Contemplation, Reading 1 -Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17; Responsorial Psalm - Psalms 23:1-2, 2-3, 5, 6; Reading 2 -First Corinthians 15:20-26, 28; Gospel - Matthew 25:31-46, Pope Francis Message for 2018 World Day of Peace; Inspirational Hymns - Gregorian Chants; Our Lady of Medjugorje Message; Feast Day of Christ the King; History of Advent; Traditions of Advent; Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary; Acts of Reparation (Morning Offering, First Friday and First Saturday Devotions); Mystical City of God - Book 2 Chapter 6 and 7 Death of the parents of the Most Holy Mother Mary and espousal to Saint Joseph; Catholic Catechism - Part Four - The Christian Prayer - Section One - Prayer in the Christian Life - Chapter 3 The Life of Prayer - Article 3 The Prayer of the Hour of Jesus; RECHARGE: Heaven Speaks to Young Adults
Consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ Zarya Parx 2017
JESUS I TRUST IN YOU (Year of Mercy). "Always Trust in Jesus, He the beacon of light amongst the darkest clouds" ~ Zarya Parx 2016
Consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ Zarya Parx 2017
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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Liturgical Cycle: A - Gospel of Matthew - 34th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Feast of Christ the King of the Universe
Morning Offering
O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I
offer You the prayers, works, joys and sufferings of
this day, for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart,
in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, and
for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen.
Feast of Christ the King of the Universe
Morning Offering
O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I
offer You the prayers, works, joys and sufferings of
this day, for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart,
in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, and
for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen.
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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Inspirational Hymns
Illumination: Peaceful Gregorian Chants
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Our Lady of Medjugorje Monthly Messages
November 25, 2017 message from Our Lady of Medjugorje:
“Dear children! In this time of grace, I call you to prayer. Pray and seek peace, little children. He who came here on earth to give you His peace, regardless of who you are and what you are – He, my Son, your Brother – through me is calling you to conversion, because without God you do not have a future or eternal life. Therefore, believe, pray, live in grace, and for the expectation of your personal meeting with Him. Thank you for having responded to my call.” ~ Blessed Mother Mary, Queen of Peace, Our Lady of Medjugorje
November 2, 2017 message from Our Lady of Medjugorje:
Dear children, As I am looking at you gathered around me, your mother, I see many pure souls, many of my children who are seeking love and consolation, but no one is offering it to them. I also see those who are doing evil, because they do not have good examples; they have not come to know my Son. The good which is silent and is spread through pure souls is the strength which sustains this world. There is much sin, but there is also love. My Son is sending me to you - the mother who is the same for everyone - that I may teach you to love, to comprehend that you are brothers. He desires to help you.
Apostles of my love, a living desire of faith and love is sufficient, and my Son will accept it. But you must be worthy, you must have good will and open hearts. My Son enters into open hearts. I, as a mother, desire that you may all the better come to know my Son - God born of God – to come to know the greatness of His love which you need so much. He accepted your sins upon Himself and obtained redemption for you, and in return He asked that you love each other. My Son is love.
He loves all people without difference, all people of all countries and of all nations. If you, my children, would live the love of my Son, His kingdom would already be on earth. Therefore, apostles of my love, pray, pray that my Son and His love may be all the closer to you; that you may be an example of love and may help all those who have not come to know my Son. Never forget that my Son, one and triune, loves you. Love your shepherds and pray for them. Thank you. ~ Blessed Mother Mary, Queen of Peace, Our Lady of Medjugorje
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Papam Franciscus
(Pope Francis)
Pope Francis's message for 2018 World Day of Peace
(Vatican Radio)
Pope Francis’ message for the celebration of the 2018 World Day of Peace was released on Friday during a press conference at the Holy See Press Office.
The message entitled Migrants and Refugees: Men and Women in search of Peace is divided into six sections with the first offering heartfelt good wishes for peace and inviting people of good will to embrace those fleeing war, hunger and persecution.
The message also poses the question, why so many migrants and refugees? Pope Francis answers this by considering the many conflicts forcing people to leave their homelands, but he notes also the desire for a better life.
The Holy Father notes that some people consider the growth in migration as a threat.. But, “for my part, he says, I ask you to view it with confidence, as an opportunity to build peace.”
Peace points
Contained in the 4th section of the message under the theme, “four mileposts for action”, the Pope points out what is needed in order for migrants and refugees to find the peace they seek is a strategy combining four actions: welcoming, protecting, promoting and integrating.
Looking at the situation from an international perspective, Pope Francis expresses the hope that this spirit of welcome and integration, “will guide the process that in the course of 2018 will lead the United Nations to draft and approve two Global Compacts, one for safe, orderly and regular migration and the other for refugees.”
Common Home
Finally, the Holy Father draws inspiration from Saint John Paul II with these words. “If the ‘dream’ of a peaceful world is shared by all, if the refugees’ and migrants’ contribution is properly evaluated, then humanity can become more and more a universal family and our earth a true ‘common home’.”
Please find below the message of Pope Francis for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace, 1 January 2018
MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES: MEN AND WOMEN IN SEARCH OF PEACE
1. Heartfelt good wishes for peace
Peace to all people and to all nations on earth! Peace, which the angels proclaimed to the shepherds on Christmas night,[1] is a profound aspiration for everyone, for each individual and all peoples, and especially for those who most keenly suffer its absence. Among these whom I constantly keep in my thoughts and prayers, I would once again mention the over 250 million migrants worldwide, of whom 22.5 million are refugees. Pope Benedict XVI, my beloved predecessor, spoke of them as “men and women, children, young and elderly people, who are searching for somewhere to live in peace.”[2] In order to find that peace, they are willing to risk their lives on a journey that is often long and perilous, to endure hardships and suffering, and to encounter fences and walls built to keep them far from their goal.
In a spirit of compassion, let us embrace all those fleeing from war and hunger, or forced by discrimination, persecution, poverty and environmental degradation to leave their homelands.
We know that it is not enough to open our hearts to the suffering of others. Much more remains to be done before our brothers and sisters can once again live peacefully in a safe home. Welcoming others requires concrete commitment, a network of assistance and goodwill, vigilant and sympathetic attention, the responsible management of new and complex situations that at times compound numerous existing problems, to say nothing of resources, which are always limited. By practising the virtue of prudence, government leaders should take practical measures to welcome, promote, protect, integrate and, “within the limits allowed by a correct understanding of the common good, to permit [them] to become part of a new society.”[3] Leaders have a clear responsibility towards their own communities, whose legitimate rights and harmonious development they must ensure, lest they become like the rash builder who miscalculated and failed to complete the tower he had begun to construct.[4]
2. Why so many refugees and migrants?
As he looked to the Great Jubilee marking the passage of two thousand years since the proclamation of peace by the angels in Bethlehem, Saint John Paul II pointed to the increased numbers of displaced persons as one of the consequences of the “endless and horrifying sequence of wars, conflicts, genocides and ethnic cleansings”[5] that had characterized the twentieth century. To this date, the new century has registered no real breakthrough: armed conflicts and other forms of organized violence continue to trigger the movement of peoples within national borders and beyond.
Yet people migrate for other reasons as well, principally because they “desire a better life, and not infrequently try to leave behind the ‘hopelessness’ of an unpromising future.”[6] They set out to join their families or to seek professional or educational opportunities, for those who cannot enjoy these rights do not live in peace. Furthermore, as I noted in the Encyclical Laudato Si’, there has been “a tragic rise in the number of migrants seeking to flee from the growing poverty caused by environmental degradation”.[7]
Most people migrate through regular channels. Some, however, take different routes, mainly out of desperation, when their own countries offer neither safety nor opportunity, and every legal pathway appears impractical, blocked or too slow.
Many destination countries have seen the spread of rhetoric decrying the risks posed to national security or the high cost of welcoming new arrivals, and by doing so demeans the human dignity due to all as sons and daughters of God. Those who, for what may be political reasons, foment fear of migrants instead of building peace are sowing violence, racial discrimination and xenophobia, which are matters of great concern for all those concerned for the safety of every human being.[8]
All indicators available to the international community suggest that global migration will continue for the future. Some consider this a threat. For my part, I ask you to view it with confidence as an opportunity to build peace.
3. With a contemplative gaze
The wisdom of faith fosters a contemplative gaze that recognizes that all of us “belong to one family, migrants and the local populations that welcome them, and all have the same right to enjoy the goods of the earth, whose destination is universal, as the social doctrine of the Church teaches. It is here that solidarity and sharing are founded.”[9] These words evoke the biblical image of the new Jerusalem. The book of the prophet Isaiah (chapter 60) and that of Revelation (chapter 21) describe the city with its gates always open to people of every nation, who marvel at it and fill it with riches. Peace is the sovereign that guides it and justice the principle that governs coexistence within it.
We must also turn this contemplative gaze to the cities where we live, “a gaze of faith which sees God dwelling in their houses, in their streets and squares, […] fostering solidarity, fraternity, and the desire for goodness, truth and justice”[10] – in other words, fulfilling the promise of peace.
When we turn that gaze to migrants and refugees, we discover that they do not arrive empty-handed. They bring their courage, skills, energy and aspirations, as well as the treasures of their own cultures; and in this way, they enrich the lives of the nations that receive them. We also come to see the creativity, tenacity and spirit of sacrifice of the countless individuals, families and communities around the world who open their doors and hearts to migrants and refugees, even where resources are scarce.
A contemplative gaze should also guide the discernment of those responsible for the public good, and encourage them to pursue policies of welcome, “within the limits allowed by a correct understanding of the common good”[11] – bearing in mind, that is, the needs of all members of the human family and the welfare of each.
Those who see things in this way will be able to recognize the seeds of peace that are already sprouting and nurture their growth. Our cities, often divided and polarized by conflicts regarding the presence of migrants and refugees, will thus turn into workshops of peace.
4. Four mileposts for action
Offering asylum seekers, refugees, migrants and victims of human trafficking an opportunity to find the peace they seek requires a strategy combining four actions: welcoming, protecting, promoting and integrating.[12]
“Welcoming” calls for expanding legal pathways for entry and no longer pushing migrants and displaced people towards countries where they face persecution and violence. It also demands balancing our concerns about national security with concern for fundamental human rights. Scripture reminds us: “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”[13]
“Protecting” has to do with our duty to recognize and defend the inviolable dignity of those who flee real dangers in search of asylum and security, and to prevent their being exploited. I think in particular of women and children who find themselves in situations that expose them to risks and abuses that can even amount to enslavement. God does not discriminate: “The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the orphan and the widow.”[14]
“Promoting” entails supporting the integral human development of migrants and refugees. Among many possible means of doing so, I would stress the importance of ensuring access to all levels of education for children and young people. This will enable them not only to cultivate and realize their potential, but also better equip them to encounter others and to foster a spirit of dialogue rather than rejection or confrontation. The Bible teaches that God “loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.”[15]
“Integrating”, lastly, means allowing refugees and migrants to participate fully in the life of the society that welcomes them, as part of a process of mutual enrichment and fruitful cooperation in service of the integral human development of the local community. Saint Paul expresses it in these words: “You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people.”[16]
5. A proposal for two international compacts
It is my heartfelt hope this spirit will guide the process that in the course of 2018 will lead the United Nations to draft and approve two Global Compacts, one for safe, orderly and regular migration and the other for refugees. As shared agreements at a global level, these compacts will provide a framework for policy proposals and practical measures. For this reason, they need to be inspired by compassion, foresight and courage, so as to take advantage of every opportunity to advance the peace-building process. Only in this way can the realism required of international politics avoid surrendering to cynicism and to the globalization of indifference.
Dialogue and coordination are a necessity and a specific duty for the international community. Beyond national borders, higher numbers of refugees may be welcomed – or better welcomed – also by less wealthy countries, if international cooperation guarantees them the necessary funding.
The Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has published a set of twenty action points that provide concrete leads for implementing these four verbs in public policy and in the attitudes and activities of Christian communities.[17] The aim of this and other contributions is to express the interest of the Catholic Church in the process leading to the adoption of the two U.N. Global Compacts. This interest is the sign of a more general pastoral concern that goes back to very origins of Church and has continued in her many works up to the present time.
6. For our common home
Let us draw inspiration from the words of Saint John Paul II: “If the ‘dream’ of a peaceful world is shared by all, if the refugees’ and migrants’ contribution is properly evaluated, then humanity can become more and more a universal family and our earth a true ‘common home’.”[18] Throughout history, many have believed in this “dream”, and their achievements are a testament to the fact that it is no mere utopia.
Among these, we remember Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini in this year that marks the hundredth anniversary of her death. On this thirteenth day of November, many ecclesial communities celebrate her memory. This remarkable woman, who devoted her life to the service of migrants and became their patron saint, taught us to welcome, protect, promote and integrate our brothers and sisters. Through her intercession, may the Lord enable all of us to experience that “a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”[19]
From the Vatican, 13 November 2017
Memorial of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Patroness of Migrants
Reference:
- Vatican News. From the Pope. © Copyright 2017 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Accessed - 11/26/2017
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Today's Word - comtemplation [kon-tuh m-pley-shuh n]
Origin: 1585-95; < Latin contemplātus past participle of contemplāre, contemplārī to survey, observe, equivalent to con- con- + templ(um) space marked off for augural observation, temple1+ -ātus -ate1
noun
1. the act of contemplating; thoughtful observation.
2. full or deep consideration; reflection: religious contemplation.
3. purpose or intention.
4.
prospect or expectation
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Today's Reading 1 - Reading 1, Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17
11 "For the Lord Yahweh says this: Look, I myself shall take care of my flock and look after it.12 As a shepherd looks after his flock when he is with his scattered sheep, so shall I look after my sheep. I shall rescue them from wherever they have been scattered on the day of clouds and darkness.
15 I myself shall pasture my sheep, I myself shall give them rest -- declares the Lord Yahweh.
16 I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the injured and make the sick strong. I shall watch over the fat and healthy. I shall be a true shepherd to them.
17 "As for you, my sheep, the Lord Yahweh says this: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and he-goats
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Today's Psalms - Psalms 23:1-2, 2-3, 5, 6
1 [Psalm Of David] Yahweh is my shepherd, I lack nothing.2 In grassy meadows he lets me lie. By tranquil streams he leads me
3 to restore my spirit. He guides me in paths of saving justice as befits his name.
5 You prepare a table for me under the eyes of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup brims over.
6 Kindness and faithful love pursue me every day of my life. I make my home in the house of Yahweh for all time to come.
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Today's Reading 2 - First Corinthians 15:20-26, 28
20 In fact, however, Christ has been raised from the dead, as the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep.21 As it was by one man that death came, so through one man has come the resurrection of the dead.
22 Just as all die in Adam, so in Christ all will be brought to life;
23 but all of them in their proper order: Christ the first-fruits, and next, at his coming, those who belong to him.
24 After that will come the end, when he will hand over the kingdom to God the Father, having abolished every principality, every ruling force and power.
25 For he is to be king until he has made his enemies his footstool,
26 and the last of the enemies to be done away with is death, for he has put all things under his feet.
28 When everything has been subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the One who has subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.
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Today's Gospel Reading - Matthew 25:31-46
Lectio Divina:
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Jesus identifies Himself with the least of His brethren
The criterion for entering the Realm
Mt 25:31-46
The criterion for entering the Realm
Mt 25:31-46
Spirit of truth, sent by Jesus to guide
us to the whole truth, enlighten our minds so that we may understand the
Scriptures. You who overshadowed Mary and made her fruitful ground
where the Word of God could germinate, purify our hearts from all
obstacles to the Word. Help us to learn like her to listen with good and
pure hearts to the Word that God speaks to us in life and in Scripture,
so that we may observe the Word and produce good fruit through our
perseverance.
a) The context:
Our text is part of a long
eschatological discourse (Mt 24:1-25, 46) given by Jesus on the Mount of
Olives to His disciples privately (Mt 24:3). The discourse begins with
the proclamation of the destruction of Jerusalem in order to speak of
the end of the world. The two events become confused as though they were
one. This part of the discourse ends with the coming of the Son of man
with great power and glory. He will send His angels to gather His elect
(Mt 24:30-31). Here the chronological flow of the events proclaimed is
interrupted by the insertion of some parables on the need to watch so as
not to be caught by surprise at the coming of the Son of man (Mt
24:24-25,30). The eschatological discourse comes to its literary and
theological peak in our text. This text ties up with (Mt 24:30-31) and
speaks once more of the coming of the Son of man accompanied by His
angels. The gathering of the elect here takes the form of a final
judgment.
b) The text:
When the Son of man comes in His glory,
escorted by all the angels, then He will take His seat on His throne of
glory. All nations will be assembled before Him and He will separate
people one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He
will place the sheep on His right hand and the goats on His left. Then
the King will say to those on His right hand, "Come, you whom my Father
has blessed, take as your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since
the foundation of the world. For
I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
I was a stranger and you made me welcome, lacking clothes and you
clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me."
Then the upright will say to Him in reply, "Lord, when did we see you
hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a
stranger and make you welcome, lacking clothes and clothe you? When did
we find you sick or in prison and go to see you?" And the King will
answer, "In truth I tell you, in so far as you did this to one of the
least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me."
Then He will say to those on His left hand, "Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and His angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food, I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink, I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, lacking clothes and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me." Then it will be their turn to ask, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or lacking clothes, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?" Then He will answer, "In truth I tell you, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me." And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the upright to eternal life.
so that the Word of God may enter into us and enlighten our life.
to help us in our personal reflection.
a) Which criterion does Jesus use for the separation?
b) Who are the least of the brethren with whom Jesus identifies Himself?
c) How did Jesus, in His life, show preference for the least?
d) Who are the least of Jesus’ brethren that I meet?
e) Am I capable of seeing, loving and serving Jesus in them?
b) Who are the least of the brethren with whom Jesus identifies Himself?
c) How did Jesus, in His life, show preference for the least?
d) Who are the least of Jesus’ brethren that I meet?
e) Am I capable of seeing, loving and serving Jesus in them?
for those who wish to go deeper into the text.
● The Son of man:
The Son of man is a Semitic expression
that simply means a human being (see for instance the parallelism
between "man" and "son of man" in Psalm 8:5). The book of Ezekiel often
uses this term with this meaning when God addresses Himself to the
prophet as "son of man" (Mt 2:1, 3, 6, 8; 3: 1, 2, 4, 10, 16+) in order
to emphasize the distance between God who is transcendent and the
prophet who is but a man. However, in Daniel 7:13-14 the expression
acquires a special meaning. The prophet sees "coming on the clouds of
heaven, one like a son of man" who receives from God "sovereignty, glory
and kingship". This text is still talking of a human being, however,
who is introduced into the sphere of God. The text has been interpreted
both in a personal and a collective sense, but always in a messianic
sense. Thus, whether we are dealing with one person or with all of the
People of God, the Son of man is the Messiah who gives rise to the Realm
of God, an eternal and universal realm.
The application of the term "Son of man" to Jesus as it is used in Daniel 7:13-14 is very common in the Gospels. We also find it in Acts 7:56 and the Apocalypse 1:13 and 14:14. Scholars think that Jesus gave Himself this title. In the Gospel of Matthew this term is attributed to Jesus especially when He speaks of His passion (Mt 17:12, 22; 20:18, 28)), His resurrection as an eschatological event (Mt 17: 19; 26:64) and His glorious return (Mt 24:30 and 25:31, the beginning of our text).
