Nightingale wrote an article for a textbook in which she advocated strict precautions designed, she said, to kill germs. Nightingale's work served as an inspiration for nurses in the American Civil War. The Union government approached her for advice in organizing field medicine. Although her ideas met official resistance, they inspired the volunteer body of the United States Sanitary Commission.
In the 1870s, Nightingale mentored Linda Richards, "America's first trained nurse", and enabled her to return to the USA with adequate training and knowledge to establish high-quality nursing schools. Linda Richards went on to become a great nursing pioneer in the USA and Japan.
By 1882, several Nightingale nurses had become matrons at several leading hospitals, including, in London (St Mary's Hospital, Westminster Hospital, St Marylebone Workhouse Infirmary and the Hospital for Incurables at Putney) and throughout Britain (Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley; Edinburgh Royal Infirmary; Cumberland Infirmary and Liverpool Royal Infirmary), as well as at Sydney Hospital in New South Wales, Australia.
In 1883, Nightingale was awarded the Royal Red Cross by Queen Victoria. In 1904, she was appointed a Lady of Grace of the Order of St John (LGStJ). In 1907, she became the first woman to be awarded the Order of Merit. In the following year she was given the Honorary Freedom of the City of London. Her birthday is now celebrated as International CFS Awareness Day.
Death
 |
| Grave of Florence Nightingale |
On 13 August 1910, at the age of 90, she died peacefully in her sleep in her room at 10 South Street, Mayfair, London. The offer of burial in Westminster Abbey was declined by her relatives and she is buried in the graveyard at St. Margaret Church in East Wellow, Hampshire. She left a large body of work, including several hundred notes which were previously unpublished.
Contributions and Legacy
Statistics and sanitary reform
"Diagram of the causes of mortality in the army in the East" by Florence Nightingale.
Indeed, Nightingale is described as "a true pioneer in the graphical representation of statistics", and is credited with developing a form of the pie chart now known as the polar area diagram, or occasionally the Nightingale rose diagram, equivalent to a modern circular histogram, in order to illustrate seasonal sources of patient mortality in the military field hospital she managed. Nightingale called a compilation of such diagrams a "coxcomb", but later that term would frequently be used for the individual diagrams. She made extensive use of coxcombs to present reports on the nature and magnitude of the conditions of medical care in the Crimean War to Members of Parliament and civil servants who would have been unlikely to read or understand traditional statistical reports.
In her later life Nightingale made a comprehensive statistical study of sanitation in Indian rural life and was the leading figure in the introduction of improved medical care and public health service in India. In 1858 and 1859 she successfully lobbied for the establishment of a Royal Commission into the Indian situation. Two years later she provided a report to the commission, which completed its own study in 1863. "After 10 years of sanitary reform, in 1873, Nightingale reported that mortality among the soldiers in India had declined from 69 to 18 per 1,000".
In 1859 Nightingale was elected the first female member of the Royal Statistical Society and she later became an honorary member of the American Statistical Association.
Nursing
Blue plaque for Nightingale in South Street, Mayfair
Florence Nightingale's lasting contribution has been her role in founding the modern nursing profession. She set an example of compassion, commitment to patient care and diligent and thoughtful hospital administration. In addition to the continued operation of the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery at King's College London, The Nightingale Building in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Southampton is also named after her. International Nurses Day is celebrated on her birthday each year.
The Florence Nightingale Declaration Campaign, established by nursing leaders throughout the world through the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health (NIGH), aims to build a global grassroots movement to achieve two United Nations Resolutions for adoption by the UN General Assembly of 2008. They will declare: The International Year of the Nurse–2010 (the centennial of Nightingale's death); The UN Decade for a Healthy World–2011 to 2020 (the bicentennial of Nightingale's birth). NIGH also works to rekindle awareness about the important issues highlighted by Florence Nightingale, such as preventive medicine and holistic health. So far, the Florence Nightingale Declaration has been signed by over 18,500 signatories from 86 countries.
During the Vietnam War, Nightingale inspired many U.S. Army nurses, sparking a renewal of interest in her life and work. Her admirers include Country Joe of Country Joe and the Fish, who has assembled an extensive website in her honour.
The Agostino Gemelli Medical School in Rome, the first university-based hospital in Italy and one of its most respected medical centres, honoured Nightingale's contribution to the nursing profession by giving the name "Bedside Florence" to a wireless computer system it developed to assist nursing.
In 1912 the International Committee of the Red Cross instituted the Florence Nightingale Medal, awarded every two years to nurses or nursing aides for outstanding service.
Florence Nightingale Medal
 |
| Florence Nightingale Medal |
It was initially set up to be awarded to six nurses annually, although the first 42 awards were only made in 1920 because of the First World War.
The medal was restricted to female nurses until regulation changes in 1991. Under the new regulations it is open to both women and men, and is awarded every two years to a maximum number of fifty recipients worldwide. Each recipient is given a medal and a diploma, usually presented by the Head of State at a ceremony in their own country, which is required to have "a formal character, in keeping with the founders' wishes". In 2007, the 41st set of medals were awarded. The 35 recipients from 18 countries in that year, brought the total number of medals awarded to 1,309. In 2009, the 42nd set of medals were awarded. The 28 recipients from 15 countries in that year (including for the first time to an Afghan nurse), brought the total number of medals awarded to 1,337. In 2011, the 43rd set of medals were awarded. The 39 recipients from 19 countries in that year (including for the first time to two Kenyan nurses), brought the total number of medals awarded to 1376.
Publications
| “ | Nightingale's achievements are all the more impressive when they are considered against the background of social restraints on women in Victorian England. Her father, William Edward Nightingale, was an extremely wealthy landowner, and the family moved in the highest circles of English society. In those days, women of Nightingale's class did not attend universities and did not pursue professional careers; their purpose in life was to marry and bear children. Nightingale was fortunate. Her father believed women should be educated, and he personally taught her Italian, Latin, Greek, philosophy, history and - most unusual of all for women of the time - writing and mathematics. | ” |
While better known for her contributions in the nursing and mathematical fields, Nightingale is also an important link in the study of English feminism. During 1850 and 1852, she was struggling with her self-definition and the expectations of an upper-class marriage from her family. As she sorted out her thoughts, she wrote Suggestions for Thought to Searchers after Religious Truth. This was an 829 page, three-volume work, which Nightingale had printed privately in 1860, but which until recently was never published in its entirety. An effort to correct this was made with a 2008 publication by Wilfrid Laurier University, as volume 11 of a 16 volume project, the Collected Works of Florence Nightingale. The best known of these essays, called Cassandra, was previously published by Ray Strachey in 1928. Strachey included it in The Cause, a history of the women's movement. Apparently, the writing served its original purpose of sorting out thoughts; Nightingale left soon after to train at the Institute for deaconesses at Kaiserswerth.