The application of the term "Son of man" to Jesus as it is used in Daniel 7:13-14 is very common in the Gospels. We also find it in Acts 7:56 and the Apocalypse 1:13 and 14:14. Scholars think that Jesus gave Himself this title. In the Gospel of Matthew this term is attributed to Jesus especially when He speaks of His passion (Mt 17:12, 22; 20:18, 28)), His resurrection as an eschatological event (Mt 17: 19; 26:64) and His glorious return (Mt 24:30 and 25:31, the beginning of our text).
● Jesus king, judge and shepherd:
Matthew also gives Jesus the title of
king (Mt 1:23; 13:41; 16:28; 20:21). The kingship of God is a theme very
dear to the Bible. Because Jesus is the Son of God, He rules together
with the Father. In our text, the king is Jesus, but He exercises His
royal power in close relationship with the Father. The elect are
"blessed of my Father" and the realm to which they are invited is the
realm prepared for them by God, as the passive form of the verb
indicates. This form of the verb, called the divine passive, is often
found in the Bible and always has God as its implicit subject. In this
text, the realm points to eternal life.
In Daniel 7 (see especially verses 22, 26 and 27) and in our text, the royal status of the Son of man is connected with the judgment. The king, especially in ancient times, was always considered the supreme judge. The judgment that Jesus exercises is a universal judgment, a judgment that involves all peoples (see v.32). And yet it is not a collective judgment. It is not the peoples that are judged but individual persons.
In the same way, the pastoral symbolism is connected with royal status. In ancient times, the king was often presented as shepherd of his people. The Old Testament also speaks of God, king of Israel, as shepherd (see for instance Psalm 23, Is 40:11; Ez 34) and the New Testament applies the title to Jesus (Mt 9:36; 26:31; Jn 10) as well. The shepherds of the Holy Land, in the time of Jesus, shepherded mixed flocks of sheep and goats. However, at night they were separated because sheep sleep in the open while goats prefer to sleep under shelter. In our text the sheep represent the elect because of their valuation over goats and because of their white color that often stands for salvation in the Bible.
In Daniel 7 (see especially verses 22, 26 and 27) and in our text, the royal status of the Son of man is connected with the judgment. The king, especially in ancient times, was always considered the supreme judge. The judgment that Jesus exercises is a universal judgment, a judgment that involves all peoples (see v.32). And yet it is not a collective judgment. It is not the peoples that are judged but individual persons.
In the same way, the pastoral symbolism is connected with royal status. In ancient times, the king was often presented as shepherd of his people. The Old Testament also speaks of God, king of Israel, as shepherd (see for instance Psalm 23, Is 40:11; Ez 34) and the New Testament applies the title to Jesus (Mt 9:36; 26:31; Jn 10) as well. The shepherds of the Holy Land, in the time of Jesus, shepherded mixed flocks of sheep and goats. However, at night they were separated because sheep sleep in the open while goats prefer to sleep under shelter. In our text the sheep represent the elect because of their valuation over goats and because of their white color that often stands for salvation in the Bible.
● The least of my brethren:
Traditionally, this Gospel passage was
interpreted to mean that Jesus identified Himself with the poor and
marginalized. Jesus will judge everyone, and especially those who have
not had the chance to know His Gospel, according to the mercy they have
shown towards the needy. All have the opportunity to welcome or reject
him, if not personally, at least in the person of the needy with whom
Jesus identifies Himself.
Modern exegesis tends to read the text in a more ecclesiastical sense. It is placed next to Matthew 10:40-42 and exegetes insist that it is not a question of philanthropy but of a response to the Gospel of the Realm that is spread by Jesus’ brethren, even the most insignificant of them, and not only by the leaders of the Church.
The nations (the pagans) are therefore invited to welcome the disciples of Jesus who preach the Gospel to them and suffer for its sake, as if they were welcoming Jesus Himself. Christians, on their part, are invited to practice generous hospitality towards their brothers who are itinerant preachers of the Gospel and who suffer persecution (see 2Jn 5-8). In this manner, they would show the authenticity of their commitment as disciples.
In the context of Matthew’s Gospel, this latter interpretation is probably more accurate. However, in the context of the whole of the Bible (see for instance Is 58:7; Jer 2:1-9; 1Jn 3:16-19) the first interpretation cannot be set aside entirely.
Modern exegesis tends to read the text in a more ecclesiastical sense. It is placed next to Matthew 10:40-42 and exegetes insist that it is not a question of philanthropy but of a response to the Gospel of the Realm that is spread by Jesus’ brethren, even the most insignificant of them, and not only by the leaders of the Church.
The nations (the pagans) are therefore invited to welcome the disciples of Jesus who preach the Gospel to them and suffer for its sake, as if they were welcoming Jesus Himself. Christians, on their part, are invited to practice generous hospitality towards their brothers who are itinerant preachers of the Gospel and who suffer persecution (see 2Jn 5-8). In this manner, they would show the authenticity of their commitment as disciples.
In the context of Matthew’s Gospel, this latter interpretation is probably more accurate. However, in the context of the whole of the Bible (see for instance Is 58:7; Jer 2:1-9; 1Jn 3:16-19) the first interpretation cannot be set aside entirely.
The Messiah-King promotes justice and peace
Give the king thy justice,
O God, and thy righteousness to the royal son!
May He judge thy people with righteousness,
and thy poor with justice!
O God, and thy righteousness to the royal son!
May He judge thy people with righteousness,
and thy poor with justice!
Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness!
May He defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the needy,
and crush the oppressor!
May He live while the sun endures,
and as long as the moon,
throughout all generations!
and the hills, in righteousness!
May He defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the needy,
and crush the oppressor!
May He live while the sun endures,
and as long as the moon,
throughout all generations!
May He be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
like showers that water the earth!
In His days may righteousness flourish,
and peace abound, till the moon be no more!
May He have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth!
like showers that water the earth!
In His days may righteousness flourish,
and peace abound, till the moon be no more!
May He have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth!
May His foes bow down before Him,
and His enemies lick the dust!
May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render Him tribute,
may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!
May all kings fall down before Him,
all nations serve Him!
and His enemies lick the dust!
May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render Him tribute,
may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!
May all kings fall down before Him,
all nations serve Him!
For He delivers the needy when He calls,
the poor and Him who has no helper.
He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
From oppression and violence He redeems their life;
and precious is their blood in His sight.
the poor and Him who has no helper.
He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
From oppression and violence He redeems their life;
and precious is their blood in His sight.
Long may He live, may gold of Sheba be given to Him!
May prayer be made for Him continually,
and blessings invoked for Him all the day!
May there be abundance of grain in the land;
on the tops of the mountains may it wave;
may its fruit be like Lebanon;
and may men blossom forth from the cities like the grass of the field!
May His name endure for ever,
His fame continue as long as the sun!
May men bless themselves by Him,
all nations call Him blessed!
May prayer be made for Him continually,
and blessings invoked for Him all the day!
May there be abundance of grain in the land;
on the tops of the mountains may it wave;
may its fruit be like Lebanon;
and may men blossom forth from the cities like the grass of the field!
May His name endure for ever,
His fame continue as long as the sun!
May men bless themselves by Him,
all nations call Him blessed!
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
who alone does wondrous things.
Blessed be His glorious name for ever;
may His glory fill the whole earth! Amen and Amen!
who alone does wondrous things.
Blessed be His glorious name for ever;
may His glory fill the whole earth! Amen and Amen!
Lord God, you have set Jesus, your Son, to be universal king and judge. He will come at the end of time to judge all the nations. He comes to us every day in a thousand ways and asks us to welcome Him. We meet Him in the Word and in the broken bread. But we also meet Him in our broken brothers and sisters, disfigured by hunger, oppression, injustice, sickness and the stigma of our society. Open our hearts that we may welcome Him today in our lives so that we may be welcomed by Him in the eternity of His realm.
We ask this through the same Christ our Lord. AmenSunday, November 19, 2016
The Parable of the Talents
To live in a responsible way
Matthew 25:14-30
To live in a responsible way
Matthew 25:14-30
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, and 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 ur 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.
a) The division of the text to help in the reading:
Matthew 2
Reference: 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: Feast of Christ the KingFeast Day: Last Sunday in November 
The Feast of Christ the King (in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, properly the Solemnity of Christ the King)
is a relatively recent addition to the western liturgical calendar,
having been instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. In 1970, its observance
was moved to the last Sunday of Ordinary Time and adopted by Anglicans,
Lutherans, and many other Protestants along with the new Revised Common
Lectionary, as well as by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.[1]
Origin and history in the Catholic Church
Pope Pius XI instituted the Feast of Christ the King in his 1925 encyclical letter Quas Primas, in response to growing nationalism and secularism[2] and in the context of the unresolved Roman Question.
The title of the feast was "D. N. Jesu Christi Regis" (Our Lord Jesus
Christ the King), and the date was "the last Sunday of the month of
October - the Sunday, that is, which immediately precedes the Feast of All Saints".[3] In Pope John XXIII's 1960 revision
of the Calendar, the date and title remained the same and, in the new
simpler ranking of feasts, it was classified as a feast of the first
class.
In
his 1969 motu proprio Mysterii Paschalis, Pope Paul VI
gave the celebration a new title: "D. N. Iesu Christi universorum
Regis" (Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe). He also gave it a
new date: the last Sunday in the liturgical year, before a new year
begins with the First Sunday in Advent, the earliest date for which is
24 November. Through this choice of date "the eschatological importance
of this Sunday is made clearer".[4] He assigned to it the highest rank, that of "Solemnity".[5]
As happens with all Sundays whose liturgies are replaced by those of important feasts,[6]
the prayers of the Sunday on which the celebration of Christ the King
falls are used on the ferias (weekdays) of the following week. The
Sunday liturgy is thus not totally omitted.
In 2013, this feast day falls on November 24.[7] The liturgical vestments for the day are colored white or gold, in keeping with other joyous feasts honoring Christ.
References
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Today's Snippet I: History of Advent
 |
| Advent Preparing for Christ's birth |
With Advent the ecclesiastical year begins in the Western churches. During this time the faithful are admonished
- to prepare themselves worthily to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord's coming into the world as the incarnate God of love,
- thus to make their souls fitting abodes for the Redeemer coming in Holy Communion and through grace, and
- thereby to make themselves ready for His final coming as judge, at death and at the end of the world.
Symbolism
To
attain this object the Church has arranged the Liturgy for this season.
In the official prayer, the Breviary, she calls upon her ministers, in
the Invitatory for Matins, to adore "the Lord the King that is to come",
"the Lord already near", "Him Whose glory will be seen on the morrow".
As Lessons for the first Nocturn she prescribes chapters from the
prophet Isaias, who speaks in scathing terms of the ingratitude of the
house of Israel, the chosen children who had forsaken and forgotten
their Father; who tells of the Man of Sorrows stricken for the sins of
His people; who describes accurately the passion and death of the coming
Saviour and His final glory; who announces the gathering of the
Gentiles to the Holy Hill. In the second Nocturn the Lessons on three
Sundays are taken from the eighth homily of Pope St. Leo (440-461) on
fasting and almsdeeds as a preparation for the advent of the Lord, and
on one Sunday (the second) from St. Jerome's commentary on Isaiah 11:1,
which text he interprets of the Blessed Virgin Mary as "the rod out of
the root of Jesse". In the hymns of the season we find praise for the
coming of Christ, the Creator of the universe, as Redeemer, combined
with prayer to the coming judge of the world to protect us from the
enemy. Similar ideas are expressed in the antiphons for the Magnificat
on the last seven days before the Vigil of the Nativity. In them, the
Church calls on the Divine Wisdom to teach us the way of prudence; on
the Key of David to free us from bondage; on the Rising Sun to
illuminate us sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, etc. In the
Masses the intention of the Church is shown in the choice of the
Epistles and Gospels. In the Epistle she exhorts the faithful that,
since the Redeemer
is nearer, they should cast aside the works of darkness and put on the
armour of light; should walk honestly, as in the day, and put on the
Lord Jesus Christ; she shows that the nations are called to praise the
name of the Lord; she asks them to rejoice in the nearness of the Lord,
so that the price of God, which surpasses all understanding, may keep
their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus; she admonishes them not to pass
judgment, for the Lord, when He comes, will manifest the secrets hidden
in hearts. In the Gospels the Church speaks of the Lord coming in glory;
of Him in, and through, Whom the prophecies are being fulfilled; of the
Eternal walking in the midst of the Jews; of the voice in the desert,
"Prepare ye the way of the Lord". The Church in her Liturgy takes us in
spirit back to the time before the incarnation of the Son of God, as
though it were really yet to take place. Cardinal Wiseman says:
We are not dryly exhorted to profit by that blessed event, but we are daily made to sigh with the Fathers of old, "Send down the dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One: let the earth be opened, and bud forth the Redeemer." The Collects on three of the four Sundays of that season begin with the words, "Lord, raise up thy power and come" — as though we feared our iniquities would prevent His being born.
Duration and ritual
On
every day of Advent the Office and Mass of the Sunday or Feria must be
said, or at least a Commemoration must be made of them, no matter what
grade of feast occurs. In the Divine Office the Te Deum, the joyful hymn of praise and thanksgiving, is omitted; in the Mass the Gloria in excelsis is not said. The Alleluia,
however, is retained. During this time the solemnization of matrimony
(Nuptial Mass and Benediction) cannot take place; which prohibition
binds to the feast of Epiphany inclusively. The celebrant and sacred
ministers use violet vestments. The deacon and subdeacon at Mass, in
place of the dalmatics commonly used, wear folded chasubles. The
subdeacon removes his during the reading of the Epistle, and the deacon
exchanges his for another, or for a wider stole, worn over the left
shoulder during the time between the singing of the Gospel and the
Communion. An exception is made for the third Sunday (Gaudete
Sunday), on which the vestments may be rose-coloured, or richer violet
ones; the sacred ministers may on this Sunday wear dalmatics, which may
also be used on the Vigil of the Nativity, even if it be the fourth
Sunday of Advent. Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) states that black was
the colour to be used during Advent, but violet had already come into
use for this season at the end of the thirteenth century. Binterim says
that there was also a law that pictures should be covered during Advent.
Flowers and relics of Saints are not to be placed on the altars during
the Office and Masses of this time, except on the third Sunday; and the
same prohibition and exception exist in regard to the use of the organ.
The popular idea that the four weeks of Advent symbolize the four
thousand years of darkness in which the world was enveloped before the
coming of Christ finds no confirmation in the Liturgy.
Historical origin
It cannot be determined with any degree of certainty when the
celebration of Advent was first introduced into the Church. The
preparation for the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord was not held
before the feast itself existed,
and of this we find no evidence before the end of the fourth century,
when, according to Duchesne [Christian Worship (London, 1904), 260], it
was celebrated throughout the whole Church, by some on 25 December, by
others on 6 January. Of such a preparation we read in the Acts of a
synod held at Saragossa in 380, whose fourth canon prescribes that from
the seventeenth of December to the feast of the Epiphany no one should
be permitted to absent himself from church. We have two homilies of St.
Maximus, Bishop of Turin (415-466), entitled "In Adventu Domini", but he
makes no reference to a special time. The title may be the addition of a
copyist. There are some homilies extant, most likely of St. Caesarius,
Bishop of Arles (502-542), in which we find mention of a preparation
before the birthday of Christ; still, to judge from the context, no
general law on the matter seems then to have been in existence. A synod
held (581) at Mâcon, in Gaul, by its ninth canon orders that from the
eleventh of November to the Nativity the Sacrifice be offered according
to the Lenten rite on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of the week. The
Gelasian Sacramentary notes five Sundays for the season; these five were
reduced to four by Pope St. Gregory VII (1073-85). The collection of
homilies of St. Gregory the Great (590-604) begins with a sermon for the
second Sunday of Advent. In 650 Advent was celebrated in Spain with
five Sundays. Several synods had made laws about fasting
to be observed during this time, some beginning with the eleventh of
November, others the fifteenth, and others as early as the autumnal
equinox. Other synods forbade the celebration of matrimony. In the Greek
Church we find no documents for the observance of Advent earlier than
the eighth century. St. Theodore the Studite (d. 826), who speaks of the
feasts and fasts commonly celebrated by the Greeks, makes no mention of
this season. In the eighth century we find it observed not as a
liturgical celebration, but as a time of fast and abstinence, from 15
November to the Nativity, which, according to Goar, was later reduced to
seven days. But a council of the Ruthenians (1720) ordered the fast
according to the old rule from the fifteenth of November. This is the
rule with at least some of the Greeks. Similarly, the Ambrosian and the
Mozarabic Riterites have no special liturgy for Advent, but only the
fast.
References
- "Advent." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 2 Dec. 2012 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01165a.htm>.
- Miles, Clement A, Christmas customs and traditions, their history and significance, p. 112, ISBN 978-0-486-23354-3.
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Today's Snippet II: Tradition of the Advent Wreath
Advent Wreath as designed by Wichern
The Advent wreath, or Advent crown,
is a Christian tradition that symbolizes the passage of the four weeks
of Advent in the liturgical calendar of the Western church. The Advent
Wreath is traditionally a Lutheran practice, albeit it has spread to
many other Christian denominations.[1][2][3]
It is usually a horizontal evergreen wreath with four candles
and often, a fifth, white candle in the center. Beginning with the
First Sunday of Advent, the lighting of a candle can be accompanied by a
Bible reading and prayers. An additional candle is lit during each
subsequent week until, by the last Sunday before Christmas, all four
candles are lit. Many Advent wreaths include a fifth, Christ candle
which is lit at Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.[4] The custom is observed both in family settings and at public church services.
History
The ring or wheel of the Advent wreath of evergreens decorated with candles was a symbol in northern Europe long before the arrival of Christianity. The circle symbolized the eternal cycle of the seasons while the evergreens and lighted candles signified the persistence of life in the midst of winter. Some sources suggest the wreath—now reinterpreted as a Christian symbol—was in common use in the Middle Ages, others that it was established in Germany as a Christian custom only in the 16th century.Other evidence suggests that the Advent wreath was not invented until the 19th century. Research by Prof. Haemig of Luther Seminary, St. Paul, points to Johann Hinrich Wichern (1808–1881), a Protestant pastor in Germany and a pioneer in urban mission work among the poor as the inventor of the modern Advent wreath. During Advent, children at the mission school Rauhes Haus, founded by Wichern in Hamburg, would ask daily if Christmas had arrived. In 1839, he built a large wooden ring (made out of an old cartwheel) with 19 small red and 4 large white candles. A small candle was lit successively every weekday during Advent. On Sundays, a large white candle was lit. The custom gained ground among Protestant churches in Germany and evolved into the smaller wreath with four or five candles known today. Roman Catholics in Germany began to adopt the custom in the 1920s, and in the 1930s it spread to North America.[5] Professor Haemig's research also indicates that the custom did not reach the United States until the 1930s, even among German Lutheran immigrants.
In
Medieval times advent was a fast during which people's thoughts
were directed to the expected second coming of Christ; but in modern
times it has been seen as the lead up to Christmas, and in that context
Advent Wreath serves as a reminder of the approach of the feast. More
recently, some Eastern Orthodox families have adopted an Advent wreath
with six candles symbolizing the longer Christmas fast in Orthodox
tradition, which corresponds to Advent in Western Christianity.[6]
Forms of the Advent wreath
Advent wreath with purple and rose candles
In Catholic churches, the most popular colours for the Advent candles
are violet and rose, corresponding with the colors of the liturgical
vestments for the Sundays of Advent. In the Western church,
Violet is the historic liturgical color for three of the four Sundays
of Advent: Violet is the traditional color of penitential seasons. Rose
is the color for the Third Sunday of Advent, known as Gaudete Sunday
from the Latin word meaning "to rejoice"--also from the first line of
the traditional entrance prayer (called the Introit) for the Mass of the
third Sunday of Advent.[7] Rose-colored vestments are used on Gaudete Sunday, as a pause to the penitential spirit of Advent [8]
In
Protestant churches it is more common to use four red candles
(reflecting their traditional use in Christmas decorations) because rose
vestments and decorations are not commonly used in Protestant churches.
Blue is also a popular alternative color for both Advent vestments
and Advent candles, especially in some Anglican and Lutheran churches.
This is in keeping with the liturgical seasons; blue means hope and
waiting, which aligns with the seasonal meaning of Advent. Other
variations of the Advent wreath add a white candle in the center to
symbolize Christmas, sometimes known as the "Christ candle." It can be
lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas
Day. White is the traditional festal color in the Western church. Four
red candles with one white one is probably the most common arrangement
in Protestant churches in Britain.[9]
References
- Peter C. Bower. The Companion to the Book of Common Worship. Office of Theology and Worship, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Retrieved 2010-12-02. "It apparently emanated from the Lutheran tradition, but it has been appropriated by almost all other traditions."
- John Trigilio, Kenneth Brighenti. The Catholicism Answer Book: The 300 Most Frequently Asked Questions. Sourcebooks. Retrieved 2010-12-02. "Historically, the Advent wreath is a Lutheran custom dating back three hundred years ago."
- Carl Seaburg. Celebrating Christmas: An Anthology. Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association. Retrieved 2010-12-02. "The use of an Advent Wreath originated a few hundred years ago among Lutherans in Germany."
- Dennis Bratcher. The Season of Advent: Anticipation and Hope. Christian Research Institute. Archived from the original on 2 January 2011. Retrieved 2010-12-02. "Finally, the light that has come into the world is plainly visible as the Christ candle is lighted at Christmas, and worshippers rejoice over the fact that the hope and promise of long ago have been realized."
- "Johann Hinrich Wichern biography (in German)". Medienwerkstatt-online.de. 2008-01-05. Retrieved 2011-12-20.
- Orthodoxy Today. 2010-02-02. Retrieved 2011-12-20.
- "Catholic Encyclopedia: Advent". Newadvent.org. 1907-03-01. Retrieved 2011-12-20.
- "What Color is Lent?". Adoremus.org. Retrieved 2011-12-20.
- BBC News, "Christian celebration of Advent" (BBC Mobile, 16 November 2010, accessed December 19, 2010).
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Snippet III: Devotion to The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
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| Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Scapular |
The Sacred Heart (also known as Most Sacred Heart of Jesus) is one of the most famous religious devotions to Jesus' physical heart as the representation of his divine love for humanity.
This devotion is predominantly used in the Catholic Church and among some high-church Anglicans and Lutherans. The devotion especially emphasizes the unmitigated love, compassion, and long-suffering of the heart of Christ towards humanity. The origin of this devotion in its modern form is derived from a French Roman Catholic nun, Marguerite Marie Alacoque, who said she learned the devotion from Jesus during a mystical experience. Predecessors to the modern devotion arose unmistakably in the Middle Ages in various facets of Catholic mysticism.
In the Roman Catholic tradition, the Sacred Heart has been closely associated with Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ. In his encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor, Pope Pius XI stated: "the spirit of expiation or reparation has always had the first and foremost place in the worship given to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus". The Golden Arrow Prayer directly refers to the Sacred Heart. Devotion to the Sacred Heart is sometimes seen in the Eastern Catholic Churches, where it remains a point of controversy and is seen as an example of Liturgical Latinisation.
The Sacred Heart is often depicted in Christian art as a flaming heart shining with divine light, pierced by the lance-wound, encircled by the crown of thorns, surmounted by a cross and bleeding. Sometimes the image shown shining within the bosom of Christ with his wounded hands pointing at the heart. The wounds and crown of thorns allude to the manner of Jesus' death, while the fire represents the transformative power of divine love.
The Feast of the Sacred Heart has been in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar since 1856, and is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost. As Pentecost is always celebrated on Sunday, the Feast of the Sacred Heart always falls on a Friday.
History of Devotion
Early devotion
 |
| Sacred Heart of Jesus Ibarrará, 1896 |
From the time of John the Evangelist and Paul of Tarsus there has always been in the Church something like devotion to the love of God, but there is nothing to indicate that, during the first ten centuries of Christianity, any worship was rendered to the wounded Heart of Jesus. It is in the eleventh and twelfth centuries that the first indications of devotion to the Sacred Heart are found. It was in the fervent atmosphere of the Benedictine or Cistercian monasteries, in the world of Anselmian or Bernardine thought, that the devotion arose, although it is impossible to say positively what were its first texts or who were its first devotees. It was already well known to St. Gertrude, St. Mechtilde, and the author of the Vitis mystica (previously ascribed to St. Bernard, now attributed to St. Bonaventure).
From the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, the devotion was propagated but it did not seem to have developed in itself. It was everywhere practised by individuals and by different religious congregations, such as the Franciscans, Dominicans, Carthusians, etc. It was, nevertheless, a private, individual devotion of the mystical order. Nothing of a general movement had been inaugurated, except for similarities found in the devotion to the Five Wounds by the Franciscans, in which the wound in Jesus's heart figured most prominently.
In the sixteenth century, the devotion passed from the domain of mysticism into that of Christian asceticism. It was established as a devotion with prayers already formulated and special exercises, found in the writings of Lanspergius (d. 1539) of the Carthusians of Cologne, the Louis of Blois (Blosius; 1566), a Benedictine and Abbot of Liessies in Hainaut, John of Avila (d. 1569) and St. Francis de Sales, the latter belonging to the seventeenth century.
The historical record from that time shows an early bringing to light of the devotion. Ascetic writers spoke of it, especially those of the Society of Jesus. The image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was everywhere in evidence, largely due to the Franciscan devotion to the Five Wounds and to the habit formed by the Jesuits of placing the image on their title-page of their books and the walls of their churches.
Nevertheless, the devotion remained an individual, or at least a private, devotion. Jean Eudes (1602–1680) made it public, gave it an Office, and established a feast for it. Père Eudes was the apostle of the Heart of Mary; but in his devotion to the Immaculate Heart there was a share for the Heart of Jesus. Little by little, the devotion to the Sacred Heart became a separate one, and on August 31, 1670, the first feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated in the Grand Seminary of Rennes. Coutances followed suit on October 20, a day with which the Eudist feast was from then on to be connected. The feast soon spread to other dioceses, and the devotion was likewise adopted in various religious communities. It gradually came into contact with the devotion begun at Paray, and resulting in a fusion of the two.
Visions of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
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| St Margaret Mary Alacoque, Giaquinto 1765 |
The most significant source for the devotion to the Sacred Heart in the form it is known today was Visitandine Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690), who claimed to have received visions of Jesus Christ. There is nothing to indicate that she had known the devotion prior to the revelations, or at least that she had paid any attention to it. The revelations were numerous, and the following apparitions are especially remarkable:
- On December 27, probably 1673, the feast of St. John, Margaret Mary reported that Jesus permitted her, as he had formerly allowed St. Gertrude, to rest her head upon his heart, and then disclosed to her the wonders of his love, telling her that he desired to make them known to all mankind and to diffuse the treasures of his goodness, and that he had chosen her for this work.
- In probably June or July, 1674, Margaret Mary claimed that Jesus requested to be honored under the figure of his heart, also claiming that, when he appeared radiant with love, he asked for a devotion of expiatory love: frequent reception of Communion, especially Communion on the First Friday of the month, and the observance of the Holy Hour.
- During the octave of Corpus Christi, 1675, probably on June 16, the vision known as the "great apparition" reportedly took place, where Jesus said, "Behold the Heart that has so loved men ... instead of gratitude I receive from the greater part (of mankind) only ingratitude ...", and asked Margaret Mary for a feast of reparation of the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi, bidding her consult her confessor Father Claude de la Colombière, then superior of the small Jesuit house at Paray. Solemn homage was asked on the part of the king, and the mission of propagating the new devotion was especially confided to the religious of the Visitation and to the priests of the Society of Jesus.
A few days after the "great apparition", Margaret Mary reported everything she saw to Father de la Colombière, and he, acknowledging the vision as an action of the Spirit of God, consecrated himself to the Sacred Heart and directed her to write an account of the apparition. He also made use of every available opportunity to circulate this account, discreetly, through France and England. Upon his death on February 15, 1682, there was found in his journal of spiritual retreats a copy in his own handwriting of the account that he had requested of Margaret Mary, together with a few reflections on the usefulness of the devotion. This journal, including the account and an "offering" to the Sacred Heart, in which the devotion was well explained, was published at Lyons in 1684. The little book was widely read, especially at Paray. Margaret Mary reported feeling "dreadful confusion" over the book's contents, but resolved to make the best of it, approving of the book for the spreading of her cherished devotion. Outside of the Visitandines, priests, religious, and laymen espoused the devotion, particularly the Capuchins, Margaret Mary's two brothers, and some Jesuits. The Jesuit Father Croiset wrote a book called The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a book which Jesus is said to have told Margaret to tell Fr. Croiset to write, and Fr. Joseph de Gallifet, also a Jesuit, promoted the devotion.
Papal Approvals
The Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart was a nun from Sisters of the Good Shepherd Congregation who requested, in the name of Christ Himself, to Pope Leo XIII that he consecrate the entire World to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The death of Margaret Mary Alacoque on October 17, 1690, did not dampen the zeal of those interested; on the contrary, a short account of her life published by Father Croiset in 1691, as an appendix to his book "De la Dévotion au Sacré Cœur", served only to increase it. In spite of all sorts of obstacles, and of the slowness of the Holy See, which in 1693 imparted indulgences to the Confraternities of the Sacred Heart and, in 1697, granted the feast to the Visitandines with the Mass of the Five Wounds, but refused a feast common to all, with special Mass and Office. The devotion spread, particularly in religious communities. The Marseilles plague, 1720, furnished perhaps the first occasion for a solemn consecration and public worship outside of religious communities. Other cities of the South followed the example of Marseilles, and thus the devotion became a popular one. In 1726 it was deemed advisable once more to importune Rome for a feast with a Mass and Office of its own, but, in 1729, Rome again refused. However, in 1765, it finally yielded and that same year, at the request of the queen, the feast was received quasi-officially by the episcopate of France. On all sides it was asked for and obtained, and finally, in 1856, at the urgent entreaties of the French bishops, Pope Pius IX extended the feast to the Roman Catholic Church under the rite of double major. In 1889 it was raised by the Roman Catholic Church to the double rite of first class.
After the letters of Mother Mary of the Divine Heart (1863–1899) requesting, in the name of Christ Himself, to Pope Leo XIII consecrate the entire World to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Holy Father commissions a group of theologians to examine the petition on the basis of revelation and sacred tradition. This investigation was positive. And so in the encyclical letter Annum Sacrum (on May 25, 1899) this same pope decreed that the consecration of the entire human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus should take place on June 11, 1899. In this encyclical letter the Pope attached Later Pope Leo XIII encouraged the entire Roman Catholic episcopate to promote the devotion of the Nine First Fridays and he established June as the Month of the Sacred Heart. Leo XIII also composed the Prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart and included it in Annum Sacrum.
Pope Pius X decreed that the consecration of the human race, performed by Pope Leo XIII be renewed each year. Pope Pius XI in his encyclical letter Miserentissimus Redemptor (on May 8, 1928) affirmed the Church's position with respect to Saint Margaret Mary's visions of Jesus Christ by stating that Jesus had "manifested Himself" to Saint Margaret and had "promised her that all those who rendered this honor to His Heart would be endowed with an abundance of heavenly graces." The encyclical refers to the conversation between Jesus and Saint Margaret several times[2] and reaffirmed the importance of consecration and reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Finally, Venerable Pope Pius XII, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Pope Pius IX's institution of the Feast, instructed the entire Roman Catholic Church at length on the devotion to the Sacred Heart in his encyclical letter Haurietis aquas (on May 15, 1956). On May 15, 2006, also Pope Benedict XVI sent a letter to Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, on the 50th Anniversary of the encyclical Haurietis Aquas, about the Sacred Heart, by Pope Pius XII. In his letter to Father Kolvenbach, Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed the importance of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Worship and Devotion
The Roman Catholic acts of consecration, reparation and devotion were introduced when the feast of the Sacred Heart was declared. In his Papal Bull Auctorem Fidei, Pope Pius VI praised devotion to the Sacred Heart. Finally, by order of Leo XIII, in his encyclical Annum Sacrum (May 25, 1899), as well as on June 11, he consecrated every human to the Sacred Heart. The idea of this act, which Leo XIII called "the great act" of his pontificate, had been proposed to him by a religious woman of the Good Shepherd from Oporto (Portugal) who said that she had supernaturally received it from Jesus. Since c. 1850, groups, congregations, and States have consecrated themselves to the Sacred Heart. In 1873, by petition of president Gabriel García Moreno, Ecuador was the first country in the world to be consecrated to the Sacred Heart, fulfilling God's petition to Saint Margaret Mary over two hundred years later.
Peter Coudrin of France founded the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary on December 24, 1800. A religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, the order is best known for its missionary work in Hawaii. Mother Clelia Merloni from Forlì (Italy) founded the Congregation of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Viareggio, Italy, May 30, 1894. Worship of the Sacred Heart mainly consists of several hymns, the Salutation of the Sacred Heart, and the Litany of the Sacred Heart. It is common in Roman Catholic services and occasionally is to be found in Anglican services. The Feast of the Sacred Heart is a solemnity in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar, and is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost. As Pentecost is always celebrated on Sunday, the Feast of the Sacred Heart always falls on a Friday.
The Enthronement of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic ceremony in which a priest or head of a household consecrates the members of the household to the Sacred Heart. A blessed image of the Sacred Heart, either a statue or a picture, is then "enthroned" in the home to serve as a constant reminder to those who dwell in the house of their consecration to the Sacred Heart. The practice of the Enthronement is based upon Pope Pius XII's declaration that devotion to the Sacred of Jesus is "the foundation on which to build the kingdom of God in the hearts of individuals, families, and nations..."
Alliance with the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary is based on the historical, theological and spiritual links in Catholic devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The joint devotion to the hearts was first formalized in the 17th century by Saint Jean Eudes who organized the scriptural, theological and liturgical sources relating to the devotions and obtained the approbation of the Church, prior to the visions of Saint Marguerite Marie Alacoque.
In the 18th and 19th centuries the devotions grew, both jointly and individually through the efforts of figures such as Saint Louis de Montfort who promoted Catholic Mariology and Saint Catherine Labouré's Miraculous Medal depicting the Heart of Jesus thorn-crowned and the Heart of Mary pierced with a sword. The devotions, and the associated prayers, continued into the 20th century, e.g. in the Immaculata prayer of Saint Maximillian Kolbe and in the reported messages of Our Lady of Fatima which stated that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be honored together with the Heart of Mary.
Popes supported the individual and joint devotions to the hearts through the centuries. In the 1956 encyclical Haurietis Aquas, Pope Pius XII encouraged the joint devotion to the hearts. In the 1979 encyclical Redemptor Hominis Pope John Paul II explained the theme of unity of Mary's Immaculate Heart with the Sacred Heart. In his Angelus address on September 15, 1985 Pope John Paul II coined the term The Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and in 1986 addressed the international conference on that topic held at Fátima, Portugal.
The Miraculous Medal
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| The Miraculous Medal |
The Sacred Heart has also been involved in (and been depicted) in saintly apparitions such as those to Saint Catherine Labouré in 1830 and appears on the Miraculous Medal.
On the Miraculous Medal, the Sacred Heart is crowned with thorns. The Immaculate Heart of Mary also appears on the medal, next to the Sacred Heart, but is pierced by a sword, rather than being crowned with thorns. The M on the medal signifies the Blessed Virgin at the foot of the Cross when Jesus was being crucified.
Religious imagery depicting the Sacred Heart is frequently featured in Roman Catholic, and sometimes Anglican and Lutheran homes. Sometimes images display beneath them a list of family members, indicating that the entire family is entrusted to the protection of Jesus in the Sacred Heart, from whom blessings on the home and the family members are sought. The prayer "O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in Thee" is often used. One particular image has been used as part of a set, along with an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In that image, Mary too was shown pointing to her Immaculate Heart, expressing her love for the human race and for her Son, Jesus Christ. The mirror images reflect an eternal binding of the two hearts.
The Scapular of the Sacred Heart and the Scapular of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary are worn by Roman Catholics.
In Eastern Catholicism
Devotion to the Sacred Heart may be found in some Eastern Catholic Churches, but is a contentious issue. Those who favour purity of rite are opposed to the devotion, while those who are in favour of the devotion cite it as a point of commonality with their Latin Catholic brethren.
Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Jesus Christ, in his appearances to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, promised these blessings to those who practice devotion to his Sacred Heart. This tabular form of promises was not made by Saint Margaret Mary or her contemporaries. It first appeared at 1863. In 1882, an American businessman spread the tabular form of the promises profusely throughout the world, the twelve promises appearing in 238 languages. In 1890, Cardinal Adolph Perraud deplored this circulation of the promises in the tabular form which were different from the words and even from the meaning of the expressions used by St. Margaret Mary, and wanted the promises to be published in the full, authentic texts as found in the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque:
- I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
- I will give peace in their families.
- I will console them in all their troubles.
- I will be their refuge in life and especially in death.
- I will abundantly bless all their undertakings.
- Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
- Tepid souls shall become fervent.
- Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.
- I will bless those places wherein the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated.
- I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.
- Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names eternally written in my Heart.
- In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the First Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.
The last promise has given rise to the pious Roman Catholic practice of making an effort to attend Mass and receive Communion on the first Friday of each month.
Great efficacy of converting people has been attached to the use of the image of the Sacred Heart.
"Even at the hour of death, incredulous, indifferent, hardened souls have been converted by simply showing them a picture of the Sacred Heart, which sufficed to restore these sinners to the life of hope and love, in a word, to touch the most hardened. It would, indeed, be a great misfortune to any apostolic man to neglect so powerful a means of conversion, and in proof of this I will mention a single fact which will need no comment. A religious of the Company of Jesus had been requested by the Blessed Margaret Mary to make a careful engraving of the Sacred Heart. Being often hindered by other occupations, there was much delay in preparing this plate. ' This good father,' writes the saint, 'is so much occupied by Mon- signor d'Autun in the conversion of heretics, that he has neither time nor leisure to give to the work so ardently desired by the Heart of our Divine Master. You cannot imagine, my much-loved mother, how greatly this delay afflicts and pains me. I must avow confidently to you my belief that it is the cause of his converting so few infidels in this town. I seem constantly to hear these words : ' That if this good father had acquitted himself at once of his promise to the Sacred Heart, Jesus would have changed and converted the hearts of these infidels, on account of the joy He would have felt at seeing Himself honoured in the picture He so much wishes for. As, however, he prefers other work, even though to the glory of God, to that of giving Him this satisfaction, He will harden the hearts of these infidels, and the labours of this mission will not be crowned with much fruit.'