Cassandra protests the over-feminization of women into near helplessness, such as Nightingale saw in her mother's and older sister's lethargic lifestyle, despite their education. She rejected their life of thoughtless comfort for the world of social service. The work also reflects her fear of her ideas being ineffective, as were Cassandra's. Cassandra was a princess of Troy who served as a priestess in the temple of Apollo during the Trojan War. The god gave her the gift of prophecy; when she refused his advances, he cursed her so that her prophetic warnings would go unheeded. Elaine Showalter called Nightingale's writing "a major text of English feminism, a link between Wollstonecraft and Woolf.
- Nightingale, Florence (1979). Cassandra. First published 1852: 1979 reprint by The Feminist Press. ISBN 0-912670-55-X. Retrieved 6 July 2010
- "Notes on Nursing: What Nursing Is, What Nursing is Not". Philadelphia, London, Montreal: J.B. Lippincott Co. 1946 reprint (First published London, 1859: Harrison & Sons). Retrieved 6 July 2010
- Nightingale, Florence; McDonald, Lynn (2001). Florence Nightingale's Spiritual Journey: Biblical Annotations, Sermons and Journal Notes. Collected Works of Florence Nighingale (Editor Lynn McDonald). 2. Ontario, Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. ISBN 0-88920-366-0. Retrieved 6 July 2010
- Florence Nightingale's Theology: Essays, Letters and Journal Notes. Collected Works of Florence Nighingale (Editor Lynn McDonald). 3. Ontario, Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. 2002. ISBN 0-88920-371-7. Retrieved 6 July 2010
- Nightingale, Florence; Vallée, GéRard (2003). Mysticism and Eastern Religions. Collected Works of Florence Nighingale (Editor Gerard Vallee). 4. Ontario, Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. ISBN 0-88920-413-6. Retrieved 6 July 2010
- Nightingale, Florence; McDonald, Lynn (2008). Suggestions for Thought. Collected Works of Florence Nighingale (Editor Lynn McDonald). 11. Ontario, Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. ISBN 978-0-88920-465-2. Retrieved 6 July 2010. Privately printed by Nightingale in 1860.
- Notes on Nursing for the Labouring Classes. London: Harrison. 1861. Retrieved 6 July 2010
- The Family, a critical essay in Fraser's Magazine (1870)
- "Introductory Notes on Lying-In Institutions". together with A Proposal for Organising an Institution for Training Midwives and Midwifery Nurses (London: Longmans, Green & Co) 5 (106): 22. 1871. Bibcode 1871Natur...5...22. doi:10.1038/005022a0. Retrieved 6 July 2010
- Una and the Lion. Cambridge: Riverside Press. 1871. Retrieved 6 July 2010. Note: First few pages missing. Title page is present.
- "Una and Her Paupers, Memorials of Agnes Elizabeth Jones, by her sister". with an introduction by Florence Nightingale (New York: George Routledge and Sons, 1872). Retrieved 6 July 2010. See also 2005 publication by Diggory Press, ISBN 978-1-905363-22-3
- Letters from Egypt: A Journey on the Nile 1849-1850 (1987) ISBN 1-55584-204-6
Hospitals
Four hospitals in Istanbul are named after Nightingale: F. N. Hastanesi in Şişli (the biggest private hospital in Turkey), Metropolitan F.N. Hastanesi in Gayrettepe, Avrupa F.N. Hastanesi in Mecidiyeköy, and Kızıltoprak F.N. Hastanesi in Kadiköy, all belonging to the Turkish Cardiology Foundation.An appeal is being considered for the former Derbyshire Royal Infirmary hospital in Derby, England to be named after Nightingale. The suggested new name will be either Nightingale Community Hospital or Florence Nightingale Community Hospital. The area in which the hospital lies in Derby has recently been referred to as the "Nightingale Quarter".
Museums and monuments
 |
| Derby Royal Infirmary Statue |
A remarkable stained glass window was commissioned for inclusion in the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary chapel in the late 1950s. When the chapel was later demolished the window was removed, stored and replaced in the new replacement chapel. At the closure of the DRI the window was again removed and stored. In October 2010, £6,000 was raised by friends of the window and St Peters Church to reposition the window in St Peters Church, Derby. The remarkable work features nine panels, of the original ten, depicting scenes of hospital life, Derby townscapes and Florence Nightingale herself. Some of the work was damaged and the tenth panel was dismantled for the glass to be used in repair of the remaining panels. All the figures, who are said to be modelled on prominent Derby town figures of the early sixties, surround and praise a central pane of the triumphant Christ. A nurse who posed for the top right panel in 1959 attended the rededication service in October 2010.
The Florence Nightingale Museum at St Thomas' Hospital in London reopened in May 2010 in time for the centenary of Nightingale's death. Another museum devoted to her is at her sister's family home, Claydon House, now a property of the National Trust.
Upon the centenary of Nightingale's death in 2010, and to commemorate her connection with Malvern, the Malvern Museum held a Florence Nightingale exhibit with a school poster competition to promote some events.
In Istanbul, the northernmost tower of the Selimiye Barracks building is now a Florence Nightingale Museum. and in several of its rooms, relics and reproductions relevant to Florence Nightingale and her nurses are on exhibition.
When Nightingale moved on to the Crimea itself in May 1855, she often travelled on horseback to make hospital inspections. She later transferred to a mule cart and was reported to have escaped serious injury when the cart was toppled in an accident. Following this episode, she used a solid Russian-built carriage, with a waterproof hood and curtains. The carriage was returned to England by Alexis Soyer after the war and subsequently given to the Nightingale training school for nurses. The carriage was damaged when the hospital was bombed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. It was later restored and transferred to the Army Medical Services Museum in Mytchett, Surrey, near Aldershot.
A bronze plaque, attached to the plinth of the Crimean Memorial in the Haydarpaşa Cemetery, Istanbul and unveiled on Empire Day, 1954, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of her nursing service in that region, bears the inscription:
"To Florence Nightingale, whose work near this Cemetery a century ago relieved much human suffering and laid the foundations for the nursing profession."