Scapular of the Sacred Heart
The devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus also involve the Scapular of the Sacred Heart. It is a Roman Catholic devotional scapular that can be traced back to Saint Margaret Marie Alacoque who herself made and distributed badges similar to it. In 1872 Pope Pius IX granted an indulgence for the badge and the actual scapular was approved by the Congregation of Rites in 1900. It bears the representation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on one side, and that of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Mother of Mercy on the other side. Prayer, Almighty and everlasting God, look upon the Heart of Thy well-beloved Son and upon the acts of praise and satisfaction which He renders unto Thee in the name of sinners; and do Thou, in Thy great goodness, grant pardon to them who seek Thy mercy, in the name of the same Thy Son, Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, world without end.
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Featured Item from Litany Lane
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Snippet IV: Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
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| Immaculate heart of Mary Scapular |
The Immaculate Heart of Mary (also known as The Sacred Heart of Mary) is a devotional name used to refer to the interior life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, her joys and sorrows, her virtues and hidden perfections, and, above all, her virginal love for God the Father, her maternal love for her son Jesus, and her compassionate love for all persons. The consideration of Mary's interior life and the beauties of her soul, without any thought of her physical heart, does not constitute the traditional devotion; still less does it consist in the consideration of the heart of Mary merely as a part of her pure body. In 1855 the Mass of the Most Pure Heart formally became a part of Catholic practice. The two elements are essential to the devotion, just as, according to Roman Catholic theology, soul and body are necessary to the constitution of man.
Eastern Catholic Churches occasionally utilize the image, devotion, and theology associated with the Immaculate Heart of Mary. However, this is a cause of some controversy, some seeing it as a form of liturgical instillation. The Roman Catholic view is based on Mariology, as exemplified by Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae which builds on the total Marian devotion pioneered by Louis de Montfort.
Traditionally, the heart is pierced with seven wounds or swords, in homage to the seven dolors of Mary. Consequently, seven Hail Marys are said daily in honor of the devotion. Also, roses or another type of flower may be wrapped around the heart
Veneration and devotion
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| Immaculate Heart Mary, Seven Dolors |
Veneration of the Heart of Mary is analogous to worship of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is, however, necessary to indicate a few differences in this analogy, the better to explain the character of Roman Catholic devotion to the Heart of Mary. Some of these differences are very marked, whereas others are barely perceptible. The Devotion to the Heart of Jesus is especially directed to the "Divine Heart" as overflowing with love for humanity, presented as "despised and outraged". In the devotion to the Mary, on the other hand, the attraction is the love of this Heart for Jesus and for God. Its love for humans is not overlooked, but it is not so much in evidence nor so dominant.
A second difference is the nature of the devotion itself. In devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Roman Catholic venerates in a sense of love responding to love. In devotion to the Heart of Mary, study and imitation hold as important a place as love. Love is more the result than the object of the devotion, the object being rather to love God and Jesus better by uniting one's self to Mary for this purpose and by imitating her virtues. It would also seem that, although in the devotion to the Heart of Mary the heart has an essential part as symbol and sensible object, it does not stand out as prominently as in the devotion to the Heart of Jesus; devotion focuses rather on the thing symbolized, the love, virtues, and sentiments of Mary's interior life.
The Immaculate Heart has also been involved in (and been depicted) in saintly Marian apparitions such as those to Saint Catherine Labouré in 1830 and appears on the Miraculous Medal. On the Miraculous Medal, the Immaculate Heart is pierced by a sword. The Sacred Heart of Jesus also appears on the medal, next to the Immaculate Heart, but is crowned with thorns, rather than being pierced by a sword. The M on the medal signifies the Blessed Virgin at the foot of the Cross when Jesus was being crucified.
Our Lady of Fatima asked that, in reparation for sins committed against her Immaculate Heart, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months the Catholic:
- Go to Confession (within 8 days before or after the first Saturday)
- Receive Holy Communion
- Recite five decades of the Rosary
- Keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary
She promised that, whoever would ever do this, would be given at the hour of his death, the graces necessary for salvation.
History of devotion
The history of the devotion to the Heart of Mary is connected on many points with that to the Heart of Jesus. The attention of Christians was early attracted by the love and virtues of the Heart of Mary. The gospels recount the prophecy delivered to her at Jesus' presentation at the temple: that her heart would be pierced with a sword. This image (the pierced heart) is the most popular representation of the Immaculate Heart. The St. John's Gospel further invited attention to Mary's heart with its depiction of Mary at the foot of the cross at Jesus' crucifixion. St. Augustine said of this that Mary was not merely passive at the foot of the cross; "she cooperated through charity in the work of our redemption".
Statue depicting the Immaculate Heart of Mary as described by Sister Lucia of Fátima.
Another Scriptural passage to help in bringing out the devotion was the twice-repeated saying of Saint Luke, that Mary kept all the sayings and doings of Jesus in her heart, that there she might ponder over them and live by them. A few of Mary's sayings, also recorded in the Gospel, particularly the Magnificat (the words Mary is reported to have said to describe the experience of being pregnant with Jesus), disclose new features in Marian psychology. Some of the Church Fathers also throw light upon the psychology of Mary, for instance, Saint Ambrose, when in his commentary on The Gospel of Luke he holds Mary up as the ideal of virginity, and Saint Ephrem, when he poetically sings of the coming of the Magi and the welcome accorded them by the humble mother. Some passages from other books in the Bible are interpreted as referring to Mary, in whom they personify wisdom and her gentle charms. Such are the texts in which wisdom is presented as the mother of lofty love, of fear, of knowledge, and of holy hope. In the New Testament Elizabeth proclaims Mary blessed because she has believed the words of the angel who announced that she would become pregnant with Jesus, although she was still a virgin; the Magnificat is an expression of her humility. In answering the woman of the people, who in order to exalt the son proclaimed the mother blessed, Jesus himself said: "Blessed rather are they that hear the word of God and keep it." The Church Fathers understood this as an invitation to seek in Mary that which had so endeared her to God and caused her to be selected as the mother of Jesus, and found in these words a new reason for praising Mary. St. Leo said that through faith and love she conceived her son spiritually, even before receiving him into her womb, and St. Augustine tells us that she was more blessed in having borne Christ in her heart than in having conceived him in the flesh.
It is only in the twelfth, or towards the end of the eleventh century, that slight indications of a regular devotion are perceived in a sermon by St. Bernard (De duodecim stellis), from which an extract has been taken by the Church and used in the Offices of the Compassion and of the Seven Dolours. Stronger evidences are discernible in the pious meditations on the Ave Maria and the Salve Regina, usually attributed either to St. Anselm of Lucca (d. 1080) or St. Bernard; and also in the large book "De laudibus B. Mariae Virginis" (Douai, 1625) by Richard de Saint-Laurent, Penitentiary of Rouen in the thirteenth century. In St. Mechtilde (d. 1298) and St. Gertrude (d. 1301) the devotion had two earnest adherents. A little earlier it had been included by St. Thomas Becket in the devotion to the joys and sorrows of Mary, by Blessed Hermann (d.1245), one of the first spiritual children of Saint Dominic, in his other devotions to Mary, and somewhat later it appeared in St. Bridget's "Book of Revelations". Johannes Tauler (d. 1361) beholds in Mary the model of a mystical soul, just as St. Ambrose perceived in her the model of a virginal soul. St. Bernardine of Siena (d.1444) was more absorbed in the contemplation of the virginal heart, and it is from him that the Church has borrowed the lessons of the second nocturn for the feast of the Heart of Mary. St. Francis de Sales speaks of the perfections of this heart, the model of love for God, and dedicated to it his "Theotimus."
During this same period one finds occasional mention of devotional practices to the Heart of Mary, e.g., in the "Antidotarium" of Nicolas du Saussay (d. 1488), in Julius II, and in the "Pharetra" of Lanspergius. In the second half of the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth, ascetic authors dwelt upon this devotion at greater length. It was, however, reserved to Saint Jean Eudes (d. 1681) to propagate the devotion, to make it public, and to have a feast celebrated in honor of the Heart of Mary, first at Autun in 1648 and afterwards in a number of French dioceses. He established several religious societies interested in upholding and promoting the devotion, of which his large book on the Coeur Admirable (Admirable Heart), published in 1681, resembles a summary. Jean Eudes' efforts to secure the approval of an office and feast failed at Rome, but, notwithstanding this disappointment, the devotion to the Heart of Mary progressed. In 1699 Father Pinamonti (d. 1703) published in Italian a short work on the Holy Heart of Mary, and in 1725, Joseph de Gallifet combined the cause of the Heart of Mary with that of the Heart of Jesus in order to obtain Rome's approbation of the two devotions and the institution of the two feasts. In 1729, his project was defeated, and in 1765, the two causes were separated, to assure the success of the principal one.
Alliance with the Sacred Heart
The Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary is based on the historical, theological and spiritual links in Catholic devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The joint devotion to the hearts was first formalized in the 17th century by Saint Jean Eudes who organized the scriptural, theological and liturgical sources relating to the devotions and obtained the approbation of the Church, prior to the visions of Saint Marguerite Marie Alacoque.
In the 18th and 19th centuries the devotions grew, both jointly and individually through the efforts of figures such as Saint Louis de Montfort who promoted Catholic Mariology and Saint Catherine Labouré's Miraculous Medal depicting the Heart of Jesus thorn-crowned and the Heart of Mary pierced with a sword. The devotions, and the associated prayers, continued into the 20th century, e.g. in the Immaculata prayer of Saint Maximillian Kolbe and in the reported messages of Our Lady of Fatima which stated that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be honored together with the Heart of Mary.
Popes supported the individual and joint devotions to the hearts through the centuries. In the 1956 encyclical Haurietis Aquas, Pope Pius XII encouraged the joint devotion to the hearts. In the 1979 encyclical Redemptor Hominis Pope John Paul II explained the theme of unity of Mary's Immaculate Heart with the Sacred Heart. In his Angelus address on September 15, 1985 Pope John Paul II coined the term The Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and in 1986 addressed the international conference on that topic held at Fátima, Portugal.
Feast days
Fatima Statue of Pope Pius XII, who consecrated Russia and the World: Just as a few years ago We consecrated the entire human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, so today We consecrate and in a most special manner We entrust all the peoples of Russia to this Immaculate Heart...
In 1799 Pius VI, then in captivity at Florence, granted the Bishop of Palermo the feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary for some of the churches in his diocese. In 1805 Pius VII made a new concession, thanks to which the feast was soon widely observed. Such was the existing condition when a twofold movement, started in Paris, gave fresh impetus to the devotion. The two factors of this movement were, first of all, the revelation of the "miraculous medal" in 1830 and all the prodigies that followed, and then the establishment at Notre-Dame-des-Victoires of the Archconfraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Refuge of Sinners, which spread rapidly throughout the world and was the source of numberless alleged graces. On 21 July 1855, the Congregation of Rites finally approved the Office and Mass of the Most Pure Heart of Mary without, however, imposing them upon the Universal Church.
During the third apparition at Fátima, Portugal on 13 July 1917, the Virgin Mary allegedly said that "God wishes to establish in the world devotion to her Immaculate Heart" in order to save souls from going into the fires of hell and to bring about world peace, and also asked for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. Pope Pius XII, in his Apostolic Letter of 7 July 1952, Sacro Vergente consecrated Russia to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.
On 25 March 1984, Pope John Paul II fulfilled this request again, when he made the solemn act of consecration of the world, and implicitly Russia, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary before the miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary of Fatima brought to Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican for the momentous occasion. Sister Lucia, OCD, then the only surviving visionary of Fatima, confirmed that the request of Mary for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was accepted by Heaven and therefore, was fulfilled. Again on 8 October 2000, Pope John Paul II made an act of entrustment of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the new millennium.
Roman Catholic feast days
Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1944 to be celebrated on 22 August, coinciding with the traditional octave day of the Assumption. In 1969, Pope Paul VI moved the celebration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to the day, Saturday, immediately after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This means in practice that it is now held on the day before the third Sunday after Pentecost.
At the same time as he closely associated the celebrations of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope Paul VI moved the celebration of the Queenship of Mary from 31 May to 22 August, bringing it into association with the feast of her Assumption.
Those who use the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal or an earlier one (but not more than 17 years before 1962) observe the day established by Pius XII.
References:
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
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Today's Snippet VI: Acts of Reparation
(Morning offering First Friday and First Saturday Devotions)
In the Roman Catholic tradition, an Act of Reparation is a prayer or devotion with the intent to repair the "sins of others", e.g. for the repair of the sin of blasphemy, the sufferings of Jesus Christ or as Acts of Reparation to the Virgin Mary.[1] These prayers do not usually involve a petition for a living or deceased beneficiary, but aim to repair sins.
In his encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor Pope Pius XI defined reparation as follows:
The creature's love should be given in return for the love of the Creator, another thing follows from this at once, namely that to the same uncreated Love, if so be it has been neglected by forgetfulness or violated by offense, some sort of compensation must be rendered for the injury, and this debt is commonly called by the name of reparation.[2]
Pope John Paul II referred to reparation as the "unceasing effort to stand beside the endless crosses on which the Son of God continues to be crucified".[3]
Theological basis and history
The Catechism of the Catholic Church 2157 states:
- The Christian begins his day, his prayers, and his activities with the Sign of the Cross: "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." The baptized person dedicates the day to the glory of God and calls on the Savior's grace which lets him act in the Spirit as a child of the Father.
"All that we do without offering it to God is wasted," Saint John Mary Vianney preached. According to Catholic theology, the worth of an action in the eyes of God is found in the intention, i.e. what takes place in the heart of each person, on whether the person lives based on the love for God (the greatest commandment) or love for self. Thus, Catholic spirituality encourages the practice of fixing one's intention towards loving God at the very beginning of the day, through the morning offering. Catholic authors also encourage repeating this offering throughout the day, especially at the start of one's professional work which takes a large part of each day.
The morning offering is an essential part of the theology of sanctification of work, or the use of work, secular or otherwise, as a means of arriving at personal sanctity. The other element in this theology is the actual work done with spirit of excellence in consonance with the intention of offering something "worthy" to the sanctity, majesty and the goodness of the Father God.
"All that we do without offering it to God is wasted." - Saint John Mary Vianney
This theology is also supported by private revelation to some saints. For example, Sister Josefa Menéndez (1890-1923) reported that she heard Jesus Christ tell her: "When you awake, enter at once into My Heart, and when you are in it, offer My Father all your actions united to the pulsations of My Heart . . . If [a person is] engaged in work of no value in itself, if she bathes it in My Blood or unites it to the work I Myself did during My mortal life, it will greatly profit souls . . . more, perhaps, than if she had preached to the whole world. You will be able to save many souls that way."
Saint Mechtilde (1241-1298), a popular saint during the time of Dante and who was mentioned in his Divine Comedy, also had visions of Jesus Christ and transmitted the following words of Jesus: "When you awake in the morning, let your first act be to salute My Heart, and to offer Me your own . . . Whoever shall breathe a sigh toward Me from the bottom of his heart when he awakes in the morning and shall ask Me to work all his works in him throughout the day, will draw Me to him . . . For never does a man breathe a sigh of longing aspiration toward Me without drawing Me nearer to him than I was before." It is also said that the morning offering helps "refresh and recharge" the soul, preparing the soul to face each day with the help of God himself.[1]
The morning offering has been an old practice in the Church but it started to spread largely through the Apostleship of Prayer, started by Fr. Francis X. Gautrelet, S.J, and specially through the book written by another Jesuit, Reverend Henry Ramière, S.J., who in 1861, adapted the Apostleship of Prayer for parishes and various Catholic institutions, and made it known by his book "The Apostleship of Prayer", which has been translated into many languages.
Duty of Reparation and Devotion
In the encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor Pope Pius XI called acts of reparation a duty for Roman Catholics:We are holden to the duty of reparation and expiation by a certain more valid title of justice and of love, of justice indeed, in order that the offense offered to God by our sins may be expiatedThe pontiff further emphasized, "Moreover this duty of expiation is laid upon the whole race of men"
Prayers of Reparation
A number of prayers as an Act of Reparation to the Virgin Mary appear in the Raccolta Catholic prayer book (approved by a Decree of December 15 1854, and published in 1898 by the Holy See). The Raccolta includes a number of diverse prayers for reparation.[4]
- The Rosary of the Holy Wounds (which does not include the usual rosary mysteries) focuses on specific redemptive aspects of Christ's suffering in Calvary, with emphasis on the souls in purgatory.[5]
- A well known Act of Reparation to Jesus Christ and for the reparation of blasphemy is The Golden Arrow Holy Face Devotion (Prayer) first introduced by Sister Marie of St Peter in 1844. This devotion (started by Sister Marie and then promoted by the Venerable Leo Dupont) was approved by Pope Leo XIII in 1885.[6]
- A frequently offered Act of Reparation to The Holy Trinity is based on the messages of Our Lady of Fatima and is usually called the Angel Prayer.[7][8]
Morning Offering Devotion
John Paul II: Morning Offering is “of fundamental importance in the life of each and every one of the faithful."
In Roman Catholicism, the Morning Offering is a prayer said by an individual at the start of the day in order to consecrate the day to Jesus Christ. It serves the purpose of preparing the Catholic to focus completely on Christ and give to him all that he or she does during the day. There are several different forms of Offering.
Pope John Paul II said that the Morning Offering is “of fundamental importance in the life of each and every one of the faithful."
The Morning offering is meant to be prayed first thing in the morning, upon waking up. Throughout the day, a Christian offers up everything – joys and successes, difficulties and sacrifices, to Jesus, uniting them to His sufferings and merits so that one’s works gain the merit they can never have apart from Him.
The Morning Offering is suggested to be renewed many times throughout the day with simple short prayers (called "aspirations"), e.g. "I will serve!"; "I offer my work unto you."
A specific Morning offering to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was composed by Fr. François-Xavier Gautrelet in 1844. It reflects the Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary and is also an Acts of reparation for sins:
- O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
- I offer you my prayers, works, joys, sufferings of this day,
- in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world.
- I offer them for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart;
- the salvation of souls, the reparation for sin, the reunion of all Christians;
- I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all members of the Apostleship of Prayer,
- and in particular for those recommended by the Holy Father this month.
- Amen.
First Friday Devotions
The First Friday Devotions are a set of Catholic devotions to especially recognize the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and through it offer reparations for sins. In the visions of Christ reported by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th century, several promises were made to those people that practiced the First Fridays Devotions, one of which included final perseverance.[1]
According to the words of Christ through His apparitions to St. Margaret Mary, there are several promises to those that practice the First Friday Devotions:
"In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the First Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour."[2]
The devotion consists of several practices that are performed on the first Fridays of nine consecutive months. On these days, a person is to attend Holy Mass and receive communion.[3] If the need arises in order to receive communion in a state of grace, a person should also make use of the Sacrament of Penance before attending Mass. In many Catholic communities the practice of the Holy Hour of meditation during the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament during the First Fridays is encouraged. [4]
First Friday - Communion of Reparation
Receiving Holy Communion as part of First Friday Devotions is a Catholic devotion to offer reparations for sins through the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In the visions of Christ reported by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th century, several promises were made to those people that practiced the First Fridays Devotions, one of which included final perseverance.[9]
The devotion consists of several practices that are performed on the first Fridays of nine consecutive months. On these days, a person is to attend Holy Mass and receive communion.[10] In many Catholic communities the practice of the Holy Hour of meditation during the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament during the First Fridays is encouraged. [11]
First Friday Promises
- I will give them all of the graces necessary for their state of life.