References
- Baly, Monica E. and H. C. G. Matthew, "Nightingale, Florence (1820–1910)"; Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press (2004); online edn, May 2005 accessed 28 October 2006
- Bostridge, Mark (2008). Florence Nightingale: The Woman and Her Legend. London: Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-87411-8.
- Gill, G. The extraordinary upbringing and curious life of Miss Florence Nightingale Random House, New York (2005)
- Kelly, Heather (1998). Florence Nightingale's autobiographical notes: A critical edition of BL Add. 45844 (M.A. thesis). Wilfrid Laurier University.
- Lytton Strachey; Eminent Victorians, London (1918)
- McDonald, Lynn ed., Collected Works of Florence Nightingale. Wilfrid Laurier University Press
- Pugh, Martin; The march of the women: A revisionist analysis of the campaign for women's suffrage 1866-1914, Oxford (2000), at 55.
- Sokoloff, Nancy Boyd.; Three Victorian women who changed their world, Macmillan, London (1982)
- Webb, Val; The Making of a Radical Theologician, Chalice Press (2002)
- Woodham Smith, Cecil; Florence Nightingale, Penguin (1951), rev. 1955
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FEATURED BOOK
THE MYSTICAL CITY OF GOD
Mystical City of God, the miracle of His omnipotence and the abyss of His grace the divine history and life of the Virgin Mother of God our Queen and our Lady, most holy Mary expiatrix of the fault of eve and mediatrix of grace. Manifested to Sister Mary of Jesus, Prioress of the convent of the Immaculate Conception in Agreda, Spain. For new enlightenment of the world, for rejoicing of the Catholic Church, and encouragement of men. Completed in 1665.
THE DIVINE HISTORY AND LIFE OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD
Venerable Mary of Agreda
Translated from the Spanish by Reverend George J. Blatter
1914, So. Chicago, Ill., The Theopolitan; Hammond, Ind., W.B. Conkey Co., US..
IMPRIMATUR: +H.J. Alerding Bishop of Fort Wayne
Translation from the Original Authorized Spanish Edition by Fiscar Marison (George J. Blatter). Begun on the Feast of the Assumption 1902, completed 1912.
This work is published for the greater Glory of Jesus Christ through His most Holy Mother Mary and for the sanctification of the Church and her members.
Book 5, Chapter 6
BAPTISM
OF CHRIST. HIS FAST. MARY’S DOINGS DURING THESE EVENTS
Leaving his beloved Mother in the
poor dwelling at Nazareth, our Redeemer, without accompaniment of any
human creature, but altogether taken up with the exercise of his most
ardent charity, pursued his journey to the Jordan, where, in the
neighborhood of a town called Bethany, otherwise called Betharaba, on
the farther side of the river, his Precursor was preaching and
baptizing. At the first steps from the house, our Redeemer, raising
his eyes to the eternal Father, offered up to Him anew with an
infinite love, whatever He was now about to begin for the salvation
of mankind: his labors, sorrows, passion and death of the Cross,
assumed for them in obedience to the eternal Will, the natural grief
at parting as a true and loving Son from his Mother and at leaving
her sweet company, which for twenty–nine years He had now
enjoyed. The Lord of all creation walked alone, without show and
ostentation of human retinue. The supreme King of kings and Lord of
lords (Apoc. 19, 16), was unknown and despised by his own vassals,
vassals so much his own, that they owed their life and preservation
entirely to Him. His royal outfit was nothing but the utmost poverty
and destitution.
While proceeding
on his way to the Jordan our Savior dispensed his ancient mercies by
relieving the necessities of body and soul in many of those whom He
encountered at different places. Yet this was always done in secret;
for before his Baptism He gave no public token of his divine power
and his exalted office. Before appearing at the Jordan, He filled the
heart of saint John with new light and joy, which changed and
elevated his soul. Perceiving these new workings of grace within
himself, he reflected upon them full of wonder, saying: “What
mystery is this? What presentiments of happiness? From the moment
when I recognized the presence of my Lord in the womb of my mother, I
have not felt such stirring of my soul as now! Is it possible that He
is now happily come, or that the Savior of the world is now near me?”
Upon this enlightenment of the Baptist followed an intellectual
vision, wherein he perceived with greater clearness the mystery of
the hypostatic union of the person of the Word with the humanity and
other mysteries of the Redemption. In the fulness of this
intellectual light he gave the testimonies, which are recorded by
saint John in his Gospel and which occurred while the Lord was in the
desert and afterwards, when He returned to the banks of the Jordan.
The Evangelist mentions one of these public testimonies as happening
at the interpellation of the Jews, and the other when the Precursor
exclaimed: “Behold the lamb of God,” as I shall
narrate later on (John 1, 36). Although the Baptist had been
instructed in great mysteries, when he was commanded to go forth to
preach and baptize; yet all of them were manifested to him anew and
with greater clearness and abundance on this occasion, and he was
then notified that the Savior of the world was coming to be baptized.
The Lord then joined the multitude and asked
Baptism of saint John as one of the rest. The Baptist knew Him and,
falling at his feet, hesitated, saying: “I have need of being
baptized, and Thou, Lord, askest Baptism of me?” as is recorded
by saint Matthew. But the Savior answered: “Suffer it to be so
now. For so it becometh us to fulfill all justice.”
When saint John had finished baptizing our Lord,
the heavens opened and the Holy Ghost descended visibly in the form
of a dove upon his head and the voice of his Father was heard: “This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matth. 3, 17).
Many of the bystanders heard this voice, namely, those who were not
worthy of such a wonderful favor; they also saw the Holy Ghost
descending upon the Savior. This was the most convincing proof which
could ever be given of the Divinity of the Savior, as well on the
part of the Father, who acknowledged Him his Son, as also in to the
nature of the testimony given; for without any reserve was Christ
manifested as the true God, equal to his eternal Father in substance
and in perfection. The Father himself wished to be the first to
testify to the Divinity of Christ in order that by virtue of his
testimony all the other witnesses might be ratified. There was also
another mystery in this voice of the eternal Father: it was as it
were a restoration of the honor or Son before the world and a
recompense for his having thus humiliated Himself by receiving the
Baptism of the remission of sins, though He was entirely free from
fault and never could have upon Him the guilt of (Heb. 7, 26).