- I will establish peace in their houses.
- I will comfort them in all their afflictions.
- I will be their strength during life and above all during death.
- I will bestow a large blessing upon all their undertakings.
- Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and the infinite ocean of mercy.
- Tepid souls shall grow fervent.
- Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
- I will bless every place where a picture of my heart shall be set up and honored.
- I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
- Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be blotted out.
- I promise you in the excessive mercy of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant to all those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in My disgrace nor without receiving their sacraments; My Divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.[5]
First Saturday Devotions
The First Saturdays Devotion (or Act of Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Blessed Virgin Mary) is a Catholic practice which, according to the visionaries, has been requested by the Virgin Mary in several visitations, notably Our Lady of Fátima and the subsequent Pontevedra apparitions. This devotion, and the marian apparitions, have been officially embraced by the Roman Catholic Church.The devotion fits on the Catholic tradition to venerate the Virgin Mary particularly on Saturdays, which originated in the scriptural account that, as the Mother of Jesus Christ, her heart was to be pierced with a sword, as prophesied during the presentation of Jesus in the temple; such sword was the bitter sorrow during the Crucifixion of Jesus (which Catholic devotees understand as the union of the Immaculate Heart and the Sacred Heart of Jesus -- see Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Apparitions). Such sorrow is particularly bitterly endured on Holy Saturday after Jesus was placed on the Sepulcher (before the Resurrection on Easter). Devotees of Fátima believe that the First Saturdays help to console the sorrows of God, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary for the sins against Her Immaculate Heart.
The Act of First Saturday Reparation
When Lúcia Santos experienced the Pontevedra apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, she heard her promise to grant great graces, especially at the hour of death, in particular the salvation of the soul, for the believer who for Five Consecutive First Saturdays of Month (5 Saturdays in 5 months) receives Holy Communion and practices the following exercises as an Act of Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Queen of Heaven:- Sacramental confession
- To receive Holy Communion
- A 5 Decades Rosary is recited
The activities of the Five First Saturdays devotions are different from similar devotions on other days in that all should be done with the specific intention in the heart of making reparation to the Blessed Mother for blasphemies against her, her name and her holy initiatives.
Sister Lúcia, the only Fátima visionary to survive into adulthood reported that the Blessed Mother came to her in her convent at Pontevedra, Spain with the following statement:
- Look, my daughter, at my Heart encircled by these thorns with which men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, strive to console me, and so I announce: I promise to assist at the hour of death with the grace necessary for salvation all those who, with the intention of making reparation to me, will, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the beads, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary.
Acts of Reparation to The Holy Trinity
Roman Catholic tradition include specific prayers and devotions as Acts of Reparation for insults and blasphemies against the Holy Trinity and the Blessed Sacrament. Similar prayers as Acts of Reparation to the Virgin Mary and Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ also existFatima prayer to the Holy Trinity
This prayer is based on the 20th century apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, and is attributed to an angel who appeared to the visionaries. It is sometimes called the Angel Prayer. The apparitions of Fatima have been approved by the Holy Catholic Church, thus deemed worthy of belief.In Catholic tradition, Saint Michael is the prince of the church of Jesus Christ and also the defender of Israel. Having revealed the Chaplet of Saint Michael to a Portuguese nun in the 18th Century, Saint Michael is often associated with being the angel that prepared the children shepherds for the visit of the Blessed Mother of God in Fatima, and thus to him it is attributed the prayer.
Words of the prayer:
- O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary I beg the conversion of poor sinners.
Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ
Roman Catholic tradition includes specific prayers and devotions as Acts of Reparation for insults and blasphemies against Jesus Christ and the Holy Name of Jesus. These include the sufferings during the Passion of Jesus. Similar prayers as Acts of Reparation to the Virgin Mary and Acts of Reparation to The Holy Trinity also exist.These prayers are recited with the intent to repair the sins of others, e.g. when the name of Jesus Christ is taken in vain, for the repair of the sin of blasphemy or the insults against and sufferings of Jesus in Calvary. Pope John Paul II referred to reparation as the "unceasing effort to stand beside the endless crosses on which the Son of God continues to be crucified".
Specific Roman Catholic organizations with this purpose exist. For instance, the Archconfraternity of Reparation for blasphemy and the neglect of Sunday was founded by Msgr. Pierre Louis Parisis in 1847 and the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face was founded in 1851 by the Venerable Leo Dupont, the "Holy Man of Tours". In 1950, the Venerable Abbot Hildebrand Gregori formed the organization "Prayerful Sodality" which in 1977 became the Pontifical Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of the Reparation of the Holy Face.
The Golden Arrow Holy Face Devotion
Sister Marie of St Peter with the Golden Arrow. The three rings symbolize the Holy Trinity
On March 16, 1844 Jesus reportedly told Sr. Marie:
"Oh if you only knew what great merit you acquire by saying even once, Admirable is the Name of God , in a spirit of reparation for blasphemy."
Sister Mary stated that Jesus told her that the two sins which offend him the most grievously are blasphemy and the profanation of Sunday. He called this prayer the "Golden Arrow", saying that those who would recite it would pierce Him delightfully, and also heal those other wounds inflicted on Him by the malice of sinners. Sr. Mary of St. Peter saw, "streaming from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, delightfully wounded by this 'Golden Arrow,' torrents of graces for the conversion of sinners.[2][1][3]
The Golden Arrow Holy Face Devotion (Prayer)
This prayer is part of the Roman Catholic devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus and appears in the book “The Golden Arrow”, the autobiography of Sr. Marie of St Peter. In her book she wrote that in her visions Jesus told her that an act of sacrilege or blasphemy is like a "poisoned arrow", hence the name “Golden Arrow” for this reparatory prayer. [1] Words of the prayer:[2][1]- May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable,
- most incomprehensible and ineffable Name of God
- be forever praised, blessed, loved, adored
- and glorified in Heaven, on earth,
- and under the earth,
- by all the creatures of God,
- and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
- in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
- Amen.
Rosary of the Holy Wounds
Venerable Marie Martha Chambon.
She reported that Jesus Christ appeared to her asked her to unite her sufferings with His as an Act of Reparation for the sins of the world. It also has special applicability to the souls in purgatory.[6][7]
Prayer of reparation for insults and blasphemies
Words of the prayer:[8]- O Jesus, my Savior and Redeemer, Son of the living God, behold, we kneel before Thee and offer Thee our reparation; we would make amends for all the blasphemies uttered against Thy holy name, for all the injuries done to Thee in the Blessed Sacrament, for all the irreverence shown toward Thine immaculate Virgin Mother, for all the calumnies and slanders spoken against Thy spouse, the holy Catholic and Roman Church. O Jesus, who hast said: "If you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you", we pray and beseech Thee for all our brethren who are in danger of sin; shield them from every temptation to fall away from the true faith; save those who are even now standing on the brink of the abyss; to all of them give light and knowledge of the truth, courage and strength for the conflict with evil, perseverance in faith and active charity! For this do we pray, most merciful Jesus, in Thy name, unto God the Father, with whom Thou livest and reignest in the unity of the Holy Spirit world without end. Amen
Acts of Reparation to the Virgin Mary
Roman Catholic tradition and Mariology include specific prayers and devotions as acts of reparation for insults and blasphemies against the Blessed Virgin Mary. Similar prayers as Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ and Acts of Reparation to The Holy Trinity also exist.m Some such prayers are provided in the Raccolta Roman Catholic prayer book, first published in association with the Roman Catholic Congregation of Indulgences in 1807.The Raccolta is a book, published from 1807 to 1950, that listed Roman Catholic prayers and other acts of piety, reparation, such as novenas, for which specific indulgences were granted by Popes. The Raccolta (literally meaning "collection" in Italian) is an abbreviation of its full title: Raccolta delle orazioni e pie opere per le quali sono sono concedute dai Sommi Pontefici le SS. Indulgenze ("Collection of Prayers and Good Works for Which the Popes Have Granted Holy Indulgences"). The text was in Italian, with the prayers themselves given in Latin. By his bull Indulgentiarum Doctrina of 1 January 1967, Pope Paul VI ordered a revision of the collection of indulgenced prayers and works "with a view to attaching indulgences only to the most important prayers and works of piety, charity and penance". In 1968 it was replaced by the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, listing fewer specific prayers but including new general grants that apply to a wide range of prayerful actions.
The Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, which is in Latin, differs from the Italian-language Raccolta in listing "only the most important prayers and works of piety, charity and penance". On the other hand, it includes new general grants of partial indulgences that apply to a wide range of prayerful actions, and it indicates that the prayers that it does list as deserving veneration on account of divine inspiration or antiquity or as being in widespread use are only examples of those to which the first these general grants applies: "Raising the mind to God with humble trust while performing one's duties and bearing life's difficulties, and adding, at least mentally, some pious invocation". In this way, the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, in spite of its smaller size, classifies as indulgenced an immensely greater number of prayers than were treated as such in the Raccolta.
Reparation for insults to the Blessed Virgin Mary
Words of the Prayer from Raccolta:- O blessed Virgin, Mother of God, look down in mercy from Heaven, where thou art enthroned as Queen, upon me, a miserable sinner, thine unworthy servant. Although I know full well my own unworthiness, yet in order to atone for the offenses that are done to thee by impious and blasphemous tongues, from the depths of my heart I praise and extol thee as the purest, the fairest, the holiest creature of all God's handiwork. I bless thy holy name, I praise thine exalted privilege of being truly Mother of God, ever Virgin, conceived without stain of sin, Co-Redemptrix of the human race. I bless the Eternal Father who chose thee in an especial way for His daughter; I bless the Word Incarnate who took upon Himself our nature in thy bosom and so made thee His Mother; I bless the Holy Spirit who took thee as His bride. All honor, praise and thanksgiving to the ever-blessed Trinity who predestined thee and loved thee so exceedingly from all eternity as to exalt thee above all creatures to the most sublime heights. O Virgin, holy and merciful, obtain for all who offend thee the grace of repentance, and graciously accept this poor act of homage from me thy servant, obtaining likewise for me from thy Divine Son the pardon and remission of all my sins. Amen.
Reparation for blasphemy against the Blessed Virgin Mary
Words of the Prayer from Raccolta:
- Most glorious Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, turn thine eyes in pity upon us, miserable sinners; we are sore afflicted by the many evils that surround us in this life, but especially do we feel our hearts break within us upon hearing the dreadful insults and blasphemies uttered against thee, O Virgin Immaculate. O how these impious sayings offend the infinite Majesty of God and of His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ! How they provoke His indignation and give us cause to fear the terrible effects of His vengeance! Would that the sacrifice of our lives might avail to put an end to such outrages and blasphemies; were it so, how gladly we should make it, for we desire, O most holy Mother, to love thee and to honor thee with all our hearts, since this is the will of God. And just because we love thee, we will do all that is in our power to make thee honored and loved by all men. In the meantime do thou, our merciful Mother, the supreme comforter of the afflicted, accept this our act of reparation which we offer thee for ourselves and for all our families, as well as for all who impiously blaspheme thee, not knowing what they say. Do thou obtain for them from Almighty God the grace of conversion, and thus render more manifest and more glorious thy kindness, thy power and thy great mercy. May they join with us in proclaiming thee blessed among women, the Immaculate Virgin and most compassionate Mother of God.
- Recite Hail Mary three times.
Acts of Reparation Mentioned in Apparitions
The need for reparation has been mentioned in some Marian apparitions. The messages of Our Lady of Akita, which were formally approved by the Holy See in 1988 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) include the following statement attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary:
Roman Catholic theology asserts that it was by voluntary submission that Jesus Christ died on the cross to atone for man's disobedience and sin and that his death made reparation for the sins and offenses of the world. Catholicism professes that by adding their prayers, labours, and trials to the redemption won by Christ's death, Christians can attempt to make reparation to God for their own offenses and those of others. Protestant Christians believe that the prize is already won by Christ for those who believe, wholly apart from their merit, or lack thereof, and that obedience and service to Christ is an outflowing of the new life that he purchased for them in his death on the cross.
The theological doctrine of reparation is the foundation of the numerous confraternities and pious associations which have been founded, especially in modern times, to make reparation to God for the sins of men. The Archconfraternity of Reparation for blasphemy and the neglect of Sunday was founded 28 June, 1847, in the Church of St. Martin de La Noue at St. Dizier in France by Mgr. Parisis, Bishop of Langres. With a similar object, the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face was established at Tours, about 1851, through the piety of M. Dupont, the "holy man of Tours". In 1883 an association was formed in Rome to offer reparation to God on behalf of all nations. The idea of reparation is an essential element in the devotion of the Sacred Heart, and acts of reparation were once common public devotions in Roman Catholic churches. One of the ends for which the Eucharist is offered is for reparation. A pious widow of Paris conceived the idea of promoting this object in 1862. By the authority of Pope Leo XIII the erection of the Archconfraternity of the Mass of Reparation was sanctioned in 1886.
- "Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair by their suffering and their poverty for the sinners and ingrates."
Organizations for Reparation
Specific Catholic organizations (including Pontifical Congregations) whose focus is reparation have been formed:[13][14]- The Archconfraternity of Reparation for blasphemy and the neglect of Sunday was founded by Msgr. Pierre Louis Parisis in 1847.
- The Archconfraternity of the Holy Face was founded in 1851 by the Venerable Leo Dupont, the "Holy Man of Tours".
- In 1886 Pope Leo XIII authorized the formation of the Archconfraternity of the Mass of Reparation in Rome.
- In 1950, the Venerable Abbot Hildebrand Gregori formed the organization "Prayerful Sodality" which in 1977 became the Pontifical Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of the Reparation of the Holy Face.
Theological issues
From a theological view, reparation is closely connected with those of atonement and satisfaction, and thus belonging to some of the deepest mysteries of the Christian Faith. Christian theology teaches that man is a creature who has fallen into original sin from an original state of grace in which he was created, and that through the Incarnation, Passion, and Death of Jesus Christ, he has been redeemed and restored again in a certain degree to the original condition.Roman Catholic theology asserts that it was by voluntary submission that Jesus Christ died on the cross to atone for man's disobedience and sin and that his death made reparation for the sins and offenses of the world. Catholicism professes that by adding their prayers, labours, and trials to the redemption won by Christ's death, Christians can attempt to make reparation to God for their own offenses and those of others. Protestant Christians believe that the prize is already won by Christ for those who believe, wholly apart from their merit, or lack thereof, and that obedience and service to Christ is an outflowing of the new life that he purchased for them in his death on the cross.
The theological doctrine of reparation is the foundation of the numerous confraternities and pious associations which have been founded, especially in modern times, to make reparation to God for the sins of men. The Archconfraternity of Reparation for blasphemy and the neglect of Sunday was founded 28 June, 1847, in the Church of St. Martin de La Noue at St. Dizier in France by Mgr. Parisis, Bishop of Langres. With a similar object, the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face was established at Tours, about 1851, through the piety of M. Dupont, the "holy man of Tours". In 1883 an association was formed in Rome to offer reparation to God on behalf of all nations. The idea of reparation is an essential element in the devotion of the Sacred Heart, and acts of reparation were once common public devotions in Roman Catholic churches. One of the ends for which the Eucharist is offered is for reparation. A pious widow of Paris conceived the idea of promoting this object in 1862. By the authority of Pope Leo XIII the erection of the Archconfraternity of the Mass of Reparation was sanctioned in 1886.
References
- ^ Acts of Reparation http://catholicism.about.com/od/prayers/qt/Reparation_HN.htm
- ^ Miserentissimus Redemptor Encyclical of Pope Pius XI [1]
- ^ Vatican archives http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/letters/2000/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_20001021_riparatrici_en.html
- ^ Joseph P. Christopher et al., 2003 The Raccolta, St Athanasius Press ISBN 978-0-9706526-6-9
- ^ Michael Freze, 1993, Voices, Visions, and Apparitions, OSV Publishing ISBN 0-87973-454-X
- ^ Dorothy Scallan. The Holy Man of Tours. (1990) ISBN 0-89555-390-2
- ^ Our Lady of Fatima http://www.fatima.org/
- ^ Story of Fatima http://www.salvemariaregina.info/SalveMariaRegina/SMR-104.html
- ^ Peter Stravinskas, 1998, OSV's Catholic Encyclopedia, OSV Press ISBN 0-87973-669-0 page 428
- ^ Roman Catholic worship: Trent to today by James F. White 2003 ISBN 0-8146-6194-7 page 35
- ^ Meditations on the Sacred Heart by Joseph McDonnell 2008 ISBN 1-4086-8658-9 page 118
- ^ Lucia Santos, Memoir 1, pp. 45-48, and Memoir 2, p. 82 and 93, in Fatima in Lucia's Own Words, entire text online.
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ Byzantine Catholic Church in America - Hildebrand Gregori a Step Closer to Canonization
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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 2, Chapter 6
THE
TRIALS OF THE QUEEN IN THE TEMPLE AND THE DEATH OF HER PARENTS
We left our sovereign Princess, most
holy Mary, passing the years of her childhood in the temple, while we
made a diversion to speak of the virtues, gifts and divine
revelations, which She, a child in years but an adult in supreme
wisdom, received from the hand of the Most High and which She put to
practical use in her life. The most holy Child grew in age and grace
before God and men but always in such a proportion, that zeal
exceeded the powers of nature, and that grace was measured not by her
age, but by the beneficent designs and high purposes of the Divinity,
whose impetuous currents sought their gathering–place and
resting–place in this City of God. The Most High continued his
gifts and favors, renewing every hour the marvels of his powerful
arm, as if all its activity were reserved solely for most holy Mary.
And so well did her Majesty correspond in her tender age to this
divine influx, that She filled the heart of the Lord with a perfect
and adequate complacency, and all the angels of heaven with
admiration. The celestial spirits were witnesses of something like a
wonderful strife and competition between the Most High and the child
Princess: the divine power, in order to enrich Her, daily drawing
from his treasures new and old blessings reserved solely for the
purest Mary, and She, as blessed earth, not only causing the seed of
the divine word to sprout and God’s gifts and favors to yield
fruit a hundredfold, as was the case with the saints; but exciting
the admiration of all the heavens that She, a tender child, should
exceed in love, thanksgiving, in praise and all virtues, the highest
and most ardent seraphim, without losing time, place, occasion, or
any service, in which She did not practice the highest possible
perfection.
Even in the years of her tender
infancy it was noticeable that She understood the Scriptures and She
spent much time in reading them. As She was full of wisdom She
conferred in her heart what She knew from the divine revelations made
to her own self, with what is revealed to all men in the holy
Scriptures; and therefore in her reading and private meditation She
sent up continual and fervent prayers and petitions for the
Redemption of the human race and for the incarnation of the Word. She
read more ordinarily from the prophets Isaias and Jeremias and from
the Psalms, because the mysteries of the Messias and the law of grace
are more plainly expressed and repeated in these writings. In
addition to what She herself understood and comprehended, She
extended her knowledge by asking deep and wonderful questions, and
proposing difficulties to the angels, and many times She spoke of the
mystery of the humanity of the Word with incomparable tenderness,
lovingly wondering, that He was to become an infant, that He was to
be born of a Virgin Mother, come to manhood, as other men, suffer,
and die for all the children of Adam.
In these conferences and questionings
the holy angels and seraphim gave their answers, illuminating Her,
confirming and inflaming Her virginal heart with new ardors of divine
love. But they always concealed from Her her own most high dignity,
although She many times offered Herself in profoundest humility as a
slave to the Lord and to the happy Mother, whom He was to select for
his birth into the world.