Let us return now to the main subject of this
history, namely, to the occupations of our great Queen and Lady. As
soon as her most holy Son was baptized, although She knew by the
divine light of his movements, the holy angels who had attended upon
their Lord brought Her intelligence of all that had happened at the
Jordan; they were those that carried the ensigns or shields of the
passion of the Savior, as described in the first part. To celebrate
all these mysteries of Christ’s Baptism and the public
proclamation of his Divinity, the most prudent Mother composed new
hymns and canticle of praise and of incomparable thanksgiving to the
Most High and to the incarnate Word. All his actions of humility and
prayers She imitated, exerting Herself by many acts of her own to
accompany and follow Him in all of them. With ardent charity She
interceded for men, that they might profit by the sacrament of
Baptism and that it might be administered all over the world. In
addition to these prayers and hymns of thanksgiving, She asked the
heavenly courtiers to help Her in magnifying her most holy Son for
having thus humiliated Himself in receiving Baptism at the hands of
one of his creatures.
Without delay Christ our Lord pursued
his journey from the Jordan to the desert after his Baptism. Only his
holy angels attended and accompanied Him, serving and worshipping
Him, singing the divine praises on account of what He was now about
to undertake for the salvation of mankind. He came to the place
chosen by Him for his fast: a desert spot among bare and beetling
rocks, where there was also a cavern much concealed. Here He halted,
choosing it for his habitation during the days of his fast (Matth. 4,
1). In deepest humility He prostrated Himself upon the ground which
was always the prelude of his prayer and that of his most blessed
Mother. He praised the eternal Father and gave Him thanks for the
works of his divine right hand and for having according to his
pleasure afforded Him this retirement. In a suitable manner He
thanked even this desert for accepting his presence and keeping Him
hidden from the world during the time He was to spend there. He
continued his prayers prostrate in the form of a cross, this was his
most frequent occupation in the desert; for in this manner He often
prayed to the eternal Father for the salvation of men.
After the Savior
had begun his fast He persevered therein without eating anything for
forty days, offering his fast to the eternal Father as a satisfaction
for the disorder and sins to which men are drawn by the so vile and
debasing, yet so common and even esteemed vice of gluttony. Just as
our Lord overcame this vice so He also vanquished all the rest, and
He made recompense to the eternal Judge and supreme Legislator for
the injuries perpetrated through these vices by men. According to the
enlightenment vouchsafed to me, our Savior, in order to assume the
office of Preacher and Teacher and to become our Mediator and
Redeemer before the Father, thus vanquished all the vices of mortals
and He satisfied the offenses committed through them by the exercises
of the virtues contrary to them, just as He did in regard to
gluttony. Although He continued this exercise during all his life
with the most ardent charity, yet during his fast He directed in a
special manner all his efforts
toward this purpose.
A loving Father, whose sons have
committed great crimes for which they are to endure the most horrible
punishment, sacrifices all his possessions in order ward off their
impending fate: so our most loving Father and Brother, Jesus Christ,
wished to pay our debts. In satisfaction for our pride He offered his
profound humility; for our avarice, his voluntary poverty and total
privation of all that was his; for our base and lustful inclinations,
his penance and austerity; for our hastiness and vengeful anger, his
meekness and charity toward his enemies; for our negligence and
laziness, his ceaseless labors; for our deceitfulness and our envy,
his candid and upright sincerity and truthfulness and the sweetness
of his loving interactions. In this manner He continued to appease
the just Judge and solicited pardon for us disobedient and bastard
children; and He not only obtained this pardon for them, but He
merited for them new graces and favors, so that they might make
themselves worthy of his company and of the vision of his Father and
his own inheritance for all eternity. Though He could have obtained
all this for us by the most insignificant of his works; yet He acted
not like we. He demonstrated his love so abundantly, that our
ingratitude and hardness of heart will have no excuse.
In order to keep
informed of the doings of our Savior the most blessed Mary needed no
other assistance than her continual visions and revelations; but in
addition to all these, She made use of the service of her holy
angels, whom She sent to her divine Son. The Lord himself thus
ordered it, in order that, by means of these faithful messengers,
both He and She might rejoice in the sentiments and thoughts of their
inmost hearts faithfully rehearsed by these celestial messengers; and
thus They each heard the very same words as uttered by Each, although
both Son and Mother already knew them in another way. As soon as the
great Lady understood that our Redeemer was on the way to the desert
to fulfill his intention, She locked the doors of her dwelling,
without letting any one know of her presence; and her retirement
during the time of our Lord’s fast was so complete, that her
neighbors thought that She had left with
her divine Son. She entered into her oratory and remained there for
forty days and nights without ever leaving it and without eating
anything, just as She knew was done by her most holy Son. Both of
them observed the same course of rigorous fasting. In all his prayers
and exercises, his prostrations and genuflections She followed our
Savior, not omitting any of them; moreover She performed them just at
the same time; for, leaving aside all other occupations, She thus
profited by the information obtained from the angels and by that
other knowledge, which I have already described. Whether He was
present or not, She knew the interior operations of the soul of
Christ. All his bodily movements, which She had been wont to perceive
with her own senses, She now knew by intellectual vision or through
her holy angels.
While the Savior was in the desert He
made every day three hundred genuflections, which also was done by
our Queen Mary in her oratory; the other portion of her time She
spent in composing hymns with the angels, as I have said in the last
chapter. Thus imitating Christ the Lord, the Holy Queen co–operated
with Him in all his prayers and petitions, gaining the same victories
over the vices, and on her part proportionately satisfying for them
by her virtues and her exertions. Thus it happened, that, while
Christ as our Redeemer gained for us so many blessings and abundantly
paid all our debts, most holy Mary, as his Helper and our Mother,
lent us her merciful intercession and became our Mediatrix to the
fullest extent possible to a mere creature.