The Most High
resolved, that the plenitude of the graces and virtues of the
princess Mary should, as it were, anticipate the time set for
reaching the apex of her merits, and that they should extend to the
most difficult and magnanimous undertakings, as much as possible,
even in her most tender years. In one of the visions in which the
Majesty of God manifested Itself to Her, He said: “My Spouse
and my Dove, I love thee with an infinite love and I desire of thee
what is most pleasing in my eyes and the
fulfillment of all my desires. Thou art not unaware, my Daughter, of
the hidden treasure, which is contained in hardships and
tribulations, so much dreaded by the blind ignorance of mortals, nor
is it unknown to thee that my Onlybegotten, when He shall clothe
Himself in human nature, shall teach the way of the cross as well in
words as in deeds; that He shall leave it as a heritage to my chosen
ones; and that He shall choose it for Himself and establish upon it
the law of grace, making humility and patience in suffering the
foundation of the firmness and excellence of that law. For this is
best suited to the present condition of human nature, and much more
so, after it has been depraved and evilly inclined by so many sins.
It is also conformable to my equity and providence, that the mortals
should attain and merit for themselves the crown of glory through
hardships and the cross, since my onlybegotten Son is to merit it by
the same means in human flesh. Therefore, my Spouse, thou wilt
understand, that, having chosen thee by my right hand for my delight,
and having enriched thee with my gifts, it would not be just, that my
grace should be idle in thy heart, nor that thy love should want its
fruit, nor that thou shouldst be excluded from the inheritance of my
elect. Hence I wish that thou dispose thyself for tribulations and
sorrows for love of Me.”
To this proposal of the Most High the invincible
Princess Mary answered with a more courageous heart than all the
saints and martyrs have ever shown in the world; and She said: “Lord
God and my highest King, all my faculties and their operations, and
my being itself, which I have received of thy infinite bounty, I hold
in readiness as a sacrifice to thy divine pleasure, wishing that it
be fulfilled entirely according to the desires of thy infinite wisdom
and goodness. And if Thou give me any freedom of choice in regard to
anything, I wish only to choose suffering unto death in love for
Thee; and I beseech Thee, my only Good, that Thou make of thy slave a
sacrifice and holocaust of suffering acceptable in thy eves. I
acknowledge, Lord, powerful and most liberal God, my debt, and that
no creature owes to Thee so great a return, nor are all of them
together so much indebted to Thee as I alone, who am so entirely
unequal to the task of discharging this indebtedness to thy
magnificence. But if Thou wilt admit suffering as a sort of return,
let all the sorrows and tribulations of death come over me. I will
only ask for thy divine protection, and, prostrate before the throne
of thy infinite Majesty, I supplicate Thee not to forsake me.
Remember, 0 my Lord, the faithful promises, which Thou hast made to
our Ancestors and Prophets, that Thou wilt favor the just, stand by
those who are in tribulation, console the afflicted, be a protection
and a defense to them in their tribulations. True are thy words,
infallible and certain are thy promises; the heavens and the earth
shall sooner fall to pieces than that thy words should ever fail. The
malice of the creature cannot extinguish thy charity toward those
that hope in thy mercy; fulfill in me thy holy and perfect will.”
The Most High accepted this morning offering from
his tender Spouse and holy child Mary, and with a most benign
countenance He said to Her: “Beautiful art thou in thy
thoughts, Daughter of the Prince, my Dove, my beloved and chosen One.
I accept thy desires as highly pleasing to me and I wish that as a
beginning of their fulfillment thou take notice, that according to my
divine ordainment, thy father Joachim must pass from this mortal to
the eternal and immortal life. His death will happen shortly and He
will pass in peace and shall be placed among the saints in limbo, to
await the Redemption of the human race.” This announcement did
not disturb the royal heart of the Princess of heaven, the blessed
Mary; but as the love of children for their parents is a just debt of
nature, and as in this most holy Child this love had attained its
highest perfection, the natural sorrow for the loss of her father
Joachim could not be wanting, for She loved him with a holy love. The
tender and sweet Child therefore felt, that this sorrowful compassion
was perfectly compatible with the serenity of her magnanimous heart,
and, working in all things with grandeur, giving nature and grace
each their due, She offered an ardent prayer for her father saint
Joachim. She besought the Lord to give him grace to depend upon Him
as his powerful and true God in his transit through a blessed death;
and asked Him to defend Joachim against the demon especially in that
hour, preserve him for and constitute him among the number of the
elect, since during his life He had confessed and magnified his
admirable and holy name. And in order to oblige his Majesty the more,
the most faithful Daughter offered to suffer all that the Lord might
ordain.
The Lord accepted this petition and
consoled the heavenly Child by assuring Her, that He would assist her
father as a most merciful and kind Rewarder of those that love and
serve Him, and that He would place him among the Patriarchs Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. At the same time He prepared Her anew for the
acceptance and endurance of troubles. Eight days before the death of
the Patriarch Joachim the most holy Mary received another notice from
the Lord, advising Her of the day and hour in which He was to die.
His death took place only six months after Her entrance into the
temple. Having received this notice from the Lord, She requested the
twelve angels, mentioned by saint John in the Apocalypse, to assist
her father Joachim and to comfort and console Him his sickness, which
they did. For the last hours of his life She sent all the angels of
her guard asking the Lord, to make them visible to him for his
greater consolation. God conceded this favor and confirmed all the
wishes of his chosen and only One; and the great patriarch, most
happy Joachim, saw the thousand angels which guarded Mary. In
response to her prayer and wishes the Almighty allowed his graces to
overflow, commanding the angels to address Joachim as follows:
“Man of God,
may the Most High and powerful Lord be thy eternal salvation and may
He send thee from his holy place the necessary and opportune help for
thy soul. Mary thy Daughter has sent us in order to assist thee in
this hour, in which thou must pay the debt of
mortality to thy Creator. She is a most
faithful and powerful Intercessor before the Almighty. in whose name
and peace thou wilt now pass consoled and joyous from this world,
because He has made thee the father of such a blessed Daughter.
Although his incomprehensible Majesty, on account of his hidden
decrees, has not as yet revealed the sacraments and dignity, in which
He shall invest thy Daughter, He wishes thee to know it now in order
that thou mayest magnify and praise Him, and in order that the pain
and sorrow of natural death may be
relieved by the joy of thy spirit at this news. Mary, thy Daughter,
is chosen and ordained by the Almighty as the One, in whom the divine
Word shall vest Himself with human flesh and form. She is to be the
happy Mother of the Messias and the Blessed among women, the most
exalted among all creatures, and only inferior to God himself. Thy
most fortunate Daughter is to restore what the human race lost by the
first sin, and She is the high mountain on which is to be established
and constructed the new law of grace. Since thou leavest to the world
a Daughter, through whom God will restore it and prepare a full
remedy, do thou part from it in the joy of thy soul, and may the Lord
bless thee from Sion (Psalm 127, 5) and constitute thee in the
inheritance of the saints and bring thee to the vision and enjoyment
of the blessed Jerusalem.”
During these words of the holy angels
to Joachim, his spouse, holy Anne, stood at the head of his bed and
by divine disposition She heard and understood what they said. In the
same moment the holy patriarch lost the use of speech and, treading
into the path common to all flesh, he commenced his agony in a
marvelous struggle between his joy at this message and the pain of
death. In this conflict of the interior powers of his soul he made
many fervent acts of divine love, of faith, of admiration, of praise,
of thanksgiving, of humility and heroic acts of many other virtues.
Thus absorbed in the knowledge of so divine a mystery, he arrived at
the term of his natural life and died the precious death of the
saints (Psalm 115, 15). His holy soul was carried by the angels to
the limbo of the Patriarchs and just souls and, for a new consolation
and light in the protracted night in which they lived, the Most High
sent the soul of Joachim as the last messenger and legate of the Lord
to announce to the whole congregation of the just that the dawn of
the eternal day was at hand; that the morning light was breaking upon
the world in most holy Mary, Daughter of Joachim and Anne; that from
Her was to be brought forth the Sun of the Divinity, Christ, the
Redeemer of all the human race. This great news the holy fathers and
the just in limbo heard and received with jubilee and in their
exultation they sang many hymns of thanksgiving to the Most High.
The first affliction, which our
Princess suffered, was that the Lord suspended the continual visions,
which He had so far vouchsafed Her. So much the greater was the
sorrow occasioned Her thereby, in proportion as it was a new and
unaccustomed experience and in proportion as the treasure thus
withdrawn was high and precious. Also the holy angels concealed
themselves from Her, and at the withdrawal from her sight of so many,
so excellent and heavenly beings, which took place all at once
(although they did not cease to surround Her invisibly for her
protection), that most pure Soul seemed to Herself entirely forsaken
and left alone in the dark night occasioned by the absence of her
Beloved.
It was a great surprise to our little
Queen; for the Lord, though He had in general prepared Her for the
coming of tribulations, had not specified their nature. And as the
innocent heart of the most simple Dove harbored no thoughts, and
entertained no practical conclusions except such as were conformable
to her humility and incomparable love, She explained all according to
this same light. In her humility She began to think, that She had not
merited the further presence and possession of the lost Good on
account of her ingratitude; and in her inflamed love She sighed and
yearned after It with such great and loving affection and sorrow,
that there are no words to express them. She turned with her whole
soul to the Lord in this new state and said to Him:
“Highest God
and Lord of all creation, infinite in bounty and rich in mercies, I
confess, my Lord, that such a vile creature cannot merit thy favors
and my soul in utmost sorrow reproaches itself with its own
ingratitude and with the loss of thy friendship. If my ingratitude
has eclipsed the Sun, which vivified, animated and illumined me, and
if I have been remiss in giving thanks for the great benefits, I
acknowledge, my Lord and Shepherd, the sin of my great negligence.
If, like an ignorant and simple little sheep, I did not know how to
be thankful and do what is most acceptable in thy eyes, see me
prostrate on the earth, adhering to the dust, in order to be raised
from my poverty and destitution by Thee, my God, who dwellest on
high. Thy powerful hands have formed me (Job 10, 8), and Thou canst
not be ignorant of our composition (Psalm 102, 14) and in what kind
of a vase Thou has placed thy treasures. My soul wastes away in
bitterness (Psalm 30, 11); and in thy absence, since Thou art its
sweetest life none but Thou can restore its drooping life. To whom
shall I go in thy absence? Whither shall I turn my eyes without
having light to direct them? Who shall console me when all is
affliction? Who shall preserve me from death, when there is no life
left?”
She also turned toward the angels and continued
without ceasing in her loving complaints, saying to them: “Celestial
Princes, ambassadors of the great and highest King and most faithful
friends of my soul: why have you also left me? Why do also you
deprive me of your sweet countenances and deny me your interactions?
But I do not wonder, my lords, at your displeasure, if through my
unthankfulness I have merited to fall into the disgrace of your and
my Creator. Lights of the heavens, enlighten me in my ignorance in
this matter, and if I have been at fault, correct me and obtain again
for me the pardon of my Lord. Most noble courtiers of the celestial
Jerusalem have pity on my sorrow and dereliction: tell me where is my
Beloved; tell me where He has hidden Himself (Cant. 3, 3). Tell me
where I can find Him without wandering about, (Cant. 1, 6) and
without going through the gatherings of all the creatures. But woe to
me, for you do not answer, though you are so courteous and well know
the hiding–place of my Spouse, since He never withdraws his
face and his beauty from your sight!”
Thereupon She turned toward all the rest of
creation and in continual anxieties of her love She spoke to them and
said: “Without doubt you also, being thankful, and being armed
against all the ungrateful, are exasperated against her, who was
ungrateful. But even if by the goodness of the Lord you permit me to
remain in your midst, although I am so vile, you cannot thereby
satisfy my longings. Very beautiful and extensive are ye. 0 heavens;
beautiful and refulgent are the planets and all the stars; great and
mighty are the elements, the earth is adorned and clothed in the
perfumed plants and herbs, innumerable are the fishes of the waters,
admirable are the elevations of the sea, (Psalm 92, 4), swift are the
birds in their feathery weight, hidden are the minerals, courageous
are the animals in their strength, and all of these together serve as
a gradual ascent and in a sweet harmony teach the way to my Beloved:
yet they are but circuitous paths for one that loves Him, and if I
course swiftly over them I find myself at the end absent from my
blessedness. For with the measured approach of these creatures to his
unmeasurable bounty, my flight is not content, my sorrow is not
allayed, my pains are unrelieved, my anguish increases, my desires
are augmented, my heart is more inflamed and faints away in the
unsatiating love of mere earthly things.”
The dragon, though seeing her courage
and constancy, and though feeling the force of the divine assistance,
knew nothing of the hidden wisdom and prudence of our sovereign
Queen. Nevertheless he persisted in his pride and besieged the City
of God in diverse ways and several kinds of warfare. The astute enemy
during this warfare often changed his engines of war, but his
machinery was like the sting of a weak hornet against a diamond, or
adamantine wall. Our Princess was that strong woman (Prov. 31, 11) on
whom the heart of her husband confidently relied, without the least
anxiety lest his desires should be frustrated in Her. Her adornments
were fortitude (Prov. 31, 25) which filled Her with beauty, and her
vestments were purity and charity, which served Her as a helmet. The
unclean and proud serpent could not look upon this Creature without
being blinded anew in the fury of his confusion; therefore he
resolved to take away her life, and the horde of malignant spirits
began to exert their utmost powers toward this end. In this attempt
they spent some time, but with just as little success.
The knowledge of this hidden mystery
caused in me great wonder especially when I considered the extremes,
to which the fury of Lucifer was allowed to proceed against the most
holy Mary in her tender years and when I beheld the hidden and
vigilant defense and protection of the Most High. I saw how attentive
the Lord was toward his chosen and only One among creatures; and I
saw at the same time all hell lashed into fury against Her and
exerting against Her in fullest indignation such a wrath as had never
till then been exerted against any other creature; and I saw the
facility with which God neutralizes the infernal power and
astuteness. 0 more than unhappy Lucifer! How much greater is thy
pride and arrogance than thy strength! (Isaias 16, 6)
After the most holy Virgin had
successfully fought these secret temptations and battles, the serpent
instituted a new conflict by means of creatures. For this purpose he
secretly kindled the sparks of envy and emulation against the most
holy Mary in the hearts of her maiden companions of the temple. This
contagion was much the harder to counteract, as it arose from the
punctuality with which our heavenly Princess distinguished Herself in
the practice of all virtues, growing in wisdom and grace before God
and man. For where the prodding of ambition is, the very light of
virtue darkens and blinds the judgment, and at last enkindles the
flames of envy. The dragon through his secret suggestions persuaded
these simple maidens, that the light of this sun. most holy Mary,
would obscure them and cause them to be little noticed; that on her
account their own negligences were more clearly apparent to the
priests and their teacher; and that Mary alone was preferred in the
estimation and judgment of all.
The companions of our Queen allowed
the devil to sow this bad seed in their bosoms; for they were
heedless and little experienced in spiritual ways. They allowed it to
increase until it grew into a sort of interior abhorrence of the most
pure Mary, and this into anger. Filed with this anger, they began to
look upon and treat Her with hatred, not being able to endure the
modesty of that most innocent Dove. For the dragon had incited them
and had already imbued the incautious girls with some of his own
wrath. The temptation continuing, its effects became manifest and the
temple maidens began to plot among themselves, ignorant of the spirit
that moved them. They agreed among themselves to molest and persecute
the unknown Princess of the world, until She should be forced to
leave the temple. Accordingly they called Her aside and spoke to Her
very sharp words, treating Her at the same time very haughtily. They
called Her a hypocrite and reproached Her with scheming to obtain the
favor of the priests and of their teacher, while seeking to discredit
all the other girls by her complaints and her exaggerations of their
faults, whereas She was the most useless of them all and therefore
deserved their hatred as an enemy.
These contumelies and many other accusations the
most prudent Virgin bore without disturbance and with equable
humility. She answered: “My friends and my mistresses, you are
right no doubt in saying, that I am the least and the most imperfect
among you; but then you, my sisters, being better informed, must
pardon me my faults and must teach me in my ignorance. Direct me
therefore, that I may succeed in doing better and act according to
your pleasure. I beseech you, my friends, not to deny me your good
will, which, though I am so imperfect, I sincerely wish to merit; for
I love you and reverence you as a servant, and I will obey you in all
things, in which you desire to make a trial of my good will. Command
me then, and tell me what you wish of me.”
These humble and sweet reasonings of
the most humble Mary did not soften the hardened hearts of her
associates and companions, for they were infected by the poisonous
fury of the dragon against Her. Precisely on account of her sweet
humility he became so much the more infuriated, and thus turned this
sweet antidote against the poisonous bite into a means of inflaming
them with open wrath against Her who was the great sign in heaven
(Apoc. 13, 15). For many days this persecution continued, during
which the heavenly Lady sought in vain to appease the hate of her
companions by her humility, patience, modesty and tolerance. On the
contrary the demon was emboldened to inspire them many thoughts full
of temerity, urging them to lay violent hands on the most humble lamb
and maltreat Her, even so far as to take away her life. But the Lord
not permit the execution of such sacrilegious suggestions and the
farthest which they were allowed to proceed, was to insult Her by
words or to inflict some blows. This quarreling remained concealed
from the teacher of the maidens and from the priests, and during this
time most holy Mary gained incomparable merits in the sight of the
Almighty, because She took occasion to exercise all the virtues, as
well in regard to God as also in regard the creatures, which were
persecuting and hating Her. She performed heroic acts of charity and
humility, yielding good for evil, blessings for curses, prayers for
blasphemies (I Cor. 4, 13), fulfilling in all things the most perfect
and the highest requirements of the divine law. Before the Lord She
exercised the most exalted virtues, by praying for his creatures who
were persecuting Her; and She excited the admiration of the angels.
By humiliating Herself as if She were the vilest of mortals
deservedly treated in that way. In all these things She surpassed the
conceptions of men and the highest merits of the seraphim.
It happened one day, that, impelled by the
diabolical suggestions, these girls brought Mary to a retired room,
where they could act with more safety. Here they began to heap
unmeasured injuries and insults upon Her, to excite Her to weakness
or anger and to entrap modesty into some hasty action. But as the
Queen of virtues could not even for a moment be subject to vice, She
showed Herself immovable, and She answered them with great kindness
and sweetness. Being enraged beyond bounds on account of not
succeeding in their purpose, her companions raised their voices in
discordant strife, so that they were heard in the temple and by such
unwonted noise caused great astonishment and confusion. The priests
and the teacher hastened to the place whence the noise proceeded, and
the Lord permitted a new humiliation of his Spouse, for they asked
with severity, what was the cause of this strife. While the most meek
Dove remained silent, the other maidens angrily answered and said:
“Mary of Nazareth brings us all into strife and quarreling by
her horrid conduct: for in your absence, She irritates and provokes
us in such a manner, that if She does not leave the temple, it will
he impossible to keep any peace with Her. When we allow Her her own
way, She becomes overbearing; if we reprehend Her, She makes fun of
all of us by prostrating Herself at our feet with feigned humility,
and afterwards She quarrels anew and throws all into uproar.”
The priests and the instructress
brought the Mistress of the world into another room, and there they
severely reprehended Her, giving full credit at that time to all the
accusations of her companions, and, having exhorted Her to reform and
behave as one living in the house of God, they threatened to expel
Her from the temple, if She would not mend Her conduct. This threat
was the most severe punishment, which they could have given Her, even
if She had been guilty: so much the more severe was it, when She was
altogether innocent of any of the faults imputed to Her.
Our Queen added other words full of
sweetest innocence and modesty; and therewith the instructress and
the priests dismissed Her, enjoining anew upon Her that doctrine, of
which She herself was the most wise Teacher. Immediately She betook
Herself to her companions, and prostrating Herself at their feet, She
asked them pardon, as if the faults, with which they had charged Her,
could ever have been shared by the Mother of all innocence. They
received Her this time with more good will, because they thought that
her tears were the effect of the punishment and the warning of the
priests and the instructress, whom they had induced to act thus in
pursuance of their badly governed passions. The dragon, who was
secretly contriving this entanglement, urged the incautious hearts of
all these girls to still greater haughtiness and presumption, and as
they had now made headway in the estimation of the priests
themselves, they proceeded to greater audacity in discrediting and
lowering the good name of the most pure Virgin. Accordingly by
instigation of the devil, they fabricated new accusations and lies;
but the Most High never permitted them to say anything very grave and
dishonorable of Her, whom He had chosen as the most holy Mother of
his Onlybegotten. He merely allowed the indignation and deceit of the
maidens go so far as to exaggerate very much some small faults, which
were even in themselves altogether fictitious, but which they accused
Her of. Moreover they were permitted to practice many feminine
intrigues, to which their own restlessness drove them. In these
different ways and in the reprehensions of her instructress and of
the priests our most humble Lady Mary found many occasions of
exercising virtues, of increasing the gifts of the Most High, and of
exalting Her merit.
The Lord did not sleep, nor did He slumber (Psalm
120, 4) during the clamors of his beloved spouse Mary, although He
pretended not to hear them, delighting in the prolonged exercise of
her sufferings, which occasioned so many glorious triumphs and the
admirations and praises of the supernal spirits. The smouldering fire
of the persecution already mentioned continued unabated, in order
that the Phenix, Mary, might many times renew Herself from the ashes
of her humility, and in order that her most pure heart be regenerated
over and over again to new estates and conditions of divine grace.
But when the opportune time arrived for putting an end to the blind
envy and jealousy of those ensnared maidens, and in order that their
petulance might not altogether discredit Her who was to be the
excellence of nature and grace itself, the Lord spoke to the priest
in his sleep and said to Him “My servant Mary is pleasing in my
eyes, and She is my perfect and my chosen One: She is entirely
innocent of anything of which She is accused.” The same
revelation was given to Anne, the instructress of the maidens. That
morning the priest and the instructress conferred with each other
about the message, which both had received. Being now certain, they
repented of the deceit, into which they had been led, and called the
Princess Mary, asking her pardon for having given credit to the false
report of the girls and offering Her all the reparation necessary to
defend Her from the persecution and the sufferings consequent upon
it.
She that was the Mother and origin of humility,
after listening to their words, answered the priest and the
instructress “My superiors, I am the one that deserves your
reprehensions and I beseech you do not hold me unworthy of undergoing
them, since I ask for them as most necessary to me. The interactions
with my sisters, the other maidens, is most highly prized by me, and
I do not wish to be deprived of it through my fault, since I owe them
so much for having borne with me and as a return for that benefit, I
desire to serve them more faithfully; nevertheless if you command me
anything else, I stand prepared to obey your will.” This answer
of the most holy Mary still more comforted and consoled the priest
and the instructress; and they approved of her humble petition, but
from that time on they attended to Her and observed Her with new
reverence and affection. The most humble Maiden begged to kiss the
hand of the priest and of the matron, asking for their blessing
according to her custom; with this they dismissed Her. Just as the
parched desire of the thirsty for drink is increased at the sight of
clear water withdrawn beyond their reach, so was the heart of Mary
our Mistress filled with yearning regret for the exercise of
suffering. Thirsting and burning for the divine love She feared lest
through the watchful care of the priest and of the instructress, She
should from thenceforward be deprived of the treasure of affliction,
The enlightenment of the priests and
the instructress concerning Mary abated the persecutions of the
maidens. The Lord also restrained them and prevented the demon from
inciting them thereafter. But the time during which He absented
Himself and during which He hid Himself from this heavenly spouse,
lasted (wonderful to relate!) ten years; although the Most High
interrupted this absence a few times by allowing the veil to fall
from his face for the relief of his Beloved; but it was not often
that He dispensed this favor during that time, and He did it with
less lavishness and tenderness than in the first years of her
childhood. This absence of the Lord was ordained for our Queen in
order She might, by actual exercise of all perfection, be made worthy
for the dignity to which She was destined by the Most High. For if
She had continually enjoyed the vision of his Majesty in the manner
described by us in the fourteenth chapter of this book, She could not
have suffered according to the common order of a mere creature.
But during this retirement and absence of the
Lord, although most holy Mary missed the intuitive and abstractive
visions of the divine Essence and of the angels as mentioned above,
her most holy soul and her faculties enjoyed more gifts of grace and
more supernatural enlightenment, than all the saints ever attained or
received. For in regard to this the hand of God never withdrew from
Her. But in comparison with the frequent visitations of the Lord in
her first years, I call the state of her privation of his presence
for such a long time, an absence and withdrawal of the Lord. It
commenced eight days before the death of her father, saint Joachim,
and afterwards the persecution of hell began, followed by the
persecutions on the part of creatures. They lasted until our Princess
reached the age of twelve years. Having passed this age, the holy
angels on a certain day, without manifesting themselves, spoke to Her
as follows: “Mary, the end of the life of thy holy mother Anne
as ordained by the Most High, is now about to arrive, and his Majesty
has resolved to free her from the prison of her mortal body and bring
her labors to a happy fulfillment.”
At this unexpected and sorrowful message the heart
of the affectionate Daughter was filled with compassion. Prostrating
Herself in the presence of the Most High, She poured forth a fervent
prayer for the happy death of her mother saint Anne in the following
words: “King of the ages, invisible and eternal Lord, immortal
and almighty Creator of the universe, although I am but dust and
ashes and although I must confess, that I am in debt to thy
greatness, I will not on that account be prevented from speaking to
my Lord (Gen. 18,17), and I pour out before thee my heart, hoping, 0
my God, that Thou wilt not despise her, who has always confessed thy
holy name. Dismiss, 0 Lord, in peace thy servant, who has with
invincible faith and confidence desired to fulfill thy divine
pleasure. Let her issue victoriously and triumphantly from the
hostile combat and enter the portal of thy holy chosen ones; let thy
powerful arm strengthen her; at the close of her mortal career, let
that same right hand, which has helped her to walk in the path of
perfection, assist her, and let her enter, 0 my Father, into the
peace of thy friendship and grace, since she has always sought after
it with an upright heart.”
The Lord did not respond expressly in words to
this petition of his Beloved; but his answer was a marvelous favor,
shown to Her and to her mother, saint Anne. During that night his
Majesty commanded the guardian angels of the most holy Mary to carry
Her bodily to the sickbed of her mother and one of them to remain in
her stead, assuming for this purpose an aerial body a substitute for
hers. The holy angels obeyed the mandate of God and they carried
their and our Queen to the house and to the room of her holy mother
Anne. Being thus brought to the presence of her mother, the heavenly
Lady kissed her hand and said to her: My mother and mistress, may the
Most High be thy light and thy strength, and may He be blessed, since
He has in his condescension not permitted me in my necessity to
remain without the benefit of thy last blessing: may I then receive
it, my mother, from thy hand.” Holy Anne gave her last blessing
to Mary and with overflowing heart also thanked the Lord for the
great favor thus conferred upon Herself. For She knew the sacrament
of her Daughter and Queen, and she did not forget to express her
gratitude for the love, which Mary had shown her on this occasion.
In the midst of such exalted and
heavenly colloquies the blessed mother saint Anne felt the throes of
death approaching and, reclining upon the throne of grace, that is,
in the arms of her most holy Daughter Mary, she rendered her most
pure soul to her Creator. Having closed the eyes of her mother, as
saint Anne had requested, and leaving the sacred body in position for
burial, the Queen Mary was again taken up by the holy angels and
restored to her place in the temple. The Most High did not impede the
force of her filial love, which naturally would cause a great and
tender sorrow at the death of her mother and a sense of loneliness at
being deprived of her assistance. But these sorrows were most holy
and perfect in our Queen, governed by the graces of her most prudent
innocence and purity. In the midst of them She gave praise to the
Most High for the infinite mercies, which He had shown to her mother
both in life and in death, while her sweet and loving complaints on
account of the absence of the Lord continued unabated.
Already our
heavenly Princess felt that the day of the clear vision of the
Divinity was approaching and that like the harbingers of early dawn,
the rays of the divine light were breaking upon her soul. Her heart
began to be inflamed by the nearness of the invisible fire, which
illumines but does not consume; and made attentive by this new
clearness, She questioned her angels and said to them: “My
friends and lords, my most faithful and vigilant sentinels, tell me:
what hour is it of my night? And when will the bright light of the
day arise, which my eyes shall see the Sun of justice which Illumines
them and gives life to my affections and my soul?” The holy
Princes answered her and said: “Spouse of the Most High, thy
wished–for light and truth is near; it will not tarry long, for
already it approaches.” At these words the veil which hid the
view of these spiritual substances was
slightly lifted; and the holy angels became visible, showing
themselves as during her first years in their own essence, without
hindrance or dependence of the bodily
senses.
They transmitted
to Her that light, of which I have spoken, in order to purify her
faculties; not because there were any defects to be remedied, for She
could not be guilty of any defects. On the contrary all her actions
and operations during the absence of the Lord had
been meritorious and holy. Nevertheless it was necessary that She be
endowed with new gifts, in order to tranquilize her spirit and her
faculties, which had been moved by affectionate labors and anxieties
during the absence of the Lord, and also in order to withdraw Her
from her present state and raise Her to a position, where She could
enjoy new and different favors, for in order that her faculties might
again be proportioned to the high Object and to the manner of
enjoying It, they must necessarily be renewed and redisposed. All
this the holy seraphim proceeded to do with Her in the manner already
described in book second, chapter fourteenth. When the Lord conferred
upon Her the final adornment and the quality necessary for the
immediate vision about to take place.
As far as I can explain, this successive elevation
of the faculties of the heavenly Queen engendered those particular
affections and sentiments of love and virtues which the Lord desired,
and in the midst of these elevations his Majesty withdrew the veil.
Then after his long concealment He manifested Himself to his only
Spouse, his beloved and most holy Mary, by an abstractive vision of
the Divinity. Although this vision was given through abstractive
images and not intuitive, yet it was most clear and exalted in its
kind. By it the Lord dried the continual tears of our Queen, rewarded
her affection and her loving anxiety, satisfied all her desires and
overwhelmed Her with delight as She reclined in the arms of her
Beloved (Cant. 8, 5). Then was renewed the youth of that aspiring
Eagle, winging its flight into the impenetrable regions of the
Divinity (Psalm 102, 5), and by the after–effects of this
vision She ascended whither no other creature can ascend, or no other
intellect can reach outside of God’s.
Our Princess issued from this vision
altogether renovated and made godlike; full of the new science of the
Divinity and of the hidden sacraments of the King, confessing Him,
adoring Him, and praising Him with incessant canticles and by the
flights of her pacified and tranquilized spirit. In like proportion
also was the increase of her humility and of all the other virtues.
Her most ardent prayer was to penetrate more and more deeply into
that which is most perfect and most pleasing to the will of the Most
High, and to fulfill and execute it in her actions. Thus passed a
number of days, until that happened, which is to be related in the
next chapter.
Book 2, Chapter 7
HER
WONDERFUL ESPOUSAL WITH SAINT JOSEPH
At the age of thirteen and a half
years, having grown considerably for her age, our most charming
Princess, most pure Mary, had another abstractive vision of the
Divinity of the same order and kind as those already described. In
this vision, we might say, happened something similar to that which
the holy Scriptures relate of Abraham, when God commanded him to
sacrifice his beloved son Isaac, the only pledge of all his hopes.
God tempted Abraham, says Moses (Gen. 12, 12), trying and probing the
promptness of his obedience in order to reward it. We can say the
same thing of our great Lady, that God tried Her in this vision, by
commanding Her to enter the state of matrimony. Thence we can also
understand the truth of the words: How inscrutable are the judgments
of the Lord and how exalted are his ways and thoughts above our own
(Rom. 11, 33)! As distant as heaven is from earth, were the thoughts
of most holy Mary from the plans which the Most High now made known
to Her, by commanding Her to accept a husband for her protection and
company; for as far as depended upon her will She had desired and
resolved during all her life not to have a husband and She had often
repeated and renewed the vow of chastity, which She had taken at such
a premature age.
Nevertheless at this unexpected command the most
prudent Virgin suspended her judgment, and preserved the calmness of
her hope and belief more perfectly than Abraham. Hoping against hope
(Rom. 4, 18), She made answer to the Lord saying: “Eternal God
and incomprehensible Majesty, Creator of heaven and earth, and of all
things contained therein, Thou, 0 Lord, who weighest the winds (Job
28, 25), and by thy commands settest bounds to the sea and subjectest
all creation to thy will, canst dispose of me, thy worthless wormlet,
according to thy pleasure, without making me fail in that which I
have promised to Thee; and if it be not displeasing to Thee, my good
Lord, I confirm and ratify anew my desire to remain chaste during all
my life and to have Thee for my Lord and Spouse; and since my only
duty as a creature is to obey Thee, see Thou to it, my Spouse, that
according to thy Providence I may escape from this predicament in
which thy holy love places me.” There was, however, some
uneasiness in the most chaste maiden Mary, as far as her inferior
nature was concerned, just as happened afterwards at the message of
the archangel Gabriel (Luke 1, 8); yet, though She felt some sadness,
it did not hinder Her from practicing the most heroic obedience which
until then had fallen to her lot, and She resigned Herself entirely
into the hand of the Lord. His Majesty answered her: “Mary, let
not thy heart be disturbed, for thy resignation is acceptable to Me
and my powerful arm is not subject to laws; by my disposition that
will happen, which is most proper for Thee.”
Consoled only by this vague promise
of the Lord, most holy Mary recovered from her vision and returned to
her ordinary state. Left between doubt and hope by the divine command
and promise, She was full of solicitude, for the Lord intended that
She should multiply Her tearful sentiments of love and confidence, of
faith, humility, of obedience, of purest chastity and of other
virtues, impossible to enumerate. In the meanwhile, while our great
Lady applied Herself to vigilant prayer, and to her resigned and
prudent sighs and solicitude, God spoke in sleep to the high priest,
saint Simeon, and commanded him to arrange for the marriage of Mary,
the daughter of Joachim and Anne of Nazareth; since He regarded Her
with special care and love. The holy priest answered, asking what was
his will in regard to the person, whom the maiden Mary was to marry
and to whom She was to give Herself as Spouse. The Lord instructed
Him to call together the other priests and learned persons and to
tell them that this Maiden was left alone and an orphan and that She
did not desire to be married; but that, as it was a custom for the
firstborn maidens not to leave the temple without being provided for,
it was proper She should be married to whomever it seemed good to
them.
The most prudent Virgin, with a countenance
betokening virginal modesty, answered the priest with great composure
and humility: “Sir, as far as my inclinations are concerned, I
desire to preserve perpetual chastity during all my life; for I
wished to dedicate myself to God in the service of this holy temple
in return for the great blessings which I have received in it; I
never had the intention or the desire to enter the state of
matrimony, since I consider myself incapable of fulfilling the duties
connected with it. This was my inclination, but thou, my master, who
art to me in place of God, wilt teach me what is according to his
holy Will,” “My Daughter,” answered the priest,
“thy holy desires are acceptable to the Lord; but remember,
that no maiden of Israel abstains from marriage as long as we expect
the coming of the Messias conformably to the divine prophecies.
Therefore all who obtain issue of children among our people, esteem
themselves happy and blessed. In the matrimonial state Thou canst
serve God truly and in great perfection; and in order that Thou
mayest obtain a companion according to the heart of God and who will
be conformable to thy wishes, we will pray to the Lord, as I have
told Thee, asking Him to single out a husband for Thee, who shall be
pleasing to Him and of the line of David; do Thou also pray
continually for the same favor, in order that the Most High may favor
Thee and may direct us all.”
This happened nine days before the one appointed
for the execution and realization of their resolve. During this time
the most holy Virgin multiplied her prayers, beseeching the Lord with
incessant tears and sighs, to fulfill his divine pleasure in that
which She had so much at heart. On one of those nine days the Lord
appeared to Her and said to Her: “My Spouse and my Dove, let
thy afflicted heart expand and let it not be disturbed or sad; I will
attend to thy yearnings and to thy requests, I will direct all
things, and will govern the priests by my enlightenment; I will give
Thee a spouse selected by Myself, and one who will put no hindrance
to thy holy desires, but who, by my grace will prosper Thee in them.
I will find for Thee a perfect man conformable to my heart and I will
choose him from the number of my servants; my power is infinite, and
my protection and aid shall never fail Thee.”
The most holy Mary
answering said: “Highest Good and Love of my soul, Thou well
knowest the secret of my bosom and my desires, which Thou hast
excited in me from the first moment of the existence received from
Thee; preserve me, then, my Spouse, pure and chaste, as I have
desired for Thee and through Thee. Do not despise my sighs and
deprive me not of thy countenance. Remember, my Lord and God, that I
am but a useless wormlet, weak and despicable on account of my
insignificance and if I should fall away from virtue in the state of
matrimony, I shall disappoint Thee and my desires; provide Thou for
my security and be not deterred by my demerits. Although I am but
useless dust (Gen. 18, 27), I will call on
thy greatness, 0 Lord, trusting in thy infinite mercies.”
On the day on which, as we have said
in the preceding chapter, our Princess Mary completed the fourteenth
year of her life, the men, who at that time in the city of Jerusalem
were descendants of the tribe of Juda and of the race of David,
gathered together in the temple. The sovereign Lady was also of that
lineage. Among the number was Joseph, a native of Nazareth. and then
living in Jerusalem; for he was one of the descendants of the royal
race of David. He was then thirty–three years of age, of
handsome person and pleasing countenance, but also of incomparable
modesty and gravity; above all he was most chaste in thought and
conduct, and most saintly in all his inclinations. From his twelfth
year he had made and kept the vow of chastity. He was related to the
Virgin Mary in the third degree, and was known for the utmost purity
of his life, holy and irreprehensible in the eyes of God and of men.
All these unmarried men gathered in the temple and
prayed to the Lord conjointly with the priests. in order to be
governed by the holy Spirit in what they were about to do. The Most
High spoke to the heart of the highpriest, inspiring him to place
into the hands of each one of the young men a dry stick, with the
command that each ask his Majesty with a lively faith, to single out
the one whom He had chosen as the spouse of Mary. And as the sweet
odor of her virtue and nobility, the fame of her beauty, her
possessions and her modesty, and her position as being the firstborn
in her family was known to all of them, each one coveted the
happiness of meriting Her as a spouse. Among them all only the humble
and most upright Joseph thought himself unworthy of such a great
blessing; and remembering the vow of chastity which he had made and
resolving anew its perpetual observance, he resigned himself to God’s
will, leaving it all to his disposal and being filled at the same
time with a veneration and esteem greater than that of any of the
others for the most noble maiden Mary.