Christ the Savior
permitted the evil one to remain under the false impression, that He was a
mere human creature though very holy and just; He wished to raise his
courage and malice for the contest, for such is the effect of any
advantages espied by the devil in his attacks upon the victims of his
temptations. Rousing his courage by his own arrogance, he began this
battle in the wilderness with greater prowess and fierceness than the
demons ever exhibited in their battles with men. The evil one and his
satellites strained all their power and malice, lashing themselves
into fury against the superior strength which they soon found in
Christ our Lord. Yet our Savior tempered all his actions with divine
wisdom and goodness, and in justice and equity concealed the secret
source of his infinite power, exhibiting just so much as would
suffice to prove Him to be a man so far advanced in holiness as to be
able to gain these victories against the infernal foes. In order to
begin the battle as man, He directed a prayer to the eternal Father
from his inmost soul, to which the intelligence of the demon could
not penetrate, saying: “My Father and eternal God, I now enter
into battle with the enemy in order to crush his power and humble his
pride and his malice against my beloved souls. For thy glory, and for
the benefit of souls I submit to the daring presumption of evile one. I
wish thereby to crush his head in order that when mortals are
attacked by his temptations without their fault, they may find his
arrogance already broken. I beseech Thee, my Father, to remember my
battle and victory in favor of mortals assailed by the
common enemy. Strengthen their weakness through my triumph, let them
obtain victory; let them be encouraged by my example, and let them
learn from Me how to resist and overcome their enemies.
During this battle
the holy angels that attended upon Christ were hidden from the sight
of the evil one, in order that he might not begin to understand and
suspect the divine power of our Savior. The holy spirits gave glory
and praise to the Father and the Holy Ghost, who rejoiced in the
works of the incarnate Word. The most blessed Virgin also from her
oratory witnessed the battle in the manner
to be described below. The temptation of Christ began on the
thirty–fifth day of his fast in the desert, and lasted to the
end of the fast, as related by the Evangelists. The evil one assumed the
shape of a man and presented himself before the Lord as a stranger,
who had never seen or known Him before. He clothed himself in
refulgent light, like that of an angel, and conjecturing that the
Lord after his long fast must be suffering great hunger, he said to
Him: “If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be
made bread (Matth. 4, 3). By thus cunningly resting his advice on the
supposition of his being the Son of God, the demon sought some
information on what was giving him the greatest concern. But the
Savior of the world answered only in these few words: “Not in
bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from
mouth of God.”
The evil one found himself repulsed by the force or
answer and by the hidden power which accompanied it; but he wished to
show no weakness, nor desist from the contest. The Lord allowed the
demon to continue in his temptation and for this purpose permitted
Himself carried by the devil bodily to Jerusalem and to be placed on
the pinnacle of the temple. Here the Lord could see multitudes of
people, though He himself was not seen by anybody. The evil one tried to
arouse in the Lord, the vain desire of casting Himself down from this
high place, so that the crowds of men, seeing Him unhurt, might
proclaim Him as a great and wonderful man of God. Again using the
words of the holy Scriptures, he said to Him: “If Thou be the
Son of God, cast Thyself down, for it is written (Ps. 90, 11): that
He hath given his angels charge over Thee, and in their hands they
shall bear Thee up, lest perhaps Thou dash thy foot against a stone”
(Matth. 4, 6). The heavenly spirits who accompanied their King, were
full of wonder that He should permit Lucifer to carry Him bodily in
his hands, solely for the benefit of mortal man. With the prince of
darkness were gathered innumerable demons; for on that occasion hell
was almost emptied of its inhabitants in order to furnish assistance
for this enterprise. The Author of wisdom answered: “It is also
written: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Deut. 6, 16).
While giving these answers the Redeemer of the world exhibited a
matchless meekness, profoundest humility, and a majesty so superior
to all the attempts of satan, as was of itself alone sufficient to
crush Lucifer’s arrogance and to cause him torments and
confusion never felt before.
Being thus foiled, he attacked our Lord in still
another way, seeking to rouse his ambition by offering Him some share
in his dominion. For this purpose he took the Lord upon a high mount,
from whence could be seen many lands, and said to Him with perfidious
daring: “All these will I give to Thee, if falling down, Thou
wilt adore me” (Matth. 4, 9). Exorbitant boldness, and more
than insane madness and perfidy! Offering to the Lord what he did not
possess, nor ever could give, since the earth, the stars, the
kingdoms, principalities, riches and treasures, all belong to the
Lord, and He alone can give or withhold them when it serves and
pleases Him! Never can the evil one give anything, even not of the things
of the earth, and therefore all his promises are false. The King and
Lord answered with imperial majesty: “Begone, satan, for it is
written: The Lord thy God thou shalt adore, and Him only shalt thou
serve.” By this command, “Begone satan,” Christ the
Redeemer took away from the evil one permission further to tempt Him, and
hurled him and all his legions into the deepest abysses of hell.
There they found themselves entirely crushed and buried in its
deepest caverns, unable to move for three days. When they were
permitted again to rise, seeing themselves thus vanquished and
annihilated, they began to doubt whether He, who had so overwhelmed
them, might not be the incarnate Son of God. In this doubt and
uncertainty they remained, without ever being able to come to certain
conviction until the death of the Savior. The evil one was overcome by
hellish wrath at his defeat and was almost consumed in his fury.
Our divine Conqueror Christ then sang
hymns of praise and thanks to the eternal Father for having given Him
this triumph over the common enemy of God and man; and amid the
triumphal songs of a multitude of angels, He was borne back to the
desert. They carried Him in their hands, although He had not need of
their help, since He could make use of his own divine power; but this
service of the angels was due to Him in recompense for enduring the
audacity of the evil one in carrying to the pinnacle of the temple and to
the mountaintop the sacred humanity of Christ, in which dwelt
substantially and truly the Divinity itself. It would never have
entered into the thoughts of man, that the Lord should give such a
permission to the evil one, if it had been made known to us in the Gospels.
Let us return to Nazareth, where, in
her oratory, the Princess of the angels had witnessed the battles of
her most holy Son. She had seen them all by the divine light already
described and by the uninterrupted messages of her angels, who
brought them back and forth between the Savior and the blessed Queen.
She repeated the same prayers as the Lord and at the same time! She
entered likewise into the conflict with the dragon, though invisibly
and spiritually. From her retreat She anathemized and crushed Lucifer
and his followers co–operating in all the doings of Christ in
our favor. When She perceived that the demon carried the Lord from
place to place, She wept bitterly, because the malice of sin reduced
the King of kings to such misusage. In honor of all the victories,
which He gained over the devil, She composed hymns of praise to the
Divinity and the most holy humanity of Christ, while the angels set
them to music and were sent with them to congratulate Him for the
blessings won for the human race. Christ on his part sent back the
angels with words of sweet consolation and rejoicing on account of
his triumphs over the evil one.
The Master directed his most faithful steps toward
the Jordan, where his great Precursor saint John was still preaching
and baptizing. By his presence and appearance there He wished to
secure new testimony of his mission and Divinity through the mouth of
saint John. Moreover He was drawn by his own love to see and speak
with him, for during his Baptism the heart of the Precursor had
become inflamed and wounded by the divine love of the Savior, which
so resistlessly attracted all creatures. In the hearts which were
well disposed, as was that of saint John, the fire of love burned
with so much the greater ardor and violence. When the Baptist saw the
Savior coming to him the second time, his first words were those
recorded by the Evangelist: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him
who taketh away the sin of the world.” Saint John gave this
testimony while pointing out the Lord with his finger to those who
were listening to his instructions and were receiving Baptism at his
hands. He added: “This is He of whom I said: after me there
cometh a Man, who is preferred before me; because He was before me.
And I knew Him not; but that He may be made manifest in Israel,
therefore I am come baptizing with water.”
The two first
disciples of Christ who were with saint John at the time, heard this
testimony and, moved by it and by the light and grace interiorly
imparted to them began to follow the Lord. Benignly turning to
them the Lord asked them, what they sought (John 1, 38). They
answered that they wished to know where He lived; and the Lord bade
them follow. They were with him that day as saint John tells us. One
of them, he says, was saint Andrew, the brother of saint Peter; the
other he does not mention. But I was made to understand that it was
saint John himself, who in his great modesty, did not wish to give
his name. These two, then, saint John and saint Andrew, were the
first of the Baptist’s apostolate,
being the first of the disciples of the Baptist who followed the
Savior in consequence of his express testimony and without being
outwardly called by the Lord. Saint Andrew immediately sought his
brother Simon and took him along, saying that he had found the
Messias, who called Himself Christ. Looking upon Peter He said: “Thou
art the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is
interpreted Peter.” All this happened within the confines of
Judea and on the next day the Lord entered Galilee. There He found
saint Philip and called him to his following. Philip immediately
sought Nathanael and brought him to Jesus, telling him what had
happened and that they had found the Messias in the Person of Jesus
of Nazareth. Nathanael, having spoken with the Lord as recorded in
the first chapter of saint John’s Gospel, joined as the fifth
of the disciples of Christ.
With these five disciples, the first
stones in the foundation of the new Church, Christ, the Savior,
entered Galilee for the purpose of beginning his public preaching and
baptizing. In the Apostles thus called He enkindled, from the moment
of their joining the Master, a new light and fire of divine love and
showered upon them the sweetness of his blessings (Ps. 20, 4). It is
not possible worthily to describe the labors undergone by the divine
Teacher in the vocation and education of these and of the other
disciples, in order to found upon them the Church. He sought them out
with great diligence and solicitude; He urged them on frequently by
the powerful and efficacious help of his grace; He enlightened their
hearts and enriched them with incomparable gifts and blessings; He
received them with admirable kindness; He nourished them with the
sweetest milk of his doctrines; He bore with them with invincible
patience; He caressed them as a most loving Father caresses his
tender and darling sons. As our nature is base and uncouth material
for the exalted and exquisite aspirations of the Spirit, and as they
were to not only perfect disciples, but consummate masters of
perfection in the world and in the Church, the work of transforming
and raising them from their rough natural state into such a heavenly
and divine position by his instructions and example, necessarily was
a vast enterprise. In the performance of this work the Lord has left
a most exalted example of patience, and charity for all the prelates,
princes and whoever is charged with the guidance of subjects. Not
less significant for us sinners are the proofs of his fatherly
kindness: for He was not satisfied with simply bearing with their
faults and defects, their natural inclinations and passions but He
allowed his tender kindness to overflow thus wonderfully toward them,
in order that we might be cheered on to trust Him and not permit
ourselves to be dismayed amidst the countless imperfections and
weaknesses natural to our earthly existence.
By the means already mentioned the
Queen of heaven was informed of all the wonderful doings of our
Savior in the vocation of the Apostles and disciples and in his
public preaching. She gave thanks to the eternal Father for these the
first disciples, acknowledging and admitting them in imitation of her
Son as her spiritual children, and offering them to the divine
Majesty with new songs of praise and joy. On this occasion of the
choice of the first disciples She was favored by a new revelation of
the Most High in which She was informed again of his holy and eternal
decree concerning the Redemption of man and of the manner in which it
was to be executed in the preaching of his most holy Son.
The five disciples of the Lord begged
Him to grant them the consolation of seeing and reverencing his
mother. In accordance with their petition, He journeyed directly to
Nazareth through Galilee, continuing to preach and teach publicly on
the way and proclaiming Himself as the Master of truth and eternal
life. Many, carried away by the force of his doctrines and by the
light and grace overflowing into their hearts, began to listen to Him
and to follow Him; though He did not, for the present, call any more
to be his disciples. It is worthy of notice that though the five
disciples had conceived such an ardent devotion to the heavenly Lady
and though they saw with their own eyes how worthy She was of her
eminent position among creatures, yet they all maintained strict
silence about their thoughts.
The Savior then pursued his way to
Nazareth instructing his new children and disciples not only the
mysteries of faith, but in all virtues by word and example, as He
continued to do during the whole period of his evangelical preaching.
With this in view He searched out the poor and afflicted, consoled
the sick and sorrowful, visited the infirmaries and prisons,
performing miracles of mercy as well for body as for soul. Yet He did
not profess Himself as the Author of miracles until he attended the
marriage feast at Cana as I shall relate in the next chapter. While
the Savior proceeded on his journey his most holy Mother prepared to
receive him and his disciples at Nazareth; for She was aware of all
that happened, and therefore hospitably set her poor dwelling in
order and solicitously procured the necessary victuals beforehand for
their entertainment. Thus, just as the Son had in absence instilled
into their minds the reverence for the dignity of his Mother, so the
most prudent and faithful Mother, in the presence of her Son, wished
to instruct them in regard to the worship due to their divine Master,
as to their God and Redeemer. The profound humility and worship with
which the great Lady received Christ the Savior filled the disciples
with new devotion and reverential fear for their divine Master;
henceforth She served them as an example and model of true devotion,
entering at once into her office as Instructress and spiritual Mother
of the disciples of Christ by showing then how to converse with their
God and Redeemer. They were immediately drawn toward their Queen and
cast themselves on their knees before Her, asking to be received as
her sons and servants. The first to do this was saint John, who from
that time on distinguished himself in exalting and reverencing Mary
before all the apostles, while She on her part received him with an
especial love; for, besides his excelling in virginal chastity, he
was of a meek and humble disposition.