While they were thus engaged in prayer the staff
which Joseph held was seen to blossom and at the same time a dove of
purest white and resplendent with admirable light, was seen to
descend and rest upon the head of the saint, while in the interior of
his heart God spoke: “Joseph, my servant, Mary shall be thy
Spouse; accept Her with attentive reverence, for She is acceptable in
my eyes, just and most pure in soul and body, and thou shalt do all
that She shall say to Thee.” At this manifestation and token
from heaven the priests declared saint Joseph as the spouse selected
by God himself for the maiden Mary. Calling Her forth for her
espousal, the Chosen one issued forth like the sun, more resplendent
than the moon, and She entered into the presence of all with a
countenance more beautiful than that of an angel, incomparable in the
charm of her beauty, nobility and grace; and the priests espoused Her
to the most chaste and holy of men, saint Joseph.
The heavenly Princess, more pure than
the stars of the firmament, with tearful and sorrowful countenance
and as the Queen of majesty, most humble yet uniting all perfections
within Herself, took leave of the priests, asking their blessing, and
of her instructress and her companions, begging their pardon. She
gave thanks to all of them for the favors received at their hands
during her stay in the temple. The humility of her behavior enhanced
the prudence and aptness of her words for the performance of these
last duties in the temple; for on all occasions She spoke in few and
weighty words. She took leave of the temple not without great grief
on account of the sacrifice of her inclinations and desires. In the
company of attendants who were some of the more distinguished laymen
in the service of the temple, She betook Herself with her spouse
Joseph to Nazareth, the native city of this most fortunate married
couple. Joseph, although he had been born in that place, had, by the
providential disposition of circumstances, decided to live for some
time in Jerusalem. Thus it happened that he so improved his fortune
as to become the spouse of Her, whom God had chosen to be his own
Mother.
Having arrived at their home in Nazareth, where
the Princess of heaven had inherited the possessions and estates of
her blessed parents, they were welcomed and visited by their friends
and relatives with the joyful congratulations customary on such
occasions. After they had in a most holy manner complied with the
natural duties of friendship and politeness, and satisfied the
worldly obligations connected with the conversation and interaction
with their fellowmen, the two most holy spouses, Joseph and Mary,
were left at leisure and to their own counsel in their house. Custom
had introduced the practice among the Hebrews, that for the first few
days of their married state the husband and wife should enter upon a
sort of study or trial of each others’ habits and temperament,
in order that afterwards they might be able to make reciprocal
allowance in their conduct one toward the other.
During this time
saint Joseph said to his spouse Mary: “My spouse and Lady, I
give thanks to the Lord most high God for the favor of having
designed me as your husband without my merits, though I judged myself
unworthy even of thy company; but his Majesty, who can raise up the
lowly whenever He wishes, showed this mercy to me, and I desire and
hope, relying on thy discretion and virtue, that Thou help me to make
a proper return in serving Him with an upright heart. Hold me,
therefore, as thy servant, and by the true love which I have for
thee, I beg of thee to supply my deficiencies in the fulfillment of
the domestic duties and of other things,
which as a worthy husband, I should know how to perform; tell me,
Lady, what is thy pleasure, in order that I may fulfill it.”
The heavenly Spouse heard these words with an
humble heart, and yet also with a serene earnestness, and She
answered the saint: “My master, I am fortunate, that the Most
High, in order to place me in this state of life, has chosen thee for
my husband and that He has given me such evident manifestation of his
will, that I serve thee; but if thou givest me leave I will speak of
my thoughts and intentions, which I wish to manifest to thee for this
purpose.” The Most High forestalled the sincere and upright
heart of saint Joseph with his grace and inflamed it anew with divine
love through the word of most holy Mary, and he answered Her, saying:
“Speak, Lady, thy servant hears.” On this occasion the
Mistress of the world was surrounded by the thousand angels of her
guard, in visible form. She had asked them to be present in that
manner, because the Lord, in order that the most pure Virgin might
act with greater grace and merit, had permitted her to feel the
respect and reverence, with which She was bound to speak to her
husband and left her to the natural shyness and dread, which She
always felt in speaking to men alone; for She had never done this,
except perhaps by accident with the highpriest.
The holy angels obeyed their Queen and, visible
only to Her, stood in attendance. In this glorious company She spoke
to her spouse saint Joseph, and said to him: “My lord and
spouse, it is just that we give praise and glory with all reverence
to our God and Creator, who is infinite in goodness and
incomprehensible in his judgments. To us, who are so needy, He has
manifested his greatness and mercy in choosing us for his service. I
acknowledge myself among all creatures as more beholden and indebted
to Him than all others, and more than all of them together; for,
meriting less. I have received from his liberal hand more than they.
At a tender age, being compelled thereto by the force of this truth,
which, with the knowledge of the deceitfulness of visible things, his
divine light made known to me, I consecrated myself to God by a
perpetual vow of chastity in body and soul; his I am and Him I
acknowledge as my Spouse and Lord, with fixed resolve to preserve for
Him my chastity. I beseech thee, my master, to help me in fulfilling
this vow, while in all other things I will be thy servant, willing to
work for the comfort of thy life as long as mine shall last. Yield,
my spouse, to this resolve and make a like resolve, in order that,
offering ourselves as an acceptable sacrifice to our eternal God, He
may receive us in the odor of sweetness and bestow on us the eternal
goods for which we hope.”
The most chaste spouse Joseph, full of interior
joy at the words of his heavenly Spouse, answered Her: “My
Mistress, in making known to me thy chaste and welcome sentiments,
thou hast penetrated and dilated my heart. I have not opened my
thoughts to Thee before knowing thy own. I also acknowledge myself
under greater obligation to the Lord of creation than other men; for
very early He has called me by his true enlightenment to love Him
with an upright heart; and I desire Thee to know, Lady, that at the
age of twelve years I also made a promise to serve the Most High in
perpetual chastity. On this account I now gladly ratify this vow in
order not to impede thy own; in the presence of his Majesty I promise
to aid Thee, as far as in me lies, in serving Him and loving Him
according to thy full desires. I will be, with the divine grace, thy
most faithful servant and companion, and I pray Thee accept my chaste
love and hold me as thy brother, without ever entertaining any other
kind of love, outside the one which Thou owest to God and after God
to me. In this conversation the Most High confirmed anew the virtue
of chastity in the heart of saint Joseph, and the pure and holy love
due to his most holy spouse Mary. This love the saint already had in
an eminent degree, and the Lady herself augmented it sweetly,
dilating his heart by her most prudent discourse.
By divine operation the two most holy
and chaste Spouses felt an incomparable joy and consolation. The
heavenly Princess, as one who is the Mistress of all virtues and who
in all things pursued the highest perfection of all virtues, lovingly
corresponded to the desires of saint Joseph. The Most High also gave
to saint Joseph new purity and complete command over his natural
inclinations, so that without hindrance or any trace of sensual
desires, but with admirable and new grace, he might serve his spouse
Mary, and in Her, execute his will and pleasure. They immediately set
about dividing the property inherited from saint Joachim and Anne,
the parents of the most holy Virgin; one part they offered to the
temple, where She had stayed, another they destined for the poor, and
the third was left in the hands of the holy spouse saint Joseph to be
disposed of according to his judgment. Our Queen reserved for Herself
only the privilege of serving Him and of attending to the household
duties. For from intercourse with outsiders and from the management
of property, buying or selling, the most prudent Virgin always kept
aloof, as I will mention farther on.
In his former life saint Joseph had
learnt the trade of carpentering as being a respectable and proper
way of earning the sustenance in life. He was poor in earthly
possessions, as I have said above. He therefore asked his most holy
Spouse, whether it was agreeable to Her, that he should exercise his
trade in order to be able to serve Her and to gain something for
distribution among the poor; since it was necessary to do some work
and not to remain idle. The most prudent Virgin approved of this
resolve, saying that the Lord did not wish them to be rich, but poor
and lovers of the poor, desirous of helping them in as far as their
means would allow. Then arose between the two Spouses a holy contest,
who should obey the other as superior. But She, who among the humble
was the most humble, won in this contest of humility; for as the man
is the head of the family, She would not permit this natural order to
be inverted. She desired in all things to obey her spouse saint
Joseph, asking him solely for permission to help the poor, which the
saint gladly gave.
As saint Joseph during these days by
divine enlightenment learnt to know more and more the qualities of
his spouse Mary, her rare prudence, humility, purity and all her
other virtues exceeding by far his thoughts and estimates, he was
seized with ever new admiration and, in great joy of spirit,
continued to praise and thank the Lord again and again for having
given him a Companion and Spouse so far above his merits. And in
order that this work of the Most High might be entirely perfect (for
it was the beginning of the greatest, which He was to execute by his
Omnipotence) He ordained that the Princess of heaven, by her mere
presence and interactions, should infuse into the heart of her spouse
a holy fear and reverence greater than words could ever suffice to
describe. This effect was wrought upon saint Joseph by an effulgence
or reflection of the divine light, which shone from the face of our
Queen and which was mingled with an ineffable and always visible
majesty. So much the more was this due to Her than to Moses
descending from the mountain, (Exod. 24, 30) as her interactions and
conversation with God had been more extended and intimate.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN
The Virgin Mary
speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain
My daughter, in the example of the matrimonial
life wherein the Most High placed me, thou findest a reproof for
those souls, who allege their life in the world as an excuse for not
following perfection. To God nothing is impossible, and nothing is
likewise impossible to those, who with a lively faith, hope in Him,
and resign themselves entirely to his divine Providence. I lived in
the house of my spouse with the same perfection as in the temple; for
in changing my state of life I altered neither my sentiments nor the
desire and anxiety to love and serve God; on the contrary I added to
my solicitude lest the obligations of a spouse should hinder me in
God’s service. On this account God favored me and disposed and
accommodated powerfully all things in conformity to my desires. The
Lord will do the same for all men, if on their part they correspond.
They however blame the state of matrimony, deceiving themselves; for
the hindrance to a holy and perfect life, is not the state, but the
vain and superfluous cares and anxieties, in which they involve
themselves forgetting the sweetness of the Lord and seeking and
preferring their own.
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Catholic Catechism
PART FOUR - CHRISTIAN PRAYER
SECTION ONE - PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
CHAPTER THREE - THE LIFE OF PRAYER
CHAPTER THREE
THE LIFE OF PRAYER
2697 Prayer is the life of the new heart. It ought to animate us at every moment. But we tend to forget him who is our life and our all. This is why the Fathers of the spiritual life in the Deuteronomic and prophetic traditions insist that prayer is a remembrance of God often awakened by the memory of the heart "We must remember God more often than we draw breath."1 But we cannot pray "at all times" if we do not pray at specific times, consciously willing it These are the special times of Christian prayer, both in intensity and duration.
2698 The Tradition of the Church proposes to the faithful certain rhythms of praying intended to nourish continual prayer. Some are daily, such as morning and evening prayer, grace before and after meals, the Liturgy of the Hours. Sundays, centered on the Eucharist, are kept holy primarily by prayer. The cycle of the liturgical year and its great feasts are also basic rhythms of the Christian's life of prayer.
2699 The Lord leads all persons by paths and in ways pleasing to him, and each believer responds according to his heart's resolve and the personal expressions of his prayer. However, Christian Tradition has retained three major expressions of prayer: vocal meditative, and contemplative. They have one basic trait in common: composure of heart. This vigilance in keeping the Word and dwelling in the presence of God makes these three expressions intense times in the life of prayer.
THE LIFE OF PRAYER
2697 Prayer is the life of the new heart. It ought to animate us at every moment. But we tend to forget him who is our life and our all. This is why the Fathers of the spiritual life in the Deuteronomic and prophetic traditions insist that prayer is a remembrance of God often awakened by the memory of the heart "We must remember God more often than we draw breath."1 But we cannot pray "at all times" if we do not pray at specific times, consciously willing it These are the special times of Christian prayer, both in intensity and duration.
2698 The Tradition of the Church proposes to the faithful certain rhythms of praying intended to nourish continual prayer. Some are daily, such as morning and evening prayer, grace before and after meals, the Liturgy of the Hours. Sundays, centered on the Eucharist, are kept holy primarily by prayer. The cycle of the liturgical year and its great feasts are also basic rhythms of the Christian's life of prayer.
2699 The Lord leads all persons by paths and in ways pleasing to him, and each believer responds according to his heart's resolve and the personal expressions of his prayer. However, Christian Tradition has retained three major expressions of prayer: vocal meditative, and contemplative. They have one basic trait in common: composure of heart. This vigilance in keeping the Word and dwelling in the presence of God makes these three expressions intense times in the life of prayer.
ARTICLE 3
THE PRAYER OF THE HOUR OF JESUS
2746 When "his hour" came, Jesus prayed to the Father.43 His prayer, the longest transmitted by the Gospel, embraces the whole economy of creation and salvation, as well as his death and Resurrection. The prayer of the Hour of Jesus always remains his own, just as his Passover "once for all" remains ever present in the liturgy of his Church.
2747 Christian Tradition rightly calls this prayer the "priestly" prayer of Jesus. It is the prayer of our high priest, inseparable from his sacrifice, from his passing over (Passover) to the Father to whom he is wholly "consecrated."44
2748 In this Paschal and sacrificial prayer, everything is recapitulated in Christ:45 God and the world; the Word and the flesh; eternal life and time; the love that hands itself over and the sin that betrays it; the disciples present and those who will believe in him by their word; humiliation and glory. It is the prayer of unity.
2749 Jesus fulfilled the work of the Father completely; his prayer, like his sacrifice, extends until the end of time. The prayer of this hour fills the end-times and carries them toward their consummation. Jesus, the Son to whom the Father has given all things, has given himself wholly back to the Father, yet expresses himself with a sovereign freedom46 by virtue of the power the Father has given him over all flesh. The Son, who made himself Servant, is Lord, the Pantocrator. Our high priest who prays for us is also the one who prays in us and the God who hears our prayer.
2750 By entering into the holy name of the Lord Jesus we can accept, from within, the prayer he teaches us: "Our Father!" His priestly prayer fulfills, from within, the great petitions of the Lord's Prayer: concern for the Father's name;47 passionate zeal for his kingdom (glory);48 the accomplishment of the will of the Father, of his plan of salvation;49 and deliverance from evil.50
2751 Finally, in this prayer Jesus reveals and gives to us the "knowledge," inseparably one, of the Father and of the Son,51 which is the very mystery of the life of prayer.
IN BRIEF
2752 Prayer presupposes an effort, a fight against ourselves and the wiles of the Tempter. The battle of prayer is inseparable from the necessary "spiritual battle" to act habitually according to the Spirit of Christ: we pray as we live, because we live as we pray.
2753 In the battle of prayer we must confront erroneous conceptions of prayer, various currents of thought, and our own experience of failure. We must respond with humility, trust, and perseverance to these temptations which cast doubt on the usefulness or even the possibility of prayer.
2754 The principal difficulties in the practice of prayer are distraction and dryness. The remedy lies in faith, conversion, and vigilance of heart.
2755 Two frequent temptations threaten prayer: lack of faith and acedia - a form of depression stemming from lax ascetical practice that leads to discouragement.
2756 Filial trust is put to the test when we feel that our prayer is not always heard. The Gospel invites us to ask ourselves about the conformity of our prayer to the desire of the Spirit.
2757 "Pray constantly" (1 Thess 5:17). It is always possible to pray. It is even a vital necessity. Prayer and Christian life are inseparable.
2758 The prayer of the hour of Jesus, rightly called the "priestly prayer" (cf. Jn 17), sums up the whole economy of creation and salvation. It fulfills the great petitions of the Our Father.
43 Cf. Jn 17.
44 Cf. Jn 17:11,13,19.
45 Cf. Eph 1:10.
46 Cf. Jn 17:11,13,19,24.
47 Cf. Jn 17:6,11,12,26.
48 Cf. Jn 17:1,5,10,22,23-26.
49 Cf. Jn 17:2,4,6,9,11,12,24.
50 Cf. Jn 17:15.
51 Cf. Jn 17:3,6-10,25.
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THE PRAYER OF THE HOUR OF JESUS
2746 When "his hour" came, Jesus prayed to the Father.43 His prayer, the longest transmitted by the Gospel, embraces the whole economy of creation and salvation, as well as his death and Resurrection. The prayer of the Hour of Jesus always remains his own, just as his Passover "once for all" remains ever present in the liturgy of his Church.
2747 Christian Tradition rightly calls this prayer the "priestly" prayer of Jesus. It is the prayer of our high priest, inseparable from his sacrifice, from his passing over (Passover) to the Father to whom he is wholly "consecrated."44
2748 In this Paschal and sacrificial prayer, everything is recapitulated in Christ:45 God and the world; the Word and the flesh; eternal life and time; the love that hands itself over and the sin that betrays it; the disciples present and those who will believe in him by their word; humiliation and glory. It is the prayer of unity.
2749 Jesus fulfilled the work of the Father completely; his prayer, like his sacrifice, extends until the end of time. The prayer of this hour fills the end-times and carries them toward their consummation. Jesus, the Son to whom the Father has given all things, has given himself wholly back to the Father, yet expresses himself with a sovereign freedom46 by virtue of the power the Father has given him over all flesh. The Son, who made himself Servant, is Lord, the Pantocrator. Our high priest who prays for us is also the one who prays in us and the God who hears our prayer.
2750 By entering into the holy name of the Lord Jesus we can accept, from within, the prayer he teaches us: "Our Father!" His priestly prayer fulfills, from within, the great petitions of the Lord's Prayer: concern for the Father's name;47 passionate zeal for his kingdom (glory);48 the accomplishment of the will of the Father, of his plan of salvation;49 and deliverance from evil.50
2751 Finally, in this prayer Jesus reveals and gives to us the "knowledge," inseparably one, of the Father and of the Son,51 which is the very mystery of the life of prayer.
IN BRIEF
2752 Prayer presupposes an effort, a fight against ourselves and the wiles of the Tempter. The battle of prayer is inseparable from the necessary "spiritual battle" to act habitually according to the Spirit of Christ: we pray as we live, because we live as we pray.
2753 In the battle of prayer we must confront erroneous conceptions of prayer, various currents of thought, and our own experience of failure. We must respond with humility, trust, and perseverance to these temptations which cast doubt on the usefulness or even the possibility of prayer.
2754 The principal difficulties in the practice of prayer are distraction and dryness. The remedy lies in faith, conversion, and vigilance of heart.
2755 Two frequent temptations threaten prayer: lack of faith and acedia - a form of depression stemming from lax ascetical practice that leads to discouragement.
2756 Filial trust is put to the test when we feel that our prayer is not always heard. The Gospel invites us to ask ourselves about the conformity of our prayer to the desire of the Spirit.
2757 "Pray constantly" (1 Thess 5:17). It is always possible to pray. It is even a vital necessity. Prayer and Christian life are inseparable.
2758 The prayer of the hour of Jesus, rightly called the "priestly prayer" (cf. Jn 17), sums up the whole economy of creation and salvation. It fulfills the great petitions of the Our Father.
43 Cf. Jn 17.
44 Cf. Jn 17:11,13,19.
45 Cf. Eph 1:10.
46 Cf. Jn 17:11,13,19,24.
47 Cf. Jn 17:6,11,12,26.
48 Cf. Jn 17:1,5,10,22,23-26.
49 Cf. Jn 17:2,4,6,9,11,12,24.
50 Cf. Jn 17:15.
51 Cf. Jn 17:3,6-10,25.
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Featured Item from Litany Lane
View more Inspirational Designs at Litany Lane.
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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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