The great Lady received them all as
her guests, serving them their meals and combining the solicitude of
a Mother with the modesty and majesty of a Queen, so that She caused
admiration even in the holy angels. She served her divine Son on her
knees in deepest reverence. At the same time She spoke of the Majesty
of their Teacher and Redeemer to the Apostles instructing them in the
great doctrines of the Christian faith. During that night, when the
Apostles had retired, the Savior betook himself to the oratory of his
purest Mother as He had been wont to do, and She, the most Humble
among the humble, placed Herself at his feet as in the years gone by.
In regard to the practice of humility, all that She could do seemed
little to the great Queen, and much less than She ought to in view of
his infinite love and the immense gifts received at his hands. She
confessed Herself as useless as the dust of the earth. The Lord
lifted Her from the ground and spoke to Her words of life and eternal
salvation, yet quietly and serenely. For at this period He began to
treat Her with greater reserve in order to afford Her a chance of
merit, as I have mentioned when I spoke of this departure for the
desert and for his Baptism.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN
The Virgin Mary
speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain
My daughter, I see
thee much moved to emulation and desire by the great happiness of the
disciples of my most holy Son, and especially that of saint John, my
favored servant. It is certain that I loved him in a special manner;
because he was most pure and candid as a dove; and in the eyes of the
Lord he was very pleasing, both on account of his purity and on
account of his love toward me. His example should serve thee as a
spur to do that which my Son and I expect of thee. Thou art aware, my
dearest, that I am the most pure Mother and that I receive with
maternal affection those who fervently and devoutly desire to be my
children and servants in the Lord. By the love which He has given me,
I shall embrace them with open arms and shall be their Intercessor
and Advocate. Thy poverty, uselessness and weakness shall be for me
only a more urgent motive for manifesting toward thee my most
liberal kindness. Therefore, I call upon thee to
become my chosen and beloved daughter in the holy Church.
I shall, however, make the
fulfillment of my promise depend upon a service on thy part: namely,
that thou have a true and holy emulation of the love with which I
loved saint John, and of all the blessings flowing from it, by
imitating him as perfectly as thy powers will allow. Hence, thou must
promise to fulfill all that I now command thee, without failing in
the least point. I desire, then, that thou labor until all love of
self die within thee, that thou suppress all the effects of the first
sin until all the earthly inclinations consequent upon it are totally
extinguished; that thou seek to restore within thee that dove–like
sincerity and simplicity which destroys all malice and duplicity. In
all thy doings thou must be an angel, since the condescension of the
Most High with thee was so great as to furnish thee with the light
and intelligence more of an angel than that of a human creature. I
have procured for thee these great blessings and, therefore, it is
but reasonable on my part to expect thee to correspond with them in
thy works and in thy thoughts. In regard to me thou must cherish a
continual affection and loving desire of pleasing and serving me,
being always attentive to my counsels and having thy eyes fixed upon
me in order to know and execute what I command. Then shalt thou be my
true daughter, and I shall be thy Protectress and loving Mother.
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Catholic Catechism
PART THREE - THE LIFE OF THE CHRIST
SECTION ONE - MAN'S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT
CHAPTER ONE - THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
ARTICLE ONE - MAN THE IMAGE OF GOD
PART THREE
LIFE IN CHRIST
1691 "Christian, recognize your dignity and, now that you share in God's own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning. Remember who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Never forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of the Kingdom of God."1
1692 The Symbol of the faith confesses the greatness of God's gifts to man in his work of creation, and even more in redemption and sanctification. What faith confesses, the sacraments communicate: by the sacraments of rebirth, Christians have become "children of God,"2 "partakers of the divine nature."3 Coming to see in the faith their new dignity, Christians are called to lead henceforth a life "worthy of the gospel of Christ."4 They are made capable of doing so by the grace of Christ and the gifts of his Spirit, which they receive through the sacraments and through prayer.
1693 Christ Jesus always did what was pleasing to the Father,5 and always lived in perfect communion with him. Likewise Christ's disciples are invited to live in the sight of the Father "who sees in secret,"6 in order to become "perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."7
1694 Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, Christians are "dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" and so participate in the life of the Risen Lord.8 Following Christ and united with him,9 Christians can strive to be "imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love"10 by conforming their thoughts, words and actions to the "mind . . . which is yours in Christ Jesus,"11 and by following his example.12
1695 "Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God,"13 "sanctified . . . [and] called to be saints,"14 Christians have become the temple of the Holy Spirit.15 This "Spirit of the Son" teaches them to pray to the Father16 and, having become their life, prompts them to act so as to bear "the fruit of the Spirit"17 by charity in action. Healing the wounds of sin, the Holy Spirit renews us interiorly through a spiritual transformation.18 He enlightens and strengthens us to live as "children of light" through "all that is good and right and true."19
1696 The way of Christ "leads to life"; a contrary way "leads to destruction." The Gospel parable of the two ways remains ever present in the catechesis of the Church; it shows the importance of moral decisions for our salvation: "There are two ways, the one of life, the other of death; but between the two, there is a great difference."21
1697 Catechesis has to reveal in all clarity the joy and the demands of the way of Christ.22 Catechesis for the "newness of life"23 in him should be:
- a catechesis of the Holy Spirit, the interior Master of life according to Christ, a gentle guest and friend who inspires, guides, corrects, and strengthens this life;
- a catechesis of grace, for it is by grace that we are saved and again it is by grace that our works can bear fruit for eternal life;
- a catechesis of the beatitudes, for the way of Christ is summed up in the beatitudes, the only path that leads to the eternal beatitude for which the human heart longs;
- a catechesis of sin and forgiveness, for unless man acknowledges that he is a sinner he cannot know the truth about himself, which is a condition for acting justly; and without the offer of forgiveness he would not be able to bear this truth;
- a catechesis of the human virtues which causes one to grasp the beauty and attraction of right dispositions towards goodness;
- a catechesis of the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and charity, generously inspired by the example of the saints;
- a catechesis of the twofold commandment of charity set forth in the Decalogue;
- an ecclesial catechesis, for it is through the manifold exchanges of "spiritual goods" in the "communion of saints" that Christian life can grow, develop, and be communicated.
1698 The first and last point of reference of this catechesis will always be Jesus Christ himself, who is "the way, and the truth, and the life."24 It is by looking to him in faith that Christ's faithful can hope that he himself fulfills his promises in them, and that, by loving him with the same love with which he has loved them, they may perform works in keeping with their dignity:
I ask you to consider that our Lord Jesus Christ is your true head, and that you are one of his members. He belongs to you as the head belongs to its members; all that is his is yours: his spirit, his heart, his body and soul, and all his faculties. You must make use of all these as of your own, to serve, praise, love, and glorify God. You belong to him, as members belong to their head. And so he longs for you to use all that is in you, as if it were his own, for the service and glory of the Father.25 For to me, to live is Christ.26
SECTION ONE
MAN'S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT
1699 Life in the Holy Spirit fulfills the vocation of man (chapter one). This life is made up of divine charity and human solidarity (chapter two). It is graciously offered as salvation (chapter three).
CHAPTER ONE
THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
1700 The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God (article 1); it is fulfilled in his vocation to divine beatitude (article 2). It is essential to a human being freely to direct himself to this fulfillment (article 3). By his deliberate actions (article 4), the human person does, or does not, conform to the good promised by God and attested by moral conscience (article 5). Human beings make their own contribution to their interior growth; they make their whole sentient and spiritual lives into means of this growth (article 6). With the help of grace they grow in virtue (article 7), avoid sin, and if they sin they entrust themselves as did the prodigal son1 to the mercy of our Father in heaven (article 8). In this way they attain to the perfection of charity.
ARTICLE 1
MAN: THE IMAGE OF GOD
1701 "Christ, . . . in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, makes man fully manifest to himself and brings to light his exalted vocation."2 It is in Christ, "the image of the invisible God,"3 that man has been created "in the image and likeness" of the Creator. It is in Christ, Redeemer and Savior, that the divine image, disfigured in man by the first sin, has been restored to its original beauty and ennobled by the grace of God.4
1702 The divine image is present in every man. It shines forth in the communion of persons, in the likeness of the unity of the divine persons among themselves (cf. chapter two).
1703 Endowed with "a spiritual and immortal" soul,5 the human person is "the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake."6 From his conception, he is destined for eternal beatitude.
1704 The human person participates in the light and power of the divine Spirit. By his reason, he is capable of understanding the order of things established by the Creator. By free will, he is capable of directing himself toward his true good. He finds his perfection "in seeking and loving what is true and good."7
1705 By virtue of his soul and his spiritual powers of intellect and will, man is endowed with freedom, an "outstanding manifestation of the divine image."8
1706 By his reason, man recognizes the voice of God which urges him "to do what is good and avoid what is evil."9 Everyone is obliged to follow this law, which makes itself heard in conscience and is fulfilled in the love of God and of neighbor. Living a moral life bears witness to the dignity of the person.
1707 "Man, enticed by the Evil One, abused his freedom at the very beginning of history."10 He succumbed to temptation and did what was evil. He still desires the good, but his nature bears the wound of original sin. He is now inclined to evil and subject to error:
- Man is divided in himself. As a result, the whole life of men, both individual and social, shows itself to be a struggle, and a dramatic one, between good and evil, between light and darkness.11
1709 He who believes in Christ becomes a son of God. This filial adoption transforms him by giving him the ability to follow the example of Christ. It makes him capable of acting rightly and doing good. In union with his Savior, the disciple attains the perfection of charity which is holiness. Having matured in grace, the moral life blossoms into eternal life in the glory of heaven.
IN BRIEF
1710 "Christ . . . makes man fully manifest to man himself and brings to light his exalted vocation" (GS 22 § 1).
1711 Endowed with a spiritual soul, with intellect and with free will, the human person is from his very conception ordered to God and destined for eternal beatitude. He pursues his perfection in "seeking and loving what is true and good" (GS 15 § 2).
1712 In man, true freedom is an "outstanding manifestation of the divine image" (GS 17).
1713 Man is obliged to follow the moral law, which urges him "to do what is good and avoid what is evil" (cf. GS 16). This law makes itself heard in his conscience.
1714 Man, having been wounded in his nature by original sin, is subject to error and inclined to evil in exercising his freedom.
1715 He who believes in Christ has new life in the Holy Spirit. The moral life, increased and brought to maturity in grace, is to reach its fulfillment in the glory of heaven.
1 St. Leo the Great, Sermo 22 in nat. Dom., 3:PL 54,192C.
2 Jn 1:12; 1 Jn 3:1.
3 2 Pet 1:4.
4 Phil 1:27.
5 Cf. Jn 8:29.
6 Mt 6:6.
7 Mt 5:48.
8 Rom 6:11 and cf. 6:5; cf. Col 2:12.
9 Cf. Jn 15:5.
10 Eph 5:1-2.
11 Phil 2:5.
12 Cf. Jn 13:12-16.
13 2 Cor 6:11.
14 1 Cor 1:2.
15 Cf. 1 Cor 6:19.
16 Cf. Gal 4:6.
17 Gal 5:22,25.
18 Cf. Eph 4:23.
19 Eph 5:8, 9.
20 Mt 7:13; cf. Deut 30:15-20.
21 Didache 1,1:SCh 248, 140.
22 Cf. John Paul II, CT 29.
23 Rom 6:4.
24 Jn 14:6.
25 St. John Eudes, Tract. de admirabili corde Jesu, 1,5.
26 Phil 1:21.
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RE-CHARGE: Heaven Speaks to Young Adults
To all tween, teens and young adults, A Message from Jesus: "Through you I will flow powerful conversion graces to draw other young souls from darkness. My plan for young men and women is immense. Truly, the renewal will leap forward with the assistance of these individuals. Am I calling you? Yes. I am calling you. You feel the stirring in your soul as you read these words. I am with you. I will never leave you. Join My band of young apostles and I will give you joy and peace that you have never known. All courage, all strength will be yours. Together, we will reclaim this world for the Father. I will bless your families and all of your relationships. I will lead you to your place in the Kingdom. Only you can complete the tasks I have set out for you. Do not reject Me. I am your Jesus. I love you...Read this book, upload to your phones/ipads.computers and read a few pages everyday...and then Pay It Forward...
Reference
- Recharge: Directions For Our Times. Heaven Speaks to Young Adults. recharge.cc.
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